Ned"s Head

[petersj]

Peter I go on a bit about musical theatre as its my passion. Judd Fry was in Oklahoma but you are right Carousel was set in a carnival. Both shows had wonderful scores.

And yes the central character was not what you would call a good guy. It was actually quite a brave show having a central character Billy Bigelow being very flawed.

The only thing that makes the show questionable is that his girl seems to accept him beating her.

[franfran]

[quote name='PeterJMelb' timestamp='1317189903' post='35294']May I ask how goes the new Government in NSW?[/quote]



Well, so far O'Farrell has invented a $5.2 billion "black hole" in the budget, budgeted for $400 million less in infrastructure spending, cut the western Sydney roads budget: $195 million, is purchasing is less buses than last year, two rail projects are gone, he has increased mining royalties and cut services and support for child protection, carers, preschools and pensioners. I can't recall the details, but there have been talks of selling off Sydney Ferries and the Kurnell desalination plant.



Oh yes - he has promised to create about 50,000 jobs a year (interestingly, CommSec predicts long-term growth of 60,000 jobs a year) - and get rid of thousands of public servants.

[franfran]

[quote name='PeterJMelb' timestamp='1317272024' post='35303']Well there should be plenty of jobs for the public servants that are redundant.[/quote]



I'll let you know what happens if I get made redundant.



[quote name='PeterJMelb' timestamp='1317272024' post='35303']One imagines if so much infrastructure is stopped then not much need for all the public servants.[/quote]



But you need people to run what is left. Anyway it's more a case of reducing spending on infrastructure rather than getting rid of it.



[quote name='PeterJMelb' timestamp='1317272024' post='35303']Does the desal plant produce water or is it a white elephant?[/quote]



Yes. It's a white elephant that produces water. It is able to provide up to 15 per cent of Sydney's water supply and, under Veolia's interim agreement with Sydney Water, it is paid for water produced by the plant and is also paid $12.7 million a month to stay available. The plant is switched off if dam levels are 80% or higher. There have recently been allegations that the government is manipulating dam levels, by allowing water to run off in order to keep levels below 80% to improve the privatisation proposition for the plant.



[quote name='PeterJMelb' timestamp='1317272024' post='35303']Well do the busses run anyway?[/quote]



Yes, they do, but if there's no program in place to replace ageing buses, it's only a matter of time before they don't. 261 new buses sounds good, but It's spread over four years and is to cover both government and private buses.



[quote name='PeterJMelb' timestamp='1317272024' post='35303']Hey at least you don't have many (if any) level crossings that stop all traffic at the worst possible times.[/quote]



In the metropolitan area I don't think there are many crossings. The only one I can think of on a busy road is on the Parramatta Road (Probably the second busiest road in Sydney) between Clyde and Granville, where the Carlingford line crosses the road.

[franfran]

[quote name='PeterJMelb' timestamp='1317367618' post='35321']Perhaps you will see some improvements after a couple of years.

[/quote]



I haven't seen any yet, but I'll keep an open mind on that for now. O'Farrell does seem to do things very slowly though - it might take him the whole four years to get started...



[quote name='PeterJMelb' timestamp='1317367618' post='35321']Do you think you will escape the cuts?[/quote]



The department won't, but I'm hoping I will. I don't enjoy job hunting....



[quote name='PeterJMelb' timestamp='1317367618' post='35321']I think Melbourne has about 170 level crossings.

Not replacing them costs millions every year.[/quote]



I knew Melbourne had more level crossings than Sydney, but I didn't think there were that many. I have no idea how many Sydney has, but I posted a question on a Railway forum, so hopefully I'll find out.



Is the cost you mention due to accidents or lost productivity because of delays in traffic?

[petersj]

I find it hard to be very inspired by any one in politics these days.

So I am just reading and enjoying.

[petersj]

Your fab comments. But frankly Peter apart from Bob Brown I have no respect for any of them any more.

[petersj]

I wont go down the Bob Brown argument again. But I adore him.

Moving right along



lol,

Do you recall the Wild cherry cafe?

[petersj]

way off topic but I thought it was wonderful.

Sometimes adults like us and our leaders should listen to this marvelous girl!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQmz6Rbpnu0

[petersj]

The Wild Cherry was a cafe in Collins street. Ladies were dressed beautifully. It was charming. Alas such institutions are gone for ever.

[franfran]

[quote name='Frances' timestamp='1317369434' post='35323']I knew Melbourne had more level crossings than Sydney, but I didn't think there were that many. I have no idea how many Sydney has, but I posted a question on a Railway forum, so hopefully I'll find out.[/quote]



Well, there have been a few replies to my query now. In summary, the replies tell me that:



There never have been as many level crossings in Sydney as in Melbourne, mainly due to the terrain, Sydney being more hilly.



There was a big push under the Wran Government in the late 1970's and early 1980's to get rid of most of the level crossings.



It depends on how you define Sydney, but the numbers are something like this:

12 on the Richmond line

2 on the South line

1 on the Carlingford line

1 on the tram museum's private line (still a level crossing on a major highway)



Wollongong still has quite a few level crossings many still without boom gates or electronic controls, such as the one just to the immediate South of Dapto Station.



http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11363948-s0.htm

[franfran]

We usually head up to Windsor or sometimes Richmond about once a month (although having said that, we haven't been there in the last eight or nine weeks). The Sunday markets at Windsor are well worth a visit - aside from all the other stalls, there's a man who sells fruit and vegetables next to the water wheel. Much better quality than you get in a fruit shop - and he has some heirloom varieties too from time to time.



Here are some photos I took a couple of years ago. Sorry about the quality, but my old mobile phone had a pretty crappy camera....















And, aside from the markets, there are some interesting shops there too.