It Is… Pt13 pt1

Written by Prim on 31/03/2023

‘it’s been a long time coming but a change will come’
‘Sam Cooke’s a cropper’

Brain a mush. Sleepless night… vacant pause. Mushy peas, yes please. Where were we? Brain a mush, mash, for smash… vacant paws… mash, mmm… (ponder)…

… (ponder over)… Sunlight burnt marmalade piercing brown papered windows… Al Pacino’s insomnia denied memory of eating marmalade and mash with sprinklings of bacon croutons… Skip the beat, he got da meat, and lo… tea was sorted…

…and lo lo, meantime, grrr, in World News…

Japan household home giants Uniqlo and Muji have been busy growing since 2019 & ’20 respectively in Vietnam. Growing, as in business wise, and not say, tomatoes, though they could have been that too. Retail mega outlet Aeon have also invested $1bn to triple its shops, ergo many, many, many an export back to Japan.

Growing and exporting ergos… oh those crazy japanese

Strange how products for home are made abroad to bring home again. Economics, bonkersly brilliant. While I was living in Vietnam the men folk came over for the weekends to play golf while the wives shopped, because both were far cheaper than doing so at home. Is that still happening?

who needs abroad when it’s a balmy 13degrees in Northland Blighty

Move along the bus…

Tik Tok are close to closing in on a universal US ban. (Say ten times on Tik Tok and earn a zillion.) For reasons no-one’s really sure about, bar the endless spouting of ‘security’, which makes no sense given the collective data gathered on Americans is no different from any other social media outfit. …Close to clothin inonan…close to clot on a uni… clopes…kkkok

On 14 May the Pheu Thai party’s Paetongtarn ‘Uni Ing’ Shinawatra, is odds to be Thailand’s next PM. (what?) The 36yr old head of the party has form for a potential coup given her family’s connections. Her dad is the ousted and infamous Thaksin and she is the niece of none other than Yinluck Shinawatra, also ousted by the Military, standard practice, whereby there are approx 19 coups to date all ending in military rule. Thaksin is currently in self-exile in Dubai. Which, should I be self-exiled, Dubai wouldn’t be my choice… what would yours be?

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Canada is still the fastest growing G7 country. 1m is the immigration number to prop up the workforce. Now the whole world has retired early, skilled labour is in shortage. Shortages in the workforce leads to shortages of necessity, and with an added influx of folk, houses are a necessity in dire need. This housing shortage means 3.5m houses are to be built by 2030 in Cannuckland, with 1.5m more immigrants expected by 2025, whereby of course, they’ll need more houses.

Simple this economics business innit

cannuckland business innit – I see Wednesday’s are popular this week

Move along the bus…

A Philippine disco pop musical ‘Here Lies Love’ about Imelda Marcos (and her shoes) has got anti-Marcos folk hot under the collar suggesting the play elevates the dictator’s wife. The timing isn’t grand either with Imelda’s son Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr grabbing the Presidency last year. Producers maintain the play is ‘anti-Marcos’ and pro-Filipino’ and will not, suggest, cry the same acceptance as say Mel Brooks’ Springtime for Hitler.

Monday was a spring sprung sun filled warmer in ol’ Bligthy’sville. Tuesday came a cropper and plummeted to ‘ooh, me knees are cold’. If you’re feeling the pinchy freeze, try New Zealand brand for base layers, Icebreaker, and for a beanie Coal Headware, The Harbour beanie. I didn’t and wish I had.

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Sweden has answers to Canada (and the globe’s) workforce problem; entrepreneur Ingrid Erlandsson set up Veterenpoolen in 2007 and now over 9000 oldies are on their books. They put the old folk back to work, when they want, for how long they want, on flexi time, at their convenience. A spot of gardening, building playrooms, painting houses, education, engineering you name it.

Skilled labour has all gone to Canada… or is it Perth Western Australia, it’s hard to keep up. What a superb prospect for youth, I would’ve jumped at the chance. In the meantime, grrr, folk retiring early gives all the *Yosser Hughes’ over the world a chance to shine.

*Yosser Hughes – if you’re not familiar, it’s too hard to explain the darkness of unemployed Britain in the 80’s here. Look him up, or don’t, I don’t care.

Mean-meantime, grrr, grrr, further along the bus… tickets please…

They’ve been doing it in North Korea for 15 years. They do what they’re told. in this instance they were told to make statues for export, so they did. They are in on the global economy. The African liberation movement of the cold wars had full support from all the kim’s jon/kung – ill’s. Since 1959 state owned Mansudae Overseas Projects have made socialist – realist monuments for export. And built at least 15 monuments in Africa since 2015. From Namibia Independent Memorial Museum in Windhoek to African Renaissance Monument in Dakar and a massive mausoleum for the Angolan President Dr Agostinho Neto in Luanda. At this rate a giant Mickey Mouse atop a plinth in Times Square New York with the motif We heart a bit of Mickey isn’t far off.

name the five remaining commy countries? Go…

In Ireland a similar enterprise is underway but they actually pay their artists. In fact folk in the arts, music, novelists, artists and circus performer’s to-boot are on a no-hold-bars E325 a week pay roll, totaling E16, 900 a year. For the next 2 years a controlled analysis with a group who are not and thereby find their own coin is to be an interesting find to be sure.

Blighty’s been fun kids, but we’re moving to Ireland, just to be sure.

Make a logo, that’s the way to go. NY’s Mayor and State Governor have tweaked Milton Glasers 1976 classic, I Love NY, logo in Times Sq. to an updated Helvetica font and emoji on We heart NYC as in City and heart as in the emoji heart shape. Probably shouldn’t have gone here. North Korea is way ahead.

Back to Japan…and…

Japan deals with its workforce shortage by making machines handle it. By 2028 their Tokaido Shinkanse or Bullet Train will be fully automated bar a driver, who’s only job is to start the thing. Speed and stops therein are fully automated by machine. Welcome my friends, welcome to machines.

we needed a tune, vaguely about work

Meanwhile Lebanon doesn’t know if it’s coming or going and recent spring equinox daylight saving time change had the majority Muslim contingent prolonging the hour’s jump till 21 April. No one really knows why, bar keeping Ramadan participants less hungry. While the Maronite Christian Church switched on Sunday along with the rest of the world and will in effect be a whole day ahead of them. Imagine that, from street to street to shop to school to train etc

Right, heaps more so Pt13 pt2 coming soon… maybe

P.s. Durban’s Bread the Musical – coming soon