Parton Words

The cricket....it ain't over yet.

2011-12-12T05:16:00.001+11:00

So what do you think….will we win the cricket ?

I think it could still go either way.

It’s just going to depend on how this pitch has fared under the covers and what sort of weather greets them in Hobart today.

It’s been an enthralling test match. And you know, I don’t mind these bowlers test matches. A green top in Hobart which has provided so much assistance to the seamers.

I love these test matches. I love it when every single ball could claim a wicket.

Australia has it’s shortest opening batting pair ever in Phil Hughes and Dave Warner.

I was such a wrap for little Hughesy when he first rose to prominence, but I don’t know that’s he’s up to it. Nevertheless, I was so pleased to see him fight through to stumps last night.

He should have been out.

If the kiwis had referred they would have had him. The technology showed a little nick on the glove and he should be gone.

It ain’t over yet cricket fans.

I’m looking forward to the finals day play

BYO grog....take it or leave it ?

2011-12-12T05:01:00.001+11:00

So tell me, when you go to a Xmas party or a backyard barbecue anytime. When it’s a BYO grog thing and you take a six pack of Crownies…..so you lob and put your stubbies on ice and rip the top off the first one……

I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big drinker anymore…..truth is, I never really was. So if I take a 6 pack to a party….well, I can tell you on the weekend, I took a 6 pack of Coronas and a four pack of Beam and coke. I think I had 3 stubbies of Corona and a couple of Beams and coke.

Here’s my question.

Who among us, on the way out of a party like that would grab the 3 Coronas and two beams to take them back home. Who just leaves it there ?

I always leave it.

I think it looks a bit scabby to be ferreting through the ice to grab a couple of stubbies.

And ….whenever I’ve hosted a party, I’ve always thought that one of the great bonuses was that you got to keep all of the odd bottles that were left. I think that’s a reward for cleaning up the mess.

Where do you sit on this one.

Costco

2011-12-12T04:52:00.001+11:00

I went to a Xmas party on the weekend around at Meredith and Michaels in Flynn. It was a really good night. We worried about the weather, but it all went by without a drop of rain.

This was one of those well co-ordinated functions where everyone bought a specific food. I was instructed to bring one of those big apple pies from Costco.

I’d never been to Costco.

I went out with my friend Tanya and checked it all out.

It’s a weird place isn’t it ?

Who’s a Costco member ? Are you going to renew after a year, or have you had enough ?

There was some good stuff out there. Dunno if I could be bothered paying the 60 bucks…..I dunno.

I mean, look, there was some good prices on things out there, but the way retail is at the moment there’s a sale on everywhere. There’s some really good prices out there everywhere.

Who’s been to Harris Scarfe…..wow ! It’s crazy in there…and you don’t have to pay $60 to join.

Who’s a Costco convert ?

Green blend coffee ?

2011-12-08T05:25:00.001+11:00

Hey we were talking about coffee earlier in the week and what a coffee town this is.

Figures out this month show that here in Canberra we do more serious coffee than anywhere else in the country. That makes me smile.

I’m a bit of a coffee snob. I do grind my own beans in here at work.

I’m in the kitchen here in the radio station earlier on in the morning and I stumbled across this little jar coffee.

Get a load of this.

This is a jar of Nescafe Green Blend coffee

What the hell is Green Blend Coffee ?

For starters anyone who’s regularly drinking instant coffee, I don’t understand…the stuff tastes like cardboard.

This is a 50 gram jar of coffee. 50 grams ? That’s like 3 cups of coffee in the jar.

But what about the way they promote it the coffee on the jar ? This is what it says to convince you to consumer the Nescafe Green Blend coffee. For starters they call it Green Blend to convince you that somehow this drink is saving the planet....but then this.

It says ‘Delivers 70% more antioxidants than green tea’ And that’s supposed to inspire us to purchase the coffee.

I’m sorry, but if you have to compare the coffee to green tea and make a purchase on the amount of antioxidants then we don’t really want you among the ranks of coffee drinkers.

Just stick with your green tea.

Anti oxidants ? Honestly.

Dead fish in Lake Burley Griffin

2011-12-07T05:15:00.001+11:00

Here are those pics I was talking about....the pics of the dead fish in Lake Burley Griffin. Thanks to Bill.

What do you make of them ?

Canberra Storm

2011-11-30T04:41:00.001+11:00

How’d you go with the storm last night ?

Didn’t that light up the night ? How crazy was that ? It sent social media into meltdown. Lightning and storm was trending in Canberra last night as the rain came bucketing down. Tuggeranong had 3 storms roll through….on the north side we had two. What a sound and light show ? How did you go at your place ? It woke up most of the town….it certainly woke me up. I don’t know if it was more about the thunder and lightning or the wind….or the hail coming in at right angles and hitting the bedroom window. It was crazy.

Here is one of the great pics up on the Riot Act website http://the-riotact.com/november-hail/60515

Did it wake you up ? Have you got damage at your place ? I’ve driven a bit this morning. Kaleen/Belconnnen/Dickson/Ainslie and Mitchell and I didn’t see any serious damage. Saw a bit of water over Northbourne Avenue and also on Cowper Street….a lot of sticks and leaves blown around but not too much else. If you’ve got something to report then do just that….get on the phone and report it this morning.

Up until midnight last night the ACT State Emergency Service (ACTSES) had received a total of 37 calls for help from the public as a result of the storm activity last night.

Four ACTSES units continue to respond with 13 jobs outstanding.

Call outs have been for minor flooding. Still no significant damage reported.

Anyone who needs emergency storm assistance should call the ACTSES on 132 500.

Now as far as rainfall figures, the Bureau of meterology official rain guage at the airport is cactus….I have no figure from there, so you may need to help me out with a figure from your place.

The Tuggeranong figure is 44 mm….and it looks as though you guys on the southside got a third storm cell in the early hours of this morning. 33mm in Belconnen thanks to Belconnen Weather .net. Darren Giles Gungahlin Weather station tells me that they scored 27mm. 54mm at Braidwood. 55 at Mt Ginini. Only 10 at Thredbo and just 2mm at Goulburn.

Let me know how you fared with the storms last night. They were described by some long time Canberra residents as the most severe thunderstorms in decades.

If you have any storm photos to share with us....do it. You can email them to me through the 2CC website 2cc.net.au

We found these pics on twitter overnight.

Thanks to BJ Rugby and Gregarious21
And this was from Peter taken from Mt Ainslie

2nd Test

2011-11-17T05:15:00.001+11:00

Cricket…the second and final test match on in South African starting tonight at 7.30.

It’s one of the few occasions where I wish I had foxtel cos I’d love to watch, particularly the first session.

The Australians self destructed in Capetown. All we had to do was bat sensibly for a couple of hours and we would have had the South Africans on toast. In the end the instinct created by the 20/20 game came to the fore and we were bundled out for an embarrassingly low score.

I’m pleased to see Usman Khawaja getting a go. And I hope the young tearaway Patrick Cummins gets a cap as well. He looks a bit special Cummins. He’s 12 years old, but once he starts shaving I think he may be the real deal.

I think Mitchell Johnson might be gone here.

We’ll find out tonight.

If you were a selector, what would you be doing ?

Would you give Davie Warner a go ?

Give me your cricket thoughts if you’ve got any.

Overnight incidents

2011-11-17T04:37:00.001+11:00

We had a gas drama at Symonston overnight.

Not sure what went down here.

This is at the Telstra building in Symonston.

ACT Fire & Rescue were there at around 8.15 last night investigating a smell of gas at the Telstra Building, so that’s on Faulding Street, Symonston.

Now it is my understanding that Gas was released from a fire suppression system. There was no sign of fire at any stage, but they did rush the breathing apparatus unit and hazardous materials van was onsite as well as a couple of fire pumpers.

The ambos were there too…and they did treat a woman aged in her 40's for minor eye irritation.

We had traffic drama on Long Gully Road last night….out by the tip. A two vehicle accident that could well have ended in tragedy.

They used the hydraulic gear to release one of the drivers who was trapped in her vehicle.

ACT Ambulance Service intensive care paramedics treated and transported four patients to The Canberra Hospital, all in a stable condition.

A 36-year-old female was treated for multiple fractures to her leg, a seven-month-old baby taken to hospital for observation, a 20-year-old male treated for minor injuries and neck pain and a 58-year-old male treated for fractures to both arms.

By the sounds it could have been disastrous….luckily it wasn’t.

Plastic bag ban

2011-11-03T05:04:00.001+11:00

Plastic bags.

How are you going with plastic bags ?

The girls and I strolled down to Supabarn at Kaleen after school yesterday afternoon to grab a few things. I nearly forgot, but my Delaney girl reminded me as I was walking out the door….she said Dad, what about bags ?

I grabbed a canvas bag. I always feel like a Greens voter walking to the supermarket with a canvas bag.

How have you gone with it all ?

I’ll tell you what I discovered yesterday. At Supabarn at Kaleen you buy plastic bags at the checkout for just 5 cents a throw. 5 cents ! That’s not a bad deal is it ?

I know if you were doing it every day it’d mount up in price, but if you do happen to lob at the supermarket without your bags, I guess it’s not a huge impost…..particulary when we’re one of the households who use supermarket bags in the bin.

Tell me about your bag experience in the last couple of days. How are you finding the bag ban ?

Canberra's Royal Touch

2011-10-27T05:13:00.001+11:00

They got stuck into me at lunch yesterday because I didn’t support the Royal visit……well it’s not that I didn’t support the Royal visit, it’s just that I don’t fully understand that fuss. I don’t get it, OK. That’s all. I’m happy for the Queen and Prince Philip to come here and go to parades and wave and accept flowers….I just don’t get it.

I think you do have to appreciate the amazing marketing aspect of the visit for us here in Canberra.

You cannot underplay the value of the world wide promotion from the Queens visit.

You probably can overplay it though and that’s what the ACT Government has done.

Dead set the local town council have come up with a dollar figure of what the Canberra promotion was worth……what the media coverage would have cost us.

They’ve put the figure at $35 million.

$35 million.

Guys it’s the Queen….it wasn’t Oprah Winfrey

And yet one of the people backing this figure is our very own Warren Apps from Grey World Wide media.

We got articles specifically about the Canberra leg of the visit on the BBC and CNN….in the Guardian, The New York Times, the Washington Post…the Himalayan Times…the Brunei Times, the Kenya Star and the Denver Times……and that’s all good….but it is really worth $35 million.

Will someone reading about the Australian War Memorial in the Kenya Star in Nairobi, will they be inspired to book a holiday to Canberra. I think not.

On the other side of the coin, how much do think the royal visit actually cost us ?

Not as much as you may have thought. The figure being bandied around this morning is around $100,000

Ram raid...without the raid

2011-10-21T05:26:00.002+11:00

Hey…..hows these morons who’ve done the ram raid in Wanniassa.Have you heard about this story from yesterday morning.ACT Policing is seeking witnesses after a ram raid left a Wanniassa business with a $30,000 damage bill.Now this all happened at around 2.30 yesterday morning at the Wok-It-Up Noodle Bar, Gartside Street, Wanniassa.Things are pretty quiet in Wanniassa at 2.30 on a Thursday morningSo when the cops have rocked up they’ve found that the shop front had sustained a lot of damage and tyre marks leading to the front of the store.So they’ve gone and looked at the CCTV footage which shows that at 2.28am yesterday morning, a white tray-back ute has reversed into the store four times.So four times they’ve reversed into the shop…..they’ve well and truly managed to force entry. What do you think they’ve stolen. Money….cigarettes…..what do you reckon.They didn’t take anything.These idiots have just reversed into the shop front four times and then driven off.What the hell is that about ?It must have damaged the ute.So what happened here…..did they decide to do a ram raid robbery and then just decided against it after actually doing the ramming. This is a ram raid without the raid.Perhaps they were just practicing parking. This is absurdPolice urge anyone who may have been around Gartside Street, Wannaissa around 2.28am this morning or recognises the white tray-back ute and can assist police with the investigation to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via act.crimestoppers.com.au. Information can be provided anonymously.

The Mad Magpie From Murrumbateman

2011-10-11T05:59:00.002+11:00

I rode the bike pretty much every day that I was away. Not really big rides, I think I did about 200 kms in the week. by far and away the biggest ride I did was out to Murrumbateman on Saturday morning. It was a wonderful morning for a ride. Now, this time of the year, the cyclists greatest enemy is the angry magpie. I refuse to wear cable ties on my helmet. I just won't do it. So, I just keep an eye and ear out for magpies and when they come for me, I just ride like the wind. I avoided the bike path along William Slim Drive at Giralang on the way out to Murrumbateman cos I know there's a cranky magpie along there. And I didn't come across another one till about a kilometre out of Murrumbateman. He was crazy this guy. He had a go at me on the way into town, but I was one the downhill run, so he didn't get much of a shot. It was a different story on the way out. Most of your bike swooping magpies come in from above. Most of them just make a lot of noise and swoop within a metre of your head. This bloke comes in from the side...he wants to take your eye out. His beak wacked into my helmet so hard that it A. knocked it forward on my head hampering my vision for a while and B. left a big dent in my helmet. Honestly....it left a dent in my helmet. And he kept on coming. He was savage. Can I ask that anyone living along the highway about a kilometre out of Murrumbateman.....can I ask that when the breeding season is over that you feed this bloody magpie. Give it something to eat for God's sake. Just feed it please. Show this magpie that we're not bad creatures us humans. There's no point trying to do it now....he's just too angry. Have you got any magpie stories to share with us. Feel free.

I'm back

2011-10-11T03:00:00.000+11:00

I had such a good break. Thanks to Jorian for filling in for me. I gather he did good. I couldn't tell you because I just switched off completely. I think I heard him for about 10 minutes on the first morning and about 10 minutes yesterday morning. I just had the most relaxing week off....it was bliss. I didn't read newspapers. I didn't watch or listen to news. I watched some movies and some sport. I road the bike every day and I just hung out with my two girls Brydie and Delaney. We did all sorts of cool stuff. We went to Floriade. We went to Telstra Tower with our binoculars. We watched movies. We played chess and Pictureka and lots and lots of Monopoly. They love Monopoly, my girls. Brydie got a big swish 'plantinum' set for her last birthday. She loves being the banker. What token are you when you play Monopoly ? I'm always the car. Delaney is always the dog and Brydie is the top hat. I got carved up on most occasions, because they're ruthless my girls. You blink an eye and there's houses and hotels going up left right and centre. Is there anything worse when you're 11 year old has 3 houses on Mayfair.....is there anything worse than getting that Chance card which advises you to take a walk on the boardwalk and advance to Mayfair. Shocker. I had several of those games during which I just longed to be in jail because you can't land on any hotels if you're in jail. I love a bit of Monopoly. It's good fun

Canberra's smacking ban

2011-10-11T02:00:00.001+11:00

Ok, so I've had a week off. I avoided the news and all things work related for that week, so I'm sorry if I've missed something important. I was going through the weekend papers yesterday. What is this piffle about the prospect of banning the smacking of children in ACT. What rubbish is this ? This is apparently from the ACT Human Rights Commissioner. I thought it must have been some sort of joke. Was there much discussion on the talkback lines about this one ? The day that a Government steps in and starts making decisions like that on behalf of Canberra families is the day that I will pack up and leave. How dare he even suggest that this happen. I can't remember the last time I smacked one of my kids but it should always remain in the discipline armoury. Those who are trumpeting that we've got the highest carbon emissions targets in the universe, the toughest plastic bag ban on the planet and all of this other far left rubbish must be salivating over this one. No one will tell me whether I can or cannot smack my kids. What do you think about this one ?

Let's go to Vietnam

2011-10-11T02:00:00.000+11:00

I spent the first 44 years of my existence entirely in the confines of Australia. I love this country. I've seen a lot of it. I've worked in every state and territory bar Qld and the Northern Territory, but I made the call earlier this year to spread my wings and venture out of the country for the first time. I jouneyed to Colombia and Argentina in June and loved every minute of it. All of these well travelled individuals informed me that I would catch this disease known as the travel bug as soon as I got the first stamp in my passport. They were right. Within weeks of returning from South America, I was planning my next overseas jaunt. I wasn't sure whether to do Europe or somewhere in Asia. I've decided on Asia and the place that really fascinates me in Asia is Vietnam. I've heard so many wonderful things about the place, many of them from my former co-host over at Mix 106.3 Lisa Ridgely who just raves about the place. I've heard so much about the scenery, the food and most of all, the people. I have to go. And you can come with me. Through Harvey World Travel here in the ACT, we're opening this up to anyone in Canberra who wants to join me. We're talking a 14 day river cruise on the Mekong through Vietnam and into Cambodia in June and July next year. We want to fill the boat with 2CC listeners and have the time of our lives. We'll be revealing all of the details after 7:30 this morning on 2CC

Mind and body

2011-09-27T04:57:00.001+10:00

Hey, who’s been to America ? What’s the first thing that struck you when you arrived in America. Was it how cheap the food was ? Nah, I bet it wasn’t. When I was in the States, the first thing that struck me was how big everybody was…and I don’t mean tall….I mean they were fat. It was summer time in Texas and as soon as I got of the plane the airport terminal was full of people with big fat arms and multiple chins. When you sit down to have lunch in America you instantly understand why they’re so big. God help us if ever we get to that point…although stats will show we’re certainly heading in that direction. We never want to get there. How do we stop it. Well, it’s pretty simple….we’ve got to eat more of the right stuff and less of the wrong stuff and we’ve got to move more. A Canberra professor has laid some pretty interesting research on the table today. He’s found evidence that physical education not only reduces the risk of childhood obesity but can improve academic performance. Dick Telford from the Australian National University medical school was himself a little surprised with this result. This was a four year study that compared children who participated in traditional daily sport activities with those who received specialist education in general fitness skills such as coordination, balance and strength. The study found that those who did the PE classes were not only fitter, they were smarter or at least that they’re Naplan results were improved, by an average of 10 points. This trial took place in 29 of Canberra’s public schools. Gotta get those kids moving. Gettem moving….gettem riding and swimming and laughing….laughing is important too

Why the Eagles will win

2011-09-23T05:12:00.001+10:00

AFL fans…call me an idiot if you want, but I’m thinking that West Coast will beat Geelong tomorrow at the MCG.

It’s a prelimanery final in the AFL.

The Cats will go in as raging hot favourites.

The visitors form Perth are expected to be bundled out.

Now, I’m obviously approaching the game with some bias. I’ve been a West Coast man since they came into the competition in 1987. It would give me great joy if my team could somehow make it to a 6th Grand Final.

But I reckon they’ll cause an upset yesterday simply because they go into tomorrows game with nothing to lose. There are no expectations. They are not in fear of failure. They won’t panic when the going gets tough.

This team of mine won the wooden spoon last year and were favourites to win it again this year. They were not supposed to win a single game outside of Perth. They weren’t supposed to make the finals, they certainly weren’t supposed to make the top 4. They have nothing to lose tomorrow.

Even if they lose their season will be regarded as a stunning success.

That’s why they’ll cause the upset and win tomorrow.

That’s what I’m hoping anyway.

Good luck to you if your side is playing in finals over the weekend.

I just hope the Warriors get smashed in the NRL…and you know, I think I’d be happy if Hawthorn beats Collingwood….but I can’t see it

Separating the bikes

2011-09-22T05:02:00.001+10:00

So my girls have been riding their bikes to school in the mornings. They're 9 and 11 are my two and it's a part of growing up.

In the afternoons I'd been riding to the school and we all ride back home together, but we'd made the call that from yesterday afternoon they could ride home on their own. It's bike path all the way so there was no concern from anyone.

So I'm at home yesterday waiting....waiting...waiting. It went past 3:30 and I wondered where they could possibly be, so I jumped on the bike and rode up to the school to find them. I get up there and they're sitting on the front lawn waiting. I said "Girls ?! What are you doing ?"

They explained to me that there was something wrong with the bike chain they'd used to lock up their bikes. The locking mechanism had failed and they couldn't get it undone. I battled with it for a while trying to get the bloody thing undone, but I couldn't budge it. I was able to manouvre it so I could get the bikes separated from the little bike bar, but they are still chained to each other. And so the girls wheeled these two bikes home while they were attached by this chain. It was more than a little awkward.

Guys, help me. How the hell am I going to get these bikes de attached...from each other ?

It's a relatively cheap bike chain. So it's covered in plasticky rubber stuff with a relatively cheap thin chain thing in the centre.

What do I do here guys ? Do I borrow some bolt cutters from somewhere ? How about if I just try an axe....could that work ? I'm not much of a toolshed man, so I'm looking for some assistance. How would you break this bike chain and separate these bikes. Do let me know.

Another firefight in Afghanistan

2011-09-21T05:13:00.001+10:00

I cannot wait till the last Australian flies out of Afghanistan.

I’d love to hear this morning from anyone who’s been there.

I mean I get that this is what you train for and this is why you’re in the force, but I think we’ve been treading water there for a while now. I just don’t know what it is that we’re achieving in Afghanistan and the cost is far too great.

Two more Australian soldiers have been wounded in a firefight during a raid on a narcotics laboratory in Afghanistan.

The raid uncovered the materials to make drugs with a value of $US150 million ($147 million), making it the biggest drug bust by Australian forces in Afghanistan.

And that’s wonderful…I’m glad we had a win here, but I don’t know that we can ever win over there.

"The facility is reported to be one of the largest heroin-producing facilities destroyed in Afghanistan in the past five years," Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel G (who cannot be identified) said today.

I wonder why he can’t be identified. What’s going on there ?

I mean he’s walking around amongst insurgents in the most dangerous country in the world wearing a uniform…..how can it get anymore dangerous for him if people happen to know his name ?

Profits from this drug lab helped finance insurgent attacks against coalition and Afghan forces.

I can’t wait till they all come home.

Oscar's story

2011-09-21T05:02:00.001+10:00

Every now and then you meet a complete stranger who changes your life.

I had one of those experiences yesterday.

Yesterday I met Oscar and his Mum Kristen.

Oscar is a 10 month old bouncing bundle of joy. He’s a happy, gurgling chubby faced boy in a jump suit and his mother adores him….how could you not.

Their story though is one of trauma.

Oscar was born with a string of medical problems which have since the time of his first breath threatened to end his life. He’s had operation after operation. He’s been in pain since the day the day he was born and the odds of him ever growing up are phenomenally long. He’s got a hole in the heart and he now suffers epilepsy which means that these days he’s confined to hosptial room hooked up to a machine.

And he’s the happiest kid you ever did see.

His Mum loves him and they make the most of every day.

I met them both up at Canberra Hospital yesterday afternoon. They both blew me away.

Oscar and Kristen remind us how simple life is and they make me ask why it is that we insist on making it so complicated.

We’ll hear from Kristen a bit later on this morning.

There is a fundraiser on for Oscar and Kristen October 21st and if you want to find out more just go to www.rainbowtie.org.au

At Home with Julia

2011-09-20T05:03:00.001+10:00

Hey have you been watching At Home With Julia ?

I’ve saw the first full episode and it made me smile on a few occasions….but it doesn’t really grab me.

What do you make of it ?

I think it’s defined most by the fact that it’s not really funny. It’s juvenile…it’s all based on two ongoing gags and it looked tired after the first 10 minutes

If you’ve been offended by At Home With Julia thus far, then don’t watch it tomorrow night. They’ve taken things just a little too far tomorrow night. Would you believe that tomorrow night we see Julia having sex with Tim in her office wrapped in an Australian flag.

The ABC defended the scene and the use of the flag, as they would. "If it's OK for others to drape themselves in our flag for all manner of occasions, I really don't see why it can't be draped over our prime minister as a symbol of love," a spokesman for the comedy said.

Guys, I know this is satire, but this is a representation of the current Prime Minister. I don’t know that we can really go down this path. This is not some stage show at a fringe festival, this is a national television program and I think it’s unacceptable.

Monarchist Professor David Flint agrees with me. He said it showed a lack of respect. "This is probably going a bit far," he said. There is no law against desecrating the Australian flag, but government protocol says it should not "fall or lie on the ground or be used as a cover (although it can be used to cover a coffin at a funeral)".

This is outrageous and the Prime Minister and those around her shouldn’t have to put up with it. It’s a disgrace.

Qantas

2011-09-20T04:53:00.001+10:00

High drama for Qantas today.

Hands up, who’s flying Qantas today…..or at least who was scheduled to fly with Qantas.

Up to 7000 Qantas passengers face disruption today with industrial action by two unions set to cause flight cancellations and delays in the morning and afternoon peaks. It’s going to be a shambles. The airline advised passengers to arrive at the airport with time to spare…..dunno how that’s going to help you.

This is as a strike by baggage handlers, ground crew and catering staff. It all started at 5 this morning and it’s expected to affect schedules right across the day. Then this afternoon there is a one hour strike by aircraft engineers.

At least 28 services have been cancelled today and many more will be delayed across the day. Who’s been effected by it today ? Get on the phone and let me know.

Here in Canberra around 70 workers are expected to walk off the job. Look, I don’t know that I agree with the premise of this strike, but I do understand that when you’re chief executive get’s a 90% salary increase then it’s easy for those on the ground to be a little disgruntled.

Who’s flying today ? Let me know how this effecting you.

Making heroes

2011-09-14T05:06:00.001+10:00

I wonder how much Sam Stosur’s life will change because of her US Open win ? It’s rocketed her to the top 10 in the world tennis rankings. More importantly for the rest of us, I wonder how many young Australians will be inspired to grab a tennis racket as a consequence of her victory. Make no bones about it, when young Australians watch elite sports people achieving great things, they too are inspired to have a go. I’ve got proof of that concept at my place. My girls had no interest whatsoever in soccer until we went along and watched the Canberra team in the W League. We went along and saw the first game from Canberra United at McKellar and I can remember my Brydie girl being so impressed by the fact that this was as she said ‘an all girls team’ and that people paid to watch them play. When Brydie told me that she wanted to play soccer for Belnorth it was because she wanted to be like Lydia Williams from Canberra United. There is often criticism for the money that is spent by governments on elite sport. I happen to think it’s money well spent. It’s about creating heroes. Why do you think girls basketball is so strong in this town ? It’s because of the Capitals. It’s because they’ve been the pacesetters in national basketball for the last decade and the young ones do notice. It gets them out of the house. It gets them on the basketball court and the tennis court and the soccer field. I guess it’s why on the other side of the coin we just shouldn’t tolerate the Todd Carney’s of the world cos this hero worship thing is a double edged sword.

We have a winner

2011-09-13T05:07:00.000+10:00

We’ve got a couple of big things going on in Canberra today. Firstly the carbon tax will be read for the first time up there under the big flag pole. That’s pretty big. The other big thing is that we’re hosting a reception for Angela Ross…..who is Angela. Angela won our big 2CC Home Makeover competition last month. Remember her. She was over the moon as you would be. Tonight at the Qbn Bowlo we’re bringing her and all of the contractors together to say hello. What’s the biggest thing you’ve ever won ? I’m racking my brain trying to think of the biggest thing I’ve ever won. I’ve won meat trays before at the club. In fact I can remember one embarrasing night at the Gungahlin Lakes Club when I won not one, or two, but three meat trays in the one draw.. That’s never a good look. What’s the last thing you won

Finding the time

2011-09-08T05:07:00.004+10:00

The quads are a little sore this morning. I rode the bike into work yesterday afternoon. Now, that’s not a big bike ride, Kaleen to Mitchell, but I went hard. When I ride these days, I track my progress through the iphone and I’m a competitive wanker. I like to keep on establishing new records. I did do a new record on the way home yesterday. I was pumping those legs hard.

I love my bike.

I think it was quite possibly the best $1000 I’ve ever spent.

It certainly helps me to keep fit.

I was talking to my mate Marcel about it at the club yesterday. He says he tries to be disciplined and to get some regular exercise, but he just doesn’t have the time.

It is hard when your busy, but I said to Marcel and I’ll say it to all of you……if you really really want to do it, you just have to prioritize. Do you regularly have a to do list ? Particularly those who run a to do list on their phone, just put your exercise on the list…and put it up high.

Remember exercising doesn’t have to mean riding the bike to Lake George or going to the gym, exercising can mean choosing to walk to the supermarket or taking the dog for a walk. Make it a priority in your life and it will eventually become a habit.

That’s what I reckon anyway.

Mary mary

2011-09-06T05:26:00.000+10:00

Hey I'll tell you who we meant to get on the radio yesterday morning, but just didn't get around to it....Mary Porter. Mary is one of the two ALP members for Gininderra. Nice lady Mary. I've got a bit of time for her.

There has apparently been some discussion amongst the ACT ALP that maybe 2012 would be a wonderful time for Mary to pass the baton. Mary was very much a late starter as far as politicians go. After many decades of working in the community sector she won a seat in 2004 and then again in 2008.....despite the fact that I got more primary votes than her. It must be said that Jon Stanhope did asbsolutely the ALP ticket in Gininderra and it was difficult for any of the other candidates to take votes off the chief.

At 2CC we don't discriminate on the basis of age. If you can do a job, I don't think it should matter how old you are. The calls for Mary to step aside, I gather are almost entirely on the basis of how old she is. Mary will be 70 come the election next year. So, she will stand before the people of Gininderra and ask them to elect her to a the Assembly until she is 74.

I bumped into Mary in at Kaleen Plaza the other day. As you well know, she covers a lot of miles and spends a lot of time out engaging the community. It's been suggested to me that Mary listens really well but sometimes falls down on the delivery. If you've engaged with Mary either in one of the shopping centres or by writing or calling the office, tell me about your experience.

Mary did undergo hip surgery earlier in the year and I know she went through hell with it. But she looks as fit as Sally Pearson now.....well maybe with that hip she might just have to just do the flat events and leave the hurdles to Sally.

Are you happy for Mary Porter to have another crack at it next year and lock herself away for another 4 years......how does that grab you. Is it time for generational change, or when you're on a good thing do you stick to it.

I personally believe that she's earnt her spot on the ticket and if it's time for generational change then the voters will decide.....they'll just vote in one of the other candidates on the Labor ticket or one of the other tickets.

Spring's first mow

2011-09-05T05:09:00.000+10:00

Mowed the lawn for the first time in the new season yesterday.

It was a great triumph for me because I managed to get the bloody thing started. I've failed on that front in the last two springs. It took me a while. Had to give the spark plug a real good clean. I topped up the petrol and wound the blades up over the deck as far as they'd go. I spent 10 minutes or so priming her up and pulling back hard on the cord. I wasn't hopeful, but eventually it spluttered into action.

What a beautiful noise in the first week of spring. It doesn't smell so good when it starts burning that old fuel.

The first time I got it going it died on me after about 10 seconds, but I knew from that point I'd win.

And how about that gorgeous smell of freshly cut grass in Spring.

It is a beautiful thing

The Great Australian Dream

2011-09-05T04:22:00.000+10:00

Getting on the home ownership merry-go-round in Australia just keeps on getting harder and harder.

The price of the entry level home in Canberra has surely extinguished the home ownership dreams of many. Well, I thought it would have, in reality it hasn't. For years I've been talking about the theory that home ownership for young Australians will eventually become just a faraway dream. I'm wrong.

There are new stats out today that 70% of young Australians are on a path to purchasing their own home. They are not deterred by this financial Mt Everest. Half of Australia’s renters aspire to buy property or save for their own home in the next five years. And 72% of homeowners plan to renovate their home in the hope of adding value.

I know that the market has levelled out a little in recent months, but we certainly haven't seen prices going down dramatically. I'd love to know at what price level people would just give up. If and when we get to the day that a 3 bedder in the suburbs is up over 500K will the dream be gone. I think not.

This latest research is from St George Bank. They've shown that one in three (36%) renters plan to have bought a home and a further 16% expect to be saving for their own home within the next five years.

Young Australians led the aspirational charge with 70% of respondents aged between 25 and 34 expecting to either have purchased or be saving for a property in the next five years, while 66% of respondents aged between 18 and 24 held similar expectations.

The Australian Home Aspiration report, commissioned by St.George and conducted by Lonergan Research, analysed the responses of more than 1,000 Australians and clearly revealed Australians aspire to do better when it comes to property.

Rob Chapman, Chief Executive of St.George Bank, said current economic trends indicating more conservative consumer confidence and spending highlight a greater desire, particularly among young Australians, to save and invest over the long term. So I guess flat retail spending may be a reflection not of low consumer confidence, but a focus on the great Australian dream.

What's in the garage ?

2011-09-04T16:02:00.002+10:00

Hey, tell me, what have you got in your garage. And like, I don't really care if it's a car, because that's what they were designed for, garages that is.

What I want to know is, if you don't have a car in your garage, what the hell have you go in it.

I took possession of a friends car on the weekend and I'm storing it in my garage while she's overseas and I have to admit, I did have to rearrange things a little. My word I've got some usesless junk in my garage. It's mainly furniture that doesn't fit in the house anymore. I've also got my twenty something daughters fridge and washing machine and a stack of her stuff. In theory it's a two car garage but it's a stretch to get one in there. And I know I'm not the only one facing that predicament.

Tell me what is that's keeping your garage from providing shelter for your car cos I want to know

Suburban questions

2011-09-04T15:50:00.000+10:00

Hey guys...does anyone know when the first of the new 7-11's opens in Canberra. They seem to have moved pretty quick with the one at Kippax. I love it how the electronic petrol price thingo says 71.1 cents. I bet they don't sell it at that price. Gee they'll win customers if they do.

Have they advertised for staff yet ?

And Spence and Fraser people, what do you make of the ongoing drama there because your's has to be the most controversial changeover from Mobil to 7-11.

Lets talk about it.

And while we're on the subject of local building work...not that we were really, but help me...what on earth is it that they're doing at Southwell Park. I probably should know, and maybe I did once and it just fell out of my brain somehow. What is the deal at Southwell Park. It looks like a helluva big project whatever it is

Albo comes out fighting

2011-09-02T05:16:00.003+10:00

Hey tell me, how do you think Albo went yesterday ?

Anthony Albanese was confronted by a couple of hundred convoy of no consequence protesters yesterday at his electorate office.

They were savage. They were loud and rude.

He was brave.

Credit where credit’s due. A lesser man would have stayed inside in his office. He came out to face the music knowing that he wouldn’t get a fair hearing.

He was stupid for saying what he said in parliament about the protest……I think he should have apologised for it yesterday, but ultimately the fact that he was there and he was courageous enough to front the mob says a lot about his character for mine.

The protesters were knobs.

The world isn’t black and white. Each side has a story to tell and you should always listen to the other side.

Those who want to be heard need to understand that they also have to listen.

What did you make of it yesterday. Call me and let me know.

The dollar punching above it's weight

2011-09-01T19:01:00.000+10:00

The Aussie dollar continues to go gangbusters on the international markets. Economic dummies like me, often longed for the day when we achieved parity with the greenback and beyond without giving too much thought to the downside of such a high aussie dollar. It is one of the biggest challenges now facing the Australian economy. Obviously it's good if you're buying stuff online from overseas or jetting around the globe, but the steadily high dollar is now beginning to bite. Aussie jobs are being lost by the hundred. And you can expect it to get worse before it gets better. Brace yourself for huge job losses in the next few months as our dollar rockets towards US$1.10. Those in the know are suggesting that's the likely level of our currency before Christmas. That could translate to as many as 80,0000 job losses.

If you're not at risk, you may as well be out there spending. It's one of the things that inspired me to leave the country for the first time earlier in the year and join the ranks of international travellers. And can I tell you, I think I've well and truly caught the bug. I'm already thinking of another trip in 2012.

Not sure where.

Where would you suggest ?

I'm thinking I'd like to go to Asia and see either China or Vietnam. Vietnam has always fascinated me. I think I'd love to do Vietnam. Who's been to Vietnam ? Talk to me.

Hoping for Malaysia

2011-09-01T18:32:00.000+10:00

Maumar Gaddafi was the only one more disappointed with the High Court's Malaysia decision than Chris Bowen. Why ?

Well, I'm told he was on a boat sailing towards Christmas Island and he was thinking that a refugee camp in Malaysia was looking like a good place to be. You know for all of the time effort and money we've spent on this debacle we may as well have gone with the Hayman Island solution right from the start. It can't have cost us any more. And what a wonderful way to promote Australian tourism.

Fire season

2011-09-01T09:00:00.000+10:00

Spring has sprung in the capital. The wattle and the blossoms have been out there for weeks. The magpies will be swooping and the footy finals will be one very soon.

It won’t take long for all of the grass to dry out and then we will face a long summer of apprehension.

Well learned prophets of doom are forecasting potential disaster across the country this summer because of the amount of flammable stuff that is waste and head high from coast to coast.

There was talk of the fire season starting a month earlier here in Canberra, but the powers that be have decided not to bring forward the official start of the bushfire season.

The official bushfire season started yesterday in some regions of southern New South Wales, including Lake George.

Authorities over the border made the call because record rainfall and low stocking rates have lead to a helluva lot of grass.

The Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre is warning areas of inland Australia are facing the possibility of a ferocious bushfire season because vast areas of grass are drying out, creating ideal fuel for fires.

But ACT Emergency Services commissioner Mark Crosweller says the Territory's season will begin as usual on October 1.

Commissioner Crosweller says recent rainfall in the capital region has helped the situation.

Shorten is a shortener

2011-09-01T05:27:00.001+10:00

So how do you reckon Federal labor will go in the next news poll ?

I was thinking that it wasn’t possible for the primary support of the Government to go any lower than it was in the last set of polling figures.

Maybe I was wrong.

Maybe the primary support for the Government could fall to low 20’s or even high teens.

Julia Gillard fronted journos for a little while yesterday wearing that fake smile but these days we all see through it.

She is a dead woman walking politically. She is just doing time on death row.

I wonder how many people got straight onto Centrebet yesterday and put money on Bill Shorten as the next Labor leader.

Let me have a squiz at these latest odds.

Julia Gillard still $1.60, raging hot favourite to lead Labor to the next election.

Bill Shorten is in to $5.50, which is sounding like value to me. What do you reckon ?

Combet and Stephen Smith are at $10.00

Ruddy is at $13 and Chris Bowen is at $21.

I think there is as much chance that Chris Bowen will lead Labor to the next election as there is that Craig Thomson will be installed as Labor leader any time soon.

About the only positive for the Government yesterday was that at least we took our attention away from Thomson.

Maybe they should put Thomson in as leader. When they get an electoral shallacking they can blame him….him and the high court and Tony Abbott’s negative campaigning and the way that the planets were aligned…..anyone but themselves.

Incompetence

2011-09-01T04:59:00.002+10:00

I’m criticised from time to time for cutting to much slack for our elected representatives. It’s been suggested to me that I give the benefit of the doubt far too often to those who don’t deserve it.

Guys…that’s just who I am.

I don’t see the world as black and white.

On so many occasions our elected members are described as incompetent when I don’t think they are. Most of the time when the Prime Minister or the Education Minister or someone else is described as incompetent, the reality is that this is a capable political operative who had an error of judgement. It’s usually someone who just made a mistake and we all make them.

Well guys….I’m here to tell you….there is no other word for Chris Bowen other than incompetent.

He is…to quote Jorian Gardner, a joke.

He’s a failure. He’s a disgrace.

He was asked at the press conference yesterday whether or not he would consider resigning…..he answered with some rubbish about the country and the Government needing him. Yeah…..like a hole in the head Chris.

There was no point to the charade of Bowen pretending to answer questions yesterday because he just doesn’t answer them. He talks……but he doesn’t say anything. If he doesn’t want to answer the question he simply says that he disagrees with the characterisation of the question.

And so yesterday his big theme was that there were many things that he couldn’t answer because this time the Government was keen to go through all of the detail and come up with a solution….but you see this time, it was important to get it right. Really ? That’s important this time….as opposed to when we cobbled together this last solution.

It’s very clear to everyone in the country that Bowen and his people had received advice which suggests that we could end up exactly where we are now……he just ignored it.

This Government doesn’t know what they stand for. They have no idea. They lurch along from crisis to crisis with the help of focus groups and whiteboard brainstorming sessions. They have no connection to the real world. They’re incompetent.

I would wish the Gillard government good luck, but the reality is that if somehow they got some good luck, they wouldn’t know what to do with it.

E-commerce

2011-09-01T04:45:00.000+10:00

There’s been a fair bit of talk in the last 6 months about the rise of e-commerce in Australia. Face to face retail is feeling the pressure of the internet invasion. The figures speak for themselves. The shift to e-commerce in this country is astounding.

What’s the last thing that you bought on line.

Get on the phone and tell me all about it.

I’d like to think that I’m a well connected 45 year old…in terms of my online life, but I still don’t buy much online. I do buy some stuff. I buy some music online…but I’m sort’ve stuck in the past there……I just like to hold the CD in my hand and hang on to it.

I did book all of my overseas travel online. Researched and booked it online.

But I’ve never bought anything on ebay. I don’t have couriers knocking at my door every day with parcels.

What was the last thing that you bought online.

I’ll tell the website that’s been recommended to me is Catch of the Day.

You may have seen them featured on the various current affairs TV shows. Catch of the Day base their business around a single deal each day. So every day at Midday they reveal some whiz bang amazing economies of scale based price on a certain item and wait for the laptops and PC’s to start whirring.

And they just keep on selling it, till they run out.

Who’s done Catch of the Day ? Let me know if you have.

It’s just at www.catchoftheday.com.au

The deal yesterday was an Ultrasleep Deluxe Twin Pillow Pack for 20 bucks. I might have a squiz today at midday and see what they’ve got.

Spring

2011-08-19T05:20:00.001+10:00

I am so hanging for spring. I know that spring can be a big disapppointment in this town. It often fails to deliver it’s promise of gorgeousness. As you know in this city, the wind tends to pick up as of about now……the rain tends to come in sideways for a few weeks but I have to tell you when I stare at the seven day forecast and it has a 19 degree maximum on it for next week, I’ll take that.

The rollercoaster continues

2011-08-19T05:15:00.000+10:00

Haven’t the markets gone crazy in recent weeks.

It’s been a full on rollercoaster and after a while you become somewhat immune to it.

It’s a bit like aftershocks in Christchurch. After a while they pass without much of a ripple because you just get used to the earth moving. They don’t even stop eating their breakfast now in Christchurch. They just sit there sipping coffee and say….mmmm…that feels like a 4.5.

We’ve had financial turmoil on the markets overnight…but mmmm…whatever…..what goes down these days tends to go up again. It’ll probably bounce up again tomorrow

Not everyone is as unmoved as me. There are those who are concerned that we may be heading for another recession. The US Federal Reserve reportedly expressed concerns over European banks' liquidity.

What do you think ? Are you anticipating the worst ? I think it’ll hold together.

I mean you cannot get away from the fact that traders' screens were awash with red today, as Madrid, Milan and Paris equities plunged more than 6.0 per cent, while London, Paris and Zurich shed more than 5.0 per cent.

Maybe I should worry more.

Welfare demand

2011-08-15T05:26:00.001+10:00

I had the great pleasure of hosting the 10th anniversary party for St Vinnies Night Patrol in Canberra recently. Julie Goodwin was here for it. I didn’t even know that she was a Vinnies girl, but she is. She actually met her husband while they were both working in a soup kitchen in central Sydney.

I remember when we got the night patrol running on the streets in Canberra a decade ago. It was a massive achievement from some hard working individuals and that work has continued for ten years.

But it’s getting harder.

It’s getting harder for a number of reasons. One of them is that costs keep on going up but the bigger problem is that seemingly as every 6 months goes by there is a greater call on services

Social services groups can’t cope in Canberra at the moment. They’re turning people away in droves. There are far too many who need help.

The Australian Council for Social Services, Australian Community Sector Survey which is issued today shows a 12 percent increase in assistance provided by non government welfare agencies to july last year when compared with the previous 12 months.

Can you imagine where we’d be without Vinnies and the Salvos and Uniting Care. There are so many Australians falling through the cracks and it’s being left up to these hard working, under funded volunteer based organisations to clean up the mess.

This survey has shown a 20 percent increase in the number of people turned away by these agencies.

Here in Canberra the biggest shortfall was found in helping those looking for mental health services….followed by straight out homelessness.

Bob Wilson from Vinnies told me earlier in the month that they often have to refer homeless people to Goulburn….they just can’t cope with the numbers here in Canberra

Census

2011-08-08T02:30:00.000+10:00

OK, Census tomorrow night. Have you got your form ?

I've cheated and.....don't tell anyone, but I've already filled mine out. Ssshhhh. I did it on the weekend. I just couldn't help myself.

It took me about 10, maybe 12 minutes. So, that's not too bad.

It's all very self explanatory. I'm trying to think of things that you may do wrong and there's not much really. Look, numbers.....when you're filling in numbers start from the left hand side, in fact you've gotta start everything from the left hand side and just leave a gap between each word.

I reckon there'll be a few people who are struggling to remember exactly where they were living 5 years ago, but if you get it wrong, it doesn't really matter. They're not going to track you down and question you on it.

I wasn't sure what to go with for ancestry. Cos they give you 'Australian' as an option. I ended up going with English.

And when it comes to unpaid domestic work in their household, I want to know who does more than 30 hours of it. What the hell are you doing in your house ? Maybe you need to think about cutting some corners.

Who's going to fill theirs out online ?

Fruit Loops

2011-08-04T04:51:00.001+10:00

One of the really cool things about having a 9 year old and an 11 year old is that when you get up in the morning, if you feel like having Fruit Loops for breakfast, then you can. That was a blast from the past this morning. I did enjoy that.

Your call is being recorded

2011-08-03T05:13:00.001+10:00

Hey you know how when you’re trying to get through to the bank or the phone company or the insurance company…..when you’ve been on an on hold system and finally you’re about to get through to real person. It’s a pretty exciting thing.

You know when they give that message that you’re about to go through to a live person and that your call will be recorded for training purposes and that if you don’t want your call being recorded you should say so.

I want to know if anyone ever says….”Hey, before we start, can I say, I don’t want my call being recorded.”

Does anyone ever say that ?

And if you did say that…..would they stop the recordy thingo…cos I mean, let’s get serious, you’d never know would you ? Any more than you’d know if the chicken was corn fed or if the coffee was fair trade.

Do you get the feeling that we’re being lied to every minute of the day.

DVD late fees

2011-08-03T05:00:00.002+10:00

Do you still rent DVDs from the video shop ?

Isn't it funny how we still call it a video shop when they don't actually have any videos. It's weird.

And how we still call it a record shop when they don't actually sell any records.

If you still rent DVDs like me, I'm sure you often end up getting the bloody things back late. If that's you, don't bother apologising to the person behind the counter. Do you do that ?

Do you rock up with your late DVDs and say..."Sorry...the time got away from me. So sorry these are late."

Don't apologise for the lateness of the DVD's because the video shop loves you for it. The only way that they're staying afloat is with your late fees. You think about it. If you get that 'overnight' DVD back 5 days late, there's 5 days worth of revenue out of that one DVD without having to process the thing 5 times.

Don't say sorry for getting them back late cos the video shop would be as happy as larry if you just got your 7 favourite DVD's out and held on to them for the whole year. Pay the late fees at the end of the year, which could possibly be worth the DVD 20 times over and everyone's happy.

Don't you hate it when you get a bunch of DVD's out. You only really wanted to watch one of them, but you got all of these others out cos it was cheaper to get 7 DVD's than one. 6 of the DVD's were fine in your machine, but the one that you really wanted to watch just didn't work.

Don't you hate that ?

You get the DVD out and clean it with your little DVD cleaner thing, but it makes no difference.

I hate that.

AWM

2011-08-02T05:08:00.001+10:00

My friends Chris and Katy are in town from Coffs Harbour. It’s their first visit to the Capital.

They contacted me a week or so ago to get my advice on what to see and what not to see in Canberra.

I didn’t give them much advice.

Pretty much the only thing I told them was that they should make damn sure they give themselves enough time to see the Australian War Memorial.

I said to them “don’t you dare give yourself just 90 minutes to see the War Memorial”

Katy called me yesterday afternoon after spending pretty much the whole day at the Australian War Memorial. She was blown away by the place. She said that Chris wanted to go back again today.

It is the most amazing place and I know that it’s often the case that those of us who live here don’t avail ourselves of the wonderful attractions here.

Guys….I hate to sound like Molly Meldrum, but ‘do yourselves a favour’ and get on in there to the Australian War Memorial. It is such a bright shining jewel in the crown that is the national capital

Joey's Kitchen

2011-08-01T05:26:00.000+10:00

I wanted to say a big thank you to Carlo and the team from Tosolinis for partnering us for the last couple of years with out lunch of the month here on the breakfast program. Tosolinis is genuinely one of my favourite eating houses in the city and I will keep on going back there time and time and again.

We do have a new lunch of the month venue though for the rest of the year…and it’s a ripper.

We’ve moved things to the all new Joeys Kitchen at Watson. So this is the place that’s in where Carlos used to be at the Watson Shops. The food is out of this world. It really is a culinary experience. Isn’t it amazing the little gems we’ve got hidden within our suburban shops around town.

Now who is this Joey. Well, I can tell you he is Joey Caruana. Joey runs the restaurant with his wife Louiza Blomfield, she of Canberra theatre fame.

They hosted Chris Smith’s cocktail party last week and did it in fine style and our first lunch at Joeys is coming up on the 31st of August….the final Wednesday of the month.

Happy birthday Don

2011-08-01T05:14:00.001+10:00

I helped my mate Don celebrate his 60th birthday on Saturday night. I’ve known Don since the 1980’s. He was working Adelaide when I was there. He’s a good lad….but he cannot possibly by 60.

You must have friends that just seem so much younger than they are in years and Donny is one of them for me.

I knew it was a milestone birthday for Don on the weekend but one of my friends asked me how old he was…and I said….well I guess he’s gotta be 60, but to me seems 50.

Don says he doesn’t feel 60….and that he never ever thought he’d be 60.

Who’s just turned 60 ?

How did it hit you as a number ?

Was it a shock to your system ?

I do this crazy thing when it comes to milestone birthdays. I can remember that when I turned 37, I started to tell people I was 40. Whenever anyone asked me, I just told them I was 40…..so I was 40 for 3 years before I actually turned 40. As a consequence, it wasn’t a great shock to me.

Dan the man

2011-08-01T05:09:00.001+10:00

How tight am I ?

My car didn’t start on Friday morning, so I took a taxi into work….that’s not the tight part.

The tight part is that on Friday morning soon after I got off air, I was too tight to get a taxi home. I walked home from Mitchell to Kaleen, just to save $25. Well…..it was a stunning morning. Took me an hour. It was a nice walk.

I couldn’t get the car going. I ended up using Lube Mobile on Saturday morning. I’d never used them before.

I scored a really nice English chap by the name of Dan. He came out at 8 o’clock Saturday morning.

He’s been in Australia for about 3 months and he loves the place. Loves the weather….loves the people, loves the wide open spaces. He never ever wants to go back home. I made him freshly ground coffee and even got him a bacon and egg roll cos I felt bad that he was out working on my car in the –4.

It WAS the battery….and I’d flooded the engine trying to get the thing started as well. Those Astra batteries are not cheap. The whole thing cost me nearly $400…..never mind. At least it’s going again.

Tomatoes

2011-08-01T04:52:00.001+10:00

Hey, how bad have tomatoes been at the supermarket. I know it’s the middle of winter, but wow, the tomatoes have been pretty shabby and so bloody expensive.

What’s the most you’ve paid for tomatoes in the last month or so ?

I still like to always have fried tomatoes with breakfast on the weekend. Bacon, hash browns, tomatoes and poached eggs on toast. It’s probably a bad thing that I do that every weekend on both mornings but you only live once don’t you.

If you want to talk to me about tomatoes this morning, feel free.

Cold cold cold

2011-07-29T05:27:00.000+10:00

How cold is it this morning. Wow.

It is colder than yesterday morning.

This morning is one of the coldest mornings that I’ve experienced since I came to town in 98.

My car wouldn’t start this morning….dunno why.

It is so cold that the roller door on my garage wouldn’t close. I had to force it close because the door had expanded or contracted or whatever it does when it gets this cold.

There are locks that won’t work this morning because the metal will have changed shape in the cold.

There will be water pipes freeze…..hoses that will crack and everything else that goes with extreme cold.

Canberra revel in your winter this morning cos no one in Australia get’s it like this

Mobile phone cancer link

2011-07-29T04:59:00.000+10:00

Hey you remember how in the last decade or so, various so called experts have been telling us that your mobile phone will kill you.

They’ve been talking about a link between mobile phone radiowaves and cancer.

People have done amazing things to try to get their mobile phone as far away from their brains as they possibly can because it’s going to kill them. Well, it seems that was all incorrect.

So, as you were with the mobile phone and the cancer thing.

A EUROPEAN study involving nearly 1000 participants has found no link between mobile phone use and brain tumours in children and adolescents, a group that may be particularly sensitive to phone emissions.

Really ?

There was a time when this was the greatest moral challenge of our time. Scientific consensus suggested that the evil mobile phone would kill us all. Now it seems…it won’t.

The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, was prompted by concerns that the brains of younger users may be more vulnerable to adverse health effects -- such as cancer -- from mobile phones.
In the past two decades, mobile phone use has soared among children in developed countries, with one study suggesting that most youths start to use mobile phones by age 9 or 10. Children have a developing nervous system, and cellphone emissions penetrate deeper into their brains. Studies have indicated that the outer brain tissue of children ages 5 to 8 may absorb twice the amount of cellphone energy absorbed by adult brains.

Public health data indicate no increase in brain tumours among children in the US and many parts of Europe, whether from cellphone usage or any other cause. The latest research "shows that a large and immediate risk of mobile phones causing brain tumours in children can be excluded," said Martin Roosli, lead author of the study and an epidemiologist at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel.

Amy Winehouse

2011-07-29T04:50:00.001+10:00

Are you sick of hearing about the sad and pathetic life of Amy Winehouse yet. I do have more for you this morning.

Her family believes she was killed by quitting alcohol…this has been reported in the The Sun in London.

So what they’re suggesting is that the singer's decision to lay off alcohol completely for three weeks was a lethal ''shock'' for her tiny body.

Do you buy that or not ?

Family sources told the newspaper that the Rehab singer, who was found dead aged 27 on Saturday, was killed after ignoring her doctor's advice to cut down on her heavy drinking gradually.

Her family believe she was killed by a seizure because her tiny frame could not cope with such a dramatic withdrawal.

Look, I’ve never been adicted any any substance,….I’ve never even been a smoker, but to me it sounds a bit of cop out.

A source close to Amy's family said: ''Abstinence gave her body such a fright they thought it was eventually the cause of her death''.

Sounds like rubbish to me.

She died from a decade of self abuse. I don’t think there’s much more to say about it

Qantas travel centres to close

2011-07-19T05:15:00.001+10:00

Hey jet setters ? Tell me, when you last travelled, how did you book your tickets ?

Did you go into a travel agency and talk to someone over the counter ? Did you ring the airline or did you just do it online ?

The reason I ask is that Qantas have made the big call to close pretty much all of their travel centres because they say nobody is booking travel that way anymore

It’s the fault of the big bad internet. The world wide web did it.

Qantas are going to shut every travel centre bar one….so we’re talking 150 staff.

"This has been a difficult decision, but the centres have not been profitable for some years and, in spite of a range of changes made, there is no prospect that they will be profitable," a Qantas spokesperson said.

The decision comes after a review by Qantas of its retail travel centre operations with centres in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns and Townsville to shut, leaving just one centre in Gove, Northern Territory.

Now, I’m an old man, but I have to concede that for the last 10 years, every time I’ve booked air travel, I’ve done it online. It doesn’t really surprise me one bit.

I think there will always be a need for some travel agencies, but they’ll really have to service their customers to keep them.

Tell me how you book your travel and why.

Julia

2011-07-19T05:06:00.001+10:00

So much more talk around the country now about the electoral woes of Federal Labor.

They are dying in the bum.

I thought that perhaps the electoral fortunes may turn around with the announcement of the carbon tax…..the opposite was the case.

These numbers from yesterday morning are woeful.

I know that two years is a long time, but wow ! 26 – 52. How do you come from there. I don’t think Julia can.

She’s gotta be under the pump here. I know that Paul Howes says that he’s put his house on Julia, but it’s difficult to see her going the distance if this trend continues.

And what do you make of the suggestion that the money is coming for Simon Crean as the next leader.

Simon Crean ? Really ? Is Simon still alive ?

The head of BetStar, Alan Eskander, said that "eight out of 10" transactions on the ALP leadership were for Mr Crean.
The online gambling house suspended betting for him after his odds shortened from $101 to $13 in a week.

Who’s put that money on ?

Do you know who I reckon it was ?

Tiny the Cabbie's pic of Black Mountain in the fog this morning. Taken from Mt Ainslie

2011-07-14T07:56:00.002+10:00

And this one is of Mt Majura from Mt Ainslie. Thanks Tiny !!

Don't you hate that.

2011-07-11T05:01:00.002+10:00

Don't you hate it when you're sound asleep. It's Monday morning. Your alarm has gone off and you're laying in bed just trying to wake up. You don't want to get up but you know you have to, so you lay there with your eyes open trying to get your brain working. After about 10 minutes you roll over to see what the time is....and you find that the alarm hasn't gone off at all. You must have dreamt the alarm going off scenario and you've just wasted 15 minutes of sleep time.

God that's annoying.

I did it last night, not once, but twice.

Don't you hate that.

Winter in Canberra

2011-07-07T04:51:00.001+10:00

We did the trivia at the Kaleen Sports Club, despite State Of Origin last night. We actually got a good roll up. I was chatting to Warren after trivia last night as we watched the State of Origin series slip away from the Blues.

Warren was downcast about the football and we started talking about other stuff. We started with the weather.

Warren is like me…..he loves the winter.

I think there’s no such thing as a bad weather day……all there is picking the wrong clothes.

I thought yesterday was a corker of a day. That wind was so angry. I went out walking in it yesterday afternoon because I could. Some people looked at me strange, but I have to tell you given the choice of a wild wintery 9 degree day like yesterday or a 38 degree stinker, I’d pick yesterday any day. I love feeling the wind in my face. I love putting the big coats and scarves on and cooking slow cooked stews and casseroles. I hope they never put a roof on Canberra stadium because I’m a big fan of standing in the cold with mates watching the Raiders or the Brumbies.

I don’t care what anyone says….I still think winter is the best season in this town.

What do you think ?

RAPID

2011-07-06T05:25:00.000+10:00

It was wonderful to have Superintendant Mick Calatzis in from ACT Police yesterday morning. We do thank ACT Police for providing personell to join us each Tuesday morning. I think it’s a great helptto both of us.

Mick mentioned yesterday that the RAPID system has been going now for a full year. Hasn’t that flown by. Rapid stands for Recognition and Analysis of Plates Identified

I can tell you that in that first year the RAPID system has read 856743 plates. How many ? 856,000. Now when you consider that we only have a population of 350,000 you start to understand the reach that this system has. According to the cops it has quickly emerged as a major asset in the ongoing effort to reduce collisions and road trauma.

There is a six person team which operates RAPID. In the twelve months of operation they identified 1772 unregistered vehicles, and 780 vehicles without CTP (compulsory third party) insurance, as well as 474 unlicensed, 57 disqualified, and 148 suspended drivers.

Working in cooperation with ACT Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) inspectors, the RAPID team also identified 1213 defective vehicles.

I’m pretty happy that the RAPID system is out there looking after us. I’m sure it provides wonderful incentive for those who are doing to the wrong thing, to do the right thing

Meatlovers pizza

2011-07-06T05:17:00.001+10:00

We had pizza around at home last night, so I mean we made our own. Now I didn’t go the whole hog and make the pizza dough or anything like that. I just got the ready made pizza bases from the fridge section of the supermarket and we got into it from there.

You know what my kids requested don’t you. They are 10 and 8, so you can guess.

Yes, they had ham and pineapple. Can’t think of anything worse on a pizza.

I’ll tell you what I had.

I had the most decadent meatlovers pizza. First up I cut up some big chunks of bacon and fried them up. I got one of those hot chorizo sausages and cut it into chunks…and then fried them as well. Then I got around 300 grams of beef mince. I wacked it in the frying pan and browned it.. During the process I added a good cup of pizza sauce and about the same of barbecue sauce. So I combined it all and spread it evenly on the pizza….topped it with mozzarella and wacked it in the oven.

It was sooooo nice. It was one of those pizzas that you needed to eat with a knife and fork or your were going to wear it, but it was an amazing pizza.

What’s your favourite pizza combo. Let me know.

The days roll on

2011-07-06T05:06:00.001+10:00

Snow on the mountains this morning. The drizzle continues to fall. The wind is whipping in out of the west. Miserable old day out there. To think that 3 weeks ago I was in South America. It’s downside about going off to holiday in some exotic location…..ultimately you have to come home.

Three weeks ago I was strolling the streets of the bustling Central Business District of Buenos Aires….I was playing soccer on the streets with some of the street vendors and soaking up the tango.

Aaaaah Duzn’t matter.

Another dreary day in Canberra

2011-06-21T05:28:00.000+10:00

OK…so I’m back after my South American jaunt that ended in some rather interesting circumstance. I got held up in Argentina for like a week or so because of the volcanic ash, and although, I’m sure when I look back on that week, I’ll do so with much fondness, it was not the plan. I was supposed to be on my way home. My Buenos Aires stay was supposed to be 3 hours, according to the airline, Aerolineas Argentinas I was going to be stuck there for a week. They put me on a flight that was supposed to take off for Auckland and then Sydney on June 20….so today over there. Now it’s my understanding that that flight was cancelled anyway, so God knows when I would have flown out if I hadn’t taken things into my own hands.

I decided to just buy another ticket and come out via the US on

The two questions that I’m going to try to get to the bottom of today are these.

A. What sort of refund can I get from Aerolineas from the flight that still hasn’t left

And B. can I join the United Airlines frequent flyer program retrospectively. Surely I can.

How do you think I’ll go with Aerolineas ?

Will I get any money back

So many people assume that if you’re stranded in a foreign country like this, that the airline assists you in some way with accomodation.

Wrong !

They gave me nothing did Aerolineas Argentinas.
They just say that it’s not their fault……which to some extent I disagree with in that when I left Colombia, they knew that my connecting flight to Auckland had already been cancelled……I didn’t know…they didn’t tell me. If I had known that I would have just stayed in Colombia and found my way home from there. I would have had so many more options from Bogota. Aerolineas chose to fly me to the one place in the South America that I couldn’t actually get out of, knowing that they couldn’t get me out of there. I think it is partly their fault. It’s certainly not mine. We’ll see how we go

I'm back

2011-06-21T04:47:00.001+10:00

Winter is here well and truly this morning. Now having said that, if you base the weather entirely on the air temperature, then it's actually relatively warm. I checked the iphone when I woke up this morning and discovered that it was actaully 9 degrees….almost unheard of at 3 in the morning in Canberra in June. The apparent temperature though was zero because the wind is ripping in hard….now it’s coming from the North….so that’s why it hasn’t plummeted the temperature this morning and it is expected to continue as a northerly…so it’s a mixed bag for us this morning. She’s well below the zero up in the mountains this morning….they’ve got it coming from the north as well, and the windchill is well below minus 10. Bucketing snow at Thredbo as we speak.

How’d you sleep ?

I did good. My body is still trying to figure out what time it is after a marathon journey from the other side of the international date line, but I’m getting there. Look, in reality, I probably should have had another day off, but I didn’t. I’m a bit hammered this morning. I’m very very tired this morning…..but I’ve had a red bull. I’ve got Jorian wielding the whip and I think we can do it.

Lake George

2011-05-23T03:45:00.000+10:00

Went for a ride out to Lake George on the weekend on my trusty Kona Zing. I can so remember before I got the road bike telling people that I was going to ride out to Lake George and they laughed....like really really loudly.

I think I've done it now about 7 or 8 times. It's a bit ho hum now.

In the early days it used to take me over 4 hours and it flattened me for days. These days it's a little easier. 2 hours and 40 minutes on Saturday. I was happy with that.

When I rode out there on Saturday, I was thinking that there was no wind. I soon discovered when I turned around to come back that there was a bit of a westerly blowing, but there is more downhill on the way back.

I love my bike.

I daresay it is best thousand dollars I've ever spent.

Signs of the times

2011-05-19T09:37:00.000+10:00

I’m not much of a rebel. In my 44 years on the planet, I’ve never stolen a street sign and I don’t intend to, but according to my radio listeners, people do it often in this town of ours.

Why ?

Well, by the sounds it’s mainly as trophys. They target street signs which they put up on the wall in the bedroom or the bar at home. I was inspired to bring it up on air after a drive through Kaleen, where the streets are all named after rivers. That’s wonderful when it comes to Maribyrnong Avenue or Nambucca Street, but not so good when it comes to the street named after Queenslands Bogan River. How’d you be living on Bogan Place at Kaleen ? Or if the streets of Charnwood had been named after rivers and we had Bogan Place at Charnwood.

It’s clear that the Bogan Place street sign has a different bracket on it than the surrounding streets. I’d love to know how many times it’s been lifted.

Friends of mine once lived on Lovely Close at Dunlop and told me that their street sign was often absent. I daresay the same applies to Love Street at Flynn

Callers reported to me that Holden Crescent Wanniassa and Holden Place at Flynn often find themselves signless for various periods of time as does Ford Place at Gordon. One wonders if Hyundai Street would suffer the same fate if such a street existed. Joel reported that the Corona Place sign at Palmerston has now had it’s ‘nuts shaved off’ to make it more secure. I’m sure that’s an effective measure, but you’ve got to feel for the sign itself because that must be painful.

Anthony called us on air to say that he’d been looking for Furphy Place at Garran for a while, but that it didn’t seem to exist and Nimbin Street at Narrabundah has apparently gone missing on a number of occasions.

A spokesperson for the Department of Territory and Community Services confirmed to me that vandalism and theft of street signs remain constant in Canberra with an upward spike around school holiday periods. Roads ACT are constantly experimenting with new mounting and installation methods to curb theft. Around town you’ll see signs that that welded to the post as well as quite a number that are up a wee bit higher than the regular signs. One of my listeners suggested to me that after a number of thefts of the Holden Pl sign, the authorities conceded and just painted the street name on the curb.

Osama the movie

2011-05-05T05:03:00.004+10:00

Hey have you noticed that since the death of Osama Bin Laden we haven't heard anything from Donald Trump. He's gone into hiding since then. He may have moved into that compound in Pakistan.

When you're trying to undermine the Prez, how can you beat the fact that he got Osama ? All of a sudden the whole birth certificate thing seems irrelevant event to the likes of our regular guest Patrick Gibson from Evil Conservative Radio.

I don't know that Patrick would have been praising Obama on that fateful Sunday night, but I daresay he went at least a few hours without dragging his name through the mud.

Maybe Donald should call for the release of Osama's birth certificate.

You've probably all heard the suggestion that Elton John is going to be performing at Osama's funeral. He's delivering a new version of Candle in the Wind....this one is called Sandal in the Bin. I think that was all over the internet within the first few hours.

I wonder how long it will take for the movie to be released.

I bet it's out either before Xmas or just after it. What sort of a box office smash will it be ?

I wonder what they'll call the movie. 'The Fall of the Big O', 'Geronimo'....I dunno 'Gunfight at the OBL Corral' ?

I can see Matt Damon in the movie, leading the Navy Seals into battle. I can see Harrison Ford back in the war room in Washington.

I wonder who would put their hand up to play Osama ? Who plays the Prez ?

I don't suppose it really matters who plays who, people would just go to see it. Donald Trump could play Osama and nobody would care.

Any thoughts

Mini bar robbery

2011-05-05T05:03:00.001+10:00

Hey, you know how the ACCC and the various powers that be were all up in arms over a certain supermarket lowering the price of milk and bread. There were all sorts of inquiries and accusations being made. Dark suited gentlemen with long faces were telling us how bad this would be for the consumer in the long term and there was even talk of a senate inquiry.

Remarkable stuff.

Bearing in mind that this was over, not the price of a staple item going up in price but rather that fact that it was going down.

Can I tell you this morning, what I don’t understand….. if Coles can’t get away with lowering the price of milk and bread….how is it that motel and hotel operators can get away with raising the prices of pretty much everything in the mini bar to 5 times what it would cost in the non mini bar world.

We get Government inquiries about the price of petrol creeping up….well guys…what about the hotel mini bar. Surely hotel and motel operators could get arrested for outright robbery.

Have you ever wondered about this or not ?

How can they get away with charging $4 for a can of coke. Those Toblerone bars for like $7. The mini bottles of spirits….I dread to think what they’re worth.

Quite seriously, how can they get away with it.

The one that really gets me…and it doesn’t happen as much these days that every man and his dog has a mobile phone….but I’m still astounded by what they charge if you happen to use the phone in the room. Like you make one local call and it may cost you $40.

Someone’s gotta be arrested over this. Someone’s gotta be brought to justice

Autumn in Canberra.

2011-05-02T04:56:00.003+10:00

Don't you just love autumn in this town ?

It has been wonderfully mild thus far. Well I thought it had. I was a little surprised by these weather stats for Canberra for April. According to these stats, we've just had the eleventh coldest April in the history of records in Canberra. Really ?

It didn't feel cold to me. I'd be thinking it was surprisingly warm.

It certainly was relatively dry.

We scored just 8.8mm in the month which is well below the monthly average of 46 mm.

The coldest night of the month was April 23rd when the temperature reached a frosty minus 1.1

God it was a nice day yesterday. My girls and I did a soccer carnival at Kaleen and I reckon we got burnt.

I wonder when the ice is coming ? It can't too long now ?

Fire at Canberra Services Club - Photos thanks to Tiny the Cabbie

2011-04-28T06:25:00.003+10:00

The cost of water

2011-04-21T04:48:00.000+10:00

I guess we all knew that the price of water was going to go up in this town. We all knew it was coming, but it still doesn’t make it any easier

It’s going to go up by around 12 percent. So that translates in real terms to around $142 a year for the average Canberra household….whatever that is.

Why is it going up ?

Well there’s a number of reasons. Among them delays in the big Cotter Dam job because that’s translated to a downturn in water usage in Canberra. And you see, the way it works with water…..if, over a period of time we use less of it, it will cost us more.

There’s something about that that just doesn’t seem quite fair is there ? You know what I mean……the fact that we’ve all bent over backwards to curb our water usage. We’ve all had shorter showers……so many people over the years just let the lawns die. We’ve recycled water from the bloody washing machine…..we’ve done the right thing, and now we’re going to get penalised for it.

So there’s that…..but also the fact that this Cotter Dam expansion and other water security projects have cost a fortune…and they’ve gotta pay for it somehow.

Who’s going to pay ? You and me.

At a time when the power bills are going through the roof. Petrol has eclipsed $1.50 a litre. Fruit and veg and grocery prices are going up and we’re sitting on the edge of a carbon tax. Surely you can find some more spare cash for the water bill.

What do you make of this ?

Iphone

2011-04-18T10:00:00.000+10:00

I can remember bagging the hell out of the iphone when it was originally released. I had a tech head by the name of Sam come into my radio program and try to sell the virtues of the new phone to me. He didn’t win me over.

“Why would I even want to access the internet from my phone ?” I said.

Sam tried to patiently explain, but he couldn’t win. I was just a cranky old baby boomer clinging to life as I’d always known it and frightened to embrace change. I declared that I would never own an Iphone and slammed all those self absorbed geeks who choose to have their lives ruled by a hand held device. Sam suggested that I may eat my words one day. I told him he was “dreamin’ “

Last year, I had the chance to upgrade my phone and some smooth talking phone consultant at Telstra talked me into an Iphone. I’m still not sure how he did it, but within a week, it arrived at my house and my world changed.

I love it. It’s all about text messages with instant photos. I’ve ditched my hard copy diary because I don’t need one anymore. After rejecting GPS systems in my car for years, suddenly I’m finding my way around via the GPS on the phone. I thought I was a social media fanatic before the Iphone….it’s crazy now. Twitter and Facebook are getting a hammering all day long. Live scores at the football and cricket, the weather radar and the latest TAB odds….they’re all on the phone at the touch of a button. There are no more paper shopping lists or ‘to do’ lists at my place because I do it all on the phone.

And it saves money ! Applications like What’s App and Tango and Viber allow you to talk almost endlessly to other Iphone users anywhere in the world for free.

I also use a cycle tracker application which maps and analyses my bike riding…which leads me to last weeks disaster. I stopped at Hall on a midweek ride. I was resetting the cycle tracker as I wheeled the bike back out to the road…..AND I DROPPED THE IPHONE. I had one of those slow motion….”Nooooooo !!” moments as I heard the glass crack.
It’s only the back panel that’s cracked, but it’s seriously cracked. It’s clearly not going to last the 19 months left on the contract. I went into one of those phone kiosk places at Westfield Belconnen and the consultant told me I could get the back panel replaced.

Halleluja !!

“But we’ll have to send it away to Sydney for a week !”

I took a step back. “A whole week without my Iphone ? No, I don’t think I can do that.”

At this stage I’ve patched it up and put a gel cover around it while I contemplate my next move.

That Sam guy who tried to talk up the phone in my studio…how right was he ?

Bring on winter

2011-04-13T05:20:00.000+10:00

I got this morning expecting it to be a really cold. Now call me a freak, but at 3:30 when I walked out to the car….I thought it was relatively warm. I think it was about 9 degrees.

God it was cold yesterday arvo wasn’t it.

Wow !

Winter is close now.

Josh Elliot from up in the high country tells me that it snowed all day yesterday at Charlotte Pass. There would be a nice little covering over the deck this morning.

I wonder how far down the snow fell last night.

Won’t be long till we see it on the Brindies. Surely not this morning ? You can’t see any up there on the hills can you ?

I reckon we might get to see some snow in the suburbs this winter.

I reckon we might get a repeat of 2000….remember that ?

Wow what a day that was.

It was in May too…..I think May 20 from memory. Remember the Raiders playing in the snow. That was amazing.

I hope we get another day like that this year

Parliamentary triangle.

2011-04-12T05:04:00.000+10:00

The parking squeeze is well and truly on in the parliamentary triangle. It’s been crazy for a while…it’s set to get even crazier.

There are people who choose to start work an hour and half earlier than they have to, just so they can get a car park. Now, that’s fine for singles, or people who don’t have to worry about getting kids to school, but I know for fact that there are dozens of Mums who’s lives are being dominated by the lack of car parking in the triangle. They’re under immense pressure each day because it’s not physically possible for them to get to work on time.

They have to park kilometres away from where they work and trudge off to work.

Winter is going to be savage on them

The situation was always going to get worse this year because this commercial car park opened in Barton last year. Because it’s there, it means that employers within a kilometre of the car park are eligible to pay fringe benefits tax on their parking.

It throws everything out of wack.

Now, I know that a number of the bigger Federal departments have just agreed to pay the tax for their workers, but some others can’t do it. The National Gallery has made the decision to abolish staff parking onsite…the reserved parking is gone.

Tell us about your parking reality this morning

What’s the answer in the Parliamentary triangle ?

I’m thinking that it should just become like a regular town centre and paid parking all over the place. I know there’ll be whingeing and bleating from many, but why should it be any different than Civic or Woden.

And as I’ve always said, one of the great problems here is that visitors to our town…….tourists just can’t find a park to go and see our fine cultural institutions.

Somethings gotta give here.

Revenue down

2011-04-11T05:26:00.001+10:00

Wayne Swan scares me at the moment. Well, truth be known he scares me at the best of times, but when he’s talking doom and gloom he starts to resemble the grim reaper.

We’re hurtling towards a federal budget and everything we hear from the Federal Treasurer suggests that it won’t be pretty.

Yesterday came the revelation that the Federal Government has discovered revenues are already $4.5 billion down on estimates made just a few months ago.

Now, that says one of two things.

Either things are pretty crook, or those people making those revenue forecasts have got no earthly idea.

If this forecast was made only two months ago, how can it be so far wrong now ?

I do know that the Federal Cabinet expenditure review committee will meet again this week to finalise all of the nasty spending cuts for the May 10 budget.

Maybe they’ll just scrap the NBN ?

What do you think ? Any chance of that ?

As far as this fall in revenue, most of it is a fall in business tax….to the tune of $3 billion. What happened there. Did business get worse, or did the accountants get better ?

Income tax collections were down a billion dollars as well.

Old mobiles

2011-04-11T05:08:00.001+10:00

Hey, tell me….in the time since we’ve had mobile phones, how many handsets do you think you would have had.

I’m trying to think for me.

I guess I would have had about 10…maybe a dozen.

Dunno where they are all now.

What do you do with your old mobile phone when you upgrade ?

Seriously….what do you do with your old mobile ?

Do you just chuck it out ? Do you hang on to it just in case ? Do you pass it on to someone you know ?

How many old mobiles do you think you would have ?

I think I’ve only got two of my old ones. And the girls have sort’ve claimed one of them.

Australians have around 19 million old mobile phones stashed away ‘just in case’ according to the recycling iniative Mobile Muster.

So we have 19 million mobile phones just sitting in drawers doing nothing. I think you do need some security there, in terms of “what will I do if I break the other one”, but now that I’ve got an iphone it ain’t going to help me anyway cos it’s a completely different sim.

How many phones do you have ?

What do you do with the old ones ?

Coffee

2011-04-08T09:32:00.001+10:00

My alarm goes off before 3am every day. It’s a test of my stamina every week and I don’t think I could do it without coffee. I don’t drink bucketloads of the stuff, but without coffee, I may have no personality at all. Some would argue that perhaps I should step to a stronger stimulant.

We were musing in at work the other day about how much coffee has changed in the last quarter of a century in Australia. If you sat down at a café or restaurant in the mid eighties and ordered a coffee, there’s every chance you’d get an instant cup of joe. Coffee came from a jar back then. Can you imagine if it happened now ? In 1985 if someone said they were a Barista, you would have assumed they were working in the courts.

Everything has changed since then. Thanks to an abundance of European migrants, coffee is now a culture in Australia. A quick stroll through any of the town centres in Canberra will reveal an endless collection of cafes churning out premium coffee to sit down or take away. How many deals have been finalised in front of a flat white at Crème ? How many relationships have started sitting outside at Tosolini’s while sipping a latte ? For some people coffee is life.

And it’s big business too. According to Datamonitor and their ‘hot drinks in Australia to 2013’ report sales of hot drink products in this country will be worth just shy of $1.5 billion per year within 2 years. For every seven cups of coffee consumed by Australians, one of them will be drunk out of the home. I think instant coffee tastes like finely ground cardboard, but at this stage 80% of home sales are still of the instant variety.

Coffee is set to go up in price at the café with international price for beans buzzing at 13 year high. Some of the world’s top roasters have hiked the price by 20 percent in recent months. How much would you pay for a good coffee ?

Bill told me on Twitter that ‘Canberra revolves around coffee, but anything over $4 is highway robbery.’ Bill pays $2.90 for a skinny flat white. Tim conceded that ‘if I really needed a hit, I’d pay $6, but $3.50 seems fair these days’ Chris said that he can normally manage to get dressed and drive to work without coffee, but he can’t say much beyond that. And Graham said that coffee is so vitally essential to his life that on some mornings, no price would be too high.

Iphone

2011-04-07T04:46:00.000+10:00

I bumped into Jason from the ATO yesterday in at the Canberra Centre. He used to listen to me over at the other place, but he’s over here now…which is good. We were having a good ol’ yak about a lot of stuff. He’s one of the few West Coast Eagles fans in this town so we’ve got a bit of common ground on the footballing front.

Now, Jase was getting into me cos, while we were talking I took a phone call on my iphone. I was brief, but Jase says to me….’didn’t I hear you bagging the iphone 2 when it was released’

Yeah that was me.

I had some guy from Harvey Norman come in and show the thing to me and I told him straight up that I couldn’t imagine ever having one. I think I can remember back then saying to Sam….I’m sure it was Sam….I told him that as far as I was concerned phones are for making phone call, why would I want all of this extra stuff.

Mmmm.

I guess I’ve been sucked in big time now.

Could I live without my iphone……well, I’d struggle a bit.

Delaney's cat note

2011-04-05T08:03:00.000+10:00

Poetry in Action

2011-04-05T05:02:00.000+10:00

Hands up, who rides the bus here in Canberra.

As I thought….not many of you.

As a city we have a very low public transport take up rate. There’s just not a public transport mentality in this town. We tend to rely on personal motor vehicles. Now that’s due to a number of factors.

It’s partly because we’re a big area city for such a small population. As a consequence it’s very difficult for Action to service the people in the way that they liked to be served by a bus service. Not enough buses going to the places that you’d like to go when you’d like to go there.

Today the Chief Minister will reveal the latest secret weapon in the battle to get more people on the buses.

Poetry.

I’m serious.

Today the Chief Minister will launch a program called poetry in Action. Some of our award winning poets will have their work displayed on the inside of Action buses.

That’s it….I’m getting rid of the car now. This may lead some people to miss their stop as they become engrossed in the work of our creative minds while riding the bus.

What would inspire you to ride the bus ? Is it poetry ?

If money was no object, can you think of anything that would inspire you to leave the car behind ?

Big swish on demand TV screens ?

Topless drivers ?

What do you think about that Klaus Pinkas.

Klaus has already been described as a sex symbol on this program, why not take it one step further.

I don’t know if poetry is going to work, but I guess it’s a cool idea.

Westfield Belconnen

2011-04-05T04:39:00.001+10:00

Hey I was up at Westfield Belconnen for a while yesterday afternoon.

My word it’s rocking up there.

We’ve been waiting for a long time for the work to conclude at Belconnen. Never have the words ‘build it and they will come’ applied more to retail in Canberra than with Belconnen. I struggled to get a park there on the weekend and it wasn’t much quieter tomorrow.

People everywhere.

I was in at the new Target for a while yesterday.

I love the carpet on the top level. I think it’s all come together OK.

What do you reckon ?

2011-03-29T05:22:00.001+11:00

My alarm goes off at stupid o'clock every weekday morning. Do you get used to getting up at 3am ? No, you don't. You get used to being tired, but that's about where it ends.

There are some positives to it though, and one of them is that I always get to grab my girls from school in the afternoon. I'm blessed, cos we get to spend a lot of quality time together. It's not always quality cos they're sisters two yeras apart, so they fight like cat and dog...often, but it's good most of the time.

That quality time with your kids is a thing of the past for so many Australian parents in the 21st century. We're told this morning that Australian working mums spend just 15 hours looking after their children a week. 15 hours a week. That really doesn't sound like much. Bear in mind that that includes weekends and meal times. Life really is a balancing act for parents in 2011.

Working mothers are spending 137 minutes directly caring for their children on average per day, while fathers spend 69 minutes, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found.

Stay-at-home mums and dads manage 236 and 105 minutes respectively.

Aussie mums ranked second highest after Ireland of the 21 developed countries examined, while dads in the two countries tied.

There are childcare experts and psychologists quoted in various news agencies this morning suggesting that parents should try to not feel guilty about the amount of time, but to focus on it being quality time. I don't know that it's about guilt, I just think that time goes so quickly and your kids grow up so quickly. I think it's about missing out.

We had discussions on this issue recently with the former Chief Minister Kate Carnell and she know's all about it. She says that she still feels to ripped off because of the time that she missed out on with her kids.

NSW Labor, Federal Labor

2011-03-29T05:14:00.003+11:00

Picking through the results in the NSW election. They were absolutely astounding. The size of the swing against NSW Labor was unprecedented and the big question I guess is how much of this is about NSW Labor and how much of it is just about Labor.

Julia Gillard insists that this is all about state issues. I'm not so sure. Certainly some Federal Labor backbenchers are very very nervous.

The Prime Minister would not concede that her plan to impose a carbon tax had any impact whatsoever on the NSW election. She said that NSW voters had by and large made up their minds a long long time ago.

The word I'm getting from up on the hill is that privately, backbenchers have expressed concerns about the bigger picture and the messages being sent by Federal Labor.

One anonymous MP said reportedly..."Gillard had better start performing or we're all in trouble"

I would have thought the two MP's who deserve to be most concerned about the weekends results are Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor. What chance to you genuinely think there is of Oakeshott and Windsor being returned. I think they're as much chance of surviving as the Brumbies are of winning the Super Rugby title. None whatseover.

Brand Depot

2011-03-29T05:01:00.002+11:00

So Brand Depot....is it open or is it closed ?

What the hell is going on out there.

We were told in a report in the Canberra Times some weeks ago that Brand Depot was gone-skis, but they still battle along. It's probably more about the fact that the doctor said there's no hope, but their not entirely sure about the end date.

Is there a glimmer of hope though in the form of the Costco opening ?

Costco is opening in July out at the airport. Why would you open anything in July in Canberra....unless it was an ice skating rink.

When Costco does hit the ground, could it save Brand Depot.

Stephen Byron from the airport is quoted in the Canberra Times this morning. He says that another 23 tenants are leaving Brand Depot on top of 24 tenants who had departed recently. Surely that couldn't leave many.

Toys R Us is still out there and Lollipops Playland is still rocking along.

The biggest single reason that discount outlets are not working pretty much anywhere in the country is that everyone is sale mode all the time anyway these days. I'm not interested in paying full price for anything anymore and neither is anyone else.

Hey speaking of shopping centres...what do you think of the new look at Westfield Belconnen. I really like it. I was worried when they put the carpet in upstairs, it sort've looked like someone's loungeroom, but that's what they're trying to achieve. I think it looks good. I don't know that I want to wheel a really full trolley over the carpet in there, but it looks good.

What do you think.

What the pollies actually cost us.

2011-03-28T04:54:00.003+11:00

I spent some lazy mornings at home on the weekend reading all the papers. Lots of bacon and eggs and some morning television. I did read this amazing story from Frances Stewart in the Sunday Canberra Times. This is a piece about what it is that our Federal MP's actually cost us each year and this is not just about salary.

There are various support systems in place for Federal Politicians to help them spend all of their allowances in an above board fashion. In total 257 bureacrats are employed full time in the Department of Finance and Deregulation to make sure the payments are correct. That's a lot of man-hours making sure that money is spent correctly...translating to even more money.

As far as the polly's themselves go...well the base rate of pay is $136,000. The average annual entitlements are worth over $720,000. So we're talking airfares, chauffeur driven vehicles, travel allowances, ministerial top up salaries and all of those extras.

Add it all up and tack on the salary and you come up with a figure of $1.76 million each year per politician. Now, that's a lot of money.

As an overall figure, the entitlements clocked up by Federal Parliamentarians in 2008-09 totalled $331 million.

Now the bad news is that staff numbers are set to rise. Government ministerial staff is set to rise from 368 to 420.

The money tree is seemingly endless.

A room at the Inn

2011-03-28T04:46:00.002+11:00

Have you ever noticed how bloody expensive it is to spend a night in Canberra, as in accomodation.

Hotels.com do a global survey every year. They've been doing it for seven years. In 2010, the discovered that the average price for a hotel room in Canberra is $189. That seems a bit steep to me !! It's up 18% on the previous year and it makes us the most expensive city in Australia for hotel rooms.

The 5 star global average is substantially less than Canberra at $155 per night.

And if you're prepared to stoop to four star level you could easily find cheaper accommodation in Dubai, Vienna, Las Vegas, Madrid, Istanbul, Barcelona and Amsterdam.

Now, I love this city as much as you do, but I'm sorry, as a tourist destination, I'm thinking that Las Vegas, Dubai and Barcelona might have a bit more going for it, public art notwithstanding.

This survey also showed that Sydney was the most popular destination for both domestic and international tourists. Little old Canberra sneaked in at number 10 for domestic tourists and failed to make the top 20 popular Australian destinations for foreign tourists. It seems most of them have never heard of us.

Foreign Aid

2011-03-24T05:18:00.000+11:00

So does it surprise you that most of that money that we spend on foreign aid isn’t actually helping anyone who needs it ? Is this a great shock to you ?

Who’d a thought that all of this foreign aid was actually going towards the purchase of Rolls Royces, Casino high roller accounts and cases of French champagne.

We spend four and half billion dollars on foreign aid. As was stated on this radio station earlier in the day….this is the practice whereby we take a lot of money from poor Australians and give it to rich people in other countries.

We’re told this morning that our $4.5 billion foreign aid program is plagued by record levels of fraud, with millions of dollars being stolen by corrupt officials and overseas agencies.
No ?

AusAID has 175 cases of fraud under investigation - stretching across 27 countries and totalling millions of dollars,

These people in their palaces and their bodgy houses of parliament really do see us coming.

Documents released under Freedom of Information expose a criminal trail in some of the world's poorest countries, with widespread theft of money and forging of receipts. This is no surprise to most Australians

They also show how food and other supplies are being diverted from dirt-poor communities and sold on the black market at inflated prices.

While AusAID insists it is improving fraud control, the documents also reveal police are often reluctant to intervene and charge local criminals - frustrating the agency's attempts to recover missing aid money.

In one extraordinary case, the Eritrean Government in 2006 seized food and other supplies from the UN's World Food Program, saddling Australian taxpayers with a probable loss of $1.25 million.

We have to ask some serious questions about foreign aid. Why are we doing it ? What is it achieving ? It may well be keeping some people onside with us, but it’s not feeding poor people.

I’ll tell you what was the worst country by far. Papua Guineau emerged as corruption central with 71 cases of identified fraud - 40 per cent of the AusAID total - involving millions in missing funds.

Coffee rising

2011-03-22T06:18:00.002+11:00

Do you drink coffee ?

I'm a coffee man. I don't have heaps of it. Everybody tends to think that if you work in breakfast radio that you have a caffeine drip connected to your arm. I do know some people who do that, but I don't.

I usually only have one a day....sometimes two. I can't drink the instant stuff. I think it tastes like ground up cardboard. I actually grind my own beans in here at work for my one cup of the day.

Now occasionally I have a second. I did go for a bike ride in the rain into Civic late yesterday morning and I bought a flat white at one of those cafes on Garema Place. I can't even remember what I paid for it. $4 maybe. What do you pay for a cup of coffee these days.

If you're a coffee fan, I can tell you that you may be taking more than a caffeine hit with your daily fix. Coffee beans are going up in price rapidly and it's going to mean around 50 cents extra in cost to the average cup.

Wholesale bean prices are buzzing at 13-year highs after consecutive poor seasons across the globe, a spike in demand for coffee in Asian countries like China and a weaker US dollar.

Agricultural markets research last week showed that Arabica coffee - a bean used in most espresso coffee outlets in Australia - had reached prices not seen since the 1970s, while some of the world's top roasters have hiked prices by more than 20 per cent this month.

The cost jolt will be felt by caffeine fans, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne where a takeaway coffee is priced below the national "best dine-in price" of $3.30 a cup.

How many cups of coffee would you have in a day ? And what do you pay for takeaway or cafe coffee ?

What would be too much ? If it cost you $8 for a cup, would you still go with it ?

Moroccan meatballs

2011-03-22T05:33:00.002+11:00

Hey, I did Moroccan at my place last night. I got one of those ceramic tagine's for Christmas in 09 and I think I've only used it once. I did a kefta tagine last night. So we're talking meatballs in a spicy harissa sauce done on the stove top in the tagine. The kitchen smelt like somewhere in North Africa....just not Libya.

Whenever I do meatballs, I always worry about the meatballs falling apart....and there was a bit of that, but by and large they stayed intact. I served it all with some tortillas and it was absolutely divine. Well, I thought it was anyway.

My 8 year old is one of those munchkins who only likes 3 foods on the planet. She's happy if you serve her Kingsley's chips, a peanut butter sandwich or ice cream. And that's it. Everything else is yuk.

When Delaney sat down to my Moroccan meatballs last night she told me that it looked like compressed vomit in a vomit sauce.

She did eventually try some, about an hour and a half later. And although she wouldn't say it, I think she quite liked it.

Majura Primary

2011-03-18T05:02:00.003+11:00

It's a big day at Majura Primary School at Watson today. I know that there's been a lot of bad press about the BER program, but the reality is that stacks of schools around the country have ended up with a much need upgrade. Questions can always be asked about whether the money could have been spent in other areas, about what effect it had on the GFC in Australia and whether it should have been spent at all, but for the students at Majura Primary that's the last thing on their minds today.

Senator Kate Lundy will be there today for the big smiling photo op. "Look what my Government did for you ?" with a big smile !!

The official opening is on today at 10:30. We're talking $2.65 million in capital works. What does one get for $2.65 million at a school site these days. I don't even know what they got at Majura Primary. Let me know if you're in the school community, cos I'd love to know.

And I have to mention that the students at my girls school, Kaleen Primary are counting down to their first school fete for like a hundred years. For one reason or another, we just haven't had a fete at Kaleen Primary for a number of years. It's back on on Aprils Fools day, which is a Friday...and it's a twilight fete, I think it's 4pm to 8pm.

Bring that on.

Canberra Festival

2011-03-15T06:31:00.002+11:00

How was Barnesy last night ? I know the rain fell during the performance which must have been annoying, but how was the show generally ? If you were there, let me know.

The balloons are up this morning which is a good thing. There's nothing like driving into work with the hot air balloons floating above our town. It's a beautiful thing.

If you're looking for something different this morning, the National Sheep Dog Trials are on at Hall, that all unfolds at the Hall Showground from 8am till 6pm and it's free to go along and have a squiz. I think I'm going to take my girls along after I pick them up from school today.

There's also a Canberra Day morning tea on today at the Canberra Museum and Gallery from 11am

Gungahlin Pool

2011-03-14T05:09:00.002+11:00

You know that winter is close when the curtain closes on the season at Dickson Pool. This coming weekend is the last one for having a swim at Dickson.

We spent 5 hours at Dickson Pool on Saturday and then buttered up for another 3 hours yesterday.

Dead set, if I hear the word Marco one more time. Me and the two girls when we turned up on Saturday there would have only been a dozen people in the entire aquatic centre. I spent so much time in the water and even more time just laying on the grass under a big tree. It's a good spot is Dickson Pool.

Will Gungahlin get their own Dickson Pool. Well we know they're going to get something, but exactly what is still up for conjecture. Andy Barr and the ACT Government were all positive and gung ho about a 50 metre pool during the election campaign. That enthusiasm waned somewhat once we got past the polling date in 2008.

There's been a bit of pressure on the ever smiling Mr Barr in recent month regarding the 50 metre pool. Jeremy Hanson from the Opposition is convinced that without that pressure, Gungahlin would have scored a blow up Dora the Explorer wading pool.

“Gungahlin residents have been waiting a long time for Labor to follow through with a promise that goes back many years,” Mr Hanson said. “While this initial back down from Mr Barr is encouraging, now we need to see the delivery,” Mr Hanson said.

Late last year the Canberra Liberals applied the pressure on the Government to deliver on their 50 metre pool election promise with a motion in the Assembly calling on them to back their election commitment.

The Canberra Liberals took to the last election the promise to deliver a 50m pool for Gungahlin and remain committed to this.

“Without the pressure from the Opposition and the Gungahlin community, Andrew Barr would have tried to push through an option that didn't deliver a 50m pool, after years of delay,” Mr Hanson said.

Will we see more twists and turns in this story this week ? Who knows, I just know that Gungahlin needs a 50 metre pool.

Smoking in cars

2011-03-14T05:07:00.000+11:00

Dunno if there’s going to be outrage over this one, but I’d love to find out what you think about it. This story has been lost somewhat in the blanket Japanese earthquake coverage.

Smokers in the ACT beware, you could soon face fines for daring to light up in your own car.

I’m serious.

You may well be pulled over and fined by the smoking police.

This is the plan of the ACT Government. They’re introducing a bill into the Legislative Assembly soon…..are they sitting this week or not ? I’m not sure. I lose track of time sometimes.

At some stage soon though, the Stanhope Government plans on tabling a bill in the 3 ring circus on London Circuit which would officially ban smoking in cars when children are present….and so they bloody should.

I know there’ll be cries of a nanny state. I know that some smokers will stamp their feet and bleat about their personal rights….but guys and girls…..your rights as a smoker pale into insignificance when compared to the rights of the children in your care.

Anyone who is so self centred…..so oblivious of the dangers of passive smoking…..so bloody selfish as to puff away in the car with kids in the car, then you should be fined.

I don’t know how much the fine will be. I can tell you that it won’t be like seatbelts…..you won’t be in the position of losing demerits for smoking in the car. It’ll be an on the spot fine and the definition of a child will be 16 years and under.

I guess my question is this.

If a 17 year old is driving his beaten up Ford Laser around with his bogan 16 year old girlfriend and her 15 year old even more bogan friend, let’s call her Maddison. If Maddison is smoking in the car, will she and the driver be fined for imposing passive smoking on a child, even though that child may be older than the perpetrator. An interesting quandary for the legislators here.

What do you make of all this ?

Gibraltar Falls

2011-03-11T05:22:00.002+11:00

There was high drama in the foothills of the Brindabella's overnight. Not sure exactly how this happened, but some young guy fell of the obervation platform at Gibraltar Falls. Now I've never been there, but I can tell you it's off Corin Road, so it's South West of Tuggeranong.

He was 30 years of age. I don't have a name, but I can tell you he fell 12 metres....which is quite a way. The ambulance and the fire brigade were there to get him out.

Now, I know that the rescue all unfolded after 8 last night...in the dark. I'm buggered if I know why you would be on the observation platform on a rainy night, and whover it was, I bet he wishes now that he wasn't there.

I'll see if we can find out more across the morning.

Make A Wish

2011-03-11T05:17:00.001+11:00

I am proud to be the patron on Make A Wish in the ACT. I am, even after being involved for year, absolutely blown away by the effect that they have on individual lives. Make-A-Wish Australia needs the support of the Canberra community more than ever, to continue granting an increasing number of Wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions.

They've been bringing hope, strength and joy to children with life-threatening medical conditions since 1985 and is the only children’s charity in Australia that focuses solely on Wish granting.

The Canberra Branch will be holding a Trivia Night.

Details are below:

What: Canberra Branch Trivia Night
Date: Friday 8 April 2011
Time: Doors open 6:30 pm for 7 pm start
Where: Italo Australian Club, Forrest
How: To book please call Dusanka on 0410 685 793

Now, understand that Make-A-Wish receives no ongoing government support and wouldn’t have been possible without the support and generosity of our donors and the dedication of our wonderful Volunteers.

Help Make-A-Wish Australia continue to make these dreams a reality by donating today at www.makeawish.org.au

See you at the trivia night.

The psychology of shopping

2011-03-06T15:25:00.003+11:00

Hey we were chatting last week about the closure of some of the Angus and Robertson and Borders stores. I for one am most pleased that Borders in the Canberra Centre has remained because I think it's one of the coolest book stores in this town.

Now, Tiny the Cabbie responded by suggesting to me that he would never buy anyting at Borders because Big W and K-mart would always sell books much cheaper. I suggested that sometimes it's not just about price.....that Borders and the other specialty book stores have a much bigger selection, so if everyone always bought the big selling items at the 'majors' then eventually we'd see the specialty book shop dissapear. (As evidenced by this month's events)

Steve from Kambah suggested to me that if I was prepared to purchase a book at Borders for $39.99 when the very same book was available for $24.99 just down corridor at Big W, that I'm obviously being paid way too much. I don't know that that's the case Steve.

Another Steve, one of my Facebook friends chimed into the discussion. He said that Most shoppers do not think of the long term effects, by not supporting the independent retailers, do you think you wil still be buying items at the majors for a much ess price when the independents are no longer, and where is the variety in comparison. I had a retail fabric business for 20 years, fighting to stay in business against the so called cheeper retailers. I had the years of knowledge and only sold a quality product, and in a lot of cases if they happened to have an item I had I was usually a lot less.

I was speaking to a sales guru about this on the weekend. Michael explained to me that there are two types of purchases that consumers make. You either choose to purchase on a transactional basis, or a relational basis. So transactional is pretty much based on price.....relational is based on your connection to the seller.

I buy all of my bike related stuff from Simon at the Florey bikeshop. Now, I find Simon's pretty good on price, but the price has got very little do with it. For me it's about the fact that he's helped me get set up with my bike and that I trust his advice. Even if I came across something bike related that I needed at a really cheap price somewhere else, I wouldn't buy it because I have a consumer relationship with Simon which determines that I buy all my bike stuff from him.

To some extent I make relational purchases from Woolworths above Coles. It's a different sort of relationship though. The Woolies/Coles thing is about the fact that at Woolies, I know where everything else. It's so easy for me to shop in at Woolies, whereas when I go into Coles, I'm lost.

Think about your purchases. Which ones are relational, which ones are transactional ?

Bridge over the Barton Highway

2011-03-03T05:18:00.002+11:00

I drive into work each morning at around 3:30. The world is a little surreal at 3:30 in the morning. It's a sort've twilight zone. There are days that I drive into work and don't pass a single car. I passed a pedestrian this morning on Coulter Drive....just strolling along....IN A SUIT. What the hell is going on there ? He was just strolling along like it was the middle of the afternoon.

I've gotta tell you, I drove into Mitchell on the Gungahlin Drive Extension....over the infamous bridge on the Barton Highway and I couldn't help but think that the bridge building project there will never end, that for the next century they'll be building that bridge. To some extent, it just wouldn't seem quite right if they ever finished it. I see the GDE bridge roadworks in the same way as the roadside art at the same location because let's face it, it pretty much still looks like an unfinished, work in progress doesn't it. The bridge building project on the Barton Highway could just be an ongoing monument to all road workers. I don't think they'll ever finish it.

Oz Harvest 3 years old in Canberra

2011-03-01T06:44:00.002+11:00

Can't believe that it's 3 years since Oz Harvest started their operation in Canberra.

Oz Harvest is that wonderfully practical charity...the one that grabs the food from restaurants and supermarkets that was going to be thrown out and passes it on to the people who really need it. It makes so much sense. You would have seen the bright yellow Oz Harvest vans on the run all over Canberra.

It's been three years of hard work in the capital and later on this year, it will translate to the delivery of their one millionth meal. Amazing !

Now, I can tell you that as OzHarvest celebrate their third birthday, they have another reason to celebrate because their getting a $10,000 cheque handover from Anthony Watkins, Group Marketing and Business Development Manager of The Tradies Group and their friends at the Mental Health Foundation’s ‘Rainbow’ Centre in Watson .

Oz Harvest started in Canberra with one refrigerated van in early 2008. There are now two vans picking up an average of 1000 meals day. You think about the positive impact of a thousand meals a day. Those meals are delivered free of charge to 55 charities in Canberra and Queanbeyan.

Every day is different on the OzHarvest Canberra run. One day can see 230 dozen eggs donated, another can see 300 kilograms of potatoes picked up. For a service which relies on local business and caterers to source its product, it’s amazing how it just seems to happen!

To Dave and Jill and the whole crew from Oz Harvest Canberra, well done ! Keep up the fine work.

KFC

2011-03-01T05:49:00.002+11:00

I'm really annoyed with KFC and their most recent advertising campaign. I know that fast food companies cop a lot of flak and a lot of the blame for our rising rate of obesity, but I think their latest ad campaign is irresponsible. Have you see the latest ads ? I don't mean the ones with Kevin Rudd playing Colonel Sanders. Do you reckon that's KRudd ? I think it might be.

No, I mean the ads where people are being convinced that they're letting people down if they choose to serve food that was prepared in their kitchen, particularly left overs. Now, we all enjoyed left over nachos at our place last night. I reckon nachos is better on the second night, but not according to the new KFC campaign. The suggestion on the ad is that eating last night's meatloaf is like some sort of medieval torture. The people at KFC want you to throw that good food in the bin and come and get fatty chicken and chips....if you really want to impress the one you love.

What rot.

Give KFC a miss tonight and whip something together in your kitchen, cos it'll be a helluva lot better than whatever you might get in a red and white box.

Laundry boxes

2011-03-01T05:06:00.003+11:00

I get a bit intimidated when it comes to buying laundry powder these days. There is just so much choice. It's like you get into the laundry aisle and the little boxes surround you. They're all different colours. There's top loader and front loader and I'm sure there's even bottom loader. The boxes begin to close in on you after a while and they threaten to smother you.

I'm one of those special shoppers. I don't want to buy anything anywhere that's full price, so I'm looking for those loud and bright special tickets. Don't you hate it when your eyes are drawn to a particular product on the shelf because of a bright yellow special ticket and it turns out it's 8 cents off......or 13 cents off. If I ever become Prime Minister one of the things that I will legislate is that it becomes a prison offence to put a special ticket on something that is reduced by less than 20 cents. 13 cents off isn't a special....it's a pricing error.

So anyway...the laundry powder.....I tend to walk away with one of those little mini boxes of laundry powder. Why is it that the laundry powder boxes are so much smaller than they were 20 years ago ?

And why are they so hard to open. So I'm talking about the boxes that have a tab right around the top section of the box. The suggestion on the packaging is that if you begin tearing here at point A., you can just tear the whole thing easily all the way around.

I want to know if there is anyone listening....or indeed anyone in Australia who has ever managed to tear the laundry box open in the one hit. I have never ever nailed it. I end up going back and having second, third and fourth bites at it. I've never opened one of those little laundry boxes cleanly. Have you ever done it. ?

Carney in strife again.

2011-02-28T05:14:00.003+11:00

I found myself supporting Todd Carney on the weekend, which felt a little odd because I've bagged the hell out of him in the past.

Todd is back in the news after blowing over the limit and going DUI on Saturday morning. Is this the Todd Carney of old ? I don't think so. I think a leopard can change it's spots and that this troubled young man has gone through a positive transition in last couple of years.

I know that the Roosters are worried that that's not the case. It's my understanding that they've organised counselling for Todd to determine whether this drink driving charge is a part of a bigger problem.

You need to understand that this was very much a low range offence. He blew .052. Now as a P Plater, he has erred dramatically because he's not supposed to have any alcohol in his system. Hopefully this is the wake up call that was needed to keep him on the path that has seen him become one of the games most exciting players at his new club.

I understand that Todd has now imposed an indefinate drinking ban on himself. I think it's safe to say that he will always have a problem with alcohol, but I remain confident that he can keep it in check. I certainly hope so. What do you think ?

I think it's important that when you consider the boys history that he is penalised by the club for this indiscretion, but I live in hope that it's a different Todd Carney than the one who self destructed here in Canberra.

Meanwhile in the AFL, we're set to hear more about some very serious AFL rumours this week. Social media is abuzz with speculation regarding a particularly sordid story which is apparently going to burst onto the front pages of the papers in coming days. I don't know much about it, but some well respected AFL commentators have made mention of this supposed rumour including Caroline Wilson. We'll see if we can find out more about it this morning.

Fat soldiers

2011-02-22T05:07:00.003+11:00

What the hell is going on in Defence. According to these reports out this morning, more than 5600 Australian military personnel are unfit for active duty with obesity and weight-related illnesses the main culprits. Really ?

I see a lot of people strolling around this town in uniform and most of them look pretty fit to me. According to this report almost 10 per cent of the 57,800 full-time staff who wear the uniform of the navy, army or air force are fatties.

We're told also that more than 12,200 reservists are rated as overweight and more than 4000 are classified as obese. Now, I don't worry so much about the reservists. This may be one of the reasons that they joined....this could be like one big long boot camp for them

Figures for January this year, released by Defence in answer to questions on notice from Opposition spokesman Senator David Johnston, show that just 35 to 38 per cent of military reservists have a body mass index (BMI) in the healthy range of 18.5 to 25.

Some 48 per cent have BMIs of between 25 and 29.9 and the obese 4000 score 30 or above on the body mass scale.

That means many would be unable to fight on the frontline in the event of a war.

Where are these soldiers ? I think the army need to re enlist that Commando dude from the Biggest Loser.

I know we'll have a stack of military people listening in this morning. Dish the dirt on your colleagues....as un Australian as that may sound. Is this really a serious problem ? Let me know.