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Unreliable Guide 36 Headnoise
Cancel culture.
The Unreliable Guide to... Homesickness
Words Nat Shepherd Photo Alan Joyce
Those of you who read this column regularly may well be aware that The Unreliable Guide is a Pom. And this Pom has been feeling a bit homesick lately. Don’t get me wrong, I have no desire to live back in the Brexit/Johnson/freak heatwave shitfight that is currently my old homeland, but I really miss my fam.
All my biological family live in the UK and, thanks to COVID, I haven’t seen any of them in the flesh since April 2019. My nieces were tots last time I saw them, barely knee high. Now they are sophisticated girls. They are completely new people and will probably have no idea who I am when we next meet. And, fingers crossed, we are finally going to meet up again.
After years of lagging phone calls and stilted, frozen Zooms, we are all meeting up in Thailand for Christmas. Yay! I am beside myself with excitement, but I’m also full of trepidation. I haven’t been outside of New South Wales for almost four years. I haven’t been to an airport during that time, let alone got on a plane.
What is travel like now? What forms will I have to fill in? Will all my bags get lost? If you, like me, have had similar thoughts, let’s explore the new travel landscape together.
Flight Costs and Cancellations
We all know airlines had an awful time during the height of the pandemic. International travel dropped a massive 74 per cent in 2020. Several companies, such as Virgin Australia, went into voluntary administration, many others folded altogether. So, I was expecting there to be an increase in flight costs when the world opened up again. What I did not expect was quite how much of an increase.
When The Unreliable Guide flew to Europe in 2019 the flights cost $1,800 return. When I looked a few months ago the cheapest flight I could get was in the region of $4,000! Looking today, the prices have settled down a bit, but that’s not the only post-COVID concern. Several friends have told me horror stories about their flights being cancelled, last minute, with no offer of a rescheduling. One friend was abandoned by Qantas in Malaysia and had to book a new flight at his own expense for a far greater price with another airline. Another was actually on his way to the domestic airport when his flight was cancelled. A third, having booked almost a year in advance to secure a good price with JAL, was told two weeks before his departure that his flight was cancelled. When he tried to rebook he found the price had doubled in the meantime.
This seems very shady practice to me, but there are reasons behind it. By September 2021, an estimated 2.3 million airline and airport staff around the world had been let go. Since we finally started opening up, the industry has struggled to recruit and train the requisite staff. There is a massive shortage of staff across the board, including air crew, baggage handlers and even customs officials.
Reduce the Uncertainty
It seems as if uncertainty is the only certainty of post-COVID travel, but what can we do about it? Most travel agents advise paying a little extra to get flexible tickets, choose accommodation that has flexible cancellation policies, and always get the best travel insurance you can afford. Other than that, The Unreliable Guide suggests you just send up a prayer to St Christopher, patron saint of travelers, and hope for the best.
Finally, The Unreliable Guide wonders if COVID has made the world larger. During the decades of easy and cheap travel my family felt very close, now they feel incredibly far away. I have an inkling of what it must have felt like for the early settlers for whom the old country was a journey of several weeks. And they didn’t even have Zoom.
Mayor's Message
Bondi Pavilion
Waverley Council is excited to welcome the community back to our newly restored Bondi Pavilion, our hub for community, culture, creativity and adventure. Our community welcome event on Thursday 22 September at 6pm is just Act One in an ongoing curated selection of live performance, music, dance, First Nations celebrations, film screenings and exhibitions in a glittering setting. To register to attend the Welcome and to find out what's on this spring and summer at our reimagined Bondi Pavilion, visit bondipavilion.com.au
Bronte Pool emergency repairs
Unscheduled pool pump works at Bronte Pool are due for completion at the end of September. The works will help ensure the pump operates at full capacity over the busy summer months. We can't wait to see you back in the pool!
Nominations for the Waverley Brightest and Best Business Awards close Wednesday 21 September. Businesses can enter to be considered for an award across 14 categories including innovation, sustainability and disability inclusion. The awards bring together Waverley's businesses and recognise their contribution towards our local community. To nominate, visit waverley.awardsplatform.com A friendly reminder that nominations for the 2022 Waverley Garden Awards close 5pm, Wednesday 12 October. The awards celebrate the joy and fulfilment gardens provide, from balcony gardens and shared veggie patches to native bush gardens and formal courtyards. Any type of garden can be considered. To nominate a garden, visit waverley.nsw.gov.au/ gardenawards
Dogs at Barracluff Park
Waverley Council is inviting the community to have its say about providing safe spaces to exercise dogs in Barracluff Park, North Bondi. North Bondi is a densely populated suburb with limited green space but has a high number of young families and people with pets who enjoy the park, including the Council's new playground. Our consultation will help gather the community's views on how our much-loved
Bondi Junction Cycleway
The final two stages of the Bondi Junction Cycleway and Streetscape Upgrade are now underway and will take two to three months to complete, weather permitting. During construction, the westbound bus stop on Oxford Street will be relocated west of York Road and signage will be in place to direct customers to the alternative bus stop. Customers can plan their trip Barracluff can be used safely by visiting transportnsw.info and enjoyably. Consultation or calling Transport Info on closes Monday 26 September. 131500. Provide feedback at haveyoursay.waverley.nsw.gov.au Paula Masselos, Mayor of Waverley
Just let it go boys.
Too Invested to Quit
Words Jeremy Ireland Image Andrew Webber
A long time ago I worked on the musical The Phantom of the Opera at the Theatre Royal Sydney. The Phantom, with the lead role at the time being played by the late Rob Guest, was a hugely successful production with tickets being sold out many months in advance. Eight shows a week were pumped out with matinees running on Wednesdays and Saturdays. One thing I noticed quickly was that every major character in the show had an understudy; even the understudies had understudies. For this juggernaut to keep rolling, these understudies needed to be match fit. It was not uncommon therefore to use the matinee for this purpose, seeing both the male and female leads played by the understudy. Despite this being the norm in show biz, I always felt a bit sorry for the punters who had paid the same money only to find out on the day that the leads were to be played by someone else.
On reflection, from a psychological standpoint, I can appreciate what this situation presented. The producers knew people had booked well in advance, paid good money and thus were unlikely to cancel their tickets, and for the punter, they were more inclined to sit through the show regardless because of this very fact. There is a term for such a dilemma, otherwise known as the ‘sunk cost fallacy’. In simple terms, the ticket holders had invested too much to quit. What this represents is classic loss aversion 101 - the more you have outlaid for something (and this does not just have to be money), the less likely you are to throw it away.
In the world of economics, economists would argue that sunk costs are not taken into account when making rational decisions. Let’s stay with show biz for a bit and pretend a friend has invited you to a movie you’re not too keen to watch. You agree and buy the tickets, which are non-refundable, only to find out your friend legitimately can’t go with less than an hour’s notice. What do you do? Go anyway? Or just say ‘too bad’ and do something you would rather do? If we are truly rational we’d cut our losses and not go, thus only suffering once with the financial loss. The problem is the majority of us would feel obligated to go so as not to waste resources. In actual fact, we have lost twice here by wasting both time and money.
It’s worth considering that the sunk cost fallacy is exactly that - a fallacy, irrational and inefficient because it misallocates resources - time and money in our example - by depending on information that is irrelevant to the decision being made. I can hear my dear grandmother, “Waste not, want not,” she would say. Perhaps she’s right, but good intentions aside, where does this really leave us?
Sunk costs can often make costs blow out. Think of NASA’s current attempt to fly back to the moon after 50 years, or even the monorail that ran through the city. Psychological studies show that sunk costs often affect decisions due to such loss aversion. Often prices paid for something in the past can be the benchmark for the value both present and future when in actual fact the price paid should be, and is, irrelevant - Sydney house prices, for example.
It’s worth considering here that this concept goes beyond money. You can see how it might apply to other areas such as relationships, health, education and the like. Characteristics of someone who is struck by the sunk cost fallacy might include making important decisions based on how much you have already invested in a project, whether it be time, money or otherwise. Is the desire not to appear wasteful a bad thing? Not always, but do we, for example, continue a war because lives will have been lost in vain if we don’t win? Do we throw more money into a bad investment to save it? There are many more examples here, but cutting your losses can be difficult to do.
Focusing on the present and forgetting the past can help - water under the bridge, so to speak. By justifying past mistakes we leave ourselves open to the trap of the sunk cost fallacy. My litmus test on this (and please excuse my language) is if it looks like a turd and smells like a turd, chances are it’s a turd, and polishing it won’t help.
Have you got a question? You can get in touch with Jeremy by calling 0400 420 042.
Randwick News
At 11pm on 12 October 2002 two bombs were detonated in Kuta, Bali, in front of the popular Sari Club and Paddy’s Bar, while a third device was detonated out the front of the US Consulate in Denpasar. It’s hard to believe two decades have passed since this act of terror shattered so many lives, and yet for some people the memory is as strong as if it happened yesterday. Each year on 12 October we gather at Dolphins Point, Coogee, to offer our condolences and support to the families and friends who lost loved ones in the bombings and to remember the 88 Australians who did not return home from their holiday. The Bali Commemoration Ceremony provides people who are united in grief the chance to connect with each other and find comfort. It also offers the rest of us a tangible way to provide support and remembrance. Of the 88 Australians who lost their lives in Bali, 43 were from New South Wales and 20 from Randwick City. This includes six members of the Coogee Dolphins football team who were killed along with friends and family members. Indeed, Dolphins Point was renamed in their memory. There are many in our community who have been touched by this tragedy but in the same light there are many who understand the journey towards healing. I invite you to join us on Wednesday 12 October at 10am, meeting at Dolphins Point in Dunningham Reserve, Coogee for this community event, it’s open to all.
Councillor Dylan Parker
Mayor of Randwick Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker
What’s On
TUESDAY 4 OCTOBER AUTHOR TALK: DR ANNE RING ENGAGING WITH AGEING
6.30pm Margaret Martin Library Level 1 Royal Randwick Shopping Centre, 73 Belmore Rd, Randwick
WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER DESIGN YOUR OWN EMPLOYMENT (AGES 16-25)
3pm Margaret Martin Library Level 1 Royal Randwick Shopping Centre, 73 Belmore Rd, Randwick
WEDNESDAY 12 OCTOBER BALI COMMEMORATION CEREMONY
10am Dolphins Point, Coogee
SUNDAY 16 OCTOBER MALABAR FAMILY DAY
1pm Cromwell Park, Malabar
SUNDAY 23 OCTOBER CHEMICAL CLEAN OUT
9am Randwick Community Centre, 27 Munda Street, Randwick
