Why I can't write this post

You might notice that I've been trying to keep a regular, weekday blogging cycle. I'll sit down and nut out a blog post on something like the Ten Faces of Waste Innovation, or Don Delillo, Underworld and Waste, or even something more personal like Moving from Working a Job to Building a Business.

Tonight I am not going to achieve this, because I am truly exhausted.

I have spent the last three days in Canberra seeking Federal Government support for a waste processing facility. The flight over is four hours, so with a connecting flight I spent the best part of 9 hours inside an airplane since Sunday afternoon.

I then spent the best part of Monday, Tuesday and this morning roaming the corridors of Parliament House, going from briefing to briefing. That was exhausting, especially given there were long breaks when we couldn't sensibly leave (getting through security is a drawn out process).

What did I learn?

Well, contrary to the public opinion, I learned that most politicians are very intelligent, very engaged and sharp as a tack. They are also hamstrung in making snap decisions by a whole heap of processes. When we are being fair, we call this democracy. When we are unfair, we just roll our eyes and cynically declare "of course they can't help"

I learned that senior bureaucrats, particularly in Canberra, are consummate professionals. They are entirely across a sprawling department, and want to help. They are also hamstrung in making decisions by a whole heap of processes. Yep, that would be democracy again.

I also learned that behind the bluster of Question Time, Parliamentarians generally try to work together to help out constituents. They are (generally) hard working, and want to see a lasting improvement.

I realised that Parliamentarians have to do what I just did every week that Parliament sits. Where I can whinge about being exhausted, they do it without complaint. They also fold in a whole lot of other stuff around the country. I can only admire them. Doesn't mean I won't criticise them, as that too is part of this beast called democracy.

I don't know whether the meetings will lead to any government support - that's the way it goes in a democray with competing demands on money. I do know that our project is now better known in Canberra. If nothing else, that is worth the trip.

So my apologies for not being able to write this post. I need a rest.

Maybe some other time I'll write expand on how to recycle a mattress, or apply some of the great thinkers like Umair Haque to solving tomorrow's waste problems.

Just not now.