With the compulsory voting by punishment in Australia, it forces people to vote who haven’t got a clue. Or, if they possess any clues, they are most likely to have been spouted by the commercial world, especially the Rupert Murdoch world of inanities and plastic bubbles rolling around the sun-baked deserts of our suburban wastelands. You know how it goes; insincere policies are being uttered with as much sincerity as the shifty politicians can muster, this is of course then followed by an earnestness that can only result in becoming so boring that even good sleep can’t make better or give relief to, it stifles all. We all know where the earnestness of politicians can lead to.
With Easter almost behind us, I can’t wait for normalcy to return, and with that a well-earned rest from chocolate bunnies and the proliferation of multi-coloured aluminium foil wrapped chocolate eggs, row upon rows, and the kids are getting fatter. I wonder if the art of hand painting of real eggs is still being practiced? When I grew up our parents encouraged the colour-dyeing of real eggs and hand painting them afterwards. I believe that the people from Eastern European countries were masters of that art.
We are still rummaging through the political scene that no doubt will return tomorrow together with the opening of all sorts of Royal Commissions of Enquiries with scandal after scandal renting the autumnal sky. The latest is the scheme of ‘water buy-backs’ where someone in the government has made a quick buck out of denying drought stricken farmers their entitlement to water that in rapid driven rivers flow past their properties. Farmer’s tear stained wives regaling on TV, husbands’ decisions to sell up the farm. Oh, this Australia ‘the best country in the world.’ We all know that Royal Commissions are guarantees for non-action.
And then we have a Prime Minister warning us of the disasters to befall us if anyone would be as foolish and progressive as to buy an electric car. He said; ‘It will be the end of our Aussie week-end.’ ‘We will not drive our ute anymore and the price of electricity will go sky-high, he said.’ And to think we left Holland where the Government will not allow new petrol and diesel driven cars to be sold after 2030. In Norway fifty % of cars are now electric and China is starting up world’s biggest electric car manufacturers.
As for Helvi and I with those verging on their final years, getting concerned about ‘Aged-Care’, let me leave you with how CARE for the elderly is being tackled in Holland.
If I ever end up with severe dementia I hope I am fortunate enough to live in a village like this.
Tags: Aged care, Australia, China, Dementia, Holland, Norway, Prime Mister, Royal
Oosterman Treats Blog 
April 22, 2019 at 2:25 am |
Bad news, Gerard….we are already there…you just haven’t noticed it…We are all now just an audience witnessing a play in the theatre of the absurd!
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April 22, 2019 at 12:33 pm |
Yes, Jo.
Not only does our PM not believe in electric cars but he doesn’t believe in climate change as well.
We don’t seem to understand that each time there is a cut in tax, the abuse in old age care will increase, so will the number of people sleeping rough, and numbers of suicides rise. Adequate welfare needs revenue and while the people earning over $200K get generous tax cuts, those on $40K get peanuts.
Did I hear that two out of three corporations don’t pay any tax? Taxation cuts and tax evasions don’t help raise revenue necessary for welfare. Look at the countries that have generous welfare in place and they all are high tax payers. They also have far more equality between rich and poor. The rich are less rich and the poor less poor. They are also high on the human- happiness scale.
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April 22, 2019 at 1:09 pm |
The statement, that Australia is the best country in the world, can only be uttered by an extremely ignorant person. The PM’s say so is not proof of its truth. The running of so may Royal Commissions at the same time indicates that the PM is wrong.
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April 23, 2019 at 2:33 am |
Each time I hear that we live in the best country I get palpitations of the heart, Peter. Apart from it being pompous and highly inflated I wish they would bestow that compliment to some other country. It would be more civil and more to the truth. ie Most other countries nowadays are better.
It wasn’t always like that. Australia and NZ were the first to introduce pensions and Australian suffragettism introduced the right for women to vote.
How does it tally-up to sell rainwater for $80 million. Next they will be selling fried air.
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April 22, 2019 at 1:28 pm |
It is very frustrating to hear him speak like this when it is his own policy as well as that of the opposition. ( electric cars that is ). Conservative politician means a backward looking one.
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April 23, 2019 at 2:35 am |
Yes, I also am surprised that a political party wants to be known as ‘conservative.’ I would have thought it would be a disadvantage to be known as someone not wanting to go forward.
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April 23, 2019 at 3:40 am |
It’s taken me a good long while to figure out your title. It carried echoes of something — a book, a poem, a painting? — and I finally managed to surface it. It reminded me of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner — a manifesto for personal freedom of sorts, and certainly a reminder that those who reject the bureaucracies, etc., aare going to pay something of a price.
Just so you know, there’s plenty of egg-dying going on out here. There’s a division between boil-then-color and color-them-raw, but I’ve always been a boil-then color sort. Of course, I adore egg salad and deviled eggs, so there’s that.
The best, of course, are the Ukranian (and also some Polish and Czech) who design and create Pysanky — glorious, artistic eggs. I’ve never tried it anything so complex, but we do use wax crayons to create other sorts of designs. It’s great fun!
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April 24, 2019 at 12:54 am |
It was really Oscar Wilde with ‘The importance of being earnest’, Linda.
I re-discovered the complete works of Oscar Wilde intending to fill a bag of books for charity. However, I started dipping into it again, and was overcome with the brilliancy of his work and writings.
Try as we might in getting rid of things, the house is not getting emptier. It might well be that on our daily walks we tend to grab things on the way, especially books together with a coffee and meat pie.
As a young child I used the make empty shoe boxes into magic worlds by gluing little cut-out animals, trees or houses and then putting in some cotton balls resembling winter scenes. After that the top of the box without its lid, would be covered by colourful cellophane. I would then allow friends or strangers, for a small fee, a peak inside through an opening at the front of the box.
That was great fun too.
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April 23, 2019 at 7:12 am |
I remember the dying, and the painting, of real eggs. We usually used chicken eggs. I actually remember the smells, and how much fun it was each year. 🙂
I don’t remember much candy….maybe one hollow chocolate bunny for each kid. With 8 of us kids, my parents couldn’t afford the candy.
Thank you for the link/vid. I look forward to watching it.
A friend of mine is dealing with her father who has dementia. 😦
We must always remember those who are forgetting. We must always care for them with loving hands and open hearts.
(((HUGS)))
And hope you all had a Hoppy Easter!
I had a good hare day! 😉 😀 😛
🐇 🌷 🥚 🐇 🌷 🥚 🐇 🌷 🥚
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April 24, 2019 at 1:02 am |
Ha, ha, a good hare day and hoppu Easter. Well done, Carolyn.
Dementia must be so difficult to deal with. The Dutch village in the video is based on giving the people with dementia familiar surroundings with living space shared by others in similar conditions. The last thing those people need is nurses and doctors walking around and living in hospital-like surroundings.
This cost a lot of money but that’s why revenues has to be raised through higher GST, consumption taxes and higher taxes on the rich. By the way, many of the rich are rich because they don’t pay tax.
I hope you had a very nice Easter. Hugs too.
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April 27, 2019 at 9:11 pm |
It is remarkable how you describe Australia but could just as easily be describing America. In so many ways . . . the not good ways.
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