Cyclones

Brisbane looks bleak

Tonight I'm in Brisbane as the remnants of Cyclone Oswald batter Bundaberg.

It's slowly heading south, as these things always do. It's not a good time to be close to the coast, but this wasn't forecast when I planned the trip. The shot from our hotel balcony shows the descending gloom.

There are reports of tornadoes at Bargara. Apparently tornadoes in Australia are very different to what occurs in the USA. Here, they're usually triggered by windshear.

I guess it doesn't matter what the trigger is - if the bloody thing turns your house into splintered wood, it's not good.

I remember that experience - parts of our house being turned into splintered wood - even though it happened a very long time ago. I was 3 years old at the time, (March 13th 1950), but I still have strong and vivid memories.

My parents told the story often, which probably reinforced the memory.

At the time, my dad was principal at Carmila, and our family (my parents, and my 16 month old brother and I) lived in the school residence.

Back then, there was no weather radar, and the radio and the barometer were our warning system. I remember my dad phoning the local copper who had a barometer to get an idea of what was coming. Dad's response to the copper's report of the barometer reading was "the bottom's going to fall out of the bloody thing".

The full force of the blow struck in the early hours. Our neighbours' house was breaking up, so they made their way to our place dodging flying sheets of corrugated iron. They made it. A family about a quarter of a mile from us didn't. The daughter was killed, and her father injured when a tree was uprooted and fell on them as they ran for safety.

We finished up huddled in the kitchen under a sturdy oak table, as mum said the rosary.

In the early dawn light we saw that the gable end had been blown off the house, and there wasn't one sheet of iron left on the roof. Somehow, the school building emerged relatively unscathed, so it became our home for a while, shared with two other families who had lost their houses.

Apparently I was impressed by the waterlogged house, splashing around saying "Dis is da beach!"

We could see for miles as the trees that remained standing were shredded. There were dead animals (mostly possums) lying everywhere. A sheet of roofing iron was wrapped so tightly around a telephone pole that it stayed there for weeks until the right sort of cutting gear became available.

All help had to come in by rail, as the roads were beyond quick repair. A number of injured people were evacuated to Mackay on a special train.

The father of one of the families that stayed in the school with us was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Back then, this meant that all the bedclothes had to be burned. I can remember both the smell of the burning sheets, and my mother's distress at the destruction of her precious bed linen.

From memory, it was over a month before school started up properly again, although I recall dad running classes under the school whilst we (and the other evacuees) lived upstairs in the two classrooms.

Eventually things returned to normal, but I have an abiding respect for what the weather can do up here when it gets cranky.

We lived through a couple of big blows whilst in Townsville, but nothing as nasty as 1950.

Too Fat to Fly

An Easyjet fight from Liverpool's John Lennon Airport to Geneva the other day was delayed by an hour-and-a-half because the plane was 300kg overweight due to an 'exceptionally high proportion of male passengers'.

It finally got off the ground after the passengers had a whip around to raise the additional compensation necessary to persuade a handful of larger (and heavier) passengers to disembark. The airline was offering $150 AU, and this, apparently wasn’t enough.

This incident emphasises a number of factors which to my simple mind, are bizarre.

First of all, the margins are slim. If 300kg makes that much difference in an aircraft weighing 140000kg on takeoff, they must be.

Still, the market rules, and the carriers, especially the budget variety, milk every last dollar out of every last litre of avtur.

You would assume that weighing passengers might be a good idea. Baggage is weighed, after all. At least, checked baggage is. It has always intrigued me that carry-on baggage isn’t.

Flying Adelaide-Brisbane last week, I remember thinking that some of the carry-on baggage was simply ridiculous. Some of it wouldn’t fit into the overhead lockers. I wonder how much a typical planeload of carry-on baggage weighs.

As for the checked in baggage, a family in the queue ahead of me had a mind boggling amount. I reckon they would have needed a half tonne Ute to get it to the airport.

Here’s a thought.

How about the airlines asking for body weight to be provided when a booking is made? You’d only need an additional dialogue box on the webpage.

They could then charge on a sliding scale. The more you weigh, the more you pay.

Random weight checks could be done at the security queue. I always get taken out of the queue and checked (for explosives usually) which always makes me wonder how "random" the checks are - I reckon it's the beard.

Weighing passengers is completely logical. The heavier you are; the more expensive fuel is required to get you from A to B.

It would be a fascinating mathematical exercise to work out the average cost per kilometre for the full range of body weights. This could be factored into the ticket cost. If you’re slim, you fly for less than the average. If you’re chubby, you pay more.

It would also be a major motivator to stay slim.

I can imagine it now – a conversation between a couple of twenty-somethings at a restaurant – “Pass me the low-cal menu – I’m saving up to fly to London, and I’ve got six months to lose 15kg”.

Oh - and put an upper limit on the weights of both carry-on and checked baggage - no extra charge. If it's over the limit, it doesn't travel.

Incidentially, the airlines have an acronym for overweight passengers. They're called POS (persons of size).

Love it......

H/T - Plane Talking

Zen and the Art of Ute Ownership

Been driving the Ute for about three months now. I’ve clocked up 10000kms already, so obviously driving it is no hardship, given I have choice of three cars to drive.

In hindsight, buying it was a good decision, even if none of my kids has moved house this year. This is the first time in about four years that it hasn’t happened at this time of the year, and buying the Ute was designed to help with this.

The irony…….

Given that I bought it at auction for a song, I’ve had no regrets at all.

My initial concern was fuel consumption. After all, it’s a 3.6 litre V6; it weighs 1700kg, and has a fairly inefficient 4 speed auto.

It’s averaging between 11 and 12 litres per 100km mostly around town. That’s not too bad, as it needs 91 octane, not 95 octane as the MX5 did.

I was thinking about an LPG conversion, but haven’t sat down to do the sums. The subsidy is not as generous as it was, and LPG is now over 70cpl. I’ll work it out soon, and make a decision.

The good points? It is comfortable, roomy, and sedan-like to drive. It actually corners and stops very well. I also like the 60 profile tyres. I’ve never got my head around the benefits of running on tyres with 45 (for example) profiles. I don’t believe in sacrificing comfort for appearance…………….must be getting old.

I’m also quite happy with steel (as opposed to alloy) wheels.

I don’t like the lack of over-the-shoulder rear vision. Sticking a couple of mini convex mirrors on the existing rear vision mirrors helps a bit.

The Bluetooth never has worked, and apparently the problem is the latest software in my iPhone which isn’t compatible. GMH has a whole website about this. I’m content to use the accessory Bluetooth that I bought for the MX5.

The iPhone works well when plugged into the sound system, and the playback is of good quality.

The funniest aspect of owning it is the reaction of the many young drivers with their tarted up Utes. They’re not sure what to make of the combination of grey hair and well kept (but unmolested) Ute like theirs..

Update: Still trying to teach the Heeler to jump in the tray......

Heelers are Smart

It's been pretty warm lately, and our newly acquired Heeler has developed a very efficient way of keeping cool.

She simply retires to a hidey-hole she has created behind some leafy shubbery, and stays there until it cools down.

She's completely invisible.

Some Fact Checking

We don't have fact checking websites in this country - yet.

More's the pity.

In the interests of publishing accurate information about the actions of the LNP government, I've found this list (prepared by Ray Marx) which reveals the true extent of the cuts across the state and the full range of agencies.

Of particular concern to me is No 17 ( In home Support services for severely disabled people cut  – early July), No 22 (Qld Health - Rural and Remote Health Office in QH “axed”), and No 41 (Funding for high care disabled - On C. Newman’s facebook page –22/07/2012).

There's also Nos 46 & 47 -  Planned Family support program for families of people with disabilities to be cut (email from ASU member Toowoomba - 25.7.12 and NDIS - Campbell Newman refuses to sign up for National disability insurance scheme - 24.7.12)

You'll need a fair slice of time to read it.

Remember the statement from Newman before the election?

"Public servants have nothing to fear from an LNP government"

He probably hopes you don't.....

He made some promises about people with disabilities. I haven't seen any of them yet. What I have seen is a massive withdrawal of services, none of which were heralded before the election.

Another Korean

iPhone photo - hence poor resolution.

I hired a Kia Cerato in Adelaide last week.

This was not the first time I’ve driven a Kia. When the kids were at home, we needed a people carrier for a while, so I bought a new Kia Carnival in 2000. If you have more than three kids, SUVs or people carriers are necessary if you want to travel as a family.

We owned this thing for five years, and it was only after I’d traded it that I began to hear what a lemon it was supposed to be.

This was not our experience. We must have been lucky enough to buy one of the 60% that were OK.

Our Carnival was well-used, carted the sprogs and their friends around without fuss and bother, and made some epic journeys to Far North Queensland loaded to the gunwales.

It only ever let us down once, failing to start because an earth lead had become dislodged.

Anyway, the “Carnivore”, as our kids christened it, was a reliable, roomy and comfortable jigger, and I have a strong respect for the marque based on that experience.

When the hire car turned out to be a Kia Cerato hatchback, I wasn’t dismayed.

After driving it for a week in and around the capital of the Deep South (Adelaide – not Melbourne*), I maintain that respect.

The Cerato was easy to drive, relatively quiet, and comfortable. It seemed to be put together with care, and the quality of the fit-out (base model) was impressive.

It had easy-to-operate Bluetooth, cruise control, and state-of-the-art audio. It was easy to get in and out of, and easy to see out of. (Not best English, I know – but you get my drift).

These things are mechanically very similar to the Hyundai i30, but with better styling and slightly more pizzazz. Kia was bought out by Hyundai years ago. The corporation is so big, that they can afford to develop motors, transmissions and running gear in-house, and buy the best body designers.

The Korean auto industry has made amazing progress in terms of quality and refinement since they came to the local market. It will be interesting to see if the Chinese learn as fast.

* I know Melbourne is South of Adelaide, but it doesn’t fit my definition of “deep”.

Universal Design Actually Works

In my perambulations around Adelaide I did my share of bus travel.

On one of these journeys I noticed a woman in a wheelchair on my bus, and wondered idly how she managed to get on board.

Looking more closely, I noticed an area in the bus designated for wheelchairs.

When we pulled up at her stop, the bus "kneeled" and a ramp emerged from the pavement side of the vehicle.

She was then able, with no fuss and bother, to wheel herself straight on the the footpath. This took no longer, and attracted no more attention than for an ambulant passenger.

Thinking about it, the only additional features required (apart from the extra space needed to park the chair on board) was the configuration of the pneumatic suspension to allow the kneeling feature, and the installation of the sliding ramp.

This sliding feature requires very little space, and I doubt that the engineering and maintenance of the ramp is anything fancy or expensive.

There's a bit of signage required, and the driver has an extra mirror used to ensure he can safely (and remotely) supervise the process. Most of the time, the space and the door is used in the normal way by able-bodied passengers.

This is no big deal, of course, except for the person in the wheelchair who would otherwise not be able to access public transport.

I'm not sure if this is unique to Adelaide, but I've not seen it in Brisbane or Melbourne, the only other places where I've used metro buses recently.

The bottom line is - if every metro bus in the country were similarly equipped, the quality of the lives of many people in wheelchairs would be improved.

It's way past time it became compulsory.