Shalom

anzac day 2008

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest we forget.

from the poem by Laurence Binyon, 1914.

the elders

I find this an interesting idea. Found at the Windfarm.

sorry

Today may well be the beginning of a new way forward in Australia. Today, the Prime Minister offered an apology for the treatment given in the past to Aborigines by the government. It was an apology refused by the previous government for many years who seemed to equate "sorry" with "compensation." It was apology and recognition of mistakes made, particularly in the removal of children from their parents. What could possibly compensate either parent or child for that evil?

There is so much I could say and I'm sure there were many who truly felt that they were acting for the good of such children. However, there were others who saw this as an opportunity to annihilate aboriginal languages and culture and to cause interracial marriages to weaken bloodlines. That discussion does not belong to today in my eyes.

I am truly glad to see this apology. I remember seeing the word "sorry" written by a skywriter after the Walk for Reconciliation across the Harbour Bridge some years ago. It caused a shiver of excitement and a huge cheer among the many thousands at Darling Harbour.

Reconciliation and moving forward will not be easy. Someone I know remarked that today grace had passed over our Parliament. Much grace from all of us will be required as hopefully together we live in this land as fellows.

APEC contd

Here's an update on that disgusting wall and also an admission from a government minister that the government fully expects that disruption to commuter and city life will be massive.

APEC

This weekend marks the beginning of the APEC meeting in Sydney. It also marks the beginning of some major interruptions and disruption for the people of Sydney.

Goeroge Bush is not eligible to stand for election aagin and there is a federal election due here. Many of us hope that this year is also the end of the road for the current Prime Minister. It seems that he has decided to host a farewell shindig for his mate, George. Possibly a knees-up do for himself too.

APEC is meeting here in Sydney.

President Bush is arriving a couple of days earlier than originally planned and bringing an entourage of several hundred. This is adding some millions to the already astronomical costs of hosting this shindig for George. The Herald has an article on some of the disruptions to the city. This fence is disgusting. There are designated checkpoints for those who need to enter the fenced area or even to cross the road. It runs alongside the Quay, around past the Opera House, up through the Botanical Gardens and through a business section of Sydney. It appals me.

The Sydney metropolitan area has been given a public holiday next Friday, supposedly in honour of the meeting. Rubbish! Sydneysiders have been told to stay out of the city. Not much honourable about that. Businesses are wondering where their compensation is coming from. Probably nowhere. The place is swarming with police, defence force personnel, security guys, whatever. Known "troublemakers" have been warned that if they enter the city, they will be arrested. Troublemakers is not my word, by the way. It comes from the government. Some buses have been converted to mobile prisons with cells. Some prisoners have been given home detentions so the gaol cells are freed for those arrested during expected protests. Fighter jests will patrol an exclusion zone over Sydney. Orders are to shoot down any plane trying to enter that zone. Major interruptions to train services and othr public transport have also been announced. I live near one of Sydney's major roads. A long section near me has been branded a clearway with long hours for over a week. How do shopkeepers and businesses get to cope with something like that?

There is obviously much more than the public has any knowledge of.

I'm glad I will be away next weekend. I'll be attending a conference in Mittagong in the Southern Highlands. This was arranged well before details of the meeting began to emerge and I'm thankful I'll not be around.

I suggested to my son that the government could have bought an ailing country property, renovated it and declared an exclusion zone around it. This could well cost less than the huge sum spent so far. It could then be run as a tourist resort and make money, instead of costing mney for the people of this state.

At the end of such a conference, the heads of state usually parade in hideous shirts or other ghastly mementos of the conference. They look self conscious, as well they might. I wondered aloud what would be produced this time. Swaggies bush hats with bobbing corks to keep the flies off? Very Aussie. My son suggested budgie smugglers. He then suggested that Howard and Bush may well not be able to fill these, a sentiment I would not normally make in public, but one I agree with.

Scroll down the page from that link or go here for a very funny video on budgie smuggling. A bit crude, but scenes like this can be seen on any Sydney beach in summer.

film archives

Australia has a long history of film making.

View some clips Here.

tsunami alert

We are used to flood and particularly fire alerts down here. However, today the entire eastern coast of Australia was placed under a tsunami alert, the lowest of three degrees of severity.

A severe earthquake in the Honduras has killed at least fifteen people and cause a considerable amount of damage to buildings in the area. The tsunami was triggered by this underwater quake.

By the time the wave reached here it was only a few centimetres high and no damage was casued by it. However, it was strange to hear of the warning. Although I live reasonably close to the harbour, I am well up a hill and there is quite a bit of obstruction before anything could reach here. However one son lives in a flat area, much closer to the water on the Central Coast about an hour north. I found my reaction strange. I was concerned for the Honduras and concerned for my son, although realistically, I did not expect anything adverse to happen.

short sighted policy

Vaccination of school girls against the papilloma virus causing cervical cancer started today in south Australia. It is hoped that this vaccine, developed in Australia, will cut the incidence of cervical cancer by up to 70%

Schoolgirls and women up to 26 will get the vaccine free, but those over this age will need to pay.

This is very shortsighted policy. One of my daughters-in-law had pre-cancerous cells discovered by a routine smear test in early pregnancy. Some weeks ago she had these removed and should be fine, although a close check will be kept. She's thirty. Because she has had these cells removed, she is eligible for free vaccination, even though she is older than the cut-off point. Her friends will have to pay several hundred dollars. Surely preventative treatment is preferable to having cells develop. Usually such preventative treatment is also cheaper than the actual treatment.

Short sighted policy.

My mother had the same thing happen to her but with osteoporosis. An effective drug against this in older people can not be prescribed by a doctor here, unless that patient has already had a broken bone from osteoporosis. Mum's tests showed good levels of bone density, but the docotr dredged up a minor break from a fall on a large stone from many years ago. He used this to justify prescribing the drug for mum. Again, an example of shortsighted policy. Osteoporosis in elderly people, particularly women, often causes hip fractures, needing replacement surgery. Loss of mobility and therefore more risk of osteoporosis is a result of this. Why not stop it before it happens?

happy birthday

Our bridge, turns 75 this weekend. The Sydney Harbour Bridge, known to some as the Coathanger, turns seventy five and has been given a heritage listing by the government as a present.

Here is a picture from the top of the bridge by the Federal Minister who announced the award.

Built in the Depression, the bridge provided some money for otherwise unemployed workers at a time when there were many community tensions. The government was sacked a few weeks after the openng of the bridge over financial matters.

It's been a symbol of Sydney over the years. Not really known as the Coathanger to locals, it's usually just called "the bridge." There may be Gladesville Bridge, Iron Cove Bridge, Taren Point Bridge, even the Spit Bridge, but the Harbour Bridge is just "the bridge" and we all know which is meant.

There are many celebrations planned for today, although there are no fireworks this time. New Years Eve fireworks are well known for using the bridge as a central prop in the staging of the show. A couple of hundred thousand people have booked to walk across the bridge from north to south over the day. There are many other events planned as well.

Traffic across the bridge was shut at 4:30 this morning for almost 24 hours, although the harbour tunnel will remain open.. I'm somewhat concerned about getting to church this morning. Public transport has been chaotic several times this week and several trains were stuck on the bridge for almost four hours at afternon peak only a ew days ago after a breakdown. Authorities assure us that extra arrangements are in place to handle the number of people expected. We'll see.

Here are more pictures, some of the fireworks and more stories about the bridge, its construction and current uses, including the bridge climb wich was once done as a birthday present by a 99 year old woman..

a visit from her majesty

There are currently two queens in Sydney Harbour. I'm speaking of the Queen Mary 2 on her maiden voyage and her sister ship the QE 2.

The Queen Mary, the largest cruise ship ever constructed and the largest vessel to enter our harbour, arrived a few minutes before sunrise this morning. She sails late tonight for HongKong. The QE2 arrived about an hour ago and will stay here till Thursday.

Traffic around the harbour roads has been very busy and many are taking advantage of our summery evening to have a picnic whle they watch the two ships. The Queen Mary is too big to berth at Circular Quay and is tied up at a nval base. Her sister ship is birthed at Circular Quay as she is much smaller.

The last time these two queens were together in our harbour was in 1941 when they were being used as troop ships. I can just imagine troops being billeted in the suites which today cost several thousand dollars per person per night.

Picture here of the welcome Sydney gave to the Queen Mary.

higher than everest and still alive

A paraglider was sucked between two storm cells and wearing only light protective clothing and without oxygen, was taken higher than Everest. She blacked out and was also beaten by hailstones as large as melons but lived to tell the tale, suffering bruises and some frostbite.

Her amazing story can be found in several pages here.

australia day 2007

A beautiful day today. Pleasantly warm and we had the sea breeze in the afternoon. Clear blue sky.

It was Australia Day today and a public holiday. This day and Anzac Day are the two holidays celebrated here on the date they fall, rather than making a monday long wekend. If Christmas etc is on a weekend, we have other days as holidays.

We did nothing special here but I've had a fairly relaxed day after a week of springcleaning my study. It felt like January...cricket and tennis to watch, pleasant weather. School returns next week after the summer holidays and college goes back in about three weeks. I must check the dateor I'll get it wrong.

In the past, I've written patriotic essays on Australia Day, have taken potshots at some of our dreadful attitudes, particularly of this government, and have described my joy at being so blessed as to live here. I did have someting along those lines planned, but my brain would not co-operate.

I repeat that I am very thankful to live here. There are many things I would change, but I consider this one of the most beautiful places to live.

I'll close with a link to the ferrython race on Sydney harbour today. There's nothing quite like seeing some of our more elderly ferries all tarted up and going

Posted at 09:04 PM in Current Affairs, fun, life, Sports | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

An abalone diver on the south coast escaped serious injury in a shark attack.

Yesterday's report of this suggested that the diver actually swam into the mouth of the shark while diving for abalone in murky, weedy water. This report seems to suggest that the shark thought he might have been a seal.

While he will need surgery for bite marks etc, the diver seems to have suffered very little injury, despite being half swallowed by the shark.

A forklift driver, allegedly moving cars illegally from a construction zone in Sydney, appears to have totalled a 1999 Maserati. Its owner is on holidays in South America.

Pictures and story here.

Australia is known, or perhaps is notorious, for the venomous and dangerous creatures which live here. It is surprising that there are relatively few deaths from these. One report today suggested that perhaps 500-3000 snakebites occur annually and that there are maybe four deaths as a result.

Unfortunately one of these occurred yesterday. A teenage boy was bitten by a brown snake at Penrith on Sydney's outskirts. He staggered with a friend onto a cricket oval, collapsed with a heart attack and died yesterday in hospital.

These snakes are quite common and are aggressive and easily roused. However, there is speculation that the boy and his friend may have hurried to get help. It was hot at Penrith, near 40° and any movement would have helped the venom circulate.

For very many years, probably well over a century, the treatment for snakebite was a tourniquet around the limb. The bite was cut and venom sucked out. Dr Sutherland of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories developed a more efficient treatment of snake, spider and insect bites some thirty or so years ago. The affected limb was to be immobilised as well as possible and the bite bandaged with firm elastic bandages up the limb to help slow down circulation. The bite was not to be washed in any way to aid in identification of the speciess by venom left on the skin. The correct, specific antivenene could then be administered by medical staff. If possible, aid was to go to the patient, rather than the other way round.

Unfortunately, the poor boy seems to have sought aid rather than staying in one place. No more details have been made public.. The heat would have made the possibility of snakes more likely and would also have been bad in slowing down his circulation as he walked for help.

For some years we had a place of 16 hectares (40 acres) in the bush almost an hur from any medical aid, where we know there were many snakes. We realised we were in their habitat and tried to instil the right procedures in our sons. We had available at all times a particular first aid box with various elastic bandages etc in it. This was in addition to an ordinary, well stocked first aid kit.

Fortunately we had no need to use the kit or test our sons' knowledge. We did however see many red belly black snakes near the creek which was a ready source of food. We also saw brown snakes similar to the one pictured in the link and while walking and climbing came across some death adders (two links there) snoozing on a rock in the sun. They have a distinctive flattened, triangular head. We skirted around them, rather than having a good look.

I killed only one in some years- a black snake which did not seem inclined to go off in the bush when we tried to frighten it. As we were expecting a lot of visitors with small children that day, we thought it best to kill it rather than run the risk of a bite. Snakes are protected in this state and should not be killed. Somehow I think this is one law honoured probably more in the breach than the observance.

Here's a novel idea to save the coral  on the Great Barrier reef, dying because of global warming.  It even seems to have the endorsement of a Federal Minister for whatever that is worth.  Possibly not much, in my opinion. I have another idea.  Why not mix sunscreen factor 30+ with a bit of oil so it will float on the surface and  cut down harmful rays?  It could be sprayed by a crop duster type aircraft over large areas of the reef.

What was that I heard?  It would kill the fish as oxygen supply would be reduced?  Well, make up your mind about where your priorities lie.  LOL

  The sheik tries to extricate himself from a mess of his own making.

Pressure is rising for Sheik Al Halaly to step down as discussion continues  about his inflammatory comments on women.

He seems to me and probably to many others to have the matter totally upside down.  If the lack of a hijab on a woman is all that is needed to arouse lust in men, then he would do better to be teaching self control and restraint to the men.  I think that constantly criticising women's dress in this way, is really drawing emphasis to it and thereby continuing the possibility of rape.

I also think that his simile is poorly chosen when carried through.  He compared a woman without a hijab to uncovered meat left out for cats to prey on. 

I have three cats, now well into middle age.  I know that cats can be domesticated, but only as far as it suits them.  My three are all capable of hunting if they lose the bells from their collars.  They are quite capable of being opportunistic and jumping on the bench after anything I have forgotten to put away. Their feline instincts are still quite obvious, although they are well fed and looked after.  They are on the prowl constantly.

I suggest that this applies to the men the sheik mentions.   Is he suggesting that they are like cats and other members of the species?  Constantly on the prowl for whatever they can find? Unable to be totally trained and domesticated to live in society?  It certainly seems like it.  I suggest that these men are always on the lookout for prey.  Sickeningly sordid evidence from recent rape trials down here would seem to agree with this conclusion.

If this is the case, and I think it really could well be, at least for some men in the culture he comes from, then again he needs to address this.

Please note, I amnot branding all men fromthat culture as acting in this way.  However, to use this comparison,the sheik obviously knows that tehre are some who are like this.

 A Five Dock man was startled yesterday when a bolt fell from the sky onto his house.   Several roof tiles were damaged and his ceiling was cracked.

It appears it was indeed a bolt from an aircraft flying overhead and investigations are still continuing to discover which one.  Officials will not comment on the matter except to say that losing the bolt would not have prejudiced the aircraft's safety.  Never mind about the people underneath.</sarcasm>   It has also been sugggested that it was something left behind from maintenance, not a bolt which actually came loose and dropped out.

I live only several hundred metres as the crow flies, or perhaps as the plane flies, from where this happened.  I'm under the  flightpath which changed some years ago to come this way.  I've often thought about things like this.  Planes go directly overhed he, quite low.  Not that I'm really worried, but this has shown that things like this really do happen.  Hitting and damaging a roof was unfortunate, but hitting a person would have been much worse.

I was in a shopping centre yesterday which had several of those merry-go-rounds, toy cars, animals etc. which toddlers love to ride and which cost an arm and a leg in comparison with the ride they actually give.

Outside Big W at Campsie was a new one.  Steve Irwin's ute.  Irwin was standing in the  tray, cuddling a crocodile, while the front seat was for the toddler.  "Crikey" was written on the ute.

I'm sorry his death has left a family without husband and dad, but do not share  the popular adulation which many seem to hold for him.  However, to use this and his death as a money making opportunity seems to me to be in very poor taste.  Just like Germaine Greer's comments.  She's welcome to her opinions, but to express them as she did, when she did, was also in poor taste.

The national church life survey  was conducted yesterday at many churches.  Carried out every five years, it is similar to a  census.  Research on a particular church, denomination, trend etc is available after processing.I found mostf the questions to be very bland . i suppose this is to be expected when it seems to be marked by scanner etc - use crosses,not ticks, blue or black pens only etc..

I found I was in the place of agreeing with a lot of things  where I really wanted to be able to write some comments.  Sermons are usually not boring where I attend, so I could honestly tick that box.  However, there wasn't a box to tick as to type of sermon usually preached, topical, expository and so on.  True to my dislike of labels, I did tick the box that I don't identify with any of the labels offered.  I'm an individual coming from three separate backgrounds and belonging to none of them.

Those who have done this before or who have some church type background or history filled out the survey quickly and easily.  However, we have a lot of people new to the church who found some of the questions difficult as they had no idea of what was being asked.  I was pleased to see that some of the more "airy-fairy" questions have been removed.  I remember one survey asking if the respondent had ever had any type of religious experience.  As many different meanings to that question as there were people who read it!

Colin Thiele , writer of many children's stories also died today.  He wrote over eighty books and ws perhaps best known for his novel, Storm Boy,  the story of a boy on the the Coorong and a pelican he befriended.

Steve Irwin , the crocodile huntert has been killed by a stingray barb to the heart.  Sketchy details are given.

For some years now, passengers on NSW suburban trains have been unable to open the train doors  should there be an emergency.   The government has  finally decided  to fit an overriding device to existing trains and to allow new trains to be opened from the inside.  This comes after reports on terrorism and also on a bad accident where several were killed. 

The once Liberal senator, Don Chipp, has died of Parkinsons disease.  Don Chipp   left the Liberal Party to form the Australian Democrats  in 1977, with the cry that he would "keep the bastards honest."   Many saw him as a real Australian, a good bloke, whatever either of those terms might mean.

For some years,  the party was moderately successful, but it has gone rapidly downhill in the last few years, largely, I think, the  result of internal fighting.

Later:  Here's an obituary of Don Chipp.

It should never have come this far, never even seen the light of day in my opinion, but Prime Minister Howard has dropped his bill for offshore processing of refugees.  The bill was to have been debated in the Senate this week.  The Family First senator, Senator Fielding, decided at the weekend that he would oppose the bill, while Barnaby Joyce from Queensland was planning to move an amendment or to abstain.  The Herald has a report here . 

The report suggests the bill was dropped because of its almost certain defeat.  To me, it seems more likely that Howard took his ball and went home because he didn't get  to play his way.  An article at the weekend pointed out that crossing the floor and voting against the party line used to be quite common, although it's not done much at all now.  I believe that Howard would not allow the upper house senators the opportunity to cross the floor as several did last week.  I  think he want to be seen as wielding power over the party members and  took this action to stop their rebellion.

Whatever the real reasons may be, the bill has been dropped.    As I said above, it should never have been raised inthe first place.

"A rose by any other name?"  In this case, it's certainly not a rose but something more evil smelling.

Three Liberal MPs crossed the floor to vote with the Labor party and a fourth, Bruce Baird, abstained from voting, in the vote on off shore processing of refugees.   There is an account here.   

Australia's behaviour in processing refugees is abominable.  Offshore processing refers to the fact that refugees will be processed and probably be put in detention in offshore centres which have now been removed from Australian territory by the government.  Technically, refugees have never even reached Australia.  Processing may take years.  One refugee was seven years  in a detention centre while application for residency was processed.   And let's not  forget those who were refused refugee status and supposedly have been killed after forced repatriation.

The bill now has to go to the Senate.  The article  points out that one Liberal Senator who is known to oppose the bill,  has not decided  yet decided her course of action.  Two dissenting votes  would see it defeated.  The National Senator, Barnaby Joyce,  has opposed some  bills.  I can't see this happening here.    Many Queensland nationals are extremely conservative  and  supported Pauline Hanson's stand on immigration some years ago.  My personal feeling is that Joyce opposed government policy where it would have hurt these voters in the hip pocket.  I think that refugees will bring a different response from them and hence from him.

That leaves Fielding, the Family First Senator.  This is where my title really comes in.  Family First appears in practice to be another name for the Liberals.  Another  rose or perhaps a dandelion.   I hope I'm wrong, but I reallycan't see Fielding doing anything else except support the government.

I applaud the actions of those who crossed the floor.  Life will be miserable for them I think.  Enforcers such as Wilson Tuckey  will be on their case immediately.  A very unpleasant man.

It's that time again.  Five years has passed since the last Australian census.  The Sydney Morning Herald   has an article  on it here. Perhaps less of an article and more of a press release.

I worked for quite a while for the Bureau of Statistics many years ago.  I did not do census work.  It's not easy and many people used to be very unco-operative.  However, I was once conned into answering  phone enquiries  on a census.

I remember working my way through the form for an elderly gentleman who was quite confused about all of it.  This took about 15 minutes to explain it to him and make sure he understood.  At the end, he thanked me profusely and then added, "I really should have had my pen with me and I could have written down my answers then!"

I put aside pen and form.  This is the first time the census has been available online and I completed mne at the weekend.

Here's an interesting article  on an archeological find in Ireland.  A copy of an ancient psalter was overturned by a tractor.

There has been quite a reaction to  Hamo's post  about paedophiles.

Two weeks ago I was in a similar quandary.  Some years ago, my husband was friends with a fellow who came to my place many times.  A Christian, he was here for a study group where several parents had their young children.  I am quite sure nothing happened to any of them.

I was astounded when I learnt that he had been arrested and sickened when I heard the charge.  He was imprisoned for several years and has just been released on parole into the care of a major Christian group which does a lot off social welfare type work.  He maintained that he did "nothing."  What he did do, was bankroll others, gifts, overseas trips to India,the Philippines etc.  In my view equally guilty.   What really bothered me was that apparently there had  been rumours of his involvement for quite a while and no one had done anything about it.  I was horrified to think that some young child may have been spared if someone had spoken out.  I knew nothing of these rumours as I had little to do with him.

He did not take to prison well.  He believed he was treated badly because he was a Christian.  I  know that others guilty of the same crime are regarded by other prisoners as scum.  Even criminals have their code of conduct and paedophilia is at the bottom of the list.

I answered the phone to hear  A's voice.  (not even his real initial).  He was in Sydney from interstate to visit family.  Could he speak to my husband?  I left the room as I did not want to hear the conversation.    I was then told that he was coming to dinner in a few days.  I really was very upset about this.  I did not want him in my home.  I suggested a restaurant but was told no.

I know people who have been abused and know some of their struggles.  I admire one of Hamo's commenters for speaking out about the abuse her children suffered from their father.  I really did not want this man in my home.

I prayed  about this and still felt the same.  I was told I would go to hell if I did not forgive him as "God can't forgive, if we don't forgive."  I was expecting to hear this as it's a fairly standard response in many situations which are turned back onto me.  It's  a wrong reading of the text, it doesn't say that at all.  I also felt that I had nothing personal to forgive A for.   I just felt absolutely sick at the crime and  felt a total revulsion at the thought of someone sexually abusing young children.

Short of precipitating a major incident, there was nothing I could do.  My viewpoint was not understood at all.  I prepared dinner.  Now I'm a good cook, but I know that if I'm not well, or have a headache or am upset, the cooking does not always turn out as wished for no matter how hard I try.  This was the case.  The food was adequate but not up to my personal standards.

A. arrived and seemed to behave as if nothing had ever happened.  That may have been his way of dealing with the situation here, but I wondered about whether he really believed he had done anything wrong.  Others at Hamo's  also speak of this idea that there was nothing wrong.   I spoke when spoken to, but did not initiate any conversation.

I see that most of the commenters at Hamo's are hard put to decide what to do, just as I was.  It's such a horrible, dirty crime.  We know God forgives, but I wonder if there is real repentance, although that's not for me to judge.  Does forgiveness mean just letting the past go?  I don't think so.  What's happened, happened.  No one could reasonably put such an offender in charge  of a Sunday School or in a place where they had contact with children.  That's plain sense to most of us.    I have no answers for the questions Hamo raised about residence and public naming of such people.  All I know are my own reactions.   

A multi-million dollar harbourside house has suffered extensive damage and may need to be demolished after a nineteen tonne truck dropped in for breakfast.  Fortunately no-one was hurt.

Pictures and more detail can be seen here .

I live in Ashfield municipality.   Tonight's ABC news announced that the council here intended to introduce a speed limit of 30 kmh in the municipality's streets.  Many of our streets are quite narrow and with parking on both sides of the street, there is not much room for traffic.  We are quite an old area, as Sydney goes, and the streets were not made for the volume or type of traffic which now can be seen.  Lots of streets are tree lined and visibility at corners is not good.

As I listened to the announcement which was somewhat wry in tone, I could visualise a man with a flag walking before the cars and trucks, much like a century ago.  The State Minister for Roads ridiculed the plan and it may well be that the council has released such a far fetched idea so that almost any other arrangement will be welcomed in its place. 

In my opinion, thought needs to be given to traffic flows within the area and how they can be improved.  The  block where I live was to have been made one way around the block.  There would be some inconvenience to residents, but I think that once we became used to the idea, improved traffic flow,  fewer accidents at intersections would outweigh a few extra seconds driving to home.  Councillors were mindful of votes and shelved that proposal.

There is a roundabout close to me which should never have been installed.  The intersection is far too small for such a device and even small 4WDs and not-so-large cars  go over the top as the turning circle is tight. 

But 30 kmh?  I don't think this will help at all except perhaps to swell some coffers with fines for exceeding the limit.

Stupidity leads to death

St Barnabas', on Broadway was  destroyed by fire this morning.   I used to attend University Church services there many years ago.  Barney's catered to uni students, the youth in the district and also to the down and outs of the area.

For many years, the church was famous for its slogans on the notice board on Parramatta Road.  They were usually pithy and hardhitting.  The game was to see if both Barney's slogan and the response from the pub window opposite could be read while one travelled past in the  bus.  The hotel proprietor did a good job in keeping up his end of the competition and the two together were often thought provoking and humorous.

Unfortunately the pub was sold and is now something else entirely different.  No more quick repartee from it and the church board has succumbed to the wishy-washy sentimentality of  some  "bottled" slogans to which many Anglican churches here seem to subscribe.  Little wit and not much thought provoking either from them.

A sad day for St Barnabas' indeed, even though the rector pointed out that the community was more than the building.

Here's an account  of the first few minutes of the miners' release from being trapped 925 metres underground for a fortnight. (post below)

After fourteen nights underground, two miners  at Beaconsfield, Tasmania, have been freed.    They will probably reach the surface in a few minutes time, around 6:00 am today.  They were trapped in a rockfall caused by seismic activity  which had its epicentre very close to where they were working.  There are conjectures that this activity was caused by the working of the mine.  Unfortunately, one of their workmates was killed in the rockfall and will be buried today.  His  family had hoped that the two trapped men would have been freed earlier than this.  They were saved because they were in a small steel cage which had been reinforced  with more steel and welding.  Its roof protected them from rock.

It was five days before it was found that they were alive and rescue operations have been  slow and tedious in freeing them.  Safety for both the trapped men and their rescuers was important and  other considerations meant that progress was slow.  Drilling was hampered by rock described as "five times harder than concrete."  Right to the end there were fears of further rock collapses.

The men seem to be in remarkably good health.  Since being found some nine days ago, they have had a controlled diet of fairly bland food passed down a small tube for them.  Batteries, lights, clothing etc has also been given to them as well  as I-pods.

Early this morning, about an hour ago, mine sirens and church bells sounded to announce their rescue.  There have beeen many pictures of the Uniting Church with its chalked notice of  prayer for our miners   in the news.  Their bell has not been rung since it announced  the end of World war II.  It rang this moring.

What good news to wake up to!

Two of the three miners trapped in a gold mine in Beaconsfield in Tasmania by falling rocks in a seismic disturbance have been found alive after almost a week.  Unfortunately, a third miner was killed in a rockfall.  His body was rescued last week.  The two still alive may be down the mine for a while yet.  Conditions are hazardous and rescue work is slow.  However, they have been able to speak with their families.  It would seem they were protected by their metal cage from the fall of rock.  More details can be found  here .

I was going to call this an embarrassing gaffe.  However, as I thought about it, I realised  that I use the word "gaffe" in a lightweight way, something humorous but embarrassing.  This is not like that.

Private Jake Kovko was killed on duty in Iraq, Australia's first casualty.  I referred to this in a post below.  Supposedly killed in an accident while cleaning a service pistol.

The government is now suffering acute embarrassment, as well it should be.  We saw on TV an interview with Kovco's widow.  She was articulate about her loss, although obviously deeply distressed.  Plans had been made to return his body to their small country town for a funeral.

A body was returned, but it was revealed when the plane reached Melbourne that this was not the body of Private Kovco but of someone else.  The family is understandably devastated.

I was watching the  7:30 report  tonight where a media consultant spoke of this mess.  During the Vietnam war, he had been on duty to accompany the bodies of three servicemen who had been killed.  He had had to watch the loading and sealing of the cargo bay and at Darwin had again had to see that the coffins were not disturbed.  He found it unthinkable that  the Army had not in this case done the same thing, but had entrusted the return to a commercial company. (I would add a link to this, but  the transcript is not yet online.)

To add to their misery it has been announced  that this was not an accident involving cleaning a weapon.  It has been announced that there were others in the room at the time, but the whole announcement has been very guarded in its wording.  The young man's mother is distraught and is demanding a full enquiry as Private Kovco was well experienced in weapons and well used to handling and cleaning them.

I feel for them in their misery and amazed that such a thing could happen. 

Howard has been extremely lucky in that  no Australian has been killed on duty from among our troops on duty  in this wretched war.  The least he can do is to see that this matter is rectified as speedily as possible and to give all possible assistance to the family.

Somehow, I don't feel happy about this outcome.  Will all be transparent?  He's had a lot of practice in the last few years at prevaricating and avoiding answering questions directly.  Along with other senior members of Cabinet, he also seems to be suffering from memory lapses which in private industry would rule him out of holding office.

This is a follow on to the post below on ANZAC Day.

I mentioned about the renewed interest here in Australia in the  celebration of this day.  The Herald this morning  reports  the very large attendance, many of them young people at this morning's  dawn service .

The ABC reporter on the 7:30 Report said something like this: there are many ways to die in war and all of them are tragic."   He was commenting on the death in Iraq of a young soldier, the father of two young children.  This young private was Australia's first casualty in the Iraq war.  There have been injuries , although none in battle, but no deaths.  This too, appears to have been an accident.  The young private was  killed while cleaning his service pistol.  Two other soldiers were with him at the time of the apparent accident.  I've been against our involvement in this area since the very beginning and am saddened by the death. What made it more poignant to me was that his body was readied for return here on the eve of Anzac Day.   Anzac Day strikes a chord here which is deeper than the patriotism and fun on Australia Day which is in the January holiday period.  Instead of  being a holiday Monday added to the weekend, Anzac Day is celebrated on its actual date.   It has become something solemn.  Crowds which gather at Gallipoli  in Turkey are made up  mainly of those under 25.  Young people see this as a pilgrimage to make and take time out of their overseas trip to be their on April 25.  Each year, the percentage under 25 years grows.    Crowds at the Dawn Services have also been growing over the last few years and at Anzac Day marches around the country.

When I was at school, I can remember taking part in a competition to write on Anzac Day for the local Returned Soldiers Club.  I'm sure most of us trotted out the usual phrases about Australia becoming a nation on this day.  We mentioned the dreadful loss of life of out young men, many of them in their mid-teens.  We spoke of the hardships they endured and of the retreat which left the Turks astounded.  We carefully paid no attention to the enemy, the  Turks who actually had a casualty rate 10 times our own.  What we did not know was the bad  planning, the ridiculous restraints imposed by  British officers well away from the  Australians and New Zealanders in the line of fire, and the almost ludicrous mistakes made which  guaranteed  a tremendous toll.

Somehow, many of these seem familiar to me, translated into different terms to suit these days now. Times have changed and we now find ourselves supplying troops to support a different nation.  I doubt that there will be a retreat from this  and I doubt that what is now called the enemy will regard the Allied troops with respect and honour as the Turks now regard those who fell at Gallipoli.  This young soldier's death is as tragic as any of those in 1915 or in any other field of war in which Australians have fought, including the ignominious time in Vietnam.

There are many ways  to die in war and all of them are tragic.

And the band played Waltzing  Mathilda

Now when I was a young man and I carried my pack
and I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty out back
I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915 my country said "Son
It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done"
And they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war.

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As the ships pulled away from the quay
And amid all the tears, flag waving and cheers
We sailed off to Galipolli

And how I remember that terrible day
How our blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs to the slaughter.

Johnnie Turk was ready, oh he primed himself well
He rained us with bullets and he showered us with shell
And in five minutes flat we were all blown to hell
nearly blew us all back home to Australia.

But the band played Waltzing Matilda
as we stuck to bury our slain
We burned ours and the Turks buried theirs
and we started all over again

Those who were living just tried to survive
In a mad world of blood death and fire
And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive
While around me the corpses piled higher

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I awoke in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done and I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda
All round the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs a man needs both legs
No more Waltzing Matilda for me.

They collected the crippled, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled in to Circular Key
And I looked at the place where my legs used to be
I thanked Christ there was no one there waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to Pity

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
as they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared
And turned all their faces away

So now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams of past glory

I see the old men all tired, stiff and sore
The weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year, the numbers get fewer
Some day none will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me.

Words and music by Eric Bogle.

Sydney beaches will have the biggest  surf in thirty years  today.   Southern facing beaches will take the force of a swell of up to seven metres today.  This has been building for several days as a southerly change moved up the coast bringing relief from 30+&deg; temperatures last week.  It now feels like autumn!

Those beaches facing south are in danger of heavy erosion with this swell.

The funeral of outback painter Pro Hart  was held today in hs hometown, Broken  Hill.  A well known artist, Pro Hart had never been hung in the National Gallery, although  his paintings were well known here.  He is perhaps most remembered for his TV commercials  where he slung paint at a carpet and slithered around in it, much to the disgust of his cleaner.  Carpet amazingly became like new on application of a cleanser.

A Pro Hart painting can be easily verified as an original. He incorporated a DNA signature into his paintings which can be checked electronically. There may be more artists doing this now, but he was the first to do so. A short biography of his life can be read hereand there are links tosomeof his paintings as well.

Pro Hart was a Christian and a generous man.  He gave many paintings away for fundraising to various charities and to friends. 

The college I attended  and where I am now working part time,  owns a large Pro Hart painting, a gift of friendship to the principal.  It's quite large and very vibrant - a mass of daisies and other flowers in exuberant colours filling the canvas.

Cyclone Larry  will probably cross the coast of North Queensland early tomorrow  morning. This cyclone is already graded as Category 4, but meteorologists  believe it has the potential to move to category 5, like Katrina.

The area affected covers a huge section of North Queensland, coming much further south to Mackay than is usual.  Holiday makers have been evacuated from island esorts and those living near the sea have been told to evacuate.

I watched the Games opening ceremony last night as I was home by myself.  I quite enjoyed it but I became lost in the reverie somewhere.  Delta Goodrem is an Australian favourite, but I would have preferred to hear more of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa than a few bars of  Happy Birthday  sung by her to the Queen. 

Scenes down theYarra River were good and innovative, although to a Sydney sider, there were too many AFL captains for my liking.  I wondered how many surfboat crews rowed on such a glassy surface.

I've always enjoyed fireworks, even though it's really just money up in smoke.  The fireworks shooting from the backpacks was well done and I thought the outside shots of Melbourne's tall buildings erupting in a blaze of coloured fireworks was great.

I was planning on going to the city this morning, but decided against it.  The Queen, who spent the night at Canbera, three hours drive away but only a short flight, will be opening an addition to the Opera House and attending a church service at St Andrew's Cathedral  for Commonwealth observance prior to the opening of the Commonwealth games in Melbourne.

The city will be swarming with security people and possibly spectators too.  As it's forecast to be hot yet again, I think I'll stay home.  The royal visit lasts only five days, so there is plenty of time for shopping later.

Ho, hum, the Queen has arrived in Canberra for another visit to Australia to open the Commonwealth Games.  Only several hundred people were at the airport to meet her, although she hasn't been here for quite a few years and it is rumoured this may well be her last visit.  She's just on eighty.  It's very hot here in Sydney today and will be hotter tomorrow.  I think it would be a shock stepping out of the plane at Canberra which will be hotter than Sydney.

I'm showing my age here, well and truly, but I can remember past visits when thousands greeted her and more thousands crammed streets to see her.  She was always described as looking "radiant."  I don't think either of my parents was an ardent monarchist, and I'm certainly not.  However, I do remember being taken to the Botanical Gardens to watch the Queen arrive in Sydney on yet another hot day.  She disembarked from a barge which had taken her from the royal yacht Britannia.

I also remember  a school excursion where we were taken to what is now known as Queen Elizabeth Park in the back of North Strathfield/Concord, fairly close to where I now live.  School excursions were practically unheard of in those days.  It was another ******  hot day, as we would put it here, not to offend the British! ( reference to a silly British decision to ban a tourist advertisement which used the word "bloody."  It's been a lot of free publicity.)*  We walked down from North Strathfield railway station in a long procession of school pupils.  I have a vague memory that the Queen and Duke were late.  I also have a vague memory of a Landrover utility being driven very quickly up and down through the rows of school pupils.  Presumably her majesty waved to us from the back of the ute.  I really don't remember.

Much more vivid is the memory of the injury suffered by one of my schoolmates.  She had a highly unusual treat of a small glass bottle of Coca Cola.  It was warm from the heat and she shook it hard.  The bottle exploded, deeply cutting her leg so that she required hospital treatment.  That really was something exciting!

As the long line of children traipsed back up the hill to the station,  residents who were watering their gardens with a hose, would "accidentally" spray us as we passed or even give us a drink of water from the hose.  I was reminded of this in the 2004 Olympics when much the same thing happened for contestants in the marathon  which ran along this road to the nearby OLympic Stadium.

Times have changed, thank goodness, and royal visits certainly don't get the attention they once did.

* See the offending ad here. The irony is that we have gained free publicity from this and that the censorship applies to advertisements, not actual programs which may allow much stronger language to go through.

Here is a link to the webpage of Macquarie Ancient History Association If you are in Sydney, have a look at the calendar as there are some interesting events scheduled if you are interested in discoveries from the past.

The links page has some good things too. I attend the Society for the Study of Early Christianity conference and some of its other lectures as well.

Macquarie Uni has a strong Ancient History Department with a high worldwide reputation. Many of its professors and lecturers are Christians. I always find the lectures interesting.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that  settlement has been reached and the Federal Government will pay eleven year old Shayan Badraie $400,000 for psychological damage sustained wile he was living in Woomera and Villawood Detention Centres.

Just how was the figure reached?  How does one compensate for a young child seeing such violence and seeing attempted suicides, while supposedly in somewhere regarded as safe?  How does one compensate for the loss of liberty because his parents were held in those centres?  Shayan's lawyer says that reminders of that time cause his symptoms to worsen. 

I have never been to the detention centre at Woomera, but I have visited people in the Villawood centre.  It may be possible that some families cope better than others and that Shayan  Badraie's family was one of those which did not cope well with their time there.  It is no place for families with young children and if some form of detention is really necessary, somethng better must be found.  When I visited there was an oppressive atmosphere over the place.  People sat around listlessly, with darkened, sad eyes.  There was no animated conversation, just a few words and grunts exchanged.  The surroundings and buildings were adequate as shelter but had little to commend them for anything else.  Dull, drab, grubby and crowded.  All this was before the inrush of refugees and illegal immigrants over the last few years.

It may seem as if Shayan Badraie has received a windfall at the age of eleven.  I doubt anything could be just or adequate compenastion for what has happened to him.  His lawyer said that the government should be changing the system for the better, rather than piecemeal negotiating payouts for damages caused by the present system of detention.  Unfortunately our Immigration department has a history of mistakes and buckpassing.  I could well be wrong, but it seems that this payout could be a way of glossing over problems.

Coles and Woolworths, the two main supermarkets here, announced some months ago that they would be introducing upmarket  house branding of many goods in their shops.  For years there has been a rockbottom generic brand and a slightly higher house brand in the supermarkets.  Some of these products are  OK, some of them are made with the adage  "you get what you pay for"  in mind.

The new products  are supposed to be the equivalent of the better brand of goods.  An enormous range of products is covered.

When shopping the other day I had several conversation with other shoppers.  All centred around the disappearance of many familiar brands from the  shelves.  Probably the new house brand has pushed its manufacturer's original product off the shelves.  However,  to all of us it seemed that there was a vastly reduced variety of choice.  I have tried some products, rebranded.  Some of them are obviously  what I used to buy before under anoth

escape from the jaws of a shark

An abalone diver on the south coast escaped serious injury in a shark attack.

Yesterday's report of this suggested that the diver actually swam into the mouth of the shark while diving for abalone in murky, weedy water. This report seems to suggest that the shark thought he might have been a seal.

While he will need surgery for bite marks etc, the diver seems to have suffered very little injury, despite being half swallowed by the shark.

oops! or, a pleasant surprise to come home to

A forklift driver, allegedly moving cars illegally from a construction zone in Sydney, appears to have totalled a 1999 Maserati. Its owner is on holidays in South America.

Pictures and story here.

death by snakebite

Australia is known, or perhaps is notorious, for the venomous and dangerous creatures which live here. It is surprising that there are relatively few deaths from these. One report today suggested that perhaps 500-3000 snakebites occur annually and that there are maybe four deaths as a result.

Unfortunately one of these occurred yesterday. A teenage boy was bitten by a brown snake at Penrith on Sydney's outskirts. He staggered with a friend onto a cricket oval, collapsed with a heart attack and died yesterday in hospital.

These snakes are quite common and are aggressive and easily roused. However, there is speculation that the boy and his friend may have hurried to get help. It was hot at Penrith, near 40° and any movement would have helped the venom circulate.

For very many years, probably well over a century, the treatment for snakebite was a tourniquet around the limb. The bite was cut and venom sucked out. Dr Sutherland of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories developed a more efficient treatment of snake, spider and insect bites some thirty or so years ago. The affected limb was to be immobilised as well as possible and the bite bandaged with firm elastic bandages up the limb to help slow down circulation. The bite was not to be washed in any way to aid in identification of the speciess by venom left on the skin. The correct, specific antivenene could then be administered by medical staff. If possible, aid was to go to the patient, rather than the other way round.

Unfortunately, the poor boy seems to have sought aid rather than staying in one place. No more details have been made public.. The heat would have made the possibility of snakes more likely and would also have been bad in slowing down his circulation as he walked for help.

For some years we had a place of 16 hectares (40 acres) in the bush almost an hur from any medical aid, where we know there were many snakes. We realised we were in their habitat and tried to instil the right procedures in our sons. We had available at all times a particular first aid box with various elastic bandages etc in it. This was in addition to an ordinary, well stocked first aid kit.

Fortunately we had no need to use the kit or test our sons' knowledge. We did however see many red belly black snakes near the creek which was a ready source of food. We also saw brown snakes similar to the one pictured in the link and while walking and climbing came across some death adders (two links there) snoozing on a rock in the sun. They have a distinctive flattened, triangular head. We skirted around them, rather than having a good look.

I killed only one in some years- a black snake which did not seem inclined to go off in the bush when we tried to frighten it. As we were expecting a lot of visitors with small children that day, we thought it best to kill it rather than run the risk of a bite. Snakes are protected in this state and should not be killed. Somehow I think this is one law honoured probably more in the breach than the observance.

remembrance day

shade cloth??

Here's a novel idea to save the coral  on the Great Barrier reef, dying because of global warming.  It even seems to have the endorsement of a Federal Minister for whatever that is worth.  Possibly not much, in my opinion. I have another idea.  Why not mix sunscreen factor 30+ with a bit of oil so it will float on the surface and  cut down harmful rays?  It could be sprayed by a crop duster type aircraft over large areas of the reef.

What was that I heard?  It would kill the fish as oxygen supply would be reduced?  Well, make up your mind about where your priorities lie.  LOL

backtracking from the sheik

  The sheik tries to extricate himself from a mess of his own making.

pressure to step down

Pressure is rising for Sheik Al Halaly to step down as discussion continues  about his inflammatory comments on women.

He seems to me and probably to many others to have the matter totally upside down.  If the lack of a hijab on a woman is all that is needed to arouse lust in men, then he would do better to be teaching self control and restraint to the men.  I think that constantly criticising women's dress in this way, is really drawing emphasis to it and thereby continuing the possibility of rape.

I also think that his simile is poorly chosen when carried through.  He compared a woman without a hijab to uncovered meat left out for cats to prey on. 

I have three cats, now well into middle age.  I know that cats can be domesticated, but only as far as it suits them.  My three are all capable of hunting if they lose the bells from their collars.  They are quite capable of being opportunistic and jumping on the bench after anything I have forgotten to put away. Their feline instincts are still quite obvious, although they are well fed and looked after.  They are on the prowl constantly.

I suggest that this applies to the men the sheik mentions.   Is he suggesting that they are like cats and other members of the species?  Constantly on the prowl for whatever they can find? Unable to be totally trained and domesticated to live in society?  It certainly seems like it.  I suggest that these men are always on the lookout for prey.  Sickeningly sordid evidence from recent rape trials down here would seem to agree with this conclusion.

If this is the case, and I think it really could well be, at least for some men in the culture he comes from, then again he needs to address this.

Please note, I amnot branding all men fromthat culture as acting in this way.  However, to use this comparison,the sheik obviously knows that tehre are some who are like this.

bolt from the blue or rather, bolt from the Boeing

 A Five Dock man was startled yesterday when a bolt fell from the sky onto his house.   Several roof tiles were damaged and his ceiling was cracked.

It appears it was indeed a bolt from an aircraft flying overhead and investigations are still continuing to discover which one.  Officials will not comment on the matter except to say that losing the bolt would not have prejudiced the aircraft's safety.  Never mind about the people underneath.</sarcasm>   It has also been sugggested that it was something left behind from maintenance, not a bolt which actually came loose and dropped out.

I live only several hundred metres as the crow flies, or perhaps as the plane flies, from where this happened.  I'm under the  flightpath which changed some years ago to come this way.  I've often thought about things like this.  Planes go directly overhed he, quite low.  Not that I'm really worried, but this has shown that things like this really do happen.  Hitting and damaging a roof was unfortunate, but hitting a person would have been much worse.

crikey! what poor taste

I was in a shopping centre yesterday which had several of those merry-go-rounds, toy cars, animals etc. which toddlers love to ride and which cost an arm and a leg in comparison with the ride they actually give.

Outside Big W at Campsie was a new one.  Steve Irwin's ute.  Irwin was standing in the  tray, cuddling a crocodile, while the front seat was for the toddler.  "Crikey" was written on the ute.

I'm sorry his death has left a family without husband and dad, but do not share  the popular adulation which many seem to hold for him.  However, to use this and his death as a money making opportunity seems to me to be in very poor taste.  Just like Germaine Greer's comments.  She's welcome to her opinions, but to express them as she did, when she did, was also in poor taste.

national church life survey

The national church life survey  was conducted yesterday at many churches.  Carried out every five years, it is similar to a  census.  Research on a particular church, denomination, trend etc is available after processing.I found mostf the questions to be very bland . i suppose this is to be expected when it seems to be marked by scanner etc - use crosses,not ticks, blue or black pens only etc..

I found I was in the place of agreeing with a lot of things  where I really wanted to be able to write some comments.  Sermons are usually not boring where I attend, so I could honestly tick that box.  However, there wasn't a box to tick as to type of sermon usually preached, topical, expository and so on.  True to my dislike of labels, I did tick the box that I don't identify with any of the labels offered.  I'm an individual coming from three separate backgrounds and belonging to none of them.

Those who have done this before or who have some church type background or history filled out the survey quickly and easily.  However, we have a lot of people new to the church who found some of the questions difficult as they had no idea of what was being asked.  I was pleased to see that some of the more "airy-fairy" questions have been removed.  I remember one survey asking if the respondent had ever had any type of religious experience.  As many different meanings to that question as there were people who read it!

another prominent aussie dies

Colin Thiele , writer of many children's stories also died today.  He wrote over eighty books and ws perhaps best known for his novel, Storm Boy,  the story of a boy on the the Coorong and a pelican he befriended.

crocodile hunter dead

Steve Irwin , the crocodile huntert has been killed by a stingray barb to the heart.  Sketchy details are given.

train doors

For some years now, passengers on NSW suburban trains have been unable to open the train doors  should there be an emergency.   The government has  finally decided  to fit an overriding device to existing trains and to allow new trains to be opened from the inside.  This comes after reports on terrorism and also on a bad accident where several were killed. 

don chipp

The once Liberal senator, Don Chipp, has died of Parkinsons disease.  Don Chipp   left the Liberal Party to form the Australian Democrats  in 1977, with the cry that he would "keep the bastards honest."   Many saw him as a real Australian, a good bloke, whatever either of those terms might mean.

For some years,  the party was moderately successful, but it has gone rapidly downhill in the last few years, largely, I think, the  result of internal fighting.

Later:  Here's an obituary of Don Chipp.

immigration bill dropped

It should never have come this far, never even seen the light of day in my opinion, but Prime Minister Howard has dropped his bill for offshore processing of refugees.  The bill was to have been debated in the Senate this week.  The Family First senator, Senator Fielding, decided at the weekend that he would oppose the bill, while Barnaby Joyce from Queensland was planning to move an amendment or to abstain.  The Herald has a report here . 

The report suggests the bill was dropped because of its almost certain defeat.  To me, it seems more likely that Howard took his ball and went home because he didn't get  to play his way.  An article at the weekend pointed out that crossing the floor and voting against the party line used to be quite common, although it's not done much at all now.  I believe that Howard would not allow the upper house senators the opportunity to cross the floor as several did last week.  I  think he want to be seen as wielding power over the party members and  took this action to stop their rebellion.

Whatever the real reasons may be, the bill has been dropped.    As I said above, it should never have been raised inthe first place.

a rose by any other name

"A rose by any other name?"  In this case, it's certainly not a rose but something more evil smelling.

Three Liberal MPs crossed the floor to vote with the Labor party and a fourth, Bruce Baird, abstained from voting, in the vote on off shore processing of refugees.   There is an account here.   

Australia's behaviour in processing refugees is abominable.  Offshore processing refers to the fact that refugees will be processed and probably be put in detention in offshore centres which have now been removed from Australian territory by the government.  Technically, refugees have never even reached Australia.  Processing may take years.  One refugee was seven years  in a detention centre while application for residency was processed.   And let's not  forget those who were refused refugee status and supposedly have been killed after forced repatriation.

The bill now has to go to the Senate.  The article  points out that one Liberal Senator who is known to oppose the bill,  has not decided  yet decided her course of action.  Two dissenting votes  would see it defeated.  The National Senator, Barnaby Joyce,  has opposed some  bills.  I can't see this happening here.    Many Queensland nationals are extremely conservative  and  supported Pauline Hanson's stand on immigration some years ago.  My personal feeling is that Joyce opposed government policy where it would have hurt these voters in the hip pocket.  I think that refugees will bring a different response from them and hence from him.

That leaves Fielding, the Family First Senator.  This is where my title really comes in.  Family First appears in practice to be another name for the Liberals.  Another  rose or perhaps a dandelion.   I hope I'm wrong, but I reallycan't see Fielding doing anything else except support the government.

I applaud the actions of those who crossed the floor.  Life will be miserable for them I think.  Enforcers such as Wilson Tuckey  will be on their case immediately.  A very unpleasant man.

census day

It's that time again.  Five years has passed since the last Australian census.  The Sydney Morning Herald   has an article  on it here. Perhaps less of an article and more of a press release.

I worked for quite a while for the Bureau of Statistics many years ago.  I did not do census work.  It's not easy and many people used to be very unco-operative.  However, I was once conned into answering  phone enquiries  on a census.

I remember working my way through the form for an elderly gentleman who was quite confused about all of it.  This took about 15 minutes to explain it to him and make sure he understood.  At the end, he thanked me profusely and then added, "I really should have had my pen with me and I could have written down my answers then!"

I put aside pen and form.  This is the first time the census has been available online and I completed mne at the weekend.

ancient psalter found in Ireland

Here's an interesting article  on an archeological find in Ireland.  A copy of an ancient psalter was overturned by a tractor.

paedophiles

There has been quite a reaction to  Hamo's post  about paedophiles.

Two weeks ago I was in a similar quandary.  Some years ago, my husband was friends with a fellow who came to my place many times.  A Christian, he was here for a study group where several parents had their young children.  I am quite sure nothing happened to any of them.

I was astounded when I learnt that he had been arrested and sickened when I heard the charge.  He was imprisoned for several years and has just been released on parole into the care of a major Christian group which does a lot off social welfare type work.  He maintained that he did "nothing."  What he did do, was bankroll others, gifts, overseas trips to India,the Philippines etc.  In my view equally guilty.   What really bothered me was that apparently there had  been rumours of his involvement for quite a while and no one had done anything about it.  I was horrified to think that some young child may have been spared if someone had spoken out.  I knew nothing of these rumours as I had little to do with him.

He did not take to prison well.  He believed he was treated badly because he was a Christian.  I  know that others guilty of the same crime are regarded by other prisoners as scum.  Even criminals have their code of conduct and paedophilia is at the bottom of the list.

I answered the phone to hear  A's voice.  (not even his real initial).  He was in Sydney from interstate to visit family.  Could he speak to my husband?  I left the room as I did not want to hear the conversation.    I was then told that he was coming to dinner in a few days.  I really was very upset about this.  I did not want him in my home.  I suggested a restaurant but was told no.

I know people who have been abused and know some of their struggles.  I admire one of Hamo's commenters for speaking out about the abuse her children suffered from their father.  I really did not want this man in my home.

I prayed  about this and still felt the same.  I was told I would go to hell if I did not forgive him as "God can't forgive, if we don't forgive."  I was expecting to hear this as it's a fairly standard response in many situations which are turned back onto me.  It's  a wrong reading of the text, it doesn't say that at all.  I also felt that I had nothing personal to forgive A for.   I just felt absolutely sick at the crime and  felt a total revulsion at the thought of someone sexually abusing young children.

Short of precipitating a major incident, there was nothing I could do.  My viewpoint was not understood at all.  I prepared dinner.  Now I'm a good cook, but I know that if I'm not well, or have a headache or am upset, the cooking does not always turn out as wished for no matter how hard I try.  This was the case.  The food was adequate but not up to my personal standards.

A. arrived and seemed to behave as if nothing had ever happened.  That may have been his way of dealing with the situation here, but I wondered about whether he really believed he had done anything wrong.  Others at Hamo's  also speak of this idea that there was nothing wrong.   I spoke when spoken to, but did not initiate any conversation.

I see that most of the commenters at Hamo's are hard put to decide what to do, just as I was.  It's such a horrible, dirty crime.  We know God forgives, but I wonder if there is real repentance, although that's not for me to judge.  Does forgiveness mean just letting the past go?  I don't think so.  What's happened, happened.  No one could reasonably put such an offender in charge  of a Sunday School or in a place where they had contact with children.  That's plain sense to most of us.    I have no answers for the questions Hamo raised about residence and public naming of such people.  All I know are my own reactions.   

the truck that dropped in for breakfast

A multi-million dollar harbourside house has suffered extensive damage and may need to be demolished after a nineteen tonne truck dropped in for breakfast.  Fortunately no-one was hurt.

Pictures and more detail can be seen here .

make way, make way

I live in Ashfield municipality.   Tonight's ABC news announced that the council here intended to introduce a speed limit of 30 kmh in the municipality's streets.  Many of our streets are quite narrow and with parking on both sides of the street, there is not much room for traffic.  We are quite an old area, as Sydney goes, and the streets were not made for the volume or type of traffic which now can be seen.  Lots of streets are tree lined and visibility at corners is not good.

As I listened to the announcement which was somewhat wry in tone, I could visualise a man with a flag walking before the cars and trucks, much like a century ago.  The State Minister for Roads ridiculed the plan and it may well be that the council has released such a far fetched idea so that almost any other arrangement will be welcomed in its place. 

In my opinion, thought needs to be given to traffic flows within the area and how they can be improved.  The  block where I live was to have been made one way around the block.  There would be some inconvenience to residents, but I think that once we became used to the idea, improved traffic flow,  fewer accidents at intersections would outweigh a few extra seconds driving to home.  Councillors were mindful of votes and shelved that proposal.

There is a roundabout close to me which should never have been installed.  The intersection is far too small for such a device and even small 4WDs and not-so-large cars  go over the top as the turning circle is tight. 

But 30 kmh?  I don't think this will help at all except perhaps to swell some coffers with fines for exceeding the limit.

oh dear!

Stupidity leads to death

historic Sydney church destroyed

St Barnabas', on Broadway was  destroyed by fire this morning.   I used to attend University Church services there many years ago.  Barney's catered to uni students, the youth in the district and also to the down and outs of the area.

For many years, the church was famous for its slogans on the notice board on Parramatta Road.  They were usually pithy and hardhitting.  The game was to see if both Barney's slogan and the response from the pub window opposite could be read while one travelled past in the  bus.  The hotel proprietor did a good job in keeping up his end of the competition and the two together were often thought provoking and humorous.

Unfortunately the pub was sold and is now something else entirely different.  No more quick repartee from it and the church board has succumbed to the wishy-washy sentimentality of  some  "bottled" slogans to which many Anglican churches here seem to subscribe.  Little wit and not much thought provoking either from them.

A sad day for St Barnabas' indeed, even though the rector pointed out that the community was more than the building.

in the daylight

Here's an account  of the first few minutes of the miners' release from being trapped 925 metres underground for a fortnight. (post below)

free at last

After fourteen nights underground, two miners  at Beaconsfield, Tasmania, have been freed.    They will probably reach the surface in a few minutes time, around 6:00 am today.  They were trapped in a rockfall caused by seismic activity  which had its epicentre very close to where they were working.  There are conjectures that this activity was caused by the working of the mine.  Unfortunately, one of their workmates was killed in the rockfall and will be buried today.  His  family had hoped that the two trapped men would have been freed earlier than this.  They were saved because they were in a small steel cage which had been reinforced  with more steel and welding.  Its roof protected them from rock.

It was five days before it was found that they were alive and rescue operations have been  slow and tedious in freeing them.  Safety for both the trapped men and their rescuers was important and  other considerations meant that progress was slow.  Drilling was hampered by rock described as "five times harder than concrete."  Right to the end there were fears of further rock collapses.

The men seem to be in remarkably good health.  Since being found some nine days ago, they have had a controlled diet of fairly bland food passed down a small tube for them.  Batteries, lights, clothing etc has also been given to them as well  as I-pods.

Early this morning, about an hour ago, mine sirens and church bells sounded to announce their rescue.  There have beeen many pictures of the Uniting Church with its chalked notice of  prayer for our miners   in the news.  Their bell has not been rung since it announced  the end of World war II.  It rang this moring.

What good news to wake up to!

miners alive

Two of the three miners trapped in a gold mine in Beaconsfield in Tasmania by falling rocks in a seismic disturbance have been found alive after almost a week.  Unfortunately, a third miner was killed in a rockfall.  His body was rescued last week.  The two still alive may be down the mine for a while yet.  Conditions are hazardous and rescue work is slow.  However, they have been able to speak with their families.  It would seem they were protected by their metal cage from the fall of rock.  More details can be found  here .

how the ***** did that happen?

I was going to call this an embarrassing gaffe.  However, as I thought about it, I realised  that I use the word "gaffe" in a lightweight way, something humorous but embarrassing.  This is not like that.

Private Jake Kovko was killed on duty in Iraq, Australia's first casualty.  I referred to this in a post below.  Supposedly killed in an accident while cleaning a service pistol.

The government is now suffering acute embarrassment, as well it should be.  We saw on TV an interview with Kovco's widow.  She was articulate about her loss, although obviously deeply distressed.  Plans had been made to return his body to their small country town for a funeral.

A body was returned, but it was revealed when the plane reached Melbourne that this was not the body of Private Kovco but of someone else.  The family is understandably devastated.

I was watching the  7:30 report  tonight where a media consultant spoke of this mess.  During the Vietnam war, he had been on duty to accompany the bodies of three servicemen who had been killed.  He had had to watch the loading and sealing of the cargo bay and at Darwin had again had to see that the coffins were not disturbed.  He found it unthinkable that  the Army had not in this case done the same thing, but had entrusted the return to a commercial company. (I would add a link to this, but  the transcript is not yet online.)

To add to their misery it has been announced  that this was not an accident involving cleaning a weapon.  It has been announced that there were others in the room at the time, but the whole announcement has been very guarded in its wording.  The young man's mother is distraught and is demanding a full enquiry as Private Kovco was well experienced in weapons and well used to handling and cleaning them.

I feel for them in their misery and amazed that such a thing could happen. 

Howard has been extremely lucky in that  no Australian has been killed on duty from among our troops on duty  in this wretched war.  The least he can do is to see that this matter is rectified as speedily as possible and to give all possible assistance to the family.

Somehow, I don't feel happy about this outcome.  Will all be transparent?  He's had a lot of practice in the last few years at prevaricating and avoiding answering questions directly.  Along with other senior members of Cabinet, he also seems to be suffering from memory lapses which in private industry would rule him out of holding office.

huge crowd at dawn service

This is a follow on to the post below on ANZAC Day.

I mentioned about the renewed interest here in Australia in the  celebration of this day.  The Herald this morning  reports  the very large attendance, many of them young people at this morning's  dawn service .

and all of them are tragic

The ABC reporter on the 7:30 Report said something like this: there are many ways to die in war and all of them are tragic."   He was commenting on the death in Iraq of a young soldier, the father of two young children.  This young private was Australia's first casualty in the Iraq war.  There have been injuries , although none in battle, but no deaths.  This too, appears to have been an accident.  The young private was  killed while cleaning his service pistol.  Two other soldiers were with him at the time of the apparent accident.  I've been against our involvement in this area since the very beginning and am saddened by the death. What made it more poignant to me was that his body was readied for return here on the eve of Anzac Day.   Anzac Day strikes a chord here which is deeper than the patriotism and fun on Australia Day which is in the January holiday period.  Instead of  being a holiday Monday added to the weekend, Anzac Day is celebrated on its actual date.   It has become something solemn.  Crowds which gather at Gallipoli  in Turkey are made up  mainly of those under 25.  Young people see this as a pilgrimage to make and take time out of their overseas trip to be their on April 25.  Each year, the percentage under 25 years grows.    Crowds at the Dawn Services have also been growing over the last few years and at Anzac Day marches around the country.

When I was at school, I can remember taking part in a competition to write on Anzac Day for the local Returned Soldiers Club.  I'm sure most of us trotted out the usual phrases about Australia becoming a nation on this day.  We mentioned the dreadful loss of life of out young men, many of them in their mid-teens.  We spoke of the hardships they endured and of the retreat which left the Turks astounded.  We carefully paid no attention to the enemy, the  Turks who actually had a casualty rate 10 times our own.  What we did not know was the bad  planning, the ridiculous restraints imposed by  British officers well away from the  Australians and New Zealanders in the line of fire, and the almost ludicrous mistakes made which  guaranteed  a tremendous toll.

Somehow, many of these seem familiar to me, translated into different terms to suit these days now. Times have changed and we now find ourselves supplying troops to support a different nation.  I doubt that there will be a retreat from this  and I doubt that what is now called the enemy will regard the Allied troops with respect and honour as the Turks now regard those who fell at Gallipoli.  This young soldier's death is as tragic as any of those in 1915 or in any other field of war in which Australians have fought, including the ignominious time in Vietnam.

There are many ways  to die in war and all of them are tragic.

And the band played Waltzing  Mathilda

Now when I was a young man and I carried my pack
and I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty out back
I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915 my country said "Son
It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done"
And they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war.

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As the ships pulled away from the quay
And amid all the tears, flag waving and cheers
We sailed off to Galipolli

And how I remember that terrible day
How our blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs to the slaughter.

Johnnie Turk was ready, oh he primed himself well
He rained us with bullets and he showered us with shell
And in five minutes flat we were all blown to hell
nearly blew us all back home to Australia.

But the band played Waltzing Matilda
as we stuck to bury our slain
We burned ours and the Turks buried theirs
and we started all over again

Those who were living just tried to survive
In a mad world of blood death and fire
And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive
While around me the corpses piled higher

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I awoke in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done and I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda
All round the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs a man needs both legs
No more Waltzing Matilda for me.

They collected the crippled, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled in to Circular Key
And I looked at the place where my legs used to be
I thanked Christ there was no one there waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to Pity

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
as they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared
And turned all their faces away

So now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams of past glory

I see the old men all tired, stiff and sore
The weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year, the numbers get fewer
Some day none will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me.

Words and music by Eric Bogle.

biggest surf in 30 years

Sydney beaches will have the biggest  surf in thirty years  today.   Southern facing beaches will take the force of a swell of up to seven metres today.  This has been building for several days as a southerly change moved up the coast bringing relief from 30+&deg; temperatures last week.  It now feels like autumn!

Those beaches facing south are in danger of heavy erosion with this swell.

pro hart

The funeral of outback painter Pro Hart  was held today in hs hometown, Broken  Hill.  A well known artist, Pro Hart had never been hung in the National Gallery, although  his paintings were well known here.  He is perhaps most remembered for his TV commercials  where he slung paint at a carpet and slithered around in it, much to the disgust of his cleaner.  Carpet amazingly became like new on application of a cleanser.

A Pro Hart painting can be easily verified as an original. He incorporated a DNA signature into his paintings which can be checked electronically. There may be more artists doing this now, but he was the first to do so. A short biography of his life can be read hereand there are links tosomeof his paintings as well.

Pro Hart was a Christian and a generous man.  He gave many paintings away for fundraising to various charities and to friends. 

The college I attended  and where I am now working part time,  owns a large Pro Hart painting, a gift of friendship to the principal.  It's quite large and very vibrant - a mass of daisies and other flowers in exuberant colours filling the canvas.

cyclone larry

Cyclone Larry  will probably cross the coast of North Queensland early tomorrow  morning. This cyclone is already graded as Category 4, but meteorologists  believe it has the potential to move to category 5, like Katrina.

The area affected covers a huge section of North Queensland, coming much further south to Mackay than is usual.  Holiday makers have been evacuated from island esorts and those living near the sea have been told to evacuate.

commonwealth games

I watched the Games opening ceremony last night as I was home by myself.  I quite enjoyed it but I became lost in the reverie somewhere.  Delta Goodrem is an Australian favourite, but I would have preferred to hear more of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa than a few bars of  Happy Birthday  sung by her to the Queen. 

Scenes down theYarra River were good and innovative, although to a Sydney sider, there were too many AFL captains for my liking.  I wondered how many surfboat crews rowed on such a glassy surface.

I've always enjoyed fireworks, even though it's really just money up in smoke.  The fireworks shooting from the backpacks was well done and I thought the outside shots of Melbourne's tall buildings erupting in a blaze of coloured fireworks was great.

Commonwealth observance

I was planning on going to the city this morning, but decided against it.  The Queen, who spent the night at Canbera, three hours drive away but only a short flight, will be opening an addition to the Opera House and attending a church service at St Andrew's Cathedral  for Commonwealth observance prior to the opening of the Commonwealth games in Melbourne.

The city will be swarming with security people and possibly spectators too.  As it's forecast to be hot yet again, I think I'll stay home.  The royal visit lasts only five days, so there is plenty of time for shopping later.

God save our gracious Queen...

Ho, hum, the Queen has arrived in Canberra for another visit to Australia to open the Commonwealth Games.  Only several hundred people were at the airport to meet her, although she hasn't been here for quite a few years and it is rumoured this may well be her last visit.  She's just on eighty.  It's very hot here in Sydney today and will be hotter tomorrow.  I think it would be a shock stepping out of the plane at Canberra which will be hotter than Sydney.

I'm showing my age here, well and truly, but I can remember past visits when thousands greeted her and more thousands crammed streets to see her.  She was always described as looking "radiant."  I don't think either of my parents was an ardent monarchist, and I'm certainly not.  However, I do remember being taken to the Botanical Gardens to watch the Queen arrive in Sydney on yet another hot day.  She disembarked from a barge which had taken her from the royal yacht Britannia.

I also remember  a school excursion where we were taken to what is now known as Queen Elizabeth Park in the back of North Strathfield/Concord, fairly close to where I now live.  School excursions were practically unheard of in those days.  It was another ******  hot day, as we would put it here, not to offend the British! ( reference to a silly British decision to ban a tourist advertisement which used the word "bloody."  It's been a lot of free publicity.)*  We walked down from North Strathfield railway station in a long procession of school pupils.  I have a vague memory that the Queen and Duke were late.  I also have a vague memory of a Landrover utility being driven very quickly up and down through the rows of school pupils.  Presumably her majesty waved to us from the back of the ute.  I really don't remember.

Much more vivid is the memory of the injury suffered by one of my schoolmates.  She had a highly unusual treat of a small glass bottle of Coca Cola.  It was warm from the heat and she shook it hard.  The bottle exploded, deeply cutting her leg so that she required hospital treatment.  That really was something exciting!

As the long line of children traipsed back up the hill to the station,  residents who were watering their gardens with a hose, would "accidentally" spray us as we passed or even give us a drink of water from the hose.  I was reminded of this in the 2004 Olympics when much the same thing happened for contestants in the marathon  which ran along this road to the nearby OLympic Stadium.

Times have changed, thank goodness, and royal visits certainly don't get the attention they once did.

* See the offending ad here. The irony is that we have gained free publicity from this and that the censorship applies to advertisements, not actual programs which may allow much stronger language to go through.

MAHA

Here is a link to the webpage of Macquarie Ancient History Association If you are in Sydney, have a look at the calendar as there are some interesting events scheduled if you are interested in discoveries from the past.

The links page has some good things too. I attend the Society for the Study of Early Christianity conference and some of its other lectures as well.

Macquarie Uni has a strong Ancient History Department with a high worldwide reputation. Many of its professors and lecturers are Christians. I always find the lectures interesting.

justice?

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that  settlement has been reached and the Federal Government will pay eleven year old Shayan Badraie $400,000 for psychological damage sustained wile he was living in Woomera and Villawood Detention Centres.

Just how was the figure reached?  How does one compensate for a young child seeing such violence and seeing attempted suicides, while supposedly in somewhere regarded as safe?  How does one compensate for the loss of liberty because his parents were held in those centres?  Shayan's lawyer says that reminders of that time cause his symptoms to worsen. 

I have never been to the detention centre at Woomera, but I have visited people in the Villawood centre.  It may be possible that some families cope better than others and that Shayan  Badraie's family was one of those which did not cope well with their time there.  It is no place for families with young children and if some form of detention is really necessary, somethng better must be found.  When I visited there was an oppressive atmosphere over the place.  People sat around listlessly, with darkened, sad eyes.  There was no animated conversation, just a few words and grunts exchanged.  The surroundings and buildings were adequate as shelter but had little to commend them for anything else.  Dull, drab, grubby and crowded.  All this was before the inrush of refugees and illegal immigrants over the last few years.

It may seem as if Shayan Badraie has received a windfall at the age of eleven.  I doubt anything could be just or adequate compenastion for what has happened to him.  His lawyer said that the government should be changing the system for the better, rather than piecemeal negotiating payouts for damages caused by the present system of detention.  Unfortunately our Immigration department has a history of mistakes and buckpassing.  I could well be wrong, but it seems that this payout could be a way of glossing over problems.

frustrated shopper

Coles and Woolworths, the two main supermarkets here, announced some months ago that they would be introducing upmarket  house branding of many goods in their shops.  For years there has been a rockbottom generic brand and a slightly higher house brand in the supermarkets.  Some of these products are  OK, some of them are made with the adage  "you get what you pay for"  in mind.

The new products  are supposed to be the equivalent of the better brand of goods.  An enormous range of products is covered.

When shopping the other day I had several conversation with other shoppers.  All centred around the disappearance of many familiar brands from the  shelves.  Probably the new house brand has pushed its manufacturer's original product off the shelves.  However,  to all of us it seemed that there was a vastly reduced variety of choice.  I have tried some products, rebranded.  Some of them are obviously  what I used to buy before under anoth