I look to support local businesses where I can, so when I required a physiotherapist for a four week program for a worker’s compensation claim I looked local and I am sure glad I did. I was searching for a small and local business as small businesses tend to offer better service and I was lucky enough to stumble across this great little local business.

I attended Energise Physiotherapy at Unit 3, 221 Scarborough Beach Road in Mt Hawthorn. Phil Haynes is a small local physio who has taken a risk and opened his own clinic. Whilst I am not a leading authority on physiotherapy, you tend to get a feel if an individual is competent and Phil comes across as both confident and competent without appearing overconfident and cocky.

When chatting to Phil during treatment, he describes himself as a small suburban physio, he has plenty of humility. He has his qualifications hanging on the wall in a frame, I am aware he is a Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy and I wanted to expand the discussion regarding physio training and accreditation during future visits.

When I come in for a physio session, Phil has done some strength sessions with me as a diagnostic test to check range of movement and the strength in the affected muscles and damaged tendons and ligaments. Whist I get a deep massage as well, the strength conditioning is vital. I enjoy supporting local businesses and Phil provides extraordinary customer service. I will certainly recommend Phil to my friends and colleagues.

The alleged daughter of Vladimir Putin, Elizaveta Krivonogikh is living in Paris independent media outlet Proekt has reported. Also known as Luiza Rozova, the Kremlin has naturally denied and dismissed any allegations. Whilst Elizaveta is argued to have an uncanny resemblance to Putin, she replied that “there are a lot of people who look like Mr. Putin” to a GQ Magazine interview.

Her mother, Svetlana Krivonogikh was born in Leningrad [now St. Petersburg] in 1975. Svetlana attended Saint Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance in the Department of International Economic Relations receiving her qualification in 2000. According to reports, Svetlana and Putin took the same flight from St. Petersburg to Moscow in 1999. Svetlana is claimed to have been involved in a long-term relationship with Putin for years, it is unknown if she is still involved with Putin.

Svetlana’s alleged relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin was rumoured to have begun in the 1990s when Svetlana was reported to be working as a cleaner. Svetlana was apparently living in a communal apartment that her family shared with four others. After meeting Putin, she moved into apartments known for St. Petersburg elites. This is not unheard of in Russia, Putin’s former St. Petersburg chef Yevgeny Prigozhin became the head of private military contractor the Wagner Group.

An investigation into the unlikely $100 million wealth of Svetlana, who owes her fortune to the alleged romantic relationship with Putin by independent media outlet Proekt in 2020 also uncovered the connection to Elizaveta. Svetlana became widely known by the release of the Pandora Papers published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists [ICIJ] in October 2021. The UK government imposed sanctions on Svetlana, identifying her as a leading Bank Rossiya shareholder and the National Media Group consistently promoting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Andrey Zakharov, one of the journalists involved with the Proekt media investigation, was allegedly engaged to Elizaveta. She was known to post on a regular basis about elite nightclubs and private jets. Her social media accounts disappeared once the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. The German newspaper Bild reported Elizaveta posting on social media site Telegram “It’s liberating to be able to show my face to the world again. It reminds me of who I am and who destroyed my life.” was rumoured to work at two Paris art galleries known for exhibiting anti-war art.

It has been mentioned to me that the Penfolds Bin 707 is the poor man’s Grange – but I just don’t see it. I am skeptical as a Grange is a shiraz whilst the 707 and 407 are cabernet sauvignon. I would argue the 707 is the cabernet sauvignon equivalent of Grange whereas the Bin 389 as a shiraz is indeed the poor man’s Grange. So now that this is sorted, is the Bin 407 the poor man’s 707?

Then there are the prices, a 2010 Bin 407 will set you back about $120 and a 2015 vintage is about $79 whereas a 2014 Bin 707 won’t leave you much change from $499 at current prices. Fortunately these are not up in the Grange price ranges with a 2013 around the $722 price range. So now we have the prices sorted out what about the wine?

The tasting notes tell me the fruit was sourced from Coonawarra, Wrattonbully, Robe, McLaren Vale, and Padthaway. The cabernet fruit was matured for 12 months in new French oak (23%), new American oak (10%), 1 year-old American oak (18%) and 2 year-old American oak hogsheads (45%). The tasting notes informed me the 2010 vintage is drinking well between 2014 to 2038 but I won’t be waiting that long.

This is a full-bodied wine with a granular tannin structure, balanced acidity and a cassis/blackcurrent nose with dark chocolate palate. I would expect this to soften out as the wine ages in the bottle with the current deep magenta colour to change to a brownish hue on the rim. I must admit, I do like to put good reds down but you have to be careful to not to overdo it.

As I am disengaging from work and wandering around Little India, I am viewing small retailers working from their shops. There are less restaurants than I remember, these seem to be replaced with general traders and fabric shops. It has been a while since I was in Little India, whilst the changes are not great, they are subtle in the post-covid economic slow-down.

My mind is momentarily slipping from all the issues I face at my toxic workplace and on to my surroundings. I am loving this, in a few years I will be semi-retired and working part-time, now putting minimal effort into battling the toxic work environment and just doing my work and then heading home.

I am looking at tailors sitting at their machines sewing brightly coloured fabrics on the sidewalk. I watch them work for a while, these guys are busy creating custom garments for their clients. I love watching their ingenuity and skills at work, whilst I missed the measuring, I am seeing their machine sewing skills in action. For me, this is pretty interesting. Whilst these guys may not be designers, they take someone else’s design prowess and turn this into a garment.

I have previously written about why Perth should consider a ferry service, I am not anti-ferry, I believe there is a demand for a ferry service. We previously had a ferry service on the Swan River, however, the service failed for a multitude of reasons. There is a ferry that goes from Elizabeth Quay to South Perth operated by Transperth, a great option for going to the zoo or South Perth in general.

The ferries really go back to the 1830s running between Fremantle and Perth, this was apparently a popular service as these centres lacked infrastructure in the early days of the colony such as roads and rail. The Swan River Ferry Company, formed in 1897 operated between Coode and Mends Street before expanding to Como, Applecross and Canning Bridge.

I recall the older service on the river stopping at jetties to pick up passengers, from my recollection there were only a few passengers on each jetty. Firstly, there was poor patronage on the ferry service, it was not integrated into other services and was more of a tourist service as I recall that finished in the mid 1990s.

So that leads us to Rita Saffioti’s expanded Metronet ferry dream. Matilda Bay is an A-Class reserve and magnificent bay at the button of King’s Park. As a tourist attraction, the last thing anyone wants is a huge jetty in the middle of the bay, generators running to recharge electric ferries with ferries arriving every 15 minutes.

There will be a ferry parked on charge at the jetty, the ferry will run from Applecross at 20 knots so it will be competitive with the train. Why would anyone get off the train at Canning Bridge and catch a ferry to Matilda Bay when the train goes to the Esplanade station and you watch a bus that gets you closer to the University of Western Australia.

The Trump peace plan is an embarrassing farce, Donald Trump sent his negotiator and friend over to Russia to negotiate an end to this war. Steve Witoff is a former real estate developer and lacky for Trump. The Russian negotiators made a fool of him, their 28 peace plan is basically all their objectives they have been unable to secure by force. There is an old joke getting around that the only person qualified for their job in the Trump Administration was Stormy Daniels.

So they play dum dum Trump like the amateur he is, he is so fixated on securing a Nobel Peace Prize because Barack Obama was awarded one that he is willing on doing anything to get one. No one has told Trump that they do not give Nobel Peace Prizes for appeasement, other Neville Chamberlain would have had one sitting on his shelf for appeasing Adolf Hitler. Naturally, with such a poorly negotiated peace plan you can betthere was no Ukrainian input, this was Trump’s idiot negotiators getting embarrassed on the world stage working together with superior Russian negotiators. 

So the 28 point peace plan involves giving up territory including the Donbas region, reducing the size of their military, giving up their weapons and technology, and giving up their chance to join NATO. This is a total capitulation by the US, Trump is not a clever guy, he is not a good negotiator, he surrounds himself with yes men, and his narcissism clouds his very limited judgement on any matter. Trump is a failure, a reality tv host with little ability apart from being born into a seriously rich family. Steve Witoff is one of Trump’s golf mates, just a Bronx real eastate developer who Trump has thrust into a position where he is way out of his depth. 

The Piaget Polo reference G0A49022 is not a watch I would normally review, Piaget is not a watchmaker I typically follow, and the styling of their watches does not normally suit my sense of taste. Or some may argue lack of style, and I am ok with that.

So when I view the Polo Automatic, that is actually a timepiece I would wear, a sports style stainless steel watch with integrated bracelet. I view the Piaget brand as a jewellery maker that is also a watchmaker, now they have a stainless steel sports watch, that perception has changed. Piaget calls this a field watch, I wouldn’t have thought so, but they know their product.

I like the deep emerald green dial with horizontal stripes, SuperLumiNova® indexes and obelisk style hands with SuperLumiNova®. Where the field watch style originates is probably the second gear track with numerals at the index markers increasing in 5 second intervals. The 42 mm case is polished and brushed, the polished bezel looks great, the four internal curved angles on the bevel accentuate the dial. The interlocking polished and brushed links with double fold-over with push button release clasp.

The calibre 1110P offers a 50-hour power reserve and is finished in Côtes de Genève style finishing and bevelled bridges. The self-winding automatic is achieved by a slate grey rotor engraved with the Piaget coat of arms and viewed through an exhibition sapphire caseback that is retained by six microscrews. The movement has 25 jewels, a 4 Hz frequency beating at 28,800 vph and has blued screws on the bridges.

So the Trump and Putin meeting in Budapest is now off, this on again/off again erratic Trump communication style offers no reliability or direction. Putin knows he can easily manipulate Trump, he plays into Trump’s vicarious ego, playing him for a fool by stringing him along, telling him he is really a smart guy, whilst secretly laughing at him.

With Poland informing Moscow that Putin’s aircraft will not be allowed to enter Polish airspace on route from Moscow to Budapest, it will be forced to land and Putin will be arrested and transferred to The Hague for trial. Another direct route would take him right over Ukraine if he is brave enough, but with F-16 fighter jets patrolling the skies and ground based missile defences in place, Vladimir is really not that brave.

Even with transponders switched off and flying lights also off, keen Ukrainian radar operators will be scanning the skies. The possibly an Australian E-7 Wedgetail in the air or NATO electronic surveillance, there is no chance of sneaking through undetected. Imagine the irony, the Russian President shot down by a ground based missile system, it will not bring back the lives of those lost on Malaysian Airlines MH-17, but I am sure the families of those murdered would be having a little chuckle.

Trump is slowly starting to work out that Putin does not keep his word, he tells Trump what he wants to hear whilst stalling any chance of a negotiated settlement. Putin makes outrageous demands knowing full well Ukraine will not accept these terms, then the simplistic Trump, eager to make a deal will attempt to publicly pressure Zelensky who would not accept such demands. But Putin tries anyway in a hope that Zelensky is sufficiently pressured by Trump to accept these terms, or hoping Zelensky comes off as the guy stalling the ceasefire.

I have been following the battle of Pokrovsk in the news and getting varying reports. On some news wires Ukraine is surrounded and just about to retreat but cannot, other news reports say Russia is advancing. When I view maps, Russians have advanced and the have taken parts of the city, they are fighting street-by-street.

Is Ukraine losing? Well, not really as they are holding on and extracting a high price for any Russian advances. Under the cover of fog, the Russians advanced as the Ukrainian drones were unable to operate, this is unfortunate for Ukraine. I note that the Russians are employing new tactics, they are inserting cells in Povtrosk who then go into hiding to evade Ukrainian defenders and only appear when reinforcements arrive.

I see the Ukrainians are reinforcing the northern sector and whilst the Russians appear to be more active on the southern flank, they are keeping the corridor open. The remaining Ukrainian defenders are still operating to destroy the Russian advance, but they should be very concerned that they are surrounded, whilst the Russians are trying to apply a pincer movement, Ukrainian defences are holding – for now.

What we were able to see in the defence of Pokrovsk was elite Ukrainian forces inserted into the fight by two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. This was a small team of 11 riflemen in each helicopter engaged in a quick insertion with Blackhawk helicopters sweeping in, touching down just long enough for the riflemen to disembark before evacuating the area whilst the commandos sought cover.

I see the reports, mostly by Russian supporters where the whole crew was wiped out by drones in a very short time period. These claims are unsubstantiated, so I do not place much reliability in these claims. The Ukrainian side denies they were eliminated, whilst I have seen counter reports, I really don’t know if these fighters are still alive. Apparently these guys opened a corridor for retreating Ukrainian fighters, so I am guessing these guys made it out, they did their job and retreated to safety with the guys they saved.

I would hazard to guess they would have some losses, but they are still operating in a forward zone. Clearly, there is operational security applied here, the Ukrainians are not going to give away information that could endanger their lives. This was a bold move by Ukraine, these were brave men who took on this mission to defend their country. Because of the drones and the air defences used by both nations, helicopters are not used all that much, this is why this is such a brazen act, this was the art of surprise.