I shouldn't have said anything about the Russia/Ukraine stoush probably affecting energy prices because that comment has now truly come home to roost! We've managed to get our vaccines and well underway with Sunny's visa application so we can go downunder during Sunny's end of school year holidays June/July (2 years overdue thanks to Covid travel bans), but today we learn that Biden & Co's (good, imo) decision to ban Russian oil will have an immediate roll-on effect on airline prices - just as they were getting back down to near post-Covid normal! Big question for us is now whether we'll be able to afford to fly the three of us downunder this year, anyway! And if not, can we somehow get all our affairs in order after more than two years of neglect? (not to mention cleaning the apartment in Sydney - it must be like a rubbish tip by now!). Things like utilities, phone services, health cover, postal services, etc are in a shambles now, and even our bank won't talk to us anymore - demanding that the changes we need to make to keep our accounts operating properly can only be done by presenting in person at the bank, despite our being stuck here in VN ("Sorry sir, bank policy")! Aaaaarrrrggghhhhhh - where's 007 when you need him!

No, that's not a mistake - today is Tuesday ("Twos-day") the 22nd day of the 2nd month of 2022 (, ie Twos-day 22.2.22). Hands up anyone who hadn't noticed!! 

G'day Steve Iceton - look forward to seeing your photos as I remember a lot of people from J troop 1962-65.
Cheers
Scouse Ratia

Nice timing, Pam - yesterday's news headline downunder was one of the biggest energy suppliers, Origin Energy, announcing closure of it's coal-fired plant a massive 7 years before it was required (or expected) to do so! Cynics say they made the surprise announcement because they didn't want to follow in the footsteps of another energy supplier, AGL, which earlier said it would close but was persuaded by the government to continue (with the gov't quietly 'subsidising' its losses). Not sure what's behind it all (apart from the usual mismanagement with senior execs filling their pockets), and perhaps a kowtowing to public opinion in our new snowflake world ("We must protect the environment even if it kills us"), but with at least a third of Europe's gas coming from Russia, the brewing stoush over Russia's apparent intention to invade Ukraine can't possibly help in that part of the world!!!
Meanwhile, in Vietnam, any power shortage will doubtless get treated with the usual aplomb: the authorities just turn all our power off for a few days!!! 

The rush seems to have subsided a bit here - still many on tourist visas trying to avoid paying the overstay penalty but no one's managed it yet! And thanks to facebook(!), the word got around v.quickly about booking low-cost connecting flights so everyone's wary now - and it's not just Singapore that was stopping them, many didn't even get out of Saigon! I just renewed my "permitted to stay 6 months" visa exemption but now it's only valid for 3 months. We asked why and they said "Covid" - as though no further explanation needed. We're trying to extend via family connections but it's not such a big deal because I could go back to Oz a bit earlier than planned and clean the place up before Linh and Sunny hopefully arrive a month later (more than 2 years empty - yuk!).

Dunno what "pop" is, but it must be good if you all went from having Covid to not having it!!!  Good luck to Simon - tell him to be careful at the airport on arrival as there are literally hundreds of expats who left Vietnam yesterday after free tourist visa extensions were discontinued, and a lot of them booked flights with Scoot and now can't get past Singapore (airport) because Scoot doesn't have some paperwork to use the airport despite (I thought) being a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. Maybe I got that bit wrong. Anyway, lots of angry/disappointed expats were given just one week to leave Vietnam and are now stuck in Singapore airport!

Dead right, Pam - I can't stand the typical Eton-educated "I'm superior to you lot" clown who's never had to do a real day's work in his life. And the very fact that he continues with that ridiculous 'exploding haystack' hairstyle is a permanent reminder to everyone that he really doesn't care what anyone thinks anyway!
Dunno how BJ got into office - but then the same applies to the USA's orange retard Trump and Australia's "Smirk & mirrors" Morrison. As if the pandemic wasn't bad enough, we've had to live with these three clowns as well - no wonder the world's on its last legs! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..................

Tend to agree with you, Terry - but we can't be sure we know the full story because there's an election downunder in 1Q2022 so the whole Djokovic thing has been conveniently turned into a political football, and there ain't much truth, if any, in politics! But from our perspective of having this trip to VN expand from the planned 4 months to just three weeks short of 2 years as I type this, it's not a good thing either way because, if Djokovic wins, the Oz gov't will make dam* sure no one else gets into the country unless they've ticked every one of the millions of boxes that will surely join the multitude that already stop so many of us from returning (and I'm not even talking about the $600 per person one way airfares that suddenly became $5,000 pp but hardly rated a mention in the media!).
On the other hand, if Djokovic loses, then the Oz gov't will flaunt their "win" as an example of how they're "protecting Australia's borders" - with the upshot being that they'll add even more boxes to be ticked, just to make sure no one can win and undo all their good work!
I'd personally like to see Djokovic lose because he's an arrogant so and so, but the exact same description can be applied to Oz PM Scomo (aka Scumbag) - so it's a case of "B*ggered if ya do, and b*ggered if ya don't"!!! Ain't politics wonderful................