Before the bush-hardened legends come in saying "he's just your eight-legged roommate, mate", please shut up for five seconds. I nearly met Jesus on the way home from work.

I was crawling along Coronation Drive in peak hour, hot as hell, barely moving. Flipped down the driver’s sun visor to block the blinding glare off the ute in front of me, and a dinner-plate sized huntsman dropped straight onto my bare wrist, scrambled across the horn, and scurried behind the speedometer cluster.

I didn't crash purely by the grace of God. I made a noise that wasn’t even human, accidentally blasted the horn for a solid five seconds, and swerved just enough to make the tradie next to me look at me like I was on bath salts.

I managed to pull over into some poor stranger's driveway in Toowong, threw the keys on the seat, and jumped out. He is still in there. somewhere in the dashboard vents. Do I just set teh car on fire at this point? How am I supposed to drive 40 minutes home knowing he’s literally five inches from my knuckles.

STATEMENT FROM JOS MITCHELL

"Today I'm resigning as Mayor of Redland City.

"My family and I are incredibly proud to call Redlands home.

"My husband and I chose to raise our three children here, and I was lucky to spend my childhood holidays out on the bay. I am proud to have been elected Mayor of this wonderful area.

"I ran for mayor as an independent candidate because, as a ratepayer, I wanted better transparency, accountability and planning for our community's future. While I received widespread voter support for this mandate, making moves towards this threatened the status quo. I was met with concerted, ongoing resistance and attacks.

"There have been threats, continuous accusations and harassment, our family's cars have been vandalised, we've had a drone hover over our backyard and my husband and our daughter have been targeted online. There has been a personalised, coordinated and consistent smear campaign, including online abuse and leaks of confidential information to media.

"Following a callout on an anonymous political Facebook page, I have been the subject of an unusually high number of OIA complaints - about 70. All investigated complaints have been found to be unsubstantiated by external investigators.

"I spent more than a decade with the Queensland Police Service, including as a police prosecutor. I know what intimidation looks like, and I know it shouldn't be part of public life.

"In recent months I have been dealing with complex health conditions. I have undergone major surgery and been navigating an autoimmune condition. The experiences of the last two and a half years have had a significant impact on my wellbeing, something many elected representatives have been speaking about.

"My family has paid a heavy price for my decision to serve our community. While they have dealt with the impact with grace and dignity, no one should have to accept it as the price of public office.

"I believe Australians are sick of the current state of politics, the power plays, thuggish tactics and pile-ons. There must be room for new representatives who bring new skills, new ways of working and new questions, without retaliation. There must be room and safety for people who put community before party politics.

"To my fellow residents of Redlands, thank you for the honour of representing you. I also thank the many people who offered their advice, support and skills during my time as Mayor. I encourage Redland City Council to come together to create a more collegial workplace for the benefit of Council members, staff and those they are there to serve.

"I leave office with the same core values and beliefs - that Redlands residents deserve high standards of transparency, accountability and community planning."

cheeky crow kept hopping around to nip his bum but he wasn't letting go of it!!! he looked pretty bedraggled, dunno if he's old or sick or just grubby but I haven't seen feathers that bad on a kookaburra while it was still alive. I hope he won 🙏

After a very bad start to the week (I got some very bad news) I decided instead of staying at home moping and drinking wine, I need to get out and de-stress. So I went to the cat cafe in Sunnybank and it was such a great experience. The cats are adorable! Here are some of them looking at a poor bug. I believe it's the only cat lounge in Brisbane now so I wanted to give them a shout out! It only cost me $15 for 90 minutes.

Woke up to use the toilet at 3:40 and seen this little beauty slinking around!!! Be careful out there people!!!

My photos are terrible (ones a screenshot of a video) but I’m pretty stoked that today I saw a biggish Huntsman, two Ringtail Possums and a Tawny Frogmouth. I then came home to two cats with the zoomies, arguably bonus wildlife.

Taken from Coorparoo.

I've never been, but if this sandwich bar run by a Chinese married couple was operating in a total shithole like McWhirters in the Valley that's mostly empty, I'm surprised it's stayed open for this long.

I wanted to share an experience from our renovation as a bit of a cautionary tale for anyone planning flooring work, particularly if you're doing your renovation in stages.

Last year, we received a quote of around $17k for engineered timber flooring throughout our renovation, including upstairs, downstairs and the staircase.

Because the renovation was happening in stages, I specifically asked before committing whether splitting the job would affect the price. I was reassured that if we proceeded with Stage 1, the original pricing would be honoured for the remaining work.

That was important to me, and I factored it into the decision to go ahead.

We've now paid nearly $12k, and the upstairs flooring is done. When I was ready to organise the downstairs and staircase, I was told the original quote had underestimated the quantities, costs had increased and the promotional pricing had expired.

The remaining work was suddenly going to cost thousands more than I'd budgeted for.

To be fair, I understand that material costs change, measurements can be inaccurate and quotes have terms and conditions. The company's position is that the original quote was preliminary and that the second stage was a separate project that hadn't been secured at the original price.

My issue is that the downstairs and staircase were specifically listed in the overall quote I accepted, and I'd raised the question of staging before committing precisely because I wanted to avoid this situation.

After several rounds of emails trying to find a solution, I was told the revised price was the final offer.

At that point, I decided to cut my losses, move on and engage another flooring contractor.

The frustrating part is that I'm now looking at paying around $3,000 more for the overall flooring than the original quote. I've also spent many hours dealing with the dispute, finding another contractor and trying to get the renovation back on track.

I'm not posting this because I expect a business to absorb every cost increase or honour every expired promotion indefinitely. I understand there are two sides to a commercial disagreement.

But from a customer's perspective, if you specifically ask whether a staged project will affect the agreed price and receive reassurance that it won't, you'd reasonably expect that conversation to mean something when the time comes to complete the job.

The lesson I've taken away is to get absolutely everything in writing. Not just the quote itself, but any conversations about staged work, future pricing, how long a quote remains valid and what happens if the job is delayed.

I thought I'd covered my bases by asking the question upfront. Clearly, I should have gone a step further and made sure the answer was documented in writing.

Has anyone else experienced something similar when renovating? I'm interested in how others have handled disputes over staged work and what you'd do differently to protect yourself.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has pitched a multibillion-dollar expansion of Brisbane’s busways, proposing new bridges, tunnels and transit ways for dedicated routes for Metro vehicles.

Almost 30 years ago, the state government’s South East Queensland Integrated Regional Transport Plan proposed 75 kilometres of busways, but only about one-third was built, including the South East Busway.

Schrinner wants to revive the unfinished 1990s plan, which proposed busway links to the north and east.

Those routes are similar to the ones he announced for the Metro expansion in 2024, with 22 new stops and stations, although the council’s proposal added a link to the airport.

However, Brisbane City Council is opening up the proposal to revive abandoned busways to public consultation first, asking people where they want the Metro to be expanded.

A business case considering the Brisbane Metro expansion is due to be returned by August 2027.

My car was out of action for a few days recently, so I ended up walking around Brisbane a lot more than usual.

And I realised something that probably sounds incredibly obvious to anyone who regularly walks or catches public transport.

The difference between a pleasant 15-minute walk and an absolutely miserable one often has nothing to do with the distance.

It's the trees.

You can walk down one street with these beautiful old trees forming a canopy over the footpath and genuinely enjoy being outside.

Then you turn a corner onto a completely exposed stretch of concrete and suddenly feel like you're being personally punished by the sun.

Same suburb. Same time of day. Completely different experience.

I actually caught myself choosing where to buy lunch based on which route had the most shade, rather than which place was closest.

And it got me thinking about how much we talk about making Brisbane more walkable without always considering whether people actually want to walk those routes in our climate.

A bus stop technically being within walking distance is great. But if getting there involves ten minutes of direct sun and then standing beside a busy road with barely any shelter, that convenience starts looking pretty theoretical.

Obviously we can't magically grow mature trees overnight, and I understand there are issues with underground services, maintenance, and available space.

But it feels like shade should be treated as essential infrastructure in Brisbane, not just something that makes a street look nicer.

The funny thing is that some of our older, leafier streets already demonstrate how much of a difference it makes.

I'm curious whether other people have noticed this.

Are there any particular streets or walking routes around Brisbane that you absolutely love because of the tree cover? Or places that should be an easy walk but feel completely unbearable during the warmer months?

I'd love to hear both, because I'm starting to think the quality of a walking route matters just as much as its length.

Please tell me it’s not a snake.

Does anyone know what the source of this whining noise is every day in Norman Park near Balmoral Park?

I’ve tried walking around but haven’t been able to pinpoint a source yet. Took the video above as an example of what I’m talking about.

Hi, I've just moved to Brisbane so I'm looking for some fun activities!

I want to take a swimming lesson in the city. Are there any good places you'd recommend?🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️

Where's the best cinema in Brissy? Hoping for recliner seats that's not like lux just standard

Hi all, my Bose USB C charging port has melted and died on me. Wondering if anyone knows any reputable repair places around Brisbane CBD? Southside also possible. TIA!

Would you jump into the river for the pot of gold!?