Bunnings is my favourite place to shop next to ebay. Bunnings offers so much in terms of repairs, upgrades, plants, landscaping. Everything to improve your home and hobbies . In a world where we should be sustainable it offers a lot so that you can maintain and repair things. It offers practical help and such a huge range of goods. When trouble shooting a lot of issues at home or for my hobbies, I have always found what I have needed at Bunnings and it has made such a difference. They offer helpful videos online to help solve many house maintenance issues. They have helped me stay creative when it comes to repairing hobby equipment, toys and my home. They welcome children and offer little trolleys but they talk to them too and make them enthusiastic about all these things they can see. Last time I had my three year old grand daughter with me when I was buying paint. She was desperate to see over the counter to see all the things to do with paint an the mixing machine. The man was talking to her and she was asking things. She was given a colouring book and pencils by him. That made her day. She had socialised , learned a lot , been fascinated and then had some colouring to do of her own.
So it is with a positive attitude to Bunnings that I approach this article about the good people of Brunswick, in Victoria, fighting having a Bunnings in their area. It is a massive building which commands the landscape. In my area it is a good landmark to help orientate others in the area. They cannot miss Bunnings and so if they are looking for the beach or the train station you can direct them easily. I understand some areas need to keep the integrity of their landscape and lifestyle and not have massive eyesore buildings destroying land, habitat and horizons.
I feel this is a missed opportunity, though. Most people benefit from Bunnings , judging how any Bunnings here is always so busy. It supplies a lot and encourages people to get active and make good changes. The Brunswick people have every right to block a building which would disrupt the look and feel of their area. Bunnings has tried to negotiate and has tried to adapt to the surroundings. This is a great chance for an area to really negotiate with a big, successful company and find a way, both architectually and functionally, of adapting a building to its new surroundings. Is it possible? Do we have architects and planners who can think outside the big box in a very real sense?
A lot has changed since the pre covid world of 2016 in Adelaide and a lot hasn't. I reread these posts I had put on this blog when it was on WordPress. Lismore. Does Lismore come to mind? They are suffering so much more and they too are being pushed rather than pulled . We need to know those people are getting the help they need. We had Jay Weatherill as Premier at the time and he really got into it and did deals for batteries with Elon Musk and we got our state cleaned up and fixed. The fact people blamed renewables was so upsetting and offensive . It was also ill informed and ignorant. Adding damage to an already difficult and damaging situation is not how you help others. Help. Just help. Anything, even if it is a little bit. Like when John Travolta, Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan helped with the situation in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina. You don't hit people when they are down. You help in any way you can. Jay Weatherill helped us. His leadership strength got us quickly back on our feet and now we can produce 60% energy needs for our state from renewables. Mr. Malinauskas has been talking about getting hydrogen production going in Whyalla. I don't know if that is good or bad. I don't know much about it and just think of the pictures of the Zeppelin burning. We really need educating about modern uses of hydrogen. In the meantime people can learn a lot from our experiences in South Australia which brought us to being so good at renewable energy. The world economic forum has written about seven things you can learn from us.
Original post September 30th 2016
I am proud of South Australia and South Australians. We have, and still are, managing a very difficult situation for the state. The reaction from Canberra has been highly irregular under the circumstances. The lack of concern at a time, when we were in the thick of it not knowing really what we were dealing with, was uncalled for and remains inexplicable. The continued muddying of the waters is unnecessary. We are very grateful for interstate expertise and practical help which is assisting us rectify the situation. That's why I am proud. We have hauled ourselves through this and we have all been working hard and very positively. We have given each other practical help, ideas, reassurance, encouragement, information. SA Power networks, SAPOL, 891 and Jay Weatherill were giving clear, helpful directions. Even before the storm hit we were told what to do and what we needed to look out for. The SES got a very useful infographic out on social media and have been on the ground ever since. All sorts of organisations and individuals have put themselves out there so we could manage Wednesday night and now the upshot of all of that on Friday. Last time I was on an extended power outage I was on holidays on the south island of New Zealand. There was no power, no landlines just blackness , the thunder, lightning, rain and wind. Powerlines had broken and were waving around so the power had to go off. The same happened here. That was a massive storm. We don't have things that look like tornadoes forming off our coast. We can have devastating winds and we do have storms. I have lived in South Australia for 51 years. This year I have had more power outages than ever and Wednesday night I was without power for 11 hours. Some people are still without power. Others got their power back by about 7.30pm. Our supply comes from Victoria and the generators are like a Clipsal safety switch . They will shut down if they sense a fault. I'd rather have that than live wires or transmitter stations coming down in heavy winds , massive rain and significant lightning strikes. It has caused us to think about how we'll deal with this kind of situation again. I am hoping there is no deal whereby we will get charged for not using enough electricity because we couldn't because we were shut down. My new neighbours , who come from the country, appear to have been running a generator while we had the black out. We are thinking of ways now that we can create supply if the main supply has to go down for safety reasons. I had plenty of candles, my mobile devices were charged and I still had access to a landline and mobile network. Some of that meant I was relaying messages for those who found themselves without mobile or online access. I had battery powered LED lights and I'll be getting more of those. We were not as badly hit as other areas of the state and now some regions are dealing with roads which have fallen away or are blocked and flooding. The great thing about us was we were helping keep the mood positive. We were coming out with the laughs but we were supporting each other. The storm has caused widespread damage and disruption. It is a major event. 891, our Premier and our emergency services have taken this seriously, have kept their nerve and are genuinely working hard to help us. That means we can help ourselves. It is really hard for the people who still don't have power or proper phone access. That is not our fault. That is what has happened because we had a massive storm unlike any other. We do have thinking to do and we'll do it. People with expertise who can help us think this through would be great. Meanwhile we'll wait for the next lot of rain and carry on.
Original post 1st October 2016
The narrative continues. We have been from #stormmaggedon to #adelaidestorm to #SAStorms and now to #SAFloods. Meanwhile reality is starting to kick in and the the enormity of this is hitting us. We'll manage and we'll get through because we'll talk each other through it and we'll share information. The national reaction is baffling and inexplicably odd. Where's the empathy? The care? The consideration? Where's the acknowledgement that what has happened in South Australia is calamitous, catastrophic, disastrous? The discussions can by all means go on in the background but front and centre should be help. Concern. We are dealing with some real issues here which are extremely challenging and we need people onside. We are currently double battling reality and then the capricious nonsense which is diverting authentic care. We'll deal with it but it is pretty unsettling to know this is how we are being treated. There are people who have been frightened and destabilised by the thought of the storm and then the storm itself. Their levels of anxiety and depression have escalated. There are people who are appearing to be selfish because they cannot compute that food had to be wasted in huge quantities and it will take some time to get resupplied. Many of our roads are flooded, blocked, degraded, crumbled, broken or unsafe. Our food largely comes by truck. The emergency services, SAPOL, Jay Weatherill and other organisations are sending clear , strong messages to us and getting the information out to us. We don't need to be diverted from those messages. We are a big , sprawly state and some distances we need to travel to get food or help are long and now difficult or impossible. Some still don't have power or mobile and or phone connections. Many are concerned about relatives. People are traumatised. They might seem like they are coping but they have taken a body blow and so are not necessarily thinking straight so they do seemingly dumb things like drive through flood waters. That message that we mustn't just has to keep coming out. Likewise the messages about checking roads and transit corridors, not going into flood waters, how to get help. We need good, clear information and the state is supplying us with that. We also have had sightseers criticised for taking photos. No, they should not put themselves at risk or get in the way, but it is how we are coming to terms with the enormity of this. It is HUGE. Cosi was so sweet to make a live video of the flooded Brewery Lights. It has meant a lot to people because it is a childhood thing. Instinctively he knew it would help us process what we need to process. If you are looking for flood information Greg Barila at AdelaideNow has established a live feed site:
Christine Milne is the new Green's leader because the longstanding leader Bob Brown has retired. It was such a surprise to see her talking on Capital Hill tonight because I had no idea the Greens had changed leader. I started listening and then I started listening some more and then I started listening intently. I don't know her so this was our first meeting. If first impressions count then I was well pleased. She was well prepared. She was very clear and direct. She had an agenda which she could articulate so I knew what she was on about. She had done her homework and knew what she was talking about. Above all she was calm, confident and able to be clear about what the Greens stood for and that she would be discussing that more . It was time to change. Bob Brown has given a lot to our country and our political parties by way of some essential environmental awareness and reform in particular. He did stand for something. He lost his clarity around 2004 with the tsunami . He used to be a master of timing but he got that one wrong really. Not in essence but in timing. He then revamped himself but his message was no longer really clear. As a result the Greens' issues have slid into the background and that is something we cannot afford to happen. My impression tonight was that Christine Milne would get the party onto a good track and then give us back the strength of a party which really cares about our living conditions, sustainability, and environment. The quality of where we live is as important as how we live and what we do to live. I wish her well and look forward to hearing more of her.
Personally I wouldn't go past local potatoes. I even grow a few of my own because fresh potatoes have a taste and class of their own. So I feel for our potato growers. The article articulates the situation well and in a well thought out manner. People do look at price and convenience and tend to think a bag of frozen chips will be easier to manage than real potatoes. It's not true and it means we probably have to do a bit of customer awareness and education. If I use potatoes out of my garden people always notice. They taste really nice. I don't get many so they are usually put into a potato salad or cooked with other vegetables. I buy potaoes by the bag and make my own oven fries, oven wedges, roast potatoes and the French certainly have plenty of recipes for potatoes which are actually quick and easy. Layering potatoes with other things like onion and a bit of bacon makes for a quick, easy treat. I also make potato pancakes which are a huge hit and people always are asking me to make more. So it's a matter of getting the information out about how to easily prepare real potatoes. There is quite a variety in Adelaide and it is good to try them. My favourites at the moment are the white ones with the little purple spots. They have a name which I never remember. I also give my dog some cooked potato on a regualr basis. I chop and microwave them. They are for her potassium levels which she needs. She loves them mixed in with her dinner. Now we have the information, we need the action. The newspaper article did a good job of drawing attention to the situation and everyone was talking about it...so give us a plan. Let us help!
