Paul (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} fremantlebiz) wrote,@ 2007-11-09 08:41:00 |
|
A miracle in the Fremantle electorate?
I witnessed a miracle yesterday. In the early morning I'd written in this journal about the fleet of filthy shopping trolleys with square wheels at our local Bicton Coles Supermarket. Well my wife and I called into the shopping centre mid-morning yesterday and lo and behold, there was a gleaming, brand new fleet of shopping trolleys. Hundreds of them. All the old 20th century ones had gone. Now is that a miracle, or is it not?
Naturally we had to try one out. There was no more wrestling to drag one from the storage bay. It just slipped out - as the Bishop of Fremantle once said to a showgirl. It was like driving a brand new car - super glide - almost too good to use. It was a very good start to the first day of the nationwide Wesfarmers/Bunnings takeover of Coles.
It also seemed as if a cloud had been lifted from the store with news of the takeover. The staff actually appeared to be much more cheerful. Our checkout lady said they hadn't been given a pep talk on the takeover yet, but they were looking forward to it. Well it was less than 24 hours. A bit too early I suppose.
The shop is still very grubby. The floors particularly so, especially in front of the long delicatessen section. There is a filthy track of unscrubbed greasy-grey grime from where countless people have stood waiting to be served. It appears it has never had a good clean for years.
The grubbiness of the Coles shop is in marked contrast with a nearby Woolworths outlet. We were there on early Wednesday morning and things were a bit quiet. What I noticed were several staff busy cleaning the glass on the many refrigerated display cabinets, and they seemed to be taking pleasure in it. I was left with no doubt that the Woolies shops are clean as clean. It's not that they are newer. Its all about good management. Once upon a time, in the olden days, the Coles stores used to be like that too. There is a second Woolworths store nearby which has been undergoing extensive renovations for the past couple of months. We like what we see there too.
*****
Things are drying out in the garden so this morning my wife has turned on the reticulation system for a while. We are fortunate here inasmuch as we are still allowed to use it for a short period on two days a week. Most of our plants are mature specimens and able to survive low watering levels.
We've got a few vegetables growing quite well, the usual silver beet, basil and parsley for our summer salads. We've also got several tomato plants which are doing very well - not fruiting yet, but they will be by Christmas. I had several large pots of garlic chives doing very well over winter, and they should have carried on through the summer, but last week a hoard of black aphids settled on them and they now don't look very good at all.
*****
We had to give our cats some worm pills yesterday. The two black witches' types Bubbles and Squeak are our primary rat catchers, and were feeling a bit light. Cats can get parasites like worms from rats. Max Max, our near new tabby weighed in at five kilos yesterday. He's never caught a rat in his life. The other two were half his weight when we checked with the bathroom scales. All three got dosed with worm pills - about fifteen bucks worth. (From Coles)
*****
The federal election campaign rolls on. I have a feeling the Liberals are going to retain power. Labor is becoming less convincing by the day. Peter Garret peeves me. Saw him at the Press Club on TV yesterday. As I said, unconvincing. Another prominent Labor hopeful Maxine McKew always seemed a bit sinister to me when she worked for the ABC, and my view hasn't changed now that she's running against Mr Howard. And how about those awful Labor TV ads where moaning whingers complain about being regarded as second class citizens? I've got news for them. They are. If they give up smokes, alcohol and whining they'll feel much better.
In the Fremantle electorate Labor's Carmen Lawrence is retiring. She's anointed one of her female friends to take her place, but this person is a complete stranger to the community and doesn't seem to be working very hard for the job. Labor regards Fremantle as a safe seat. They think all they have to do is arrogantly sit back and say nothing much about anything. They've become complacent. The Liberals should get off their arses too as far as Fremantle is concerned. The Greens seem to be working harder than either of the two main parties in this electorate. Maybe we should all vote Green?
I was looking at the excellent election site being run by the ABC. In the section on Fremantle it reveals that in the last 2004 federal election, the polling booth at Bicton Primary School, which is where two of our children are enrolled, produced the worst result for Labor in the entire electorate. If this was repeated at the other polling booths this coming election then the Labor candidate wouldn't stand a chance.
© MMVII Paul R. Weaver.
About the writer
Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write a couple of million words.
I witnessed a miracle yesterday. In the early morning I'd written in this journal about the fleet of filthy shopping trolleys with square wheels at our local Bicton Coles Supermarket. Well my wife and I called into the shopping centre mid-morning yesterday and lo and behold, there was a gleaming, brand new fleet of shopping trolleys. Hundreds of them. All the old 20th century ones had gone. Now is that a miracle, or is it not?
Naturally we had to try one out. There was no more wrestling to drag one from the storage bay. It just slipped out - as the Bishop of Fremantle once said to a showgirl. It was like driving a brand new car - super glide - almost too good to use. It was a very good start to the first day of the nationwide Wesfarmers/Bunnings takeover of Coles.
It also seemed as if a cloud had been lifted from the store with news of the takeover. The staff actually appeared to be much more cheerful. Our checkout lady said they hadn't been given a pep talk on the takeover yet, but they were looking forward to it. Well it was less than 24 hours. A bit too early I suppose.
The shop is still very grubby. The floors particularly so, especially in front of the long delicatessen section. There is a filthy track of unscrubbed greasy-grey grime from where countless people have stood waiting to be served. It appears it has never had a good clean for years.
The grubbiness of the Coles shop is in marked contrast with a nearby Woolworths outlet. We were there on early Wednesday morning and things were a bit quiet. What I noticed were several staff busy cleaning the glass on the many refrigerated display cabinets, and they seemed to be taking pleasure in it. I was left with no doubt that the Woolies shops are clean as clean. It's not that they are newer. Its all about good management. Once upon a time, in the olden days, the Coles stores used to be like that too. There is a second Woolworths store nearby which has been undergoing extensive renovations for the past couple of months. We like what we see there too.
*****
Things are drying out in the garden so this morning my wife has turned on the reticulation system for a while. We are fortunate here inasmuch as we are still allowed to use it for a short period on two days a week. Most of our plants are mature specimens and able to survive low watering levels.
We've got a few vegetables growing quite well, the usual silver beet, basil and parsley for our summer salads. We've also got several tomato plants which are doing very well - not fruiting yet, but they will be by Christmas. I had several large pots of garlic chives doing very well over winter, and they should have carried on through the summer, but last week a hoard of black aphids settled on them and they now don't look very good at all.
*****
We had to give our cats some worm pills yesterday. The two black witches' types Bubbles and Squeak are our primary rat catchers, and were feeling a bit light. Cats can get parasites like worms from rats. Max Max, our near new tabby weighed in at five kilos yesterday. He's never caught a rat in his life. The other two were half his weight when we checked with the bathroom scales. All three got dosed with worm pills - about fifteen bucks worth. (From Coles)
*****
The federal election campaign rolls on. I have a feeling the Liberals are going to retain power. Labor is becoming less convincing by the day. Peter Garret peeves me. Saw him at the Press Club on TV yesterday. As I said, unconvincing. Another prominent Labor hopeful Maxine McKew always seemed a bit sinister to me when she worked for the ABC, and my view hasn't changed now that she's running against Mr Howard. And how about those awful Labor TV ads where moaning whingers complain about being regarded as second class citizens? I've got news for them. They are. If they give up smokes, alcohol and whining they'll feel much better.
In the Fremantle electorate Labor's Carmen Lawrence is retiring. She's anointed one of her female friends to take her place, but this person is a complete stranger to the community and doesn't seem to be working very hard for the job. Labor regards Fremantle as a safe seat. They think all they have to do is arrogantly sit back and say nothing much about anything. They've become complacent. The Liberals should get off their arses too as far as Fremantle is concerned. The Greens seem to be working harder than either of the two main parties in this electorate. Maybe we should all vote Green?
I was looking at the excellent election site being run by the ABC. In the section on Fremantle it reveals that in the last 2004 federal election, the polling booth at Bicton Primary School, which is where two of our children are enrolled, produced the worst result for Labor in the entire electorate. If this was repeated at the other polling booths this coming election then the Labor candidate wouldn't stand a chance.
© MMVII Paul R. Weaver.
About the writer
Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write a couple of million words.
