Of Laksa and Kangaroos II

There is something off-putting about Melbourne’s airport. Whereas Sydney and Brisbane have trains connecting their airports to the city centre, Melbourne only has coaches. That’s fair enough, I suppose. One does get there eventually. It does, however, come off as being a bit naff. One expects that from Sacramento, from Cardiff or even from Dublin — not the second city and former capital of a major country. Continue reading “Of Laksa and Kangaroos II”

Nervous Flyers . . .

. . . close your eyes or hide behind the sofa

Amongst our Charioteers there are, as far as I remember, at least two qualified commercial pilots who have flown 737s, another who has worked on building and testing air frames, and a further couple or perhaps more of us who have worked in one or more fields in ATC. If any of you don’t agree with my take on recent events, don’t be shy, tell me why I’m wrong.

Continue reading “Nervous Flyers . . .”

Six years for Paedo-ex-Cardinal Pell

The gag order was cancelled when the second trial was not proceeded with – the prosecution said something silly about leaving the papers on a train, or the dog eating them – whatever. The victim(s) were, unsurprisingly, more than a little miffed, but the official response was “tough”.

So Australians were then allowed to know what the rest of the world already knew, that Pell had been found guilty at the first trial by a unanimous jury. His rich and powerful friends and colleagues immediately screamed that they didn’t believe it, that their mate George wouldn’t do anything like that, that the jury was corrupt and so on, ad bloody nauseam. They were a little stunned when most Aussies and the official Roman Catholic church told them to shut up and respect the court, the jury and the victims. Pell immediately applied for an appeal (three points, one of which was that the jury’s verdict had been unreasonable! The arrogance of the man!).

Today Pell was sentenced to 6 years in prison, with a minimum of 3 years and 8 months to be served before he could apply for parole. The Judge was scathing about Pell’s lack of remorse and his refusal to accept his guilt.

The initial appeal hearing will be in June, but for now it’s back to his cell for George. Once regarded as the third most powerful man in the RC church, earmarked by many as the next pope in waiting, regarding himself as cast iron and far too senior to be troubled by the laws of men, he’s finally got his comeuppance. How are the mighty fallen!

Perhaps this will “encourager les autres”. Je m’en doubte. 😢

Of Laksa and Kangaroos 1

Track work between Bournemouth and Southampton. How typical and on the day I needed to get to London. There went my plans to take a comfortable afternoon train to London. It would have been convenient, easily managed. Of course I had to take a morning coach. Hey ho. I survived. As usual, I went to a small, Romanian-owned hotel in Camden, not 10 minutes from the Heathrow Express. It’s clean, they’re friendly and it’s not terribly expensive. Continue reading “Of Laksa and Kangaroos 1”

Panodrama – An Exposé of the Fake News BBC!

The link to this documentary appeared in a comment I was reading in the Telegraph. I found it fascinating, though perhaps I am being naive. Regardless of what you think about Tommy Robinson and his political views, there appears to be little question that the BBC is extremely biased in its reporting, that its presenters are hypocrites and that it uses very underhand methods to extract information. If nothing else, this shows how the BBC licence fees are spent!

Trombones

I am 76 today and can’t stop humming that tune. Backside says if I don’t he’ll find a novel use for 76 of those plug things they all use. Lunch in the Smoke today with some of the girls. That should silence him.

It’s Greek to me

Not surprising perhaps. Phil has done some unusual things over his 97 years. He also seems to be stubborn to a fault.  Driving alone after a road accident he seems to have caused and without a seat-belt qualifies as evidence.

Today he is reported to have ‘surrendered his licence voluntarily‘. Which I’m sure is RoyalSpeak for being banned from driving. I mean, if I wanted to give up driving, I’d simply stop – with my licence intact. ‘Surrendering’ it implies police involvement – which I expect will lead in due course to serious charges.

We need to find someone else to blame

It’s Burns’ Night tonight and I should be thinking of his address “To a Haggis”. Instead the lines of his poetry that came to my mind this morning are from “Tam O’Shanter”. They are a description of an angry wife and I wondered if they match Moira Salmond at the moment.

“… our sulky sullen dame                                                                                                     Gathering her brows like gathering storm,                                                                           Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.”

Or perhaps she’s just quoting Captain Mainwaring – “stupid boy!”