Down at 'Drummy' the seasons turn turn turn

Drummoyne Swim Centre is one of the best-known outdoor pools in Sydney. You can view it from the Iron Cove Bridge as you travel from Rozelle to the other side of Parramatta River.

On my regular bus trips home from work in the city, I observe the pool as the seasons change.

On a hot summer's day it's packed with sunbathers and families; in the evenings under lights the water polo team trains there.

In January and February it's booked out during the day for school swimming carnivals.

By autumn the numbers of swimmers have dropped off, but early in the morning the pool Nazis (mostly boofy blokey ocean swimmers) brave the chill to do their laps.

'Drummy', as the locals call it, closes after the summer season in April. This year the filtered salty water pumped in from the river went a little green before the pool was emptied, worked on and refilled.

Four months have passed in the blink of an eye and it's open again!

This is a personal call to attention. I need to get back into the swim.

*Turn turn turn - to everything there is a season.

PS: The sad thing about this pool is that the new bridge lane now under construction will overshadow it, and the constant drone of traffic will compromise the ambience of the place.

Turn turn turn the other cheek...

*Song title borrowed from the Byrds

A rant about the Rees Labor government in NSW and why they're a bunch of thugs

I live in a state of resignation.

What I'm talking about here is New South Wales, a state run by a bunch of eejits who pretend to listen to the concerns of the public, but then blithely ignore them.

In the end, the public just lays down and takes the kicks to the guts inflicted by a gang of rampaging ratbags.

I do not like the NSW Premier Nathan Rees and his bunch of thug-like helpers, who are no more sincere than a used car salesman and have the collective brainpower of a nightclub bouncer.

Example: to and from my work in the city, I cross the Iron Cove Bridge at Rozelle. For a long time there was a fiery debate about whether to add another lane to the bridge. Logic says it's a stupid idea because it won't solve the horrendous peak-hour traffic problems. Drivers will simply be caught in a bottle neck at either end of the bridge. Lots of clever people came up with solutions, which mostly involved public transport.

But god forbid! NSW is part owned by the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) - this is my opinion - and it is not in this monolith's interests to promote anything as forward-thinking as a competent public transport system.

The government did not listen to the people or heed any of the wise advice. An extra laneway is now under contruction.

Every day the people of NSW watch the Rees government hand out jobs to their mates and suck on the public purse like a leech.

The sad thing is the opposition's no better.

Oh, well. At least it's a sunny day.