Monthly Archives: October 2016

10.15.16
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Diary of a Shore Thing #5

I’ve reached the age where I have started to obsess about power tools and have a desire to do creative things with wood. I think it’s the need to be able to just switch off a little bit.

Anyway, I’ve made a start with my Ryobi collection, but it has occurred to me that I don’t have the space for some of the tools that i would quite like.

Enter a manly conversation with my neighbour. He’s quite handy, an architect I believe, and he’s been busy building stuff around his house. He has all the tools. 

He mentioned a place, the Devonport Community Workshop, secreted away off Lake Rd. It’s been around for over 20 years, has many of the ‘big’ tools (table saws, drop saws, bandsaws, jigsaws, lathes, routers, sanders etc.) that we all want but can’t really justify purchasing ourselves, and is run by a team of volunteers. 

I popped in for a look-see on this bleak stormy Saturday morning.


It’s open Monday-Saturday, 9am-12 noon and is funded by donations received for use.

I think I may have found a gem.

10.09.16
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Thoughts: Local Government Elections

It’s all over bar the shouting. I’ve found this election interesting and not for the usual reasons.

Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge the passion and desire of those who stood for office. Secondly, it was nice seeing friends of my youth get a Mayoralty, achieve Council and Board positions. (There’s something special seeing people get ahead when you feel like you’re standing still, eh?).

I didn’t get to vote. (And yes, I could have made a supreme effort to cast a special vote, but I wanted to see how this played out). 

Let me explain. I registered online with my address details at both the Elections website and also updated my RealMe profile. I received acknowledgements that all was good in the world. Did my voting papers arrive? They did not. I checked my details a week out from deadline, they were all correct. Days passed. Still no papers. 

Saturday came and went.

At 9:30am on Sunday (today) we received a knock on the door by a guy from the Electoral Commission to tell us that there were no registered voters at this address… A little too late one would think.

Given my experience, and indeed the experience of the residents of Crummer Road, Grey Lynn, I suspect that the organisation of this Electoral cycle was FUBAR.

Aside from the technical difficulties experienced, I was also interested in the people standing, and how they presented themselves. I’m usually a Centre-Right voter, and I have to say that the options I had to choose from were poor. I can’t believe how badly organised the ‘Right’ was. Labour was organised at the grass roots and succeeded, but National clearly took their eyes off the ball. 

I heard several of the Candidates speak. And I wasn’t impressed. Yes, they were keen on being elected. And yes, they were putting themselves out there. But there was a lack of depth to their thinking (in my opinion of course) and they were really talking in soundbytes, making unaffordable promises, and in some cases bagging people who worked hard to deliver on the promises of the preceding Leaders. 

Still, Auckland now has a Mayor that I probably would have voted for, given that he at least understands bureaucracy and political BS. The others simply weren’t ready.