Fibre to my door and another doggy

Gigabit fibre is currently being rolled out onto our street. I’ve been impressed with the speed and efficiency with which it has been installed. They did the pavement outside our house in less than a day – lifting paving slabs, digging, installing cable, then putting everything back again.

They were all standing around when I took this photo and I asked for permission but none of them understood English. I think they were all Polish. Who will install our fibre if Brexit happens?

Our internet is already very fast with download speeds of between 50 and 60 Mbps but gigabit fibre will take it to a whole new level. I can’t help thinking about how the average speed in Australia is just 8.5Mbps. Australia is investing in 20th century technology (copper) while the rest of the world is putting in 21st century technology (fibre). This is thanks to the same government that invests in new coal mines while praying for rain.

A telecommunications expert from RMIT describes Australia as a “third-world broadband country” and rightly so.

Dr Gregory lambasted the Coalition government, and said it was responsible for rolling out “a second-rate obsolete network”  at a cost of more than $50 billion to taxpayers, with Australia now “a third-world broadband country”.

But this is what the people voted for and that’s their democratic right. At least, unlike climate change, this policy doesn’t affect me.

We’ve got another borrow-my-doggy dog called Lola.

Lola is adorable. She’s part poodle and part golden retriever. She has a lovely temperament and she’s great with children and other dogs. She’s the largest dog I’ve ever looked after and I can say with absolute scientific certainty that there’s a direct correlation between the size of the dog and the size of the turd. Wow, can she produce the most enormous whoppers!

It’s so nice to have the company during the day and having a dog forces me out of the house for a walk in the park. But at the same time it’s nice not to have the full responsibility that comes with dog ownership.

I can’t help thinking about how we, as a family, have dispensed with car ownership in favour of sharing cars. We’re now sharing pets. Is this the future of society? There are some things I wouldn’t want to share, like underpants, but for other things it makes sense, like cars or holiday houses or even allotments.