Day 12, Level 2: Level 1, election promises, Spitting Image, Blade and ex-neighbours for dinner!
Today's announcement brings Auckland back into Level 1. From midnight Wednesday. Normality is imminent. Yay. Too right!
Early voting is open. Election day 17th October.
I have to say it is very heartening to finally see the political parties getting vocal about four things that I've been "hot" on for decades. I've literally been harping on about these things for 30 years. Always fell on deaf ears. Only response - as I've mentioned before! - justification as to why things are as they are and why the status quo should remain. Sigh.
So many times I wanted to give up trying - but I've persevered. I'm still sending emails about transport, housing, roading, and the many shambolic things that happen in front of all our eyes. WTF, can't people see what's going on here in this country, regardless of who is or has been in power? We don't seem to learn from what has gone before around the world, we seem intent on re-inventing the wheel - and often it's a square one that doesn't work very well. Sigh.
I GIVE UP! But, actually, I mustn't. And I won't.
And at least we don't have Trump!
Here are the four main ones that have lain in the doldrums for decades - and being dredged out now - for obvious reasons ... because they all need fixing.
Auckland Harbour bridge - For God's sake get another harbour crossing sorted. Quickly. Yesterday. Every other nation in the world can build tunnels and bridges of extreme magnitude - through mountain ranges, under deep water, through impossible landscapes!?!? Our powers-that-be talk and do little else.
It's critical. There is no excuse. Build that crossing immediately! For the future generations of this land. Or else Auckland will die.
Price of food - OMG how expensive is this country when it comes to supermarket shopping? Unacceptable. I've been lamenting it for decades but no one has ever seemed to have a clue about what I was on about. This is back in the 90s and 2000s when I was going to the UK for several weeks at a time, staying with friends, going to supermarkets, eating in, seeing the cost of things (not just dining out, which is pricier of course). I'd come back home and lament NZ prices all the more. NZers didn't seem to want to know how expensive this country is. Much easier to believe you live in the cheapest place on earth because you've been led to believe this. Reality - we live in the most expensive place on earth and most Kiwis haven't been anywhere to properly compare. Being a tourist is one thing, shopping and living like a local is something different, and gives the real picture of cost.
I hope things change because our prices (not just food) are out of control.
Hence, political message (promise?) to look into the price of supermarket food if re-elected. Good.
Poor housing/building regulations - Good grief NZ has some of the poorest housing I've ever seen in the developed world. It sounds bizarre, but it is true. Some are truly atrocious from the outside - and usually much worse from the inside. Building regulations let things slide very badly in the 90s/2000s, heating and insulation was bypassed for about a century, and if Kiwis ever thought Coronation Street was a horrible housing scenario - our NZ equivalent could only be deemed as nightmarish.
Problem is, Kiwis have been told for decades that NZ is this cheap and wonderful place to live and everything is hunky dory. It has wonderful elements (like every other country in the world, not just NZ), but I repeat, it is NOT cheap, and much of our housing stock is disastrous. Add pathetic public transport ... what's looking good here?!?!? Sorry to be mean about my own country, but I'm not precious, I'm a realist. There are many things we can, and should, do better.
Dental care - the cost of dental care in NZ is OUTRAGEOUS! Actually, it's utterly beyond outrageous. It is preposterous. And beyond comprehension. I'm not joking. Rather than fork out a fortune here in NZ for dental work, take a trip anywhere in the world to get your teeth seen to, and you'll not only have a fabulous holiday in a lovely place, but you'll come home with cash in the bank. Or you could choose to sit in a dentist's chair in NZ, pay an f*n fortune and miss out on that holiday! I know what I'll be doing if/when I need major dental work. When we can.
Problem is, now we can't go anywhere ...! And the last place we want to go is the dentist's chair! But if one must, why not in Thailand or Vietnam where top clinics do great work for a fraction of the cost in NZ?
The main thing is that kids with rotting teeth comes to a halt. The number of kids who have rotten teeth pulled before they are even 5yo is shameful. And when you start with terrible teeth, it goes on into adulthood. And when it's expensive to fix, people can't get fixed.
Spectacles were also ridiculously expensive - until SpecSavers arrived. It's still twice the price of getting specs in the UK though - last time I was there I got two pairs of vari-focals (3 lens levels) for less than the price of pair of standard glasses here.
OK, so that's my rant for the day. I just want NZ and Kiwis to get real. Please. Stop the BS and Emperor's New Clothes mentality!!
Haha, still laughing at the Spitting Image portrayal of Jacinda and Kiwis. The skit is about Kiwis as much as it is about Jacinda. But sadly, most Kiwis won't get that!
I have some insight into the mindset of Spitting Image from it's early days. My dear friend (who is right now farewelling her mother in London) worked there. There's an uncanny astuteness to Spitting Image - it's all about reading between the lines.
OMG, the skit with Jacinda - it is "spit spot" on!
Probably by now the whole world has seen the "Mary Poppins" take on things, especially the allusion to how could we, small island nation with small population at bottom of world, get it wrong?
Reality is, getting it wrong should never have been an option for NZ, unless we were morons, heathens, utter idiots. We did it well, but so we should have.
Everything is about perception.
And the reality is that ... perception is everything - even if it is utterly WRONG.
Today I sat down and read the local Junction magazine. I read an article about a couple who have moved into the area, taken over the fresh farm egg property. OMG it's someone I know from WOW - she's a designer, about as long as I have been. Longer. She's been living in Melbourne, and we've met up at Designer Day for numerous years. Now she and her husband are back in NZ - and living in the vicinity. I've connected, we'll catch up, fabulous!
Yet another creative and significant connection I've made since spending more and more time up here. It's meant to be!
Today's Inktober prompt was BLADE. Hmm, I thought I'd do some ice skates.
SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Impromptu visitors ...
Today our ex-Omaha neighbours came for drinks and dinner - have caught up a few times this year after 10 years since they sold next door. Great to reconnect, chat and laugh and be authentic. That's what life's about.
They have a camper van - it is now on our front lawn and they are asleep in it! Tomorrow we will go for a walk and have more talk. Brilliant!
Here's a flower from an ice plant on the beach foreshore.
And RIP Marion Davidson (my dear friend Jill's mum who, as mentioned, is being farewelled in London as I type this). Wish I could be there. xx
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