Wallyworld

I remember running our billycarts down the hill in Kananook Avenue, Bayview when I was a kid?
And I wondered at how steep Lombard Street in San Francisco was when I visted in 1986? Well they run a "derby" down one of their hills.
Go here to see some slides.
Our billycarts back in the 60's were made from stuff we dragged back from the "dump" or from out of the Bay. Or stuff our fathers found at work.

Source: http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/readingthefamilyalbum/picman/backyard/4_10.html
I got carried away once and built this ginormous car-like billy cart with a steering wheel and about 4 feet wide. It even had brakes, a plank with old tyre bocks nailed to it which rubbed on the back wheels. Unfortunately it was so heavy it needed to be towed up the hill behind someone's Hillman or Morris Minor.
 

A Morris convertible just like Malcolm's!

Part of a block of flats collapses in the Lane Cove after a large hole opened up in the ground. Photo: Jon Reid
During the week a hole appeared below a block of flats in Longueville Rd, Lane Cove, above the new Lane Cove Motorway tunnel. It gave the media a great time. Obvious comparisons to the Cross City Tunnel debacle. Sydney Morning Herald
They even managed to get a story about a Cockatiel that was trapped in the crumbling building, starving and dehydrating. But the cops got a bomb disposal robot to pluck said little bird to safety.
It was a bit like that wonderful story on Yes Minister about Benji the dog who had strayed into a mine field. The PM got the Army at huge taxpayer expense to fly a chopper in with Special Forces to rescue the little darling.

The same week saw Little Johnny convince porky Kim and the sycophantic "Premiers" that there is a "clear and present terrorist danger" and we had better have these new terrorist laws. So we woke yesterday to a new regime. Sounds eerily like Hitler's dissolving of parliament to protect German citizens from the threat of the communists in 1933.
At the same time Little Johnny introduced Industrial Relations legislation which will eventually strip workers of conditions they have fought hard for over the last 100 years. The stupid "battlers" voted this lying little man into office. Their kids will be the ones who will suffer in the future.

" What weekend?" "Sunday? What's so special about Sunday?" "You don't want to work on xmas day. Get another job."
iTunes music store finally opened in Oz last week. I have had a look but not bought anything yet. Lots of classical ... a pleasant surprise. And plenty of Oz rock music. Maybe I can build up a play list of Oz music now without paying for all those songs I have never heard of.

Optus installed Digital TV for me yesterday. I now get everything in digital including about 20 radio stations, including ABC. I can order a movie from FoxTel Box Office and pay as I watch it, which is cool. Most of the movies are yank rubbish, but I looked at Oliver Stone's mushy Alexander yesterday. Overacted pulp. Similar to Troy, or whatever it was.