I am trying to be a little tricky today and use my little Dell notebook computer to write this post as I am currently in the western NSW town of West Wyalong. I don’t actually have an internet connection but I am using something called “Windows livewriter” to type up the post, save it and hopefully deposit it on my blog page when I get home tomorrow.
We will see how clever I am when I have access to the web again!
West Wyalong is Linda’s hometown and her mother still lives here and we haven’t seen her since Christmas so we have made the 290km jaunt across for the weekend. She is getting on quite a bit and starting to slow down so I don’t mind spending the weekend over here.
I’m sure my mail centre friends who read my posts will keep it to themselves but I blew off work yesterday, taking the traditional Australian “sickie”. Not something I’m particularly proud of doing but I have a life outside of Australia Post which is far more important than anything I do at work so AP can suck it up.
One can only imagine the hue and cry that would go up if the management team thought I was trashing the company brand on my blog and I daresay I would get hauled over coals under the much cherished “Code of Ethics” guidelines but I am past worrying about such things and after 25 years I don’t really care anymore.
I should have done the right thing and tried to get a day shift or a leave day but it is like pulling teeth trying to do either and in the end it is easier just to take the day off. In a way I guess I was sick. Sick of work!
So I took the opportunity yesterday while waiting for Linda to come home to extend my daily walk to take in the entire length of the ridge that runs from Wanniassa past Fadden and through to Macarthur.
It took me over two hours to complete the journey and being a little underdone fitness wise and with the walk stretching past my usual lunchtime I was starting to get a little weary by the time I got home.
Linda arrived home about 4pm and we were on our way within half an hour or so.
I don’t usually drive around at that time of the day during the week as of course I am nearly always bedded down in the mail centre making sure the public are getting value for money from the postal service so the rush of peak hour at that time comes as a shock when you are not use to it.
The usual brisk drive along the Tuggeranong Parkway became a crawl as we drove along one of Canberra’s major arterial roads at 8 kilometres an hour!
I thought there must have been a crash or a bottleneck forming as several roads come together at the bottom of Black Mountain, spewing hundreds of cars a minute into the spaghetti like interchange which will take you to the City or Belconnen, depending on your destination and ability to pick the right lane.
However, after a few kilometres travelling at a snails pace the speed of the traffic picked up and the congestion cleared and we were soon on our way again at more acceptable pace although we never quite figured out what had caused so much congestion in the first place!
So we managed to get onto the Gunghalin Drive extension without anymore trouble although a fellow in a big flat tray ute chose to muscle up on me as I exited onto the Barton Highway. He was in a hurry and was quickly around me but was held up by a car towing a big trailer which had also moved into the right hand lane to pass slower traffic.
Behind this car was a Holden Commodore followed by our friend in the big ute who must have been a very friendly fellow because he seemed to want to get to know the driver of the Commodore very well! He was very close and things were getting a little dangerous as it was taking the car towing the trailer some time to get around the slower moving traffic.
I decided discretion was the better part of valour and as we were approaching a major roundabout at peak hour I felt it was better to back off and let the others go through as they please, lest there be any problems.
I only heard the screeching sounds of tyres trying to grip the bitumen in the throes of coming to a sudden stop and didn’t see the collision but saw the aftermath.
A little Indian woman coming from Belconnen and trying to get through to Gunghalin had bunny hopped her way into the roundabout and had suddenly and obviously come to the sensible conclusion that she wasn’t going to make it.
Unfortunately our friend in the white Commodore had jumped on the brakes and the friendly fellow in the ute having nowhere to go had run straight into the back of the preceding car, the bumper bar of the ute making a stunning indentation and surely causing a write off.
The fellow in the ute escaped any damage due to the bumper bar but I am sure he had some explaining to do when the constabulary surely arrived. It certainly sobered me up and I spent most of the rest of the three hour journey to West Wyalong being caught and passed by drivers who obviously have more confidence in their driving ability than I do in mine.
We stopped at Young for a bite to eat then continued on through the back roads, traversing the sleepy, time forgotten towns of Bimbi and Quandiala, arriving at West Wyalong just after dark.
West Wyalong itself, although a major service centre where three main highways meet is a little time forgotten itself. A walk down the main street reveals rundown buildings and empty shops and it would certainly do no harm for the local council to invest in a bit of infrastructure.
The town seems full of younger people thanks to the nearby mine that opened some years ago so it has a demographic that is favourable to it’s future but on the surface it is quite a bleak place.
It’s in stark contrast to other major towns in the region like Cootamundra and Temora where there has been a significant effort to improve streetscapes and tidy up the place and make it fit for visitors. Maybe they just don’t care in West Wyalong.
So it was an uneventful couple of days in West Wyalong. Linda’s mother was happy to see us and I think she had a good weekend with us there.
After sleeping in and having lunch at the local bakery we were soon on our way back to Canberra. I drove nonstop but apart from a difficult section of road between Boorowa and Yass the drive is quite easy.
So that was my weekend, away from the hubbub of Canberra and with a sneaky little extra day tacked on the front. I’m sure that will be no problem.
I started this post in West Wyalong and I am finishing it in Canberra and it has spanned 300km and three days so that is quite a unique post for my blog. Please forgive me if it doesn’t make sense!
I will now try to download it off my notebook and onto my blog page. I will be upset if I lose it after all this effort.
Hope everyone enjoys their first day of the working week. Until next time.
We will see how clever I am when I have access to the web again!
West Wyalong is Linda’s hometown and her mother still lives here and we haven’t seen her since Christmas so we have made the 290km jaunt across for the weekend. She is getting on quite a bit and starting to slow down so I don’t mind spending the weekend over here.
I’m sure my mail centre friends who read my posts will keep it to themselves but I blew off work yesterday, taking the traditional Australian “sickie”. Not something I’m particularly proud of doing but I have a life outside of Australia Post which is far more important than anything I do at work so AP can suck it up.
One can only imagine the hue and cry that would go up if the management team thought I was trashing the company brand on my blog and I daresay I would get hauled over coals under the much cherished “Code of Ethics” guidelines but I am past worrying about such things and after 25 years I don’t really care anymore.
I should have done the right thing and tried to get a day shift or a leave day but it is like pulling teeth trying to do either and in the end it is easier just to take the day off. In a way I guess I was sick. Sick of work!
So I took the opportunity yesterday while waiting for Linda to come home to extend my daily walk to take in the entire length of the ridge that runs from Wanniassa past Fadden and through to Macarthur.
It took me over two hours to complete the journey and being a little underdone fitness wise and with the walk stretching past my usual lunchtime I was starting to get a little weary by the time I got home.
Linda arrived home about 4pm and we were on our way within half an hour or so.
I don’t usually drive around at that time of the day during the week as of course I am nearly always bedded down in the mail centre making sure the public are getting value for money from the postal service so the rush of peak hour at that time comes as a shock when you are not use to it.
The usual brisk drive along the Tuggeranong Parkway became a crawl as we drove along one of Canberra’s major arterial roads at 8 kilometres an hour!
I thought there must have been a crash or a bottleneck forming as several roads come together at the bottom of Black Mountain, spewing hundreds of cars a minute into the spaghetti like interchange which will take you to the City or Belconnen, depending on your destination and ability to pick the right lane.
However, after a few kilometres travelling at a snails pace the speed of the traffic picked up and the congestion cleared and we were soon on our way again at more acceptable pace although we never quite figured out what had caused so much congestion in the first place!
So we managed to get onto the Gunghalin Drive extension without anymore trouble although a fellow in a big flat tray ute chose to muscle up on me as I exited onto the Barton Highway. He was in a hurry and was quickly around me but was held up by a car towing a big trailer which had also moved into the right hand lane to pass slower traffic.
Behind this car was a Holden Commodore followed by our friend in the big ute who must have been a very friendly fellow because he seemed to want to get to know the driver of the Commodore very well! He was very close and things were getting a little dangerous as it was taking the car towing the trailer some time to get around the slower moving traffic.
I decided discretion was the better part of valour and as we were approaching a major roundabout at peak hour I felt it was better to back off and let the others go through as they please, lest there be any problems.
I only heard the screeching sounds of tyres trying to grip the bitumen in the throes of coming to a sudden stop and didn’t see the collision but saw the aftermath.
A little Indian woman coming from Belconnen and trying to get through to Gunghalin had bunny hopped her way into the roundabout and had suddenly and obviously come to the sensible conclusion that she wasn’t going to make it.
Unfortunately our friend in the white Commodore had jumped on the brakes and the friendly fellow in the ute having nowhere to go had run straight into the back of the preceding car, the bumper bar of the ute making a stunning indentation and surely causing a write off.
The fellow in the ute escaped any damage due to the bumper bar but I am sure he had some explaining to do when the constabulary surely arrived. It certainly sobered me up and I spent most of the rest of the three hour journey to West Wyalong being caught and passed by drivers who obviously have more confidence in their driving ability than I do in mine.
We stopped at Young for a bite to eat then continued on through the back roads, traversing the sleepy, time forgotten towns of Bimbi and Quandiala, arriving at West Wyalong just after dark.
West Wyalong itself, although a major service centre where three main highways meet is a little time forgotten itself. A walk down the main street reveals rundown buildings and empty shops and it would certainly do no harm for the local council to invest in a bit of infrastructure.
The town seems full of younger people thanks to the nearby mine that opened some years ago so it has a demographic that is favourable to it’s future but on the surface it is quite a bleak place.
It’s in stark contrast to other major towns in the region like Cootamundra and Temora where there has been a significant effort to improve streetscapes and tidy up the place and make it fit for visitors. Maybe they just don’t care in West Wyalong.
So it was an uneventful couple of days in West Wyalong. Linda’s mother was happy to see us and I think she had a good weekend with us there.
After sleeping in and having lunch at the local bakery we were soon on our way back to Canberra. I drove nonstop but apart from a difficult section of road between Boorowa and Yass the drive is quite easy.
So that was my weekend, away from the hubbub of Canberra and with a sneaky little extra day tacked on the front. I’m sure that will be no problem.
I started this post in West Wyalong and I am finishing it in Canberra and it has spanned 300km and three days so that is quite a unique post for my blog. Please forgive me if it doesn’t make sense!
I will now try to download it off my notebook and onto my blog page. I will be upset if I lose it after all this effort.
Hope everyone enjoys their first day of the working week. Until next time.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 