Darkness and light, mindfulness and impermanency, swept adrift like a sand mandala.

From Buddism to Christianity to a unique church cluster on the village green at Morpeth, gone, all gone to a developer -  although preservation orders are in place.  Not your everyday scene graced with a sandstone residence from earliest times, with community buildings, retreats, chapel, a green oval and old shade trees looking out over fields beside the Hunter river. 

Now a new housing development spreads close by.  Seniors can't resist the pressure to move out of their carefree home into a carefree village lifestyle and oblige the developers. Change is constant. Eventually all the housing for seniors will become redundant because an ageing population is not a permanent feature.  Or is it? 

Residential areas need holistic planning over the Hunter area to guard against it becoming a wall to wall housing estate. This is nothing new to the planners. Good planning is vital but the need is so widespread over the east coast, for a start, only so much will be done and at the same time there is originality in crude haphazard development.

Proactive innovation in the Hunter would see new centres built offering quality apartments in high density areas and built well before other citizens move in and voice their opposition. Start from scratch like many other have dreamed before this. 

Just imagine young families flocking to an alternative new tall city with good infastructure that offers sustainablity and supports a good lifestyle consistent with sane community life and with employment close by, not 100 clicks distant and with adequate transport.

With decent planning, enough space would remain to allow for peaceful natural areas and agricultural lands in perpetuity.  Who am I kidding?