9ththJan Jan 2014 2018 27 Jan-- 15 3rdthFeb
FIRST ON THE STREET
No No 434 632
LAKES WEEKLY BULLETIN
1 J IN O 55 SI BS D E
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A new year is a new beginning, hence the list of New Year’s resolutions we make. When I discovered I couldn’t touch my toes last year I thought (or was told by my good wife) yoga was the answer. Do I need to make that a New Year’s resolution or is yoga just another thing to fit into the 24 hours of a day? Like it or not, the realisation of another year passing is another year older. And gosh did I feel like a moaning old bugger welcoming in the New Year tut tutting at the behaviour of youth. I never acted like that. Or maybe I did and time has conveniently faded my memory. Or is it just that our population has exploded meaning a few kids having a Christmas Day party on the beach never had the effect it does today. Now when 1000 descend on Queenstown Bay, they leave behind a complete disgrace. The growing pains of a booming district in an evergrowing world of humanity. Then there is the sad loss of dear old friends. Even those we didn’t see much but took comfort from knowing were always there. A new year and we reflect, then dust ourselves off to do it all again. If you’ve never felt the loss of something you’ve never felt the love either. That’s the reality of being human. Of course, the things we take comfort in are not always fellow humans, they are also the things that define the Wakatipu. Our lakes, rivers, mountains and historic buildings. These things can also be lost as the years tick by, if we aren’t careful.
COVER - Winners of Morisson’s Sunday Pub Quiz Daniel Bainbridge, Bobbi Flood, Kellie Francais and Abe Francais at Morisson’s Pub Quiz Returns at Morrison’s Irish Pub on Sunday.
(Photo: Jodi Walters)
It was a kick in the guts for lovers of our heritage to wake up on the first day of 2018 to read we had lost the old Mount Aurum Homestead in Skippers. The freedom to enter these historic buildings and poke around unsupervised is a privilege. Unfortunately, the freedoms we have enjoyed are likely to be curtailed as carelessness and/or wilfulness destroys those increasingly significant reminders of our history. Locking them up to save them wouldn’t be quite the same. A fire that destroys a building in minutes is a shock, however it’s the slow-moving destruction of our environment that we should fear the most. To use the Christmas Day party on the beach as an example, it’s not the yahooing and merriment that upsets most, it’s the glass, ciggie butts, bottle caps and other litter that’s left behind. It’s a fragile thing, the earth we live on. Perhaps that’s a better New Year’s resolution, to improve the care of our rivers, lakes and mountains. Or am I just trying to get out of yoga. Happy New Year. Namaste. Scott Stevens editor@lwb.co.nz
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RENTAL PROPERTIES
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TUES
WED
Cloud increasing. Few showers
Rain easing to few showers
THUR
FRI
SAT
Occasional Rain. Few early Mainly Fine. Southeasterlies showers then fine Chance Shower
SUN
MON
Showers. Not Much Wind
Fine at first then Rain.