Australia, Environment, Streams, Creeks & Rivers, Urban Walking
Published on October 10, 2014
Comments 17

Progress

written by

If you build it…

 

mmm

Presenting a magnificent addition to the Sandgate skyline! Shortly before opening.

..they will come:

 

mmm

Cabbage Tree Creek, shortly after the opening.

~ And that’s all the Goat wrote

17 Comments

    • GOAT 山羊 says

      Well, there are increasingly fertile fields of study in these parts! I don’t think I’d be too bigoted to observe that your average MacDonald’s diner would not put the preservation of the environment high on their list of priorities.

      Reply
      • AndrewGills says

        So my impression of Busan is not so favorable. It is loud and brash and huge like Sydney. Give me Daegu or Seoul any day. They are like Brisbane and Melbourne respectively. I know Busan has beaches like Sydney but that doesn’t change the atmosphere. Once the rain clears I am going out to the mountains for some hiking yo get away from the noise. I arrived here by bicycle yesterday and urgh. Funny. I loved the rest of Korea but here I feel agitated and unsettled.

      • GOAT 山羊 says

        Magnify that agitated and unsettled by two years and you have my stay in Korea!

        Yeah, Busan…I was ambivalent too. I wanted to like it more than I did. I will say it’s very unpretentious! And very, er, grungy. I’m sure you know it attained its present form as a large refugee camp, and a lot of the dwellings don’t seem to have been improved much since. It’s a dirty place, I reckon, but I did enjoy walking the hillside suburbs around sunset. The maze of backstreets and alleys. If you have time, the only seaside temple in Korea is one of my fave destinations in the area. Haedong Yonggung Temple, not far north of Haeundae. It would be an easy bike ride if you’re up for it, and dawn or sunset there is special.

  3. Jane says

    I’m particularly bothered by Maccas being allowed to be built in close vicinity to schools. The rubbish along the roads there is atrocious and kids are easy targets to get addicted to the Maccas coke, burger and chips fix. The “deals” are often cheaper than healthy options elsewhere. In Roma, QLD there is a pedestrian crossing that takes the kids directly across the road from their school to a Maccas shop!

    Reply
    • GOAT 山羊 says

      Yes, a despicable company in my opinion. And I doubt you could find too many places that have been improved by the addition of the Big M to their skyline.

      Reply
  5. am says

    A new word for me today — “Maccas.” It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a McDonald’s. They really have a world-wide presence:

    http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/country/map.html

    Your post and photos remind me of an incident in 1971 in California involving McDonald’s. I’ve never been a fan of hamburgers, but my boyfriend liked McDonald’s hamburgers for breakfast. He would buy me a McDonald’s fishwich. We were 21 years old. He had just returned from Vietnam, and we were living together. I remember the time after we finished eating when he asked for my food wrappings and napkins and my cup and threw them, along with his trash, out his window onto the parking lot. I was puzzled and embarrassed and asked him why he didn’t put our trash in the garbage can that was just a few steps away from my car. He quietly said, “People who need jobs at McDonald’s to survive are paid to pick garbage up, and I want to make sure they have enough work to do.” The tone of his voice indicated that he was serious. He identified with a different world from the one I identified with. I’ve never forgotten that incident. He claimed outlaw status and had friends who were Hell’s Angels. If I had stayed with him, I might have ended up in prison or worse. HIs hard life was no joking matter. He did go to prison when he was in his 40s. Come to think of it, though, I don’t recall ever seeing him throw trash on the ground again in the remaining time we spent together.

    Reply
    • GOAT 山羊 says

      Another great comment, Am, thanks. The anti-hero/author Ed Abbey was fond of talking about throwing cans from car windows as he drove across the desert. His “point” was that any stretch of the outdoors with a road was already beyond saving. Not a sentiment I find it easy to agree with, though road “culture” has always has its pluses and negatives.

      How’s this for a sign of the times? (Sadly, this is EXACTLY how many contemporary families in Korea STILL behave!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roREnVhd_og

      Reply
    • GOAT 山羊 says

      I remember trudging into a MacDonald’s one night at Sisters, OR, after hitching in with Granite & Terrapin to find that nothing else was open (and we were starving, of course).

      We did our best, but their wasn’t much joy in our Happy Meals!

      Reply

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