MY TOWN: How I cope with traffic

Wyndham council is seeking suggestions about how to solve our ongoing traffic problems as it prepares to host a community forum.

I’ll leave that discussion to wiser heads than mine. But I thought it an opportune time to mention my newly discovered way to cope with our stressful traffic issues.

It comes in the form of a CD containing lots of favourites from my bogan teenage years.

Turned up just enough to cover my pitch-imperfect singing voice,

No Lies by Noiseworks is my song of choice for navigating the busy right-turn lane into Forsyth Road.

But it’s the Baby Animals belting out

One Word that gets me through the disappointment of getting stopped at every single red light down Derrimut Road.

I can almost picture Rose Tattoo singer Angry Anderson’s bald pate as he growls the words to

Rock ’n’ Roll Outlaw, a song perfect for Leakes Road which, let’s face it, resembles a car park most mornings.

And you can’t help but forget your traffic woes when legendary Cold Chisel frontman Jimmy Barnes shouts the story of the Vietnam veteran in

Khe Sanh, although I reckon it’s taken me the best part of 20 years to learn all the words.

I recommend you try your own over-enthusiastic, karaoke-style warbling with added finger tapping and a dash of air guitar while stopped at the lights. You’ll be at your destination before you can say “I’m an 80s Aussie rock tragic”.

Perhaps not the type of feedback the council is looking for with its Get Wyndham Moving campaign. But every little bit helps, right?

The forum is at the civic centre this Thursday. Inquiries and ideas to info@getwyndhammoving.com.au

EMMA SUTCLIFFE

Emma Sutcliffe is a Little River-based freelance writer. You can find her on Facebook at ‘‘Little River Emma’’