So, where’s our Marjorie?
WHEN Council a few days ago released to the Mercury an artist’s impression of the ‘new’ Cook Street Plaza it attracted quite a deal of reader feedback. Regrettably none of it, at least in our experience, was complimentary. In fact it did nothing to ease the misgivings about that which we are about to receive. Hardly recognisable from the original concept, no evident shelter, no trees apart from a lonely eucalypt that somehow escaped the chop, and the BIG question - where’s Marjorie? No sign in the sketch of the CBD’s most loved and most photographed landmark. We know artist ‘impressions’ can be notoriously misleading but what’s going on here? Marjorie’s fate must be made public before there’s rioting in the street.
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A jungle out there
NOW that the Bowenfels highway weeds have been tackled - well at least there was a start and not much more - it could be opportune for council to deal with our urban street weeds, particularly around the traffic islands. A good starting point should be the weedy eyesore around the Lithgow Street/Hassans Walls Road intersection. Yep, it really is a jungle out there.
Words of wisdom
JUST occasionally you have to be impressed with the wisdom of our politicians, even if they tend to state the obvious. Case in point the weekend news where the Federal Education Minister was pontificating on the possible need to ban smartphones in classrooms across the nation. ‘Could be a distraction to study’, he mused. Really Minister? That’s a bit harsh. Not so up to date was our PM. Big Mal was rejecting out of hand Big Bill’s call for at least a temporary moratorium on private health insurance fees. The PM suggested it would be an unfair impost on the Funds who are currently contemplating just how much the market will stand this year.
What about Eskbank?
IT was a masterpiece of public service planning when the government abandoned Australian manufacturers to save a few bucks to buy off the shelf trains from Korea. Those savings came in handy when they discovered the trains they ordered wouldn’t fit through some of the infrastructure on the Blue Mountains Line, requiring a lazy few million on urgent upgrades. Which brings us to the point that the next big ticket item in the fiasco will be the impending widening of the Zig Zag tunnels. In the latest blurb detailing the work Transport NSW declares its commitment to protecting railway heritage. Wonder if that ‘protection’ extends to the decaying splendour of Lithgow’s Eskbank Station.
Survivors
CONGRATULATIONS to Rydal Show Society who have managed to keep the faith for almost a century. They’ve kept on keeping on when small - and some not so small - country shows have been falling by the wayside.
