Orange, NSW

We spent the weekend in and around the town of Orange in the central-west of NSW. The occasion was my youngest sister's wedding, which gathered friends and family for a truly great couple of days.

As both the UK and Australia go to the polls this year there was much discussion about the relative strengths of the two countries. I spent a lot of time trying to convince the othet party guests that they were better off, both comparatively and absolutely than the Brits. No only does Australia have more natural resources under better management than any European country, its intelligent, pro-active oversight of local banks meant that the economy barely dipped into recession during the GFC. As bad as it might feel in rural Australia, I said, life is far worse in urban England.

"So what?" was the response, "You can only live in one country at a time." A more cogent comparison for Orange, 2010 is not London, 2010 but rather Orange, 2005.

Walking past block after block of vacant shops on Summer Street this morning restated their argument for them.