The Geographical Names Board doesn’t favour the use of the four points of the compass, north, south, east and west, so  north should be given the flick despite being used by Woolworths supermarket and other shops there.

 We need to come up with a new name for the whole area that fits the locality and please don’t suggest Woolies or Macca’s.

We’ve got rid of east, west and south Orange so now north has to be put to rest before it’s too late.

There’s lots of historical names that could be used but Paterson is really a lay down misere because the northern neighbourhood is close to where he was born and it would add to Orange’s promotion of our best known poet.

So, how about it councillors?

DRONES, those unmanned flying things only slightly larger than a dinner plate, have taken off, so to speak, but are beginning to cause all sorts of problems, including privacy ones.

People are worried these small airborne camera carriers will spy on them in their backyards and peek in their windows.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is also concerned drones will become hazards being flown near passenger aircraft.

Online retailer Amazon has been testing the use of drones to deliver packages directly to people's doors although that’s still a long way off.

 The plan is you order something and within half an hour a drone using satellite technology lands in your backyard, drops the parcel and takes off again.

Police are also looking at using drones in crime detection while real estate agents are already having a field day with the things taking photos of houses, and in one case a few days ago, a women sunbaking in her backyard.

Animal liberationists used a drone to spy on free-range chook farms on the central coast to see if farmers were breaching codes of practice.

But these flying marvels can have a positive use.

You’re at home with a few friends and you run out of beer so a call to the pub could have a drone on the way with a six-pack hanging off the bottom.

The possibilities are endless. Books from the library and butter, bread and milk from the supermarket, all delivered by air.

But you shouldn’t hold your breath.

In the meantime you can buy model drones from a string of Orange electrical, automotive and toy stores starting from as little as $59.95 and get some practice flying treats over the fence to your neighbours.

THE price of oil might have crashed but the benefits haven’t hit the bowsers at Orange petrol stations yet and no doubt won’t.

 In fact, our present prices of around 149.9c a litre for unleaded is only a few cents cheaper than what we’ve been paying the past few months.

In Sydney motorists at Werrington can fill up for 124.9c a litre at Caltex Woolworths, a whopping 25 cents cheaper than us, or around $13.75 for an average fill.

Cabramatta BP is charging 125.9c a litre while Parramatta motorists are paying 127.7c so why are we being ripped off?

But then we poor people in the bush don’t need cars, do we?

ORANGE has welcomed the much-needed rain we’ve had but our cherry growers are doing it tough because it’s damaging their top quality crops.

Canobolas Road orchardists have been chartering a helicopter each day to use as a giant fan to dry the wet crop by hovering just over the top of the trees.

It’s an expensive exercise but Ed Roweth says they had to do what they could to try to save the cherries from splitting.

It’s really no fun being an orchardist.

IT'S certainly the silly season.

Santa recruitment people have told their trainees that “ho ho ho” could frighten children and be derogatory to women because it was too close to the American, not Australian, slang for prostitute.

Instead, the Santas were advised to lower their voices and say “ha ha ha”.

And there’s other ways the do-gooders are attacking poor old Santa.

They say he’s unaware of good nutrition and the need for exercise because he's overweight and has rosy cheeks, the sign of an alcohol problem or high blood pressure.

 He also breaks into houses at night and exploits flying reindeer for transport.

 Who’s going to save us from these dills?

OH dear.

A pig walks into a bar, orders 15 beers, and drinks them.

The bartender: “Would you like to know where the toilet is?”

“No,” says the pig. “I’m the little piggy that goes wee-wee-wee all the way home.”

DRIVERS who swing open their doors after parking in Summer Street have had them hit by passing vehicles and in a few cases torn right off.

It’s easy to see why it happens because people just fling open their door to jump out without even looking to see if there’s cars coming.

The other morning a milk van parked in front of Dick Smith lost its large rear vision mirror in a huge bang to a flying tradie’s light truck that just kept going.

The driver was delivering milk to Subway and ran out to see pieces of his mirror scattered down the road for about 10 metres.  

But doesn’t breaking a mirror give you seven years bad luck?

The offending tradie would be wise to throw a pinch of salt over his left shoulder and hope for the best.