When you think about it, the Roads and Maritime Services’ plan to build a fence down the middle of Summer Street wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
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It was an option to force Brown’s cows pedestrians to use the marked crossings and not just wander across where they felt like it when they felt like it, which happens now.
And they’re getting worse.
Driving in the street is like navigating through a minefield with pedestrians jumping out from behind parked cars, walking along the median strip and then making you guess when they’re going to leap in front of you.
Why some of these people aren’t skittled every day is a total mystery. They even ignore the red lights at the Post Office pedestrian crossing and wander across without a care in the world. And that includes mothers with prams.
The RMS says pedestrians are a highly diverse road user group with limited tolerance if forced to wait for a green light so when there’s a gap in the traffic they just wander across or jaywalk and that‘s risky.
A fence down the middle would fix that and although it wouldn’t impress everyone, you can bet it would make the street safer. When the government stands down the council to make way for amalgamation the administrator might look at the plan again.
CULTURE’S NOT REALLY OUR THING
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has put on the back-burner her plans for a giant-sized $2.5 million plastic milk crate in Belmore Park called Pavilion.
The crate was part of a multi-million dollar public art initiative that also included a 50-metre high steel arch that looks like falling toilet paper.
Ms Moore believes the proposed sculptures are awe inspiring but her constituents think they’re an awful waste of money.
But what about poor old Chris Gryllis’ big Banjo hat? It copped lots of flak, was described as crass, tacky and a waste of money, even though he paid for it himself and put it in his backyard.
But the hat was still far better than Clover Moore’s milk crate or falling toilet paper that’s shaped like Dolly Parton or Casper the Friendly Ghost, and it didn’t use up millions of ratepayers’ money.
So if we want something to inspire us, maybe Orange’s artists could come up with a 20m high sculpture of a toilet and stick it in Robertson Park to remind the council a real one is needed there.
Or maybe a big grape, a big apple, a big wine glass or a big knife and fork? Would the critics accept any of these as being more relevant than a big hat? Not likely. Culture’s not really our thing. Just ask Chris.
OUR FULL MOONS NEED A NAME
We’ve just seen the moon at its biggest and brightest in 70 years and that won't happen again until November 2034. But another thing.
All full moons have names in other countries ranging from Strawberry to Wolves and Harvest to Hunger that are also used to identify the whole month but we have no names so what about these? December 14 is the next full moon and we could call it the Donato Delight Moon or, take your pick, the Nats’ Nightmare Moon.
The January 12 full moon could be Potholes Fix Moon while the Banjo Born Moon would be suitable for February 11. Any ideas for the rest of the year?