so you're leaving, in the morning...

I think I'll need to rename this little corner of the 'sphere to the Blogi Weekly or something similar. During the week the constant travel, need to spend evenings on paperwork and less than instantaneous response from the pooter while on NextG, among the most easily identified factors, mean that I don't get time to put together even my tiny, gaseous posts.

But here we are back in the Chateau in the leafy western suburbs of Brisbane, gradually ridding ourselves of the detritus accumulated over the last 11 years - and longer - and getting the place in shape to leave.

As people with a light footprint on the earth, in that we really don't have deep roots anywhere, this is not as sad a task as it might have been. We've really loved this house and the family been through a few changes while we've been here, but the decision to move on has been just that little bit easier than if we were leaving great hordes of relatives and so on.
Mind you, I'm not sure that Mrs VVB would endorse all of that, as she's the one bearing the major part of the preparations to leave and she's the one who's got to find a new job. But the lure of something new, and diving into the next phase of our lives in Rural and Regional Australia, does have an appeal for both us.

Even a Blogi Weakly lacks for the regular catalysts for mirth or derision: the unceremonious exit of the former overlords known as the Howard Government has seen to that.

Last week I gave some props to Ross Gittins, this week it's Peter Martin. On reflection, I think we've long needed a Canberra-based economic writer who just doesn't toe the line. I don't know what sort of access to government Peter Martin has, and would suspect that if he keeps telling it like it is he may not get the sort of access which would really help inform his writing. But he's certainly a breath of fresh air.

Finally, before we head into another day of toting barges and lifting bales, a comment on the absolute bloody tragedy in Burma. Even Mrs VVB, normally a bastion in support of sovereign nations, living and letting live, etc, believes the west should invade. Surely there's more reason for doing so in the current circumstances than in Iraq.

As Mrs VVB and I have quite some experience of Burma, we know that the generals will not give up without a fight. The Burmese people tried several times to take that fight up in 1974, 1988 and again last year, and got brutally put down. With the current suffering illustrating to good effect how little the generals care for the people - ie a lot less than they care to preserve their own status - it's time to say 'enough'.

Until next week...probably.