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I indulged my usual Sunday morning routine today – reading the Sunday Star Times over a cup of coffee or two at Legends.

Their café prices are very competitive (unlike Vincent’s, just up the road, they don’t charge me an extra dollar for decaf) and the outlook is superb.

The view from next door at
Tamara Backpackers’ Lodge

Legends doesn’t get much patronage during the day. It’s a shame, because it’s a first rate establishment with pleasant staff, good coffee and great cooking.

My theory on this:

• although they do great à la carte and blackboard fare, they don’t have a sufficient selection of café food – slices, muffins, wraps and so on.
• unless they’re busy at the time, they close at 2pm, reopening later for dinner. I know that this costs them a lot of my custom, perhaps I’m not alone.

Nevertheless, it’s a nice place. Give it a try.

Published this morning in New Zealand Matters

Mallard Reducks

I live in hope, but I forgot the rules.

Nobody ever got rich underestimating a politician’s capacity for cynical disregard of the electorate or that electorate’s ability to forget the politicians’ abuse of their trust.

I’m not a Labour supporter, mainly because I can’t abide the Czarina’s demeanor of superiority, her status as minister for everything and her hijacking of every kindergarten fence painting for a photo op. I respect her intellectual ability and her political skills but the person who sneeringly talks down to me from the evening news will (probably) never get my vote.

However, I believe that in many ways they’ve been a good government, ably abetted in retaining the reins by National’s continual ability to shoot itself in both feet at any given opportunity.

Trevor Mallard has been an effective minister, albeit occasionally erratic. Our government would be the poorer without him. And he seems a nice bloke.

Nevertheless, what he did was not acceptable. He should have walked the plank and awaited redemption (à la Ruth Dyson) until the next government or opposition is formed.

He still has his $250,000 salary (my guess), the ministerial car and the perks. He’s been demoted 3 places to the second bench but with a wink, wink, nudge, nudge has been given a virtual promotion with the redistribution of portfolios.

It’s not right.

I spent 20 years in the Royal New Zealand Navy. For the last 5 of those years I was a commissioned officer. If, while holding that commision or the Queen’s Warrant which preceded it, I had done what Trevor did, I’d have been court-martialled, lost my commission and been discharged from the navy.

Not so those who would have been my employers.

What sort of an outfit is this?