NZ flash mobs warm the heart

I was just a little nervous about the state I would find London and other parts of the UK in after recent riots / flash mob / looting episodes. I was in Brixton for the 1981 edition of this sad state of affairs, and don't need to see a repeat. All was calm on my arrival though, and the experience was no worse than hearing scary stories from friends around the country.

With that in mind, it really warmed my heart to see what New Zealand flash mobs are up to in suburban malls at the moment. It reminded me how the country that kindly adopted me is wonderful in so many ways.

A bad night for monkeys

This is a rare departure from the travel focus of this blog - although the 12,000 miles distance between me and the site of the story might just qualify. I love - and want to share - these quotes from Ian Macwhirter's article in The Guardian on Friday May 6th.

'Seasoned political hacks were lost for superlatives in their efforts to encapsulate the scale of the Liberal Democrat defeat. Their vote didn't just collapse, it was vaporised.'

'Scottish National Party has achieved what most political analysts believed was not possible: an overall majority in a proportional electoral system. The political map of Scotland has been transformed.'

'Labour's campaign insulted the intelligence of the Scottish voters by insisting that, as their manifesto put it: "The Tories are back" when they emphatically are not – in Scotland at least.'

So the debate about independence for Scotland is shifting up a gear now that ten+ years of 'autonomy' has shown Scotland is not just willing, but also extremely able. I don't share the view of people who commented that the (now assured) referendum on independence will not return a positive result. If that opinion is as current as the comment about passport control at Carlisle, I'd start planning the severance package. Has somebody not noticed that the EU ruled out the need for passports at Copenhagen, Calais, Cologne or Carlisle?

I'm not sure I share the view of the article's author either, when he says:

'The voters have returned the insult by applying to Labour the kind of tactical voting they used to destroy the Scottish Tories in the 1990s.'

Is it not just vaguely possible that voters picked the horse they wanted to win, rather than the one most likely to fall and trip up the winner? Just a thought!

Day the earth moved (Christchurch, Feb 2011)

We were in Hokitika on the S Island’s rugged west coast and never felt a thing while Christchurch and surrounds were being rocked by a 6.3 earthquake in the early afternoon. I was finally easing into kick back mode on day three of a sight seeing tour with big sis and bro in law on their first visit to NZ. I’ve been here sixteen years so they weren’t exactly hot on my heels, but making up for lost years with tons of appreciation now they finally made it.

The previous day, it rained in true West coast style with due respect for an annual quota of 5mtrs. The terms ‘incessant’ and ‘inundation’ don’t even come close to a fair description. We thought of hightailing it over to the east coast in search of clement weather, but the sight of Franz Josef Glacier looming through early morning mist and the river in full flood throwing random ice sculptures onto stony banks was a rarer treat. No helicopter flights up to the snow or half day hikes up the glacier in such gloomy conditions, but a promise of other exhilarating experiences next time around

So we moved on up the west coast, and were busy inspecting a fabulous driftwood and beach debris sculpture exhibition on the beach when all hell broke loose in Christchurch around 1 o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon. Shops in Hokitika had to straighten their shelf displays and phone lines were buzzing immediately after the event. Early news was of something more serious than the lucky escape that began months of after shocks and uncertainty. The nerves of a city, already shot, got blown apart that Tuesday afternoon. At the time of posting, 113 are known to have died, and more than 200 are missing four days after the event. Aftershocks continue on a regular basis.

With heartfelt sympathy for those suffering in Christchurch, and friends and whanau in Scotland dealing with personal tragedy, we did what the war time mantra advised, kept calm and carried on, mindful of new beginnings.