Greeting fellow Ozzie heretics. Well, it's a sad day. My 65th birthday. Yes, I'm now an old fart, an old duffer, or, as Bob Hawke might have said, a silly old bugger. How did it happen? Seems like only 47 years ago that I was an 18 year old democratic socialist and atheist, but now I'm .. well.. a 65 year old democratic socialist and atheist. Guess Paul Simon was right when he sang, "After changes upon changes we are more or less the same, after changes we are more or less the same." I'm also reminded of his lyric that "We work our jobs, collect our pay, think we're gliding down the highway but in fact we're just slip sliding away." Definitely feel like I'm slip sliding away these days. And look at these days -- living in a virus that's slowly strangling us socially and financially, and under a religious nit wit Prime Minister who will probably be re-elected because Australians are notoriously not that smart people. It's a long way from the 18 year old me and Gough and It's Time. Well, I might be in the silly old bugger age cohort, but I'm damned if I'm going to become one, like those old fools who turn up at liberal rallies, or behind Pauline Hanson. A socialist and an atheist to the slip slidin' end! That's me.
And with that I wish all you young whippersnappers a good day. 
3
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3 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I'm eleven years your senior and you're making me feel old! Grrr! I emigrated to Australia from the UK because an Australian colleague told me that Gough Whitlam had just been elected and it was going to be a great place to live and work. (Well, that might not have been the only reason I came: getting a good job offer had a lot to do with it, but then I might not even have applied for that job if it hadn't been for Gough.) I got here, and then he got fired. The place has been going downhill ever since.
Coffeo
Level 8
July 18, 2020
1
Well that's an interesting story, but i guess you stayed so something must have kept you here. I envy UK Australians. They get a UK pension and a Aust pension, or so I'm told. Good luck to them. Anyway, Gough affected a lot of us, always for the better. In my case I went to university because of the 1972 election and Gough. I have never forgotten that. Never will. I saw Gough at a speech he gave at Adelaide university in the 1980s. I wanted to go up and say thank you, but circumstances didn't permit. I believe people wrote and said thank you to him all the time for the rest of his life, and it meant a lot to him. There's no other politician I have that regard for, and certainly not Hawke and Keating. You're right; all downhill since 1975.
@David1955 I didn't work in the UK long enough to get a proper pension. I get £34 annually (that's about $61 at the current rate of exchange). Hardly enough for a lavish lifestyle. Despite The Dismissal, I still like Australia, and I stayed here because I got married to an Australian and have Aussie children. Besides, who would want to live in the UK? (Canada might still be OK, but it gets a bit chilly.)
When Whitlam got the sack, I attended a protest meeting in Moorabbin Town Hall. It's the only time in my life I've been to any sort of political do.
Happy 65th Birthday M8, you do realise that you ARE only as young as the woman you're feeling....LOL.
Sorry Ladies, a bit on the 'crude' side I know but that's my Aussie Outback style of humour.
Hey, in approx. 5 months I'll be hitting the 67 mark but it gets harder to 'hit the mark' (i.e. the toilet bowl) with every year that passes UNLESS you stand straddling the dunny that is.
As the old saying goes, " Ladies, please remain seated during the ENTIRE performance, remember the JOB is NOT done until the paperwork is finished, Gentlemen, please stand a little closer, It, like Life may just be shorter than you think." LOL.
Triphid
Level 9
July 18, 2020
1
what is it now that men do with consenting women... wait its coming back to me....
Happy anniversary. Think of the other benefits: young girls think that you're a dom, muggers think you an easy target, scammers do also, the medical profession & hospitals want you if you are insured, appear to have means or have recyclable body parts & blood, the government wants you to test the latest virus on, aged care wants to pretend to help you, the number of people who want to tell you how to lead your life have just increased fourfold, every merchant, tradie and vendor wants to rob you and lastly Pauline wants you to vote for her so that she will soon be eligible for the biggest pension of all!
Have a good'un David. I had hoped to have July in Adelaide myself to celebrate my birthday but C19 lockdown has scuppered that plan.
FrayedBear
Level 9
July 18, 2020
1
Thanks for that. I'll just go and jump off a nearby cliff since it seems pointless going on.
Yeah, I was hoping for a couple of weeks in Thailand in August, visit some old friends, get away from the horrible Adelaide cold, get some massage for my back and neck, and eat some Phat Thai Sy Goong, but that's fucked now, thanks to China and its bat bug. (Jeez, I'm sounding like Trump!)
@David1955 But you can still tell a joke against yourself 
! There is always tomorrow - who knows we could pass through a cosmic cloud that seeds our atmosphere with the "it's gonna be all right virus" and everyone will develop super immunity to virus, hunger, drought and thugly people!
And if eveyone believes that the Chinese did it I suggest that the US propaganda machine has won out.
@FrayedBear so you are an optimistic at heart! I knew it!
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