(C) PJ Croft 2017

A reflection of my mood at the moment. I’ll get over it. It’s much the same as when I had to get the vet to put Minnie to sleep. I felt awful for some months, but I got over it.

(C) PJ Croft 2017

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I was amazed today. I went to buy a newspaper at Whitford’s City shopping centre, at a small kiosk on the west end.

It’s U-shaped with small counters on the three sides. I picked up the paper and stood at the left hand side counter with correct money in my hand. The guy was standing with his back to me at the right hand side counter. He finished with a customer but continued standing there with his back to me.There were no other customers.

Thinking he didn’t realise I was there, I said, “Excuse me” and held out the money. He turned and said, “No, that counter’s closed. Can you come around here please?” indicating the centre counter.

I was astounded. For his convenience, he wanted me to walk around to the centre counter so as to hand over my correct coins. Why? Why was my counter “closed”? There was nothing to indicate it.

I was not in a good mood so I just slapped my coins down on the counter and took the paper and walked away. He shouted after me, “Thank you very much, sir” in a sarcastic tone.

Bloody hell, what happened to the customer being right? I should have slapped the paper down instead and walked away, telling him I’d buy elsewhere.

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(C) PJ Croft 2017

Cool summer! There’s some hot weather forecast for tomorrow and Thursday, but I’ve been cold the last few nights, not even using the fan that I usually have blowing on me all night. Even my cold shower in the morning is feeling a bit too cool.

There was an excellent talk on the Science Show on Saturday. A WA scientist has written a book about the climate of SW Western Australia in the past century, pointing out the way the climate has changed, markedly, and the vegetation with it.Our SW area, comprising the Wheat Belt and the Darling Scarp, with the Perth metro area, has undergone a major drying effect since the 1970s. I agree! I have felt it. The south west forests are noticeably dry, stressed. Our dams, previously our major source of drinking water from winter rain, are now essentially useless, near empty all the time, even in winter.

He points out that land clearing for wheat farming has been very wrong, counter-productive, because the loss of vegetation has caused the rainfall to reduce over the cleared areas. Rain falls more over green vegetation, not over barren wheat land.

The reduced rainfall has also allowed the water table to rise, bringing salt with it, and large areas of formerly productive land is now too saline to use. Bad decisions 50-60 years ago.

He said you’d think the answer would be to re-vegetate the cleared land, and in theory that’s correct, but the area is just too vast, the job too big. Too bad.