Remember when paying bills was simple, pre-internet and pre-internet banking?
Bills arrived in the letter box. I had a bill paying day. Wrote cheques. Placed them in envelopes. Stuck stamps on the envelopes.
And next time I was near a mail box dropped them down the chute. And that was that. Simple.
Today I invested two hours paying two bills using the cursed internet banking system.
My bank had changed there login system due to increasing scams. Now after I indicate I want to login, they want my mobile phone number.
I entered my number. The bank then sent me a code which I then had to enter into little boxes. After which I was taken to the login page.
Next I entered my CAN and then my long password.
Okay I'm in after several minutes. I fill in the details of the payee and the amount. Click "Next" after which the bank logs me out without allowing me to complete the payment....I think?
I go through the gruelling login procedure again. Check my account to see if the payment was made or not?
NO my payment wasn't processed. I re-enter the payment, etc details. Click pay and yet again I was logged out of the system! Maddening is a polite word for how I felt by then.
I turned off my computer. Went and had a coffee and two biscuits.
An hour later I tried again. Guess what? Payment was completed without a hitch.
Now I have not a clue what caused the logouts. Was a scam afoot? Who knows.
What I do know is that after experiencing similar problems during the past few months, that's it for me with internet banking. It's scary, complex and not worth my time investment.
And I can no longer tolerate wondering when a scam or criminal will beat the bank's security and I get robbed.
Therefore this guy is returning to making payments at our local Post Office for payment of utility services and the bank counter for other payments.
I understand that the banks hate face to face transactions but the current online banking system has become too complex and worrying for this older citizen.
My bank still provides face to face transaction services...for now anyway.
So remember when paying bills was secure and simple! I've had enough and will happily return to secure and simple while I can.
Cheers Ross
If one rips along the highway at 90 kph in a 70 kph speed zone, one expects to attract the attention of traffic police.
However, if one is idling along at 35 kph in a 70 kph zone for a minute or so , everything should be hunky dory; shouldn't it?
Actually, no, not necessarily so!
A lady friend in her early 80's related this stunning story to us today. She joined my wife and I at a Tavern for lunch, at which, none of us had previously attended.
Our friend arrived puffing, slightly pale, and mildly shocked. After sitting down at our reserved table, and getting back her breath, she related this weird story to us, of what just happened to her.
New to this suburb and road, she was ambling along in her red Toyota sedan at a sedate 35 kph for a few minutes, as she looked for the tavern, which according to her research should be nearby.
She didn't want to miss the turn off the dual highway into the tavern and be forced to go around the block for a second reconnaissance.
Avidly searching the shopping area on her left she received a hair-raising shock, when suddenly, her rear vision and side mirrors blazed with flashing brilliant blue and red lights! Accompanied by the ear splitting scream of a siren!
Oh my God she thought! What have I done wrong? She slowed down from 35 kph to zero as she promptly parked her car at the kerbside.
In mere seconds FOUR uniformed police men surrounded her car. Oh my God she thought do they think I'm a drug runner?
Shaking like a leaf she pressed the down button to lower her driver's side window! She noted that the two police men on her side of her car didn't have guns drawn? Not so sure about the two cops on the other side of her car?
"I'm sorry officers, what have I done wrong?" she stammered!
A Senior Constable, apparently the leader of the "bust", warily approached her car. She noted his right hand was on the butt of his holstered revolver!
"Place your hands on top of your steering wheel, Madam", which she did immediately. The officer, apparently satisfied she was not holding a weapon, stepped up to her window.
"Have you been drinking, or taking drugs?" he inquired.
"Good lord no. I'm on my way to meet friends at the local tavern," she managed to say from a mouth suddenly gone dry from fear.
"Why then were you driving at only 30 to 35 kph for the last few kilometres? People usually only drive slow like that if they are under the influence of alcohol or drugs!" asked the Senior Constable.
"Sorry, but I slowed down as I'm looking for the off ramp into the tavern. There's no traffic on this road so I didn't think I was causing a problem", she responded in a dry, shaking voice.
She thinks, at that point, the Senior Constable realized she was an elderly lady who actually had not done anything wrong! He changed his tone to one of compassion, perhaps understanding they half scared the life out of her, for no good reason?
"Actually, we've been following you thinking you may have suffered an adverse event and were waiting for a safe spot to stop and check you," he offered as a legitimate reason for terrifying this elderly lady.
The four policemen said goodbye, jumped back in their blue and white checked vehicle, and off they went!
Our friend sat shaking in her car for several minutes, regaining her composure, before starting her engine and once again toodling along the road.
Our friend acknowledges that her driving at a low speed along a highway, albeit a highway lacking traffic, might be reason for a police officer to be suspicious as to why. That's reasonable enough. She's not complaining. Just wishing they had been elsewhere at the time!
She continued along the highway and lo and behold, there sat the tavern. Barely 200 metres up the road from an event, the like of which, she had never encountered in sixty two years of driving!
Incredible, but true! Rest assured once our friend had told her tale we had a good laugh, a delicious lunch, and a drink! Coffee!
Cheers Ross
Last evening my Daughter and Granddaughter visited us, which, as always, was delightful.
The conversation turned to fuel shortages, transport and aircraft schedule delays. My Granddaughter then asked me how today's world compares to when I was a youngster some 80 years ago.
Oft-times us elderly are wary about talking about the world we once knew as we have a concern that really, who cares? Now out of the blue someone did care!
I provided her with an idea of the 1950s!
My parents didn't have a car. So a fuel panic would not have directly concerned them. Nor a telephone. They wrote letters to family and friends. Sent telegrams at the local Post Office, if urgent. And caught a bus to go to town, to a Doctor or visit folk.
Mum walked to the corner shops to buy our groceries, meat and bread.
They didn't have a refrigerator. A Coolgardie safe and an ice chest kept their perishables cold. We knew no different. The system worked.
Traffic lights did not exist here in Perth in those days. And the metropolitan area barely extended 15 kilometres in all directions.
Police radar traps and spy cameras did not exist to control people and traffic. An occasional motor cycle cop was the go.
The internet, computers, mobile phones for the masses, fax and photocopy machines did not exist in 1950. Our most technical gear were the typewriter, roneo duplication machine, with it's dreaded blue or purple ink, and cars without auto window wind down or air conditioning.
And long distance messages were transmitted via morse code or radio. Television was non existent in Perth in the early 1950's.
in order to signal one was stopping, turning right or left, one stuck their right arm out of the car or truck window, and made the appropriate signal.
In the 1950s the population of Perth was a mere 350,000. Although titled a "city", Perth was really just a big country town on the coast of the Indian Ocean. One of the remotest cities in the world.
In 2026 our population is around two million. Traffic is generally a nightmare. The metropolitan area extends approximately 120 kilometres from north to south and 60 kilometres from the coast to the eastern suburbs.
Today, people are jammed into ever shrinking homes, apartments and flats, as a rapidly increasing population from overseas and interstate threaten to totally overwhelm our infrastructures.
Back in 1950 such problems were unknown and non existent in Perth. Despite some rationing post world war two, generally we didn'twant for much. The concept of Big Brother Government and Artificial Intelligence, observing our every action, was an unknown distant future, written about in science fiction novels with a touch of horror!
In 2026, people can't afford to buy or rent a property, even if they can locate one to buy or rent. In 1950, albeit a mere five years since the conclusion of one of the most devastating wars of the world, everyone I knew was buying their home. My parents. Their siblings.
My Granddaughter asked more questions which delighted me. Her interest in my distant, long lost world of the 1950's was fantastic. Then she said something extra touching.
"Grandad, your world way back then seems like a more fun place than today. Please tell me more!"
Yes, your story and mine is of interest to many of the very young in these somewhat stressful days of uncertainty and strange happenings.
Cheers
Ross
In March 2025 surfers and fisher people began reporting a hideous brown yellow foam along various beaches of South Australia.
Thousands of dying and dead fish began to appear in the surf and on beaches. Then a surfer noticed dead and dying kangaroos in sand hills and meadows adjoining beaches.
Approx 120 kangaroos were reported to have been euthanised.
Numerous residents living in beach suburbs became unwell with coughs and a range of skin and other irritations.
In March 2026 it seems that this algal bloom persists at various points along the South Australian coast line.
The reason I write about this is that the immensity of South Australia's algal bloom appears to be a new enemy to life in general. Is it being replicated elsewhere around the world?
Has anyone encountered this horror in their region in recent times.
I never used to hear about this nasty situation back in the twentieth century. Perhaps this vast algal bloom is a product caused by our global warming?
Have others encountered this horror in their region in recent times? Thankyou.
Cheers
Four sky high chimneys spewed columns of sooty, black smoke into the mid morning, bright blue sky. At the base of the enormous brick stacks, fuel oil, under immense pressure, hosed into two huge rectangular blast furnaces.
I was going on for seventeen, having happily escaped high school after completing my Junior Certificate at age 15. I hated school and was fortunate enough to get the job of my dreams at the conclusion of third year high. A trainee laboratory technician. I had worked at the glass factory for two years.
I signalled to the Furnace Chief to turn off the supply of fuel oil into furnace number two. Once the flames ceased roaring along the length of the furnace a worker removed a 12 x 10 inch red brick using a large pair of metal tongs. Both of us wore anti flash gear and heavy asbestos gloves. This was dangerous work!
I moved in closer with my optical pyrometer and peered into the orange, red hot, seething innards of the molten glass. It always reminded me of photos of the white hot surface of our sun.
My assignment was to match the colour within my optical pyrometer to that of the bright orange glow of the surface of the molten glass. Thereby determining the temperature of the glowing, melting, mixture of silica, lime and other minerals! Vital data ensuring the correct maintenance of the viscosity as it moved ever closer to the lears to eventually be compressed, via iron molds affixed to automated machines, into thousands of glass bottles.
Super heat took my breath away. This had to be completed efficiently, and quickly. I had suffered burns in the past and knew to linger is painful. The brilliant orange of the optical pyrometer filament matched the surface colour. Job done! I gave the worker the thumbs up sign. Back into the hole went the brick. Rapidly we backed away from the portal of hell. Another worker sprayed water on us. Relief.
We chambered down the steel walkway to ground level. I returned to the laboratory to report my readings.
This was back in 1959. I was employed as a Laboratory Technician by Australian Glass Manufacturers (AGM), a subsidiary company of the ACI Group. The company was paying for my education to progress through to becoming an Industrial Chemist.
The enormous AGM factory sprawled over a significant segment of East Perth, adjacent to the beautiful Swan River, barely five kilometres from the centre of the city of Perth.
Today, in 2026, my old work place of the late 1950's is long gone. The massive pollution and heavy industrial activity replaced with cool lakes extending from the river. Comfortable apartments, homes, walk ways and restaurants live in beautiful harmony with the land. The dense black smoke is no more. Clouds of dust being blown from the massive stock piles of silica sand, and many other minerals which were melted to make clear, brown, blue and green glass bottles are distant memories.
A few weeks ago when I visited East Perth I vividly recalled the sprawling glass factory. The endless transport trucks coming and going. The workers toiling in the exhausting heat of the furnaces during a 36c Perth summer day. Red hot furnaces. My two mates, Captain and Sailor who managed the boilers, a story in themselves. And the laboratory where I learnt so much from Clive the Chief Chemist and Jim the Industrial Chemist.
Wonderful days and a grand experience. However, today's beautiful environment is a far better place for the well being of everyone.
Cheers
Ross
Many of us seniors are often accused of overplaying how wonderful life used to be as compared to today!
I am senior enough to vividly remember when a specific experience was not only horrible, it was downright dangerous to one's health. No, certainly not the good old days!
Back in the 1980s and 1990s my occupation required me to fly all over Australia. Perth to Darwin, Adelaide, Sydney and other ports of call. And I am certain thousands of Canadians will have suffered from what I'm going to describe!
I would checkin at the Qantas counter to receive my boarding pass. The counter person would tag my luggage and away that would go. Personal, friendly, stress free service!
Boarding time arrived. A hostess showed one to their seat. Placed hand luggage in the overhead luggage compartment. And ensured one's comfort. Up, up, and away we would go into the blue. The excitement of the power of the take off never left me. Exhilarating!
The seatbelt on sign would turn off. Time to relax and await the arrival of predinner drinks, in a wine glass, I must highlight, not in a paper cup. However, now the flight for many began to go downhill!
What was that sour, foul aroma. Cigarette smoke! Tragically from that point forward, the smell of cigarette smoke permeated the entire aircraft. Aircraft companies allocated several rows of seats, usually at the rear of the plane, as "Smoking Seats". For that reason I always booked a seat as far forward as possible.
Unfortunately, airflow ensured the smokers horrible smoke worked it's way into the lungs of every passenger and crew member. I had an allergy to cigarette smoke and was a non smoker. After 15 minutes or so my inflamed nostril regions rebelled. Sneezing ensued for the remainder of my flight.
I never discovered the logic behind allowing passengers to sit in the rear of a hermetically sealed aluminium tube and permitting people to light up a craven A fag, thereby ensuring the ruination of the flight for me and numerous others.
Eventually fairness and sanity prevailed. What a miraculous day it was when smoking was BANNED on all aircraft ! Although I dread to consider how much cigarette smoke I inhaled over those many years flying in smoke filled planes.
So here is a classic tale of when the good old days were dastardly horrible!
Cheers Ross
Bushfires raging. Floods submerging towns and rural properties. Tragic events taking place in Australia as I write. Causing chaos and massive loss of property and livestock, and sadly, lives of citizens, all around our world. Not just here in Australia.
Global warming continues to gain a stronger foothold, melting our polar regions and turning the lives of wondrous creatures such as Polar Bears upside down.
And yet we continue with practices that further warm the planet.
A little ray of hope appeared in Perth this week that might demonstrate a changing of attitude concerning a practice that has concerned many for a decade or so.
As our natural water supply dries up, thousands of home owners have opted to replace green lawns with artificial turf. Yes that saved a power of water...as well as tonnes of fertiliser not being applied, ending up in our water table.
The positives, our councils have since discovered, are probably outweighed by a range of negatives relating to artificial grass.
During a recent 41c day here in Perth tests indicated artificial turf with temperatures exceeding 81 degrees Celsius. Temperatures of mulch and natural grass registered around a third of those stupendous readings.
And revelations on our local TV news this week revealed that artificial grass releases a range of toxins into the ground when overheated. Toxins which eventually find their way into our water table.
Many local councils have announced that artificial turf will no longer be allowed on nature strips. And some councils might no longer approve it's use within a property. At least that's my takeaway from news reports last Monday evening.
Thereby cooling our suburbs and preventing potential future negative consequences from released toxins.
Now, I am no expert on this subject and am only commenting on information released from councils and reports on council websites.
It makes sense to me. Hopefully one of.many steps needed to cool things down as we continue to break temperature records here, and repeated floods, both here and around the world.
Aged seven, I would take my four year old brother fishing. We walked a relatively short distance from our home in South Perth to the Swan River foreshore. I would find little white snails on the waterfront for bait.
We sat on a concrete rampart, placed a snail on a hook, on a hand line, cast a short distance, and caught butter fish. My parents called them butter fish. Maybe the true name was different.
After great fun fishing and mucking around in the shallows we would meander home. Our short trek took us past a Chinese market garden. Friendly Chinese folk gave us little sticks of sugar cane to chew on our way home.
That was back in 1950. A world away from 2026, in every meaning, of the concept of freedom.
If parents allowed similar freedom to their children these days those adults would probably end up in trouble with an authority of some specification. And with numerous acts of bad behaviour on all fronts in suburbs such simple enjoyment might end badly for two young boys exploring the world, alone.
The Chinese market gardens are long gone. Restaurants, and car parks, occupy the space where my brother and I caught "butter fish" seventy six years ago.
Perths population increased from 355,000 (Est) in 1950 to 2,500,000 (Est) in 2025. I was extra privileged to have enjoyed a pleasant freedom, which disappeared long ago.
Cheers Ross