There were no club songs as the teams ran out, nothing over the PA to welcome the crowd or announce the game or the players and at the end of the game, instead of being greeted with a rousing rendition of the Bombers club song, there was complete silence, apart from the hand clapping of the small crowd.

I had not realised how pathetic AFL Tasmania had become in promoting this, the state's premier football competition, until I witnessed this "event" for myself.

READING Doreen Rebecchi’s letter (The Examiner, August 5) I must say I agree entirely. In 2003 and again in 2004, I travelled in a diesel railcar on a Don River Railway excursion for a barbecue lunch and day out at Providence Vineyard.

We rambled through beautiful countryside, I met interesting people from all parts of the state and had a wonderful time on both occasions, indeed, on the second trip I palled up with a group from Hobart with whom, in the way of the world, I discovered we shared mutual friends.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see what a great boon to the North East a tourist train would be and the attitude of the Dorset Mayor Greg Howard baffles me. He’s either myopic beyond belief or perhaps has some sort of personal reason for his opposition to the scheme. Either way I think he should step aside and let other more imaginative people takeover.

The obvious thing to do would be to run the train as far as Scottsdale and run the bike trail from there further into the wonderful North-East scenery and small townships along the trail. That way everyone gets a slice of the cake.

The railcars have a baggage section where bike enthusiasts could park their bikes, enjoying the ride before perhaps staying at Scottsdale overnight and off on the trail the next day. You could even perhaps run steam trains except for the high fire danger periods, substituting railcars for those times.

MY WIFE and I were discussing an item on the news regarding a mother having to spend all her salary on childcare costs for her two children under 4 years old ($320 per day, four days per week), and we both had the same brilliant idea. Could she contemplate leaving her job and raising the kids herself?  There are several advantages to this radical concept: Her husband still works, so that covers the mortgage and living costs;  the children will feel they have someone to relate to in their upbringing; mum will be present for milestones in her childrens’ lives; if the family income proves too small the government will assist; and her employer will replace her with someone who is unemployed, thus saving Centrelink funds. Win win. The kids will benefit and so will mum. The government will be happy with one less unemployed person. The only loser is the childcare facility.

THIS ENTIRE takeover of TasWater smells of sour grapes. Someone doesn't like someone. Someone won't play the game. Someone has vested interests. Let's take over and dissolve the whole thing. No.

From what I can see TasWater has been doing a good job of fixing long existing problems that should have long ago been solved by the councils. To speed up the process let the council’s forfeit their dividends from TasWater for five years. That would provide the finance tor all upgrades and the Tamar sewer. Let Miles Hampton do his job.