Despatch from the Front # 1

There are almost 4.5 million people in Melbourne now. 1,500 arrive every week. Some time ago a bloke from England conducted a survey of British expats to rate their favourite cities. Melbourne topped the list with Vancouver coming in second. Ulaan Baator came in last place at # 100. Tedward says that if he catches that English bastard he will throttle him, because until then Melbourne slipped nicely under the radar and all the foreigners stayed in Sydney where they belong, because bloody NSW is foreign anyway.
There are housing developments marching across the countryside at an alarming pace. The houses are not the 1950s style triple fronted brick veneers anymore. There is a very different architecture now - photos to come. We are having trouble loading my pics onto Tedward’s hard drive. On Saturday morning we will have to visit the geeks at the plaza to see if they can help us.
State of Victoria building regulations require all new houses to be constructed on a cement slab to prevent heat loss in the winter and heat getting into the house in the summer. In days gone by houses were built on stumps. This is to reduce the use of electrical or gas heating. Electricity is generated at coal burning plants. Victoria has enough brown coal to supply Australia with electricity for the next 500 hundred years. There are moves afoot to generate electricity at natural gas fired plants. This is more expensive but Australians are an environmentally concerned lot. Houses are now centrally heated. The vents are in the ceiling if the house is on a slab.
VicUrban, the land authority, releases parcels for development. (For the record, VicUrban is no relation to Keith Urban and therefore also not related to “Our Nic” as Australians call her). All waste water (not including sewerage) is collected and piped to a local recycling plant where it is treated and then is piped back to houses and used for flushing toilets, laundry and gardens. 40% of water consumed is recycled water in Tedward’s area. There are two outside taps both back and front of houses. The tap for the recycled water is mauve.
BTW My trip was long. Chicago was busy like a subway. 29 hours in all. Slept like a board leaning up against a wall. 29 hours later and I am still fuzzy headed.
Saturday cousins, Aunty Raie, nieces, a nephew and two great nephews are coming over for a BBQ.
It’s great having a large family.