I may be a bit late to the party when it comes to wishing all and sundry a “Happy New Year
” but there is a simple reason for that, our phone and internet have been down due to the foibles of the “copper “, the wires that come into service Chez Hall were joined by the tried and true “twist em together and wrap in insulting tape” method since a tree branch tore the cable from the house a couple of years ago. It was one of those “quick”repairs that we do with the very clear intention of “fixing properly” when we get round to it. The “getting round to it” often just never comes. Anyway this time I went fully old school and soldered the joins to ensure 100% electrical connectivity. Heck as a result of this latest drama I have even learnt a thing or too about how to answer the fancy phone that my wife now has…
Further its something of a “nothing season” when it comes to the main topics covered by this blog, Australian politics always seems to take a well earned holiday at this time of the year and its a trend that I heartily endorse. It would make our politics just a tad too desperate were we to abandon the traditional Christmas new year hiatus in favour of a 365/24/7 expectation upon our political classes. The tradition of the hiatus has not meant that all political issues go away, that would be too much to hope for, but many of the main ones have clearly been cooling as well. and if you can forgive the irony one of the ones that has been cooling substantially has been the panic induces in the cause of Global warming. Not that readers of the Guardian or the Age would think so from the rather exaggerated claims about 2013 being “the hottest on record” when you consider that the record referred to has only been compiled since 1910 it is hardly long enough to draw the connection to human activity in the way that the apocalyptic true believers delight in. None the less we have had a couple of rather hot days:
Archerfield, west of Brisbane, recorded its highest ever temperature since records began with a top of 43.5 degrees, just eclipsing the previous record of 43.3 degrees.
On the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore’s 41.3 smashed its previous record of 37, while Nambour’s 42.9 degrees was well above its previous record of 40.8.
Gympie equalled its record temperature of 42 degrees.
Records were also recorded at Redcliffe (40.3 degrees), Toowoomba (39.5) and Beaudesert (43.9).
As at 3.30pm, the hottest temperature recorded in Queensland on Saturday was at Lochington, south-west of Emerald, where it was 45.4 degrees.
