progress – Edgar's Page

On the way back from hospital this afternoon I pulled in to the Wetlands to see how the bridge was going. Glad to say that the bridge is now in place but there is a lot of work to be done on the “Approach Roads” on either side. I still think the Forth Bridge was built faster. This could take a while because of the other news. Things are going from badder to worser !! In the wee small hours of the morning, when the whole wide world was fast asleep, some people broke into and raided the Council Depot making off with a large quantity of steel. ** stop laughing, this is serious** According to the newspaper report they – whoever ‘they’are – helped themselves to a quantity of steel valued at over $3500. I didn’t know we were so short of steel around here that we have to resort to lifting it from the Council Depot. I can think of many things that one could steal if one was that way inclined, but steel would not figure in that list, but then who knows why people steal things.

I am progressing fairly well and although there seems to be some bruising that has developed in the upper thigh area, I expect that’s fairly

Setting up the "Approach Roads"at the new bridge — Setting up the “Approach Roads”at the new bridge

normal given the nature of the operation. I am able to move a lot easier now and I have actually been out driving with the Benji. Cannot take him out walking quite yet but I can have him in the car with me and he’s happy with that. He likes being in the car – which is just as well at the moment. The difficulty is not driving, the difficulty is getting in and out of the car :o) I went down to the church today and helped a little with the Annual Fete. Couldn’t do very much but did what I could and sat down a lot.

I went for my follow up visit to the surgeon this afternoon and he is pleased that everything seems to be progressing well. There will be some residual pain for a while but in about 4-5 weeks it should have

cleared completely. I am walking a lot better than I was a week ago and the bruising I was told came from the tourniquet that was used on my upper leg. Other than that, it’s all good. I am just so very disappointed that the garden has been neglected for a while, but once I am active again I will soon bring it back under control and get on with the work I was doing. Apart from which it has been raining a lot this past week or so. Adelaide coped a bashing and took a month worth of rain practically overnight. There is damage and widespread flooding in and around the city. I understand Victoria, or parts of that State anyway, is also taking a bit of a beating, and once this front is clear there is another not far behind it. Welcome to Spring!! What you see here is the damage to one of the major roads through the Adelaide Hills and this is going to be out for several months. We are untouched. I think this system went below us hitting us with heavy rain that our storm drains were able to cope with. I understand there are flood warnings for areas of

Victoria, Bendigo, Ballarat and several other places. I hope Bev and the Doc are ok.

For the best part of a year, the council disrupted traffic around the place during construction associated with their project to ‘ Green the City”. Thc concept was that water pipes would be laid down everywhere, connected to a drip feed system and the runoff water and associated waste water, all treated, filtered and recycled, would be used to water plants and trees that would be planted once the project was completed. Well it was completed at the cost of over $6.5 Million, grasses were sown and trees planted. Six months later most of the grass is dead and most of the trees are dead or dying. Why? What went wrong? Well the system that the council chose was not the best (the cheaper option), the filtration system didn’t live up to expectations and allowed algae to penetrate the system, clogging up the water drip outlets, so no water. Also, the council decided to plant ” Native Trees” – branch dropping, bark shedding, shallow rooted, fall down at the drop of a hat, trees. The council have this bee in their bonnet about planting native trees everywhere because ” it’s the green thing to do – plant trees that are naive to this area” The trees that are native to this area are ugly and not good in an urban setting. ( think more of big overgrown bushes rather than real trees) Loxton, a town similar to ours with a similar rainfall and climate, carried out a greening project and started by getting rid of all the native trees. They replaced them with “exotic” trees (anything not native to the area is exotic) and as a result they now have a fresh green, leafy and a more pleasing aspect to their town whilst ours still looks like what it is – a dry, dusty community perched at the edge of the desert. And before you ask, yes there was vegetation there to start off with but all that was bulldozed and dug up for the new greening project- now it’s empty, dry and dusty with dead trees and dead grasses and a drip system that doesn’t work — gollee isn’t progress wonderful!! Can it be fixed? Yes, of course it can and it will only cost an additional half million. Will anything change – probably not since council is dominated by greenies who can’t see past native anything. Ok that’s my rant for the month :o)

I wonder if the Druids would still have held trees as sacred if they had beheld the trees we have around here – native trees, that is. Myall trees are fine in the correct setting but this is not it If I could I would get rid of the one outside, but it would cost to much to have that done and to just do it would cost even more in court fees and fines for cutting down a tree without permission.

Took the dogs out for a walk last night and had a jacket on. It has been cold these last few days and still is this morning. Rained last night.The temperature is not expected to go higher than 24-25 for the remainder of this week again.

Tag: progress

Stormy Weather. Welcome to Spring

The Druids held trees as sacred.

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