Our Shipping Reporter says his blood pressure rocketed when he made another trip to the Townsville Public Hospital with his part technicoloured body in a freezing bus . Why? Everywhere he looked , on the waterfront , in the Townsville CBD , he saw news stories and odd situations which the local media had not noticed. He ranted that it was a situation in which he felt he was a yokel trying to teach a blind grandmother to suck eggs . " Why can't the local scribes see these obvious yarns ?" he demanded .
Feeling concerned about his mental state , we helpfully suggested he should try the old l960s remedy for stressful situations-a cup of tea , a Bex powder and a good lie down , even if the ingredients were no good for your kidneys.
This caused him to explode and dance about the Little Darwin den like a drunken sailor on his wonky pins . "That's the bloody trouble !" he roared . "One of the interesting Ghost Fleet ships in port is probably loaded to the gunnels with Bex , and no media organisation in Townsville , as usual , has noticed!" He backed up this extraordinary claim by producing the shot of the ship on his digital camera , which any fair minded person , with poor eyesight , would recognise as being named after that renal damaging potion.
Continuing his tirade , he said that as the hospital bound bus went by the Victory in the Pacific fountain in the CBD , at the start of the city's laughably named Civic Pride Trail, it was still malfunctioning a week after he reported it had blown its top. The fountain is in a key position , in the Railway Oval park , a short distance from the Townsville Bulletin office and Win 10 television .
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Still blowing like a geyser, neglected in a military garrison city.
Also visible from the bus was the large portrait of Australia's first Catholic saint , Mary MacKillop, her facial features obliterated , and there has not been a blessed squeak out of the local media or a follower of the faith over this irksome situation ,which should be immediately rectified.
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Returning from the hospital , where his condition baffled medical science , our grumpy waterfront scribe , took the following shot of the heritage listed three storey building Clive Palmer bought for $780,000 at auction in the nightclub precinct. It is just across the road from Molly Malone's Irish Pub where the Shipping Reporter often goes to relax and let off steam by taking part in leprechaun tossing competitions .
It is thought Palmer will use the building as a centre for renewed mineral operations so members of the media squad in Townsville might get brave,venture down to the waterfront , see all the interesting ships that come and go , write about them , notice that nearby war memorials , and the Victory in the Pacific fountain , are often poorly maintained , write about them , plus other things of interest that stand out.
