Suburbs such as Flynn, Holt, Hawker and others have had no power since then. The best EVOEnergy can advise is the restoration of power to thousands of Canberra residents by Sunday, January 9.

As a resident of Flynn, it is apparent that there is no effort here to restore power to over 2000 residents. Having contacted EVOEnergy their response is, at best, platitudes and "we are doing all that is possible".

The government seems to be unconcerned. I have heard nothing from them - not that my television or radios work anyway. They are apparently doing nothing to assist. Why not call in teams from other electricity suppliers, from NSW, from anywhere to resolve this so much faster?

We have no hot water and no refrigeration. All our frozen food has spoiled and it is hard to find bags of ice at petrol stations. There are no communications or Internet, no means to charge our smartphones and no air-conditioning.

The elderly, frail and vulnerable are certainly at great risk.

This slack and inefficient electricity agency (EVOEnergy) and this government must take full blame for an appalling third world level of non-service.

While I am one of the many Australians who did not feel Novak Djokovic should have been granted an exemption to enter Australia, I am perplexed about the process. Despite extensive media reporting that his vaccination status was uncertain, he had clearly not been double-vaccinated because, if he had, we would not be where we are.

But if the Australian government was simply going to revoke his application because of this status, how on Earth could it sit back and allow a process to unfold where an exemption is apparently granted by two independent medical panels through a blind review process under the auspices of Tennis Australia - the outcome of which results in Djokovic boarding a plane to fly to Melbourne - only then for him to be refused access?

What precisely was this exemption process if it did not accord with, or take into account, Australian government visa requirements?

I must be one of many who opposed the granting of the apparent exemption and who now support the decision to exclude - but who have serious questions over the clumsy and politically charged way the federal and Victorian governments (and Tennis Australia) have handled it.

They have all made us look like fools on the world stage.

Although I was never a supporter of Novak Djokovic, with his anti-vaccination ideas, coming to Australia this month, I was appalled to hear Scott Morrison, at a press conference only a few hours after Djokovic's arrival, stating that "rules are rules" and that Djokovic would be treated the same as everyone else.

It reminds me of a time, only a couple of months ago, when the rules stated that there would be no interstate travel over the Father's Day weekend. Yet our Prime Minister left Canberra to go to Sydney for the weekend. What made it worse was that he thought he was within his rights to do so.

Not so, PM. What applies to the general Australian public applies to you, too.

I am waiting for the light bulb moment to happen inside our Legislative Assembly.

When that happens I am sure our ACT government will instruct all the existing shopping centres and other public carpark owners to widen the individual car spaces by at least about a foot.

Recent letters about print vs digital subscriptions to The Canberra Times give the impression that digital choices are inherently "green".

However, wireless devices, antenna networks and data centres are consuming an ever increasing portion of the global energy supply. One estimate puts the carbon footprint of the global digital system at 4 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with its energy consumption rising by nine per cent a year.

Though the telcos promote 5G as the best thing since sliced bread, the increasing use of 5G wireless equipment adds up to very large increases in energy use, with significant implications for climate change.

I thought someone might find this interesting. Admittedly my rain gauge is very basic from one of the many now gone hardware shops we used to have. But it is an indication. Of what? Global warming, perhaps. Whatever your dear readers wish to make of it.

2021 was our wettest backyard year since I started recording in the middle of the dreadful ten year drought 2000 to 2009. Last year I recorded 999 mm of rain. The next nearest was far less in 2012, at 793, and the year 2000 was 772. The year 2019 was not good at 339 mm, 2013 at 346 mm was the worst with most averaging during the drought at around 420 mm mark.

On Monday night we started 2022 with a healthy eight mm. Poor Belconnen, just a hop, step and jump from us was bombarded. Warming, cooling, wetter, dryer perhaps BoM could enlighten us. What does 2022 hold for my backyard dear meteorologists?

Recent letters about dangerous placement of gum trees in Canberra don't go far enough. They were concerned with individual houses, but this is just a small part of the overall danger. Few places in this city are suitable for gum trees, but unfortunately "gum-nutters" have caused thousands to be planted to the detriment of safety and aesthetics.

The greatest danger is associated with bushfires. In western Belconnen all major roads are lined with gum trees. A bushfire could race along these trees and very quickly engulf Belconnen. This nearly happened in 2003 when a change in wind direction could have caused the fire to cross William Hovell Drive. If it had done so Canberra would have lost thousands of homes rather than only 400. Some quick-thinking workmen hastily created a firebreak. I expected that a permanent one would be created soon after the fire; instead, more gum trees were planted in the median strip of Kingsford Smith Drive.

No gum tree should be planted close enough to a main road to be able to fall across it. Other factors are also important. Recently, gum trees have been planted alongside new bike paths. These will send roots under the paths making them uneven and dangerous.

Permission to plant gums should be highly restricted, and extensive gum tree removal should begin immediately.

Prosperous America, largely peopled by the "haves", has for very many years ignored the legitimate needs of the "have nots" who understandably feel ignored and aggrieved. They are now rallying around a "leader" who promises to right their wrongs.

They are a large minority in the most powerful country in the world and they don't care for the rule of law. This makes them dangerous.

In the forthcoming federal election I will vote for the party or person who aims to make Australia as self-sufficient as possible, with the absolute minimum of dependence on other countries for our prosperity. We have the brains to achieve great things. What we lack at present is the capacity to transform and channel our ideas into practical reality. This will involve tax reform.

Far too much of Australia's wealth is tied up in housing and luxury goods, and perhaps bank term deposits, when these funds should be put to good use for the good of the country as a whole.

This will be unpalatable to Aussie "haves" but a prosperous future for the country as a whole can only be achieved by an enlightened government that acts in the interests of all.

I'm not surprised to see the currently unfolding mishandling of the "strollout" of rapid antigen tests by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Scomo is very much out of his depth. Marketing is his forte, not production or distribution.

Possibly better at the job (or at least better than the famously non-hose holding Scomo) might be Anthony Albanese's mob. We all know the ALP has had much more experience managing "rats in the ranks". They might be better at this RAT distribution challenge.

Or might we soon see a counter-offer by Clive Palmer to supply Australians with millions of some other unproven placebo alternative COVID-19 testing kits? These, like his Titanic replica, are eagerly awaited.