A decision on whether the much debated city mall should be altered in any way is evidently being referred to a NSW Government authority, which, I would have thought, was almost the last straw in this long drawn out matter.

Reading between the lines, it appears that there is a slight majority who want the mall re-opened to some traffic, and I’ll go along with this.

I can recall many years ago visiting Wollongong on BHP business and staying at a motel at the bottom end of the mall. The mall was open to traffic then and at night it was well lit and quite safe, and I loved to seek out a nice restaurant and grab a beer at the Oxford Tavern.

What the mall offered in those days helped make Wollongong a special place, so let’s get on with opening it up again and giving the heart of our city a well needed boost.

But getting a government authority involved will only mean more delays when what we want is action.

Bowel scans readily available  

Once again our local Rotary Clubs have joined with chemists from Helensburgh to Gerringong in the sale of $5 bowel scan kits which over the years have saved many lives.

The kits are available until 22 April and must be returned by 22 May.

Figures show bowel cancer is the most common internal cancer in both males and females, with more than 11,000 cases diagnosed in Australia each year.

So don’t miss out and get along to your friendly chemist and get a bowel scan. Who knows, it might save your life!

Good and bad to NRL start  

Generally speaking the new NRL season got off to a great start with two games decided in golden time and the Rabbitohs and Bulldogs scoring big wins.

I felt sorry for the two losing teams in the Friday night matches and like many others I have some reservations about this golden time rule.

You’d feel pretty downcast if you were in the losing sides, one of which was our St George Illawarra Dragons.

Some 153,000 people attended the games played up until last night with well over 40,000 of them at the Brisbane Broncos game.

Conflicting stories  

There are some conflicting stories emerging from BlueScope Steel with the majority still suggesting times are tough out that way.

Management can naturally be on a high about the No5 blast furnace reline, but from what I hear there are many other areas either slowed down to a minimum production level or closed.

And I’m also hearing that more and more workers are being told to take holidays.

What’s in a word?  

Somebody called me a “dag” recently and it started me thinking about some of the language we use when sniping at people.

A “dag” just happens to be a small piece of undesirable stuff that is found on a sheep’s bottom.

And if you happen to be told to “go and get stuffed” does that mean you need to have a healthy feed?

And that’s probably enough!!