Hello Germany, France, Singapore, and the USofA...welcome and brief apologies for yesterday's disjointed post...(and this one's not much better-Ed)...indeed...yesterday I was having 'tech troubles' again, but I don't think there's anything particularly sinister about these predominantly afternoon problems, I think it's a generalised access problem...
(And yesterday I bought my little car some cheap new tyres, which unfortunately obliged to me 'Park and Stride'...and whilst this gave me the opportunity to admire some of the fabulous architecture along inner city Bay Rd, due to the weather and lack of cover, I got rained on hence wet, hence cold and wet, hence a cold...with a lovely thumping, swimming headache...had this same annoying cold thingy coming and going for weeks...and potentially another rambling, incoherent post, so I've pushed back TFTIM Troy Bell yet again...but it's nothing particularly sensational so it can wait...)
I have noticed that these 'tech' problems usually occur/start around about 3-4pm on weekdays, and I think it's because about 3pm every afternoon I lose my...(mind-Ed)...bandwidth, thank you, I lose my share of bandwidth as everyone gets home from school, etc, and goes on-line...(doesn't explain the email problems though-Ed)...well, no, but some emails are getting through, so, who knows...
The point that I was trying to make about the Mt Gambier City Council and their Rail Lands Retail Agenda (RLRA) is that Council has repeatedly, deliberately deceived the citizenry with a series of carefully manipulated half-truths and outright lies, via a complicit, compliant, collusive The Border Watch newspaper ...(but why Mr Fletcher?-Ed)...to keep that site clear for the Retail/Commercial Expansion of the Lakes/Centro Plaza.
Furthermore, the RLRA has completely dominated, directed, and driven Council's Development and Planning decision processes with devastating and possibly irreversible consequences for future planning/development in and around Mt Gambier...(and all pursued with the same commitment to deceit and deception-Ed)...damn straight...
I re-iterate as example...Mt Gambier should already have, at the Old Rail Lands, a centralised public/private bus transport hub operating out of a fully renovated and refurbished Old Rail Station...(maybe with light Rail to Portland, Millicent, etc-Ed)... providing appropriate protection from Mt Gambier's extremes of weather, and that is already fully accessible on existing roads, all located immediately adjacent the Plaza and services located there-in...(and a bike/walking trail right along the rail easement corridor, from one end of town to the other).
Instead, we have a (combined) $350,000 open tent and open toilet block, 80m apart, in the Lady Nelson Visitor Centre car park, literally a mile from anywhere, that provides no genuine shelter and no services...and placed there specifically so as not to compromise the RLRA...
Every excuse about contamination, maintaining and moving the easement, the Deed, lack of funding, safety of pedestrians, etc...every vacuous deference to processes of Public Consultation...it is all deceit...it is all manipulation...and they continue this deceit with this declaration that they intend to spend a small fortune to rip up the tracks that they themselves acknowledge the City will be required to replace 'if rail returns'...(and that's a massive but desirable 'if'-Ed)...indeed...but if that happens we as ratepayers will be lumbered with the enormous bill...
All the 'Rail Removal' will achieve is to make the site more ready for the foundations required for a massive Commercial/Retail structure...unless it can be removed at a profit, which doesn't look likely, just bury that which isn't already buried under 6 inches of top soil and plant a bloody lawn or something...just anything...if Council were genuinely going to do a Parkland, why hasn't a single thing been planted on that site in 8 years?
Simply by leaving the rail in place and the easement exactly where it is (as a bikeway) Council could avoid any potential future problems...problems that they themselves have repeatedly identified. The only reason to move the easement and/or remove any rail is to make the site suitable for the desired Retail expansion of The Plaza...and if that happens the Old Rail Station is gone too...
More Good News: Britain sold Syria 'Nerve Agent' knowing that it could be used in the manufacture of 'Chemical Weapons'...(charming-Ed)...and this revealed whilst London is hosting a massive Armaments Expo...and cue Louis Armstrong..."what a wonderful world"...
"Dear Weapons Customer; We apologise that, given our commitment to the Syrian Conflict, we are currently unable to provide the usual quantity of Crass Hypocrisy with your armaments purchase."
And the real potential that any UN forces, or USofA, or Russian, whatevs, could be attacked with weapons supplied by an ally or even themselves, ie, British derived nerve/chemical agent delivered via Russian built and supplied rockets...and from Scuds to spuds...
Fiddle-de-dee Potaita's: Pardon my terrible faux Irish accent, but Ireland is not the only lover of the humble potato...apparently Sow Straya (South Australia) grows 80% of Straya's potatoes, approx 130,000 tons, from here in the South East on up through the Mallee...and dozens of different varieties from potentially hundreds, for specific purposes from 'supermarket grade', to frozen chips, to seed potatoes for next seasons crop...ah, the humble spud...(from ABC Radio this morning)...
And also kudos to ABC Local Radio for their extensive coverage of local sport...(go on, say it...and The Border Watch-Ed)...alright, and TBW...and further kudos to the ABC for the story yesterday about the early harvesting of immature pines by Plantation 141, who have coincidentally just received a glowing report from the Weatherill Labor state government...(from Scuds to spuds to duds-Ed)...nice... about how well they (141) have adhered to the extraordinarily strict contract details and requirements as brutally imposed on them by said Labor...(that whole 'strict details' bit is sarcasm, right?-Ed)...yes, absolutely...
Despite 141's denials, it appears they are just felling whatever they need to make an immediate cash grab, and I think that this was also the belief of the local gentlemen who were interviewed...is this the beginning of the end for the South East Forestry Estate as 141 systematically destroy future plantation output with an immediate 'realisation of their asset'...that is, chop down and sell as much as they can as fast as they can, predominantly overseas, and then just pull out in 15-20 years leaving behind a ruined, decimated Estate...but to finish on a laugh...
My 'Cow Escapes Show' Story: This week a cow/steer head-butted someone and did a bolt out the front gate of the Royal Adelaide Show. In 1989 I was living in a share house behind shops immediately adjacent to the Capri Theatre at Goodwood, and one day was waiting to cross to the deli, when a steer came barrelling out of Victoria St opposite and straight out on to Goodwood Rd...(it then proceeded, on hoof, in a Southerly direction, accessing Clifton St via the Church car park-Ed)...thank you Chief Inspector Ed...
It had escaped from the Wayville Showgrounds via the Leader St gate, some how made its way across the tram lines, and then through a kilometre of back streets, before hitting the main drag.
As we chased it up Clifto St a ute went past us, past the steer, and some guys jumped out so that we had the steer bailed up on the footpath between us, and because we were closer, it faced us...then one of the 'ute' guys went up behind it...big mistake...the steer took several steps toward us, stopped, propped, and with a casual glance over it's right shoulder, gave him both rear hooves right under the chin...(dare I say, it gave itself room to hoove-Ed)...nice...or 'from Scuds to spuds to duds to thuds'...
Fortunately it was only a glancing blow, but still enough to make the chap see stars and staggeringly reach out for support from a fence that was actually a hedge, and he slowly sank from view sideways into aforementioned herbage...hilarious in that he semi-recovered as he was 'rebounded' by the hedge and so sort of sprang back out again as others went to his aid, and totally hilarious in that he only had a fat, bleeding lip and no busted teeth, etc, to go with his partial concussion...
The steer was then corralled in a front yard and left to calm down, and then their truck rolled up, they thanked us for our help, and we walked home...yeeha...Suburban Cowboys...
Tomorrow: TFTIM Troy Bell
Finally, I promise...I've already started on it...hope this post makes some sense, 'cos I just can't tell, but I'll have the croutons...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...
No comments:
Post a Comment