Day 22, Level 1: (Tuesday 30th June 2020) - Mt Ruapehu, Union Green, and History

So today, 30th June, is Sam's birthday (27). In London Covid is running rampant.

But here it's taking a bit of a back seat as electioneering and political shenanigans start setting in,

Covid is, of course, ever-present in one form or another - borders, testing, returning Kiwis, quarantine hotels, potential Tasman bubbles (hmm, not!) ... reality is, it will never go away, not in our lifetime, methinks.

I should be in Dubai right now, en route to Spain/Portugal, leading a group of 20 senior travellers, having flown out yesterday. But to be honest, being at home is perfectly fine! I don't think I've ever had so much home-time - and being able to spread it between two homes is rather good!

Not being able to travel overseas made me reflect ... since my first overseas trip in 1977 when I was 15, I think I've only had one year where I didn't travel internationally. And this year, 2020, will be another. Not bad for someone who has lived most of their life in an isolated island at the bottom of the world!

But I'm pleased to be able to say that I've travelled around most of NZ - still some places left to explore but there are so many NZers who have seen hardly anything of their own backyard. Now's the time ...!

Here are some photos of Mt Ruapehu, from our heady ski days when we used to go down just about every weekend! A unique landscape that's hard to quantify - you just gotta go there to experience it!

Mt Ruapehu - Turoa - awaiting skiers on a bluebird day!
Oh Heaven!

Mt Ruapehu, pink snow at twilight 2010 - from Ohakune.
A great big ice-cream cone - unbelievable sight and this photo doesn't do justice to the colours and contours.

Given it's Sam's 27 birthday today, 30th ... here's a pic of Sam, aged 3 months, up that very mountain!

Such skiing stalwarts we were in those days, Brett and I took turns skiing, and looking after Sam - so we got to enjoy the sport we both loved and being with our new little boy, all in a day's delight! Of course, I had shorter runs as had to hasten back to breastfeed! It was all good, and Sam was a very easy baby.

Brett on duty with Sam while I skied.
Sam was brought up with snow and was on skis as soon as he could stand up!
Michael too! Great fun family times.

This morning Brett, Michael and I went and looked at Union Green - it's a development complex in the centre of Auckland, and quite a number of years ago we took an interest in a townhouse. The whole thing has taken way longer than intended to get to completion but it's now almost there, so today was inspection time. I really wasn't sure what to expect and certainly didn't have high expectations, as I'm no fan of Auckland's housing developments which have mostly been been ugly and poorly built to cheap specs. There's no nicer way to put this sorry but true situation.

So I wasn't anticipating being blown away by Union Green, even though the brochures, plans and blurbs espoused it as being the greatest thing to hit the city.

OMG, despite my low expectations, I wasn't prepared for the reality. It was completely underwhelming and I was bordering on being appalled. None of us said a word as we looked around what is essentially a concrete jungle with small spaces and incredibly poor finishing work. What the hell ...!?!?

The whole complex reminded me of a council estate in east London 40 years ago, with a bit of minor modern pfoofing.It made Eastern European housing developments look positively fabulous. Aaargh, there was no wow factor going on here.

Brett had been keen for us to move into the development - and admittedly, the thought of having an easy maintenance inner city apartment along the lines of the fabulous brochures had some appeal, but I was always dubious and unconvinced. As I say, large inner city complexes, especially in Auckland, send out the cheap and nasty red flags to me, no matter the [false] invitational marketing ploy.

So within seconds we realised this is not an attractive easy-care "lock up and leave" with a semi-retired couple looking to downscale in mind. Granted, it's not completely complete, and will improve with finishing work, green walls and life happening. But seriously!?!?!? It was a No from us both.

This is a complex of dwellings for the young masses who want something a bit decent, in touch with the city, while looking and working to something better. Ideal for a young couple starting out. The second bedroom is so small it's only fit for a single or a child so it's not ideal for even two people flatting. No way a double bed fits in that second bedroom. Perplexing. I left scratching my head in utter disbelief.

So whilst yes, I could live in this townhouse at a push, in the short-term, if I was a young 20-something - it's not a patch on any of the flats I lived in in London in the 1980s - they are all way above this any day. At least they had heating, character, ambience - and much better views (even if it was just of the garden!)

Auckland, please step up the game. There is nothing "world's most livable city" about any of what I saw in the city today. Developers, Council, whoever ... Get your building and housing shit together for God's sake. The place is an embarrassment.

What's more, these places are expensive, goldfish bowl, enclosed city horror. Oh dear. We'll be selling or renting, definitely not moving in!

View from bedroom - aaargh

View from living room - aargh!
Say no more.

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:

Black Lives Matter ...

It's ever-present. All around the world people are uniting against racism. There's no question that racism is nasty, pointless and outdated and needs to stop. But personally, I think things are being taken a bit too far in the knock-on effects.

So many things around the world are getting watered-down, having makeovers, being rejigged, removed etc, that history - all the good and bad, ups and downs of it - is basically being obliterated left, right and centre. I can only shake my head. Are we headed for a future without stories, without history, without visuals to share of where we came from and how we got to this place, with celebration of change and progress and triumph through tribulation?

When the Taliban blew up the Bamiyan Buddhas, the world was outraged. But the Taliban wanted rid of reminders they didn't want to know about.

And now, here, today, right here in NZ Maori are demanding statues of colonial NZ history be removed - or else. One Council hurriedly removed a supposed offending statue before the threatened "or else" had time to happen. It amounts to bullying and it doesn't seem the statue persona was at all bad. But dare not say anything or things will escalate and no one will be robust enough to counter the chaos.

Both these actions are different, but both are destructive, and a threatening destructive premise is never a basis for harmony or path to answers and solutions to historic disharmony.

It's been acknowledged, a long time ago, that our NZ colonial past is far from perfect.

But the global reality is that every culture has done wrong to others and had wrong done to them. 

The strongest cultures acknowledge this, work through it, and move on to a brighter future - sooner rather than later.

The resentful ones ... well they just carry on resenting and blaming, and it's no good to anyone. Harmony is but a pipedream.

Atrocities happen every day everywhere. They shouldn't, but they do. History shows we humans aren't very good at creating peace on a large scale, in any realm - but obliterating history is not the way to improve things. Acknowledgement and moving forward is much more purposeful, productive and harmonising. Hopefully, one day, humanity will realise this.

Oh good grief, I'm all for stopping racism in its tracks but I'm really not sure where all this going ...

Isn't preserving history a worthwhile thing?