March Mini Break

Towards the end of last year, we went to Hobart in Tasmania, it was the first holiday we'd had in years! We loved Tassie so much, we've already booked our next holiday which is towards the end of this year to go there again. In the meantime, my wife has a month of leave over March, so we've decided to go down south for a few days for a bit of a mini break.

My wife's been to Kiama before, but I've only been as far as Wollongong, so we're going on a road trip to Kiama for a couple of days in March. To me, Kiama is best known for its blowholes and Jamberoo Action Park. Due to the time of year that we're going down there, Jamberoo Action Park won't be open, but that's ok, there's plenty of other things for us to see and do. There's also loads of smaller surrounding townships and villages with lots to offer tourists.

One place I'm looking forward to visiting is The Treat Factory in a nearby place called Berry. Guess what they sell? Treats! You can check out their online store here and their Instagram page here for some yummy looking photos!

Kiama also has a mid-week Farmers Market on Wednesdays which I'm also looking forward to checking out. I love markets! You never know what you'll find lol 

We've got about a month before we head off on our mini break/road trip, so we're both busily checking out what Google has to offer in ways of ideas! Who doesn't love a road trip?!?!?

A Country Practice

I don't know what possed me, but the other day something reminded me of the show A Country Practice (ACP). This was the kind of show that if you weren't watching it, your tv must've been broken! According to Wikipedia ACP had "8-10 million viewers weekly". At the time the Australian population was 15 million. It aired from 1981-1993 on channel seven and 1994-1994 on channel 10.

ACP launched the careers of many Australian actors, some who are still acting today. I found a few episodes online and just had to watch them, oh my god! You don't realise how much society both changes and stands still as time passes! 

One episode I watched featured Brendan the male nurse, he was referred to as a p00ft@ by a patient who also then continued to refer to him as girly for the remainder of the episode. Could you imagine if this kind of dialogue was aired today?!?

The other episode I watched featured a woman who was ill, she stated that she knew that there was no more that modern medicine could do to make her comfortable and when the pain became too much, she would take an overdose of her pain medication. She went on to say that it was her body, her choice and that animals aren't allowed to suffer at the end the way she will. Thirty years on and we're still having this same conversation!

Between all the drama happening in the hospital and out on the farm, some snippets that had me either in awe or laughing like a lunatic were that every time Shirley was at home - usually under her pyramid, she was downing glasses of wine like water and lighting up cigarettes at every given opportunity LOL! One episode had a number of the actors performing CPR on a patient, lol they all looked like they were convulsing!!! Then there was Frank, the police officer, he attended a car accident. There was an open can of beer in the car of which he tipped out. The"beer" was so clearly water lol They could've added some food colouring lol

I might go and see if I can find some more retro tv shows to watch LOL!

I Said I'd Be Back!

Just as the title says! Wow, so far I've posted twice as many times as I did last year lol Given I only posted once last year, I'm not going to rehash everything that's happened from March 2017 to now.... That would just be silly! I may write about certain things, but only those that stood out.

So what's happened recently? I finished a cross stitch that I started sometime last year. It's called Primitive Ouija Board and it's from CloudsFactory. I love their designs, you can choose something as for a quick weekend stitch or something that will take a bit longer. Plus they're downloadable. This one's stitched on 16 count "Ancient" aida from Picture This Plus. I was really happy with the end result. I did take the picture above before washing and ironing it, which I'm yet to do.

I looked for an Ouija board design for ages until I discovered this one. As soon as I saw it, there was no hesitation lol

Since finishing the Ouija board I've purchased another design from them called Old School Is Cool, I love the "rewind" pencil lol

It also comes with an alphabet chart so that you can create your own cassette labels.

I wanted to add an extra bit of 80's daggyiness to this piece, so instead of stitching on the grey coloured aida, I purchased "Ballerina" Opalescent from Sew It All Australia. It's a fluro pink colour with silver opalescent sparkles through it.

I started it last weekend. I have about half the floss colours required, I could've exchanged some of the colours for ones I already own, but it just wouldn't have looked the same, so I've ordered the floss I need which should arrive this week. 

It's currently summer here in Australia, so why am I inside stitching and not outside in the sun? Because it's too damn hot! We've had a run of days from the high 30's to mid 40's. Thank god for air conditioners!

Catch you next time!

Stuff

I read a news article about a month ago and I bookmarked it as I wanted to write a post about it.... Then I forgot lol It's a good thing I bookmarked it. Then this morning I was reading the news and there was a new article that reminded me of the previous article, and since I have some free time I thought I would write about both articles now. They're about stuff. Yep, stuff. All the stuff we buy because we think we need it, are told we need it, it's advertised to make our lives easier or some just acquire stuff because they're keeping up with the Joneses - so to speak.

The older article (If we downsize and de-clutter our lives can we get more out of life?) discusses the amount of stuff we have and the stress it can cause, the minimalist movement, the growing size of Australian homes although family sizes are shrinking - I wrote about this in another post and Red Balloon - I was going to write a separate post about Red Balloon, but I will touch on it in this post.

The second article (Blender wars: Why sellers of stuff are stuffed) is about two companies (JB Hi-Fi and Dick Smith) entering the small appliance market. These two companies at present primarily sell electronics and associated gadgets. The reason they're expanding into the small appliance market is because you can buy a toaster for less than a loaf of bread, a blender for less than a smoothie and a vacuum cleaner for less than the cost of hiring a cleaner. This is due to most of the products being manufactured in China, thus reducing the cost. As they're now cheaper we no longer want them as they don't show a personal status of wealth. The article states that the less we want stuff, the more it's discounted.

A Google image - Not my kitchen lol

Personally, I used to be a huge buyer of stuff. In fact the pantry is full of kitchen electrical stuff that I rarely use, however when I do use them, they do cut down preparation time. Could I throw them all out and live without them? Yes I could. Will I? Probably not as they do come in handy. It's the same in my garage - I have a range of power tools that I rarely use, however they're there for when I do use them and although they take up a lot of room they're effective time wise.

About 2-3 years ago my wife and I decided for birthdays and Christmas to only buy each other limited stuff that we would use. We were notorious for buying each other huge amounts of stuff, it got out of hand! So now we buy a couple of trinkets and the rest of the present is in the form of an outing or an event such as concert tickets etc.

These days the only physical stuff I mainly buy is things like pet toys which get demolished, components for my ceramics like glazes which get used to create pieces for me to sell (more on this in a future post) and scented candles and essential oils for my oil burner as I like the fresh scent. Any music I buy is a digital download as my CD shelf is full or I use Guvera a music streaming service. Any books I buy go on my Kindle as my bookshelves are full! Seriously full and that's after 2-3 clean outs! I will on the odd occasion buy a physical book, however it's usually a cookbook as I find it easier than using my Kindle for when I'm cooking. 

There's one book I purchased a physical copy of recently and that's only because this book has a lot of activities in it, it's one of those books where you find yourself reading up to a certain section then flipping back to another section that you have already read. I'm no where near finished this book and I can honestly say from what I have read to date, this is one of my favourite books! It's written by Naomi Simson, an Australian entrepreneur who started the company Red Balloon. This company sells experiences, rather than stuff. My wife an I have purchased a number of these experiences for ourselves and as gifts. Naomi started this company with the belief that people find more enjoyment from doing, giving and receiving experiences, rather accumulating stuff. She was right! Like everyone else, she worked a regular job - however felt she wasn't doing what made her happy. So she sunk all her savings into building a website so that she could sell happiness.  

Back to the book, now don't let the title or the blurb on the back fool you into believing that this book is about how to make a million dollars overnight. It's not one of those 'self help, guru, lifestyle coaching' themed books. In a nutshell this book questions you about every aspect of your life. The activities really make you sit back and think about who you are, what you want, what you've achieved, what you want to achieve. It applies to everyone! It doesn't matter if you want to achieve millionaire status, figure out how to climb the ladder where you currently work, run your own small business or most importantly just figure out who you really are. 

I think to some degree we all 'believe' we know who we are. This book really makes you question whether you do or not. The activities are quite insightful, some are easy, but some really make you think. When you have to really think about a question that asks you about yourself, that's a good indication that you don't know yourself as well you first thought you did. So if you're in business, are employed or just want greater insight into yourself, you need this book! 

Now I know this is a bit of a jumbled post lol but the first two news articles were related and one mentioned Red Balloon and Naomi Simson - all topics I was wanting to write about, so that's why it might seem a bit disjointed, but in my mind they're linked lol So I guess in conclusion I want you to look at how much stuff you have, how often you have a clean out and I mean a proper clean out. Maybe give experiences as gifts instead of stuff, memories are built on what we do, not what we have.        

We Always Want What We Can't Have

About a month ago we went out with some friends for a day of kayaking and laser tag. While we were waiting for our guide/instructor I noticed a small room and so of course I had to poke my head in lol The room only had a coke machine and fireplace. . . . I've lived in houses with fireplaces and the size of them generally reflects the size of the room that needs to be heated. Well this fireplace was waaaay toooo big for such a small room!

It was so big I had to take a photo lol, then it got me thinking.... When I was a kid I preferred the American TV shows to the Australian ones. I loved everything about them, I loved that they celebrated Halloween and we didn't, I loved their houses so much! I loved that they had attics and basements and we didn't. I loved their fireplaces, they seemed so ornate and were built as a feature, not just something to serve a purpose. In the houses I've lived in that had fireplaces, they were so dull and boring - seriously! No thought had ever gone into the actual presentation of how it looked. It was almost like the house plans had 'fireplace marked on the plans' so the builders just whacked one up.

If you google American fireplaces, OMG. Some of them are pure works of art. Some are so fancy you wouldn't want to burn anything in them. This is one I found that kind of looked like the ones I saw in TV shows as a kid, nothing too fancy - but they were so much nicer than the ones built here.

Then just the other week my sister and I were talking about American homes, and she commented that we should be making better use of our land i.e basements and attics, I agreed. A few years back I did some research online trying to find out why Australian homes didn't have basements. Now I'm not a geologist lol but the information that I found basically stated that the ground water level in Australia is too high for us to have basements. That no amount of waterproofing would prevent water constantly seeping into the area. This made sense.... Case closed. 

So why don't we have attics? Have you ever been in the roof of an Australian house? I have lol This pic above is the roof framework, now there is no squeezing an attic in there. We have rather low roofs here, I don't know why, we just do. I have crawled around in the roof of a number of homes and you literally have to wriggle around like a worm to get between the beams, wiring, insulation etc.

There's a suburb about 50 mins from where we live and one day when my wife was driving I got to have a good look around and I saw that a number of homes in this area had attics! None of these homes were new or clustered together, which may suggest the same developer built them all. So straight away I was like "I want to move here! These houses have attics!" lol. 

So like the title says:- We always want what we can't have lol

Anyway, here's another pic of my progress on my Tribal Cat cross stitch. Can you see the sugar skull magnetic needle holder in the corner? My sister sent my wife and I one each in the mail the other day :) We had no idea that she had done this, so it was a huge surprise and we both love the choices she made :)    

Brrrrrrr!!!

For those of you who don't know, it's Autumn in Australia right now. We don't get snow in Autumn.... Well apparently that's the rule! Anyway, the rule was broken yesterday and it snowed in Australia! It didn't snow where we live now, but it did snow where we used to live. In any case it was quite cold - snow or no snow at home yesterday. It's quite cold again today. Over the past few years the seasons in Australia seem to be a little out of whack...

So what do you do when it's cold? You move around! LOL! Call me insane, but I refuse to put the heater on in Autumn!!!! It's crazy!! Autumn in Australia 'should be' warm - not hot, sunny - no snow, a little cool in the evenings - not bloody freezing! Naturally it gets colder the closer you get to Winter, but Winter doesn't strike until June. So I decided to have a cleaning day today. I started with the pool filter, I was then going to wash the car, but the wind was soooo cold I didn't want to go and play in the water so I decided some inside cleaning would suffice lol

I pulled the vacuum cleaner apart and washed the filters, I cleaned the range hood...... Then the wind outside picked up and started howling..... So what did I clean next? The gas heater filters! Let me just say, that I did not turn the heater on! lol I just cleaned the lint filters. I did some other bits and pieces, all of which are rather boring, but kept me moving lol.

So apart from cleaning, here's an update on my Tribal Cat cross stitch. I haven't had a chance to do any for a few days, but I will say that I don't think I will ever stitch on black aida again lol It's killing my eyes!

Okie dokie! I'll catch you again soon! I hope you all had a great Easter!    

What's Your Hobby?

What's your hobby or hobbies? Some of us have a couple and some of us have loads lol. I like doing lots of different things, I guess it depends on my mood, the weather, the time of day etc. One hobby I found myself interested in a couple of years ago was metal detecting. Not because I was looking to strike it rich, but because I love history and I loved the thought of finding something really old. 

When I first bought my detector back in 2012 (I think) I practiced using it on a local beach. I found AA batteries, soft drink cans, ring pull from cans, bits of foil from food wrappers etc lol My wife on the other hand had a go and found 55 cents lol Due to things going on and life in general, my detector got put into the cupboard - where it still is.

About a month ago as we drove by the beach that we tested the detector on, I commented to my wife that I would like to give it another shot. Then about a week after that, we met up with a friend who mentioned that one of their family members had just bought a detector. So that got me thinking more about it. The problem is finding the time! Plus finding the right location. There's also the issue that since I haven't used it for so long, I've forgotten how it works lol It really isn't as simple as 'waving it all about'. 

I've started checking out the old forums that I used to hangout in, and I've been reading all the 'newbie' info to try and refresh my memory. I haven't actually taken the detector out of the cupboard yet, as I have to re-read the manual regarding the settings for depth, pitch, sensitivity etc etc - See I told you it wasn't as simple as waving it all around lol

I also found some great websites that I hadn't discovered before! One of them allows you to choose a location in the present, then overlay a historical map! It's amazing just from a historical perspective to see what used to be in an area and how much the landscape has changed. At the moment I'm completely hooked on reading all these old maps and I haven't left the house!!! LOL!

Here's an example of this mapping site, it shows where a helipad used to be in 1943:-

Current location image

When you start to overlay the images

The image has been completely overlayed so you're now viewing the 1943 map

I have been looking at areas all over our state, just to see what used to be in certain locations back in history. I love it! :D

Okay, well I'm off! I'll let you get back to your hobbies :)   

Downsizing Versus Up Sizing

No one likes wasting money do they? Or maybe they do... I guess it depends on the person. Personally I don't like wasting money, in saying that - I'm not tight, I just don't see the point in spending money on some items that others would consider 'must haves'. 

I read a lot of blogs and most of them are U.K, Ireland, USA based - I read very few Australian blogs. I don't know if it's because they write about things that I'm already aware of, or if I prefer the international blogs because they write about issues that I'm not aware of and I actually learn something :)

One trend that I have noticed in reading non-Australian blogs is the number of people who are either downsizing, in the process of downsizing or trying to figure out how to do this. The main reason for this is for economical purposes.

One blog that I frequently read belongs to woman who has a well paying professional position. A number of years ago after changes were made to her husbands employment situation, she decided that they needed to scale back on their spending. This wasn't only because of what happened with her husband, but the cost of living was also increasing and taking it's toll.

To cut a long story short, this woman reviewed every cent they spent and where they could improve. She cut back on many 'must haves', like a coffee on the way to work (she now takes her own from home), a trashy magazine here and there (reads all the goss online), beauty treatments (she does her own hair and nails), etc. Keep in mind this is just a very short list of changes she made. The money they saved was out of this world!

Given that she lives in the UK - she was paying a lot to keep her house warm, a house that was now over sized as her children had moved out. So her and her husband decided to downsize. Funnily enough the downsizing was going to cost a bit and the bank wouldn't loan them the money, so they worked hard to pay a chunk off the house they were living in which they were now struggling to keep.

They did eventually get to a point where the bank would assist with re-financing and they moved to a smaller home. Even after the move she continues to budget the way they did prior to moving.

I've done a few Google searches on downsizing in Australia and the results are all related to retirees. This didn't surprise me one bit. Australian residential blocks of land have gotten sooo much smaller, yet the houses are so much bigger than they used to be! It's a trend in Australia to squash as many homes into a new estate area as possible. Some estates are so jam packed, that if you want to clean your gutters you have to position your ladder on your neighbours property! That's how close the houses are.

So why do we in Australia seem to be up sizing (house size, not land size) while people in countries overseas are downsizing? My answer:- I have no idea. One guess is because houses in these estates are fairly inexpensive, so people buy them up and because people keep buying them, the developers keep building them. Don't quote me, it's just my guess.

 

Do I have a problem with these estates? Yes I do. Why do I? I'll tell you why. I live in one of these estates. This will sound ridiculous, but when you first inspect one of these properties you really don't notice just how crammed in they are, because everything's open plan - so you literally walk in one room and it just flows into another giving the illusion of space. They have huge windows which allows copious amounts of natural light in (which in itself isn't a bad thing) that also adds to the illusion, then you have the 'already built and ready to go' outdoor entertaining area which usually includes a pool. Yeah I know I'm making it sound like hell aren't I? lol

The thing is that you fall straight into the trap of "Oh a double garage! Four bedrooms! Oh two entertaining areas! A walk-in pantry! Oh 2/3 bathrooms plus en-suite! Oh look how much light comes in (because of the open plan design), Ohh a pool!" etc etc. It's the extras that prevent you seeing that just 2 feet from the pool edge is the neighbours fence line. Given that you're all so squashed in, you can't flush the toilet without the neighbour knowing you've just been to the loo. You can also hear phone conversations as well as just regular conversations - these conversations are not taking place outside, they're inside the neighbours house. 

Then there's the open plan design issue - I admit they look great, but they're not practical. You cannot close part of the house off when you want to heat or cool. In an older style house you can close a couple of doors and you're done. In these newer homes, when you want to cool or heat - you're paying either your gas or electricity company to heat or cool the whole house, even though you're only in one section. What a massive waste of money! 

I would love to compare a 12 month heating/cooling bill between a newer open plan home versus an older style home. Every time I turn the air con or heater on I see $50 notes floating around in the open plan areas that I don't want heated or cooled. Anytime I hear of a friend who is looking at moving, the first thing I tell them is to stay away from open plan housing, and I tell them why..... Usually everything I tell them is stuff that they hadn't even thought about. I guess you live and learn. I wish I knew someone who knew what I do now, and could have given me some advice before we bought the style of house we did.  

Doomsday Preppers - TV Show

One night when my wife was at work I was flicking through TV stations trying to find something half decent to watch, I found something called Doomsday Preppers. I had never heard of this show before, so I decided to watch it while I played mindless games on my tablet. (As I do lol)

Whoa! Okay, I have since watched a number of episodes of this show. I have to say I am completely intrigued by the way these people live their lives! The more I watch this show, the more I question if they're insane or if those who don't 'prep' are insane! lol 

The guy pictured above,  dug a secret bunker by hand in his garage. He never opened the garage door to dispose of the dirt - it was carried out of the house by hand.

This show got me thinking about the differences between Australia and America again. So on one hand the American preppers fall into a couple of categories:- Some live on farms and have barns and even bunkers underground as well as basements. Those who live in the suburbs have basements, some even have underground hideaways in the country. They have dug out bunkers or used shipping containers (pictured above) as fortresses! Many of them have massive amounts of ammo and guns etc.

One thing most of them said in relation to food storage was that they kept their food in the basement to avoid humidity....... Which leads me to the Australian side of this prepping idea. The majority of Australians don't live on farms and those who live in the suburbs don't have basements. Don't ask me why, but Australian houses do not have basements.... I should Google this and find out why lol 

So for example if I was a prepper, I would be in serious trouble regarding where I would store my food, as I live in an area where humidity can reach 100%! I live in a regular suburban house, on a small block of land with no basement. Sure we have spare bedrooms and I could load those up, however those rooms get the afternoon sun and turn into saunas by the end of the day..... So there goes all of my food and I would have wasted a lot of money stockpiling. 

The other difference is weaponry, a lot of the Americans had vast amounts of guns, ammo and other homemade devices to protect their supplies. They spend a lot of time mastering the art of arming themselves, firing practice etc. The gun regulations in Australia are very, very strict. There are so many laws surrounding the ownership and use of a gun/s in this country, it would be virtually impossible to own as many weapons as our American counterparts. So again, if I were a prepper, how would I protect my supplies? With a baseball bat?

So why do they prep? Some believe that the American economy is on the brink of collapse leaving the USD worthless and plunging society into a depression, some are in wait of a worldwide health pandemic and some believe that war will come. One woman has also had the same vivid reoccurring dream for over 20 years that something catastrophic will happen in her lifetime. Some do it purely based on the fact that the cost of living is getting so high, and if they buy extras with their regular grocery trips they can have a constant stockpile of supplies while they can afford it. Others believe that it will be a natural disaster such as a solar flare which will fry and wipe out the power grid - which will also prevent vehicles such as trucks delivering much needed supplies. 

Just out of interest, I Googled solar flares to discover that the last solar flare (The Carrington Event or Carrington Super Flare) was the 3rd September 1859 and the next predicted one is for somewhere between 2012 and 2022. The last flare occurred when the Telegraph system was in its infancy and it did completely wipe it out, so imagine the damage a solar flare could do in this high wired society that we now live in. No phones, no tv, no radio, no lights, no working vehicles.... Anything containing wires is now dead. 

The show stated that 45% of Americans are preppers in some form or another and 51% believed that something 'big' was going to happen. The show also stated that the CDC has advised people to have at least 3 days worth of food supplies in their homes at all times and never let the fuel in your car drop below halfway.

So I leave this question with you:- Are preppers insane? Or are those who don't prep insane? If you're an American reading this post, have you seen the show Doomsday Preppers and what's your take on it? Until then, I'm off to make a cup of tea and hope nothing happens in the meantime so I can finish it :) Catch you next time!   

The Death Penalty

Years ago, before I met my wife (yeah it was a while ago lol) I used to have a website solely dedicated to the abolishment of the death penalty. I also had a number of pen pals who were on death row or sentenced to life. A lot of people think, that people who write to inmates are crazy. I wasn't a 'groupie', I used to just write to people who had no one to talk to. Were they guilty of their crime? I don't know, I wasn't there.... I didn't write to them to judge them or try and save their souls. Nor did I jump all around waving a flag trying to get the American Presidents attention, because I believed that my penpal 'Joe Smith' was innocent because, he had such lovely penmanship and a fantastic sense of humour. This isn't my point, the point of the website I had, was to educate people regarding capital punishment.

It has been proven time and time again, that killing people to teach people not to kill, simply does not work. There is also the other issue where a number of inmates have been executed and then only after their execution, they have discovered that the inmate was actually innocent. Or how about those inmates on death row who have some form of mental health issue or intellectual disabilty? In any other country they would be sentenced to serve time in a psychiatric facility, but not in America. In America they lock them up then strap them to a table and stick a fatal needle in their arm. 

Some readers may think that I'm anti-American or an United States basher. I'm not, America, like all countries has some very good points. America is also one of the world leaders, other countries look to America for direction. It's just a real shame that America can't lead the world in capital punishment reform. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against prisons or locking offenders up. I believe if you do the crime, you do the time, I don't believe in execution. I've heard many non-victims say it brings closure, however there are many victims of crime organisations out there that state that even after viewing an execution, it brought no closure to them. Some of these victims of crime organisations are actually against capital punishment, as they have found that it's a total falicy to believe, that to take a life because another life was taken simply doesn't work. I've also heard people say 'if it happened to you, you'd want them executed'. Actually I wouldn't. I'd want them locked in their cell, I'd want them to loose their freedom.   

So why am I writing about capital punishment now? Well I just recently decided to write to an inmate on death row. Again is he innocent? I don't know, I wasn't there. What I can say is that I have looked at his legal paperwork and he wasn't given a fair trial from the get go. He was coerced by the police when he was arrested - this is documented, the police also threatened to harm his family if he didn't admit guilt - this is also documented. He was also denied access to a lawyer, despite requesting a lawyer twice - again this is also documented. 

He's been on death row for 10 years, some inmates are on death row from anywhere between 10 - 20+ years. I don't know if he'll get off death row, transferred to a life sentence or executed. But in the meantime I'll keep replying to his letters, and try and stay as positive as him and hope that the American President calls for a moratorium on capital punishment. Killing is wrong, it doesn't matter who's doing it.

I have started a separate blog in which I will continue to discuss my thoughts and feelings on Capital Punishment. It can be found here.

A Week Of Flames

Well we've had a shocker of a few days in NSW, fires have ravaged through parts of our state leaving hundreds of people without homes to return to.

In the map above, I have underlined our suburb in red. The pink dot I have added is where the fired started. The wind was blowing the fire towards us...

This is what it looked like from my backdoor. All we could see was plumes of smoke rising into the air.

We were lucky, the wind changed and blew it back the other way. But if you look at the burn pattern and size.... If the wind hadn't changed direction - that fire would have engulfed our suburb.

We have friends in other parts of the state, namely The Blue Mountains area where they are on high alert and have been warned that they need to be prepared to evacuate.

Some of these fires were lit by hot and windy conditions where power lines arced. However, unfortunately other fires were lit by firebugs. The fire in our area was lit by a 26 year old male who was charged with arson, he confessed to lighting 21 other fires. He was also part of the Rural Fire Service! The fire was under control for a period of time, then two 16 year old males were charged with arson after they re-lit the area....

In another part of Sydney a 12 year old girl and a 13 year old girl were also charged with arson after being caught trying to light a fire in a public nature reserve. 

There isn't any rain predicted for a while, and tomorrow is supposed to be hotter with more windy conditions. I can't believe that we are experiencing such fires so early. It's true that Australia has some shocking fires every year due to the large amount of bush land that we have. However, most of our fires occur in Summer..... It's only the start of Spring and we've already had days that have broken temperature records..... I don't want to think about what Summer may bring. 

Roadside Memorials

I saw a video clip this morning on Facebook regarding roadside memorials. It was originally aired on 15/10/13 on Today Tonight, which I don't actually watch. The segment discusses that the state of Queensland will be removing all roadside memorials, and that the Shepparton Council in Victoria would place a 12 month time limit on these memorials. The Shepparton Council has also stated, that if the family of the deceased member wants the memorial to stay in place longer than 12 months, they need to apply for a permit.

I have to say I have always been in two minds over these memorials. . . I don't know if these are just an Australian thing or if families and friends of people killed in vehicle accidents across the globe erect them.

I guess the easiest way for me to explain why I am in two minds regarding these memorials is to list both sides of the coin:-

For The Memorials

- Perhaps to some degree, they do indicate a certain piece of road that is potentially dangerous, especially to drivers unfamiliar with that part of the road....?

Against The Memorials

- I understand that they are erected due to a tragic death. However in saying this, if a family member died tragically or suddenly at home ie drowned in a pool or fell from a roof, would the family of the deceased person erect a memorial where they died in the house or property? I'm guessing not.

- Family and friends who have erected these memorials, say that it's a place to visit and remember their loved one.... I don't want to sound harsh, but isn't that the purpose cemeteries?

- One argument is that they are distracting to drivers. Personally, this has happened to me. I remember not so long ago driving down a local road, when all of a sudden I noticed one of these white crosses had been newly erected, and yes I turned my head, this was my own fault. However, if they want to use the 'it's a distraction drivers' card..... Then remove all of the roadside advertising that drivers are bombarded with everyday.

So I guess I'm more against, than for the memorials. I've never had a family member or friend die in a road accident (and I hope I never do), so it's hard for me to walk their shoes. But if I were to try an imagine it, I couldn't see myself erecting something on the roadside. In fact I would probably do the opposite and avoid driving down that road so that I didn't have to be constantly reminded. 

In saying all of this, yes we all deal with grief in our own ways. Some of us cry, get angry, withdraw, and some people erect memorials. Who's to say what's right and what's wrong? 

This is the Today Tonight video clip if anyone wishes to view the segment.