GRIEF and FEAR are fascinating activators of human behaviour. When I got my 2 deadly prognoses of heart disease and cancer, after working in palliative care for many decades, I just took off, refused all treatments at age 50, spent money, saw the world for years, fell in love, found a family, and did things I never ever would have done without this impetus. Then, I just didn't die... I'm still standing. I have great respect for grief and fear and, because of them, I still lead an unexpected and remarkably meaningful life...and I have yet to be irradiated or operated on, 15 years later.

Noting some silly people getting in trouble in UK for building a bonfire effigy of the Grenfell Tower and some in the USA getting in trouble for a bonfire of the Twin Towers...Silly people, yes, but nothing wrong with doing that. Social Grief has many manifestations and effigy burning is one of them, whether folk realise what they are doing or not...still better to burn something in a bonfire than to invade and destroy another country as has been the abiding grief-habits of both the USA and the UK for many decades now.

Grief is grief...no one likes it...and no one out evolves it.

Mutterings of the Aged: I like my job. I don't mind going to work. I just don't want to contribute to society anymore. I've experienced Australian society for a long time now, since 1953, and I certainly don't want to contribute to that any more than I have had to. Jesus, look at it! I didn't do that!"

I think the last decent human being who was US President was Jimmy Carter.

On the ever important matter of Car Shapes Through Time, they pretty well all come down to being roundish, squarish, or pointy-triangularish. Then these usual change about every 5 annual models to a variation and mixture of these 3 prime shapes. I've always liked squarish, boxy shaped cars, the Volvo as it always was and the Nissan Navara Ute, as it still a bit is. I was fascinated when Toyota brought out the very boxy squarish RUKUS and I came close to buying one. I liked the black Rukus as it was 6" longer than the white Rukus, and 9" longer than the beige one. It is fascinating, as time goes by, you see these remarkable designers trying to work out what to do with these 3 shapes. The cars from conservative epochs, like the current times, are usually a mix of the 3 so as not to offend anyone...and they pretty well all do look the same, reflecting the aspirations of the people who buy them.

We are a motley crew.I recall when I was a bus driver in Sydney in...1978. I'd open up the doors and welcome people aboard the 190 from Wynyard to Palm Beach and most folk seemed to like that, until some guy one afternoon didn't like it and hit me in the face with a claw-hammer. Its a funny world. We are a motley crew. I was discussing 'empathy' with a young nurse tonight and she said she had problems with having empathy for people who were addicted to Ice, alcohol, or anything else. I acknowledged that empathy is a bit like harmony. Harmony is a worthy goal...as is empathy. The notions spring forth naturally from our emotions and need to be honoured. Empathy is very creative. Emotions create reason. Without emotions, there is no human reason. The other day at work a patient who is always worried about something and tends to break into every conversation or anything I'm doing with anyone else, and I was very busy with someone who was pretty-very crook... anyway, she couldn't wait and so burst into the conversation with..."I'm going to..." then she looked into my eyes...and paused...and then said "I'm just going to bugger off to my room for awhile." I believe she is beginning to appreciate the concept of empathy. Must be the goatee. Keep the faith. We are a motley crew from go to whoa.

have no problem with the youth of Australia. It is all about growing. Fortunately I was of a generation before them establishing that peace was the best outcome, and there haven't been any wars that we've been really involved with for a long time. That's a great thing. Mind you, we blew off a few billion dollars every year for the last ten buying weapons from the USA to drop on some poor villages in Syria, for sure...money that could have helped us and not destroyed them good people. Still...If kids grow up in peace they are most likely to expect peace as being normal rather than something to be anxious about as we were in those days. Life is better in peace. We need to choose our allies far better than we have. America never delivers, and is far too expensive. to ever have as a 'friend'. A friend doesn't do what America does.