I have a had three children - one still at Castlemaine Primary School - and in the past nine years, Duke/Forest Street has been busy. Trying to get out of Urquhart Street at school times is virtually impossible.

So with the new supermarket let's hope VicRoads puts pressure on the chain to actually improve the road conditions. There are no flashing lights for the school crossing, therefore traffic screams through faster than 60kmh in a 40 zone, with the poor crossing superintendents taking their life into their own hands to stop for the kids.

Bring on the supermarket I say. Castlemaine is absolutely dying in employment opportunities.

I appreciated John Malouff's reflection upon creation stories (Bendigo Advertiser, Feb 26) - they are a diverse literature, and have much to tell us. Among the Hebrew creation stories, one of my favourites is the story of Noah.

"As in the days of Noah" is an expression that describes the unheeding behaviour of people who choose to ignore impending disaster and go about their normal lives, as if nothing is wrong. It is an image that is disturbingly apt for our nation at this time.

Also in today's paper was an article that describes the threat to native species by changes in environmental laws; and the news on the wireless spoke of the collapse of 19 ecosystems across Australia. We should not be surprised. We have, for some decades now, known the need for urgent action to prevent further catastrophic climate change.

"As in the days of Noah" our government continues to flirt with dirty and dangerous fossil fuels; coal, oil and gas. It is time that they stopped pretending, and woke up!

Along with the corals, grasses and lizards, and all the threatened species, we will pay the price for failure.

It is wonderful the bats might be getting a watering system to keep them cool. Not only will it keep them cool but it will water the gardens and keep the plants cool as well. They are certainly not a menace, as we need them for our eco-system to pollinate certain plants. They sleep during the day and do not bother anyone. Moreover, they are important to our First Nation's peoples and are some individuals' "totems". Sadly, they are a misunderstood creature but are nevertheless an important one. If you do the maths, it only works out that paying for the water feature will work out to be 30 cents a person. That's hardly anything to be jumping up and down about. Let the bats live in comfort!

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