When one holds a protest one really does not want to alienate the rest of the public. The people of Melbourne had put up with the protesters for a whole week and became fed up with their abuse of democratic freedom.

There were so many different agendas among the protesters that they had become a collective farce.

Some were against this, some were against that, so they all got together to disturb life downtown. No doubt there were some legitimate grievances among them. Not many as I said in my last post, since Australia is a lucky country when compared with the rest of the world.

The problem with the protesters is that they had been highjacked by formal advisers to the Green Party who saw this collection of copycats as an opportunity to disrupt the status quo. There were the usual suspects who wanted to demonise Israel as well, but there’s nothing new in that.

But mainly they wanted to take a stand against stuff. It was happening elsewhere in the world and this generation wanted to become part of something.

Well, it’s not hard to rouse naive folk by telling them that there failings are due to someone else. A protest sounded good. Sitting on your bum and shouting slogans is easier than going to work, isn’t it?

Anyhow, yesterday, they decided that since the rest of Melbourne was so much against their disruption of the Royal visit they would postpone their venture into destroying the evil monarchy. The vote was close, though.

They will continue their agitating on the weekend or whenever, but for the time being let’s hope that Melbourne can enjoy a pleasant day today.

By the way I’m not a monarchist, but that’s another story.

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About 100 policemen have just been brought into the city of Melbourne for a rehearsal. The Queen is coming to town tomorrow and so the protesters have decided to demonstrate against the “evil woman”, big business, small business, medium-sized business, the banking system, the weather, the price of petrol, Qantas, Israel (of course) and anything else they can think of. You name it, they’re against it.

Of course these people are not against the dole which supports them while they demonstrate. They are not against students’ allowances which support them while they lie around in the street chanting. They are not against making promises to the police that they will move on when they are asked to and then refusing to move.

So why are these stupid, stupid, spoiled brats throwing a tantrum on public property and causing problems for ordinary Melbournians downtown?

Well, they envy the uprising in the Arab countries. They envy the Wall St protesters who decided to take a stand against the government’s bail-out of big companies.

These Occupy Melbourne, Sydney, Perth etc groups of brats have very little to gripe about and this is the problem. Things are too good for them here in Australia.

If they don’t want to work, then either mummy and daddy will support them or they will get the dole. If they want to study then this will be free and they will also get paid to do so. Out of the public purse!

This sort of bludging is a shameful abuse of democracy. They throw around the term, “democracy” as if they know what it means. For them it means they want rights. The right to TAKE rather than the right to contribute. You can’t talk to these people about responsibility.

It costs a fortune to police these silly circuses, money that could be spent on the genuinely needy members of our society. But try telling that to these excrescences who will turn up tomorrow to mar the visit of the Queen.

Let’s face it, she won’t be perturbed by their carrying-on. She’s seen all sorts of spectacles in her life and had to keep a straight face when confronted by them. This won’t faze her. The police will cope too. They behaved admirably last week after the squatters broke their promise to move on when asked.

So go ahead you silly buggers, make nuisances of yourselves. You have absolutely no idea how lucky you all are to be living in Australia where the police won’t turn hoses on you, even when you deserve it.

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So in five years time Aussie women will be able to take part in frontline combat. Now this is certainly a boost for equal rights in the military. Here comes Private Benjamin, I guess.

No, I’m not poopooing the idea of women fighting hand to hand in combat. On the contrary, I think that on some occasions it will be fantastic since there is nothing more frightening than women with PMT. The Taliban will be shaking in their boots (or sandals) at the prospect of a temperamental shrew hating everybody in the world and ready to kill. If the women are given lots of salty French Fries to eat and they then become bloated with fluid retention, the enemy had better watch out.

Unfortunately for the military, the male soldiers in the Aussie defence forces will cop it as well and they may even feel a little sympathy for the Taliban who are destined to be savaged by these “hormonal” women.

Still, all’s fair in love and war.

Which brings me to another equal rights story. In 2015 women in Saudi Arabia will be given the right to vote. Unfortunately for them, however, they will still have to hitch a lift to the polling booth as they are not allowed to drive a car. Anyone else see the humour in that? I think it’s called irony.

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Thought I would buy an eyebrow pencil while shopping at the Chadstone Fashion Mall. Was told by the staff in Gloss, a cosmetics and accessory store, that there was no difference between eyebrow and eyeliner pencils. Was persuaded to buy an eyeliner. Left the store unconvinced that the advice had been correct. Decided I had better return the wrong product and was told that there would be no refund. It had been half and hour since I had been sold the wrong product.

I could get a credit or buy something else of a similar value since Gloss’s policy is “no cash refunds”. I was forced to choose something else since the young girls were adamant that Gloss does not give refunds if you have doubts about the product. Mind you, the pencil had been unopened and had not even left the shopping centre.

There was no warning in the Gloss store about not giving a refund and so this came as a surprise to me. This sort of meanness would not occur in other stores such as Priceline, for example. So in future I will shop at a store that cares about its customer service.

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The folk at the Apple Store were very gracious when I gave back the computer yesterday. I had no problems getting my refund. After all, they had promised that if I could not get used to the annoying track pad they would let me bring it back.

My previous post had already mentioned that I found it hard to get used to being mouseless. It was just too strange for me to have to do those crazy movements with my fingertips instead of simply clicking the mouse.

Quite seriously, the advantages of having a small and portable computer failed to compensate for the frustration of stuffing things up.

So now I am back to my iMac and it’s good to be happy in familiar territory.

However, I must emphasise that the problem was not with the MacBook Air, nor with the people in the Apple Store. They could not have been nicer.

It simply was a case of what I am used to.

I look forward to the day when Apple can incorporate a mouse with a small resting platform into their MacBook Air. A sort of platform that would jut out when necessary, something that doesn’t require loops and strokes of the fingers to make it work. Then I would love to give it another go.

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It’s possible that life was becoming somewhat too bright. The sun was making a shaky attempt to shine through the clouds. Birds twittered excitedly in the fecund branches. Fluffy white clouds floated serenely in an azure sky and I was becoming comfortable with things in general. Well, more or less.

Such a sorry state of affairs could definitely not go on. I would have to louse things up for sure. So I decided to go to the Apple Store and investigate the possibility of buying a MacBook Air computer.

Most computer experts like moi would, no doubt, be familiar with the insides of an Apple Store. A large but crowded place filled with teenagers in blue T-shirts, a sort of kindergarten for nerds, one of whom you summon by pressing a key on an iPad. You are then informed that you are next in line for service.

Presently, a beaming Matt or Hamish welcomes you to Apple World and offers to help.

Where do I start? Do I know what I want? Not really. Well, yes, of course, I’m thinking about getting a new computer or an iPad or…I really don’t know.

Why don’t you show me what there is?

Hard to describe the expression of joy on Matt or Hamish’s face. Because it wasn’t there. I felt sorry for him. This was going to be a long night.

The store was crowded and hot. Everybody was talking loudly and I could barely understand what M or H was saying to me. I looked around for a white flag to wave and a cry for HELP flashed silently in my frazzled brain.

What did I want from a computer? Well, I just want to be able to use it with as little fuss as possible.

Simple simple simple. No gimmicks, no creating my own memoirs of trips to Antarctica replete with pixies of penguins. I just want to surf the net, look up info, catch up on world news and do a little writing on my blog.

As I said, very simple, very basic.

The drone of voices in the shop sounded like a rattling train crashing through an ancient Roman tunnel. Apparently there were a million amazing apps I could buy. This computer would do cartwheels. I desperately wanted to press the ESC key or the FORCE QUIT key and leave the building.

Dear Reader, I took the MacBook Air home. Apparently, in the midst of all the racket I agreed to buy it.

This thing has no mouse. I am now having to caress the pad with three fingers or two or press hard in a certain way. I cajole the damn thing and titillate it with occasional success. But hey, isn’t that the way with most things in life?

You tickle this and fiddle with that and hope for the best. Sometimes you end up in the wrong place and have to start again.

And just when you think that you’ve got the hang of things you decide to try something new.

And that’s when the troubles begin all over again.

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What is the world coming to when an alleged rape victim can’t call the alleged rapist “a black bastard”?

Apparently, according to political correctness she should have referred to him as the footballer of indigenous appearance who raped her when she was in no position to defend herself.

My ears pricked up when I heard that the alleged rapist’s barrister, David Grace QC accused the woman of being racist. How low can you stoop when you have to turn your client, Andrew Lovett, into some sort of victim of racism?

Lovett’s barrister, David Grace, kept on hammering her with:- “you didn’t want to have sex with an Aboriginal man, did you?” The woman replied that she didn’t want to have sex with anybody.

Now I don’t know whether there was a rape or not. It’s up to the law to decide. But I am utterly fed up with the outrageous demands of political correctness that is pervading our society. How can such limitation on freedom of expression be tolerated?

If Andrew Lovett is guilty of rape then he is a bastard. And if he is black, which he is, then he is black. So be it. What is wrong with being black, anyway? Methinks the barrister’s own prejudice is evident here.

On the other hand, if you don’t have much of a defence why not concoct a race issue?

Anyway, let’s say that the alleged victim is a racist, does that mean that it’s okay to rape her?

Let’s stick to the matters at hand. This is a rape trial and should be treated as such.

p.s Latest news about the trial. Verdict on 26th July. Lovett found not guilty.
p.p.s. Lovett is now being investigated on another rape charge.

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I’m back to being a fan of the Suzanne Grae fashion stores. It’s been an on again off again relationship since 2001. I used to love them. Then I hated them and now I love them again.

I couldn’t stand their trailer trash period which lasted for several sad years and so gave them a miss.

In 2009 they had announced that they would change what they were selling, but I wasn’t convinced enough to shop there.

A couple of weeks ago, however, I ventured into one of their stores and was pleasantly surprised by what they had on offer. It was the Suzanne Grae store that I had missed for too long.

They had come back to offering interesting items that mixed and matched perfectly with a trendy flair. Casual and easy to wear, the clothes are smart and appealing. I bought four items and then went back the following week and bought one more.

What I also appreciate is their policy of exchanging a purchase after one month if you are not perfectly happy with it. I can’t imagine that many people would take advantage of such a policy but it’s good to know that after sales service is not forgotten.

In 2008 I gave Suzanne Grae a real drubbing because they had gone downhill, in my opinion. Now I’m only too happy to sing their praises again.

I must declare that I have no connection with these stores apart from being a consumer who can feel quite fed up with the rather moronic trends that everyone seems to follow in the manner of lemmings.

Oops there goes another faux fur vest. How original!

I enjoy combining separates in my own way. No fluro colours to distract from my rather lively personality. It’s how I like to be. The choice at Suzanne Grae allows me to wear the clothes rather than the clothes wearing me. Let’s hope this welcome change lasts…

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Isn’t it amazing how quickly people forget! Kevin Rudd was a hopeless Prime Minister who couldn’t get on with his ministers and his staff. He was a tyrant who refused to listen to caucus. He was a one man band, a law unto himself and his main ambition was to use the Prime Ministership position to inveigle himself into the post of Secretary-General of the UN.

So why do the Aussies suddenly want him back?

The answer is quite simple. The public has realised that the current Prime Minister is even worse in many ways. She has the foolish habit of announcing policies before they have been assessed. She even announces policies which are up in the air under the misapprehension that announcing the policy is a done deed. It’s been announced, therefore it exists.

For example, take the Malaysian solution for our boat people problem. It had not even been finalised when she jumped in, mouth open, and put her foot in it. The Malays had not yet agreed and yet she put herself and Australia in a weakened position for the negotiations. She would have to agree to anything the Malaysian government demanded because they now had the upper hand. Now that’s pretty stupid.

So why did she do this? Well, it’s because she is desperate. She has Kevin Rudd as a nemesis, ready to pounce. He must be gloating every time she makes a big mistake.

We have now witnessed her terrible handling of the live cattle fiasco. She has managed to put a hold on a thriving export industry when all she had to do was to reserve the export of live cattle to abattoirs that were humane.

It’s all because of desperation. She simply does not think things through. She reacts in a knee-jerk way like a person who is out of control.

The public have become thoroughly sick and tired of her and in fact, the more she appears on TV the less people like her.

If she wants to appeal to the public then she should make herself scarce. That’s what Kevin Rudd did by avoiding Australia.

Apparently, absence makes the heart grow fonder when it comes to politicians and the ordinary public is very forgetful. When Rudd is flying around the planet bringing joy to other climes, they begin to wonder if he really was as bad as all that.

Yes, he is that bad and it didn’t take long before he gave an interview this week in which he told everyone to “pop a Mogadon”. Not a wise bit of advice, is it? What a patronising creep he is and a drug pusher to boot…

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You can’t switch on the television nowadays without being bombarded by ads telling you that you should take out a funeral policy. Either you sign up for payments until you die or else you can pay for a funeral today so that your heirs don’t have to fork out some money to bury you.

The message here is that you don’t want to be a burden to your children after death. So not only do you have to support them while they are growing up and often when they are all grown, but if you love the poor dears, then you will save them the expense of paying for your departure. In other words, the responsibility is all on your side.

Apparently, it is not enough that they will inherit the family estate, meaning your money. You have to facilitate everything for them by depriving yourself of money while you are still alive so that they can inherit absolutely everything.

These ads must be working or those companies would not continue advertising all the time.

So what does this say about today’s society?

Well, it says several things. First of all, that parents do not actually trust that the children will provide a decent burial for them. Secondly, that older people have been subjected to guilt trips about being a burden on society. The ads concentrate on guilt and even parental love when it’s really all about Money.

Thirdly, that there is a feeling of entitlement among the younger generation. They want it all, they want it now and they don’t want to share. The least we can do is to get out of their way and we should pay for the fare out of this world ourselves.

Seems to me that there is something very satisfying about reverse mortgages. Perhaps the crocodile tears would turn into genuine ones when the will is read.

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