my views of New Zealand

10/06/2010

Some good news about Taranaki...

I mentioned in an earlier post that Christchurch was cracking down on boy racers and I'm pleased to know that New Plymouth followed suit! Sadly, the article below says they are going out into the countryside towns (which we have noticed in Stratford) but I hope they just get tired of spending all their money on petrol to get to the smaller towns and give up.

Personally, I think the speedways should be opened,at the District's expense, once a week and let them wreck their cars themselves. It would pay off big time.

Boyracer nuisance goes bush

By LEIGHTON KEITH and RYAN EVANS - Taranaki Daily News

Boyracers are going country.

Chased off New Plymouth's streets by a new bylaw and the fear of their cars being crushed, boyracers are playing havoc in the countryside....

He urged people to take down vehicle descriptions and registration plate numbers where possible. "We will actively follow up any written complaint."...

Earlier this year, the New Plymouth District Council adopted a bylaw banning cars at night from Bell Block's De Havilland Drive and Connett Rd. The Government has also addressed the problem, allowing authorities to confiscate and crush the cars of repeat offenders.

Speaking for boyracers, New Plymouth woman Shayna Dreaver, 20, said the shift to rural roads was because there was now too much risk involved in the city..

She said boyracers were worried about getting caught since the Government introduced new "car crushing" legislation last year. "It [the car] is like their baby, they saved up to make it and now it's just getting crushed."

10/05/2010

South Taranaki, the armpit of the universe

An article on the front page of the South Taranaki Star, Thursday, September 30, 2010

I couldn't find this story online, so I scanned the article for some semblance of credibility. I'll rewrite it exactly how it is written so you don't have to squint to read it.

Shouting and swearing, a man stormed into the South Taranaki SPCA to dump a ginger and white male cat, calling it a pest and saying he just driven 20km and wanted it "shot, drowned or knocked on the head".

The cat-rage incident on Friday left staff members stunned but they were alert enough to jot down his car details.

SPCA centre supervisor Atholl Byers says the cat is very friendly, in good health and obviously someone's loved pet.

"We believe the man was rude and refused to leave his details because he knew it was someone's pet, possibly a neighbour's.

"I was on the phone and the man started shouting at my volunteers who handed him a sign-over form so that we could legally take the cat into our care," Mr. Byers says.

"He flat out refused and was very rude to our SPCA volunteers. I had to tell the person I was on the phont to that I'd call her back.

"I politely explained to the man that in order to take custody of the cat, no matter what the reason is, we have to have a signature. He was very aggressive towards me and shouted at the top of his voice.

"He said he had driven 20km to bring this 'f***cat' here and I'm not signing any form.

"He said shoot it, drown it, knock it on the head or something I'm not signing it.

"His wife stayed very quiet, I tried to explain again that we would take it, if like everyone else, he could just give us his contact details. He turned around and shouted to his wife, 'We're out of here'."

Mr. Byers says he asked one of his volunteers to write down his number plate and make/model of car. He has just dumped or abandoned an animal.

"Sadly the plate was a number short on the silver car. (The number has been recorded by the SPCA and the Star).

"The cat is a very lovely tame and social animal. It is by no means a stray.

"The man was obviously a cat-hater of sorts, viewed the cat as a pest to himself and has probably picked it up on his street.

"I'm not surprised he didn't want to put his name to it and got so upset because he new he was trying to hand us someone's pet to put down."

**If this is your cat or you th ink you may know who it belongs to, please contact Mr Byers on 278 5605, PO Box 648, 62 Beach Rd, Hawera, or spcasouthtaranaki.co.nz.

I did find it online here

10/03/2010

Spring has arrived!

After weeks and weeks of unrelenting rain--the kind that falls 22 out of every 24 hours, with winds at night that sound like they are going to blow the windows out of the frame--we have finally had 3 whole days of sunshine! And more is expected tomorrow. Yay!

I guess you don't know miss it until you don't have it any more, so we celebrated by going to Hollard Gardens to see what almost twice the 'normal' rainfall for September had brought. What we found was an abundance of color, especially the magnolias, with promises of much more to come.