Is it just me?

Yesterday Hubby emailed home a media release from the Hon. Mr Robertson who is Queensland's minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy. My understanding of the statemtent was that it was put out to justify the electricity prices in Queensland.

The question I'm asking is that is it just me who finds these sorts of figures misleading and incredibly frustrating? Here is part of the media release:

"Mr Robertson said household electricity prices as set by the independent Queensland Competition Authority are less than charges in NSW, South Australia and Tasmania.

The increase in prices as determined by the QCA this year were similar to increases in Victoria and NSW and five percent cheaper than the increase in Western Australia.

The average household bill in Queensland ($1781) is cheaper than the average bills in South Australia ($1989), NSW ($1954) , Tasmania ($1910) and Victoria ($1782). Mr Robertson said."

Perhaps it's just my scientific nature but there's two relevant points here:

(1) Considering that Queensland has a mostly sub-tropical to tropical climate and states closer to the Antarctic would have homes that would need heating for a longer part of the year then umm..wouldn't the other states be using more electricity in the first place?

(2) Considering (1) wouldn't it be more appropriate to quote the charges per kilowatt-hour than the average bill?

I remember when a survey was done about grocery prices when the Howard (conservative) government was in power. The comparison was made between the cost of various items from one year to the next to point out the supposed incredible inflation in prices. Problem was that they chose to put bananas in their comparison. Considering that a cyclone had just completely devastated the north Queensland town that produced bananas (putting them into an exorbitant price range) I hardly think it was a reasonable reflection on inflation.

Who teaches these people science in schools!!!

The wrong one

Last night Anika and I were on our way to an induction into a new charge of a minister who is a good friend of ours. It was supposed to be Hubby and Anika going whilst I did the Boys Brigade routine but, to cut a long story short, a last hour change was made.

I'd never been to this particular church building before and it was about 40 minutes drive away. We had some interesting moments following the directions as it was pouring with rain. Four years ago we had a severe drought in our neck of the woods. This year we've had record breaking rain and the dams are full and they are letting out water. Still the rain falls. We haven't seen much sunshine this spring yet.

We finally came to B street where the building was and we were hunting around for it when I saw a large, church building like substance and pulled into the car park. There were not many cars which made me wonder if we had the right night. Anika went to investigate while I checked the directions again.

Anika came back in hysterics. It seemed that she walked through the entrance and saw a sign indicating that the meeting was, "A celebration of the canonisation of Australia's Saint Mary MacKillop."

Given that we were supposed to be attending a Presbyterian service, I think we were just a little bit in the wrong place.

PS Our night was correct and we found the building a little further up the street.

Signs there is a teenage boy in the house

1. You look at the small amount of meat for dinner and think it can't possibly be 1 kilogram. You weigh it and realise it is.

2. You take a medium saucepan out of the saucepan cupboard and then go back to look for the large saucepan. You realise that you are already holding the large saucepan.

3. Your 17-year-old son asks you what he can have for a snack while you are making dinner. You direct him to a packet of biscuits in the pantry. 10 minutes later you notice the empty packet in the bin.