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| Shane escaping... |
G'day Possums,
Geez, a month is a longer time in politics with a virus insidiously lurking, so this little missive is in two parts.
Part A: How Covid-19 fulsomely exposed Australia's real character
and
Part B: How I decided to escape reality.
Part A: Exposed to Sickness.
Labor won it's by-election and the Nasty Party Ruling Rabbler who lost took over a week to concede she had... which was better than Scummo of Marketing who, par for the course for narcissistic and unimaginative mediocrities and never one to miss an opportunity to be banal..... said nothing at all.
Daniel Dan-the-Man, Andrews, Vic. labor Premier was gaining much kudos for his demeanor and his handling of the virus.
This was far too much for the bitchy school-boys of the Ruling Rabble opposition. One, who in an effort to replace his non-entity of a leader, backbencher and complete twat, Timmy The Dim, Smith started a campaign calling for the virus lockdown to be lifted by "Dictator Dan" and protested vociferously for ignoring what discipline was being asked for.
This interference was also picked up by our Happy-Clapping, Liar from the Shire Prime Miniature, Scummo of Marketing who busied himself castigating not only Vic but both Queensland and West Australian premiers (both labor) for keeping their borders closed to limit infection spread whilst hypocritically ignoring Tasmania and South Australia (both Ruling Rabble) who were doing exactly the same.
Fanning the flames, the Murdochracy of the Ugly American (70% of Oz's press and of which other media is 90% right-wing) went into overdrive when word started to filter out that allegedly, the private security guards contracted to supervise people quarantined in hotels were less than assiduous in their duties.
Andrews immediately called for and set up an inquiry.
But the Genie, c/o the said, ill trained and ill disciplined private security was out of the bottle and the virus took off.
Now, the Murdochracy and Dim Timmy and others of similar small mind were in full flight and having a field day.
Why did Dan open up so early (?) they hypocritically breast beat. How hopeless is Dan, they ranted and even the so-called balanced,non partisan ABC began heading its news promos with "the chaos/ catastrophe/ shambles spreading in Vic, with Weasel Willingham in the forefront with snide comment and opinion.."Is Dan's Brand Damaged" and other irrelevant nonsense.
One AFR shill, who used to be a decent journalist opined I suppose facetitiously, that the Murochracy "...had given Dan a "fair go"..."
Of course, Andrews was criticised for using private security which was very funny coming from the bastions of "free-enterprise-can-always-do-it-better" cabal and then the "Masks in Public are Mandatory" promulgation brought out the most asinine comments, muddying of waters and creating confusion where none really existed.
The right-wing is this country is quite feral in its lust for destruction.
What really transpires is that capitalism doesn't function in a crisis like a pandemic.
Actually, it doesn't function socially at all.
People scared of losing pay or their job by not turning up for work will attend with the virus... people are irresponsible, ignoring medical advice to stay home after testing positive......hello Dim-Tim.... your message it seems, got through.
People were giving false addresses so tracing cannot work effectively....... and with a phone- app that's an expensive tracing dud (but profitable for certain Ruling Rabblers), hands-on is time and manpower consuming.
Anti-vaxxers like that stupidly selfish woman who laughed as she bluffed her way through a check point...idiot chefs with spurious claims and body builders offering medical and legal advice...all aided and abetted by "social-media":....it goes without saying that supermarket shelves began to be stripped again...
Then we come to Scummo of Marketing's response...huge, huge spending...after waving his scarf around at the footy like a loony bogan...and with a only the merest hint of a slightly embarrassed look (as they have no shame at all) when their constant 10 year carping criticism of Labor's fiscal management in saving the country during the GFC is shown to have been as totally false as it always was... They are liars of the first order.
But they are using this crisis to get what their IPA managers have always wanted: Kill the ABC, CSIRO, Superannuation, wages and conditions, public education and the environment and unionism.
Head accountant, Fiction's Frydenberg says he will follow his path to do that .. that of Thatcher and Reagan's discredited, 40 years old trickle-down economics instead of finding a new way.
Which only proves that ideology really does precludes talent and imagination.
It's not Covid -19 which is the terminal virus, Petals... it's the mindset and actions of the Liberal Party... The Ruling Rabble!
Part: B The Escape.
For JS .....and other's like mine of Boy's-Own mind.
Congruity is charming.
Not long ago I was checking the finesse of the cut of a new bench-saw blade and tested it on some 4mm strapping of Tassie Oak... hmmm.... very nice were the 10mm strips made.
Some 18 months before, Mrs Wombat and I became grand for the first time to our No#1daughter and whilst Mrs W has been busy sewing, knitting and being practical I indulged in a making a wooden cattle truck and trailer to put dinosaurs dogs and sheep in, designed and started a scaled down version of a Mini-Moke as pedal car and resurrecting a yacht hull I fashioned many many years ago as a pond yacht but never finished.
The grand is a gel btw!
Around the time of the saw blade test Mrs Wombat and I were down by the sea in Queenscliff and wandered into a bric-a-brac / antique / second-hand / junk shop and down the recesses of the rear came across a flotilla of second hand boats.... amongst which was a 4-500mm long wooden cabin cruiser... hand made, poorish condition, probably a 60's production looking at the hull design but attractive enough as a by-the-sea, holiday-house mantlepiece object-of-interest and frightfully over priced.
Hmm.. that's interesting... gee, those Tassie Oak strips were nice. Hmmmm.
Serendipity.
No 2 daughter likes retro fashion... No2 might be feeling a tad left-out hmmm.. "Stephens" circa 1920's -30's wooden planked hull.. got it!
Searched the web and this attracted....
searched further... and "Compadre" was the model to be the basis of a first time scratch build... and the blog was not only entertaing but informative for detail and proportions... so thank you ....
http://compadreclassic.blogspot.com/2018/02/
I haven't contacted the owners as the blog has been dormant for a couple of years but hope they are not embarrassed or insulted by my antipodean mimicry.
Transposed the design, modified its shape a tad then started on the formers in ply, 'cause that's what I had. This was to be not a "scale" model... with what all that implies.
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| beginnings.... |
Then came the making of the strips of Tassie Oak.. for the reader other than a "Skip," Tassie Oak is not really an Oak but a Eucalypt hardwood durable and good for a wide range of uses. I bought 2.400 x30mm x4mm strapping and cut it into 1200mm x 10 mm strips for the hull. Steamed it... that was fun... and pinned and glued it on.
Cabin is in ply but you can see stains from the clamps in the wood which scotched the idea of having a varnished hull.
Lessons learned: be more careful in checking hull former proportions, pre wet wood before steaming as it's Kiln dried, be more assisduous in placing formers & shape/contouring edges for planking.
First float... sits well, no leaks and looks pretty.
There's no radio gear or motor in at this stage just a bag of stones replicating their weight.
and
So it's nearly done, most of the gear has arrived, tender on deck is clinker-built.. (Ta for the books Tony..) there are a few little things to do but the big lesson is in the planning ...like discovering that "Compadre" had twin screws & rudders... hmmm. So with one motor I had to devise a geared system and work around what had already been built.
Deck is planked Tassie Oak, too. Trim on edges, Red-Gum and Australian Cedar around top edges of cabin.
Now, to find a suitable pond.
Which has engendered an interest in these acqua things... soooo... next one... will be a C1890 Windermere Lakes Steamboat, "Bat" is the model for this exercise. Scratch build plans are being drawn up as I write with much more foresight as to where things go where and what it does....also there's a 25cc brush cutter engine crying out to be either a Polikarpov I-16 or a Fokker D-XX1, the only fuselages that will fit it at a reasonable wing span and be a looker. ...'cause it's really all about the aesthetics isn't it?
And its the lack of aesthetice which make the Ruling Rabble so intolerable... they are uniformly BOGAN!
So this is the escape.
Cheers Petals,
Shane.
