The Balmain Blog

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Morning traffic into the Sydney CBD ground to a standstill this morning after multiple mishaps cause traffic jams into the city from the north and the west.

Bus drivers dropped passengers off at the Queen Victoria Building bus stops this morning and told them they’d be better off getting out and walking if they wanted to get to Central Railway or anywhere at the south end of the city.

The traffic jam in the CBD was the result of extra-slow traffic crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge to reach the city and traffic congestion on Victoria Road driving east towards The Crescent and the Anzac Bridge.

Three of the bridge lanes northbound had to be closed when a bus broke down at Dawes Point according to the RTA, and this affected inbound lanes in Parramatta Road, the city Westlink and Victoria Road at about 8am.

You’d better make the best of the traffic situation while you can because there won’t be much, if any, spending on improving the roads and fixing public transport until this darn recession improves.

There’s a lot to be said for riding pushbikes, motorbikes and scooters - except when the weather is cold and wet like we’ve been experiencing all this week. What a bummer.

Well the word is out, Australians will soon have to work until age 67 before they can retire on the Old-Age Pension… that’s if it still exists in 2023. The retirement goalposts will start moving in eight years time, and will start heading for the far distant horizon (retirement) in jumps of six months until the age stands at 67 by 2023.

At present the official retirement age is 65 years of age, but I remember back in the 1980s when people were promising me I could retire when I hit age 55. Well, what a load of claptrap that turned out to be.

I’m now 61 years old and I still have another four years to go before they’ll let me retire. Not that I can afford to. Already my hearing is going bung. My eyesight is crap and my memory is failing sadly. I’d hate to be looking for a job, and I don’t fancy my chances of finding one if I were.

So now with the global financial reshuffle and the recession we had to have, even the much-spoiled Generation Y kiddies have been dealt a shocking blow. They’ve just learned from the Australian 2009 Federal Budget that they are going to have to work until they hit age 67 before they can retire.

The gravy train is over, kiddiewinks. You’ve had it so easy you should have known it wouldn’t last. They’re going to make you work until you drop. Mark my words.

Meanwhile, we over-50 years old baby boomers will have to make the best we can out of the time we’ve got left.

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THE Brumbies and Waratahs will enter a nerve-jangling final Super 14 round outside the top four, but still with a chance of making the finals.

SYDNEY: Australia has confirmed the country’s first case of influenza A (H1N1), but the woman is no longer infectious and has a weak strain the virus, the country’s heath minister said Saturday.