One reason why I love living in this town

I spent the morning on a job at the top of the hill. Lovely couple in a lovely place with a beautiful view over our valley. We spoke about how nice it is to live up here. We had similar experiences of just being able to afford run-down old places here around the same time (some 16 years ago). But, being able to see the potential, we both have comfortable places to live nearby such a lovely town.

Now, to the story of why I love living in this town.

In the afternoon I had a job on Main Road. I had to park on Main Road and as I was getting out of the truck (with our town name emblazoned on the side of the truck) a fella came up to talk to me. He explained that he was also an electrician but not from our town. He came from the city and worked mainly north of the city. His daugter (or niece - I'm not sure which) ran the hairdresser's salon just down the road. Apparently the new supermarket development in town had bought her building and was due to demolish it to make way for a new driveway for the new supermarket. This had left her in a spot of bother. Her business had been operating from that building for some years. As chance would have it, there was another building that had just become available only a couple of hundred metres up the road. She wanted to move in to the new building but she needed some electrical work on the building to make it work for her.

This brings me back to the fella who stopped me on the side of the road. He had looked at the truck and had assumed (quite correctly) that I was "the local fella". Just to proove this point, as we were speaking, a customer drove by from one direction, tooted his horn and waved 'hello'. I returned the wave. Almost immediately following the local builder saw me as he drove past and similarly tooted and waved 'hello'. Having suitably impresed this visitor from out of town with my obvious localness and recognisability in the town he asked me for my card and commented that he would be recommending me to his female relative as 'the local guy' - the one that is known in the district.

I could have been doing the same job down in the city and could possibly be making the same money but would I be having as much fun? I don't think so!

Great reformist parties sometimes need great reform

In the lead-up to the 1968 US Presidential election the announcement by Robert F. Kennedy of his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination was seen by some in the Party and by many in the wider public as a chance to reform a Party that had become stale and tainted. The Democratic Party in the US had been a great reformist Party during the twentieth century. In the tradition of Labour Parties around the world it had stood up for working men and women against the excesses of capitalist and entrenched ruling classes whilst still acknowledging the fundamental need for economic growth and opportunity for the individual. That Party had lost it's way by 1968. It needed a breath of fresh air. It needed a great reformer. Robert Kennedy could have been that man but his soul was taken from the world too soon. The Party and the US has not ever really recovered.

Australia's Labour Party is the oldest labour party in the world. It has a proud history of reform and support for the working men and women of Australia. The 40 hour week, the 38 hour week, universal health care, near universal superannuation. These are just some of the things that Australians have come to expect in a modern society. They are all thanks to Labor governments and Labor Party policies.

We may, however, be coming to a point in our history where these things are so expected and so embedded in our culture that even the Conservatives cannot reverse them. This may mean that the public could instill another Conservative government and still expect that those aspects of our society are safe. This is dangerous.

Let there be no doubt that the Conservatives have every intention of reversing many of the great reforms of our times.

This is where we come to our problem. Our Australian Labor Party is on the brink of tearing itself apart over matters of personalities and not policies. The NSW Right wants power at all cost. The VIC Left has lost it's ability to connect with the public. The QLD party is as insular and anti-Canberra as it has always been and he rest of the State organisations are so caught up in their own petty State issues that they fail to see the importance of a strong Federal system and, more importantly, a Federal Labor Government.

All members and supporters of the Labor movement must suspend their differences and personal power plays and concentrate now on maintaining the current Labor Government and ensuring it's re-election in 2013.

A note to Channel 9

Been watching SBS's coverage of the Tour de France. Live from 2130 every night, highlights for breakfast at 0700, catch-up highlights before tea at 1800 and a back-up, if I miss all that, at 2030.
Compare this with 9's woefull broadcast of the Tour Down Under this year - and they have it for 3 years!
It takes a few viewings to understand all of the nuances of the Tour. I think I'm starting to get there. Good to see an Australian team competing even though they are in 21st position. Watching the race now. They've just collected their food and drinks. Saw one rider with a can of Coke - having trouble with the opening tab while riding.
I'd love to get out for a ride in the morning, might even have a Coke.

Too many people want a piece of me

I'll get the hang of this eventually but here goes for now.

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Too many people seem to want a piece of me.
I'm saying that in a bad way. All of my customers are being quite pleasant but I really don't seem to have enough hours in a day or days in the week to fit everyone in. Some things must be done before the end of the school holidays. Some things must be done this week because "I need my kitchen back in working order" even though you pulled it apart and expected everyone to fit in with you to put it back together. Other things must be done today because production is waiting and it's costing us every minute it is down. In the meantime I'm waking at 4 in the morning because I'm thinking about all these things.

I just thought out loud, though, that it would be worse, I suppose, if nobody wanted me.