My challenging visit to Auckland

Friday was a very busy day, but also one that was far more challenging than I thought it would be. Early that morning—far too early for my liking—I drove up to Auckland (1hr 45+ on a good day) to meet with the agent looking after our rental property. I say “our” because Nigel and I bought the house in 2006 and we lived there until we shifted to Clarks Beach in South Auckland in February 2017—seven years ago this month.

I haven’t been inside the house since Nigel and I left, but the house was between tenants, and so, it was the perfect opportunity for me to look at the place and see what needs attention long term. The good news is that the place is a little tired, but nothing horrid needs to be done. The outside, however, is truly awful and the property needs a major clean out.

When I first went into the house, I felt nothing: It was just an empty house—and in surprisingly good shape. As I wandered around, though, I saw not a house, but what had been our home for more than a decade.

I saw the spot where my desk was, the place where I worked, but, more important to my soul, also the place where I wrote my first blog post, recorded my first podcast episodes, where I edited my first YouTube video.

In the room next door, I saw where Nigel’s desk was, where he did his work—often for hours before dawn—but also where he spent countless hours researching projects, and where he sat when he and I did his Internet radio shows. It was the place he stimulated his mind, nurtured his interests, and fed his soul, too.

I saw what was our bedroom, and I could imagine Nigel napping there, Jake, Sunny, and Bella sleeping near him (long before Leo was born). I saw the guest room wall Nigel and I painted (before it was just a bedroom) with special paint so he wouldn’t need a screen to watch movies using his projector—and, of course, he’d spent hours researching the paint needed. And I remembered how we’d later had it painted over when the room became just a bedroom (by then Nigel had bought a motorised screen to hang on the wall).

I saw family gatherings we had in the open-plan living/kitchen/dining—except, it was just a general kind of vision because there were too many to visualise just one—not even just our Civil Union, or the party after we were married. I took my selfie up top standing in that space. I saw where the spa pool had been out on the deck, where our table and chairs were, where the BBQ was.

I remembered every thing we did to that house, big or little, to make it better. I also remembered sometime in the first year after we moved to Clarks Beach, Nigel asked me if I wanted to move back to the Shore, because he could see how unhappy I was. I told him no, that it was just my ongoing health issues (which I blogged about at the time) that got me down, because that’s really all it was. But I also knew that the main reason we’d moved to South Auckland in the first place was to cut the length of his commute down to a (sometimes…) acceptable length of time. I wanted him to be happy as much as he wanted me to be.

There was one more entirely unexpected thing that triggered a memory: When I went back into the garage as part of my final look around, I happened to glance at the track for the garage door, and I noticed a clothes peg clipped to it (photo at the bottom of this post).

When we lived in the house, I put one there so I could hang Nigel’s work shirts on the track to dry, and the clothes peg gave me a border of sorts to make sure the wheels of the door wouldn’t hit the hangers, and that the top of the door wouldn’t hit the clean shirts.

When Nigel and I were doing our final chores in the house after we’d moved out, I certainly didn’t look up—I was too busy looking around to make sure we’d done everything we needed to do. I have no way of knowing whether a tenant put that there, or if it really is the same one I put there at least eight or nine years ago, but in a sense it doesn’t matter: Either way, it was a vivid reminder of the ordinary life we had in that that house. I left the clothes peg where it was, kind of like the memories I was leaving there, too.

The thing is, I loved that house on the Shore: Of all the houses we shared, that was by far my favourite. We made so many happy memories in that house, but the house after that is forever tainted by being our last house precisely because of why it was our last house.

None of which is to imply I hated Clarks Beach, because I didn’t. The best next door neighbours we had anywhere in New Zealand were the ones we had at Clarks Beach. I did, however, find living there a challenge because it was remote from, and time consuming to get to, both shops we’d visit regularly, and from all the family. In the months before he died, Nigel was already thinking about where we might move next, and his chief criteria was it had to be more rural so he could finally use the wind turbine he bought to make electricity (and he was also planning on building the battery bank to store power—I mean, of course he was!). He knew we could never have a wind turbine at the house in Clarks Beach when the property was surrounded by six other houses.

It’s against literally all of those thoughts and memories that I found myself in what had been my literal “happy place”, and Nigel’s, too, for most of our time there: He was always far more restless than me, but at his core, to him, just like me, “home” was wherever we and our furbabies were living, and everything else (style of house, location, etc) was always completely negotiable, but being together was not.

The longer I was in the house on Friday, the more cold it felt. It was as if the house itself was sad and exhausted, though it’s possible I could’ve been projecting. Toward the end of my time there, I looked around and thought how small the house looked, and maybe it’s because it was empty. That’s something I know about, too.

The house is fine, and I still like it, but: It’s not home, not anymore. If I was to move back there and put everything back exactly where it once was (and, I definitely wouldn’t do that, and not just because I’ve gotten rid of some furniture and gained some new), it couldn’t be the same. So, what’d be the point?!

The street where the house is located has become awful: Developers tore down/removed one (or two houses next to each other) and replaced them with six or eight three-storey townhouses, meaning both sides of the street are filled with parked cars, reducing the street to the width of one and a half cars. If cars going in opposite directions meet, the only solution is for one of them to pull over where cars aren’t parked so the other car can get through—what passes for urban planning these days, apparently.

The larger area where the house is located is fine—but it’s not mine anymore, either. I stopped in the Countdown—sorry, Woolworths—at Highbury shopping centre, and it was fine—even though I had no mental map of the shop (it’s been a long time…). Even so, I could see that right now it’s easily my favourite Woolworths, and light years nicer than how truly awful the one at Te Rapa in Hamilton is (that horrid shop is one of the main reasons I used to order online so much).

The Highbury shopping centre, where I spent so much of my shopping time for most of my years in New Zealand (mostly because it had what then was called Countdown) had recently been ruined—sorry, “renovated”—and I’d describe it as an above ground dungeon: Dark, claustrophobic, the sort of place I’d want to get out of quickly.

I also had sushi from the place near the house (Nigel and I often got Japanese from there) and it was really nice—but not nearly as nice as I remembered. I sense a pattern here.

As I turned onto the motorway to head back to Hamilton, I saw–as I’d done so many times—the skyline of Auckland’s waterfront and CBD glistening in the sun, blue skies with white clouds overhead, and I was struck, yet again, by how beautiful it is. I always thought that, but the skyline, too, has changed, and for the better, in my opinion. I still think it’s one of the most beautiful city skylines I’ve seen anywhere, with the harbour at its feet and its pleasantly compact size, relative to some of the world’s truly big cities. I still love that view as much now as the day Nigel I left the North Shore to live in South Auckland, near a different harbour.

They say you can never go home again—and it turns out “they” may be right. It was a sad, wistful, reflective, melancholy day for me, but not entirely unexpected. Nor was the fact I briefly teared up as I drove south—very briefly, because I was on the Auckland motorway at the time. It was because of all my memories, all that I’ve lost, and my current reality that’s tethered to all of that, yet connected to nothing. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know there’s no permanent refuge in the warmth of the past.

I still have a lot to figure out, but Friday reminded me the future is mine to forge. Someday yet I may even see that as a good thing.

An very unexpected reminder in the garage.

Window to my past

Facebook “Memories” serve up all kinds of stuff to me, usually just ordinary stuff, sometimes things that made me really happy, but they may also show me memories that now carry some sadness. Today’s FB “Memory” (above) is a little bit of all of that.

The photo was the view looking out from my office window at our house on Auckland’s North Shore (we moved from that house to our last house together in February 2017). That bush-like area behind the house was mostly, but not entirely, reserve (kind of like a park, owned by the city, but, in this case, left natural). Somewhere in there is a creek that led to a bigger creek and so on until it reached an estuary of the upper Waitematā Harbour (none of which was visible from the property).

Every couple of years we’d hire people to come in to cut down the ground level weeds, and in this photo that had last been done a bit less than a year earlier, which is something I know because we unsuccessfully put the house on the market in early 2012 and had the weeds taken care of as part of our preparations for that. That area behind the house was about a third of the land area of the property, but it isn’t really accessible: Either the developer or some previous owners put poorly thought-out “steps” along one end of the house, but it didn’t help—especially because they put “river stone” gravel which, being smooth, provided truly awful footing.

The issue was that our house was built on a slope. My office was roughly in the middle of that side of the house, and it was maybe a bit more than a storey above ground level (the corner of the house to the left of this view was nearly a storey and a half, the corner to the right was maybe just a storey, all because the land sloped away in two directions (which is why flooding wasn’t an issue for us).

A few years before this photo, Nigel and I contacted a company to design a deck to built at floor level along the back of the house—something that would be private, have a nice view, and be cooler on Summer afternoons because it was on the eastern side of the house. We never did that, though, because we’d first have had to get geotechnical reports, soil tests, an engineer's report (and other expensive things I can’t remember) before we could pay to have the deck designed and more money to apply for building consent and permits, then pay thousands more to actually build it. We extended the front deck instead: it was maybe a foot above ground at its highest point, so none of that red tape hassle was necessary.

The old, unexpanded deck out front was where Nigel and I had our Civil Union ceremony in January 2009, but that deck never really made it into photos (the closest was a post in January 2007 in which I introduced the furbabies we had at the time. In two photos, our dog Saibh is sitting on the edge of the old deck, at what was actually it's highest point off the ground out front of the house. In November 2014, I shared a photo with the three furbabies we had at that time all laying on the deck, with our cat Bella’s head pretty much laying right on the corner where the old deck ended.

I also shared some other photos taken from my office window. In fact, a photo I took at ground level was in my fourth post on this blog—and that photo was also the first of my own photos that I published on the blog. I shared another view out that same window, but looking higher, in a post on New Year’s Day 2016, a post that also has a YouTube video I made that day, too (and shared in the same post). I shared other photos, including some taken out different windows, but these are the most relevant to the FB “Memory”.

I loved that house—it was my favourite of all the houses we lived in. I sometimes still fantasise about moving back there, but it’s been a rental for six years and would need refurbishment, and, of course, would I still like it at all without Nigel? Right now, nothing is ruled in or out, but it’ll probably (?) remain a mere fantasy. But the memories I have of that place sure give me great warm fuzzies. Right now, that’s enough.

This is a revised and greatly expanded version of what I said on my personal Facebook when I share the FB “Memory”.

Springing into stories

Spring has sprung in Hamilton, even if the temperatures are lagging a bit behind the times. And it’s been unusually rainy. And windy. Still, it’s Spring 2023, and I’ve been noticing the evidence of its progress. And I have stories about all that.

The photo up top is of a hebe I have planted in a tall planter on my patio. When I shared the photo on my Facebook, I said that it was “a sure sign of actual Spring”, and it is, but it’s not the best of the blooms at the moment. That side of looked plant doesn’t look as nice. As I also noted when I shared the photo:

I also noticed it needs a feed and a pruning when it’s done flowering, BUT, it’s still alive, unlike the one it replaced.

I was given a hebe back in 2020, and bought the tall planter to put it in. I never shared any of that on this blog, as near as I can tell, but I did share a photo of it on Instagram (and, I presume, Facebook) at the time. Unfortunately, that tale didn’t end well, as I explained in a comment on yesterday’s Facebook post:

I accidentally drowned the first one because, being conscientious in the hot dry summer that year, I inadvertently over-watered it. It turned that what I thought was a drainage [in the post] wasn’t—it was a raised bump. Oops. Before I replanted [with the new hebe], I drilled several holes in the bottom of the pot, and this plant has been happy in its not swampy home.

Aside from noting the obvious fact that I should’ve verified drainage before potting up the first one, I also should’ve studied up on care of hebes. Ya don’t know what ya don’t know, and all that.

Yesterday evening then produced another photo, less directly related to Spring:

When I shared the photo on my personal Facebook, I said:

A few minutes ago, I stood up to give Leo his dinner and glanced out the window—this photo is what I saw. The tree in the foreground of the photo is leafing-out (another sign of actual Spring), and it’s the only one on the street I can see out my front window. It’s grown so much over the 44 months I’ve lived in this house! I love seeing it in Spring and Summer, less so when all its leaves fall off.

As usual, there’s a bit more to the story, beginning with teh fact that I actually first noticed that the tree was leafing out on Sunday, but it was either too windy or too rainy to take a photo, and that rainbow gave me the perfect opportunity in between heave rainfall. I added more background in a comment:

Around 20 years ago, I saw a rainbow when I looked out the window above my desk at work, and I realised that I’d seen more rainbows in New Zealand than I ever saw in the USA. That’s only continued in all the years since. Some might say this makes sense, that I found my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow when I met Nigel and moved to New Zealand. Probably so.

At the time I saw the rainbow from my desk, I’d only be in the country something like 7 or 8 years, but even then I was aware of how often I’d seen rainbows in Auckland (the only part of the country I’d lived in at that point), and how much more frequent it was than in the USA. Maybe it’s got to do with living in an island nation as opposed to in the middle of a continent? In any case, in the years since that day at work, I’ve seen plenty more rainbows, thought the one in the photo was unusually vivid in real life.

20-odd years ago, my desk faced what was known as “the Dominion Road flyover”, the only part built of what was intended to be a motorway replacing Dominion Road. In the 1960s, urban planners thought nothing of destroying entire thriving communities to build motorways (something I knew had happened in Chicago, especially with the construction of the Eisenhower Expressway).

While Dominion Road itself managed to recover from the near destruction, the flyover itself cut-off the suburbs of Kingsland and Newton (my first job was in Kingsland, the one where I saw the rainbow was in Newton). It was very unpleasant to even think of trying to walk under the thing along New North Road (Footpaths? What footpaths?!).

Both of the companies I worked for eventually left New North Road: The first stopped trading and made me redundant, eventually selling the building. The second company was sold to one Australian corporation that was then acquired by another Australian corporation (then another…). It eventually moved to much smaller premises, then moved again to another building, and is now back in New Zealand ownership (because its final Australian corporate owners desperately wanted out and agreed to a management buy-out of the company).

None of that made it into my Facebook posts! Mind you, this blog and my podcast is where I tell my stories, so that’s nothing new.

And finally, a blog exclusive! Here’s photo from last night:

There’s no story to this photo, except that I wanted to take a photo when the moon was over the solar panels, basically the same spot where I took the photo of the super moon at the start of this month, or the ballon that appeared above the neighbourhood a few days later. Unfortunately, I once again forgot about it. So, I took this photo standing slightly under the eaves (the edge the gutter can be seen in the upper-right corner of the photo, part of it glistening in the moonlight).

Actually, there IS a story here: I forgot about taking the photo because I was in a lot of pain last night. On Tuesday I tried using my drill to clean difficult parts of the kitchen floor, but I did so bending over to press the pad against the floor. That turned out to be a very bad idea, and beginning Wednesday evening, I started having lower back pain (the same spot I sometimes get it when I’m similarly stupidly careless in how I use my back). Also, I didn’t share the photo on Facebook because I was on my way to bed at the time. Priorities!

By yesterday, it was hard to stand up, and I started using one of my crutches to help me get on my feet and straighten my back. Once I was vertical, and the spasms passed, I was fine—I didn’t need the crutch to walk. Today, it was worse until I had my shower and let the warm water hit the sore muscles. It seems to have helped, and pretty dramatically, because the pain is now more of a soreness than the searing and gasp-inducing—if brief—pain it had been. I guess everything has a story. Even ordinary Spring days.

AmeriNZ Podcast episode 400 is now available 😮

AmeriNZ Podcast episode 400, “6,028 days”, is now available from the podcast website. There, you can listen, download or subscribe to the podcast episode, along with any other episode.

The five most recent episodes of the podcast are listed on the sidebar on the right side of this blog.

Unusually busy me

The past week or so has been unusually busy for me. These days, I mostly spend my days tinkering around the edges or projects, doing routine chores, blogging and podcasting, and occasionally having kitchen adventures or playing The Chase Game with Leo. Every once in awhile, though, things are very much busier, and last week was definitely one of those.

Last week was, as I’ve said, a reflective week, what with the Fourth Horrible Anniversary this past Wednesday, the Pride 48 weekend last weekend, and the 208 week mark the Friday before that. I can’t remember the last time I had that many triggers of reflection so close to each other. Still, it was fine, I was fine, and I got a lot done over that week.

I was so busy last week that I didn’t have a chance to record my weekly podcast episode—and I have to describe it that way because I’m kinda proud it’s finally weekly again—so I didn’t get that done until Friday. That evening, I went over to my cousin-in-law’s for dinner, and then took my mother-in-law back to her place on my way home. The weather was somewhat rainy that evening.

On Saturday, one of my sisters-in-law drove me and her mum (my mother-in-law) to Auckland where we were meeting up with family for dinner at the first Wahlburgers in New Zealand, which is located on Princes Wharf on Auckland’s waterfront. The wharf was officially opened on 12 May 1929 and was completely redeveloped in the late 1990s. I’m pretty sure that in 2013, Nigel bought our new iPhones (both 5c—mine was baby blue and his was light green…) from a guy who was living in an apartment on Princes Wharf.

The get-together was organised by a cousin-in-law. and it was great visiting with family we don’t see very often, especially some of the cousins from Nigel’s dad’s side of the family (including the one who organised the evening). For a few times, we met-up at a pizza place in Auckland, but in 2018 Nigel and I couldn’t go (I can’t remember why not), and between his death and Covid lockdowns and restrictions, we just didn’t get the chance again until now. A bit of trivia: The September Solstice arrived while we were there (at 6:59pm, to be precise). I can confirm that I didn’t notice anything at that time.

I’ve never eaten at Wahlburgers before, and it was nice. I’d say the prices were in the mid-high range: A bit more that mid-range prices, but somewhat below the high-price range. My burger was the “Chef Paul’s Choice” which was described as “beef patty, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, American cheese, Paul’s signature Wahl Sauce”, but the version of it I had was the “Aotea Burger” which added “beetroot, pineapple & egg”, any or all three of which are common on a NZ burger. The only thing I didn’t care for was their “loaded side” called “Truffle Parmesan”, which was fries “tossed in truffle oil & served with truffle aioli”. For my tastes, it had an odd chemical-like taste.

When we left, it was raining steadily, not exactly driving or heavy rain, but enough of both to make driving more challenging than gentler rain would’ve been. I was back home to a very happy Leo shortly after 10pm. Leo apparently didn’t hold a grudge for me leaving him alone two nights in a row.

Overnight, New Zealand’s clocks “sprang ahead” to New Zealand Daylight Time (NZDT). All my devices, including my watch, updated automatically, of course, but I also have four wall clocks to reset, something I talked about when we “autumned back” (because Kiwis don’t say “Fall” for that season…) this past April. Only one clock is done so far, but I tested my smoke alarms and they're good.

I realised today that back in April I said that I never change the oven and microwave clocks, but I didn’t say why not. The reason is simple: I don’t know how. I got out of the habit of changing the microwave at our last house because every time there was a bad storm, the power went out, and I got sick of resetting it all the time. I eventually forgot to do it, and Nigel was no more interested in figuring it out than I was.

There have also been several power failures since I moved into this house, and that’s meant that the oven and microwave clocks would need to be reset—but I moved the owner’s manual for the oven, and can’t remember where I put it (this was well before I created my “Somewhere Safe” listings). Also, both the microwave and the oven are under the kitchen benchtop, and that means I have really need to sit on the floor in order to be able to do it. That’s not the issue: Getting back up off the floor is the issue.

Even so, the reality is that I don’t need either clock for anything, so I don’t have any incentive to figure them out (or deal with getting back up off the floor…). Besides, in this case there are no consequences to my being lazy indifferent about those clocks, so I’m carpe-ing the heck out the diems by not wasting my time changing them twice a year.

Now, if only the law would change so I could stop having to change any clocks. At least I got to have a really nice weekend, despite the changing clocks. And rain. Seeing whānau more than made up for the weather—though I wouldn’t mind a quieter week this week.

Storms and storms to come

This past weekend, Auckland was hit with unprecedented rain. So far, Auckland has endured more than 800% of its normal January rainfall (about 55mm of rain): This January dumped 454mm—so far. Put another way, over the past 40 days, Auckland received 41% of the amount of rain it would normally get over an entire year. On Friday alone, the city received three times the amount of rain as it normally receives in the entire month of January—and most of that fell in a couple hours. The resulting flooding was deadly: Four people lost their lives. And at the moment, a new heavy rain system is on the way.

At least 5000 Auckland properties needed to assessed for flood or landslide damage, and when I checked earlier today, more than 200 houses and buildings had been red-stickered, which means no entry, and they cannot be used. Some early estimates where that this could be the costliest weather-related disaster in New Zealand history, and the second most costly overall (after the Christchurch earthquake). [Related: ”In photos: Auckland devastated by flooding, slips”, and the Stuff video above]

Community organisations have begun distributing things people need—chiefly food, clothing, personal supplies—and a relief fund is being set-up by Auckland Council to help communities in need. There will be more of all that.

While the focus has been on recovery, a new storm system is approaching. Northland has already declared a state of emergency, and a red rain warning has been issued for that region, the northern parts of Auckland, Coromandel, and the Bay of Plenty. All of those areas were affected a couple weeks ago by ex-Cyclone Hale, and the storm over the past weekend. The storm system over the next couple days will only make things worse because the hardest hit areas aren’t getting a chance to dry out between storms; sodden ground could mean more flooding than the amount of rain would normally cause. In other words, a very worrying time for people in the affected areas.

In light of all this, it feels shallow to mention this, but people who know me personally—or even just read this blog—will want to know: I’m fine, and while there’s been some surface flooding in Hamilton, and hasn’t been very serious. To the north, east, and south of us, there’s been a lot more flooding, but the winds and weather patterns spared us. We did get a lot of rain—far more than we got from Cyclone Hale—but it was nothing like what Auckland got. We were very, very fortunate.

The weekend’s storm had me very worried about all the folks I know in Auckland, of course. It was surreal to read the live reports and to see video images of places I know. Two of the people who drowned in the storm died in an area of the North Shore called the Wairau Valley, and I knew exactly where they were talking about because Nigel and I spent a lot of time in that area over the years. I can’t recall anything like that happening in my entire lifetime.

There’s been a LOT of criticism of the communications from Auckland Council, Auckland Transport, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (responsible mostly for state highways), and, especially, the city’s Mayor, Wayne Brown. Here’s just some of the critical reporting:

• ”Flooded homes, streets awash, but hours until an emergency declaration” – Stuff, 29 Jan.
• ”Countdown to Chaos: As Aucklanders were desperately seeking safety, officials were silent” – RNZ, 29 Jan.
• ”Wayne Brown announces independent review into flood response, but denies any wrong” – Stuff, 30 Jan.
• ”Waka Kotahi apologises after staff clocked off for the weekend during disaster” – Stuff, 30 Jan.
• ”Counting the ways Auckland was failed by its mayor” – Werewolf, 30 Jan.
• ”National Party MP Gerry Brownlee scathing of Auckland mayor Wayne Brown” – Stuff, 30 Jun.
• ”Auckland mayor's tennis text: Had to 'deal with media drongos over the flooding'” – Stuff 31 Jan.

There’s no dispute that official communication to desperate, frightened Aucklanders was non-existent for much of the evening. The only reliable information came from some Auckland Councillors (Richard Hills being a stellar example), local Members of Parliament, Auckland Local Board Members, and the news media. The Mayor and all official channels were silent until late in the evening. Whether Brown is uniquely and personally responsible is something that will be determined over time, but so far he at least seems to be trying to appear to be engaged—now—and that’s a good first step, but I suspect his massive ego and notoriously prickly personality will cause more trouble in the future.

A more immediate governmental impact is that today Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced his cabinet reshuffle, and as part of that, the prime minister announced that MP Michael Wood will become Minster for Auckland. “The floods occurred right at the time when reshuffle was right at the front of my mind,” Hipkins said. He also noted that, “When Auckland succeeds, the country succeeds. I know that the last few years have been particularly tough for the City of Sails.” The position didn't currently exist, but it has in the past.

This has been a challenging time for Auckland and the entire northern part of the North Island. With a third of New Zealand’s population living in Auckland, disasters in the city and region affect the entire country. Thanks to the worsening storms caused by climate change, this is only the beginning of bad times. We'll all be watching to see how the city and country adapt.

Auckland voters say little

This is the second post about the two areas where I followed the local elections, and this one is about the part of Auckland’s North Shore where Nigel and I lived until 2017 (links to the previous posts are at the bottom of this post). Before talking about the results, I first need to point out I have a vested interest.

When Nigel and moved from Auckland’s North Shore and bought in the southern part of Auckland, we did so by including our house on the Shore in the deal, so both houses were used for the total borrowing. We kept our house on the Shore and rented it out. When Nigel died, I obviously inherited that property, too (and the tax obligations).

New Zealand has a system in which people who own property somewhere they don’t live can enrol to vote on what’s called “the ratepayer roll” for the place where they own property. This is different from what’s called “the general roll” which includes all NZ citizens and NZ permanent residents who are 18 or older. The idea, basically, is that people who pay rates (similar to property taxes in the USA) on a property are entitled to have representation so they have a say in how those rates are spent. On the one had, that makes perfect sense: No taxation without representation, and all that. On the other hand, it also favours those who are fortunate to own property other than what they live in. Should someone get extra votes merely because they own property other than what they live in? Or, should “one person, one vote” be the primary consideration? The system makes me extremely uncomfortable and doesn’t sit well with my egalitarian values—though neither does owning a residential rental property, actually.

Still, the system is what it is, and those who tend to favour the rightwing don’t usually share my unease. If they’re likely to vote in a way I wouldn't support, pragmatically I needed to use the same system to vote in support of my values. I’ve always been a pragmatist, not a dogmatist, so enrolled in the ratepayer roll and voted (I posted my ballot to Auckland the same day I dropped off my Hamilton ballot; I posted it by the deadline suggested, so I presume, but don’t know, that it arrived on time and was counted).

The folks who live in Auckland have only Auckland Council—there is no regional council on top of it, as there is in the rest of New Zealand. The main body is usually called the Governing Body (or GB), and is made up of Councillors elected in one or two person Wards. Below that are Local Boards (also known as an “LB”, usually as an acronym for its actual name) to represent far more local interests, providing advice to the GB and deciding some very local things (like park upgrades, community funding, and whatever the GB delegates). The mayor is elected at large in the entire city, and despite a few powers, the mayor is merely one vote on the GB, which means the mayor may not get their way. Auckland uses the old fashioned “first past the post” electoral system for its local elections.

Auckland’s official 2022 results were released on Saturday, October 15. I’ll talk mainly about races where I had a vote, as I did when talking about the Hamilton/Waikato elections).

Mayor

The Auckland mayoralty was won by a guy called Wayne Brown, who I did not vote for. He won 181,810 votes to runner-up Efeso Collins’ 124,802 votes. Collins, who I voted for, was endorsed by the Labour Party and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and was generally considered the progressive candidate (though one prominent rightwing political commentator tried to gaslight progressives by saying Collins was “anti-LGBT+” and “anti-abortion” which was deliberate misrepresentation of his positions). Brown, meanwhile, ran a pretty nasty campaign. He came across as a bit of a jerk, partly because of his habit of calling people he disagrees with “idiots” (or worse), and aggressively oversimplifying the issues Auckland faces. To me, he sounded as if he either didn’t actually know what he was talking about, or he was deliberately talking populist nonsense to win votes. Neither option is especially appealing considering Auckland will be stuck with him for three years. Whatever the reality is, it worked.

Collins, meanwhile, would've been the first Polynesian mayor of Auckland, which absolutely triggered “certain people”. The fact he was identified with Labour also didn’t help him with those same “certain people”, along with rightwingers generally. The main problem that Collins faced was the disgustingly low voter turnout overall (around 37% of all eligible voters last I heard).

However, poorer people and brown people are less likely to vote in general elections than are Pākehā (which generally means people of European ancestry). In my view, this is mainly because they’re considerably younger as a group than are Pākehā (young people of all groups have very, very low voting rates), and considerably less likely to own their home than Pākehā, both of which mean they don’t see that they have anything personally at stake. In a battlefield surrendered to older Pākehā who own property, it’d be a high hill for a brown progressive to climb. So, I’m disappointed by the results but not even remotely surprised.

Naturally, political journalists have labelled the win as a “sign of trouble” for the Labour government in the general election next year, which is just plain dumb. Next year is next year—we cannot possibly know what will happen over the next 12 months: Will the Russian dictator start a nuclear war? Will Covid come roaring back worse than before? We cannot know what the world will be like when the election is actually held, and this election can’t be used as some sort of crystal ball, especially because the results were so mixed.

Ward Councillors

I was entitled to vote in the North Shore Ward, which elects two Councillors. The top vote getter was my friend Richard Hills (who I’ve talked about many times on this blog, and I obviously voted for him). He received 19,269 votes. The second-place candidate, who was also elected, was Chris Darby, who received 17,123 votes. I voted for him, too (I’ve met Chris a few times, but I don’t know him all that well). Both Richard and Chris were incumbents—and both endured some horrendous personal attacks on top of a constant barrage of aggressively negative campaigning.

If the results for the Auckland mayoralty don’t really tell us much about voters’ mood, then the races for Auckland Councillor confuse things even more. In a couple cases conservative candidates defeated more progressive ones—and in a couple cases it was the exact opposite. A few incumbents were defeated, many others were re-elected. Commentators and partisans will try, but the results simply can’t be used to prognosticate any more than the mayoral election can.

Local Board Members

I was entitled to vote in the Kaipātiki Local Board (KLB) election, which elects eight members. The eight people elected were ALL from a motley assortment of candidates running on the “Shore Action” ticket, which is made up of a family associated with the now defunct left-leaning Alliance Party, as well as candidates associated with the National Party. I didn’t vote for any of their candidates this election because I assumed they’d again win control of the KLB. I was tempted to vote for one of their candidates, but I didn’t in the end because I didn’t want to strengthen their odds due to the spoiler effect inherent in the antidemocratic first past the post election system.

Instead, I voted only for the five Labour candidates, one of whom I served on a community organisation’s board with. The Labour candidates came in spots eleven to fifteen (the person who came in tenth was another person from that community organisation board). All up, there were 23 candidates vying for those eight positions, reinforcing the probability of negative consequences from the spoiler effect.

I don’t know most of the people elected to the KLB, and I don’t even know how many were seeking re-election. The previous election was in October 2019, and I was a bit preoccupied with far more important things at that time (in fact, the 2019 election materials arrived in the mail the day Nigel died; I don't think we planned to vote through the ratepayer roll that year, but, as I said, I was a bit preoccupied). Because I don’t really know most of the folks on their team, I don’t have anything against the team as such (there’s at least that one who’s good, and almost got my vote). However, I think it’s bad for democracy to have one party or bloc or whatever hold all the seats on a representative body.

And that’s it for the elections I was entitled to vote in. As I’ve said, nothing can be read into the results nationwide, especially when maybe 40% could even be bothered to vote. On the other hand, the voters of Gore (in the South Island) elected the youngest mayor in New Zealand history, 23-year-old Ben Bell—and by a whopping eight votes. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone has already tried to declare that’s an indicator of what’ll happen next year, too.

Previously:
NZ voters send local government a message: ‘Meh.’ – the first post in this series
Hamilton voters shrug – My post about the elections in Hamilton

The (still) waiting game

The government announced this afternoon that the parts of the Waikato that are at Alert Level 3 (and Northland) will remain there until 11:59pm on Monday, and not move down levels tomorrow night. To say I’m disappointed is a bit of an understatement, however, the folks in Auckland have it much worse than me and have for weeks and weeks.

The issue for me and plenty of others living alone is that Lockdowns, whether Level 3 or 4, are particularly hard on us. We have no in-person time with real people, and humans are by nature social animals. I should add, though, that Leo does a good job of keeping me amused and entertained. Still, as I say so often these days, it is what it is.

What I face in mostly just a list of inconveniences. For example, my car was supposed to go in for its regular service tomorrow, however, at Level 3 they can’t give me a loaner car and there’s absolutely nowhere in the area I can go in the meantime (it’ll take hours). The dealer is way too far from my house for me to walk home (and then back later), and public transport isn’t an option. Shops, cafes, and restaurants are all closed to the general public, and while some offer contactless pickups, that’s not exactly the same as being able to just browse in a shop, so, not helpful at all. I also can’t even go visit anyone who lives close to the dealer. So, I rescheduled to next week—fingers crossed we’re down to Level 2 by then, or I’ll have to reschedule again.

Apart from that, it’s things like getting stuff for my projects around the house. I can get some supplies through click and collect, or maybe even delivery, but I also need plants for my garden and I need to select them myself, mainly because I know a lot of people who had shops select plants for them during lockdowns last year, and that didn’t turn out well. Sure, places offer guarantees, but it’s just another layer of hassles in what’s already an extremely trying time.

All in all, I’m better off just kind of biding my time, doing what little I can do as I wait for the levels to change. Besides, it’s not like the mountains of stuff I need to do have an expiry date or whatever.

So, yeah, I wish we’d gone back to Level 2 tomorrow night, but I’m sure not even remotely as much as Aucklanders want Level 2. The sooner we get vaccination rates well above 90% the sooner we can all kiss goodbye to these Lockdowns. It can’t come soon enough!

Compare and contrasty

Sometimes it’s hard to avoid comparing and contrasting things, places, whatever. When we move to a new town, the comparisons are inevitable. Sometimes, though, those comparisons are about far more than mere place.

This morning I got my blood test results, and they were basically fine, which isn’t unusual. What was remarkable was how quickly I got the results—much faster than I ever got in Auckland.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to get blood tests that were needed before my medical procedure next week, and I finally also got some done that were ordered by the cardiologist I saw privately in mid October. That was a little before 2pm (which I know because I used the Covid Tracer App when I got there).

The email telling me the results were ready arrived at like 8:30 this morning. When I lived in Auckland, it always took two to three days to get test results, not mere hours. On Facebook, I speculated on why that might me:

This could be because the testing company used here in the Waikato is more efficient or even better than the one used in Auckland. Or, maybe it’s a smaller population and/or the fact I was in Hamilton, and not further afield. It could also be that the electronic reporting is faster here. And, of course, Auckland may be better now than it was when I had my last blood tests done with them in July.

It’s probably a blend of all those things. Testing in the Waikato is done by a company called Pathlab. According to its website’s “About” page:

Pathlab is a New Zealand owned and operated pathology service provider and has modelled our business on meeting the needs of our customers. We currently provide pathology services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, servicing over 4,500 patients per day.

It was originally formed in Tauranga in 1958, and the company is now the result of various mergers.

In Auckland, lab tests are provided by an Australian-owned company called Labtests, owned by Melbourne, Australia-based Healthscope. The company took over pathology lab tests in Auckland when it made a lower bid that than the existing provider, Diagnostic Medlab, in 2008. The changeover might be called a disaster (I certainly did at the time), with the new company unable to deliver services quickly or efficiently, leading to the resignation of Labtest’s CEO the following year.

Diagnostic Medlab, meanwhile, mounted court challenges that ultimately failed, and in 2013 the company’s Australian parent company, Sonic Healthcare, announced that they were quitting Auckland the following year. They barely have a New Zealand presence at the moment.

I don’t have any way of knowing if Pathlab is quantifiably better (unlikely) or just more efficient (possible) than Labtests was, but what I do know is that the service I received was outstanding. And, if I’m truly honest, I feel better knowing that my tests were done by a New Zealand-owned company because I try, whenever I can, to buy products and services from New Zealand companies to help with our economy recover from Covid. I don’t have any choice in what company is used—the exclusive contracts are signed by the DHBs—so this is really just something that’s nice, not something that’s within my control [full disclosure: In 2008 I was on Medlab’s “side”, but when the changeover was complete I never had any complaint with Labtests services, which were always good; I just didn’t know the results could be delivered faster].

This awesome service—so much better than in Auckland—came just a day after I found out that dental services, specialist dental services in particular, are harder to get in Hamilton than they were in Auckland—or, at least, Auckland’s North Shore (I think, but don’t know for sure, that dental services are better in the wealthier parts of Auckland since such services aren’t part of our national healthcare system—yet—so practitioners may well go where the money is). Since yesterday I was implicitly comparing and contrasting dental services in the two cities, it’s only fair that I do the same with other medical services.

Ultimately, what I know for sure is that it was bloody fast (so to speak…) service, and I think that’s pretty great. Takes a worry off me, too, with the procedure only days away.

As for the tests themselves, everything was normal except for one thyroid measure that was high (caused by one of my prescriptions), and my clotting factors were abnormal (due to the blood thinner I’m on, of course). That second test allows them to know how much anti-clotting drug they’ll need to give me when they do the procedure (so it’s not too much or too little).

I share all this because it’s an example of something that’s definitely better here in Hamilton than what I experienced in Auckland, and also because I was really happy about it. Also, it’s always good to correct any impression I may inadvertently have created that healthcare services in Hamilton aren’t “as good” as in Auckland. In fact, the two are just different from each other, in both good and bad ways.

At any rate, I’m now one step closer to the procedure next week!

This is a revised and greatly extended version of something I posted to my personal Facebook earlier today.

Here we go again?

At an emergency press conference tonight (video above, cued to when the prime minister entered), Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfied announced that there were four new cases of Covid-19 in Auckland, and there was no known source. In other words, community transmission may have arrived 102 days after the last case.

As a result, Auckland is going from Level 1 to Level 3 at midday tomorrow, Wednesday, and will remain there until midnight Friday (probably actually 11:59pm). The rest of New Zealand will move to Alert Level 2 for the same time period.

Aucklanders are being asked to stay home, and schools and early childhood care are closed, except for children of essential workers. No one will be allowed to travel into or out of Auckland, unless they are returning home (and, one would imagine, are able to prove it). Police will have roadblocks to prevent unauthorised travel. As under Level 4, supermarkets, pharmacies, and petrol stations will will be open, but bars, cafes, and restaurants are to close, though contactless food delivery or take away will be permitted. Funerals and weddings are permitted, with a maximum gathering of ten people.

In the rest of New Zealand, we’re allowed to go to all shops, but we’re supposed to maintain physical distancing again, and stores are supposed to take steps to make that possible. Cafes and restaurants can open, but all customers must be seated with a single server, and they must keep records of who was there. Gatherings are limited to 100 people.

In the entire country, we’re being asked to ramp up our hand washing, use alcohol-based hand sanitiser when we can’t wash our hands properly. We’re also supposed to record our movements, especially by using the Covid Tracker App (mine isn’t currently signed in after its most recent upgrade; I’ll sort that out). For the first time, we’re being advised to wear face masks whenever we can’t practice physical distancing, especially on tight places, like on public transit.

The government activated its emergency cellphone alert system at 10:12pm tonight, but I got my alert at 11:17pm—good thing I was still awake or it would have scared the hell out of me. As if the press conference hadn’t done that already…

My greatest fear is that we’ll go back under lockdown, since I barely survived the first time. At this point, I’m not worried about Covid itself because there’s not yet evidence of widespread community transmission. But it would be foolish to dismiss the possibility that lockdown could be coming, and that would make me afraid of Covid.

Tomorrow morning, I’m going out to get some supplies for projects around house—something I didn’t do before lockdown last March, and regretted (although, as it happens, I still have some of the small projects from lockdown that I didn’t do at the time). My freezer and pantry aren’t very well stocked at the moment (I haven’t done my shopping food this week), but I could still get by for at least a week, with some of the creativity I used last time.

All of my preparations will be every bit as much a precaution as the changes to Alert Levels that the government is putting in place tomorrow, and hopefully both will turn out to be overly cautious. But I was caught out last time—I won’t risk that happening again. Besides, it gives me something to focus on instead of the possibility that things are about to become very bad.

This may be a case of “here we go again”, or it may be a case of “we dodged a bullet”, but we won’t know which it is for up to several days. Here’s hoping.

Representative of my life right now

View this post on Instagram

Misty morning outside the house.

A post shared by arthur_amerinz (@arthur_amerinz) on Jul 21, 2013 at 2:30pm PDT

The post above was the first I shared on Instagram. So much has changed in the seven years since: Three and a bit years later, I’d be in hospital getting a cardiac stent, six months after that, Nigel and I moved to the southern edge of the Manukau Harbour. Six years after this photo, we were a month out from what would be Nigel’s last birthday (I never blogged about Nigel’s birthdays).

Now, the dogs and I are in a new house alone, without Nigel, in a different city than the photo was taken in, and, seven years after I took it, I think that photo’s representative of where I’m at in my life right now: Some things are obvious, some are indistinct, but it’s kind of hard for me to see anything clearly. It’s familiar and strange all at the same time. And the thing I notice the most about it is something I noticed back then, but didn’t pay much attention to: A feeling of aloneness and loneliness. Like I said, it’s representative of where I’m at in my life.
And today it’s cold and raining. Seems appropriate, somehow.

Related: “And another” – my blog post about that photo, published the same day I posted it to Instagram, July 22, 2013. Back then, I didn’t embed the original post as I did above. Like I said, so much has changed.

This is a revised and expanded version of something I posted to my personal Facebook this morning. Among other things, I added links to relevant blog posts.

Papatūānuku is breathing

The video above was posted to Facebook today by Auckland Tourism, Events, and Economic Development (ATEED), an organisation controlled by Auckland Council. In normal times, they promote Auckland as a place to visit, play, and invest, but things are different now, and this video reflects that. It finishes:

“Sit at a distance, stand as one. When the time is right, we welcome you. But for now, listen. Papatūānuku (our earth mother) is breathing.”

They note in their Facebook post that this video doesn’t break any of the lockdown rules—something that’s sadly necessary to point out these days. They said:

• All footage captured prior to lockdown. Voiceover and editing completed at home.
• Bird sound recording source: Department of Conservation. [Link in the original]

A lot of people have been commenting on how much bird song can be heard now, and I’ve also seen people say that some rare birds have reappeared near people. I’ve certainly noticed how quiet things are at the moment, and that’s very welcome.

This lockdown is a struggle for everyone to varying degrees, but the earth itself is having a reprieve, which is good in itself. Maybe when this is over we could try a bit harder and not return to our bad habits. Papatūānuku would appreciate that, and so should we all.

Getting into training

A new train service between Auckland and Hamilton beings on August 3, the Government announced yesterday. It’s proof that it is possible to overcome petty local squabbles to move our entire region forward.

There’s been talk about such a train for many, many years, but it never went anywhere as local councils dug in their heels with a “we’re not paying for it—YOU pay for it!” attitude. Each Council is now playing it’s role, probably because central government is paying the vast majority of the cost. Now that it’s about to start service, the new train can become a very big deal.

There will be two stations in Hamilton, one at Frankton and the other at the new Rotokauri Transport Hub, which isn’t far from my house—actually, nothing in Hamilton is very far from my house. Be that as it may, the park and ride facility at the transport hub will mean I can drive there, park, and take the train into Auckland for the day—saving me a lot of hassle and stress caused by dealing with traffic and parking—and, of course, in Auckland traffic often, even usually, means gridlock, and parking could easily cost more than the train ticket.

The bigger issue, though, is the future: Rapid rail. Transport Minister Phil Twyford said, “The Ministry of Transport… has work underway to investigate options for rapid rail between Hamilton and Auckland.” This matters because of the huge amount of growth happening within Hamilton and between here and Auckland. As Twyford noted, “As the Waikato and Auckland grow closer together, this new passenger train will become a crucial connection between these two major centres.” And it will. If growth continues at its current pace, sometime in the next 20 years Hamilton will likely become New Zealand’s second largest city. HALF of the country’s entire population will live in the triangle of Auckland, Hamilton, and Tauranga. Rapid rail would be a good way to move commuters along the Hamilton – Auckland route, easing congestion on the roads and making life better for commuters who have been pushed outward by Auckland’s high house prices.

Demand will push that possibility forward. Just as commuter rail in Central Auckland was moved higher on the agenda because of rising passenger numbers, so, too, will rapid rail on the Auckland – Hamilton route be moved up if people actually use the new service.

And that’s the catch.

The new Hamilton – Auckland train service has received funding through the NZ Transport Agency for only five years. While the government says, “Over that period the service will be assessed to see where improvements can be made,” the reality is that if ridership is low, it may not be continued, let alone upgraded. If Auckland’s experience is anything to go by, though, there may be pent-up demand for rail service along that route.

The only reservation I have is that I’m not sure that naming the train after an extinct bird was a good marketing move, given that this is meant to be a forward-looking project. However, there was opposition to the popular choice, “The Tron Express” (“The Tron” is a popular nickname for Hamilton), so it’s a reasonable compromise. In any case, it’s the service that matters, not its name.

This is a very important change, but, hopefully, it’s just the beginning. We’ll know in about five years.

See also:
“Hamilton-to-Auckland rail service to start in August” – RNZ
“Start date set in stone for Hamilton-Auckland passenger train” – Stuff.

This post is a revised and extended version of something I posted on my personal (private) Facebook.

The old ‘away’ returned

Soft plastic recycling restarted in Auckland back in May, which is a good thing for Aucklanders: It provides a way to get rid of soft plastics that would otherwise have to be thrown away in the general rubbish. But its resumption happened shortly before New Zealand’s ban on single-use plastic bags took effect. That created some issues, but for us it meant better solutions.

After the end of the original soft package recycling programme, I routinely threw our soft plastics away in the ordinary rubbish, as everyone else did, too. But by then I was also trying to reduce the amount of soft plastics we had to get rid of.

My first move was to buy some mesh bags to put fresh fruits and vegetables into rather than the plastic ones that were still in the grocery store (because I use them exclusively, I actually don’t know what grocery stores have now, but they kept using them for a very long time). I also stopped buying fruits and vegetables—apples, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, that sort of thing—in prepackaged plastic bags (this had the additional benefit of reducing waste: I now buy only what we need, so nothing has a chance to rot). But meats are still packed using plastic wrap, even if the trays are usually recyclable, as I talked about way back in 2016.

So, the soft package recycling scheme restarted, but we had less soft plastics to be recycled. What we did have, however, no longer included plastic shopping bags that stores used to give out, and that meant I needed a new solution for packing up the plastics.

The photo above is my solution: Bread bags. Some time ago, I realised the bread bags would be useful for bagging “icky” things. It was a natural choice for bagging the soft plastics.

It turned out to be the ideal choice because the bags are small, and even if overstuffed, they fit into the collection barrels without any problem because their diameter is smaller that the diameter of the barrel opening. Since then, I’ve also used a plastic bag that some sort of electronic thing was put into before being boxed. The bag had holes punched in it (probably so the ting could "breathe"), so it wasn’t useful for anything that might leak; this was a good and useful way to get rid of that bag.

Now that the scheme has been running for several months, I know for sure that we have far less soft plastics to get rid of than we did when the original scheme was running. That’s good in itself.

This is just a part of our efforts to tread more lightly on the planet by, in this case, reducing waste. Because the reality is that there’s no such thing as an “away” to throw things to. Still, at least we now have less to send to the mythical “away”.

Small steps.

Water and not

It’s been raining a lot in Auckland this month. Actually, over the past six weeks, more or less, the days that have been sunny have been few and far between. At best, we get a bit of sunshine in a day, but not even much of that. This is common enough in winter, and normally that fact makes it bearable, but this year all this rain carries a sting: There hasn’t been nearly enough of it.

As of this past Sunday, Auckland’s reservoirs together are only about 73% full. In winter. When it rains. A lot. Historically, they’d be about 89% full. Still, a few weeks ago, when they asked us to conserve water, and before this rainy season kicked in, they were only around 65% full, so, yay?

The reason for this problem is that we had a dry autumn with very little rain, so winter had a lot oc catching up to do. Problem is, winter started dry, too. So far this month, the dams have had a combined total rainfall of around 150mm of rain (about a third of that in the previous 7 days; it’ll be interesting to see if this week there’s been a higher rainfall, as it seemed). The average historical monthly total is around 180mm, so we’re a long way off of that—after dry periods preceding it.

The problem with this is that if our reservoirs are so low in winter, Aucklanders will need to prepare for water restrictions in the dry weeks of this coming summer. Saving water isn’t a long-term solution, though, and it’ll take a multifaceted approach to deal with inevitable droughts we’ll experience more frequently in the future.

Right now, there are too many barriers and costs associated with installing rainwater tanks for urban houses. Auckland Council will need to change that. There will probably need to be some sort of financial incentive to get people to install the tanks, and to upgrade their homes to be more efficient in water use.

Meanwhile, all this rain has definitely been miserable, with large ponds—almost small lakes—in farmers' fields throughout the area. Today I took the photo on the right side of this post. It's shows some minor flooding along our fenceline (the same fence that’s given us quite a few problems to deal with, most recently in May of this year). The flooding isn’t bad, obviously, but the thing about it is that in the two and a half years we’ve lived in this house, it’s never flooded there. I have no idea why it did now, but the ground is absolutely saturated (walking on it sounds like walking on a very wet sponge).

Still, even though it’s been raining a lot in Auckland this month, there hasn’t been nearly enough of it. That’s winter, 2019.

See also: “Auckland's dam levels”, which Watercare updates ever week.

Weekend Diversion: Dancing to the music

Most people who watch pop music videos don’t give much thought to them beyond whether they like them or not, and a large part of that will be based on the song itself. Most of the time, probably, we may not even know who is behind a music video, but when it comes to choreography, many hit videos in recent years have been choreographed by New Zealander Parris Goebel. This week’s post is about some of those.

Parris is from Manurewa in Auckland, and got her start in Hip Hop dance here in Auckland, first forming the group ReQuest, which still exists, along with the related group The Royal Family, all based at her Auckland dance studio, The Palace Dance Studio.

The video up top is brand new: It was released on July 19. In fact, this is among the newest songs I’ve ever shared (maybe the newest?). It’s by Sam Smith and it’s called “How Do You Sleep?”, and it was written by Smith, with Savan Kotecha, Max Martin and also Ilya, who produced the song. The video was directed by Grant Singer, and the choreography is by Parris Goebel, of course.

Sam Smith doesn’t usually dance in his videos, so this is pretty unique for him. I think it works well, especially the quasi-biblical tableaux (or maybe tableaux vivants is more accurate). I can’t share any information on the song’s chart performance because there isn’t any yet. I’m sure there will be.

I first made Sam Smith the subject of a Weekend Diversion post in December 2014, and again the following February. Since then, I included him in a Weekend Diversion post about Calvin Harris (second video). My first post to mention him, though, was just an ordinary post one week before Christmas, 2014.

Next up, Justin Bieber’s 1015 song, “Sorry”:



Okay, last week I said that I thought Justin Bieber was underrated, but that’s not why I’m sharing this. It’s actually because the choreography in this video is pretty typical, in my opinion, of Goebel’s work. You can see some similar themes used in all these videos.

One thing I especially liked about the YouTube version of this song is that the video description includes something most music videos don’t, namely, complete credits:

Director: Parris Goebel Producer: Justin Bieber, Scott "Scooter" Braun and Parris Goebel Animator: John Hwang Production Company: SB Films and Taktix Films Choreographer: Parris Goebel Dancers: The Ladies of ReQuest & The Royal Family Dance Crews from The Palace Dance Studio, NZ

The song itself was popular: It hit Number 2 in Australia (7x Platinum), Number 1 in Canada (7x Platinum), and in New Zealand (5x Platinum), and the UK (4x Platinum), and in the USA (8x Platinum).

Finally, “Touch”, a 2017 single by British girl group, Little Mix:



Little Mix was the winner of the eighth season of the UK’s The X Factor in 2011. I’ve heard of them, but the name is burned into my mind mostly because they’ve turned up to the answer for a lot of questions on the original (UK) version of the game show, The Chase (and I’m actually not joking about that).

At any rate, the song hit Number 13 in Australia (2x Platinum), 57 in Canada (Platinum), 22 in New Zealand (Gold), and Number 4 in the UK (2x Platinum). It doesn’t appear to have charted in the USA (only three of their singles have charted there).

• • •

I chose these particular songs because the fact that Parris Goebel was involved is publicly acknowledged, where some others she’s been involved with haven’t necessarily done so. Parris has posted a YouTube Playlist of the all the songs she’s worked on. Some of those songs weren’t singles, and some, well, they aren’t exactly my cup of tea. Nevertheless, I do think these particular videos give a taste of her work over the past five years.

So, this week was actually about people behind some videos, in this case, a Kiwi that most Americans may not have heard of before. That’s a nice thing in itself, and is bit of break from just sharing songs/videos I like. Think of it as a little mix. Sorry. Maybe I need sleep?

The better midpoint

Auckland temperatures this evening.

A couple weeks ago we hit the midpoint of 2019, which is some sort of thing. Maybe not important, necessarily, but a marker of time all the same. In this part of the world we’re about to hit another midpoint, one that matters quite a lot to some of us: Tonight we pass the midpoint of winter.

As I’ve mentioned many times, in this part of the world the beginning os the seasons are taken as being on the first day of the month of their start, and not on the equinoxes or solstices that happen some three weeks later. Because our system makes the dates a known thing without variation, it’s easy to calculate what the midpoint of a season is, and the midpoint of winter is midnight tonight.

We know this because June, July, and August have a combined total of 92 days, and that means that the midpoint is 46 days—July 16 (the 30 days of June plus the first 16 of July). And once we pass midnight, we’re officially in the second half of winter.

This winter has been pretty mild, all things considered. It was unusually dry (and often extremely mild) during the first part, and it’s only been in the past couple weeks that we’ve had out typical rainy weather (and more storms are predicted for tonight). But, a few chilly mornings notwithstanding, it hasn’t been terribly cold so far. This evening we hit a low (screenshot of the weather App on my phone at right) of 10 degrees (which is 50F). It feels a bit colder than that due to how damp it is after days and days of rain, however, other winters have been far worse.

Even so, I’ll be glad when winter’s over because I like the warm months. This is actually an odd thing: After more than 23 years here I’ve fully acclimatised to winter here, feeling really cold in Auckland when the temperatures are what in Chicago I may have thought were warm. On the other hand, I like the heat of summer, and while Kiwis are complaining about how “hot” it is, I think the temperature is perfect. What makes this even more odd is that I know Auckland summers are considerably cooler than Chicago summers, and I wouldn’t mind them being warmer.

So I’ve thought lately that maybe it has nothing to do with acclimatisation to Auckland, and it’s just that I don’t tolerate cool temperatures as much as I used to. I’ve always been told that older people feel the cold more—maybe I’m just old before my time? Dunno, but I’m certainly cold before my time.

So here we are, poised to enter the second half of winter. I know it’s entirely possible that the weather—and temperatures—could very well get much worse before the it all gets better, but even if it does become worse, at least we’re slowly moving back toward the warmer months. For me, that makes it easier to endure.

Tonight we hit the point where there are only 46 days left in winter. That midpoint matters quite a lot to one of us.

Idiot says idiotic things

Whenever the newsmedia talks about rigthwing Auckland Mayoral candidate John Tamihere, a single headline could always be used because it would always be appropriate: Idiot says idiotic things. That’s been true of his career for more than 14 years. Today he added yet another layer of utter stupidity to his deep well of it: He wants to privatise Auckland’s water supply company, Watercare. What. An. Idiot.

Tamihere is and ex-Labour Party MP and ex-cabinet minister who was forced out of the party under a cloud after, of course, saying idiotic things. Then he was a talkback radio host where he said more idiotic things. Now he’s currently performing the role of rightwing populist and, of course, saying idiotic things—and he deserves this rant.

His latest proposal is beyond idiotic, as all rational people know, but he’s just playing a cynical game, pandering to his base and the grumpy brigade who hate Auckland Council and/or how much they pay rates (similar to US property taxes). The Righwing, his base, absolutely loves the idea of transferring public assets like water to private hands so they can make enormous profits by using their monopoly to exploit people for shareholders’ enrichment. The rightwing political establishment is loaded with those who are loaded, and many of them would be getting a piece of the action if Watercare was sold, so their advocacy for privatisation is mostly motivated by greed.

There’s another faction that may support him, one made up of what I often call the Grumpy Brigade. They are people who seem to enjoy being grumpy, unable to see anything good about Auckland Council, and always imagining that things are worse now than they were before Auckland Council came into being in 2010. Whether their feelings are completely wrong, completely justified, or somewhere in between is beside they point, though, because what they seek is to drastically cut how much Council spends (except in there area, of course!!), and/or they want to shrink Council somehow. To such people, selling off Watercare would be be a way to stick it to the Council as much as anything else.

We know that Tamihere is merely playing games on this issue because it would be impossible to sell Watercare as long as Labour controls central government, and for a very simple reason: It would take new legislation to make it possible, and neither Labour nor the Greens would ever support that, and New Zealand First probably wouldn’t, either (they’re more like old-school populists, before the term became associated nearly exclusively with the far-right).

Under current legislation, ownership of Watercare is vested in Auckland Council. It is forbidden to return a dividend and must operate at the lowest cost. In other words, it supplies an essential public service and charges no more than it needs to in order to recover actual costs.

If Watercare was sold off, profits would then become the sole priority of the new private entity, because profits are the sole reason that companies exist, after all. That would mean soaring rates for all residential consumers—but, one would expect, not for businesses, who could even see rates lowered, subsidised by families in Auckland paying ever more.

How much more? Auckland’s current Mayor, Phil Goff, who is running for re-election, told Stuff, "I'd have to do the calculations, but it could be a 30, 40 or 50 per cent increase in water rates." That’s because, he said, that any company buying half of Watercare would want a return of around 7.5 per cent. That’s a completely different situation to the current one, in which Watercare pays no dividend and re-invests all monies back into the service rather than sending profits to shareholders, many or most of whom would probably be overseas.

Tamihere probably knows all that, one must assume. The best guess is that he’s saying it to get attention for himself, and talk of selling of publicly owned assets, like Watercare or the Ports of Auckland, are a sure-fire hit with both his base and the Grumpy Brigade—even though it’s impossible for him to deliver on.

But, he’s apparently not done making promises he can’t keep. When asked if he planned to sell off any more of assets owned by the people of Auckland, he answered, he didn’t "at this particular point in time." Yeah, right.

Aside from his cynical political games, one of the thing that’s most annoying about Tamihere is how much he lies. In the debate he said that there was interest from the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) who, he claimed, wanted 50 per cent, adding, "Phil [Goff] knows it, the public needs to know it." The person who would, in fact, know is Mayor Goff who said he knew of no such bid. Odds are it exists only someone’s fevered imagination. It’s possible that one of his political advisers, or perhaps a National Party adviser, made it up for him. Who knows?

There was absolutely no way, no how that’d vote for Tamihere for anything; I lost respect for him back when he was being driven out fo the Labour Party, and his sexism and homophobia sealed the deal.

Most of the time I ignore him. He’s running a vanity campaign backed by the National Party, though not “officially” at the moment, and pandering to some of the worst elements in Auckland. The only thing outsiders need to know about him is simple: Idiot says idiotic things. That describes him every single day.