4th December 2011

Well, the election has been and gone, as usual everyone is saying the wrong party got in, or back, or stole the election. National took 48% of the Party vote, most of the Electorates, and left the Labour Party reeling on the ropes, if not on the canvas. The loopy Greens got nearly 11% of Party Votes, so we’ll have a dozen or so of the left wing eco looney tune Malthusian luddites trying to drive us back to the stone age as well.

I actually voted for the Labour Party Electorate candidate, Damien O’Connor this time, still gave National my Party vote though. The last thing we need is bloody left wing bleeding heart socialists borrowing money to pay for welfare spending when the rest of the worlds economy is heading for the slop bucket.

National is planning on selling 49% of what are classed as assets, like Air New Zealand, energy companies, to free up some cash for other use, while retaining 51% ownership. Quite frankly, as I don’t know of any Government run business that is actually run as a business instead of a retirement home for retired politicians and past their use by date civil servants, it can only be good.

We’ll have to wait and see. We still have the looney left Greens prattling on about Catastrophic Climate Change, and how we all have to stop living how we are now and go back to rubbing sticks together, but wait, that might release CO2, so maybe not, we can all just freeze to death and leave Mother Earth alone. After reading through the latest release of emails from Phil Jones, Michael Mann et al, it all seems like the greatest scam ever perpetrated on the world. Maurice Strong has a lot to answer for. And stupid bloody Gillard in Australia goes along and puts a carbon tax on everything. Still, John Key did the same stupid thing here with the EFT or whatever it is called, but at least it isn’t going to be as severe as the Australian one. Idiots. And when it all turns to custard, will they remove the tax?

It’s getting to the silly season here in the Bay. The loopies, (tourists) are starting to show up in the rental campervans, the house bus people are arriving, and hitch-hikers and back packers are to be seen along the roads looking like giant snails with spindly legs under their oversize backpacks. The Collingwood campground has been reasonably full the last month with whitebaiters trying to catch enough, but from what I’ve seen, most will be going home disappointed this season. I think it is time to have a rotating closed season in each of the 4 main areas, once every 4 years each region is closed to whitebaiting to allow the juvenile fish up river to mature. The catch has been dropping off for a long time, some due to poor quality streams and rivers with farm effluent and stock grazing the banks, which is now being addressed, sometimes voluntarily, other times with court orders, but it is being addressed. We don’t want to see the same restrictions as put on toheroa, supposed to be a limited closed season to allow stock to recover about 40 years ago, but they never addressed the actual problem, which was trawlers taking fish close to the beaches, and the paddle crab population exploding and eating all the juvenile toheroa spat. So it’s been 40 years since we have been allowed to gather toheroa. Well, legally anyway.

I’ve picked up an interesting looking infection from milking, it has all the outward signs of cowpox, which on reading about is not supposed to be in New Zealand, or else a similar virus. It could just be from where my jacket sleeves are rubbing on my wrist, but it is only on one hand, which is the hand I use to put the cups on with, so I’m brushing up against the udders with it. If it doesn’t heal in a week or so, I’ll go get it seen to, if it is cowpox, all you can do is wait out the viral attack, about 1 – 4 weeks from what I’ve read, and try to stop any secondary infection.

Brigid and I are still waiting to hear about the bakery at Collingwood. The last we heard this week was that the wiring had to be replaced due to water damage in the walls, which should be repaired this week, so we’ll have another word with the owners later this week again. It can’t be worse than milking cows in the rain.

Damian goes into hospital tomorrow to have his knee repaired. He ripped the AC ligament a couple of months ago, and it hasn’t knitted, so they are going to operate and basically, staple and stitch it all back together tomorrow, and if it all goes well he’ll be back at work before Christmas.