It comes but once a year

The good, the bad and the ugly....

'Tis the season to be jolly etc etc. For children say to the age of ten (before the cynicism of adulthood makes them doubt Santa's existence ) it is good. 

For the adults it's a good and bad time of the year; bad on the bank account and the stress of facing a whole, long day with relatives . Uncle Bill or his counterpart will be there to discuss at length the shortest way from this point to that while Aunt Milly reels off a list of those who have been stricken with some awful disease. A stiff noggin helps to bear the agony. For many its good as they will be be leaving on holiday.

For not so few, unfortunately, it's not a nice time of the year at all , either because they have painful memories of loved ones no longer there or they are simply too disadvantaged to enjoy a single moment of it. For them it is really quite ugly.

Whatever. It's Christmas time and in case you forget this , the commercial media stations will not give you a moment's peace until Boxing day when thankfully the jingles stop and they spin into New Year's mode.

Anyway, have a good one. There's still a bit of time to go...

Home,sweet home

Bank on it?

Real estate agents have a strange sense of the value of money but to be fair many people suffer the same conception of those printed bis of paper or digital numbers . For agents phrases like "It's only $30,000,00 more"  or "for $100,000.00 you can build a nice little extension ( as one views a scene not unlike a bombed garbage site) and you'll be set for life" . Set back, more like it.
Then there are the sellers and buyers who will refuse the budge over an issue of $500,00 and  both losing out on a sale. Now there, word "only" has some merit.

House prices in Australia, particularly in the metro areas are somewhere up there in orbit with communication satellites. The bogey man or woman is currently "investors" a faceless army of well heeled individuals whose sole intent in life is to spread misery and wonderment through their own wish to own a slice of the action..Home ownership in  Terra Australis is still a right, a prerequisite for many more than . say, in Europe where renting is par for the course. So there might well be four driving forces that put pressure on home costs. The third of course would be a general shortage of land and properties while the fourth is the fact that interest rates are currently at record lows. .

Midsomer county village conditions, as they exist in the U.K. and elsewhere on the Continent are not an option for Oz unless you are at ease with the sight of Utes transporting three legged blind dogs called "Lucky" stumbling in the tray. There both sexes are named Bruce.

Country life in Oz has its merits but folk have be calm and adaptable in the face of drought, bush fires and rogue kangaroos;salt of the earth stuff.

Quiet... at all costs

Mon Chapeau......ou est il?

Hats Off

On November 17, The Australian reported the sale at auction of Napoleon's bicorne hat for $2.7 million (Australian) to a South Korean collector .This was highlighted in the Executive Living section. Wonder what he's going to do with it. Probably wear it of an evening while as he sips his vintage whisky and dreams vengeful thoughts of the Beloved Leader north of the border..

And talking of all things French, it's interesting to note that, according to historians, the French have defeated the English more often in battle. That's a good croissant to serve up in English classrooms.

Be that as it may, there's no doubt that both sides have an affinity for each other forged over the years of military encounters and political intrigue. It's a clash of temperaments. The Brits are suckers for French wine,cheese and poodles while the French idea of a sort of eclectic charm is their idea of Le Gentleman Anglais.

Unfortunately for both sides they have found themselves at odds within the E.U. There are dark mutterings traversing the Channel about the duplicity of Les Anglais with the Brits shrugging off the inexplicable and complicated as being very French.

In the end what does it matter? We're all human, non? Shakespeare said oinks ago,

“If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" 

Wise old Bill, innit?

Look on the bight side....

Optimism is many things to many people. For Americans more and more to Australians it is the hope that there's a buck in it, For the Brits it is that they only have to shake hands with strangers and none of this kissing nonsense that goes on. For the Italians and Greeks it is that the taxman never visits them and for the Chinese it is that every day is a twenty four hour working day. The French are optimistic that they'll find a cute little mistress and the Germans hope that each day runs like clockwork.

Of course without optimism one cannot succeed; never heard of a pessimistic tycoon. Miserable, yes but not without hope.

Optimism relates to a state of mind that one will be satisfied with one's  lot in life. So there you go, be happy, be optimistic and you'll rarely be disappointed.

No?