My plan to dodge the election fallout
I wish they'd ban political spam. Plus: the Buz mystery solved and parcel problems.
As you may already be aware, October 26 is a big day. It’s when I set off on a two-week trip to South East Asia, going the long way (I’ll explain that later).
I’m not sure whether I’ll be posting here on Mister Brisbane during the trip, but I’ll almost certainly be active on social media. (I’m @debritz on X and @brettdebritz on Threads, Instagram and Facebook.)
Oh, October 26 is also the date of the Queensland election, which has already intruded enough into my life that I’m wishing I’d decided to go away earlier.
At least I’ll miss the immediate fallout of insincerities and autopsies.
While I’m on the subject, however:
I’m sick of the half-truths, best-guesses and straight-up lies doing the rounds from all quarters. Let’s have some truth-in-advertising laws, with independent fact-checkers saving us from misinformation.
Stop the spam! It’s bad enough getting political ads on TV, but it’s unacceptable in my opinion for us to be spammed via unsolicited email and text messaging. That goes for all parties but, at the time of writing, I’ve just received an SMS which, although not immediate obvious (I had to follow the link and look at the small print), is from the LNP. It was an allegation concerning “your [i.e. my] MP Jimmy Sullivan”. Small problem. Sullivan is not my MP and never has been. It’s 17+ years since I lived in his electorate, before he was the Member. Although my electoral registration is up to date (even including my most recent move just two weeks ago), the LNP must be working from very old data. (Insert your own “out of touch politicians” comment here, if that floats your boat.)
ABOUT THE BUZ
An update on the big question posed in my previous newsletter.
According to the Brisbane City Council website, a Buz is a bus that operates in a Bus Upgrade Zone (BUZ) and one of “a network of ‘no timetable needed’ high frequency bus services”.
I’m all in favour of high-frequency services. However:
Having no timetable sounds great, but it also gives the council the flexibility to reduce services as well as increase their frequencies. In other words, it’s anyone’s guess when the next one will arrive. (On my first trip to London, I was excited about the no-timetable concept of the Underground until I waited and waited and waited...)
Don’t tell me that the BUZ acronym didn’t come before they found the words to fit it. There must be a better way to communicate the concept to the uninitiated.
Meanwhile, the misnamed Metro will begin this month with the big bendy buses replacing the 169 service from Eight Mile Plains to UQ Lakes. Because nothing ever happens the way it’s supposed to, this change precedes the opening of the M1 (Roma Street to Eight Mile Plains) and M2 (RBWH to UQ Lakes) lines that were initially promised.
RETURN TO SENDER?
I won’t go into the detail, but I’ve had endless trouble with deliveries to my new address, which is a unit among scores of others in a multi-building complex.
The first package arrived on my doorstep when the seller said it would, which I took as a good sign. Things went downhill after that, however, and I’ve been chasing packages all over the place since.
I was lucky to spot one deliverer lurking in the garden and was able to guide him to my door, but another just dumped my package on a chair quite some way away, and I was fortunate that somebody found it and brought it to my place.
Just now, I’ve received an email from another company saying they tried to deliver my parcel but had “an issue” and will try again at some unspecified time in the future. Grrrrrr!
I know delivery drivers are under a lot of pressure time wise and receive relatively low pay, but why is it that only one among half a dozen of them had the excellent (and, I would have thought, sensible) idea to phone me for directions?