Friday photos

To start with, two pretty pictures of The Bay at sunrise. Are you getting sick of these? I'm not. Before long, it will be cold and wet when I leave for work (rather than coolish and pleasantly dry), so I am making the most of it. I like how the water on the far side of the mud bank is almost perfectly, glassily still.

There's two pelicans in the water searching for breakfast.

I noted a few days ago that Verity Firth appears to have next to no support from individual householders in her electorate - there are plenty of signs up on power poles, but precious few in front yards. Scrap precious few - I have only seen two. This one in Lilyfield and another in Glebe. There are sure to be more out there (I haven't covered that much of her electorate), but the difference in the number of Labor signs in front yards between Balmain and Drummoyne is immense.

Speaking of which, here are two versions of Angelo's sign. The first is a recycled one from an earlier mayoral campaign (he's been mayor now for 8 years). The "Drummoyne" bit is actually a big sticker that's stuck over some other slogan - probably something about electing him as mayor. He certainly looks a lot younger in that photo. The "Labor" logo is part of the original poster though - even back then, he wasn't into advertising his affiliation with that party.

And here is the modern version - a bit more grey, a few more wrinkles (I know how that feels). If he fails to get up this weekend (the election is tomorrow), I wonder if he'll have another crack in four years time?

Candidate actively avoids Labor brand

I always get a chuckle when I see Angelo's signs - especially since one of his main campaigners had a torrid time with ICAC last year. When his supporters claim that he is "one of us", what exactly do they mean? Which "us" is he linked with? The type of "us" that end up being grilled by ICAC investigators?

One thing Angelo doesn't want to be known as is the Labor candidate. Spotted these two posters outside a house on a major intersection. Some kind soul has come along and stuck a much bigger "Labor" sticker over the tiny little Labor logo. By the look of the stickers, panic has ensued and the householder has done their best to erase all linkages with Labor.

I think he has a reasonable chance in this area. Whilst Labor are on the nose, he's a fresh candidate with a great local profile. If anyone can win the seat, it's him. It will be interesting to see if his profile is enough to overcome the local Labor stench.

There's a stark difference between our electorate and Balmain when it comes to candidate's signage out the front of private houses. In our area, a lot of people support Angelo enough to have his mug in their front yard. I took a trip into Balmain and Glebe on the weekend - whilst there are a lot of Verity Firth posters up on power poles, I didn't see a single one in a front yard. Not one. Lot's of posters on poles shows she has an active campaign team running around nailing them up at night, but the lack of posters in front yards shows just how little grass roots support she's got compared to Angelo.

Wednesday photos

Now that the rain has gone, we're getting some lovely sunrises. I wasn't the only one out taking photos of the sunrise this morning - this bloke had a proper camera and was patient enough to wait around to get a great shot.

This is my over the shoulder photo trick - I point the camera backwards, rest the camera on my shoulder and hope for the best. Nice mudflats.

Going past Paddys Markets - not much action there at 0700.

We're in the final stretch now for the state elections - only a few days to go (must try and remember to vote early too). Just when we're almost free of election crap, along come the council elections. Here's three candidates for Sydney city council. The bloke at the back is from the Labor party - that tiny red blob in the bottom right hand corner says "Labor". Interesting that he's using a blue background, which is the traditional Liberal colour.

Monday photos

I thought I was going to miss the sunrise this morning - the alarm went off, and I really couldn't be bothered getting out of bed and going to work. However, the brain refused to return to sleep, so I reluctantly crawled out of bed and got on with it. As it turns out, it was a glorious sunrise.

There are a few rowers out there in that mass of blue and pink. Just one problem - I took this photo from the worst possible spot. This scene looked incredible from other locations, but there were too many bloody trees in the way to get a good shot. Note to self - must cut down some trees to improve the view. The Bay was just a series of bands of beautiful pink and light blue stretching all the way to the bridge in the far background.

Not many bikes out this morning - the sun is coming up later and later, and I guess a lot of people don't want to or aren't equipped to ride in the dark.

Verity's signs aren't getting any better. This one is mirroring her popularity.

Antony Green and his take on the Greens

Green is always worth a read.

He rides a bike too - doubleplusgood.

Jamie vs Verity

Another in my soon-to-end series on election posters. That's because the election is in 16 days, and after that, we hopefully won't see any more posters for a while.

Poor old Verity Firth can't win at anything. Whoever nailed up her posters has screwed up big time - they put a nail in the bottom and a nail in the middle - but not one in the top. That's meant that after a few weeks of rain and wind, many posters have folded in the middle and fallen over, completely obscuring the message. Here's an example.

That must be a metaphor for the hopeless Labor government - shoddy work that looks good initially, then falls apart after a short while.

According to the local rag, here are the centrebet odds on the candidates:

Balmain

Jamie Parker (Greentard) – $1.20
Verity Firth (Wife of junkie) – $4.50
James Falk (Boring normal dude) – $9

Marrickville

Fiona Byrne (Greenloon) – $1.22
Carmel Tebbutt (wife of Labor stooge) – $4
Rosanna Tyler (who?) – $9

Drummoyne

John Sidoti (Lib) – $1.22
Angelo Tsirekas (Lab) – $3.50

Strathfield

Virginia Judge (Lab) – $1.85
“John” Causcuscelli (Lib) – $1.85

Interestingly, the paper spells Labor as “Labour” and stuffed up the name of Charles Casuscelli. Guess they had the cadet reporter do that story. I know he's a wog with a tricky name, but even I can spell it correctly. Sheesh!

And even more election stuff

Got this in the letterbox this week - so now we know something about Alex Elliott, international man of mystery.

Go vote

Yes, go vote for your favourite election poster at Tizona's.

Remember, vote early, vote often.

More election posters

As requested by the Tizona Group, I bring you four more election posters. I did a special ride today, just for you guys. First off, we have the current Mayor of Canada Bay, Angelo Tsirekas. He has a few different posters, all similar to the one above. I think this is actually his old mayoral campaign poster, with a "Drummoyne" sticker stuck over his old mayoral election slogan. Labor have written this seat off, so he's having to make do with a budget of sweet FA.

God knows why he went with yellow - I always associate that colour with cowardice. One thing I have noticed though - he doesn't try to chat my partner up when I accompany her to functions he's attending. Rumour has it that he got a bit too friendly with ladies other than his wife last year, and was booted out of the marital abode. It appears things have since been patched up. He's got excellent name recognition though, having been mayor for years, so I think he is in with a reasonable chance. The Labor voters that were walking around six months ago saying that they'd never vote for D'Amore (since hauled up before ICAC on corruption charges and suspended from the Labor party) will vote for Tsirekas. His name doesn't stink like D'Amore's did (she is also Joe Tripodi's sister-in-law). As a newbie, he also isn't associated with the wretched Labor government.

Jamie Parker, who is the Mayor of Leichhardt. He's hoping to knock off Verity Firth in Balmain. Although he's a Green, he's been spotted parking his big black Mercedes some distance from functions and then walking so that people don't get the idea that he is in fact a rich, capitalist plutocrat. He's certainly richer than the other candidates shown here. I hope that all that blue sky in the background isn't full of CO2.

Alex Elliot - never heard of him, and don't ask me why he went with black and white. Cost perhaps? It stands out though.

John Sidoti, currently Mayor of Burwood and the Liberal candidate (sorry about the distant photo - the road was too busy to cross - will try to get a better photo). It's always fun around here when the elections are Greeks vs Italians. Sidoti has added a large format poster to his repertoire - the ones on the right of the trailer. They really stand out. Interesting how the Liberal is photographed on a green background, and the Green on a blue background (traditionally the conservative colour).

More to follow after the next ride. I didn't spot a poster for the Liberal candidate for Balmain this morning - I know they are out there, but there weren't any in the spots that I rode around today.

Keep Verity Out

The Tizona Group are on the hunt for Labor party election posters that don't look like Labor party election posters. This one from Verity Firth is a classic. Her husband was busted recently buying a single eckie tablet, and he resigned (idiot). Some smart arse has been running around the neighbourhood adding a sticker that simply says "out", as in "keep verity out". That meets with my approval.

Memories

Four years after the Kevin07 election, and a year or so after he got knifed - the stickers still appear from time to time (although this one has been half removed).

Bit quiet at the moment - tore my legs to bits last week going way too hard way too early and have been unable to ride thanks to numerous muscle spasms, twangs and ows.

Monday photos

My brain has been too fried by the heat this week to bother with posting photos. It's just been too damned hot to sit at the PC. Thankfully, we have a bit of a cool change coming through at present - the house might cool down enough to allow a decent night's sleep.

I was hoping we were in for a thunderstorm on Monday when I took this photo at about 0600 - a good drenching of rain would take the edge off the heat. No such luck. I simply sweated like I have not sweated in years.

This bloke was feeling the heat, riding into town in his work clobber on a very trendy bike (white wheels and all). When I pulled up next to him at the lights, his face was dripping. I was the same - but at least I was heading for a 10 minute freezing shower and a change of clothes, allowing me to feel reasonably fresh and clean for a day in the office.

Normally the only time you see Dikes on Bikes is Mardi Gras time.

Why did I photograph this bloke? Probably because I was overtaking him. The madness overtook me soon after, and I just had to overtake everyone I met. There was a big pack of bikes moving through Pyrmont towards the ANZAC bridge - as soon as we hit the spiral leading up the bridge, I went for it. As others changed down, I changed up, and I fairly ripped past one and all. There was only one out of over a dozen that got away - only because I got stuck behind some dopey pedestrians. Why, oh why, do I do stupid stuff like that on a skin melting day?

The state election is approaching, and we're seeing various political types from time to time standing on street corners, annoying the pedestrians. The bloke in the suit and hat was a Green. He didn't exactly fit the stereotype of hip young thing with numerous facial piercings. He looked about 75 - at least he was in a dark green suit.