Hello Kalangadoo, Kybybolite, Kongorong, and Keith...welcome one and all here in the sunny South East where it is actually dark and wet at 0630hrs...whilst there has been some fairly wild weather about the place, there's been some really good, soaking rains and very little property damage...over-all, I love this sort of weather...I am a Water sign apparently, and as far as I'm concerned, the tempestuous precipitationings beats baking stifillage...(whaaa?-Ed)...I prefer it cool and rainy, rather than stinking hot...
It's a fantastic opportunity to engage in the very grounding indulgence of being cold and wet, eg, from standing in one's garden in the rain, then embracing the luxury of stepping inside one's lovely little house where a roast is filling the air with garlic and thyme, then hopping through a steaming-hot shower and into a clean, dry change of clothes...and then a nice cuppa and maybe a bite to eat...and feeding the dog, then playing X-box for 1/2 hr while the laundry's on, before hopping in one's car to go get groceries from one of the several well-stocked supermarkets in town, etc, etc, etc...
The other day I took my version of a holiday and went down to Pt Macdonnell to check out the storm surf...amazing...of course, if you don't have a car in Mt Gambier you're pretty much rooted...it is absolutely bloody disgraceful the money that the state Labor government and the Mt Gambier District Council just fritter away on the most ludicrous projects, whilst Public Transport in Mt Gambier is such a sub-standard dog's breakfast...(and it's purely a question of funding, because the service providers here in Mt Gambier do a fantastic job with the pitiful funding they're given-Ed)...indeed...oh, and it gets better...
Sodden Costly Sudden Sods:...come past the Rail Lands with me and see where Council has invested $100,000+ in a Seagrass Aquaculture Project ...(sorry what?-Ed)...where Council literally rolled out turf on the Eastern end of the Rail Lands...(costing $100,000+, as much as $200k, I've heard several different claims re how much that much rolled turf would cost-Ed)...yeah, me too, well it was well under water after the recent heavy rains because it's been graded like a grassy bowl...where there should be a knoll to drain there's a bowl to gather...whatalottacockup...
It wasn't as inundated today but surface water was still clearly visible, and with persistent heavy rains forecast that piece of ground will be unusable for weeks to come if not the rest of Winter...every year...it's an absolute joke with no punchline, Council has poured $4m+ into that site and they've built a bloody swamp with bloody Palm Trees...(orrr, the bloody palm trees, it gets better and better...they've got some of those up now and don't they just look ludicrously incongruous...straight lines of palm trees...oh my god-Ed)...I know, I know.
(Am I being cynically conspirital in wondering if they haven't chosen palms because they can be planted immediately to make it look like Council's doing something, and then easily moved out of the way when Council's plans for the Retail Expansion of the Lakes Plaza, the RLRA, goes ahead?-Ed)...a little perhaps, but I don't blame you...looking at the $10m Parkland Concept Plans bollockness from November 2011 it shows palm trees leading up to that building/structure where Council actually wants shopping centre...no need to shift them...
Bike Lanes:...(oh my god, the bloody bike lanes, what a debacle...those latest sections of bike lane on the already 'laned' Crouch St Nth are not going to protect anyone, they're going to get someone killed-Ed)...indeed, the lanes stop at the Crouch St/North Tce intersection, providing no 'sanctuary' where the traffic is heaviest, then suddenly start again just over the rise, meaning you drive over the hill where it says 'lane ending' only to be suddenly driving in a bike lane and having to kink-swerve out to your right...(in Oz we drive on the left side, steering wheel on the right, etc-Ed))...
Now that I know it's there, it's going to be somewhat less dangerous for me personally, and I genuinely hope to be wrong, but it's a matter of time before those stupid lines actually cause a bad accident...(the lanes just stop again at the very dangerous 60kph Jubilee Hwy, arguably the most dangerous intersection in Mt Gambier after the Penola Rd/Wireless Rd intersection-Ed)...exactly, it's bloody ludicrous...
It's the same as the insanely pointless bike-lanes along Penola Rd with the 'Killing Zone' 2m wide painted island thingy up the middle...the whole project is a design catastrophe that looks like it has been conceived and constructed to cause maximum inconvenience and confusion...the only way it could be worse, is if they were full-time lanes...(doooode shut up, don't give them any ideas-Ed)...it is just ridiculous to put a 2m painted island in the middle of the road and call it a 'shared zone' that people can drive on whilst pedestrians are encouraged to use it.
It is true that I am a 'wide-berther' when it comes to parked cars because years of working as a Courier in Adelaide and Mt Gambier and having people repeatedly just fling open their doors and get out, etc, has taught me to be very cautious...fair enough...however, the other day I was driving on Penola Rd and there was a large four-wheel drive with larger caravan parked on one side, and a smallish refrigerated delivery van directly opposite...every single car going through, in either direction, was driving along a foot or more onto the painted island...
Like Cabbage: I repeat, that deliberately creating a 'shared zone' up the middle of the road, that indicates that it offers some protection to pedestrians, yet also has vehicle traffic moving across and/or along it legally at 50kph, often with no choice but to drive along on the painted island, that is a recipe for disaster...may I be wrong...which segues rather unfortunately into the new Jubilee Hwy pedestrian crossing at Englebrecht Cave/Andami shops, and I don't agree with what I've heard
of people's cynicism re why we've got the new crossing but no lights at Penola Rd...
Yes, Labor are clearly just not wanting to spend the money on Penola Rd lights, and yes, it probably was the pedestrian fatality at Andami last year that has 'justified' this crossing...however, I completely reject as entirely inappropriate, comments/criticisms that the crossing got priority because of the family links to the Labor Party of the person killed...not appropriate...
But for the love of baby cheeses, put a bloody Round-about at the Penola/Wireless Rds intersection, exact same as Penola/Jubilee
Hwy where if you're in the right lane you have to turn right, make it
30kph through there, coupla' pedestrian crossings either side,
sorted...it really is that simple.
Privatisation Of Public Health: the new but 100 bed smaller Royal Adelaide Hospital is pure greed from the Labor Party, little more than Criminal Organisation in South Australia, as they Privatise the SA Health System by entering into a Profit Guarantee contract with the private developers, and push the whole project right into the middle of the Adelaide Rail Yards, right under the Adelaide Airport flight path, right on one of the busiest intersections in the city, with no visible plan for traffic management, etc, etc, to free up the current site for luxury apartments for each other, overlooking the iconic Botanical Gardens...
Al Gore Blimey: apparently is unawares that his new besty Federal MP Clive Palmer made his fortune in the Coal Mining business...Big Al does appear to have entered the stage allegedly from the Left, but left the stage clearly having sold Right-out...even I find this relationship bizarre, and it's a clear demonstration that when push comes to shove, these people are all singing from the same song book...in the South Park cartoon, Al Gore is tormented by his arch-nemesis Man-Bear-Pig...half Man, half Bear-Pig...I like to think of myself as the next link in that evolution...(really? how so?-Ed)...Man-Bear Stuff-Pig...(oh nice-Ed)...
Warning - Several Very Rude Albeit Self-Deprecating Jokes On The Man-Bear Stuff-Pig Theme:...(wow, that's one helluva title, they'd better be good jokes-Ed)...ok, I've always thought of my 'totem' as being a bear, when I was a kid I loved the TV show 'Gentle Ben' about a massive but gentle-as Grizzly Bear...my favourite dinosaur was (still is) Triceratops, a vegetarian who doesn't bother anyone but when called upon, will rip ya' a new one...(not seeing any jokes yet-Ed)...
Well, a bear is a big furry critter that eats, roots, shoots and leaves...(ding, Joke 1-Ed)...yes, alright, thankyou...(well I thought that it was just so subtle that someone should point it out-Ed)...and a Stuff-Pig is, well, a Stuff-Pig...(well that's not a joke at all...that's actually quite sad-Ed)...dude, I guarantee you that there's a bunch of people who are thinking, 'given what I've read previous, that's about the most normal thing about him'...(fair point duly taken-Ed)...
('Broken relationships'...'vain, arrogant prick'-Ed)...what's that you're reading now?...(this? oh this is your Resume...'drug-fueled egomanic rampage'-Ed)...orr, steady on, that's a long time ago...('if you can remember the 80s and 90s you weren't there'-Ed)...well now you're just makin' shizzle up...(and your Referees say?..."what a bastard", and "In life there are things that come and then go, and Mr Fletcher is clearly one of those things"-Ed)...ding, Joke 2...(thankyou...hang on, I do the ding Joke thing-Ed)...moving on...
Well not really, enough for one day,
Tomorrow: More Raidy Day Shizzle
Not that there's much to tell, but I'll do what I can...probably actually do the Council meeting and latest Mayoral shenanigans.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
No comments:
Post a Comment