Temporal Island

Mr Wordsworth said the Australind train service is valued by the local community, particularly the elderly, who are able to book a seat, carry on luggage, access toilet facilities, as well as enjoy a more comfortable standard of transport.

"The plan to replace one of the return trips of this train service with coach transport will result in a significant loss of service to residents of the South West," he said.

"The train gives me a better chance to meet new people, stretch my legs and protect my two new knees and stretch my back.

"I don't travel much at present, however my wife and I are both approaching 75, and when we are unable to drive we will both have to use it for medical appointments or to see relatives."

Collie-Wellington MLA Mick Murray said he supported the proposal to have extra coach services from Bunbury to Mandurah replace some Australind train services.

"I think its a great idea because there will be an extra six services out of Bunbury," he said.

"The service will allow more flexibility for travellers."

Mr Murray said he would campaign for Collie travellers to have a coach service which would allow them to not have to go to Bunbury.

"I certainly will be grizzling to get a service for Collie where you can hook up with a coach at the bottom of Rowlands or dropped off at Brunswick," he said.

People prefer trains..END OF STORY!

And this from Labor Government.

A group called Save the Australind is passing two petitions against the proposal around the region that will be presented to the Upper and Lower Houses of State Parliament next month.

Spokeswoman Catherine Hardcastle says the group is also organising a public rally to coincide with the tabling of the petitions.

Ms Hardcastle says community feeling against the proposal is strong.

A quarter of Americans say they have no one with whom they can discuss personal troubles, more than double the number who were similarly isolated in 1985. Overall, the number of people Americans have in their closest circle of confidants has dropped from around three to about two.

"It does seem impossible to find anyone under the age of 30 out in public who is not on a cell phone, even when they are walking with a group of friends," observed Jeffrey Sconce, associate professor of radio, TV and film at Northwestern University. "It's almost as if no one is interested in what they are actually doing, but in what someone else they know might be doing."

Sconce said telecommunications companies benefit from "a new social order where more and more people seem to communicate, not to pass along any actual information, but for the sake of communicating itself."

"I often wonder what it is doing to good old-fashioned introspection," he said. "With all the emphasis on constant electronic dialogue, when will people find the time to actually just sit and think?"

Deanne, you're happier than 90 percent of the other people who took Tickle's Happiness Test.

For example, your test results show that your level of cheerfulness is one of the things that helps you feel happier overall. This means that for the most part you have a good-natured disposition and can take blissful delight in even the smallest things. You may also tend to be in good spirits more often than not. By seeking out humor even in hard times, you can keep your life filled with laughter. While your cheerfulness has a positive impact on how happy you are, it's still not the biggest factor that affects your overall happiness. Want to know which area of your life makes you the happiest?

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"The biggest funder of medical research is the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth would not fund research which it thought was ethically repugnant."
'Canberra to resist stem cell moves', 3 July 2006.