UK Border Agency attempts 'daylight robbery'

(Photo: BN4 taken by Abby van Balen, Salar de uyuni, Bolivia)

Not needing her full-on winter woollies in South America, BN4 left a small bundle for me to post to the UK in time for her Christmas sojourn there.


Duly despatched at the begining of October, I was amazed to see the parcel returned to Scone this week.


Apparently the UK Border Agency have seen fit to apply custom charges to imports into the EU with a value over £15 for VAT and also to apply import duty to all items valued over £135. Moreover imported gifts valued over £40 sent between private individuals are also to attract VAT...WTF


None of BN4's items were 'new' or 'for sale' or actually 'imports' - none of them! - so they certainly did not warrant the impost of £105.01 ($161.45) that was required to be paid by my English family so that the parcel could be claimed. Unsurprisingly the parcel was not collected, and it has now made its way back to Australia.

Putting BN4 and her lack of winter clothes for Chrissy aside for a minute, what about the actual season of giving itself? Will there be customs charges for the cookbooks that I've sent to the UK family this year? Is the UK government that desperate for cash they've directed the UK Border Agency to ensure they squeeze every available last penny from any poor international sucker who still posts gifts to their family? - international gift giving might have to stop!

Who are the UK Border Agency anyway? - and why do they bother themselves with the minutiae of parcel post? Exactly what have family parcels got to do with border security? Surely their state of the art UK Border Agency scanning equipment could have informed them very quickly that they were dealing with a small bundle of used woolly clothes - certainly a pair of spectacles might have assisted and/or taking their gloves off, and judging from the condition of the box when it arrived in back my kitchen, the UK Border Agency have clearly left no mitten unturned in their quest to discover undisclosed international trade.

...and while I'm musing on this matter, who are Parcel Force Worldwide? - whatever happened to the 'Royal Mail' that we knew and loved?

Sigh - bring back Postman Pat

My Christiania - HERE IN NEWTOWN!!!

First lesson with Peter (PS Bikes):
'Forget everything you've ever learnt about riding a bicycle...because this is like riding a pram...don't fight the extra wheel!'


BN3:
'Hmmm logistics for drinks in the park have just got a whole lot easier - how convenient!'

In effect, this is my Newtwon 'big-vehicle' and I intend to use it for stuff that other 'peeps' use their cars for:

* airport pick-ups
* mega-shops
* picnics
* weddings???(BN1,2,3&4, maybe?...at some stage!!!!!)

So after the official handover between Peter and me outside Cheeky Transport, I gave it a burl down King Street and other bits of Newtown on my way home!

Verdict: BRILLIANT - I love it xx

Collapse: Lendlease tumbles down on UTS

Leaving Central and heading down Broadway was only possible for pedestrians this morning - and only up to a certain point.


Unbelievably we were met with this sight - one of Lendlease's cranes working at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) had caught fire, burnt out and severed the cables and then collapsed on the tower where site workers prepare the steel for construction.


Amongst the workers I chatted to, many were concerned about the safety of colleagues as the tower is normally a hive of activity with steel preparation happening alongside construction.


But fortunately no-one was harmed by the Leadlease jib collapse.


Word on the street felt that the fire was burning diesel.


Everyone was there and Broadway looks like it will remain closed for quite a while.


Naturally the media started dribbling in, and 'Channel Hairspray,'


...with gas & tackle tactics,


...assumed my vantage point..


..."news from Broadway, coming to you live, fire in crane, crane on UTS campus" or something like that


Chaos ensued with traffic everywhere but Broadway...


Not so bad for pedestrians...


...and as always, diversions posed very few problems for cyclists!


Collapsed crane and Broadway without traffic - surreal

"Those were the days, my friend..."

(Photos: Waratah Rovers Bicycle Club, outside the Royal Hotel, Picton, NSW, October 1900, NSW State Library collection)



...when we wore hats on bicycles to protect us from the sun.

Today over 100 years later and notwithstanding the call to arms to guard against skin cancer, Australian governments stand in the way of sun-protection whenever we get on our bicycles.

Governments only pay lip service to the notion of sun protection otherwise they would eschew the madness of bicycle helmet law and encourage us to don big brimmed sun hats the minute we unpadlocked our bikes.

In reality bicycle helmet law has relegated sensible sun protection to second place. Unsurprisingly the risk of skin cancer when riding a bicycle 'Down Under' is extreme at any time during the day other than night-time.

------------------------------

"Those were (also) the days, my friend," when we had a transport system in Sydney we can only dream about today and are desparately trying to recapture.

Given the current beleagured transport system was an issue the government went to an election on, declaring fervently that they were going to it sort out, the big puzzle now is why the Transport Department's proposal to reintroduce trams into George Street has been so catergorically rejected by the private sector infrastructure lobby group, Infrastructure NSW, who keep interjecting with their own multi-billion dollar tollway plans...

$$$ Why does Infrastructure NSW have so much caché with the NSW Premier?

$$$ Why did he ever appoint them?

$$$ Why are their musings so favoured by him?

$$$ Why are all they so stuck on 'Paradigm Car'?

$$$ What about what Sydney people actually want?

Obviously not everything about the 'Good Old Days' was good, but they sure had sun hats, bicycles & public tranpsort covered

Occupy Bicycle

Somewhere along the line in Australia we lost the meaning of 'using a bicycle,' and the pursuit of lycra meant more than the pursuit of getting from A to B on a bike.

But if we're to be serious about tackling urban congestion and climate change we must take back the bicycle from cowardy custards and politicians, and occupy the present moment.

Now that Sydney is mortally wounded in terms of access to transport and transiting capabilities, the moment of truth has arrived:- Sydney is 'toast'...

...and if we don't roll up our sleeves and throw out the old-school lycra practicalities of power, we won't stay as 'toast' but we'll be 'crumbs' soon.

So our ever-growing eclectic bicycle collective needs to not only fine tune all of our 'bullshit' detectors but cause all of us to rise up and challenge the helmet regime's monologue.

On our bikes, everyone, there's an occupation waiting for us!!!

Sharing the 'frog & toad'!!!

(Images: 'Frog & Toad')


I love it that so many different 'peeps' a round the world share this 'frog & toad' with me too!!! - makes me smile every time!!

Ta me old china plates xx

Deny people freedom; expect repercussions

Images: Netanyahu profiting, Carlos Latuff)


10th largest army in the world forgets its obligations under international law and brutally deals with stateless, defenceless civilian refugee population - Diana Buttu explains