Day One of Two

One shouldn’t really start a new project until the earlier is completed.  However I made an except today….. Actually I appear to usually make the exception.  Today was the first day of fitting the Bullbar to the Isuzu.  You would think removing the factory trim and grill would be easy.  Particularly as I’ve previously done it to fit the insect mesh.  Age appears to be an issue as I couldn’t remember where all the hidden clips were spending three hours just removing the grill.  It was a bloody job!  Probably because my aging skin is thin and the prescription blood thinners results in me leaking like a sieve.

Eventually I reached to stage where everything that needed to be removed had been removed!

 

From this point onwards I need to carefully follow the bullbar manufacturers instructions.  That proved to be somewhat more difficult than anticipated.  The bullbar is manufactured in Portugal and the instructions appear to be written in portlish.

The You Tube video from “Low Range Nick” which he made fitting his bar proved to be quite useful.  although he also doesn’t cover everything.  By the end of the first day I have the mounting brackets and winch cradle fitted.

 

All the nuts and bolts are only finger tight….. because that’s what the instructions tell you to do!

I think I’m about halfway through the project.  There were moments today when I questioned my logic in deciding to fit the bar myself rather than paying the $500 installation fee to the dealer. 

Don, IMHO 14 day quarantine for all international arrivals is a good move on the part of the NZ Government.  Marilyn makes the same point.  Today’s news was those who refuse testing in Victoria are to do an additional 10 days of quarantine raising the total time to 24 days.  Remember this quarantine period is conducted in a hotel with all meals, accommodation, internet, etc paid for by the government (ie the taxpayer…. ME!)  30% of the Victorian arrivals have refused to be tested.  In NSW the figure is 3%.  In early March the federal government told all residents not to go overseas which means I’m at a lose to understand why almost four months later we have Australian residents returning.  Obviously returning wasn’t a priority, and neither is being tested.   They are fortunate that I’m not in charge as I’d be telling them “Test Now…. Or get back on the aircraft and return to your point of departure!”  Bet they’d all opt for testing.

Mick, I should have written “any illegal mass gathering”.

David,  Jeez I though I was a big cynic  

My instinct tells me the UK government has opted for a policy of accepting a manageable leave of infection and fatalities rather than attempting to snuff out the pandemic.      The risky part of your ‘lab-rat’ theory is having been infected during their mass gathering the ‘lab-rats’ go back and infect  the general public who are attempting to maintain social distancing. 

One unreported symptom of COVID-19 is obviously diarrhoea.    There’s now a second round of panic buying toilet paper in Victoria.  Rationing is back! 

Stamina

It’s rather obvious a percentage of the population doesn’t have the stamina for self-isolation or social distancing.  The TV News this morning had an article regarding a packed beach on England’s south coast.  I assume some of them thought if it was OK to ignore social distancing and attend a BLM protest, then it was OK to go to the packed beach on a hot day.  There has been a second COVID-19 curve in Melbourne with some of the affected having attended the recent BLM protest.  The TV news also showed males kissing cheeks and hugging each other at the end of Ramadan celebrations.

 

Until three days ago the West Australian premier was taking heat over his insistence on maintaining closed borders and quarantining all arrivals in government controlled (and paid for) hotels.  The outbreak in Melbourne now has some of the other state premiers talking of doing a backflip.  I was somewhat astonished to hear on the midday news that some of the people who have returned from overseas into compulsory 14 day quarantine have refused to be tested for COVID-19.  I suppose they have a right to refuse.  However the general population also has a right to not be infected and if I was in charge I’d acknowledge the right to refuse testing and send them straight back to where they came from.  I’m almost certain testing suddenly wouldn’t be an issue!  I’m a grumpy old git! 

First Meeting

Yesterday I was attempting to catch up with my blog reading.  There are a number of boating blogs I’ve followed since we first started seriously thinking about narrow boating in 2009.  One of those blogs is Carol and George on Still Rockin’.  They managed to find the time to meet us in Perth during their 2019 Australian trip.  Still Rockin’ is now for sale <more info here>

I was reminded I’d first met Carol and George when we started the fit-out of Waiouru at Aldermaston Wharf on the Kennet & Avon Canal.  I had walked the towpath from Aldermaston to Reading and then the Thames Path upstream to Rivermead Park.  At that time Carol and George still had their narrowboat Rock ‘N’ Roll and were moored with Geoff & Mags on Seyella and Sue & Vic on No Problem. I met all of them; except Geoff who had walked to Tesco.  George kindly gave me a boat inspection of Rock ‘N’ Roll pointing out some interesting features.

On my return walk to Aldermaston I decide to “cut the corner” rather than walk down to the junction of the Kennet and Avon and the Thames.  Turning south at Reading Bridge I headed towards the Oracle Shopping Centre only to discover a park which had to be crossed.  That’s when I noticed the large bronze statue of the Lion.  Interested, I walked over to read the various plaques on the plinth.

 

Well the statue was cast iron instead of bronze and I thought to myself “It must weigh a ton!”  I had that wrong.  According to Wikipedia it weighs 16 tons   The original plinth was made from brick and started to crumble under the weight.  It was subsequently replaced with granite.  Another surprise was the purpose of the statue.  It commemorates the 329 officers and soldiers of the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot who were killed in 1880 during the Battle of Maiwand, Afghanistan.  Reading is in Berkshire and one assumes many of those killed were local.   This battle occurred during the second British-Afghan war and I was struck by the coincident I’d come upon the statue towards the end of the “Third” British-Afghan War. 

The Maiwand Lion sits in Forbury Gardens which was sadly reported on the local news this morning as the site of the UK’s most recent terrorist attack.  

Ignoring history

My perspective

I admit to being concerned by the lack of leadership from our leaders during the current period of extremism.

Defacing and pulling down statues smacks of the Taliban destroying the Buddahs of Bamyan. Or ISIS destroying many ancient sites in Syrian and Iraq. The Nazis burnt books and Chairman Mao's Red guards destroyed hundreds of cultural sites. All of this horrified rational and reasonable people. Yet we are now somehow racist if we object to the desecration and removal of statues instigated by the BLM movement.

Following a complaint from the local Maori tribe (iwi), the city of Hamilton NZ council rapidly removed the statue of Captain John Fane Charles Hamilton, RN after who the city was named. In addition to wanting the statue removed the CEO of the Iwi has suggested renaming the city. This is the same Iwi that approved the statue seven years earlier. Moreover there was a threat to desecrate it by local Maori activist Taitimu Maipi who had previously vandalised the statue in 2018.

Maipi stated “This guy here, he murders all of our people at the Battle of Gate Pa and he gets a statue celebrating his achievements.”

Others chimed in. Kip Ormsby said the statue needed to be removed from public areas because it represented a painful time in history for Maori. “We believe he is responsible for a lot of the atrocities that happened to our people”. The New Zealand Herald newspaper declared Hamilton “killed Maori in the Waikato land war”.

Hamilton was the captain of HMS Esk, which arrived at Tauranga on 21 April 1864, having been sent to reinforce General Sir Duncan Alexander Cameron in preparation for moving against Maori in the Waikato.

The local Maori leader had created a clever ambush at Gate Pa and the british fell right into the trap. As an officer Hamilton was armed with a sword when he led a combined party of soldiers and sailors to storm the Pa (fort). Hamilton sprang onto the parapet calling out "Follow me men" before being shot dead with a musket ball through the head. He was on NZ soil for 12 hours and killed no one!

These claims against Hamilton false. They are either lies or ignorance of history.

I'm also reminded of the UK Channel 4 interview of Lorraine Jones, a solo mother of seven, chair of the local police advisory group and ordained minister. When asked about the defacing of Churchill's statue she blamed it on "far right" activists. When pressed on whether the statue should remain she said

"I've heard many arguments on both sides. Some say that he's a racist, some say that he's a hero. I haven't personally met him, but what I would say is that that question of whether he should remain should be put to the community."

Obviously becoming an ordained minister doesn't require much knowledge about history.

I have three points to make

1. Those who advocate defacing or tear down statues are on the same moral level as the Taliban, ISIS, Nazis and Red Guards.

2. Erasing history will doom you to repeating it.

3.  If you want to be credible, then do your research and make yourself familiar with the facts.

 

I know… I’m getting too annoyed and should simply ignore all this nonsense.  But history matters!  However I do need to return to more interesting subjects.

NBN

Australia has been subject to a massive sophisticated state-based cyber attack across a range of sectors.  Fortunately the National Broadband Network (NBN) was already overwhelmed by 17 people watching Netflix at the same time, so no data was able to be downloaded.

Conversation overheard whilst social distancing.

Man One.  “I had a pie sandwich yesterday”

Man Two.  “Never heard of that”

Man One.  “It’s a meat pie between two slices of bread”

Man Two.  “That’s a Wigan Kebab!”

Puffing Bill

That was me today digging the trench from the house to the workshop.  It’s times like this I’m reminded that I’m knocking on 70 this year.  Many short rests were required during the task.  Where are my sons and grandsons?

Whilst being sand makes for easy digging, it also means the task must be completed quickly, otherwise the sides of the trench collapse.  The trench is required to be a minimum of 600mm deep, but as usual for me I’ve over engineered the task digging to 700mm.  Tomorrow I might find the energy to start on the backfilling.

Framing the Chinaman

It was 1981 and Jan was in our allocated Singapore married quarter when the doorbell rang.  An old man was at the door.  He spoke no english, however Jan quickly realised he was trying to sell two paintings.  One of an old man and the other a woman.  Reluctant to purchase both painting; a decision she later regretted; Jan bought the painting of the old man.  Afterwards she realised it had been painted on leaves. 

Leaf veins

Fast forward 36 years.  The painting frame had been damaged in storage whilst we were in the UK.  Jan asked if I could make a replacement frame? 

There was a short piece of Jarrah left over from the cabinet which would suffice.  I sanded it and then cut decorative edge on both sides using an ogee router bit.

The reverse side requires a rebate for the painting and it was obviously going to be a difficult task  cutting the rebate after cutting out the piece for the frame.  The logical thing was to make the rebate first again using the router, but with a straight bit. 

Then it was a matter of running the piece through the bench saw to create the frame profile.

All that was left to do was make the 45° mitre cuts and start gluing the frame in a simple jig on the assembly table.

I’ll glue one corner each day.

Initial Success

Jan has filled the new Jarrah cabinet with all her ‘Nick Nacks’.  I’m waiting on the delivery of the door catches from Hong Kong to complete the project. 

I’m delighted to report I’ve had some initial success with my seed germination.  Jan scoffed when I informed her I’d only placed one seed in each compartment.  Apparently multiple seeds are required and are then thinned out.  Why waste seeds?

Red arrows are my sprouting beetroot seeds and the blue are the spring onions.  Buying spring onion seeds may not have been my best investment as I noticed they we selling in the green grocers for $1.42 a bunch.  Still; don’t count your chickens before they hatch!

The trench for the power cable between the house and the workshop is begging to be dug, however I’m ignoring its demands until my back feels slightly happier.  In the meantime I’ve decided to do something about my Leigh D4 dovetail jig.  It’s been sitting forlornly under the bench collecting dust for far too long.

 

I’ve decided to make a storage case for it that will have a dual purpose as a mounting stand.  There’s some 12mm plywood in the garage which I’ll probably use.

BLM

On the face of it BLM (Black Lives Matter) is only three words and the vast majority of people would agree with them. However I do wonder if many of the people chanting "Black Lives Matter" or carrying a placard displaying BLM have bothered to research what BLM actually means.

BLM was formed as a hashtag in 2013 by three US based Marxists-Leninist revolutionaries. Their icon is Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur. Shakur fled to Cuba after being convicted of the murder she committed when her car was stopped for a minor traffic infringement by two New Jersey police officers. Without any warning, Shakur shot trooper Werner Foerster and then whilst he lying wounded on the ground pleading for his life she walked over and executed him.

BLM came to prominence in 2014-15 when it declared war on the police in the USA. It targeted integrated and even majority minority police forces. BLM isn't particularly concerned about individual injustices, but rather the alleged injustice of capitalism and 'white supremacy'. Nor is BLM particularly concerned about saving black lives. They draw no attention to.. or protest against .... black on black murders or the killing of black police officers.

BLM obtains its power from its exploitation of the ideology of oppression - identity politics. One of their key chants is "We have nothing to lose but our chains". Which comes directly from the Communist Manifesto.  They demand the dissolution of the police with the objective of creating chaos and anarchy.  Such an environment will provide them with the opportunity create a revolution and seize power.

I suspect if the majority of protestors were to be asked what they believed BLM meant they would claim their objective was to stop the police killing black people, rather than stating they subscribed to a complex leftist manifesto.

They have been intellectually hijacked!

Last Door

The last glass door needs to be fitted to the new cabinet.  Actually it also needs the kickboard fitted.

Jan helped me carry in the top this morning which then enabled me to fit the pop-up power socket in the back right hand corner.

Comments from KevinTOO and Alf go me thinking about uses for the scraps lying behind the workshop.  I cut up the 60mm PVC downpipe into 75mm long pieces and then used the piece of plywood from the cabinet hole template and some scrap Jarrah to make a seedling tray. 

Jan has used all the space in the two raised vegie gardens I made several months ago.  This obviously means I need to make another couple.  I think she likes gardening and growing plants.  The only plants that thrive under my nurturing are weeds!

Slow progress and something new

My brother-in-law kindly assisted me move the carcass of the new cabinet into the front room.  The next step was to adjust the feet and level the unit.  The kickboard has been made from scraps of Jarrah timber and has now received it’s second coat of varnish.  It will be one of the last pieces fitted as I may have to move the unit slightly when fitting the top. 

The top has been cut to size and a hole drilled for the pop-up power socket.  It’s drying in the workshop after receiving a first coat of varnish.  I’ve also measured for the glass doors and shelves. 

A second project.

No… that wasn’t my project!

I’ve received the bullbar I ordered for the Isuzu.

I’ve decided to save the $500 the dealer wanted to fit the bar by doing the installation myself.  Why fit a bullbar?  You never know what you are going to come across when driving in the outback.  Striking camels, kangaroos, dingos, etc can cause significant damage to the front end.  Particularly the radiator.  Obviously no radiator means the vehicle isn’t going to travel very far. 

One potential problem with steel bullbars is weight.  It places additional load on the suspension and increases fuel consumption.  Most steel bullbars available in Australia are manufactured in Thailand from Chinese made steel.  In order to obtain the required strength the manufacturer has to use thick steel as the Chinese steel is often ‘soft’.  This bullbar is made in Portugal from hi-tensile European made steel.  A stronger grade of steel means a lighter bar.  Therefore less strain on the suspension and better fuel economy.  Well that is the theory.

Off Topic

I doubt there is anyone with access to the mainstream or social media that hasn't seen the video of the dreadful death of George Floyd. Black Americans should be heard and have the right to peacefully protest.

Here in Australia activists have taken the opportunity to organise nation-wide protest rallies against the deaths of Indigenous Australians (Aborigines) whilst in custody. Today thousands of people took to the streets in protest.

We will have to wait two weeks to discover whether this will result in a spike in COVID-19 cases.

The media have reported on the protests and the accusation of deaths in custody by the prison service or police.

An Aljazeera article was rather typical. The headline was

Thousands protest Indigenous Australians' death in police custody

and

Around one Indigenous Australian has died in custody or at the hands of the police every month since a landmark Royal Commission was conducted on the issue in 1991, making a total of 432 deaths since.

The problem with these simple statements is they don't provide an accurate picture of the issue. There are very few deaths in police custody, but the media and activists combine the police and prison statistics to give a large figure. Nor do these statements identify that the majority of deaths are not caused by prison officers or police.

Being analytical by nature I tend to follow the data and seek the facts.

432 Indigenous Australians have died in custody since 1991

Aborigines form 3.3% of the total population, but are 27% of the prison population.  Therefore they are over represented.

During the same reporting period 19% of deaths in custody were Indigenous Australians.

This means that whilst Indigenous Australians are over represented in custody, they are under represented as a percentage of deaths. Or to put it more concisely. Statistically Non Indigenous Australians are more likely to die in prison.

So why the protests about Indigenous Australian deaths in custody?

The two main causes of Aboriginal deaths in custody are suicide (hanging) and health related problems (natural causes).  The incidents of hanging have steadily declined as a consequence of redesigning police and prison cells by removing hanging points.  

Australian Aborigines have a shorter life expectancy than the average Australian. They are more likely to suffer poor health due to factors such as alcoholism, poor diet, obesity, diabetes, drug addiction, etc.

Why the high incarceration rate? The two most common offences are assault and trespass with intent (eg, break and enter with the intention of committing a crime; usually theft).

It appears to me the evidence shows protestors have it wrong. Whilst there are serious issues in the greater Aboriginal community, "deaths in custody" isn't one of them.

If people want to protest then it should be about major aboriginal issues such as Aboriginal domestic violence; sexual assault of children, high crime rates; poor housing; welfare dependency, etc.

Finally something interesting

After four days of sanding and varnishing (have I mentioned I hate painting :-) I finally get to do something interesting.

I decided to include some concealed backlighting into the cabinet using left over components kept over the years (OK, I’m a hoarder).  All the power and control components will be concealed between the cabinet and the wall.

[A] is the extension lead that connects the existing front room 240V wall socket to the second power socket [B].  The 240V ac to 12V dc converter came from an old router.  The LED strip lighting controller is located at [C].  The cable [D] goes to the infra red remote sensor whilst the brown cable {E} will go to a small architrave switch on the front of the cabinet.  The wiring means power will always be on at [A] but the socket at [B] will only be live if the architrave switch [E] is on. This will avoid the 240V-12V converter always being on and draining power.  It also avoids the risk of the converter overheating and causing a fire.

The IR sensor

Jan will probably find the backlighting annoying as it will produce concealed white light. 

Of course it can be changed to green or blue using the remote.  (Even more annoying!)

Red is an option.  (Liable to result in anger)

However if I want to go for infuriating; the controller will continuously flash through the four colours in sequence.

The next step is to get the cabinet out of the workshop in order to have some bench space to make the back panel and top.

Has anyone noticed with all the recent looting no work boots were stolen?

That was tough!

Whilst the timber wall cabinet project is progressing steadily the same could not be said for the socket relocations in the front room.  The TV aerial and internet data sockets need to be relocated as they will obstruct the positioning of the cabinet once it is installed.  I needed to move them and the plan was to vertically align both sockets with the existing 240V wall socket.

Removing the existing faceplates wasn’t an issue.  Nor was drilling and cutting the new holes.  The wall is double brick with a cavity between.  The major problem was transferring the two cables to the new positions.  Couldn’t squat; couldn’t kneel and couldn’t sit.  I’m getting too old!  In the end I had to lie on my side and ‘fish’ for the cables with a piece of thin, but stiff steel wire.

Grunting and cursing proved to be useful   54 years ago I would have completed a similar task in quarter of the time.  The brain remains willing, but the body is weak!

They are both now relocated and will be concealed by the end of the new cabinet.  The old holes will be stuffed with newspaper and plastered over.  The plan is to extend the 240V socket to a fancy ‘pop-up’ power socket which will be fitted into the top of the cabinet.  I purchased it cheap from Ebay.  It came with two USB charging ports which should prove to be useful.

 

Tomorrow I’ll be back to a job I hate.  Varnishing the cabinet.  A minimum of another four coats

Meanwhile during our last visit to Cosco Jan managed to purchase a large sack of strong bread flour and has already used it to bake a couple of loaves. 

12.5kg bag of Manildra Bakers Flour.

Next two loaves are on the rise!

I have to say the bread is delicious.  Especially the buttered hot end crust!