hatcheckgirl

And now we know why we are having en endless summer here in Western Australia, while the East coast is drenching. All records are broken, with the hottest and driest 6 months Oct to March since the 1890’s, with only 22 mls ave rainfall. “During the same period the city's average maximum temperature has been 30.7 degrees Celsius, an incredible 3.4C above normal and also a record. This April has only prolonged the trend with Perth's highs averaging 30.0C, a full 5C above normal and 5C above Taree's temperatures at the same latitude on the east coast. The record dry spell also continues – the city's rain gauge has collected just 1mm this month, well short of the April average of 43mm.” I remember pioneering in April with umbrellas due to the rain. And it’s all due to a high pressure system stuck just below WA which blows winds from the desert - the dreaded “easterlies”. Which is why our cart witnessing is really challenging! 🤣 This high pressure causes the winds to blow from the south (Antartica) to the southern states, and so that part of Australia is suffering from much colder temps. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-20/australia-weather-wet-east-coast-possible-cyclone-wa-bakes/103747022?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=safari

The latest stabbing of a Bishop in Sydney on Monday was labelled a “terrorist act”. The Bishop was giving livestream mass in an Assyrian Orthodox Christian Church. The attacker was a 16 yr old Muslim boy. There was a violent riot outside the church when over a hundred mad, deranged men pelted police with rocks and anything else, delaying paramedics and causing serious injury to 2 police. Coming on the back of the other fatal stabbing in Bondi by a mentally insane 40 year old off his meds, Sydney is like a powder keg atm. There is a call for calm, but the calling of the second stabbing a “terrorist act” (which enables the police extraordinary powers of investigation), has isolated and enraged some of the Muslim community. Things are showing how close we are to imploding as a society. People are really scared at the horror in their own backyards. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-18/two-knife-attacks-bondi-junction-wakeley-terrorism-target-women-/103736578?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link

Oh my! 😱 Was just reading about this, and it is not just a shallow earthquake on its own. Though relatively little damage was done this time, earthquake scientists in Japan linked this to the Nankai Trough. “The agency says that this is the first time since 1996, when the current seismic intensity scale was introduced, that a quake with an intensity of lower 6 or higher has hit Ehime and Kochi prefectures. A Meteorological Agency official called on people to stay alert for more possible quakes for about a week. The official says the earthquake occurred in the expected hypocenter area of the anticipated massive Nankai Trough earthquake, but with a magnitude of 6.6. He says it was below the strength suggesting a link with the Nankai Trough quake.” https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240418_14/ An earthquake in this region (Nankai Fault) would affect the whole plate subduction zone on the East coast, so it’s the anticipated “big one”! A “mega thrust” earthquake. “A study by the Japan Society of Civil Engineers in 2018 estimated that the long-term damage from the earthquake could result in 1,240 trillion yen in economic losses over a 20-year period.[9] It is predicted that the economic damage is likely to be 10 times higher than for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[10] A death toll as high as 230,000 has been suggested for such an event.[11]” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nankai_megathrust_earthquakes

My sister does this too. Those FF cards linked to a credit card can be initially more expensive. But if you can afford the yearly upfront expense, it is worth it. She also books through Qantas Hotels site (since I am referring to her having a Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card). The points she accumulates through using their hotel booking system (and they do Airbnb too) saves so much and puts points towards the next trip, which is usually free. Of course, we also check how much hotels cost separately, but in most cases, doing it through the Qantas site is better for the budget too.

Flights for me border on unaffordability. I visit my mum in Sydney twice a year from Perth. That route is still expensive and hasn’t gone back to reasonable pre-pandemic levels. So I took the cheap flights last time, because I also visited Melbourne and Brisbane to visit family. But, that when the cancellation happened (in Melbourne, waiting 9 hrs at the airport). All airlines cancel, of course. And it’s definitely happening more since the pandemic. But cheaper airlines are more prone. So, frequent flyer points gave me two free flights for the short Sydney-Brisbane leg. Maybe @Katty if you do collect ffp, look at using them for the shorter legs of your trip. I’ve also found that when flying overseas if you bundle your accommodations and flight with Expedia, Agoda or others, it brings the price of the whole trip down rather than separately.

These are scary times, but we trust our brothers have good guidance from the GB for when it all goes south. Jehovah has taught us well, and we are prepared. We have been waiting all our lives to see these prophecies fulfilled. Now they are! Scary, but exciting times.

We haven’t had asylums since the 60s and 70s. We have mental health systems. Which he was part of, until he dropped out of the public system and was left to struggle in the private. That is very expensive, and I imagined his parents did their best to help out because earlier in his life he would live with them on and off. One report says he graduated university with a Bachelor in Arts, so he would have been trying to manage as best as he could. But slowly slowly over the years, he didn’t keep contact with his family and lived in his car in a city in Queensland. He was 40 when he moved to Sydney a month ago, and was renting a small storage container. Reports today by police say it’s obvious he targeted women. So, there's the motive. Mentally ill mysogynistic misfit. It’s scary because there are a lot of misfits in society. It kicks vulnerable people to the curb and there are no services to help them anymore. You have to be blaringly mental and psychotic to be locked up in a mental ward. He was broken already. Does Satan manipulate these ones, I wonder?

He was not a terrorist, at least. I think we all initially worried it might have been because that’s a big Jewish area. However, he was struggling all his life with mental illness. Though known to police, it was not in the criminal sense. He had been living rough for many years in his car. So, it makes it scary to think how he was pushed to this atrocity. This shows how broken we are as a human race.

Katty, I think you’ve done very extensive research into travelling on a budget. I’ve never needed to go into that much effort, so good on you! I mainly use frequent flyer points to lower the cost. I’ve noticed since the pandemic flights are still very expensive, the cheapest flights fly at awful hours, and you pay more for the add-on that were complementary before. So while budgeting is important, you are travelling with a baby. It might be better not to do a “red eye” cheaper flight. Exhausting (used to do it). Another thing I avoid is long layovers. These are usually the cheapest flights too. When you search flights, filter by lowest cost and duration. Lastly, flight delays and cancellations. This is more common since the pandemic. You can really get stuck. The best thing is to have good travel insurance and pay extra for your flight tickets to have some flexibility. I waited 9 hrs in the airport (and caught covid) when my flight was cancelled, and even with insurance I didn’t have a full refund (because the airline managed to rebook me on the last flight). What can we do? It much harder flying now. Even though we budget and plan, nowadays it’s best to pay extra to remain flexible. I’m off to Japan next month, and planning was more difficult compared to all my previous trips. The world is very different since the pandemic.

Our stamps in Australia quietly increased to $1.50 from $1.20 on 3 April. We were caught off guard and now have to buy 10c stamps to make up the difference. That’s a 30% increase. And all other postal services have also jumped up around 20-25%. https://auspost.com.au/disruptions-and-updates/pricing-updates/bpr-letter-pricing-update

Well, I knew this past summer over in the West parts of Australia was particularly punishing. A walk in the bush tells us that there are many trees and bushes really struggling, and drying. When we go witnessing, people's gardens are much drier and more plants have died. It’s April, and we have not seen rain in many months, making it a record-breaking spell. Fears of another 'forest collapse' event in Western Australia after record dry spell So, it's not just me then….. Other parts of Australia are suffering their 12th flood of catastrophic proportions in 4 years. We are sick of hearing “unprecedented” and “once-in-a-hundred years flood”. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-11/shoalhaven-farmers-flooded-for-12th-time-in-four-years/103685588 Are you seeing catastrophic changes in your local climate too?

Not earthquake, but Mt Etna blowing smoke rings is sorta cool

And, isn’t the spiritual food we're getting currently absolutely mind-blowingly on point for what we are needing (just finished the WT pre study). This also reinforces where we are in the stream of time. V E R Y. C L O S E.

Yes, his lack of vocabulary is shocking! Like he's still limited to primary school playground language.

I can understand why the hospital would do this. They have to cover themselves. We must have our directive up to date and on us, or we really are leaving ourselves open to this. I think everyone is being reasonable, even the judge and the family, who thanked the hospital for their treatment so far. It’s good the judge said: “the hospital could return to court and seek to discharge the order if the man's health improve to the degree that he regains capacity and is able to give clear instructions about his treatment.”