Little red sedan

We were coming up the Kuranda Range on Thursday this week after spending a few hours in Cairns on appointments and were glad to be going home as we were soaked to the skin and tired.  The monsoonal rain was starting to cause real problems, even just parking was a trial and several times we had to step into ankle deep water getting in and out of the car. 

About three quarters of the way up the range, which winds like a switchback up over the mountains for 20+ kilometres, there was a small red sedan in front of us.  Suddenly just over the top of a rise and out of the blue the driver put the left flasher on and slammed on the brakes there and then in the middle of the lane.  I was a sensible distance behind it but there was a car coming up in the lane beside me at greater speed.  I couldn't see out of the back window as it was so misted up and the rain was lashing down.  I managed to brake sufficiently and let the faster car in the other lane keep going but I came very close to swinging out in front of him and only just saw him appear in time.

Little red sedan nearly caused a 3 car pile up for which, no doubt, the weather would have been blamed in the news report.  Why, oh why, do people do things like that?

Yesterday, Friday, it was even worse on the roads and we were glad we hadn't had to go down to Cairns on that day.  One car went over the edge of the Kuranda range and another was swept off the Gillies range at Pete's Bridge which we had only gone down on Thursday.  Fortunately the first driver didn't have any serious injuries and the second one manage to leap out of her car before it went floating down the river and sank.

Yesterday we were cut off from going into our nearest town which is only 3 klms away as the river was up over the bridge but it went down later in the day.  We've had water rising up in the workshop floor downstairs which must have a faulty and probably illegal concrete slab and we've had water coming through the ceiling above the kitchen and above a lounge room window.  Fortunately we don't own the joint and one good thing that has happened is that we've probably found how the tree frogs get into our toilet which is also downstairs.  So goodbye tree frogs, much as I like you, I don't want any risk of you taking one of your phenomenal leaps on to my nether regions!

You've gotta wonder!

I came out of the Woolworths shopping centre in Atherton yesterday and as I walked back to our car I heard a very small dog barking in a car.  I followed the sound to a red Land Rover Discovery and saw there was a small blonde coloured chihuahua shut in it.  I returned to the centre and found the caretaker inside the doors and she followed me out and took down the details of the vehicle and returned to the centre to broadcast it on the public address system.  I waited to see what happened and as I stood back in the centre of the car park I saw a woman approach the vehicle with a shopping bag.  She didn't look directly into the car but looked around as if looking for someone.  I walked up to her and asked if it was her vehicle.  She said it was and that her husband must have taken the dog out as it wasn't there anymore.  I pointed out that the dog had given up barking and was in the next stage of heat distress and was in the foot well on the passenger side.  "Oh yes" she said.  I told her that it was I that had reported the dog in distress and she told me that the windows were open and it was parked in the shade.  I drew her attention to the fact that the windows on either side were open 1cm and that only the front of the car was in the shade of a tree.  She appeared not to know that it was a criminal offence to shut a dog in a car on a hot day and as it was about 30 degrees celcius according to the bureau of meteorology I didn't know how she could dispute this but she did.  I said that a dog could die in a hot car in 10 minutes and he said that she had just come from Georgetown and did I know what it was like there.  I failed to see the connection between Georgetown and Woolworths car park in Atherton but she pursued the theory that there is a connection.  She said the dog had survived 13 years so it was hardly likely to die in the heat of her car that day.  Again she brought up Georgetown and had I been there.  Her husband arrived as I was walking away and she pointed out that it was me that had reported the dog in distress.  She called out "see you later" and I said "I do hope not".  In future I will have the numbers of local police stations in the phone and I won't be bothering with caretakers, even though this one did do her job.  The full force of the law for the next one.

Fish and Chips

Yesterday we decided to have fish and chips at the fish shop in a well known Mall in Cairns.  If you can picture a very open fish shop that has fresh fish and shell fish behind the glass counters and the situation is on a corner inside the Mall.

I waited for my turn and asked the older female assistant for Spanish Mackerel and chips as displayed on the signage behind the counter.  The alternative was Barramundi and chips.  The prices were clearly marked.  She told me that I'd have to order that round the corner.  So I duly walked round the corner, noticed the signage behind the counter that was identical in offering and price to the one on the first side.  She followed me to the around the corner counter which adjoined the one I had already ordered at.  I said I'd only ordered from the sign behind her and she commented that was "Sunday's offering".  And also "what would you like to order".  "This", she said " is today's offering" (today being Saturday).  I couldn't keep a straight face and placed the same order.  She didn't flinch.  She would have done if I hadn't restrained my already cyclone stressed self.

I think she should make friends with the woman at the truck stop in Murrurundi who admonishes anyone who asks for a "flat white coffee" with the retort that she has checked on the internet and it is actually "white coffee you want".  Be aware that "flat white" is an Australian phenomena but as she is in Australia and serving Australian truckies, surely it would be only polite to go along with the majority.

On top of this treatment of customers as though they are an inconvenience, I would like to add that I am tired of large retailers who stock their shelves during the day.  At one time this was done at night after closing.  It provided many people with part time jobs that were convenient for them when a partner was home to look after the children etc etc.  Now we have to try and navigate with trollies past massive yellow stepladders, pallets in the way and staff that are by and large, oblivious to the struggling shoppers.  What are the shops for?  To provide service to the customers or work for the employees.  How about both and we work out who should do what and when.  BigW please take note.