A deadly serious spoof

Comedy or tragedy - methinks the lines are blurry

We need to get out more!

A salutary reminder from "The Poke"...although with our mining habits, there'll be no returning to woodland for the Hunter

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig in our mine the whole day through

"It ain't no trick to get rich quick
If you dig dig dig with a shovel or a pick
In a mine! In a mine! In a mine! In a mine!"

Heigh ho...maybe it's time to listen to what Greenpeace has to say and plan a spot of civil disobedience

Double lines = Double danger

The introduction of double lines to this part of my journey into town has caused me no end of problems.

Clearly Local Council and the Roads and Maritime Services were not thinking about cyclists when they donned their pinnies and opened up their cans of paints - probably more about hill crests, motorists, & wobble-free brushstrokes.

Anyhoo, now we have a situation comprising of a narrow road going up hill (or down depending on direction) and motorists strictly forbidden by highway code to cross the double lines...

...which translates into meaning that this 'council-sanctioned-paint-job' has made it virtually impossible for any motor vehicle except a motor bike to pass me legally.

So currently my road-sharing moments on this patch of road are either...

(a) comfortably 'illegal'

...or

(b) terrifyingly 'legal' 

(from Freedom Cyclist blog)

Beyond pollution - Murrurundi Food & Wine Day

 

Surrounded by art, wine, sun, friends in a pretty little gallery at the top of the Hunter Valley, I couldn't help thinking how incongruous it was to listen to 'foodies' discuss food so loftily in the Coal Bowl of New South Wales...

...yes, 'Coal Bowl'...

...because the entire Hunter Valley has become one!

Once upon a time we didn't have traffic lights

It was in the 'leaves' that we were going to get traffic lights and nothing any of us could do was ever going to stop them. 

Endless Traffic Light/Roundabout discussions hosted by Upper Hunter Council and the then Roads and Traffic Authority were just basically community flag waving exercises conducted to tick bureaucratic boxes for previously rubber-stamped decisions. 

We were getting them whether we liked it or not...and get them we did.

Despite spin at the time, the Traffic Light/Roundabout issue was never a ‘polarising’ one – in fact far from it. As a town we were singularly united in our “NOs”...but our "NOs" were overlooked as the relentless march of municipal madness dictated their installation by the end of 2010..

And today what can we say about them? ...have they provided the town of Scone with the elixir of ‘traffic-calming’ or have they only exacerbated problems the 'Cassandras' amongst us highlighted.

In my opinion, it's the latter and the sooner we rip them [traffic lights] out, the better!!!! This town is crying out for the return of its quirky roundabout, and if we go ahead with that piece of civic action, there's a nice little fountain, currently mothballed in a little park on Gundy Road, that would look absolutely perfect placed on top the roundabout and restored to its rightful place in the centre of town.

#Occupy Scone Roundabout, anyone?

Hmmm...to blog or not to blog...about Scone

The mines are coming so I'm not sure how long we've got to chat about this once pretty destination in the Upper Hunter. But maybe I'll give it a whirl anyway just like they did on the Titanic when they straightened up the deckchairs.

We held off for a long time with the mines here in Scone but eventually in the relentless way that politics work we became ground down, and now the mines are basically in our garden.

The local airline (Yanda) closed down years ago apparently due to pilot error, but you have to wonder whether that was all tied in to ensuring that those from our local population who travelled by plane didn't get to see the devastation of our valley from the air. It's bad enough from the train but I've been told that from the air it makes you weep.

So here we are, hardly in 'Sunset and Camden' but nevertheless...

"...let me take you by the hand"... as I lead you through the streets of Scone and environs and let's think about whether we can really trust our council and the obligatory unelected management that goes with it with the welfare of our town and district

Come blog with me as I show you around