Prawn goes from poacher to gamekeeper

Busted Blonde has signed off from Roarprawn.

She’s brought a unique and very well informed perspective to the blogosphere and I’ll miss her. Do check the predictions in her penultimate post, and mull on the reason she’s going:

The simple fact of the matter is that we are going to work for a Ministry full time. Yip a public servant gig. As my mum says – a real job…We start tomorrow.

And the State Services Act is a bit of a bitch if you want to be a political commentator. Now we are fairly well positioned as a National Govt cheer leader but from time to time we have to put down our pom poms and give them a piece of our mind and , well you cant do that when you are a public servant.

I wonder if everyone else shows the same respect for the States Services Act, or doesn’t it apply to the parliamentary library?

Danny Boy

Twenty years ago today we welcomed the arrival of our second son, Dan.

His then-four year old sister wasn’t impressed. She’d wanted a sister because she knew brothers died.

We didn’t know it then, but she was right. A few weeks later it was confirmed that Dan had the same brain disorder which had killed his brother Tom when he was just 20 weeks old.

Dan defied predictions and lived much longer, surviving until 10 days after his fifth birthday. But he passed none of the developmental milestones and could do no more the day he died than he could when he was born.

It’s now 20 years since he was born, almost fifteen since he died. A lot has happened since then, some of it wonderful, some very bad and most of it in between.

Every now and then we think about the boy and young man Dan might have been and we do so with rose tinted specs, because while children who die can’t do the good things parents hope they might, they don ’t do the bad things we dread either.

When Dan’s condition was diagnosed and after he died a lot of people said how lucky we were we had our daughter. I agreed, though not for the reasons most seemed to be thinking of. Children aren’t like pieces in a dinner set which, if one gets broken, can be replaced with another.

However, as well as letting me experience the joys of parenting, having another child also meant I didn’t suffer from any delusions that I’d be a perfect mother with perfect children. 

While I’ve blogged quite a bit about our sons, and called them by their names I say little about our daughter because I don’t think it’s fair to her. However, having made that comment about neither of us being perfect, I feel the need to clarify that that doesn’t mean we’ve had any major problems, just that she did the things normal children do, some of which parents wish they wouldn’t. 

But today I’m not thinking about those things, just remembering the wee baby meeting his four year old sister and the excitement and love we experienced 20 years ago. 

We named our baby Dan, not Daniel, and that’s what he was called, never Danny. But summer had gone and the roses were fading when he died which made this song even more appropriate for his funeral. 

Because it’s New Zealand Music Month, I’ve chosen the version sung by Hayley Westenra and dedicate it to all the other members of that non-exclusive club for bereaved parents.

Alexander Rybak Eurovision Winner

While we’ve been concentrating on New Zealand music this month, on the other side of the world attenion has been on the Eurovision Song Contest.

The final was held last night and won by Alexander Rybak, a fiddle player from Norway, who composed the song he sang, Fairytale.

TV3 has more news on the final.

When does politics affect ability to do job?

Can someone with strong political views work in a position where s/he’s required to help MPs whose philosophy and policies s/he opposes?

I don’t think so and support Whaleoil in asking how someone who blogged against National is now working in the Parliamentary Library where employees need to be non-partisan.

Has no-one learned from the Madeleine Setchell saga?

She was sacked from a public service appointment because her partner worked for John Key. Whether she shared her partner’s political views or what those views were wasn’t canvassed. The perception of conflict was enough to scuttle her appointment – even though she was explicit about her relationship when she was interviewed for the job.

I don’t think living with someone who works for a politician is necessarily a problem in the public service, but being actively engaged in working against a political party is definitely a problem in a staff member of parliament’s library.

Announcing The Mediocres

Had I attempted to file a story which cast aspersions on someone and included the statement “There is no evidence to support this impression,” the report says. when I was working for a newspaper I’d have been told to find some proof and re-read the law on defamation.

Had I attempted to file a story questioning the timing of a marriage I’d have been told that it is not a journalist’s job to seek and report on the feelings of grieving friends and relatives.

It’s only a few weeks since I asked what’s happened to the gatekeepers?

These two stories from the last couple of days are just the most recent examples which show that either the gatekeepers have gone or they’ve lost the ability to differentiate between news and gossip.

The Qantas Awards celebrate what’s supposed to be the best in New Zealand journalism. Cactus Kate questions that which made me think: the Skeptics have an annual Bent Spoon Award,  Fair Go has its Worst Ad Award,  is it time for a competition to find the lowest of the low in the media?

I think it is and am using the working title of  The Mediocres for them; but I’m open to a name which better illustrates that the award  is not for journalism which isn’t good, it’s for journalism which is really bad.

I’m open to suggestions of who could judge theses awards and the criteria to be used.

Macdoctor’s definition of spam journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article would be a good starting point – he’s already up to #32 in his series. But there’s a lot more to bad journalism than headlines which aren’t supported by the facts in the story.

In the interests of inclusion there will be a category for blogs too.

Monkeywithtypewriter thinks it’s time to consider a voluntary code for blogs. I don’t think that would work because those likely to adhere to the code will blog responsibly anyway and those who don’t won’t. But a Mediocre would stick a badge of shame on the worst.

The award needs a name, judges, judging criteria and nominations – your views and suggestions are welcomed.

P.S. If there’s a category for published typso typos in blogs I’d have to nominate myself.

Tractor for sale, free farm on side update

News of the tractor for sale with a free farm on the side  has gone world wide.

Vendors Shelley and Allan Holland listed it on TradeMe with only $1 reserve, but the publicity has attracted bidders and the latest bid is $230,000 – approaching the $250,000 QV with a week still to go before the auction closes.

Shelley has undertaken to reply to questions and there’s already been hundreds of them.  I copied a few here yesterday, and here’s a few more:

Q: Does the Tractor have a beam? Good luck – I love people whom are bonkers!

A: High beam or “Beam me up” beam?

Q: hi if i win would the locals kick up a stink if i put a six lane motorway thru .and housing nz devepment appartment blocks on site

A: I think they may well impale you wiith a very sharp pitch fork dipped in acid and set on fire

Q: Hi there This is a great feel-good story. Interested in being Auckland Super mayor?

A: I don’t handle idiots too well, but thank you for the vote, Shell the mayor, Sounds cool

The vendors featured on TV3 News last night, the story’s here, the video’s here.

Kill the speed not the child – updated

A friend noticed a police car trailing a school bus on State Highway 1 recently, ticketing drivers who didn’t slow to 20 kms/hr which is the maximum for passing a school bus when it has stopped to pick up or let off children.

There’d have been rich pickings because although that’s the law, a lot of people don’t know it and it’s too easy for those who do to forget about it or simply not notice the buses.

Rural Women has been campaigning to raise awareness of the need to slow to 20 km/hr when passing stationary school buses.

“Now it’s time to act,” says Rural Women New Zealand National President, Margaret Chapman.  “We want to see 20km/h signs displayed on all school buses.  Too many people are either ignorant or this section of the Road Code, or simply ignore it.”

 RWNZ is also calling for flashing ‘wig wag’ lights to be installed on school buses, which would operate when the bus had stopped or is pulling away, alerting drivers that they are approaching a school bus.

 

The idea of flashing lights is a good idea because, although buses ought to be big enough to stand out, it’s too easy to approach them without realising they’ve stopped.

If you don’t realise the bus has stopped until you’re close to them it’s hard enough to slow to 20 kilometres when you’re in a 50 km/hr zone, it’s harder still on the open road when you’ve been doing 100 km/hr.

I was following a car last week when the driver jammed on the brakes, it was only after I’d slowed too that I noticed a school bus stopped on other side of the road.

A 12 year old boy was killed after getting off a school bus in Matamata on Friday. Nothing has been reported about the speed the car which hit him was travelling but the accident has prompted a warning from police about the need to slow down near school buses.

Rural Women’s slogan, kill the speed, not the child  is to the point, but until their suggestion of better signage and flashing lights on school buses is adopted, the message isn’t going to get through.

UPDATE: The Sunday Star Times (not on line) reprots that the bus had started driving off after the boy got off and had gone some distance.

St Paul

Day 17 of the tune a day challenge for NZ Music Month.

St Paul was a number one hit for Shane 40 years ago.

 

Catching up from yesterday:

Art & My Life had some more than slightly odd 80s music.

Weather With You

Saturday’s bonus for New Zealand Muisc Week – chosen because it’s been raining all day – hope it’s also falling where it’s needed most.

Crowded House with Weather With You.

Keeping Stock’s contribution today was Sunshine Day from Spacifix

Inquiring Mind  visited Blues, Brews and BBQs where he found Handsome Giants from Shayne Wills,  Bullfrog Rata and Freddy Limbert  and gave us a bonus with How Bizarre from OMC.

Banking for beginners

This came in an email which said  it came from a 1957 edition of Punch.

Whether or not it did, it made me smile:
Q: What are banks for? 
A: To make money. 
 
Q: For the customers? 
A: For the banks. 
 
Q: Why doesn’t bank advertising mention this? 
A: It would not be in good taste. But it is mentioned by implication in references to reserves of £249,000,000,000 or thereabouts. That is the money they have made. 
 
Q: Out of the customers? 
A: I suppose so. 
 
Q: They also mention Assets of £500,000,000,000 or thereabouts. Have they made that too? 
A: Not exactly. That is the money they use to make money. 
 
Q: I see. And they keep it in a safe somewhere? 
A: Not at all. They lend it to customers. 
 
Q: Then they haven’t got it? 
A: No. 
 
Q: Then how is it Assets? 
A: They maintain that it would be if they got it back. 
 
Q: But they must have some money in a safe somewhere? 
A: Yes, usually £500,000,000, 000 or thereabouts. This is called Liabilities. 
 
Q: But if they’ve got it, how can they be liable for it? 
A: Because it isn’t theirs. 
 
Q: Then why do they have it? 
A: It has been lent to them by customers. 
 
Q: You mean customers lend banks money? 
A: In effect. They put money into their accounts so it is really lent to the banks. 
 
Q: And what do the banks do with it? 
A: Lend it to other customers. 
 
Q: But you said that money they lent to other people was Assets? 
A: Yes. 
 
Q: Then Assets and Liabilities must be the same thing? 
A: You can’t really say that. 
 
Q: But you’ve just said it! If I put £100 into my account the bank is liable to pay it back, so it’s Liabilities. But they go and lend it to someone else and he is liable to pay it back, so it’s Assets. It’s the same £100 isn’t it? 
A: Yes, but,. 
 
Q: Then it cancels out. It means, doesn’t it, that banks haven’t really any money at all? 
A: Theoretically. 
 
Q: Never mind theoretically! And if they haven’t any money, where do they get their Reserves of £249,000,000,000 or thereabouts? ? 
A: I told you. That is the money they have made. 
 
Q: How? 
A: Well, when they lend your £100 to someone they charge him interest. 
 
Q: How much? 
A: It depends on the Bank Rate. Say five and a-half percent. That’s their profit. 
 
Q: Why isn’t it my profit? Isn’t it my money? 
A: It’s the theory of banking practice that all. 
 
Q: When I lend them my £100 why don’t I charge them interest? 
A: You do. 
 
Q: You don’t say.. How much? 
A: It depends on the Bank Rate. Say a half percent. 
 
Q: Grasping of me, rather? 
A: But that’s only if you’re not going to draw the money out again. 
 
Q: But of course I’m going to draw the money out again! If I hadn’t wanted to draw it out again I could have buried it in the garden! 
A: They wouldn’t like you to draw it out again. 
 
Q: Why not? If I keep it there you say it’s a Liability. Wouldn’t they be glad if I reduced their Liabilities by removing it? 
A: No. Because if you remove it they can’t lend it to anyone else. 
 
Q: But if I wanted to remove it they’d have to let me? 
A: Certainly. 
 
Q: But suppose they’ve already lent it to another customer? 
A: Then they’ll let you have some other customers money. 
 
Q: But suppose he wants his too and they’ve already let me have it? 
A: You’re being purposely obtuse.
 
Q: I think I’m being acute. What if everyone wanted their money all at once? 
A: It’s the theory of banking practice that they never would. 
 
Q: So what banks bank on, is not having to meet their commitments? 
A. YOU GOT IT!

Meanwhile back in the real world . . .

The oppposition is filibustering over two bills  to establish the Auckland supercity.

Down here on the right side of the Waitaki we might regard supercity as an oxymoron with or without Auckland attached, but that is a debate for another post.

The opposition is filibustering because that’s what they do when they know the government has the numbers and all they can do to pretend they’re not impotent, is to delay the inevitable. No doubt if the boot was on the other foot, at least some of those those complaining about the waste of time and money would be squandering it and defending it as a valid weapon in their democratic armoury.

Meanwhile back in the real world how many constituents have been at best inconvenienced  because the appointments made to see their MPs yesterday and today have had to be cancelled? How many functions at which MPs would have played an integral role will now have to go on without them?

All because their elected representatives aren’t working in their electorates as they normally do for a good part of the time from Friday to Monday inclusive. They’re stuck in Wellington, petending it’s still Thursday, while the farce which democracy becomes in such circumstances grinds slowly to its inevitable conclusion.

UPDATE: With a hat tip to Macdoctor I see that Tariana Turia walked out of the debating chamber  yesterday because while she opposes the bills she is unimpressed by Labour’s behaviour.

Mrs Turia said her party was strongly opposed to the legislation, but said Labour had taken it too far and was wasting taxpayers’ money and valuable constituency time.

“But for the first time ever, I walked out of the House totally disgusted with this behaviour, which Labour thought was very amusing.”

She understands the importance of constituency time and once again the Maori Party shows it’s more concerned about people, and shows Labour up for concentrating on politics.

This is why they lost the Maori seats, why there was a bluewash through the provincical seats and why they lost the election.

Politics might matter in Wellington but here in the real world they should come a very distant second to people.

Tractor for sale, farm thrown in for free

An International 574 tractor is probably more than 25 years old and would normally sell for about $5,000.

The latest bid for the one being offered on TradeMe is for $155,800 It:

. . . has a bucket, folks and a back blade.

Folks? I think they mean forks but there’s nothing special about that or anything else to do with the the tractor,  it’s that there’s a farmlet being thrown in for free.

The 20 acre (that’s about 8 hectares) farm is in the Catlins and comes with foundations, presumably for a house and they’ve had an engineer’s approval to build). The property also boasts a woolshed, workshop, large woodshed, two creeks, native bush, some grown and pruned pines, and has power and swerage connected.

 It is on 3 terraces and with the layout of the land will be an exceptional site. There is another building site on top of the hill where the view is great, looking down the valley. Or simply have it as a great home block with the best group of locals you will find anywhere.

The QV is $260,000.

Some of the questions and answers:

Q:Where the heck is Caitlins….no idea where it is……

 A:The Catlins runs between Balclutha in Otago and Invercargill. I was tar sealed a few years ago and is now a jewel in our tourist crown. I had been in International news as being in the top destinations of the world. Unreal beaches and sceanary. Is an ideal setup for a camping ground, restraunt etc etc. Clutha and Southland Councils carn’t keep up with the infrstructure as the growth has been unprecidented.

Q: does it rain much there ?

A: Compared to Auckland no, It has a good regular rain that it does not drought. Saying that it has one of the best drainging soils in NZ. We looked into turning it into a Hazelnut orchard.

Q: Are there any planned or designated motorways or tunnels planned within close proximity to the property?

A: Haha, This is the South Island, we are very careful who we put in power down here….

 And a couple of poignant ones, the second from someone who doesn’t know that you judge tractors by hours used not kilometres travelled:

Q:Why are you selling up what apears to be all your land/house??

A:My husband has been here all his life and we want to have a look around and travel for a while. We bought the farm to put into a business or an orchard and up until bedtime last night we were going to take it off the market and keep it as a base for us for the future. But he said to list it for a $1 and now it’s too late to change our minds. This is why you shouldn’t make decesions when you are tired.

Q: what year and how many kms has the tractor done?

A:I am not sure what year the tractor is as my husband is at work. We bought it last year to do the fencing and farm work, it has never missed a beat, we have it here in Gore if you want to see it, It gets looked after better than I do.

Q: you didn’t mention anything about delivery?. I bought the house in Browns Bay at the $1 reserve auction, it really works. You will get a great price for a fabulous looking piece of Catlins. Good Luck .

A: Buyer must pick up.

Q: Were you really “tar sealed a few years ago”? Sounds extremely painful.

A: Lol. “IT” was tar sealed a few years ago. Thats what happends when I couldn’t sleep all night from wondering just what we had done. I carn’t believe we did this, It was going to be our back up for the future and now I think I need help. I guess I shouldnt have been such a dutiful wife lol.

But she retains her sense of humour:

Q: Here’s a link to a Google Maps Street View of the property, you can follow it around the road but there isn’t any good satellite view over top of the property.

A: No, I made sure there was good cloud cover when they took it as I was having a shower under a tree and I am quite a private person.

Q: Good God, what have you done??!!! Now all those North Island yuppies will see just how mind blowing gorgeous our part of the country is and the next thing you’ll they all be here!..lol Best of luck with your listing, and with whatever you do later down the track 

A: Have you got any idea how many people down here have said the same thing.

You’ll have to follow the link to TradeMe above to find out how to get the answer to the question of how to get the peg marks out of tea bags.

 

The auction closes at 10pm tomorrow next Sunday.

 

Hat Tip: ODT

Love in a Fowl House

I haven’t been able to find a video of Love in a Fowl House but NZ Folksong  has the lyrics and the story of how Garner Wayne came to write the song:

Garner and his teenage daughter were out by the chook house one day in 1965 and the roosters were chasing the hens. She was feeling sad about a boy at school and he told his daughter that the chooks had problems too.

To cheer her up he started making chicken noises and “Love in a Fowlhouse” was born.

In a decade when some other Kiwi song-writers and poets were abandoning their children and then writing self-pitying lines about their unfulfilled lives, Wayne was listening to his daughter and was using humour to cheer her up and guide her.

Behind his funny clucking and rooster crows was good parental advice on what to look for in a partner. “Look for a boy who thinks you are nicer than any other girl, who loves youand wants to marry you, who will support you and stay with you for life, and raise a family with you.”

A modern Ms may not need the support you in the financial sense as her mother or grandmother did, but is support in its wider sense and the other criteria any less relevant now than they were in 1963?

Cheryl Moana Marie – John Rowles

Day 16 of the tune a day challenge for New Zealand Music Month.

In 1969 John Rowles was invited to represent New Zealand at the Rio de Jenero music festival, he wrote a song specially for it, inspired by his sister. Cheryl Moana Marie became a top 50 hit in the USA, was number one in New Zealand and Australia and was chosen for a UNESCO song book.

It had a revival here last year when Rowles sang it in a cameo appearance in Second Hand Wedding.

Catching up on yesterday’s posts:

GonzoFreakpower was all at sea with a marine triolgy

Inquiring Mind posted Hollie Smith singing Bathe in the River

Keeping Stock introduced a bit of glam rock with Space Waltz Out on the Street 

Rob chose Hold Me 1 from the Able Tasmans and has got in early with music for the weekend: The Chills with Great Escape.

Calling You Home

This Friday’s poem is Calling You Home, read by the poet Helen Rickerby.

Happy 102nd Birthday Plunket

It’s a day late, but my happy birthday to Plunket which was founded on May 14th 1907, is no less sincere for that.

I was invited to my first Plunket sub-branch meeting when I was only just in maternity clothes. Like most other women in the district I became a member, served on the committee and then stayed on long after my children were no longer eligible for Plunket services.

The sub-branch raised funds to support the work of Plunket nurses, it was a social outlet and also provided support for members.

When our first baby was born the Plunket nurse was a neighbour, living only a little over a kilometre away and while I never needed to call her in an emergency, it was reassuring with a first baby, and one born six weeks early, to know there was a professional so close.

She moved when the baby was just over a year old and another nurse looked after our second and third babies who had brain disorders.

I can’t overstate how supportive she was. She continued making what she called love visits to the third baby long after the official quota of  home calls was used up. Only in hindsight do I understand she wasn’t just keeping an eye on him, she was also looking out for his older sister and making sure I was coping.

You don’t have to have babies with problems to appreciate Plunket services. I don’t know any parent who didn’t value the help and advice they got and the home visits are an important part of that.

Every now and then someone wanting to save money suggests changes to the universal home visits, but the universal visits are an integral part of Plunket’s strength.

Going into homes allows nurses to see where the baby lives and notice things that wouldn’t be obvious in a clinic visit.

Equally important, going in to every home means there is no stigma about the visits and  because of that the Plunket car outside a house is welcomed where a Public Health nurse’s car might not be.

Plunket has performed an invaluable service for babies and their parents for 102 years and it is needed just as much now as when it was founded.

Roger Hall was commissioned to write a play for Plunket’s 100th birthday. I recommend Who Needs Sleep Anyway  to anyone who’s had a baby or even been a baby.

Carter questions court action – Updated

Agriculture Minister David Carter is questioning Fish & Game’s leadership  after its failed attempt to gain public access to pastoral lease land.

“I seriously question the use of hunting and fishing licensing fees in taking this action, and I will be discussing this further with the Minister of Conservation.

“I am concerned this divisive action was taken when there was no foundation for Fish and Game’s claim for greater public access to high country stations.

“A pastoral lease gives the runholder the right to say who has access to their leasehold land. This is no different from private property owners,” says Mr Carter.

“The fundamental duty of Fish and Game is to advocate for hunters and fishers, and to help enhance their relationship with rural landowners. . . “

How refreshing to have a Minister who stands up for farmers and rightly questions whether Fish and Game should be using licence fees for its political and litigious campaigns.

Anecdotal evidence from hunters and fishers suggest the Minister is more in touch with their concerns than the body their licence fees funds.

This misguided court action was expensive for licence holders, tax payers and farmers and it’s not just money but goodwill that was wasted.

UPDATE:

Federated Farmers said the court action was a disaster:

The challenge was a failed attempt to by-pass all the work associated with walking access and it is a spiteful and damaging waste of the fishing and hunting license fee money. . .

“This decision brings relief for affected High Country farming families, as they now know Fish & Game members won’t be entitled to walk all over them,” says Donald Aubrey, Federated Farmers High Country chairman.

Both Federated Farmers and the High Country Accord played an instrumental role in the formation and development of the Walking Access Commission.

“We have contributed positively to the development of rules for public access that give pastoral leaseholders and their families security and certainty. Meanwhile, Fish & Game’s Executive has sadly played nothing but a negative and destructive role. . .

“High Country pastoral leases impose strict conditions on us as farmers. The judgment acknowledges that leaseholders are responsible for much more than just grass.

“It’s only right that farmers have the ability to control and manage access to such land. This decision enables pastoral leaseholders to operate a business and maintain authority over their property rights contained in their leases. 

“The High Court’s judgement also recognises that pastoral leaseholders perform a stewardship role. In other words, we farm with the High Country and not against it. . .

“Fish & Game chief executive, Bryce Johnston, now needs to take a long hard long look at his and his Council’s decision to waste a vast amount of license fee money on this challenge.

“Federated Farmers consider it also time for the Government to look at the legislative privilege that enables Fish & Game to fund such frivolous litigation. This inappropriate use of license fee money should not go unchecked by Government,” Mr Aubrey concluded.

High Country Accord chair Jonathon Wallis issued a media release in which he asked if the action was a misuse of funds.

“Not just the huge amount of money farmers have been forced to direct into these proceedings away from rejuvenating our economy through expanding and maintaining agricultural production, but both the vast amount of tax payer funds that went into jointly defending it and the allocation of precious funds more commonly used for the protection and establishment of habitat for our fish and game.”

“The latter are funds generated by the sale of Fish and Game licenses sold to hunters and anglers who for almost a century have respected the goodwill and relationships established between farmers and recreationalists regardless of it being a matter of privilege as opposed to right.”

“The question also has to be asked whether this was not just a personal crusade by an executive distorted from the opinion of the general membership of Fish and Game itself.”

Wallis said he allowed licensed duck shooters on to his property on opening morning because he wasn’t blaming them for the actions of the national council.

Alf Grumble and The Bull Pen also post on the issue.

Naked Stats

Three bloggers rank blogs. They use different methods and not surprisingly get different results.

Tumeke!,  has the longest running ranking. Halfdone  joined in a few months ago and more recent is Open Parachute who posted today about ranking with Sitemeter data.

There’s a school of thought that the only reliable way to rank blogs is by using actual sitemeter data for visits. Unfortunately, most blogs don’t make this information public. Perhaps if more did bloggers could compare their statistics with those for other sites or have a listed ranking. This would help their interpretation.

It depends on what you’re ranking of course, visits are only one measure, comments are another and some blogs get fewer visitors but more comments. But quantity isn’t necessarily the same as quality anyway.

However, since it’s all just a bit of fun and there’s no reason to keep stats secret, should anyone want to know how many people pop into Homepaddock, what they look at and where they come from, click on the Sitemeter logo above the Clustermap at the bottom of the sidebar and it’s all there for the world to see.

I started blogging last April but didn’t install Sitemeter until part way through July, since then it’s recorded:

homepaddock This Year’s Visits by Month

What intrigues me most is where people come from and I wonder if visitors from far flung corners of the world come by accident or design.

homepaddock Country Share

You can click on Clustermap to see where people come from too. It also counts visitors but is less generous than Sitemeter.

Cycleway way to go

The story in yesterday’s ODT on the growing popularity of the Central Otago Rail Trail  wasn’t deliberately timed for the day John Key announced the Budget will include $50 million over the next three years  for the New Zealand Cycleway Project.

But the Rail Trail is a good model for communities wanting to develop bike trails.

Planning is already well advanced for several cycleways in Otago including one around Otago Harbour which would add to Dunedin’s tourist attractions.

The Central Otago experience shows that while building the trail provides an economic boost, the on-going business opportunities feeding, accommodating, entertaining, equipping, servicing bikes and generally looking after the bikers are much more significant.

Phil Garland – Down A Country Road I Go

Day 15 in the tune a day challenge for NZ Music Month.

It’s Phil Garland singing Down a Country Road I Go at Bards, Ballads and Bulldust in Naseby.

Catching up on yesterday’s posts:

Keeping Stock featured Op Shop singing One Day

Inquiring Mind gave us Duchess with Raglan City