Here is a reminder in part of the year that was:

- the Dalai Lama came to town
- the Wallabies missed making the final of Rugby World Cup
- there is a new Prime Minister and his name is ocker
- construction commences on not one but two bridges across the river
- an Australian becomes Motorcycle World Champion again
- Fixed speed cameras arrive in Brisbane
- Queenslanders get a new new Premier
- Queensland pub takes top award
- Queenslanders are denied the chance of daylight savings again
- Police officer Constable Brett Irwin is killed on duty
- Horses across the state get more than a cold
- Chuggers take over the city
- US Aircraft carrier Kittyhawk visits Brisbane
- Surcorp Plaza in Turbot Street gets a makeover
- Progress is made on the busway under King George Square
- A nude carwash opens in the city although we are still wondering why
- Brisbane Times online is released to compete with the Courier Mail
- Kyoto has been ratified

And with that Reading Brisbane is on vacation.

In the interim, check out this innovative website built to locate supplies over the festive season.

Boozle to you too.

Updates will commence again in early 2008.

Remember when “anywhere” used to be 15 minutes away, this is no longer the case. Particularly in peak hour.

Good news though commuters, school holidays arrive at 3pm tomorrow. Traffic will flow again with little Johnny sitting at home not insisting to get driven to school today despite the bus going from only 150m down the street.

Average commute times were up again this year. Brisbane actually now ranks number three in the list behind Sydney and Melbourne respectively.

This is not surprising now Brisbane is officially ranked as the most car dependent city in Australia.

Per week commuters in Brisbane spend only 24 minutes per week less than Melbourne drivers, but over 45 minutes less than those in the NSW capital.

Unfortunately we are gaining on both.

Today Mr Pitt announced the recently released Council plan was insufficient.

Pitt said today he needed to read only one line in the Brisbane City Council’s traffic management plan for the Hale Street Bridge construction project to know that it was unacceptable.

This was the line referring to traffic on Coronation Drive that said “very significant delays..increase of 40 to 50 mins on existing inbound travel times (Toowong to City)”.

“Immediately, I knew this was not good enough - that delays of this kind were being contemplated. I can walk from Toowong to the city faster than that.” he said

Having taken the pleasant walk along the combined cycle, walkway it would also be a more pleasant way to approach the journey.

Councillor Newman has said the traffic management plan that the council has put forward is the best they can come up with, and there is no room for further improvement.

Given the construction project is expected to cause disruptions for a number of years this tussle between council and the state is certain to get more interesting.

Fuel for Stop the Hale Street Bridge campaigners to reinforce the “told you so” even if the approval has been granted.

In the first night of operation 63 tests were performed and incredibly there were positive tests results resulting in 5 license suspensions.

The tests check for the four illegal drugs that are frequently identified in the bodies of drivers involved in fatal and serious vehicle crashes. The four are cannabis, speed, ice and ecstasy.

Penalties for drivers caught with drugs in their system at a random stop could be fined up to $1050 and lose their driver license or face up to 3 months jail.

During the same roadside operation 328 people were also tested for drink driving, with 10 people returning readings over the legal blood alcohol limit.

Now the festive season is in full swing, so is police overtime. Random testing is planned to be increased in the next few weeks.

Message remains, when partying, leave the car at home.

The humidity is here and the skies actually look like there is rain about. Fantastic!

This reminds me of the “tale” of a Pom relocating to Brisbane and his account of the weather.

Diary of a Brisbane Summer

August 31st:
Just got transferred with work into our new home in Brisbane!! Now this is a city that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! I watched the sunset from a deck chair on the verandah. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my home. I love it here.

September 13th:
Really heating up. Got to 35 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I’m turning into a sun worshiper.

September 30th:
Had the backyard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

October 10th:
The temperature hasn’t been below 30 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat and humidity is taking longer than I expected.

October 15th:
Fell asleep by the pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol’ sun in a climate like this.

October 20th:
I missed Kitty (our cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car for lunch, Kitty had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and stank up the $3,000 leather upholstery. Told the kids that she ran away. The car now smells unlike a Whiskettes. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat.

October 25th:
The wind sucks. It feels like a giant bloody blow dryer!! And it’s hot as hell. The home air-conditioner is on the blink and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive over and tell me he needed to order parts.

October 30th:
Been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. $450,000 house and we can’t even go inside. Why did I ever come here?

November 4th:
It’s 35 degrees. Finally got the ol’ air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 25, but this humidity makes the house feel like it’s about 30. Stupid repairman. I hate this stupid place.

November 8th:
If another wise ass cracks, “Hot enough for you today?” I’m going to strangle him. Bloody heat. By the time I get to work the car’s radiator was boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like cat.

November 9th:
Tried to run some messages after work. Wore shorts, and sat on the black leather seats in the ol’ car. I thought my butt was on fire. I lost two layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs. Now my car smells like burnt hair and baked cat.

November 10th:
The weather report might as well be a recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for two damn months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week.

Doesn’t it ever rain in this damn place? Water rationing will be next, so my $2,000 worth of palms just might dry up and blow into the bloody pool. Even the palms can’t live in this heat.

November 14th:
Welcome to HELL!!! Temperature got to 38 today. Now the air-conditioner’s gone in my car. The repairman came to fix it and said, “Hot enough for you today?” My wife had to spend the $2,500 house payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the repairman.

Bloody Brisbane. What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here?

December 1st:
WHAT????? This is the first day of Summer???? You are kidding..

This is a 20 percent increase of $182 million.

The spending growth was led by strong increases in the number of visitors and their steady length of stay in the state’s capital.

This just adds to show how important tourism was to the state’s booming economy.

New Zealand and the United Kingdom were the region’s largest growing markets.

Brisbane International Visitor Snapshot:
- Spending up $182 million or 20%
- Spending $88 average spend per person per night: up 10%
- Spending $1,189 average spend per person per trip: up 10%
- Visitors up 9%
- Holiday Visitors up 13%
- Business Visitors up 9%

Transport Minister John Mickel said last week the Queensland Government would again this year provide extra NightLink bus and taxi services for the thousands of people pouring into City and Valley pubs and clubs over Christmas and New Year.

This will help get holiday season revellers home safely

“The party people of Brisbane love the convenient, affordable, and safe alternative that NightLink public transport provides them,” he said.

“From when it started two years ago, the NightLink bus, train and taxi services have transported around 380,000 people.

“Party time is now underway in the City and the Valley from now until New Year and we want to get our late night revellers home safely.

“I encourage everyone who’s in town having a drink for Christmas to leave the car keys at home and jump in a NightLink bus, train or taxi.”

Check the Translink website for more details.

Premier Anna Bligh and Health Minister Stephen Robertson announced yesterday the Government would move to include fluoride in Queensland water supplies within two years.

“Queenslanders have the worst teeth in the country - for example, our 5-12 year olds have twice the tooth decay compared to kids living in the ACT, which has had 100% fluoridation for more than 40 years.” Premier Bligh said.

“Together with oral hygiene and good nutrition, fluoridation has been proven to reduce tooth decay by up to 40 percent, and a Smart State cannot ignore the extensive scientific evidence that shows fluoridation is the missing link in Queenslands oral health system.”

The program is expected to consume around $35 million. Of cause a nominal increases in water rates will be pushed to the consumer to cover ongoing operational costs.

Governement estimates put the increase at around $1.50 per person per year.  This is of cause being touted as a drescrease in overall household expenses when a reduction in dental bills are factored.

Visit www.health.qld.gov.au/fluoride for more information.

The Minister was joined by a group of teachers, students, participants and the artist to unveil the works in a celebration at the station.

This the 40th project is one of the positive pARTnerships projects being rolled out by QR across the Citytrain network.

“We hope also that by placing colourful images at Citytrain stations, it helps reduce the level of graffiti.” Mr Mickel said.

“QR spends more than $2 million a year cleaning up graffiti. It would be nice to think we could spend that money on paint for artworks such as these that adorn the walls of platform one at Wooloowin.”

“This is about the community being proud of its local spaces and looking after them.”

Image from Bald Hills Station

The weather indicating lights on top of the Hitachi building at 239 George Street, corner of Adelaide, for the past few decades was turned off on 23 November.

Reason cited were environmental.

Incidentally the lights were remote controlled with information from the Bureau of Metorology updated at four intervals during the day.

Weather forecast were a relatively easy to comprehend selection of white and red lights.

Goodbye to a Brisbane icon.