Last night I woke myself up a few times moaning. The one thing I am struggling with is the pain. Maybe I had forgotten but I don’t seem to be doing too well this time around. This morning I deployed the same blister strategy as the hands when I paddle, and I think that’s worked – prick the blister and then put a tight Elastoplast over the whole area.
Stopped at lunch time for a break at some pine trees so I went behind one and went to sleep on the soft pine cones leaving the kayak in front of the tree. Woke to find two young blokes ready to take the kayak. They had already chucked out my dried fruit and nut mix. They reckoned they thought it had fallen off a truck and were about to pop it onto theirs. Sure. I could have woken with a very nasty surprise.
Managed 28km again. Had to stop when I lurched a bit to the left, into the traffic that is, so decided I was way too tired to continue. Hid the kayak on a farm road and started hitching. A young woman going north gave me a friendly toot and a wave so she obviously had heard me on the radio or read the paper.
The 189th car stopped, which was after 19 minutes (who says engineers are strange?). It was driven by a lovely young bloke called Simon and I expect to see him pop up on the facebook page. He had just come back from Paris so how’s that for coincidence.
I have pitched camp at the Goulburn South Caravan Park which is near Bunnings. Might have to buy another heat gun because the special epoxy that sticks to HDPE tipped over and leaked in the kayak. There are holes that must be dealt with before the coast.
Went to sleep before the sun yesterday but will try to make dark tonight particularly as I can go and have a shower.
Now to yesterday’s spray. All of those people are in the public eye, take our money, and have performed atrociously, but it has made me think. What is Global Warming all about?
It is about Strength of Character. People who have that will accept a situation for what it is, and they will be strong enough to do whatever it takes to rectify the situation if it is bad.
In the case of global warming the evidence is unequivocal. Almost all of the scientists who have the knowledge, and all of the National Academies of Science in the world have warned us that the situation is dire. The planet is warming, humans have caused it, and unless we take urgent corrective action the prognosis is grim.
The problem is we have very few politicians who have the strength of character required. They make excuses, kow tow to the fossil fuel companies that fuel their election funds ($700k from New Hope Coal to the Newman government), feather their own nests and the nests of their mates, pat each other on the back and do everything that people in mutual admiration clubs do. Even when they identify the problem, as did Kevin Rudd, what happened? Bugger all, that’s what happened.
If we are ever going to get out of this mess we must find politicians with Strength of Character and I can’t see them in either major party.