Refocussed

Silver is the new black.

Regular readers will remember that my bride's Ford Focus was hailed.

This, as I pointed out at the time was an ill wind. We were about to trade it, on a late model second hand vehicle, and had been doing the rounds of the various yards in Toowoomba in preparation.

We'd found a Mazda 3 (Skyactiv SP20) which looked pretty good - only 17000 km - but weren't happy with the lousy trade-in. Then we found out that the payout of the Focus was $3000 more than the best offer as a trade, so decided we might as well buy new.

Red cars go faster.

The Mazda was a good car, but lacked both refinement and rear seat space compared with the Focus Trend, that we bought. We didn't want to have to put up with whinges from adult offspring on the fairly rare occasions when we carried them in the rear. The Mazda's Skyactiv technology (including idle-stop) was interesting, but the economy gains marginal at best.

The Focus is like all small Fords, a treat to drive, although the loaner car (a 1600cc Ambiente with the old-fashioned hydraulic power steering is actually more tactile). I believe that a car is for driving, so you might as well enjoy it. The Trend (2000cc) has electric steering. It's initially very light, but firms up as speed increases, and has a good road feel.

We were loaned this until the Trend turned up.

My bride, fortunately, is of the same opinion.

After about a week of ownership, the Trend is looking OK.

It's fun to drive, very quiet, and comfortable. For an old fart like me, it's not too difficult to enter and leave. SUVs are superior in this respect, but we weren't inclined to be saddled with driving around all that extra metal.

It comes with a full size spare (rare these days), 60 profile Michelins, and the Sync feature which allows you to talk to it.

This works well with the phone, but is a bit unnecessary with the audio, as you can do most things using the steering wheel mounted controls.

The sedan is lighter, stronger, and easier to see out of than the hatchback.

And if I want to shift anything large, I'll use the trusty ute.

Welcome to Queensland

I'm reposting this from the 7RAR Facebook pages.

When it comes to living in Queensland these days, it says it all.

A young soldier has told of being strip-searched by police in front of his home as the Queensland Government's tough anti-bikie laws continue to take a toll on recreational riders.

1RAR soldier Private Noah Schefe, 22, who is a member of the Townsville chapter of the Patriots Motorcycle Club, was searched by police outside his home about three weeks ago, late at night, after he returned from the chapter's clubhouse.

He was not charged with any offences.

Patriots Australia is a military club for serving, former regular and reserve members of the Australian, Commonwealth and Allied Defence Forces.

It regularly participates in fundraising for charities, recently raising $4500 for Legacy Townsville.

The club publicly condemns all criminal activity, and is not included in the government's list of bikie gangs declared as criminal organisations.

Pte Schefe said the police officer who searched him was not aware of the club, nor had any interest when told about it, despite Pte Schefe showing the officer his Defence ID card.

``He got me up over to the cop car and put me up against the car and started pulling everything out of my pockets and taking my boots out,'' he said.

``The other cop had my bag on the bonnet and pulled everything out of my bag, searching the whole lot.

``They had me there for probably a good half an hour, at 1.30am, with all the lights on and everything.

``All my neighbours saw it - I'd just moved into this house about two weeks beforehand - they're sitting there thinking they've got a criminal bikie who's moved into the neighbourhood."

There are about 20 members of the Patriot's Townsville chapter, who based their constitution on the Defence Law Manual, following the rule of civilian law.

``We're only doing good things for the community,'' Pte Schefe said.

``To be treated like a criminal, for the same reason someone's shot somebody on the Gold coast, it's absolutely ridiculous."

Local Government Minister and Mundingburra MP David Crisafulli told motorcyclists gathered at a public rally at Anderson Park yesterday the new laws should not be making innocent people feel like they were being treated as criminals.

At least 100 motorcyclists attended the protest, alongside riders from across the state as a show of solidarity against the laws, aimed at criminal bikie gangs, that have resulted in the harassment of law-abiding people.

Mr Crisafulli told the crowd gathered at the rally the Government's laws were in place to target the one per cent of bikies carrying out criminal activities.

``The rules are there to protect the community and I don't think we should move away from that,'' he said.

``By the same token, the rules should not be there to make innocent people feel like criminals.

``Because you ride motorbikes, and have tattoos, it doesn't make you a bad person."

He said he was willing to speak to motorcycle riders about "getting the balance right" on the legislation.

Motorcycle Riders' Association Townsville spokeswoman Karina Ewer said the "one-per centers" were not the only ones being targeted by police.

``We've had a woman pulled over nine times because she rides a Harley,'' she said

``There are people here from all walks of life, and we have all been affected in some way, and we won't accept being classed as collateral damage."

She said the bikie laws were having a devastating effect upon clubs who conducted charity fundraisers.

``The MRA raises about $10,000 for Christmas every year through its toy run, every year,'' she said.

``We literally had people walking to the other side of the street to stay away from us, for the first time ever."

Last month the Australian Motorcycle Council (AMC) launched a fighting fund to raise money for any High Court challenge against the laws.

Chickenman

Somebody posted a reference to Chickenman on the 7RAR Facebook page the other day.

I thought it might be a good idea to post a link on this blog, as I know a few fellow vets read it, and it might bring back some memories.

Anyhow, I couldn't find it, so am posting this instead.

It was played on AFNVN in 1970, when I was there, and no doubt many years before and after.

A Pollies' Promise

Because I'm a teacher (have been one now for forty-five years) - I felt heartened by the Coalition's promise before the election, that they would implement the Gonski recommendations.

There is so much in the Gonski concept which is of significant value to the target group of kids that I work with, namely students with disabilities in remote and rural settings.

Now, after yesterday's events, I regard the whole thing as being in jeopardy.

That's my problem, I guess, because I have skin in the game.

But the broken promise is probably a more fundamental issue. From here, it's glaringly obvious that nothing that the current government promises can be believed, and they have taken power on a scam.

Sure, the Gillard government broke a promise on the Carbon tax, but when the promise was made, there was no awareness that there was going to be a minority government.

No such excuse is available now.

Perhaps it's simply a feature of contemporary conservative governments.

Remember Newman's statement in Queensland - "Public servants have nothing to fear from an LNP government."

He then proceeded to sack 14000 of them.

Update - The coalition have performed a double back somersault with pike which in the final analysis, is not the same scheme as promised by Labor, and leaves them plenty of wriggle room.

 

Unintended Consequences

On my many travels along the Warrego, I have noticed a strange and growing phenomenon.

There are heaps of Hi-Luxes with hi-viz markings tooling up and down the highway. Invariably, they clump together like some form of mobile soap scum – you know, the pattern that develops on the top of an old washing copper.

I’m old enough to remember that.

Anyway, these utes are all owned by mining companies. These same mining companies have pretty much colonised the Surat basin.

Each and every on of them is fitted with a GPS tracker. This cunning device, sends a signal back to a base somewhere. This signal contains real time information about speed and location.

If a unit exceeds the speed limit, an alarm goes off back in base, and the driver comes in for a grilling.

Consequentially, they all stay 1kph below the limit.

Given that you need to exceed the limit to overtake anyone travelling less than about 90 kph, mining vehicles don’t overtake.

Hence the “clumping” which is inherently quite dangerous, as motorists not carrying tell-tale GPS will try to pass long convoys of slow vehicles.

It indicates centralisation taken to extremes, and is a text-book example of unintended consequences.

And it is dangerous.

Ouch

My bride's car is looking sad after an encounter with a hailstorm

Almost every panel has sustained some damage. It came from nowhere, and there was nowhere to go.

The picture doesn't look too bad, but the turret, the boot lid, and the door panels are all damaged. Even the plastic trim around the number plate was smashed.

We've had a series of evil little super cells which have been popping up everywhere, and moving very quickly.

This is the way these small super cells look on radar.

The insurance companies are thoroughly geared up for this eventuality, and I was able to lodge a claim over the phone, and book an appraisal at the same time.

That's happening next Monday, so unless there's a backlog of vehicles being repaired, repairs shouldn't take too long. It will be interesting to see how much it costs. I reckon at least $2000.

Update
It was closer to $8000!
Car is therefore written off.
Actually, it's an ill wind, as we were in the process of getting quotes on a trade on a new car, and the payout was $3000 better than any dealer was prepared to give. They're doing deals and are swamped with cars at the moment, so are trading low.
Consequently, the order is in for a new car, and the dimpled Focus will be departing forever on the back of a truck tomorrow.

Driving the Warrego

I've been driving up and down the Warrego Highway in this job since 2006, 

and have seen lots of changes.

Not all of them are for the better.

This was brought home to me yesterday when I arrived on the scene of an accident at 6.30 am on the journey West.

It was an all-too-familiar scenario. Two young men in a small sedan had been heading East and had stopped on a three lane section of road (two lanes West; one lane East) to turn on to a side road. A woman driving a larger car had not seen them (sun in her eyes?) and ploughed into the back of their car at full speed.

On that section of road, full speed was probably about 80kph.

By the time I'd pulled up, a bloke in army uniform had helped her out of her car and was doing a good job of looking after her, so I went to the help of the two men in the other car. It had copped a helluva whack, as it was about two-thirds its original length. The fact that it folded up pretty comprehensively, probably contributed to the fact that neither were badly injured, although shocked and bruised.

I sat them down, offered reassurance, and set about trying to make sure that no one else ended up adding to the chaos, as the position of the sun was a problem for the Eastbound traffic.

Most drivers slowed, but about 10% didn't. Unfortunately this 10% are always on the road. I see them all the time.

The towies turned up  in about ten minutes, and the emergency services people in about fifteen. The towies obviously monitor the police frequencies.

Fortunately, none of the injuries were life threatening, but I'd be surprised if the woman in the second car didn't need to spend some time in hospital.

I resumed my 350 km journey, pondering how much more dangerous this road has become since I started driving it seven years ago.

The explosion of mining development in the Surat basin has a cost. There's so much more traffic, the road has been steadily destroyed by the heavy machinery, and seems to need rebuilding every two years.

Your taxes and mine are paying for this. It's a pity the mining companies aren't paying their share, and it doesn't look like they ever will.