Spring has certainly sprung a little bit early in much of the southern areas of Australia with warm days and fewer cool nights than usual.

Since the horrendous bushfires in late 2019 - January 2020, much of the south-eastern states have experienced milder weather. But the hot weather in NSW has lead to early bushfires with high fuel loads from the good growth.. 

Meanwhile, down my way extreme winds have battered the state leading to lots of tree damage. My property has been spared that, but the back fence is down. My long south fence line is only standing due to being tied up with rope.

So now I will have to get some fencers in to repair the damage. 

In the meantime the family has had Covid again with the mad scientist succumbing for a few days to a very mild bout, his very first as far as we know.

The Australian Senate Enquiry into Excess Mortality completed its report in August 2024. As per other reports by the Australian Bureau of Stats and Digital Actuaries, most of the excess deaths were directly caused by Covid-19. But an improvement in data collection was one recommendation from the report.

One of the Australian Senators, Babet was criticized by the enquiry for manipulative editing of parts of the Senate enquiry broadcast leading to threatening messages to some of the officials. 

My twitter feed, however, barely mentions this enquiry result with the normal suspects & acolytes, continuing with their anti-vax rants and misinformation. 

The retirement of Robert Kennedy Jnr from the USA Presidential Race in August 24 and his throwing of support to Donald Trump continues the narrative that the right-wing has with anti-vax, anti-science messaging. 

The spring winds are a reminder that the world is prone to fits and starts, without warning.

Time moves on

 Another hiatus of a few years with this very on and off blog.

My focus over the last few years was surviving COVID-19 and the many lockdowns that were inflicted on Victorian residents, especially in Melbourne. It was a very interesting time and I was able to work from home when needed.

However, being a sociable type, it became really necessary to go into work and seek out my friends and families.

I caught COVID for the first ( and so far as I know only time) in July 2022 after all restrictions had ended and Australia opened up to the world. My eldest child gave it to me and we spent the 7 days isolating at home in front of the TV watching re-runs on Netflix. Our Tangelo tree was in full fruit and I spent that time squeezing fresh juice for us both and drinking lots. My 30+ year old son was sicker than me so spent a few uncomfortable days with nausea before getting on top of the virus.

2022 was the year Australia's excess deaths peaked at about 11% above previous levels. Contrary to the anti-vax narrative, the deaths were in the older elderly (>80yrs) and related to Covid Infection waves NOT vaccination waves. If you don't believe me check out the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Actuaries Institute who still write a Covid-19 Blog where they calculate excess deaths. Actuarial people are skilled in calculations, forming the backbone of developing risk for insurance industries.

A link for you to their very informative methods and result is here: https://www.actuaries.digital/category/covid-19-blog/

I have spent quite a bit of time over the last few years following the social media debate over the vaccination and deaths, plus other issues. The recycling of anti-vax memes relates much to ideology and business interests of these proponents and it is sad that so many people get taken in by their arguments.

The latest indicators are that the excess death rates have lowered and COVID-19 is now coming in smaller but still regular waves. It will be around for a while and joins the winter pantheon of colds, flus, RSV to stress our hospital and health systems.

The cost of COVID-19 measures has been immense, particularly in Victoria, along with the inflationary effects of the extra money released into our economy due to the pandemic plus the horrible wars in Ukraine and now Gaza.

Now safely in 2024, I am swinging back to the various climate debates, that sadly inflict our Australian news on a very regular basis. The right-wing, pro-coal and gas agenda is very clear. Now with added impetus of a Nuclear agenda. But more of that later.

Hopefully not in another 4 years. The damage to our climate and systems are immense.