From a train in motion is seen another diesel engine and the name is a bit surprising but the G & W company operate is in many countries after a string of mergers and takeovers. So it is just another coal mover....they are here from all over as there is little time to lose and a lot of carbon to burn.

 Home construction.  Mid May 2018 and house is occupied, eight months after building began. The last four months saw a succession of tradesmen disappear inside then finally the front yard finished in the last few weeks.
  How will we catch up and overcome the housing shortage if building is as slow as this example, however, some explaination probably exists in this instance.
 Builders have their ways and designing, council approval processes, fine tuning, guess work, all at snails pace and then construction in fits and starts is all perfectly normal and part of the mystery and confusion or so it seems to an outsider.

 Tearing down and building up. DJs car park was turned into a pile of rubble by this morning. Corner of King and Perkins. Apartments are planned for the DJs store and the facade, corner of Hunter and Perkins, will be kept standing. 
A workman and myself recalled dining on the top floor of David Jones, the departments, in the foyer,  recording your weight on the scales with an attendant who wrote out the weight. Looking back, my weight remained stable despite the delicious cashews - warm and salted - from Darrell Lea.

Building the cottage in January 2018 after four months.  The exterior ?plaster extends to the ground and the windows are done - work which was completed well before January leaving it at the lock-up stage, it seems   Many builders, if not all, close up shop for several weeks over Christmas.  

Building a cottage.  7 Nov 2017......the exterior walls and gutters are in place into the third month.

Mothers Day eve at supermarket, will it be mauve, pink or green and this was only half of the   displayed. 

 Building a home...16 Oct 2017...the exterior is 'wrapped' in green insulation material and the roof is tiled, Roof perimeter has a 'fence' to protect the roof tilers from falls. Black tiles would seem to absorb summer heat more than some.   A pile of scrap has grown.

 Homes are designed with various measures to reach a required score suitable to overcome hot or cold weather and to save energy using thick insulation in walls or ceiling or under floor, concrete areas as a heat sink, suitable building materials and reflective colours, window features and placement, solar, appropriate sized eaves, best use of aspect - and other measures.  

Building a house.  Three weeks later, 10 Oct 2017 and the frame is done.
The house is relatively high off the ground.  More recently, the whole city had the flood zones mapped which regulate how high the ground floor must be off the ground.
 The zones are estimates as flooding has not necessarily been recorded in some areas. Several years ago a number of suburbs were flooded in a major storm the likes of which cannot be recalled in our time. Regulations exist about coping with a flood even a large kitchen bench legally acting as a safety zone it has been said.

 Anatomy of construction.  A cottage is begun, photographed mid September 2017.  On or within the  foundations, large white polystyrene blocks are laid to support the concrete floor. The concrete floor is left for a while to 'cure'.
Regulations govern the size of the area between the fences and the house and the size of an open area and of parking space. This one probably has rear access from a laneway.
Finally, timber has arrived for the next step. 

Make a farmer happy.  Prevent pears from being lost from our food supplies.  Currently pears are for sale for very little cost. Grab a whole lot and cook them up or hold until they ripen soft and juicy.
The fruit is easy to cook, unripe, peeled or unpeeled, quartered or halved, cored or not, water, some sugar, cinnamon, cloves or whatever, maybe a splash of alcohol and heat all this up quietly bubbling along.     

A curious looking moth flew in well disguised on a portion of old brick.  Was this coloured brick purposely chosen? 
There is talk of a big decline in numbers of insects think of bees under threat when the growth of many food crops is ever dependent on their presence.  We hold the record for extinction of species.  Timeless life forms known and yet unknown wiped out for ever. Diversity is crucial. The web of life.
No matter, the government is making cuts to the work force that is concerned with these mere matters of extinction.

 

Fishing Boat in Port of Newcastle, one of many workplaces this May Day.  A place for an expert - it is full of hazards.

There is always a surprise in store.  The Jakarta Post Indonesia, today writes of a proposed May Day rally of considerable size in that city.
The following explaination is about the traffic arrangements and definately best left to local knowledge.  A similar report appeared last New Year's eve.....the street names are impressive.....what a day it will be....


JP/Jerry Adiguna)

The Jakarta Police plans to reroute traffic on some major roads of the city in anticipation of the annual May Day rally.
The rally, which police expect will be joined by some 30,000 workers, will be concentrated in front of the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta.
Traffic at the Palace and the United States Embassy from Jl. Hayam Wuruk to Jl. Majapahit will be directed to Jl. Juanda. Meanwhile, motorists driving along Jl. Lapangan Benteng will be directed to Jl. Pos.
"From Jl. Gunung Sahari to Jl. Dr. Sutomo, we will direct them to go straight to Jl. Senen Raya. For the opposite direction, from Jl. Senen Raya to Jl. Budi Utomo, we will direct them to Jl. Gunung Sahari," Jakarta Police traffic director Sr. Comr. Yusuf said on Monday, as quoted by tempo.co.
He went on to say that drivers heading from Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur to Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara would be directed to Jl. Perwira. Meanwhile those heading from the Senen junction to Gatot Subroto Army Hospital would be directed to Jl. Senen Raya - Wahidin.
Drivers coming from Jl. Cikini Raya heading to Jl. M. Ridwan Rais will be directed to Jl. Kwitang Raya. On the other side, those heading from Jl. Kebon Sirih will be directed to Jl. Kwitang Raya.
For motorists heading from Jl. Sudirman to Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat will be directed to Jl. Kebon Sirih, while those coming from Jl. Abdul Muis heading to Jl. Museum will be directed to Jl. Fachrudin and vice-versa.

 

• 

Turn back crime – Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. M. Iriawan gives a report on the police’s handling of criminal cases in 2016 during a press conference on Thursday. (Antara/M.Agung Rajasa)

The Jakarta Police are set to deploy around 20,000 personnel to secure New Year’s Eve celebrations in areas across the city.
Police personnel will be on standby in several locations, including two busy public areas, namely Ancol in North Jakarta and the Car Free Night area along Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Sudirman in Central and South Jakarta, respectively, on Saturday evening.
“We are going all out [to secure the celebrations],” Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mochamad Iriawan said on Thursday.
The police will not be alone in this task as Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto has previously said that military personnel would also be on standby in areas across the city to secure the festivities.
(Read also: City to reroute traffic for New Year's Eve celebration)
Separately, Jakarta Transportation Agency head Andri Yansyah said five stages would be erected along the car-free zone, starting from the Bank Indonesia traffic circle on Jl. MH Thamrin to the Semanggi cloverleaf highway area on Jl. Sudirman. The Car Free Night event will run from 5 p.m. on Saturday to 2 a.m. on Sunday, he said.
Andri added that traffic rerouting would be conducted in the following areas:

• Traffic from Jl. Hayam Wuruk to Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat will be rerouted to Jl. Juanda - Pasar Baru -Gunung Sahari, or to Lapangan Banteng - Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur - Tugu Tani.
• Vehicles from Jl. Veteran Raya to Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara will be directed to the Harmoni area - Jl. Suryo Pranoto, or to Jl. Gajah Mada.
• Traffic from Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur to Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara will be rerouted to Jl. Perwira - Jl. Adipura - Pasar Baru area - Jl. Gunung Sahari, or to Jl. Veteran Raya - Harmoni area - Jl. Suryo Pranoto, or to Jl. Gajah Mada.
• Traffic from Tugu Tani to Jl. M.H. Thamrin will be rerouted to Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur - Jl. Perwira-Pasar Baru.
• All vehicles heading toward Jl. M.H. Thamrin and Jl. Sudirman both from the east and west part of the areas will be turned back.
• Traffic from Cawang to Jl. Sudirman will be rerouted to Jl. Senopati, or in the Slipi direction.
• Vehicles from Slipi to Jl. Sudirman will be directed to Cawang - Jl. Rasuna Said, while traffic from Jl. Pattimura and Jl. Sisingamangaraja will be rerouted to Jl. Gatot Subroto or to Cawang. (ebf)

Topics :

• Jakarta-police, Jakarta-Police-chief, New-Year-Celebration, New-Year-Eve-celebrations, police, traffic-rerouting

 At the fish market, Mullet are the only fish that arrive all at once in quantity, I'd say.

 Fish are unceremoniously tipped off one truck, packed in ice, then put onto another semi and taken away for use in products of which one is paint, I believe.
Today, a medium sized mullet fish cost me $7.76 at $6 90 kg. It is a lower priced fish and usually has  a strong yet distinctive flavour.  In comparison, delicate Schnapper was about $32 per kg.

Below. A sartorial Tasmanian salmon, bodyless, with body was 70cm long, looks very fresh yet a bit  absurd posed beside a banana for the sake of comparison.
Salmon 'steaks' have greatly increased in popularity and are healthy eating.  There is the point that the fish is higher up the food chain and believe it is suggested in some instances to restrict consumption.

The seasonal Mullet Run netted a fullsome catch seemingly off a local beach judging by the beach going rig and the sand.

The Port of Newcastle

We need not be deterred from radicalism for such as environmental or social justice issues. That is one of my reactions to these words.  Yet these words point to the reality.

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
A perfect world is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. 
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is life's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No program accomplishes the whole mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realising that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own. 

Untener of Saginaw.

Morris dancers hop into line.  They like entertaining the festival crowd.

It is heard said that the typewriter is not out of favour. The new generation have a  nostalgia for nostalgia. And typewriters have no hard drives or backup so are seen as secure which is liked by some officials.  Budding writers learn their craft better while using the limited processes offered by a typewriter. ABC Radio National reported. All the same, word processing has many pluses.

Labrinth.  The new economy is a labrinth.  Subservience and abuse of work conditions, dog eat dog methods of employment, unionism given the axe with approval by Liberal party government.  Is it all that bad?
  Labour hire at the controls.  Job seekers, backpackers and new arrivals are sent to dangerous construction sites on the far side of the city to take up the reins and find a role there, English speakers or not.  We are not in the grim days of a depression, far from it, there is a building boom yet labour hire is there to get what they can out of the system at the expense of decent workplace conditions.
 Loyalty and pride in work and security is not part of it.  Do it yourself workers, no responsibility is offered from hire or from the boss, no redress.
  Superannuation contributions are an issue. The onus must be on the worker to follow this up on their mobile phone from the construction site.  Several years on and it is found that no super contributions have been made, Labour hire went bankrupt or so-called and no employer contributions made and it is a complex task for a labourer/worker to extract any justice. What about pay as you earn tax?
 Tax and social security departments have been whittled down to bare bones and a worker who calls them has great difficulty getting beyond the long que to get a hearing.  Ombudsmen interventions and the complexities seem impossible on the end of a phone. 
 Those who are well paid are assured of superannuation benefits in their retirement .  It is the lower paid, less secure workers who need all the help they can get and they have no chance to legally manipulate the system to secure their old age as others do,  
 So, to new apartment owners, if you are unlucky, enjoy any shonky failures in the apartment, the windows that leak maybe one of the minor issues, there is the privatised officials that sign off without due regard,  remember that apartment development was based on a lot of exploitation.  

Pile of bikes.  This is not in China but is in the national capital at the folk fest.  Could be that at the same time as the Chinese are giving up their good habits around cycling we are seeking to increase the number of cyclists.
  Canberra has caught the light rail bug - the latest 'must have' and a construction zone is beyond the trees and bikes.  Cruise down Northbourne Avenue in a state of mild disbelief along one long construction zone with speed restrictions and its share of chaos.
  So our valley and Canberra have at least two points in common - light rail pioneering and drought. The district is as dry as, brown and dessicated plus water restrictions and very warm days and nights into autumn tho generally the trees had not turned golden or red which can be special where nature is usually evergreen grey or olive.
Return via the Southern highland for a totally different scene of green. 
 

Vegie, Halumi, beef etc burgers were rather good from this outfit.  Om Noms, Nat Folk Festival Canberra. There are degrees of a good diet at a festival if you pick and choose, what would you make of the stockman's camp who did a spit roast whole lamb over an open fire plus big boilers full of potato pumpkin and greens, miles of onion gravy  and  damper with cocky's joy and billy tea for $12 in a smoky atmosphere with bush ballads. The 'chefs' were scrawny stockmen characters each wearing an old kilt skirt, thongs and maybe an old singlet and a broad brimmed hat.

Closing concert at the National Folk Fest.  Today there is a report that live gigs have all sorts of benefits for our well being.  Depends on some factors with performers as different as chalk and cheese, Belshazzar's Feast quietly diverting humour from the UK to Western electrifying swing from the USA there is diversity to filter and get those benefits.   Below recalling, is believed to be The Western Flyers, The fiddle player is really notable.

One of the latest child care centres.  In general carers are after more pay, is it currently around  $23
no, $21 hour.    Child care and aged care are not high on our priorities. Priorities lie elsewhere.  Business ventures would laugh at those pay rates.