Arrium – Page 2 – Edgar's Page

Sands of Time..

13/10/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Me in my Daddy's car — Me in my Daddy’s car

Yes it did rain and we did have some high wind but not quite as bad as was expected. However, it looks like two good driving days to and from Adelaide this weekend. I have had to explain to people why an “Urgent Meeting” takes two weeks to organize. Firstly the rule states that seven days notice must be given and secondly people have to gather not only from across the State but also the representatives from Queensland. The actual meeting is less than a month away but this is business that is too important to be left to that meeting therefore this extraordinary meeting had been called. However, that’s good because it gives me a day in Adelaide to do any shopping that either I want or Annabell wants. The meetings are always on a Saturday and always at 9 am so in order to be there on time, I need to be down a day before, which gives me the day in the city to do what I want. People generally don’t understand that these rules and regulations were written mainly for a European style urban organization with large gatherings of people – suited to the United States, Canada and the Eastern States of Australia. It falls apart somewhat when you have a small and scattered population such as we have in South Australia

Saturday was a glorious day and I was down at the beach as I said. The day was organised by the director of the Whyalla Players and was a promotion for the play (Musical) Mary Poppins. People were just asked to be at the foreshore about 1pm and bring an umbrella with them. I

enjoyed the photo shoot but I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of people. Yes there were enough people to make it worthwhile, but the lack of numbers saddened me, considering the outstanding success of their last production “The Phantom of the Opera” They have been rehearsing for about seven months now and it’s a big production with many singers. After the photo shoot, which was covered by the local paper and the area television station, I drove up Hummock Hill and took some photographs of the area, including one of part of Arrium. The State-wide blackout and the loss of power has cost Arrium dearly. The employees have taken a further 10% pay cut so it’s getting close to the bone and there is not a lot more the workforce can accommodate and still survive. The reason that this was accepted was that it’s better to take a hit and try to manage with less, than try to manage with nothing at all.

I am just a tad frustrated in that this knee seems to be taking a lot longer to recover than I had anticipated. It is still slightly swollen and I still have some residual pain at times and I am not the most patient of people. I am getting out and about and I will be driving to Adelaide, but I have come to accept that during my day in Rundle Mall, I think I may have to have that infernal cane with me and do my best to cope with this niggling pain. Grrr ………

The Echocardiograph was good and everything seems to be in order. I am told that there is a very tiny leak in one of the valves , but nothing to be concerned about. I wont be waiting in line for open heart surgery any time soon.

Two weeks after the blackout and power has finally been restored to most of industry – considering the millions lost by Arrium and the Steelmill, it’s small comfort. Even less of a comfort is the fact that not only is South Australia in decline and being run by a government that have no idea what they are doing, it wont take much more to send Whyalla into decline. The state of the economy, a government and organizations that cannot think of anything further than Bolivar, the uncertainty of Arrium and associated industries and we have a shopping centre that was once promoted as the Largest Regional Shopping Center in South Australia – outside of Adelaide – that is heading towards a tipping point with close to one third of the shops closed and empty. Now, comes the news that at the end of this month another large business will close its doors – more unemployment and an empty (Large) shop. The business – Radio Rentals. Unlike Dick Smith, RR is not going under, it’s just closing its store here through high rents and lack of business.

Nearly back to Normal.

06/10/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Some of the blame game and the complaints have started already with truck drivers unhappy with the closure of Port Wakefield. Also the Port Wakefield service stations have lost a lot of

money this long weekend. Anyway, one of the complaints is that the authorities were too hasty in closing down access to Port Wakefield despite the fact that the water continues to rise. The weather cleared and there has been an aerial inspection of the damage to the power pylons. In this area alone there were six pylons bent and twisted like children’s toys and overall there were 23 destroyed or damaged pylons in the system. And just to make life interesting – another storm is bearing down on us and should be here by late Monday / Tuesday with an estimated 100mm of rain – Oh Joy!! However, the bulk of the main storm has now moved into Victoria and New South Wales. On the subject of these two States, South Australia is very, very thankful for the teams of Emergency Workers that have crossed the Border to help us out, assist in the clean-up and give our emergency crews some much needed rest. Considering there are state wide floods in both Victoria and New South Wales, the help is more than appreciated. There is to be an investigation into the State-wide blackout and why 1.7 million people were left without power – some for 25 hours and some still waiting for the restoration of full power – Arrium, Port Pirie, Port Lincoln and Roxby Downs for instance. Arrium is just holding things together with limited power. The way things are going in South Australia these days I think we will soon be singing the Depression Song:

Once I built a railroad and made it run

Made it race against time

Once I built a railroad, now it’s done

Brother, can you spare a dime

When Chienne died last year and it was decided that I would get another dog, I made it clear that I wanted a mature dog, not a puppy. I said about 5 or 6 years old would be good. I looked at this Diego (Now Benji) and he at five – going on six , seemed to fit the bill so I travelled to Mount Gambier to have a final look at him and bring him home. Now I know I have gone through this before but bear with me – there is a point. I adopted him and brought him home and Annabell decided that she should give him his name and chose, Benji. We decided that he should have a birthday, and since we had no idea (no papers-on way) when he was born the date of his adoption was chosen as his Birthday. Last Tuesday, the day before the storm, his final papers came from Victoria and I learned that he was born on the First Day of May 2013. In other words, he was a puppy, really. Not what I wanted at all. But although I didn’t really know the difference, my Vet never corrected me or said anything that would lead me to believe me I was wrong and that he was much younger than I believed. However, the rescue group is a small scale operation and funding is what they can raise, so they wouldn’t have the resources to do any investigation and probably accepted what they had been told. What is for sure is that if his real age had been known, yes, it is very possible I would have passed him over and looked for something else, but the universe has a way of arranging these things and I stopped, looked and having looked long enough, I knew he was for me. I did buy him a Birthday Present for tomorrow so I will still wrap it up and give it to him.

There was a very rare occurrence here during the week. A set of smaller fingers got onto my computer – which I had foolishly left open – and wrote comments on several places. Then, having been found out attempted to delete everything as she had been shown in school. I have no idea where she went or what she did, but I will wait and see if there is any fallout and correct and apologies where I can – if I can.

Sun is shining, birds are singing, trees are in blossom – it’s spring!! And – it be 33c in our little corner of the universe. Blue skies for the remainder of the week :o) This time next week – on the way to Adelaide – will probably rain!!

Winter rain cometh!

16/06/201616/06/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

It would appear that the “Parcel”thing may well have been some sort of scam. What the purpose of it is or was, we have no idea but it

would seem several people across the town received such an email. Anyway, it has been deleted but it seems such a strange thing without any definable purpose. After we dropped Andrew back at his place yesterday, he apparently continued to work on the cleanup after we left. Andrew’s house is an older house – actually it is two houses joined together – professionally done – and he has rooms everywhere inside and sheds and garages out the back, a cubby house and what used to be a home office – similar to mine. There are trees and bushes planted out front and they have been allowed to become overgrown. To the right of the house (left of the main garage) there is a water outlet, which feeds water into a “river” that runs along the front of the house, under a bridge and ends in a pond at the left side of the house. Over the years the bushes have become overgrown, the river is clogged up and the pond is full of leaves and branches. We discovered solar lights and gnomes fishing there. Andrew has not really done much since it’s only in the last seven months or so that he stopped running back and forth to Roxby Downs – the big South Australia Mining Area – ( he’s a Systems Engineer) and settled in to home. So he has this project of cleaning everything up and getting it all back together again. He says he has reservations about getting the water flowing again, but he does want the “riverbed” cleaned up. Me? I would go all out to get the water flowing again, but that’s just me. I had a waterfall here and it grieved me when we discovered that it had deteriorated too much to be put back into use. But I did work on it and turned it into a sort of rock-raised flower bed. But these things are not uncommon here – many people built water features in the days when water was water and plentiful. Most of them would have been turned off forever when water ceased to be water and became a major source of State Government Revenue – and South Australia has the highest water costs in Australia. We also have the highest gas prices, the highest power prices and the highest State Government charges. We are in the process of building the third most costly building in the world- the Money Pit known as the New Royal Adelaide Hospital. But we have a spendthrift government – and I believe Arrium is merely an example of a system, which might not quite be broken, but has bits falling off it. It’s a borrow and spend culture.

I have started to do some work on the back garden. Shared my ideas with No. 1 son and he was not too impressed. He thought my ideas were good but some parts were too big for the available

space. Anyway, I’m working on it. I have emptied and moved the first of the two sheds and I hope to have the second one moved to its new location sometime today. (didn’t happen)

Thursday 16th: That was yesterday and today the rain is pounding down outside and the lightening is lighting up the sky. Rain was definitely on the weather forecast for today. At the moment I can only hear – it is still too dark to see anything yet. And yes, you may assume that we did not go out for our morning walk. Call me a wimp if you will, but walking dogs in the middle of a rain storm, with the accompanying thunder and lightening, does not fit into my definition of a good morning’s exercise :o) However, I will go and check up on the WaWa – Benji is curled up asleep. – as is the WaWa.

To add to the gloom of the place, our Mayor – Mr. Jim Pollock – died and his funeral is this coming Monday.

Disappointment, hospital and garden disasters

05/06/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

email Emails are the strangest things. If you send a nasty message to an address you will have a reply with in the hour. If, however, you send an email that requires a 10 second “yes ” or “no ” response to the same address, the chances of a reply are fairly remote. Strange that!! I was waiting for an email that never came and I fear is unlikely to come now. Oh well, things happen – or in this case, don’t! Disappointment aside, it has been a busy week visiting people in hospital and one in Palliative Care. Accident in town and elderly lady killed in a car collision. Actually as a passenger she survived the collision but died in hospital. Car accidents and rushed to hospital are not great for an 85 year old. Don’t know if anything happened yesterday but the Royal Flying Doctor Service flew in late at night. There is still an air of – depression is too strong a word – but more a feeling of unease about the future. Many people, despite the assurances in the press, don’t really trust what they are being told and although there seems to be more orders, four and a half billion dollars, is a lot to try and pay back. Also the company is up for sale and the fact that the good Arrium is be sold off first leaving the steelworks and the South Australian Mining Operations – which are the loss makers in the business – to bring up the rear and whoever thinks about buying the steelworks and the mining operations will have to consider the massive debt that goes with it. The administrator believes that the company will be on the market in July and that the steelmaker could have a new owner by Christmas. There are interested parties – so we are told – but six months before we know anything.

For a number of reasons the back garden is not a place to wander in the dark. It is so overgrown now that I fear for my safety. I think there might be lions in there hiding in the undergrowth. Between a whole host of things I have let it become very neglected. I would show you photographs but I wont because it is so bad I am ashamed to let anyone see it. Even when I brought in the

How blue the water looks. This is the Spencer Gulf. Not my photograph — How blue the water looks. This is the Spencer Gulf. Taken from the Hill. Not my photograph

workman to give me a quote to clear it and I explained to him what I wanted done. Anyway he did give me a quote which I found quite reasonable, so, he is coming with his equipment to clear the place and take everything back down to the bare earth. Once that’s done I will then decide what I want done with the area. I have plans – well ideas more than plans – but it will mean a trip to Adelaide (Bunnings) to get the things I want. Why not shop locally, after all we have three big hardware stores here? Very simply they don’t have what I want, whereas I know Bunnings do. Ho yes they can order it but it takes ages and costs more and then they slap on a delivery charge. Much better to empty the trailer and go to Bunnings – yes, it’s a 370 mile round trip, but worth it.

I have another funeral to prepare for but at least I have enough time to get things set up, printed and collated. It will all have to be done on my printer again and I will have to charge for the ink – it’s too much otherwise. With any reasonable luck we should have the church photocopier repaired and returned by the end of this week. But once again almost an entire ream – 400 – printed sheets and there was some wastage this time – I printed some sheets in the wrong sequence – oops. Busy few days with the workmen coming on the Tuesday and the funeral on the Wednesday. The photograph is the Whyalla shore taken from the Lookout on the Hill. I think it was taken only a few days ago when we had some sun between the rain. I took some photographs down at the wetlands of the birds and the ducks. Haven’t sorted them out yet. Benji is having a hard time at the moment. We have not been out for a walk this morning. I will detail this in another post.

Ladies Brunch & Cancer Support

28/05/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Wednesday: Yes it’s still Wednesday and it’s still wet. It has been raining for most of the night and it’s still raining now. Needless to say Benji and I did not go out for our morning walk. If it stops during the course of the morning I will take him for a walk around the wetlands – staying on the bitumen, of course. At the moment it is pretty heavy with no sign of any let up. Mind you the forecast did say rain today and there you are – it’s really raining

There is a dispute ( like we need more!?!) with the decision tea02 to break up Arrium and sell it off. The State government, whilst not entirely opposed to the idea, expressed the view that Arrium should be sold as a whole, not broken up, it stated this morning that if anything in the sale was to the determent of Whyalla or SA then they would pull the tax-payer funded support package. Love this State Government it so inspires confidence! Today is Friday and it’s still raining off and on and tomorrow – Saturday – the ladies hold the “Presbyterian Ladies Brunch” which raises funds for the local Cancer Support Group, which is based at the hospital. Much of the funds raised by various groups goes to a central place in Adelaide and not all that much ever comes back here. Like others we were doing this whilst our local support group struggled but then the ladies decided that this was not right so they stopped supporting organizations that do very little for the local community and instead they wanted to keep the funds they raise local to benefit local people – much of which is breast cancer. I was in favour of that since Annabell went through all this some years ago when they discovered a lump, which after several tests and biopsy, turned out to be a benign cyst. It was very scary for a while. The local people

were very supportive. The Session Clerk went through the same only hers turned out to be cancer.

I am generally a scones and butter person but I have been told that scones and honey is very tasty so I am going to take some honey with me tomorrow. Well, I will be there from start to finish and then help with the clearing up. Not sure but I think the Scones and Honey might by an Easy suggestion. Speaking about Easy, I think Easy and his staff are still having a difficult time with the spread of the strikes and disputes – according to the news, France is not all that pleasant at the moment. I remember what life was like before we left Scotland – Miner strikes, Rail strikes, Transport strikes – power cuts. I remember going to the newsagent every day to get the paper because the centre pages

contained a map of the city and highlighted the areas that would be affected by power failures that day and night. Annabell and I and a baby went through similar problems, Easy, so we have a bit of an idea what you are going through. In Scotland army units took to the street because the garbage men were on strike and that was the only way we could keep the streets clear and stop any spread of disease. The month after we left to come to Australia, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister.

Attendance was down this year and a rough estimate is about $840, but given the industrial climate at the moment, this was to be expected. We believe some families have already left for other places. Still it was well attended and everyone was quite happy. We had a small table with Gluten Free food option and that went well. No one ever leaves our table feeling that haven’t been fed :o)

Things Fall Apart

24/05/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Having got the car home at the weekend I booked it into the garage for repairs and service on Monday afternoon. It was returned to me yesterday afternoon ( Tuesday) repaired and serviced. It was mainly ignition problems which meant a new ignition coil assembly and a new set of high tension ignition wires. A few things besides plus a general service and new spark plugs. So the car seems to be running well, but no trips for a little while. I did call the clerk and asked if there were any papers I needed to have or anything I need to be aware of arising out of the meeting I missed. He will send me copies of the paperwork and I’ll send him copies of the Annual General Meeting Report. I know that one of the issues discussed was the introduction of SKYPE as a means of conducting the meetings. I objected to this last time it came up and I will object to it again, and fortunately, I am not alone in this. Those who advocate Skype do so on the basis of use for small meetings or the fact that they call their children inter-state several times a week and the system works well. Yes it does for small meetings and for individuals but in our case I do not believe that Skype should be used as it is a poor substitute for face to face meetings and useless in determining the overall mood of the meeting and at times body language is as important as the spoken word in determining the mood of the meeting. Anyway, that’s part of my view and I have no doubt the issue will be raised again in August.

The news from the Administrator of Arrium, however, is not quite so good. It is now generally believed that Arrium will be broken up and sold off. Much of the Arrium holdings are profitable but the steelworks is running at a loss and is responsible for much of the current debt. The University of Flinders have produced a projected model of the consequences of the demise and loss of the steelworks to the region and the State. The immediate consequence would be the loss of some 3500 jobs, but then there are the suppliers and contractors and the businesses that supply Arrium locally – about 4000 jobs locally and regionally – so overall about 7500+ jobs. The financial consequences to Whyalla and surrounds would be the loss of half a billion dollars in revenue. The consequences to the State is estimate at $800 Million in lost revenue. But according to Arrium there are two sides to Arrium – the good Arrium which has mining interests and two electric arc

furnaces on the East Coast that produce steel products and makes good profits selling these to the construction industry. The Bad Arrium is the Whyalla Steelworks and the South Australian Mining Operations that are burning cash faster than the Good Arrium ( Moly-Cop) can generate it. One of our major hotels has closed down and gone into liquidation as a direct consequence of the Arrium Debacle – it was the preferred hotel for visiting staff, for Arrium Functions and various courses. It had become dependent on Arrium for the majority of its business and revenue, so when Arrium went into administration the hotel lost its main source of revenue. The banks are – at this stage – opposed to any plan that means the closure of the Steelworks – understandable self interest. What has been calculated is the proposed loss of revenue locally and State, but what has not been calculated is the loss to the banks – the actual money owed by Arrium aside. There are hundreds of families, these families have mortgages, have loans, have credit cards. If the steelworks were to close and all these people were without jobs – and given the state of Arrium it would be unlikely that they would get anything near their redundancy entitlements – people unable to pay their mortgage. What happens? does the bank take control of this property? Well yes, I guess so. Does this then mean that the banks now have millions of dollars in property that no one wants- well can’t afford. Given that in the late 1970s / early 1980s when BHP Steel were in trouble – the shipyards closed and the steelworks contracted, we went from a population of 36,000 to about 23,000 – the same could happen again. The Administrator suggests that the South Australian operation s – Steelworks and Iron Ore Mines – could be up for sale in July and he hopes to see Arrium out of the hands of an Administrator by Christmas. I sincerely hope so.

Mount Gambier Part 1

28/04/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I was reading up about the wawa recently in the and the page on the History of the breed began with the words “If you have ever had a Chihuahua then you know that they are not hard to love at

all ” and I couldn’t help thinking to myself – Not this one – this is the sister of the wawa from Hell who currently resides in Arizona and who had another go at me last night. Fortunately I got my fingers away in time. I tell you, it’s going to be a long four/five months. On the other hand, Yogi goes home tomorrow and I will be sad to see him go – he has really been no bother at all to look after and as I said before after a few territorial adjustments Yogi and Benji have got on very well these last two and a bit weeks.

Talking to Andrew last night and some things have been sorted out at Arrium. Andrew is back in there again to continue on with the original contract,( which has been restored) but the Administrator is really going to have to do something about the management culture at Arrium which uses all sorts of tactics to avoid paying bills for as long as possible. This, in part, accounts for the fact that suppliers are owed so much money and some of these supplies are vital to the continued operation of the plant. If the administrator does not sort this culture out then it leaves the door open for this whole drama to repeat at some future date. I also think some members of the management have to realize that SA stands for South Australia, not South Africa. Today is ANZAC Day and for the first time in many years I did not attend the Dawn Service. Yes, I set the alarm; yes I did get up and dressed, but two faces looked at me expectantly and were quite excited because this was the time I usually take them out. My logic was that the Dawn Service will be crowded, no one will miss me and I really should not be going to MacDonalds for Breakfast afterwards, and I delivered the ANZAC Service at Church on Sunday; so yes, I put on my jacket, put on the leashes and the three of us went out together and I thought, “that’s as it should be!”

Tomorrow will be my last morning walk with Yogi and when I come home I will have to gather all his gear – bedding etc., and have everything ready when he gets collected. It has been interesting with the two dogs walking and tonight it will be just me and Benji again.

Urgent email arrived late last night to inform all members of the Commission that there is no accommodation within 50K of Mount Gambier. This is due to the ANNUAL Jazz Festival which takes place on that weekend. I put the word annual in capitals to emphasise it since the Mount Gambier people who arrange all this should have known that the Jazz festival was on that weekend and

The Lady Nelson - Mount Gambier — The Lady Nelson – Mount Gambier

either changed the venue or altered the date of the meeting. There is nothing in Penola and I am not going to Naracoorte (109K). I have tried a number of places and I still have two to answer this morning – Dartmoor and Nelson. both across the border in Victoria. Heck at this rate I could have just about driven to Melbourne and back. Nothing available at Nelson but I seem to have managed to get accommodation at Dartmoor Vic., which is about 55k from Mount Gambier. That’s not too bad. I can still visit the Sailing Ship The Lady Nelson and the Umpherston Sink-hole Gardens on the way through to Dartmoor although I am so glad it’s Dartmoor Victoria and not Dartmoor England. However, if I get there and I meet anyone called Baskerville I’m out of there !! As far as I can see for a small rural settlement it has a lot of interesting things to offer and I hope my camera is kept busy

Could we start again, please?

24/04/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The first creditors meeting was held the other day and the term “Business as usual” was challenged with one supplier suggesting that means he keeps suppling to
Arrium and Arrium continue not to pay him. Already he is owed $700,000 and on these figures he wont survive for much longer. He was only one creditor and there are many that are owed a lot of money by Arrium and if the company is to survive the suppliers have to keep up with supplies, but still not get paid – yet. One supplier has said that he will supply until he reaches the stage where he has to borrow money to pay his people – then he will pull out because he is not going to allow his business to go under for Arrium. On the other side there is a suggestion that with profits of over $35 billion a year, the Robber Barons could write off the $1.8 Billion owed by Arrium. However, taking into consideration the Bank love of money ( we only made $6 billion this half year ; we’ll have to increase charges and close down a branch or three), this is unlikely to happen. There will be another Creditor Meeting in four weeks and that will be the crucial one – at least that’s what the talk is. There is still a great deal of uncertainty and some people have lost jobs due to a downturn in sales as people are restricting their spending.

The WaWa we are looking after for a few months

This is our last weekend with three dogs. Friends return on Tuesday so we hand Yogi back. It’s been a good two weeks and after a bit of initial territory disputes, Benji and Yogi have got on very well together. It has been interesting to take them out walking and watch them walk side by side – like brothers :o) We had Benji at the Vet the other day. Nothing serious; just that I noticed him limping when we were out walking so I wanted it checked out. I sort of knew what the problem was and really I just wanted it confirmed. He’s fine but we believe at some stage a toe on his back right paw was damaged or broken and this has caused the nail/claw to grow at an odd angle, which, as he fills out is causing a bit of discomfort when he’s walking. We will keep a close watch on that nail/claw and ensure that it is cut often and if it gets too much then we can think about surgery and have the claw/nail removed. And yes, he is a tad overweight – 600gm. With Yogi gone, this will bring us back to two dogs. If anyone has any ideas about what to do about a constantly yapping wawa, my nerves and I would welcome your suggestions.

Most of today (Saturday) I was involved in a fund raising event for the RFDS. We did fairly well I thought. No idea how much we raised but

The toy at the bottom of the steps behind the wawa is the hand puppet

it was a reasonable day and I was glad to see that people are still supporting us. However we were steady but not as busy as we have been in the past. My son is still continuing with the Local Office and at the moment things are being sent up to him, but the long term outlook is that he will have to move to Adelaide, although the major problem will be his house. The chances of getting it sold are remote at the moment – and probably for some time, so Adelaide could be problematic.

I have been “playing”with the wawa – sort of. Sooha left a whole bunch of toys, one of which was a hand puppet. I was able to put that on and play with the wawa for a while until Benji thought enough was enough and I was paying too much attention to this female “it’s my daddy – not yours” She is still yappy but she is starting to settle down a bit more now but still very “protective”of Annabell, and that’s probably a good thing. I can touch her and scratch her ears, ( the dog, that is!!) but I am still very wary of her.

I have just about completed the front area with the 20mm Tregalana stone and the two raised flower beds. There is an area behind me (where I took the photograph) that is under the shade of a tree and I’m thinking it might be a good place to put in a third raised bed with ferns. I think there is enough shade for them to survive. I need to be sure because ferns are expensive here. Going through my very strange mind this last little while has been a song from J.C. Superstar and the words:-
“I’ve been very hopeful so far,
Now for the first time I think we’re going wrong
Hurry up and tell me, this is just a dream
Or could we start again, please?

Our woes continue

15/04/201615/04/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Do not believe anyone who tells you that small dogs – such as a small Chihuahua (short coat) are a push over. Having had this little one for 36 hours I can tell you that her teeth are like needles. I am just praying that a) she settles down soon and b) that we don’t run out of bandaids for my poor fingers. I understand – it is scary for her, her momma has gone, she is with strangers and they have a great BIG dog ( well to her he’s big) and this is a scary big place. I did feed her this morning and although I got a ‘back off’ kind of a growl, I did managed to scratch an ear without having my fingers covered in blood again. No they are not big bites, her teeth might be as sharp as needles but fortunately they are not big and besides I bleed a lot.

Sunday and she is starting to settle down and perhaps tomorrow I might remove the bandaids. If nothing else it will help in not having to type words twice due to the mistakes I am making because of the bandaids on the tops of my fingers- and stop laughing, this is serious!! Anyway, from one to three dogs in one fell swoop. Benji, Kongsoon and now Yogi, Benji is, of course, our boy, Kongsoon is the little one that we have taken in and Yogi is a friend’s dog we are looking after for a week or so. I hope I survive. It’s just unfortunate timing. We had arranged to take Yogi months ago, but the collapse of Link Engineering and the problems with Arrium meant that people lost jobs and we took in Kongsoon because her family has to go back to South Korea and re-apply. Link Engineering was their sponsor and their employer. They could have re-applied here but the danger with that is that if it was refused they would have to leave the country and be unable to reapply for three years. By going back to South Korea on their own and re-applying there, if it is refused, they can apply again in six months. Immigration rules I do not understand..

Some of the subcontractors and suppliers are back in the plant but others who have biggish projects have had their contracts terminated by the Administrator because in the present climate he cannot justify the expenditure. Logicamms is one of those. Logicamms have contracted for a new large project in Adelaide and Andrew will be doing work for that. At the moment material and design specs will be sent up but that’s only short term – long term they want Andrew to consider re-locating to Adelaide. There has been what has been called a Bloodless Coup at Arrium. The Company (Arrium) appointed its own Administrator and he has been working with the the government, the local community and the creditors to stabilize Arrium and see what can be done to keep the company operating. The banks and the AWU (Australian Workers Union) were unhappy with this and, despite being warned by the government to stay out of it ( which they ignored) moved in, sacked the Arrium appointed Administrator, appointed their own Administrator and, in essence, seized control of the company. Robber Barons – generally known as Banks – and a Union working together – that’s scary. The contractors are still in limbo and some are owed many thousands of dollars. Everything is an absolute mess but the new administrator is moving to reassure everyone that the intentions are good and they have the future of the company and the city as their foremost concern – but it’s still a mess and the creditors, mainly the banks, are pushing for a forensic investigation of the Arrium Board’s financial accounts.

** Arrium’s wrathful lenders are working to convince the steelmaker’s latest administrator to bring forward a forensic investigation of the company’s accounts to assess whether or not there are grounds to pursue its past management or board of directors. The agreement between “incandescently furious” debt and bond holders and The Australian Workers’ Union that resulted in Monday’s change in administrators is said to include a concession that will bring forward a forensic assessment of the Arrium accounts.** From the Financial Review.

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