In any case I hope you had a great weekend and certainly I had the opportunity to catch up with some long time friends yesterday. Life post-university seems to go at wharp speed and it is very often friendships are wedged into small gaps between meetings. That is they are almost poly-filler to the important things in your life. Truth is we are nothing without relationships and to have the chance for a few hours yesterday to learn of the struggles and joys of these good friends was a good chance to have some perspective on what is truly important as we head bolt on to 2008.

 

It was also a good week for Manly last week as we hosted John Watkins (the Transport Minister) to hear first hand of the commuters views of the Walker Report and his ferry service. As always I was very proud of the community (and in particular the 118 who came along) as all views were put in a very constructive manner. The simple point was that we are happy with our combined ferry service, just make it reliable, offer more services not less, integrate the ferries with parking/buses, make it affordable and customer centric.

 

I firmly believe that John Watkins left Manly with that impression and the strong sentiment that we don't want our fast ferry cut for a 25 minute service. If that is the best they can offer well simply - thanks but no thanks. I was encouraged that he acknowledged he would not rush vessel replacement decisions with my request that the users are formally engaged before any final decision is made.

 

That's it for this week and I hope you enjoy yours.

 

Cheers

Mike