New for old

Along this stretch of Ginninderra Drive today, the old power poles (above) were being replaced with new ones (below). Quite a job, in terms of worker safety and minimising electricity supply disruption.

Rural Fire Service

There are nine ACT Rural Fire Service Brigades, which protect people and property from fire in the non-suburban areas of Canberra (although they are sometimes called on to fight fires in the suburbs and interstate as well). They also play a significant role in promoting bushfire awareness, which is why one of the Hall units was at a local fete recently.

The RFS involves over 400 volunteers, aged from 12 up. Between 12 and 16 years, members are cadets and not involved in fire-fighting, and then they can become members (with some restrictions) until they're 18. There are also 120 paid fire fighters and 12 headquarters staff. Hall Brigade trains twice a month for two hours, and welcomes enquiries and new members (email hallfirebrigade@gmail.com).

No stopping

There's no stopping the mass exodus of public servants from their city offices at lunchtime on such a magnificent Spring day. Although I think someone in a red jumper forgot to check the weather forecast this morning ...

Emergency Services

I had to spend a few hours in Accident & Emergency at Calvary Hospital on Saturday night (everyone's fine :) ), and as I was leaving, I noticed that all three emergency services - ambulance, police and fire - were represented in the carpark. A busy night!

From left to right: ambulance bay, the entrance to A&E, police car and (a little hard to make out because of the lights) a fire engine.

What do we want? NO TROUBLE!

 

That's the message from these two very special members of the Australian Federal Police, working for ACT Policing: Constable Kenny Koala and his human, Stewart.

Kenny has been around for about 30 years, teaching Canberra kids about road safety, personal safety and community responsibility. He visits primary schools, preschools and childcare centres, and his messages have been integrated into the ACT curriculum.

Today Constable Kenny and Stewart made an appearance at the Spence Community Fair, arriving in their special police car:

The Feds

We were at the airport this evening for a pick up, but the plane we were waiting for was delayed for three hours, so not only did we have plenty of time to head out to Queanbeyan for dinner, there was ample time to sneak up behind a couple of Australian Federal Police (AFPs) and take their photo.

Canberra Airport was bought from the Federal Government by a private consortium in 1998, together with the surrounding land and the former Fairbairn RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) base. Since then, there's been a lot of commercial development in the area, as well as an ongoing redevelopment of the terminal and infrastructure. The current terminal and multistorey carpark will be duplicated in a mirror image, due for completion by the end of 2012, and once the large glass atrium joining the two halves of the terminal is complete, it should be quite an impressive building.

Coin collecting

I don't think I've ever actually seen someone collecting the parking meter money before this. He was on Ainslie Avenue in Civic, walking around with his heavy metal cylinder on a trolley, opening the meters and removing the coins. No security apart from his radio, but I guess you'd have to be a pretty keen thief to take a load of heavy coins, and then try to break into the cylinder! I hope the owner of the car behind him wasn't too far away - his meter has expired and the parking police are often around.

Delivering the mail

Postman at the intersection of Southern Cross and Coulter Drives, Belconnen. Belconnen is behind us, the suburb of Page is in front to the left, and Florey is ahead and right. The postie was rugged up well against the cold yesterday - they have to deal with freezing temperatures in winter, sweltering temps in summer, and magpies in spring.

Some fast facts from the Australia Post website, referring to the 2009-10 year:

 

• We delivered 5.1 billion items of mail.
• We deliver to 10.7 million Australian addresses.
• We deliver mail five days a week to 98.8% of delivery points.
• We deliver mail two days a week to 99.9% of delivery points.
• We maintain approximately 16,039 street posting boxes.
• 96.1% of domestic letters were delivered on time or early.
• 97.9% of bulk mail was delivered on time or early.
• The basic postage rate is 60 cents. 

 

Men at work

Roadworks at the intersection of Hindmarsh and Melrose Drives, Woden.

Woden was the name given to a property bought in 1837 by Dr James Murray. Dr Murray was a classical scholar as well as a medical doctor, and the name 'Woden' probably came from the Norse God of War and Patron of Learning.

Woden was the first of the Town Centres to be developed in Canberra, with people moving into newly constructed houses in the surrounding suburbs from 1962 onwards. Woden Town Centre is in the suburb of Phillip, named for Captain Arthur Phillip who led the First Fleet and became the new colony of New South Wales' first Governor. Hindmarsh Drive is named after Sir John Hindmarsh, the first Governor of South Australia, while Melrose was the name of a homestead in the area.

Meet Brian and Dave

We needed to restock on fruit and a few other foodstuffs this morning, so popped into Belconnen Markets to see what was open. Most of the market shops operate Wednesday to Sunday, but some were busy preparing for the week today, and were happy for us to buy whatever new produce had been unpacked already.

Market Gourmet had the shutters open, and Dave (on the right) called out as we passed, practising his sales technique. He was busy butchering lamb, and explained a bit about what he was doing while he worked. We wandered off to buy the fruit, then came back to buy lamb and chicken on the way out. Dave was happy to trim and dice the lamb for us while we waited, meanwhile keeping up a steady stream of banter with his colleague Brian about everything from meat to childhood memories to the Playstation Call of Duty: Black Ops game.

Worth a visit for the comedy duo alone :)

Market Gourmet
Ph.  02 6251 9002
Shops 24 & 25 (behind Food Lovers)
Belconnen Fresh Food Markets
Lathlain Street, Belconnen