Truckies day

Friday 4th July
Truckies day proved an excellent opportunity to display the national ‘reserve’ characteristic. If this had been in France, the streets might have been awash with cow dung and live sheep, or in keeping with the occasion, turned into a nationwide truck demolition yard. Nothing mechanical could have moved. Shouts would have been less good-natured expressions of support for the financially challenged truckies, and more venting of anger with the passion that did not migrate here from Europe.



This is not France, but New Zealand and all those present were on good, civil behaviour. Including the police, who managed to find and detain a lone car driver in the midst of the slow, articulated chaos. And the fire brigade called out to an apparently false alarm on Queen St – the very hub of the protest.


For the few workers who did venture into the city, the silver lining was quiet streets on a blustery Friday morning in July. Even by 2.30 on this winter afternoon when the truckies had made their point and gone home, it looked like 8am Sunday - devoid of the usual queues of escaping motorists, on shiny wet roads, spreading out in all directions. A rare treat with ominous overtones.


Maybe these moving streets will become a common sight with the reason for the protest not likely to go away. On top of recent, sudden hikes in food, fuel and booze prices, the RUC (road user charge) is going to rise. The knock on effect needs no explanation. Not a good move in an election year – unless a break from the Beehive is what the present government is aiming for.