THOSE early morning calorie cravings could soon have another solution. Residents in the vicinity of Lithgow McDonalds have been advised that Maccas has applied to Lithgow Council for 24 hour trading. The outlet already has a 24 hour drive through facility but it seems the move is now on for 24/7 in house restaurant service. Residents have been invited by Council to comment on the application before any decision is made. A Great Western Highway resident who contacted the column with the information says his neighbours would like to see a reinstatement of the condition when Maccas first arrived on the scene years ago for a daily clean up of fast food litter along the highway and Main Street within X number of metres of the outlet. It was an agreement by the original operators that didn’t appear to last too long, he said.

Daylight robbers

YOU’RE not safe anywhere from the brazen thieves who infest the countryside. A   local resident was busy placing his three-year-old into the baby seat of his vehicle in the Valley Plaza car park the other day when a male person grabbed the shopping bags from his trolley just an arm’s length away and took off with the purchases. “He just casually lifted the bags and kept walking,” our informant told us. “He knew I couldn’t chase him because I was busy putting my daughter into her seat.” He could only described the thief as ‘your usual local  scumbag and dressed all in black’. The theft occurred in daylight at the busiest time of the day.

Tatts the way out

WANT to stay out of the armed services? If you’re a citizen of the USA it seems you just need a visible tattoo. The military in the home of the brave has decreed that tatts create the wrong impression even for the enemy and inking is out, particularly on hands, necks and faces. With that workplace requirement they’re just falling in line with an ever growing list of private employers but could be a rush on tattoo parlours next time there’s conscription.

Frozen out

JUST how lousy has the weather been over the past week or so? Very lousy even by our region’s mid winter standards, do I hear you say? Perhaps it was a yardstick that the workmen who have been busy on the early outside stages of the new indoor Lithgow pool appeared to have been a non appearance last week. I can’t say I blame them.

The lure of The Walls

EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about the wildflowers of Hassans walls but didn’t know who to ask will be available on Thursday at the Parish Centre in Bridge Street on Thursday at noon. Bob Makinson, conservation botanist at the Royal Botanic gardens and Domain Trust in Sydney, will be doing the honours at the launch of a high quality book on the subject created by a small group of dedicated local enthusiasts. It follows on a previous work by the same authors on the little known and rare orchids of Hassans Walls.