NZ In Tranzit

  The other day I caught a Metrostar from New Brighton. I was pretty pissed off because a long queue in the supermarket meant by the time I was served I only had 2 minutes to get to the stop. It was a case of fast walking and huff and puffing and cursing under my breath because the Metrostar bus stops in this neck of the woods are about three quarters of a kilometre apart - around in Oram Ave or way up by the School on Hawke Street.  I can understand residential stops being broadly spaced to maintain pace across the suburbs but in a built up retail area??  Most of the action in New Brighton is towards the beach end - the beach itself of course, the very popular and busy library and spectacular pier, the supermarket and larger shops and the New Brighton Club. It makes little sense having buses drive past the place people most want to go. However in the circumstances, this time, it didn't really matter. Either my clock was wrong or the ...

  Further to my last posting about Oamaru, this is a poster for the same show I found so brilliantly choreographed, timed, acted, performed etc at the Oamaru Opera house (I am sure The Loons won't mind me further promoting their promo poster, taken from their website ). One of the few criticisms I would have had of the show was the name "Berlin Burlesque", was too generic, lacked its own personality, a distinctive identity, a name to invite enquiry. Someone else obviously thought so too! This is a world class show, and I imagine could literally evolve into that. That said where other countries would find a set of genuine twins as talented as the Twisty Twins ,   acrobats but with superb timing, balance and humour I am not sure! I get the impression that a major aspect of this theatre company's first high standards of performance and high level of acrobatic skills is, in part, linked to the background of some performers who have attended or graduated from t...

    I have been down in Oamaru, one of my favourite haunts, a town of about 13,000 with the character, energy and rich diversity of a much larger city. This time the draw-card was the Oamaru Heritage Festival, a sort of Waitaki District "Show Week" with an historic theme to match the town's fantastic array of Victorian and Edwardian lime-stone buildings. With the demise of much of Christchurch's Vic & Ed streetscape Oamaru's star can only rise further (in a long ago posting I suggested that  the District and city councils of the east coast of Te Wai Pounamu, could unite to offer a heritage and walkway package, united by an iconic weekly steam train Christchurch to Dunedin (and one offering both  tourist and budget class rail) For the festival in Oamaru my partner and I hired Victorian costumes and joined several hundred other people similarly clothed - its a hoot, dress-up for adults, lots of fun and friendliness. It also gives one a so much deeper sens...

In the United States public authorities are having to face the reality of climate change, even if politicians and those who associate freedom with escape from social responsibilities are happy to ignore it or dispute the cause. Heavy carbon generated mostly by oil fired power stations and secondly by auto exhausts is credited with raising the over-all temperature of the planet. It can not be confused with carbon generated from other sources. This is also highly unlikely to be part of a natural cycle (which typically occurs over centuries) for many reasons. One of the most spectacular - according to studies of tell-tale carbon dioxide levels found in ice core samples over a decade ago this is by far the fastest rise in global temperatures in 456,000 years! The temperature is rising far faster than most natural and man-made systems are able to handle, with massive species death or forced invasion of new areas, upsetting natural eco-systems.  It will als...

Yeah Right. I photographed this crudely attached poster on a Metro timetable stand at New Brighton Library. I realise the promotion may be stimulated by Eastgate Mall management, which is giving away shopping vouchers to those who use a Metrocard or Supergold card in an effort to boost their re-opening.   This may have encouraged Metro's marketing to go beyond saying the decent thing -"a greatly reduced Metro service is now in place, however many eastern areas can now directly access Eastgate again". Instead they have wandered in to the world of tasteless, offensive hype, duplicity and a degree of double-speak that would do Russia's Stalin proud. The Government imposed Environment Canterbury junta lead by Dame Margaret Bazley (at an absurd $1400 payment per meeting, other members $900 per meeting) appears to be making the most drastic bus cuts in its history and hocking these off as "new and improved services". I can find no trace of improved se...

The last month or two has certainly been a bit of a roller coaster ride for those who support implementing new light rail and commuter rail projects around New Zealand. Columnist Chris Hutching in the The National Business Review on 20th October said that the CERA (Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority) submission to the Central City Draft Plan made it clear they did not buy a lot of the Council agenda, including height restrictions on new buildings. Based on his analysis of the submission process Hutching noted "light rail is also highly unlikely" in Christchurch and its  recovery scenario Despite the word "submission", CERA is very much the chief driver in this situation and the City Council the junior player in this scenario with light rail funding unlikely unless CERA is in the cab and Gerry Brownlee is pushing from behind (with a fat wallet ready to split open). Meanwhile in Auckland, on October 28th Mayor Len Brown put forward a possib...

POOR ROAD USE A couple of weeks ago, one rainy day, I was on a bus traveling up Papanui Road to Northlands. It was about about 3.30 pm. and already traffic was queueing. The most impressive part of the bus journey was north of St Andrews College/Normans Road intersection -the bus fair flew along the bus lane, up the inside of a traffic queue until it got into the congestion at "the roundabout" (junction of Papanui Road and Harewood Road). Then it got bogged in a queue and crawled up to the stop just past the Mobil Service Station on Main North Road. Understandably perhaps local retailers resisted bus lanes through this shopping area, and I respect there are places where roadside businesses need the image and illusion of of easy front door parking to survive. However after leaving the stop by the convenience store [opposite The Rose and Thistle pub] it probably took another two to three minutes, with a red light at Langdons Road, and...