THE GREAT COMPLAINERS

This article was published in the Wanganui Chronicle this past week. We thought it should go up on the blog - so here it is.

I read the news today,oh boy, and immediately felt a song coming on (with a nod to The Platters). Oh yes - we're the great complainers,
We do the whingeing so well,
We complain as such,
Over nothing much,
As long as there's someone to tell.
We are a nation of grumblers and whingers. there's always too much of this or too little of that. We mutter if people earn too little and we mutter even more darkly when people are seen to be earning too much. We moan about the rubbish on TV but watch a lot of it to give ourselves something to whinge about rather than turning it off. We plant tall poppies then cut them down when they start to flower and bloom.
We like a bit of schadenfreude. No, this is not a German strudel, but a Teutonic word that means "enjoying the misfortunes of others". If schadenfreude was an Olympic event, NZ would get the silver every time just behind the world champions, Britain.  Perhaps the loss of the Empire knocked their equilibrium but what is our excuse? We complain when it rains, we complain when it's hot, windy or too dry - it all turns the whingers weathervane. A friend was unhappy with the weather forecast and went looking for a better one. He was joking, but nevertheless it illustrates our reluctance to accept things as they are and just get on with it.
I have even heard people complain that north is no longer where it should be. We complain because we only have tacky little celebrities but gleefully watch as their attempts to live life in the limelight come disastrously unglued. If the cat sat on the mat, we'd complain about that and be calling for a commission of inquiry to investigate how the cat got there, check if there is a mat sitting regulation and if not, write a cat and mat policy document that would run to 2000 pages - with references.
The cat and the mat would be found to have overseas owners and we would crank out a tune on the xenophobe just to check it was still in tune. A minister bungles the portfolio - that was somebody else's fault - we must find out who it was and get rid of them, it means paying them huge sums of money to go away. Solid Energy's coal all going up in smoke - that was somebody else's fault - I think they tried to blame the weather, or was that the cricket?
There is always another spin of the sorry-go-round or a turn on the blame-ethon machine to divert attention away from some massive errors of judgement. NZ has been a nuclear free zone - why not declare the nation a whinge-free zone (WFZ) and find that piece of number eight wire people are always going on about and use it to prod people into action. I do worry that as a nation perhaps we have become so good at complaining and whingeing that we have become victims of our own success.
Terry Sarten is a writer, musician and social worker who has just realised this column has been one long complaint. Feedback email: tgs@inspire.net.nz

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Kiwi favourites!

 When we re-introduced our blog a little while ago, I mentioned that you might well find a recipe or two put up from time to time!
Found this one just recently and am dying to try it - thought I should pass it along to all our devoted blog readers, since it looks like it could just be 'flop proof'
Let me know how yours turn out!



Lemonade Scones     

 

(This blurb by the author of the recipe, not the author of the blog!)

 

I make these easy never fail scones each year while we are camping. We have a friendly baking competition where we all bring our ”entry” to be judged so to up the ante just a bit, I make my scones AT camp. I like to serve them warm off the BBQ with homemade jam and freshly whipped cream. They never fail to impress.

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Ingredients

1 cup chilled lemonade
1 cup Meadow Fresh Cream
3 cups Edmonds Self Raising Flour
1 egg
Jam of your choice and whipped Meadow Fresh Cream to serve

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Method

Preheat oven to 200°C, or if you are camping crank up the barbie.
Mix the lemonade, flour, and cream together to form a soft dough.
Knead on a floured surface, rolling to 2cm thickness. Cut the dough into squares, and place close together on a baking tray.
Brush the top of the scone dough with the beaten egg to give them a golden top.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden.
Best served warm with butter, jam and whipped cream.


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The footwear fence

 One route from Wanganui to Hamilton has a fairly long stretch of winding, narrow mountain pass road known as the para paras. Friends and acquaintances of ours avoid using this route, since passengers who are even slightly inclined, end up feeling awfully car sick.

If you don't try to go too fast and keep your eyes well up ahead, it's not too bad for me and because this route is significantly shorter than the alternative, we use it frequently. Jo also has this stretch of road as part of his responsibility, so knows it like the back of his hand and often will 'work' while we drive it!
Since our very first trip to Wanganui from Hamilton (back in 2009) we have been meaning to get this 'only one of a kind that we have ever seen', up on to the blog - so here it is.

For 250 meters (we measured it with the fancy gadget in the work ute) along the fence of some kiwi blokes'  property, there are old shoes, jandles, boots, slippers and all manner of obscure footwear tied to the wire - as far as you can see. It is quite an unusual sight as you come around the bend and we have regularly seen folks taking photograps here! Not that it's terribly safe to stop on the narrow, winding road, but I know we haven't seen anything like it before and so assume that there are others who are equallly fascinated.

We have no idea who lives there, why the shoes are tied to the fence, whether we could add our own tatty and/or worn out pairs of shoes or whether this is a temporary tourist attraction. Being as the 'footwear fence' has been in existence since at least 2009 and has decidedly been extended in that time, we assume it will stay. We guesstimate that there are 2,500 shoes tied along the fence, but there could easily be more!
Most une-usual!!
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Brown New Zealand

In our four years here in New Zealand, we have been continually struck by how incredibly green the 'world' is. Since it tends to rain a couple of times each week (pretty well EVERY week!) that is no wonder really!
However, when the clouds ceased to gather for days and even weeks at a time, we realised that perhaps there was indeed somewhat of a drought situation looming.

Also, you need to bear in mind that we have heard the word 'drought' bandied about before and have silently rolled our eyes and sighed, thinking that these folks have no idea what a DROUGHT looks like! After all, water is so plentiful in New Zealand that no attempt is ever made to conserve it and the rivers rush into the sea, to be lost forever. Water restrictions are as rare as car guards and we don't even pay for water where we live - I have an idea that the folks in the cities pay for water, but we 'what are rural' don't.
Evidently, the situation is now so dire that farmers are 'drying' out cows, sending stock to the slaughterhouse and selling off cows and sheep to anyone who thinks they can feed them - the worst drought in living memory is what they are all saying.
Even us african foreigners (as a nation of ex-pats here in NZ) who never seem to have enough sunshine, are beginning to feel like 'it's enough summer already!' and have been looking forward to some welcome showers.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, March 15 (UPI) -- Scientists say a drought on New Zealand's entire North Island is the worst in 30 years, with the capital Wellington having just 18 days of water supply left.

Parts of the South Island could soon be hit, they said, with farmers particularly vulnerable.

Agriculture, a prime driver of New Zealand's economy, has suffered losses estimated at $820 million, the BBC reported Friday.

"What we are telling our farmers is forget about this season, start concentrating on next season," said Derek Spratt, the chairman of New Zealand's Rural Support Trust.

A forecast of rain this weekend, the first in two months, could bring some relief, officials said.

The impact of the drought is visible from space, with satellites capturing images of large parts of New Zealand turned from lush green to parched brown.

Not everyone has reason to complain, though; New Zealand winemakers say the current sun-soaked conditions are perfect for their vineyards.

Every cloud has a silver lining!!

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PS The weather bureau forecasted a good couple of showers for the beginning of this week - after a rather patchy start, we have had considerable rain over the past 24 hours and although it's not been enough to break the drought in it's entirety, nor is it going to set in for long enough, with fine weather due to return towards the end of the week, it appears that things could turn around for the struggling farmers. We have been warned to expect rises in prices of dairy and meat! Now there is a big surprise!!

A few things missed

Since our blogging has been in such a state of disarray for the past couple of months, it is difficult to decide (in retrospect!) what is worth putting up on the blog and what we should just admit to having missed and therefore discard.

Newsworthy for us was the waterfall, not too far from Wanganui which we photographed on one of our first trips to check out the town prior to moving here. Raukawa falls were really worth the stop on the winding para para road and so we were horribly disappointed to see that in January, Mother Nature has once again stepped in and changed the landscape. No more falls bar a little narrow funnel visible on the far right of what used to be the wide crashing waterfall.

 

 

THE TEACHER PAY SCHEME DEBACLE

About six months ago the government rolled out a brand, spanking new pay scheme for educators across New Zealand.

 

From day one, there have been endless complaints, tragic stories and irate principals and administrative staff who have spent literally thousands of man-hours trying to get their staff either 1) paid, or 2) correctly paid or 3) not paid - if the staff member did not actually exist!

Some teachers have been

'lost' - ie not paid at all. Others are finding extra dollars in their accounts, or overpaid by literally thousands of dollars! 

It's one unholy shambles and the powers that be are (after rolling a few not so impressive heads) pointing fingers at all and sundry and solving very little!

 

Most recently, the absurdity of it all reached new heights when a couple of teachers dotted around the country had their 'details' handed over to debt collectors to reclaim the twenty odd dollars they had each been overpaid!!

HOW EMBARRASING!!!!!

 

Many schools will begin the new year out of pocket as they scramble to reclaim thousands of dollars siphoned out of their accounts through incorrect Novopay payments.

While the Ministry of Education was pleased the last pay of 2012 yesterday "went more smoothly than last week's", about 300 school staff were left without their holiday pay.

And the ministry was still "correlating information" on overpayments made to staff.

Waikanae School principal Bevan Campbell has seen $38,000 taken from the school's account to incorrectly pay support staff or even ex-staff in the past three Novopay cycles. Errors were minimal to begin with but it had become "an absolute disgrace".

Fourteen staff were overpaid yesterday- some given about $2700 when they should have been given about $19, and one paid $3241.56 when they were owed nothing.

It placed the school in financial risk, heading into 2013 about $38,000 out of pocket.

"Thirty-five thousand dollars was removed and placed in to 14 people's bank accounts and there is no mechanism that we can see to retrieve that money and put it back.

"I don't even think they can track it. They don't even recognise it's a mistake in the first place."

Mr Campbell even notified Talent 2 about the errors in advance.

"They have had eight days to sort it and they didn't. Even then they couldn't get it right.

"The system is so terribly, terribly flawed - full of bugs."

He now had to track down the staff to ensure the money was not spent.

Schools were given from 5am to 11am on Thursday to analyse the final report, identify errors and stop the payments from going through.

But it was unlikely with school closing up for the year and many already on break, he said.

"We're left behind to clean up the mess. It's an absolute disgrace.

"I'm extremely annoyed that we have to do this. The people responsible for letting this system loose need to be held accountable."

Education Ministry chief information officer Leanne Gibson said more than 73,000 permanent school staff received their final pay yesterday.

She was pleased the "pay run went more smoothly than last week's".

About 300 school staff owed holiday pay did not receive it, but she assured them they would before Christmas.

She "appreciated" concern from schools about some overpayments to staff, and the ministry would work with them on that issue. It would pay staff directly if they were not paid or significantly underpaid.

Labour's acting education spokesman Chris Hipkins said it was "not good enough that ministers are lying on the beach or busy gangsta rapping on radio" while teachers waited to be paid what they were owed.

The above article is a little behind the times, but gives you a bit of an idea of the shambles that has been the new novopay scheme!! Developed in Australia and designed to 'fix' and 'update' all the education ministry's payment problems - hmmm...... what can be said?

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Strong scottish roots some kiwis have!

Each year, the teeny little town of Turakina holds a Scottish Festival - this year was the 149th - competitions of all sorts and clan tents with information and goodies for sale. Needless to say we made a little visit to the MacDonald/McDonald tent and lo and behold - they have a brochure listing other 'related' names.There were certainly some surprises there - and although we didn't find Tinto on the list, we did find Forrest! There's a thing!

 

The paddock literally came alive with dancers and pipers - at times just a jumble of drones and pipes filling the air as solo pipers piped for adjudicators housed in little 'shacks' - just big enough to fit a chair in. These were dotted all over the place and each had a continuous stream of pipers or piper and drummer duets to judge!

The dancing was glorious and included the traditional Highland Fling and Sword Dance, as well as the lesser known Country Dances and Sailors' Hornpipe sections. Many of the sections did have 'live' pipers but some had to rely on a recording - especially when there were 30 dancers to a section! All in all a lovely day and enough to have any true blue Scot's heart swell with pride!
Dis al! PS the piper's headgear in both of the pictures above makes one smile and wonder  - I guess if it's hot enough in New Zealand, you forego the traditional and slap on something which protects you from the fierce rays of the sun!

And finally we have a new home blog page! It's been a while, since we really tried to explore all the possibilities of continuing on the old one - but to no avail - so here we are in a brand new space on a brand new blog which we hope you will find entertaining, interesting and worth a visit from time to time!

For our friends, family and loyal blog followers - welcome back! We hope you have missed us a tad! Hopefully we will continue to update our blog at least every week or so and there should always be some new photographs, some sometimes less than PC opinions about life in New Zealand and a sprinkling of the most newsworthy happenings in our part of the world (well, the ones we find newsworthy anyway). We don't always have the most interesting of lives - since we need to earn a living in between as well, but hey, that's life! So if you have read this far, then you most probably are one of our best followers from www.longwhitecloudadventures.blogspot.com and will just come here to visit from now on. If you are 'newies' - the address above has four years of blog to read through - make a cup of something warm and glorious, sit back and browse through all the photos and snippets of totally useless information that has made up our lives since we left our homeland at the beginning of 2009. Whoever you are - WELCOME!

PS It has been decided that things like the best and most yummy recipes discovered will be included here from now on too! so keep an eye out, and bear in mind that in this house we don't attempt recipes who's ingredients we have to search for in a dictionary before we head for the grocery store and neither do we attempt recipes that take days of sequential steps to complete! " Life is too short to stuff a mushroom"