The Saint: They're escaping the mid winter blues

At the weekend it seemed that half the population east of the Divide had wanted a treechange and had gone bush...forget the Mid Winter chill and lets get outta here!

Increased visitor activity has been particularly evident around Greater Lithgow since the first easing of lockdown and has exploded during the school break which ends next week.

According to one group of visitors it was even difficult to get accommodation in Lithgow at the weekend.

And it wasn't just the warmth of the cafes attracting patronage. Around our lakes the campers were making the most of the their Winter escape and perhaps the most telling scene was at Lake Wallace Sunday afternoon where we spotted a couple sitting in the feeble sunshine and reading outside their caravan while wearing shorts.

All of this just three days out from Mid Winter Day.

The new found freedom has to be encouraging in a year in which there has been little to celebrate.

SO here we are already at Mid Winter Week and conditions in the lead up have for the most part been predictably bleak.

Daylight hours have been slowly creeping up since the solstice and theoretically at least the temperatures should follow the chase. And there are already encouraging signs with the early appearance of wattle around the Vale of Clwydd and even occasional blossoms popping up.

Roll on Springtime.

ITS taken a virus to restore a realisation of the need for rethinking a new independence in the world. Now Telstra has announced it will be bringing its call centres home to Australia from foreign locations where corporate cost outweighs customer satisfaction.

Corporations don't seem to appreciate just how irritating, even difficult, it is for many clients in seeking to negotiate through a thick foreign accent, irrespective of how helpful the person on the other end is trying to be.

Apart from that little inconvenience most people would surely not be happy having their personal details on file in Mumbai or some other third world location. Cheaper is not always better.

AUTHORITIES need to move quickly to remove graffiti from the western wall of the State Office Block in Lithgow before some other dope with a spray can or felt pen joins in the defacement.

If our memory is correct the impressive the impressive local landmark building was treated with an anti graffiti coating during construction so it shouldn't be too difficult to erase.

It's worth noting the building Is bristling with security cameras so childish business like this can be costly.

WHO would want to be a celebrity in the increasingly uptight world of today?

Joe or Jill wouldn't rate a mention but if you enjoy any sort of prominence in sports, the arts, business, politics or a myriad of other high profile achievements and you stray across the centreline you can expect more saturation media attention than Ivan Milat.

Seems like the old guideline of innocent until proven otherwise has been replaced by trial by media. Yes indeed, who would want to be a celebrity?