Commute to Continue

Well now that the DER is again financial. I will be looking forward to the commute to continue throughout the Spring and Summer . It may not last even now but that will be unforseen. Even though it is rather boring work, it is busy so the day day goes quickly. That all leads to the bit of time between riding seems short.

I am also looking forward to the end of these blasted South Easters and the return of the afternoon Sea Breeze to send me on my way each afternoon I'm on the bike.

Fires Round Mountain - the 9th

Watch and Act: Cudgen (Depot Road Fire) Fire Update Fire Update 09/12/09 14:27

Posted: 09/12/2009
A fire continues to burn in bushland to the west of Cabarita Beach in Bogangar and Tanglewood area.



Fire has now been reported to have now spotted to the east of Tanglewood Dr and is now burning upslope over Round Mountain (hill).

The fire is currently threatening a number of properties along Sliprails Rd.

Under current and forecasted conditions properties in Bogangar may come under threat in coming hours, should the fire continue to spread east over Round Mountain.

Smoke is currently effecting visibility on Tweed Coast Road. Traffic advisory signs are in place. Motorists are advised to proceed with caution due to fire crews working in the area.

Clothiers Creek Road is now closed indefinitely due to fire activity in the area.

Left work early today as the earlier reports of spotting said it might be breaking the existing containment lines... They managed to contain that and it gave me a chance to better prepare the area around the shed got about 3 trailor loads of sticks and dry leaf litter piled in a heap well away from any buildings... it needed to be done anyway so not a waste of time though it was pretty hot under the thick smoke haze. Went up to Hastings Point just before dark and the three helecopters were still bombing the fronts around Round Mountain (hill). Now to get through tomorrow and this one should be all over. The radio report suggested that the brigades had set up further containment lines and that they expected to prevent any further outbrakes occurring tonight. It will be good to get a stressless nights sleep.

Chook Pen Reno

Not sure if there is any rally connection but this morning there was a pretty serious accident on Round Mountain Road. Four ambulances and a rescue vehicle raced past west wards. Past the freeway overpass. That's about all I know! but why today? then again why not? Anyway, I'm glad I was caught up with finishing the chook pen renovation, even though it's dad's day. Replacing the white ant/termite eaten plates and trimming the vertical lapped cladding boards to get them out of the scratched up litter. Since the heavy rains earlier this year seems to activated their climbing behaviour. Also re-wove any holes in the netting from falling limbs from last years storms. Only need to repair the acid soil corroded wall netting at ground level in a couple of places and the chooks (day old chicks which are 4 weeks old now)  might just last long enough to lay some "goggies"

Just a Quickie Post

Feeling really bad today but was called into work and went anyway, box of tissues and "codral cold tablets" © in hand... Yes I did drive and even then was late! During the day i was very forgetful, lucky I didn't ride for sure i would of forgotten to take something of necessity maybe the bike!

Anyway, on the way home i decided to see what the skid marks looked like from Mondays Near miss. They started in the median strip lane about 100 meters from where they eventually stopped! crossing 3 lanes of traffic. The guy was really hooting along! The only reason I can see for the fuss was that he was speeding to get around those last few cars turning off and must of wanted to cut in front of them and to his surprise we were in his racing line to the exit and reacted by jamming on his brakes and just managed , lucky for us, to partially control his skid. Enough he really deserves ChrisL's Tosspot of the Week award.

Finally Down

Well I suppose it was inevitable. More later... Being a casual relief teacher I replace Sick Teachers and today's ride home saw me travel with a partner, a road racer needing to burn off the lactic acid build-up from the races last weekend so he was keen to have someone "make him" ride slowly. We were riding along the edge of the freeway near the Chinderah Kingscliff off ramp and from behind came the dreaded sound of screeching tyres that seemed to go on and on and on.... Next thing I see out of the corner of my left eye a ute sliding sideways that finally came to rest level with us... a bit of heart pounding after that... the driver without us understanding why seemed to consider us the cause of his delema! After discussing it later we still could not come up with a completely plausable explanation.... luck might mean trying a different method to get through that intersection with safety next time!

After trying to tail him along the rest of the freeway to Clothiers Creek exit I asked him if he wanted to get a few small quiet hills in as well on the ride he said OK and I took him along Watti Bishop and Kanes Road loop into Potty and then into the headwind along the coast road...

Here is where I will continue with the first statement. During the ride along the coast road I seemed to begin to lose all my energy and could not even tail my partner at 20km/hr. Knees started to hurt as well as my back and shoulders... The sniffles I had been having all day were about to change into a fully fledged cold! fever aches & pains, coughing and a runny nose ah! the pleasure of working in a sick environment!

I can only hope it's over in 24hours and the ride burnt it out not increased it's presence!