Neighbours?

I guess we have all had experiences with Neigbours which have made us want to scream..........Ahhhh!!

Today I spoke to an old gentleman who told me he has lived in my neighbourhood for over five decades. To be honest I had not noticed him until quite recently, but for the past few months I have seen him digging on his front verge. He has been meticulously removing the roots of a couple of trees.

Today I found out why. It seems he had a beautiful flowering Morgan Wattle which had been planted a number of years ago and next to it grew a self seeded banksia ( native to WA). Unfortunately, for reasons best known to himself his neighbour had complained to the council that the wattle tree overhung his part of the council verge. Which leads me to the question, "Can trees on a council owned verge overhang the neighbour's verge??"

The City Council, had sent one of its so called, "horticulturists" to deal with the offending tree. After hacking off many branches of the wattle then attacking the inoffensive banksia, he assured the owner that they would soon regrow. They had not and the luckless owner was now spending hours digging out the roots of the tree that had been mutilated.

And the neighbour who complained....well wouldn't you know, six months later they moved.

Ahh neighbours, we all have to learn to live with them, but sometimes.............

Fremantle...what's its future?

Q Historical ?

A Yes it is full of history, but young when compared to European cities.

Q A vibrant port?

A It might have been once, but now many imports come across land from the Eastern States via trains and road transport.

Q A tourist hub?

A During the Australia Cup Fremantle came alive, but has since regressed to a sleepy hollow.

Q So what is the future of Fremantle?

A Like so many places in WA, residents of Freo and other interested spectators have any number of futuristic ideas, but equally there are those who don't want anything to change. "If it ain't broke well...." Funnily enough those who hold the latter opinion, seem oblivious to the dirty streets, the crumbling buildings, the paint peeling from facades on many of the retail outlets.

The small city has so much potential, it is obscene, but no one appears ready or able to tackle the big problems and drag it in to the 21st Century. No I don't mean they should pull it down and build a hundred new skyscrapers. Just the opposite. It is WA's premier historical site and yet so little is made of it. The port could be one of the most interesting and intimate in the country.

Turn it into a boutique port.....There are huge derelict buildings lining the road opposite. They have wonderful exteriors, just waiting for someone with foresight to grab them and turn them into upmarket apartments, with little cafes, boutiques, designer clothing stores all nestled on the ground floors.

Completely deregulate the shopping hours and make it a tourist highlight, where visitors can shop and eat till midnight or later. Make the focus Australian produce, designs and art. Let that part of the city sparkle with updated marketing and trendy shopping precincts.

Encourage the University of Notre Damm, that has upgraded and restored many of the buildings it now inhabits, to expand and take over even more of the heritage listed sites. Students always add vibrancy to any city they inhabit and bring with them intelligence, innovation and perhaps most importantly enthusiasm for living.

Fremantle could become a premier destination for thousands under the leadership of someone with pizazz.

Update Oil Leak

It's great to see that a mainstream TV program actually bought into the environmental damage the oil spill in the Timor Sea is causing.

Yes, the oil is still leaking into the ocean, and according to a WWF representative interviewed this evening on Channel Tens, "7PM Project", (a panel show which often takes a light-hearted look at today's news), it is causing untold damage to thousands of marine animals that inhabit this part of the ocean.

The irony that it is simply the location of the spill that prevents it from being front page news every day was not lost on the panel. The uproar had the spill happened on the Barrier Reef or the Kimberley coast cannot be underestimated.

One wonders if it will only be a similar disaster occurring on our shores that will actually cause our Government to take action to create laws to fully protect the environment.

Money from oil and other such mining products will not buy back extinct species.