Mikeatmainbeach

 I do find myself getting annoyed at some of these extreme right wing commentators..one in particular comes to mind 😠 when they quote figures, it often seems, to suit their own agenda.   Now this particular person today is going on about how we, in Australia, or should I say in mostly labour states strangely enough, are doing things wrong when it comes to the dreaded Corona virus. This person states that we should not be locking down people but open up everything. Don’t worry about spreading the virus...it’s all okay...it will all work out and we’ll be fine.   What this person doesn’t say is that at the moment here in Australia due to a mix up, bad decision making or just plain shortage of the vaccines there are so many stories and different reasons depending who you talk to, as to why and just who to blame..anyway we have just around 7%, at this stage, of the entire population of over 25 million people fully vaccinated.   It sho...

     This may seem a non event to many I know but we listen to music everyday; often taking it for granted. Some songs stir a memory when I hear them and I often wonder what would have happened if the person who wrote and performed that song was still with us. What marvellous, amazing, music would that person, that performer, have given us if they were not taken prematurely.   One always comes to mind...no two...firstly John Lennon who died at the early age of 40 and strangely as I write this it has been 40 years since his death. I had no idea until I just checked.   Shot by a “so called” fan, who himself it seems wanted fame, but only achieved disgrace and notoriety.  Such a waste...such a great waste of life and talent. With Paul McCartney they wrote together around 200 memorable songs and as The Beatles they sold hundreds of millions of records          Whenever I hear the very haunting song ‘Imagin...

 The Times They Are A Changing...   The song written by Bob Dylan 58 years ago now couldn’t ring truer than today as we ride this pandemic wave that is sweeping the world. It was meant, then, to be a protest song about the civil war and anti war movement but now that title applies equally as well to what we are going through, with the turmoil that is currently gripping the world, and as we’ve seen it’s often fragile population.   We are indeed fighting a war to stay alive! Whether many like to admit it or not that is what it is....   The rallying call back then is equally important today as then.   Of course that was not the intention of the song back then...but who would have even thought we would have such a time, as now, when we are almost frightened to get too close to people for fear we may become infected by this ever powerful virus and it’s many variants.   The frustration felt then, as now, is how I feel today with ...

 I enjoy just watching other people when shopping. It’s always interesting, fascinating and often entertaining. There’s the vege guy who always says hello as he stacks more fresh produce on to the shelves. We have a brief chat..as I load up on my assortment of vegetables and my usual 12/15 or so kiwi fruit.  I have two every morning before breakfast and have done for as long as I can remember...the secret of my youthful good looks and stunning complexion 😆😆   Then, as we go around, my partner ...he works at Woollies as a *product placement specialist ...he sees “things” that are often out of place, where they shouldn't be, and as I go ahead pushing the trolley he adjusts boxes on the shelves...”Look,”... he calls annoyingly as I turn back to see what’s happening. “They always do this..It’s just so frustrating,” he states with alarm. “They will put a full box at the front..while..look...look,” he continues pointing for me to see   “....while...

    We seem to be riding a never ending boom train of development here on the Gold Coast, Queensland.   There have been booms and busts before but this time it seems to be different. Maybe it’s the Covid-19 experience everyone is going through, especially in the southern states of  Australia, with their constant “lockdowns’'” which I agree have to happen to save lives.   This virus has changed so many things world wide meaning a new way of working from home for many. Why the need to live in a city when beach life is so much better, no one can doubt that, and with three hundred days of sunshine a year who needs a reason to live here!   There has to be, at least, maybe more than twenty new high rise apartments either at planning stage, with the council awaiting approval or being constructed now. It’s really quite amazing. So many Australians are returning home..or trying to if the closed borders will let them that is.    I g...

 The song "Memory"  from the musical Cats.. will always be a new memory for me.  As with all songs when we hear them we are instantly transported to a time and place or year where we heard them and what part they played in our life. This time the song Memory will hold a new significance. Yesterday we attended a funeral or as it was stated “A Thanksgiving Celebration For The life”. Always a sad affair I know. This time it was a relative of my partners and he was an older person so it was expected but I guess although expected no one is ever really ready for the inevitable to happen. The service was in an Anglican Church and I have never attended a funeral service in a church before. The ones I have attended are usually at the crematorium. Always a good service but this one was different for me and very sincere of course.   I have to admit I am not a church goer and out of the three hymns I only knew one. That’s a terrible thing to say but there ...

Well today I had my flu shot.( If anyone is reading this in northern hemisphere we are now in our winter) A bit later than usual as I had my first AstraZeneca six weeks ago now so waited a while before this flu shot. My next, 2nd, Astra is on July 22 so about half way between the two now and no ill effects....thankfully! There is so much kick back against the vaccinations it amazes me. Just lost for words! Plus we have been so fortunate here in Australia, as in New Zealand, that we can close our borders to help prevent the spread. Not so lucky in many other countries. Although returning travelers and isolation is another big question! The blood clots, though frightening of course, happen to around 30,000  people anyway here in Australia, that's per year,  and unfortunately around 5,000 die. The clots and deaths from the vaccine, though also of course extremely sad, are so very few compared to what is happening overseas with this dreaded plague that is upon us. And i...

The following is nothing like I usually write on here ( I really wasn't even going to post it )...but it is what I used to write years ago. Just to sit and not think of anything special but just to type the words as they come into my mind.  I have no idea...anyway I was just sitting here with my lap top and wondering what to write...a light bulb went off in my mind I guess...and here it is: Hope it means something to someone it was meant for...It just took a few moments to write which always amazes me as it really wrote itself...   Please leave any comments if this makes sense to anyone...appreciated 🙏 Do you ever wonder where you’re heading and which direction to take? I have done and have often in the past but I decided a long time ago not to think too hard and worry...it really doesn’t get you anywhere anyway. I have always found to “go with the flow” is much easier and less stressful. In the words of the song Que sera sera.. whatever will be will be etc., ...

Diddly Squat Farm.... Jeremy Clarkson 😀😆 I have just watched the funniest new series on Amazon TV with Jeremy Clarkson called Clarkson's Farm.  Amazing! Haven’t laughed so much in a long time watching TV.   Many would know Jeremy from his years on the top rating TV show Top Gear and more recently The Grand Tour with his mates James May and Richard Hammond. This time he’s without his usual crew, on his own..apart from, that is, his partner Lisa and two of the funniest farm workers in Caleb and Gerald.     He has purchased 1,000 acres of the prettiest farmland in the Cotswolds in England and he is trying his best to make it productive enough to earn from it. With the huge expense of farm equipment and the ultra large Lamborghini tractor he purchased with enough bells and whistles, one would think, to launch a nuclear missile!  The myriad of farm equipment that he knows nothing about and what actual task they are supposed to perform, well, he ...

A day in the life..                                                                                       Merle...where do I start?!   Merle is a native Australian bird a pink and grey Galah. I looked round pet shops for a while before I met Merle. I do love looking around pet shops...always have and I guess always will.  She, Merle, was perched on the owners shoulder and, already named, I immediately felt drawn to her. Maybe it was love at first sight! We agreed a price and after a while we went home together....that's me and Merle...not the pet shop...

      Does anyone remember Alistair Cooke’s Letter from America broadcast around the world? It ended in 2004..he started it in 1946; so maybe many on here don’t. A very long run indeed.   It was around a fifteen minute broadcast of observations and some anecdotes and also humour on American life in general. I remember listening to it when I lived in the U.K. and I always found it very interesting the way he would meld the different subjects together with humour and compassion.   On March 2004 at the age of 95 Alistair Cooke announced his retirement and died a few weeks later.   He had a way with words and I so enjoy people of great knowledge talking sensibly. Not that I have great knowledge, I wish I did, but it’s a gift to be able to hold an audience especially like he did for so many years.   My hats off to him as I ‘'try” to the best of my very limited ability to follow with my own version of ramblings...sort o...

I am amazed at all the conspiracy theories by numerous extremist groups world wide. Many it seem to have been sourced from the United States.   I cancelled my Facebook account a couple of years ago. Nothing against the original idea of Facebook in bringing people together but because of all the false conspiracy stories that were shared by seemingly knowledgeable people who really should know better. Some even I know who read an article, not knowing if the facts are true or false, then share it to their friends and in an instant it goes ballistic. I always check everything, Maybe I’m even too thorough but there you go...   One only has to check the source of many, or most, of these “stories” as that’s what they are ...stories.. to see they are nothing more than conspiracy theories on a super large scale. Before the internet we never had all this “stuff” happening. It’s truly incomprehensible...mind blowing in fact!   I remember “ back in the day” some popular mus...

Our Climate Is Changing... I find it amazing that there are many still not believing that the overall climate of our world is changing. What can you say? When it’s cold they say...”See I told you...It’s still cold not warm!”   Here in Australia last summer we had the most devastating bushfires in history...ever!   I watched a programme on TV last evening where we were taken around where the bushfires occurred. Just so sad and the loss of animal life is insurmountable. Figures can only estimate billions of animals were killed.  Whole ecological systems have been destroyed. Eucalyptus trees five hundred years old, could even be up to a thousand years old, completely dead and they will never regrow.  Many smaller ones are returning to life but the big old trees that supported so much life are gone. So are the birds. Now you would think they would just fly away and return after the fire but the many insects they would feed on were killed als...

IMAGINE..     I have always had this thought, and I know it’s a simplistic way of thinking and will never happen, but all this constant arguing between ourselves, whether it be Liberal/Conservative versus Labor.. Democrat versus Republican etc., it’s never ending the constant bickering and fighting.  If only we could all get along and the energy and money that would be saved if we could all just work together. If things were run more like business with a board of directors from across the spectrum so to speak.   An impossible dream I know with so many different opinions but the thought of it would be amazing and I also know It would never happen in my lifetime, maybe not ever, for there has to be a monumental shift in thinking for this to happen. Maybe we need a completely new vision, a new interpretation, of what we have rather than the constant growth and destruction of Earths resources. In the words of the late John Lennon...Just Imagine!  ...

 Who would have thought the hits we heard and sung to in our bedrooms, danced energetically to back in our youth, would STILL be playing on the radio today?  I find it quite bizarre to say the least! I thought I'd heard the last of them many years ago. The thing is a lot of the DJ’s on the radio now don’t say who the singer or the band are. They just play the music and todays generation have no idea just how old that song is or who the artist is. Or even if the artist is still alive come to that! It could even be played in the background while shopping and it brings back many happy memories. Then ask, say, a Millennial or Gen Z....”So you enjoy that old song sung/played by so and so”. You get blank looks and an... ”Eh!” or “What?”   I even remember the video clips..( I was going to say the film clips but that is really dating!) as I say it’s quite bizarre. Also to hear songs that really don’t seem that old...

In years to come, as with many things, people may swear black and blue this never occurred on January 6 in Washington DC. This is a record it did and the people that were hurt in the process. Many Republicans it seems have refused to hold an enquiry into it. Fox News refused to air the ad. Featured on the Brian Williams TV show The 11th Hour on MSNBC now on You Tube link below:     www.youtube.com/watch?v=_22lMiYKzZA      Assault on Democracy: Paths to Insurrection - CNN.com

  As I stated on my comments page on May 12 on Hemp Seed Oil I started to take “the drops” the oil with many others. I wasn’t sure it would make any difference but I do feel it has helped.   I have always had trouble sleeping and I still do at times but I find I am sleeping better..maybe even calmer in myself.   My partners Parents have been taking it as a couple of daily drops under the tongue twice daily for around two months now and his Mother says her aches and pains have gone away and when out of the “medicine” the pains return. So that has to be a positive.   So many are taking it and there seems to be many new manufacturers growing it legally. I add legally as the hemp seed oil is not like the cannabis we have all heard of.  I the drug part is grown from the flower; hemp oil is taken from the leaves, stalk and I understand the seed. There are even capsules now for people who dislike the taste of the oil. It doesn’t bother me and the taste ...

  I hear President Trump...or rather ex President Trump (who STILL thinks he should be President) is thinking of making a re-appearance! It was supposed to be earlier this year and now the word is August..yes this August! Supposed to be re-instated in the White House so it goes and President Biden pushed out. I can’t see it happening not sure about everyone else?   I couldn’t take another few more years!! Those signings of countless executive orders and the endless photo ops. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and switch my radio on just in case he had resigned. Surely shouldn’t they just get on with the job of being President without all the fanfare and camera ops just like President Biden!   I can honestly say that although I live on a completely different continent it just seemed endless day after day after.... you know the way it goes. Twitter this and Twitter that...aaaAAAHHH! Thankfully there were no major incidents in the one term he w...

  This is one of life’s mysteries  to me...I know I really should get out more!   I’m puzzled...It’s just a small thing I know and with so much going on in the world it seems really quite insignificant BUT.... why do people stick out their tongue when having their photo taken?   I guess no one’s really even thought about it. I certainly have. I think it looks awful. I mean who wants to see your tongue? I don’t!  I think that’s a very unattractive part of the body. Sticking your tongue out like some reptile...I mean why?   Does it date back to a distant primitive part of our life from caveman times? Do they think they're Gene Simmons from KISS? Is it supposed to show being fierce, funny or sexy?   So there..it annoys me!  I mean I would not wish to do that than to do...practically anything else!   Just smile...say cheese...say anything but please no tongue......not for a photo anyway (😜)

    I had a laugh to myself recently leaving Chemist Warehouse. Maybe that’s when it hit me...in  the bag I had some rheumatism cream and a box of 'Just for Men'. If you don’t know what 'Just for Men' is well you’ll just have to find out. Unless they pay me for advertising it that is??? It sells out quickly enough. And rheumatism cream...well that speaks for itself! Vain? Who said that! I call it just called looking after yourself...or in other words making the best of what you have...or just maybe getting older and not wanting to admit it!.   There are creams and lotions we, or I should say I, no I guess many, apply to protect us from this harsh Australian sun and to help with the ever appearing wrinkles or I should say to stop the ever appearing wrinkles appearing in the first place! The teeth whitener...no for real teeth not false heaven forbid! I really don’t like the look of yellowing teeth oooh it makes me shudder;  also I have tried to look after my ...

 Tiananmen Square Massacre China June 4 1989 33 Years Ago Today🙏 We Will Never Forget 😢 (674) Archive: Chinese troops fire on protesters in Tiananmen Square - BBC News - YouTube

  A note to Teachers..Past...Present and Future...   I’ve spoken about unhappy school memories previously  (my comments here dated May 31)  but there were many happy ones also. Some cruel teachers that would get some kind of a thrill to embarrass children in front of the class; I’m sure to traumatise them for a lifetime. Others were pure joy, kind and caring. We need more of that in our life...the kind and caring part that is.   Teachers...although children can often be a handful...and some times a pain...you will indeed be remembered for a lifetime for your patience and deliverance.   My first real experience of music I can remember was in junior school aged around 8 years of age. At morning assemblies as we all sat on the floor, teachers seated around the back of the room, there was one lady, I think she must have been a student teacher thinking back as she was so much younger than the others.  Sometimes for a treat she would  ...

 To me it’s always seemed such a waste that when we die all our memories die with us. Unless it is written or recorded for future generations, usually by a family member who has thought about it, so many don’t, all that knowledge obtained over a lifetime is lost forever. If only there was a way it could be stored and called upon as in a library of memories not written but spoken by the person themselves.   I just watched a programme on TV about a Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov who has this dream, and the money, of creating an artificial body, an avatar, to extend the human life span and to extend our minds into machines. To extend human consciousness into robotic avatars; as we are familiar with in the James Cameron's film Avatar. His aim is by 2045 this will be a fact not a fiction. “To continue living in an artificial body than to die in a biological one, when the original biological body is exhausted.”   Makes sense to me! How amazing would that...

 24 Hours From Tulsa...that was the first thing I thought of was the song! No connection AT ALL of what todays anniversary is all about but that’s really all I knew about Tulsa. It was a good song at the time and nothing more. As you can most likely tell I live on a completely different continent but aware of what happens in the world. Usually that is! Today is the anniversary of a dreadful act in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Something I have never heard of before in my lifetime and a part of history, it seems, many Americans aren’t even aware happened and just as many that do know would like it to remain hidden.   Today President Biden, the first President to do so, paid a visit to Tulsa to remember the race riots of 1921. On that sad day one hundred years ago a white mob destroyed the Greenwood district known as “Black Wall Street”. Many experts have called this the most horrific incident of racial terrorism since slavery.   The Greenwood district ...