Author: cottonward

Run out of Fanta Lemon in Iceland

Hold the Ice-land.

Iceland has no McDonald’s and now no Fanta Lemon. They’ve also cancelled their Comedy Festival cos noone can afford to buy tickets.

With 300,000 people, they reckon they’ve got a sweeter deal from the IMF bail-out than Argentina. And they’ve got mineral resources and an educated workforce. Housing prices have deflated. The foreigners were the first to get sacked so they’ve all left. Iceland’s  resources are being sold to foreign investors at cheapo prices. Utilities are being privatised.

While younger Icelanders are fleeing, older ones with houses and commitments are stuck. One blog post I read said each Icelander should be paying 80 per cent of their gross income to pay back foreigners who lost money in IceSave. The foreigners (Brits and Dutch) aren’t even getting ALL their money back.

Continue reading Run out of Fanta Lemon in Iceland

Concentration camps – book review

Viktor Frankl, 1949. Was No. 119,104.
Viktor Frankl, 1949. Prisoner No. 119,104.

Due to the neo Nazis being in Chippendale, I refreshed my mind yesterday on concentration camps by reading Viktor Frankl’s account of his time in Auschwitz and Dachau and others in Man’s Search For Meaning.  It was completely dire. He outlines the various ways people mentally coped.
He took the fatalist approach and a couple of times he made what seemed to be the “wrong” choices but luckily, those ended up being the right ones and he survived. (eg. to go on a truck or not; to look after typhoid patients and die of that …) It was impossible to know which way to jump, everything was so unpredictable.

Continue reading Concentration camps – book review

Stomping out Nazis in Chippendale

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Mounted police in Chippendale or Ringwraiths from LOTR?

Knocked off early-ish on Friday night at 7.30pm and went to the Humanist Society Hall in Chippendale to protest against a group of extreme right-wing fascists, Klub Nazia, who meet there every month. They didn’t show, though.

There were about 80 people there, mostly residents, hanging around outside and a little streeet party with drums and music and singing. There were two mounted police, about 10 Tactical Response officers and another dozen police officers. They were strategically standing in a circle around the protesters.    Continue reading Stomping out Nazis in Chippendale

Australian Style book review

9781920989767It’s a beautiful book. I bought it because I like interiors and was interested in a vision of “Australian” style. I couldn’t find many references to Australia, though.

I used to work with Penfold, sub-editing her Source column, and, after reading this book, I can affirm she walks the walk. She always looked glamorous and always had bright, chirpy anecdotes. She’d always say we were brilliant at our work (page 31). She always had a humorous comment to make about a trip to Monte Carlo or a fashion faux pas or the latest mishap by the tradies. She’d send herself up in an Ab Fab Patsy kind of way.

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ABBA jigsaw: Australia-only product

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This TV special outrated the July 1969 moon landing in Australia.

Just thought I’d add this pic — I did my 160-piece puzzle when I got home from the Gourmet Viking dinner. This puzzle was a still from an Australian TV appearance on  Bandstand in 1976 and released by Reg Grundy as a puzzle only in Australia. So it’s very rare and one of my favourite items. Priceless to me — and it features their cat costumes, which the ladies often ripped off during Waterloo to reveal a mini-skirt version.