The politicians and the power of advertising

It’s been a wet, wet weekend in Sydney, a sloshing your way through puddles kind of weekend with sport cancelled and platoons of worms trying to make their way inside the house. The dog is such a coward he can’t quite decide how to handle the wriggling intruders so resorts to making little runs at them with much woofing.

Next big event on the horizon in Sydney is the New South Wales state election on Saturday. The Labour party that is currently in power is so deeply unpopular, not to mention a byword for sleeze, that the opposition party leaders appear to be quite sensibly sitting quietly and saying nothing as barring a miracle on the Lazarus type scale, their victory is assured.

I am fairly unmoved by both parties, and am very tempted to vote for the nudist candidate. He caused a sensation at the meeting of candidates to decide position on the ballot paper when he decided to declare himself in the strongest possible way by casting off his dressing gown and bow tie. I was listening to reports on the radio and could hear him protesting, “It’s all right, I’ve got a G string” as he was evicted from the meeting.

Having said neither of the two main parties has grabbed my attention; I do have to say I am a sucker for good advertising. I am currently in thrall to a moisturiser that bills itself as “Wake Up Wonder” guaranteed to do, well wonders I presume, for tried looking and never let it be said out loud, ageing skin. Even though in my rational moments I do realise that it is not only the NSW Labour party that would need a Lazarus type miracle here, I have been slapping it on with enthusiasm, and when I stand well back and squint, I definitely look more startled than tired.

The other bit of power of suggestion that I love is the meat truck that delivers the meat to our fabulous local butcher Penny’s of Mosman, every morning. The meat company, based in the NSW inland town of Cowra is called Breakout River Meats and the truck is emblazoned with a huge image of two cowboys racing down a river – www.breakoutriver.com.au for those that want to check out the picture. For some reason the picture of wholesome manhood doing healthy outdoor things always makes me smile and buy more sausages. In contrast the mental image of a former NSW Labour Minister dancing in his underpants at a party ensures that my vote is unlikely to go his way.