A lot can happen in a few weeks......

Sorry 'bout that...I didn't mean to be offline for so long, but life kind of got in the way of my plans, as it has a habit of doing. Fearing my dear-old-Dad was starting to lose his marbles, I thought I'd better spend some 'Quality Time' with him (and mum) to assess.....so after a week in Adelaide setting mum up on the internet and introducing her to the joys of email and instant messanging via Lambrusco (?) laced incentives, I embarked on a road-trip with dad from Adelaide to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road.

In summary: 1 unnaturally-organised grey nomad father + 1 [seemingly from a different gene pool] daughter + 1 winnebago + 7 days + 800-or-so kms = a whooooollllle lotta compramising! (i.e. I'd spent my whole life under the ridiculous assumption that it was a pretty straightforward thing to put up a motorhome annex ....)

I'm sure there are times when all of us wonder if we were found under a cabbage leaf in the bottom of the garden ...... My moment came as I chatted to Dad from my end of Winnie (table-bed-thingie) on our first night "on the road".

Dad: Ahhh bugger. I forgot to soak the muesli.

Me: Doesn't matter. I eat whatever I feel like when I wake up. I don't eat the same thing two days running usually.

Dad: Doesn't matter what I feel like when I wake up...I know I'm having muesli.

..... and so it came to pass, meusli for seven days.


But you know, despite the frustration of recycled jokes, (which I really should be a fan of, given my occupation), nature-sound/instrumental cd's, spending 15 minutes finding the 'perfect parking angle' and having the climatic moment of my Dean Koontz holiday-novel interrupted with a rendition of a classic from "The Great Aussie Joke Almanac", I absolutely loved those seven days. I got to chat to dad while we were driving, talk about things from his childhood, his life, his happy moments - his regrets....and who this person really is that formed half of me. I don't think we get to spend enough time with our parents as adults (one-on-one I mean), and hear their stories, and just 'sit' with our history-good, bad or indifferent - it's what made us who we are.















Then I arrive home ... (and I never watch the news, normally) but I'm confronted with several omni-present social issues that seem to be forefront in everyone's minds.....

Kevin has said sorry. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. For a man, a leader, to show the backbone to be humble (and human), to show real emotion and say "hey, we stuffed up as a nation along the way..... please forgive us and lets move forward" knowing its the decent thing to do without pandering to the implied "threat" of what-ifs and legal implications.... uhhhh. I don't know anyone who saw that speech with dry eyes or without goosebumps. This is big. It drew a line in the sand and now we can move forward. Go Kev! (And hey, if you do manage to get parliament to conduct itself more respectfully, you bump up another notch or two in my estimation...)

Bob v's Joe. Hmmmm....haven't read too much of the rhetoric but I just have to say one thing...if anyone is thinking that Bob would only be looking out for Noosa's interests if voted Mayor of the Super Council, they are seriously misguided. Bob is a humanitarian, hes's humble, he respects people and he values communities with heart. Inmy opinion, he gets what life is about and if anything, we should all be hoping he can bring even a fraction of the thinking and planning that Noosa's community has evolved, to the whole region. Wake up and smell the roses people! We are selling out to mediocrity via bland development and economic-driven 'progress'... we can either meet the future confidently and proactively or we can stay in our old mindset and go down kicking and screaming.....

.... and lastly, Bob's lack of girlfriend. No, not Mayor Bob - Bob the bush turkey, who decided to take up residence in my back yard while I was away the time before last, and as turkeys are want to do... he slaved over a huge nest (raking leaves from every corner of the garden) then set off to find himself "that special lady".

She must have been washing her hair or something.

The nest remains empty but I've left it there, despite my mother's protests that they will come and invade my living room and destroy the house (she watched an ABC show and is convinced they are the anti-christ). But I think, if some bloke goes to the trouble to make a great home out of nothing, on the promise of ...well nothing..... he deserves to find himself a lady-friend who will appreciate him. The nest stays (until I want my mulch back).

Oh, and one last thing..... on the subject of amalgamation and development. I read about the Qld Govt's spectacularly backward thinking on controlling Noosa's future development without any Noosa input... Despite this being a completely medievil way to do things, I have an issue with the idea that they've picked out areas of Queensland that are 'environmentally significant' or whatever they call it.

Wake up! Every area is!

It may not be now, but it once was, and can be again....every area makes its ajoining areas what they are. The mind-set that some areas are worthy of 'protecting' because they have nice rivers and forests really "gets up my goat" (mixed metaphor courtesy of my Italian ex) Yeah sure, protect and promote them as good examples, but roll it out to adjoining areas, don't hold up small chunks as masterpieces and surround them with crap.

.... It's about as annoying as building companies who purport to have 'x-number of-decades' in environmental building expertise and say its because they can build structures "when required" for environmentally sensitive areas.

Sorry guys; if it's not core business to build structures that are energy, water and waste efficient in every area I'm not going to take you seriously.

Ok, end of rave......
Next week, how to orientate your house for maximum energy efficiency...promise.