Sydney’s Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, is urging Sydneysiders to prepare a “Go Bag” — packed with maps, running shoes, energy bars and even sticky-tape — so they can be ready for any disaster that may strike the city. The Go Bag is part of a broader City of Sydney campaign called “Let’s Get Ready Sydney” … unveiled [yesterday] with the release of posters and 200,000 booklets advising what to do in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster. — The SMH

What a great idea! A “go bag” to keep the residents of Sydney permanently focused on the idea that Mr and Mrs Patel who run the local chemist will sooner or later blow up Lucas Heights with a denture-wash bomb they found the recipe for while surfing the Intertubes.

Every city should have one. But if it’s going to be stuff that is essential to survival, things people can’t live without, contents may vary:

Go Bag (Sydney)

  • Yoga mat
  •  KY
  • 2 dodgy eckies
  • SMH Saturday property liftout (“The terrorists have destroyed Punchbowl”. “How can they tell?” “It looks better”)

Go Bag (Melbourne)

  • Foldable espresso machine
  • First issue of Dromos, thrilling new journal of postmodern architectural theory
  • Film festival program, so that survivors can act out Summer of the Naked Monkey a story of culture clash from the Burmese New Wave and other now lost classics
  • Winter wear (black skivvy)
  • Summer wear (black skivvy)

Go Bag (Adelaide)

  • FBI serial killer profiling manual, in case you’re sheltering with strangers in a vault or similar
  • A late cut semillon with a cork thank you I don’t care what they say about chemical reactions if i wanted to drink from a bottle with a screw on cap I’d live in the park
  • Copy of Advertiser to remind you there are worse things than death.

Go Bag (Hobart)

One Go Bag per person containing:

  • Goggles (two pair)
  • Protective headgear (two)
  • Toothbrush (two – you got the idea)
  • Apple core sculpture so that Tasmanian culture will not perish from the earth
  • Copy of Mercury to remind you there are worse things than the Advertiser

Go Bag (Brisbane)

  • Carry out six pack of 4X picked up en route from nuclear explosion.

Go Bag (Canberra)

  • Smack

Go Bag (Perth)

  • A go what?