Christmas Greetings

Red and Green are the traditional colours of Christmas. In Australia the grey-green of the Gum trees give the eye something softer to look on over the harsh glare of the sun. At this time of year we also see flocks of pink and grey Galah parrots to enjoy as they flock over the gum trees. With the continuing drought many more birds seem to be venturing into the city environment so we also see flocks of Sulfur-Crested Cockatoos as well as the Magpies, Honey-Eaters and Rosellas.

They make quite a racket at times. A bit like Parliament question time discussing whether Australia is in a recession or whether we will spend the surplus and get into debt. A bit like the Victorian State Government explaining its solutions to the state's water problems to the people of Northern Victoria.

The current water situation in Victoria hasn't been relieved by the heavy rains over the last week. It will be interesting to see if the North-South pipeline being constructed from the Eildon Dam to Melbourne will ever carry much water. Eildon storage is at 22.71% capacity at the moment, down from 24.6% at the same time last year. Taking water from here is going to be difficult to justify but so will be making 3.5 million Melbournians take stringent water cuts.

It's a pity one cannot transport recalcitrant Melbournians to communities already on stage 4 water restrictions or more to teach them to be community minded and learn what their grandmothers did in times of poverty.

Melbournes water supply is also very low and will continue to drop as we head into summer. So here's to all the Galahs and their noisy chatter. Nature will continue to push us in the right direction, eventually!

I'll just go yell at the teenager to have a 3 minute shower, while looking at our water bill to see if we meet the new target of 155 litres of water per person per day. At least with the installation of water tanks we can still water the garden.