On Monday he announced it would go to Dubbo, which he said, was way ahead by a country mile, while Dubbo MP Troy Grant said that “at the end of the day, that is what happens when you don't have someone at the decision making table of government".

He was, of course, referring to Orange people electing Fishes and Farmers’ Phil Donato as our local MP rather than the Nats’ candidate.

Orange was denied the maintenance facility despite Transport for NSW saying all regional locations which had the potential to meet the project’s objectives would be assessed against key multi-criteria before the location was selected.

Last month in a letter to mayor John Davis the parliamentary secretary for transport and infrastucture Mark Coure also said all locations in NSW that met the project's objectives would be considered for fleet maintenance.

So there you go. Pork barrelling or what?

AT some intersections you now have to sit and wait for the lights to go through a cycle while there’s no other traffic in sight in any direction.

Summer Street and Sale Street is one that appears to have been changed by the Sydney Co-ordinated Adaptive Traffic System, the mob that monitors and manages traffic lights across NSW.

Summer Street traffic early in the day when things weren’t too busy had the right of way until a car turned up in Sale Street and the lights changed.

Now Summer Street traffic can get a red light without any cars in sight in Sale Street so you just sit there burning up expensive fuel while the lights casually do their thing.

That can also happen at other intersections like Summer Street and Lords Place.

Surely they can be better set because for every two minutes a car engine is idling, it uses about the same amount of fuel it takes to drive 1.6 kilometres.

And your car has been standing still all the time.

HEALTH authorities can’t find an easy cure for the flu that’s hit half the population of Orange but they do a top job dreaming up awesome names for it.

For example, this winter they say the flu we’re getting is the A(H3n2) strain, the A(HIN1), also known as swine flu, and the B strain variants Yamagata and Victoria, or the haemagglutinin and neuraminidase.

We’ve had previous experiences with bird flu, H5N1, SARS and the magnificently named Super Flu, prestigious at first but humdrum after several seasons when it lost its impact and eventually faded out.

So obviously each flu season produces a more agonising variety and there’s usually a mad rush to see who can catch it first.

Having a few days off work with the A(H3n2) strain could add to one’s social status and is far more acceptable than merely announcing you had something that was going around.

But flu cannot be taken lightly and it’s especially important for those at risk, including people over 65, to get a flu jab from their doctor or pharmacist.

It’s not too late.