HERE is something you probably don't want to see on your car's dial.
Dubbo rural journalist Mark "Griggsy" Griggs clocked 50 degrees on the car's dial last Thursday.
That's warm - very warm. Although, the Ringer isn't real sure about the accuracy of those "car thermometers". Still, it gives the NSW crew something to complain about. Would have been interesting to crack an egg on the bonnet.
They reckon they were having a heat wave down south and there were plenty feeling it.
A report also come in from a Sydney city resident who described the 41 degree day as "foul".
"Even the breeze blowing along was warm," he said. That particular bloke spent a few years in Darwin, so he knows what hot is.
There could be a few more of these scorchers to come - bad news for people with livestock and heat-affected crops; good news for... well, council swimming pools and ice block sales.
The Ringer has always reckoned cattlemen and women should be held up as examples for good sun safety management, with most wearing long-sleeved shirts and broad-brimmed hats.
Not sure how the urbanites would react though to being shown up when it comes to a health prevention measure.
Slightly scammy
THIS might not be a scam in the exact sense of the word but it certainly wreaks of an uneasy information gathering operation.
The Ringer received a phone call the other week from a bloke who asked if he'd rung "such and such" on the exact street of the Ringer's house. When he was told he had the wrong number, the bloke asked if the Ringer would drop a note and phone number in the letterbox of the house he was looking for as he had "personal finance business" to take care of.
Now the Ringer is a pretty neighbourly guy but he felt a bit uncomfortable about the request. A quick online search of the given phone number revealed it belongs to a mob named Lion Finance, who apparently do this sort of thing, trying to buy people's debt.
A few weeks later the Ringer got another call with the same lines trotted out and the same request made. The Ringer asked if the caller was from Lion Finance and after a seemingly shocked pause, she admitted she was.
So, take heed - not every "wrong number" call may all that it seems.
Creatively informed
ONCE upon a time the old smoking cigarette in a red circle with a red line through it was enough to let people know they couldn't smoke in a certain area.
That must not be creative enough for Victorians. The Melbourne City Council hired poetry performers to spruik smoke-free zones.
They recited anti-smoking poetry in the CBD's recently during a campaign to raise awareness about its outdoor smoke-free zones.
The council reportedly splashed $30,000 on the initiative after it found only 15 per cent of residents, workers and visitors in the CBD knew the locations of the city's non-smoking areas. There were apparently a few dancers as well, plus "Breathe Easy" signs and flags.
The Ringer wonders what's next for the Australia's so-called cultural capital. An opera about overtaking lanes? Oil paintings promoting dog-off-leash parks? Mimes pointing out drinking fountains?
