The long lost sister

I learnt something today.

I used to think that St George is a very hazy, undefined area of Sydney that is more famous for it’s football team and hospital than it is for having a postcode that is recognised by Australia Post.  Or maybe St George is a bank that used to be a big strong dragon who loved Julie Anthony, but now it is about to be disabled by a sticky Wetpatch in a nasty orgy of corporate seduction… Sorry… I mean Westpac made love to the Dragon…  Or maybe St George was some significant figure in English History….

However, I am truly enlightened now – there is also a town in Queensland that is called St George.  It is out in the country, and it has it’s own mayor, whose name is Donna Stewart.  Donna got voted as mayor of the Balonney Shire Council with 1,694 votes.  Balonney Shire Council includes St George.  Maybe it also includes other towns.  But they are less significant than St George.

You may wonder why I am interested in Balonney & St George.  I was amazed to see the mayor of Balonney, as I think there is an uncanny link to the Sydney’s mayor, Clover Moore….  Take a look at these pictures…. it raises so many potential issues….

There are a few possibilities:

a) Clover Moore is moonlighting as the mayor of Balonney, as well as being the mayor of Sydney and the state member for Sydney;

b) Donna Stewart and Clover Moore are long lost sisters;

c) Australian people are smart enough to vote for the best woman or man for the job.

My interest in St George and Balonney shire was sparked by an intertesting story that examines how the mayor of Balonne is fighting to prevent the Federal government from buying water rights in the Balonne region.  Even though less than 2,000 people vote for the mayor of Balonne, they use more water than the whole of Sydney each year.   Irrigators in Balonne Shire use over 700 gigalitres of water every year.  In the meantime, the whole of Sydney’s 4 million people use less than this amount of water per year – around 630 gigalites.   Admittedly, Sydney is not a farming community, but it is quite horrifying to think about a community that is using water to such a huge extent, when there is such a huge water shortage in this country. 

The people of this community should not be blamed directly for this issue, but it would be good to see community leaders working together to fix the bigger problems for the whole country.   It seems like this community needs some outside help to develop new industries that do not need so much water.  700 gigalitres is nearly the equivalent of 2 Sydney Harbours each year – that is a shit load of water…. especially when it is highly likely that water will dry up over time in the next few years.  It seems to me that it is sensible to start cutting back on water use.  But as an entire community across the whole of Australia, we also need to look at how we an help these communities in the longer term… especially if the people have had the wisdom to vote for a Clover Moore protege!!….

Cheap Fuel at 147.9c/litre – Let’s block up Parramatta Road

I’m gonna be grumpy today.

Where is Clover Moore when you need her?  The whole of Parramatta Road became a parking lot yesterday evening as I was trying to get back home on the bus.  At first I thought that Clover Moore had closed off the road for (another) street festival – maybe to celebrate 14 days of continuous rain in Sydney.  However, she would not have had enough time to get her publicity agents to send everyone a survival pack of fully recyclable raincoats and rubber gum boots that are sourced from sustainable rubber plantations. 

To my horror, it was soon clear that Parramatta Road was blocked off by all these idiots who were lining up at a service station to get some cheap fuel at 147.9c per litre (after the Coles discount voucher).  They should make a law against people who blocked off the bus lane on Parramatta Road, when they line up to get their cheap fuel.   People on buses do not get a discount in the middle of the week – so why should we have to suffer from the actions of people who block the bus lane.  I imagine they were driving from all parts of Sydney in order to get a “bargain” on their petrol. 

Don’t they realise that they are like little mice who are spinning round and round on a ferris wheel, paying off big time for their 4WD novated lease….  please please let me find some more cheap petrol…. so I might be able to buy an extra Krispy Kreme doughnut for my family who live in a big air-conditioned gingerbread house somewhere beyond page 535 of the Sydney street directory….

I remember reading stories a couple of years back about these huge fires in Nigeria that killed hundreds of people when they were stealing oil from oil pipelines.  It seems that we are not too far off that in Australia these days.  A tank of petrol will soon be worth a fortune.

Maybe Kevin Rudd should start a new version of fuel watch fool watch, where people who use public transport get a discount when their bus or train is late!!  Or we get a discount every Tuesday when the petrol is cheap.  The only thing that makes me grateful about this sorry state of affairs is the fact that there might be very few cars in the bus lane when petrol becomes a luxury within the next few years.  In the meantime, I must get around to telling Clover Moore to get more parking officers onto Parramatta Road when the oil companies drop the price of petrol.

The Desalinisation Flood Path – Sydney Desalinisation plant is blocking my cycle path!!!

I have not provided my opinion on the Desalinisation Plant in Sydney, as it has not really impacted on me very much.  I think we are really stupid to build a desalinisation plant when about 90% of the water in Sydney is used on water gardens and flushing shit down the toilet, but I don’t really care too much about these issues to be honest… not until today….!!

Sydney has very few cycle paths, as the government here is more interested in building tunnels for motorists who are too fat and lazy to get our of their 4WDs.  I digress…. anyway…

 Imagine my distress when the only decent cycle way in Sydney has been blocked!!  The path has been blocked so Sydney Water can build some bloody pipes for the new desalinisation plant – why the hell do these pipes need to shut down the major cycle way from Tempe to Homebush Bay!!

What really pisses me off is that there is no provision for a detour that provides cyclists with a concrete surface.  We have to go wading through a swampy riverbank to get around the construction site.  Additionally, there is no one actually constructing anything, as it is rainy and the big sturdy construction men will dissolve in the rain, like little girls who are made of sugar and spice.   Why can’t they let cyclists and pedestrians walk along the path on weekends and rainy days??  Check out the pictures to see what I mean.

In the meantime, cyclists have to wade through a marshy swamp so Morris Iemma and Verity Firth (the local Sydney Member of Parliament) can build their desalinisation plant in Sydney.  It’s all very ironic…. cyclists having to navigate water logged parklands, so Iemma and his mates can build a desal plant!!  That’s a very environmentally sustainable government in NSW.  The least they could do is build a path so people can get around the construction site for the desalinisation plant!!

 

Fool Watch (Fuel Watch)

Well, dear diary it’s been a while since I’ve been motivated enough to post a new blog, but it seems like the whole world is becoming even more wacky. 

The current political debate in Australia is concentrated on the trying to reduce the price of fuel by 2 to 5 cents per litre.  Somewhere along the line, the Australian media seems to forget that oil is running out and this obviously means that the price will continue to rise, no matter whether we reduce the various excise duties or GST.  It would be nice to see some politicians who are more interested in providing people with alternatives to using their car.   People who live in suburbs beyond page 50 of the street directory do not have any feasable way of getting to work, except for cars.  It would be great to see some action in getting good bus services and public transport options in place for people, so they no longer need to be reliant on their cars.  It might also help us plan for a future where petrol goes up to $5 a litre or beyond.  My guess is that this will happen within the next five years – $1.50 a litre will look like a bargain!!

 

Centennial Park

Today was a rather boring day of tedious repetitiveness.  Monday morning as a 36y.o. student involves the following:

- 5:58 a.m. – Waking up as the cat is licking my scalp (I do not have a bald spot) - I could do a link to the Bureau of Meteorology as this is the time that the sun breaks over the horizon – time for the cat to be fed

- 5:59 a.m. – Push cat away

- 6:00 a.m. – Ponder whether I will be prosecuted by the RSPCA because I use hair products that probably contain lots of hazardous chemicals, and my cat will be poisoned by licking my head;

- 6:04 a.m. – Wake up again to the sound of the cat purring in my ear.

- 6:05 a.m. – Feed cat. Go back to bed.

- 6:06 a.m. – Reflect on people who are getting up to go to work, as it is Monday morning. Appreciate their service to the economy, and wonder briefly if they are happy about going to work on Monday morning.  Wonder if they are motivated and wonder about what they might achieve this week, apart from being able to pay their mortgages – wonder if being able to pay your mortgage can be classed as an achievement.

- 6:07 a.m. – Go back to sleep.

- 10:13 a.m. – Wake up and realise that it is still really early.  Slumber time.

- 10:36 a.m. – Wake up and get breakfast.  Tell myself that I will study today.

- 11 a.m. – Study (shock horror).

- 3pm – head off for a cycle around Centennial Park.  This is the grateful bit of my diary today – it’s amazing how some people back in 1888 decided that they would devote a huge area of land for a park, only 4km from the city.  Centennial Park was planned nearly 125 years ago, and these people would have just had a dream to create a place for people to go for a walk or run – they were thinking long term.  I wonder if they ever thought whether I would go for a cycle in 2007.  This really makes me think about the decisions that the people of 2007 are making today – do we often think about our great great great grandchildren in the year 2135, and how they will live their life??  I would love to imagine someone living in 2135, having the opportunity to walk or cycle around Centennial Park.  Experiencing the fresh cold breeze that I felt today, seeing the ducks run across the road as I nearly ran them over.  But I sometimes wonder if most people today just think about their mortgage, their ipod without having time to smell the roses.   Not a good way to make people happy in 2135.

Anyway I’m grateful for Centennial Park…

Environmentally Sustainable Tissues

The Sydney Morning Herald has followed up on an interesting story where Woolworths were selling their home brand tissues under a label that says they are “environmentally sustainable”. As it turns out, the tissues are being sourced from Indonesia, from a company that has an appalling record on sustainability in tropical rainforests.

We have to be grateful that Woolies has withdrawn the tissues for sale today, but it has to make you think about products that are being sold with a “green” label. It’s a shame that companies claim to say their products are saving the environment, just by putting some nice pictures of trees on the label.

I think we can all take action on this issue. I’m gonna check out a couple of “green” products in my house today, and write to the companies to see if they have taken any steps to verify that they are actually being green…. wonder how that will go. I’ll be really peeved if I’ve been paying extra for green products that ain’t really green!! Hopefully an update later in the week. Hope I haven’t been duped!!

Here’s the link for the full story:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/woolworths-blows-away-dodgy-tissues/2007/08/27/1188067008764.html