Thursday - Monday, August 1 - 5 2013 (diary)

Very busy with bridge again, running three play sessions, plus one, two or sometimes even three teaching sessions each week. I hope to gradually increase our membership to about 50 after which our club is securely established.

The Australian Federal election is finally called for September 7. As far as I am concerned the sooner we get rid of the old Government the better.
Politics has of course gone into ultra trivial simplistic mode, in a fight for the sundry ill-informed part of the population.

It is pathetic (sad really) that an adult debate in this (and I suspect many other) countries is just not possible in a democratic political system. I still fear that this Achilles heel of democracy may in the long run become its undoing, as real progress, if not short sighted, is usually one step forward, then two steps back.

Looking back I guess we all remember at least one or two really dumb things we have said or done in our lives. With the present nearing election one of my "clangers" comes to mind again.
In my late teens and early 20s I was really very ignorant about politics. Partly because having seen the price my parents had paid by becoming too idealistically involved in politics, I wanted to have nothing to do with it.

So one late afternoon riding on my bicycle towards the home of my girlfriend (and future wife) Antien I noticed a large election banner hanging across the road which read : Voor Vrijheid en Democratie. "For Freedom and Democracy" the slogan of the Dutch Conservative party, the VVD.

Having lived through both war and peace myself I thought this was a rather dumb slogan (after all we had peace now) and, after arriving at Antien's home made some comments to that effect to her father, not knowing at the time that he was an active local committee member of the very party (the VVD) I was rubbishing.
To his great credit he did not argue or made any reply to my dumb gaff, but for quite some time his regard for me was understandably not very high.
In due course Antien and I split up for a year (not because of my father in law's poor opinion of me).
But just before getting together again with Antien, I visited my father in law late one evening and had a long talk with him about my future aims and aspirations in life, and from that point onwards our mutual appreciation and regard improved dramatically. And they remained so, even after Antien and I had separated some 20 years later.

The "Freedom" the VVD banner referred to was and remains of course the very essence of conservative parties like the VVD in Holland and the Liberal party in Australia. It aims to provide an environment where every individual has the freedom and opportunity to develop to his/her full unique potential, with no restrictions.

This stands in stark contrast to socialist parties like Australia's Labor party which treats people in terms of one size fits all. In order to provide more social benefits Socialist Governments are notorious for spending more money than they have and as a consequence stifle companies, organisations and individual enterpreneurs with ever increasing taxes, rules and regulations.
This inevitably leads to an increase in mediocrity and a decrease in economic productivity and entrepreneurial activity. As a result the whole country suffers and in the end must pay the price for it in terms of social and economic decline compared to other affluent countries.

Tuesday - Saturday, August 6 - 10 2013 (diary)

By the look of it a "dog's life" is not so bad after all !  Having chased all night after a small possum who escaped in one of the mango trees right alongside my cabin, Chase and Roxy are clearly enjoying their siesta as you can see.

This past few weeks I have been on what you might call a "gadgets spree". Having earlier already purchased an Braun/ Oral-B electric tooth brush (which cleans my teeth lots and lots better than the old fashioned tooth brush) I have also invested in an electric Remington hair clippers.
I was getting sick and tired of letting my hair grow for 5 weeks (and too long for my taste), then paying a visit to the hairdresser. Now I can clip my hair every 7-10 days and keep it nice and short continuously.

On top of that my landlord last week replaced the old analog TV in my cabin with a 26 inch (66cm diagonally measured) digital flat screen TV. The picture is much larger than my old TV and of course the quality is lots better. I immediately purchased a set of Sennheiser wireless headphones after that, so that I no longer have to use my hearing aid when watching TV.

To top it all off I bought a Weightwatchers bathroom scales. It not only measures your weight (97.5kg) but also the percentage of fat in your body (27.4%), how much of your body consists of water (52.7%) and your bone density (6.9). For my age and height (which you need to input into the scales' computer beforehand) I am right at the edge of being "normal". Isn't that good to know ??
But seriously, the scales do make me more aware of the condition of my body. I am very conscious about what I eat and drink now and I even have stepped up my daily morning walks from 30 to 45 minutes, now walking 3,6km every day.   Oh yes of course, I almost forgot, I do my walk while listening to my recently purchased digital XOXX pocket radio.