A couple weeks ago I noted that Mobil in Wanniassa were selling petrol for about 20 cents per litre less than most other fuel outlets in Canberra…sadly this is no longer the case.
Whilst they were selling unleaded for 94.9 cents per litre on Wednesday morning, they have now shot back up to $1.259/litre along with pretty much everyone else.
All good things must come to an end.
Samuel
January 30th, 2009 at 05:20pm
An interesting article (I’m hesitant to call it an article considering that more than 50% of it is a quote from Chief Turnip Jon Stanhope, however I’ll let them off the hook as the article proves a point, and it can be horribly difficult to abridge the unwieldy sentences of the Turnip) from CityNews this week in which Jon Stanhope calls on the federal government to allow paid parking for commonwealth public servants:
CHIEF Minister Jon Stanhope will be campaigning hard this year to get paid parking introduced into the parliamentary triangle and all areas managed by the Commonwealth.
It’s one of his agenda items for 2009 to get a positive outcome for the ACT in relation to equity in paid parking.
Ahh yes, “equity in paid parking”, the cornerstone of his re-election campaign…or to be serious for a moment, an instant election-loser of a phrase. Thankfully for our esteemed Turnip, much like his amazing school closures, it’s quite early in his term and people will forget by the time 2012 comes around.
On the subject of the school closures, this sentence really does sound familiar:
None of us like paid parking, but this is a question about equity between employees and it is also about the Commonwealth Government accepting the responsibility and take the hard decisions that need to be taken in relation to [..]
I seem to recall Jon Stanhope going on about “the tough decisions” after his government so badly mismanaged the budget that they felt a need to close 39 schools.
Anyway, back on topic, what are this week’s tough decisions about pay parking in aid of? The Turnip’s sentence continues with the answer…
[..] climate change and the development of sustainable transport systems
Jon, let me ask you this. Why do shopping centres have parking spaces dedicated to employees when a heap of bus services run past said shopping centres? It’s not because people unpack their fold-up cars as soon as they hop off the bus, it’s because they drive to work despite the paid parking…any why do they do this Jon? Because your government continues to mangle the bus service.
I have some more ideas which I should write down about the bus network in Canberra…but my top thought at this moment for the Chief Turnip or anyone in the ACT government who will listen (and that probably narrows it down significantly) is this: Why is Gungahlin excluded from the intertown service?
Back on topic again, and my point is that people will continue to drive simply because it is more convenient to do so. This paid parking for commonwealth employees nonsense has nothing to do with climate change, and everything to do with raking in more money…who knows, if they put in enough meters, they might be able to afford another awful sculpture by the side of the road.
Samuel
January 30th, 2009 at 01:23pm
Remember these two gentlemen?
It’s Paul Blunt and Leighton Archer hosting 2CA’s breakfast show, on the day of 2CA’s 75th birthday in 2006. At the end of 2006 the duo split with Paul leaving the station and Leighton staying on at 2CA and doing a number of jobs. Leighton left in October last year.
The reason that I bring all of this up is that I was tempted to write this article midway through last week when I noticed that Paul Blunt had returned to Canberra from Light FM in Melbourne, taking on the Drive (2pm-6pm) shift and the Acting Music Director role at Mix 106.3. Leighton returned a couple weeks ago and has been 2CC’s and 2CA’s traffic reporter.
On that basis alone it makes for a somewhat interesting story, but there is a new twist to it which has come to light in the last day which makes the whole thing even more interesting. 2CA have announced a change to their lineup for 2009…Ilija Dugandzic (afternoons 1pm-4pm and Music Director) has resigned, and will be replaced by, you guessed it, Leighton Archer. Leighton returns to 2CA in February.
In terms of playlists, I think it’s fair to say that 2CA’s immediate rival is Mix 106.3, so it’s rather interesting that the former “Breakfast Boys” are now “Afternoon Adversaries”. It’s such a pity that I don’t have access to the raw ratings figures as it would be interesting to see how the trend lines go on this particular battle.
I suppose this means that ATN will be looking for another traffic reporter…pity in some ways, Leighton sounded quite excited by the chaos of the traffic on many occasions, and I haven’t heard many Australian traffic reporters who sound excited about what they’re reporting.
Anyway, a belated “welcome back” to both Paul and Leighton, it’s good to have you both back on Canberra’s airwaves.
Samuel
4 comments January 24th, 2009 at 09:50am
I tuned in to 2CC at 2:30 to listen to Murray Wilton filling in for John Kerr, but all I got was dead air. Upon checking the 2UE webstream I discovered that they were in the middle of an ad break, so it was quite possible that the break hadn’t been fired off locally for one reason or another, however when 2UE returned from their break, 2CC were still out.
Satellite issues perhaps? Check the 2AY webstream…Murray Wilton, half a second behind the 2UE stream. We did just have a storm pass through Canberra and it’s possible that it confused the satellite decoder, but normally that only affects the audio and not the pulses.
I wonder if I’ll hear the news at 3am? It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Fairfax Syndication somehow managed to kill 2CC’s feed for the hour, although I would expect 2AY to be affected as well if that were to happen. If there’s no news at 3am then I might be interested enough to leave a radio on and see how long it takes for some audio to grace the 2CC frequency…even the emergency tape would be nice.
On the bright side, the one station in Canberra that I can resuscitate is on-air, so I don’t need to leave the house.
Update 3am: Time pips, news intro and the news. Well done Fairfax, I assume that you fed silence to 2CC for the entire 2am hour. End Update
Further Update: It has been brought to my attention that this was probably caused by heavy rain corrupting the signal, causing the satellite receive at 2CC’s end to change channel. The receiver would have then changed back to the correct channel just before 3am when control signals told it to do so. End Update
Samuel
January 24th, 2009 at 02:56am
Mobil on Ashley Drive in Wanniassa are currently selling unleaded petrol for 91.9 cents per litre, which is about 20 cents cheaper than most other petrol retailers in Canberra, including various other Mobil outlets.
It’s a pity that I needed petrol earlier in the day…
Samuel
January 18th, 2009 at 10:50pm
I see that Summernats head honcho Chic Henry is setting a good example:
Police catch Summernats founder speeding
January 2, 2009 – 1:05PMThe public face of the Summernats car festival – organiser Chic Henry – has been chastised by police for speeding through a Canberra street on day one of the event.
Police issued Mr Henry with a formal warning after he was clocked doing 77km/h in a 40km/h zone outside the Summernats venue, AAP has learned.
Police let Mr Henry off with a warning because the street – Flemington Road in Mitchell – is usually an 80km/h zone.
It has been temporarily reduced to 40km/h for the annual event, which kicked off on Thursday.
Mr Henry was not fined and will have no points deducted from his licence.
It could just be me, but isn’t being aware of your surroundings and changes to road conditions part of driving? And wouldn’t the Summernats organiser be aware that the road just outside the event is having its speed limit reduced for Summernats?
It’s unfortunate that Mr. Henry was speeding as he does generally try to set a good example for the attendees of the event…unfortunately the Police, despite their public bleating to the contrary, have just set an example of “ignorance is an acceptable excuse for bad behaviour”.
I can’t wait to see the number of people who see Chic Henry getting away with speeding and decide that they can get away with it as well.
Samuel
3 comments January 2nd, 2009 at 02:24pm
As I noted earlier this week, from the 15th to the 19th of December I will be working for 2QN and Classic Rock in Deniliquin.
As it happens, 1WAY FM’s breakfast host James Scott will be taking leave for four weeks starting on the 15th. Obviously I won’t be in town during the first week of his absence, however from the 22nd of January until the 9th of January I will be in town and filling in for James. This will include Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
So, it’s a week of news in Deniliquin, during which I will be taking unpaid leave from my “day job” in Canberra, and then three weeks of Breakfast on 1WAY FM, which conveniently coincides with shifts which don’t occur during the morning at my “day job”.
I might be pushing myself a bit to cover a breakfast show and maintain my “day job” for those few weeks, but I think it will be fun. I’m considering putting in for leave for late January or at some stage in February anyway…but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Samuel
1 comment December 5th, 2008 at 07:15am
2CC and 2CA are streaming at long last, and the sound quality is pretty good.
2CC are currently streaming in Windows Media Audio 9.1 format at 32 kbps, 22 kHz, stereo 1-pass CBR which is more than ample for talk radio, and sounds a lot better than most other talk radio webstreams in the country.
2CA are doing even better with a Windows Media Audio 9.1 stream at 128 kbps, 48 kHz, stereo 1-pass CBR. I’m quite happy with this sound quality too.
At this stage I can see mentions on the 2XL and SnowFM websites of streaming, but the streams aren’t working for me at this time.
None the less, I’m very happy that I can now listen to 2CC and 2CA from outside of Canberra without hooking a radio up to a computer at home and running Shoutcast. Very happy, and I’ll treat it as an early Christmas present. Thank you Capital Radio Network!
Samuel
2 comments December 4th, 2008 at 07:20pm
I noticed last night that Operation RAID, referred to by the ACT Police as “Australia’s largest traffic operation” is in full effect. I had the pleasure of being pulled over twice last night and passing through another RBT site without being pulled over.
The first time that I was pulled over was at a static RBT site on Northbourne Avenue between the Barton Highway and Antill Street, a clever spot on what is otherwise a straight road, as it’s about the only place along there that they wouldn’t be spotted from a distance. It looked like they were enjoying themselves, although it was rather amusing when the police officer doing the licence checks didn’t notice that I was wearing glasses and asked if I was wearing contact lenses…stopping himself halfway through his sentence when he looked at me again.
The officer conducting the breath tests had a bit of a chat with me while he waited for his breath testing machine to reset, and then after a little while longer decided to send me on my way without testing me because it was going to take another twenty minutes for the machine to reset. Apparently the driver they tested before me had been drinking, and it takes a while for the machine to return to providing accurate readings afterwards.
I passed another RBT site on the Tuggeranong Parkway near the Sulwood Drive intersection a bit later on, but got past them without being pulled over. When I ventured near Northbourne Avenue again, they were gone, so it’s possible that it was the same people on the Tuggeranong Parkway.
On my way home, I was pulled over on Antill Street by a patrol car that seems to be lurking, awaiting people to drive past so that they could be screened for alcohol. A quick licence check and breath test and I as on my way again.
In semi-related news from a weekend press release, I would like to offer my best wishes to the female police officer who was injured in an accident on Hindmarsh Drive yesterday whilst on her way to an emergency call. I hope that she has a speedy recovery.
Samuel
November 24th, 2008 at 09:06am
I considered “A Dream Coming True?” and “About Bloody Time” as titles for this post…in the end I decided against them, but they deserve a run anyway.
Word reaches us from the MediaSpy forums that the Capital Radio Network will have functioning webstreams as of December 21.
The quote from an unknown source claims that this will be for “the whole capital network”, so with any luck that will include Eagle FM Goulburn and Snow FM Jindabyne which I think are good examples of the CHR (Current Hit Radio) format done the way it should be done.
That said, I’d be happy enough with just the Canberra stations as a stream of the Mike Jeffreys Breakfast Show would be very useful for the last few hours of my night shifts…I’d probably be too busy to listen to Welshy live, but I suppose I could timeshift him. A 2CA stream also sounds quite appealing.
And suddenly my fear of having to deal with withdrawal symptoms if I ever leave town is tentatively dissipated.
Samuel
1 comment November 21st, 2008 at 03:57am
This is a receipt (minus EFTPOS details):
There’s nothing particularly special about it…after all it is the same as just about every other receipt which I have received from there, which makes me wonder why I have never noticed the bottom line before:
Ah yes, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon has invaded the point of sale systems at Caltex Woolworths Weston and ensuring that everyone receives his famous complimentary farewell.
I think this calls for a song.
Samuel
November 12th, 2008 at 03:38pm
And as such, is not a sabbatical, although I will admit that “Blog Sabbatical” would be a snappier title.
I have to wonder if my absence was a mistake, especially considering the detrimental effect that it had on the ACT. Clearly missing my sound judgement and influence, Canberrans went mad and doomed themselves to four years with four Green Party MLAs in the Legislative Assembly wielding a dangerous “balance of power” sword. Perhaps if I had spent more time prior to the ACT election blogging and podcasting about the dangers of letting the Greens have any power then we wouldn’t be in this situation.
A tad egotistical? Well maybe, but when you consider the effect that I had on the ACT election when I decided to wield my influence, you would have to consider the evidence compelling. For example, I wrote about Labor candidate Mike Hettinger breaking a Labor promise and a mere handful of hours later, the Labor Party powerbrokers froze his campaign funding. He also failed to win a seat, quite possibly on the back of my noted disappointment that “Mike has decided to try to become part of a Labor government that he has previously accused of using policies which are against “core Labor values”.”
More of my influence could be seen at work in the election count when my number one preference, Liberal candidate for Molongolo Jeremy Hanson, secured a seat in the Assembly. My second preference, Liberal Leader Zed Seselja, also secured a seat, although the power of my influence on that one is debatable.
None the less, I did fail in my duty to “warn, warn and warn again” the Canberra public about the dangers of a Greens dominated government, and before I explain where I have been for the last little while, I shall take this opportunity to humbly apologise for my lack of warning in the leadup to the election. The detrimental effect of my absence is quite clear, and I’m sorry. I’m starting to think that my previous idea of organising a fill-in blogger during future absences would be a very good idea.
Anyway, the question of where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing has come up a few times during my absence, both in comments on this blog and in emails sent directly to me. There has been a fair bit on my plate recently. I have been back at work for a couple months or thereabouts, I’ve been volunteering at 1WAY FM since late August, primary as the panel operator for Open House with Sheridan Voysey and local weather presenter on Sunday nights, but also doing some production work, co-presenting/producing the ACT election coverage and filling in on the odd air shift. I’m also continuing my work with AIR News, albeit on a much reduced scale due to my personal time constraints…I may be about to increase my workload there if it fits in or around the rest of my schedule.
Ultimately, all of this has taken so much of my time and effort, and considering that I have delved in to all of this off the back off nearly burning myself out by working myself in to the ground, I have had to work out what the right balance of work and rest is again…enough so that I don’t go completely mad from not having enough to keep my active mind entertained, but not so much that I don’t have any time to unwind. Some of this involved a (not quite as) gradual (as it could have been) return to the rigours of work, although another important step was my conscious decision to return to the anti-depressants which, as much as the side-effects can be annoying, have been prescribed for a very good reason, and it’s quite clear to me that I struggle quite badly without them.
That, admittedly, is a very abbreviated version of the last few months, but it seems to sum it all up reasonably well.
For now, I’m back on the blog and will hopefully be back on Editorial Echoes shortly.
I have a written editorial on the US election which I’m working on at the moment, and I expect it to be online tomorrow. In the meantime, it’s great to be back, and I hope that you haven’t all missed me too much.
Samuel
5 comments November 2nd, 2008 at 07:51pm
A few day ago, ACT Labor pledged pledged to “release no new policies on grandfinal day and would not run political advertisements on stations broadcasting the game, for the duration of the game”. Perhaps it’s just me that sees it this way, but it’s my opinion that the lower grade grand final matches count as “the game” as many people spend the majority of their day watching and enjoying each of the three games.
As such, I’m very disappointed that Labor candidate for Molongolo Mike Hettinger was advertising his vision for a “greener Canberra” during the half time break of the NSW Cup grand final. I’m already disappointed that Mike has decided to try to become part of a Labor government that he has previously accused of using policies which are against “core Labor values”. Sorry to burst your bubble Mike, but (deliberately) bringing them down from the inside doesn’t work when you’re a backbencher.
Update 4:28pm: There’s another one! I wonder if Mike received the communiqué as he seems to be the only Labor candidate running ads today. End Update
Update 4:42pm: Somebody just said to me “but the Liberals are advertising too”. True, but the Liberals didn’t promise to not advertise, whereas Labor did. End Update
Samuel
October 5th, 2008 at 12:21pm
As I mentioned earlier this morning, 2CC are broadcasting from Bunnings Warehouse in Fyshwick until midday. I went down there with my inflatable Bunnings hammer and my Bunnings hat, and they appeared to be having a good time.
Pete Davidson, Graham Robinson, Karen of Bunnings Fyshwick, and the fill-in Garden Gurus
I was also pleasantly surprised to see Scott McGregor from television shows such as Better Homes and Gardens who was there to present two French polishing demonstrations.
The crowd for Scott’s 10am demonstration grew slowly over the hour, although the man eating the sausage sandwich (who also happened to have a notepad for taking notes which might be useful in his table restoration efforts) and I were there for the full demonstration.
This photo didn’t quite work, but Scott was quite energetic during the demonstration so I think it fits.
The demonstration went on for about an hour, which is probably longer than it was supposed to, but it didn’t really matter as Scott and the crowd (myself included) enjoyed it.
And by 11am, Scott had finished an abbreviated restoration and polish of the door of an old meter box.
Incidentally, Scott has just finished a documentary for the History Channel on the history of Australia Post. I don’t have access to the History Channel, but I will be buying a copy of it on DVD from Australia Post when it goes on sale. I’m looking forward to it.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the visits of some other 2CC listeners that I know. A bus driver friend turned up just after 9am, and Lillian and her husband, retired Dickson College canteen managers, turned up to see Scott McGregor after hearing about his demonstrations on 2CC. Lillian and her husband recently stayed at Scott’s “Ruwenzori” railway carriage based resort in Mudgee.
Samuel
August 30th, 2008 at 12:06pm
Goes to Norvan Vogt, Community Alliance Party candidate for the ACT Election
In the past 4 years the upkeep of our city has been sacrificed for some bizarre ALP social experiment and it has to stop.
Well said Norvan.
Samuel
August 29th, 2008 at 12:24pm
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