Author: Uncoffined

A Kiwi in Kiwi land

The stress on unvaccinated children in NZ

New Zealand is running under their ‘traffic light’ leglislation to deal with covid

One of results of this legislation is that unvaccinated kids are barred from all sports and outside activities.

That simply underlines that the policy isn’t about health, but to ‘punish’ those who aren’t vaccinated

This was admitted recently in an article in a UK newspaper. (the money shot is about halfway thru the article)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/10/new-zealand-not-prepared-for-omicron-outbreak-expected-in-matter-of-weeks-experts-warn

A typical week for my kids, last year, before everything went bonkers, is as follows…

Old timetable

Monday               -band practice (they played in a local band that performed at Xmas events, etc)

Tuesday               -soccer practice

Wednesday        -free

Thursday             -tennis practice, girl guides kitchin

Saturday              -soccer

Sunday                 -free (sometimes skiing, or off road motorcycles)

My kids are not allowed to participate in any of the above activities on any official basis anymore.

New timetable

Monday   -tennis practice (this is due to a dedicated coach making it happen)

Tuesday to Friday -free

Saturday                              -meet up with other teens with similar circumstances.

Sunday                                 -free (sometimes offroad motorcycling on a friends farm)

We have pulled our kids out of school this year and put them into a dedicated online school because of all the disruption caused by sudden lockdowns, and a school that couldn’t cope. We also wanted to avoid any discrimination about their status.

(At this point, schools are running again with restrictions, but this can change overnight.)

The biggest concern we did have for our kids was the social isolation. Therefore, we started a teen group for them, where we meet up every week for a BBQ and a game of some sorts.

As an indication of where NZ sits these day’s compared to other countries, I’ve researched the requirements for Girl Guides around the world.…

New Zealand, all children must be vaccinated, regardless of age on this page…

Guiding Under the Covid Protection Framework – GirlGuiding New Zealand – You be the Guide! (girlguidingnz.org.nz)

But then in an email to parents, they say +12 yrs

“Anyone who is 12 years and 3 months or older will need a valid My Vaccine Pass to participate in person. This includes girls, leaders and parents who come into the meeting space (for example, to drop off or pick up girls of all ages).  “

Australia         -no vaccinations required

FAQs (girlguides-nswactnt.org.au)

COVID Compliance Frequently Asked Questions – Guides Victoria

Canada            +12yrs only

COVID-19 information for families – Vaccination policy (girlguides.ca)

P.S. indoor bowls are out as well…

The Canadian Truckers protest -A new hope

The Canadian Truckers protest has become an inspiration for others around the world.

It’s notable that the Canadian Government, along with a complicit media have been trying to discredit the protest with various tactics. I don’t know how this will all play out in the end, but the protest has already had some tangible results.

1) Quebec has dropped the tax of the unvaccinated
2) Saskatchewan is pledging to scrap V passports by Feb. 28
3) O’Toole has been voted out as Conservative leader
4) Alberta are going to scrap V passports

It also appears that the Canadian Prime Minister is losing control of the narrative as shown by the link below..

This has inspired a truckers protest here in New Zealand, which is still underway as I write this. They are starting from towns all over the country, and are headed for Parliament in Wellington.

It went thru our area late yesterday, so I joined up with a bunch of like-minded protesters in support as they went past.

Of some interest is the changing attitude in New Zealand. Most of the other motorists were either neutral or supportive. It took about 10-15 minutes for all the protest vehicles to go past, and they were quite spread out.

There is even talk of a political parties MP’s (members of parliament) going to talk to the protesters when they get to Parliament in Wellington.

This is in stark contrast to the 15,000 peaceful protesters , who were ignored two months ago.

A week of protests in NZ

Doing OK in troubled times

I’ve spent the last two weeks on holiday, having a grand time with the Wife & kids, while NZ has trembled over Omicron with the usual panic merchants screaming that the sky is falling.

This meant that I didn’t know what I was walking into when I went back to work today. Fortunately, it seems everyone is just over the whole covid thing, so it’s still (relatively) normal.

The Government is still pushing ahead with new covid laws and restrictions, and there is a lot of confusion over the present rules as I write this, resulting in a lot of confusion, especially since the school year is about to start.

It’s starting to look like the the government is getting out with step with the public’s thinking, and therefore the polls. It’s sometimes hard to gauge this accurately thou, because I am only reporting on what I see, and that is a reflection of the attitudes of those around me. Most people have complied with most things so far, because of the threat of fines, etc, but they are getting sick of the whole covid thing.

Our PM, Jacinda Adern has ‘cancelled’ her wedding amidst this ‘crisis’ and is now self isolating after a close contact tested positive for covid. It all seems just overly dramatic, and contrived.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/new-zealand-pm-jacinda-ardern-cancels-her-wedding-amid-new-covid-19-rules/db24b2c7-5c17-4d02-8d3c-8f20fc0c0636

https://thenewdaily.com.au/new-zealand/2022/01/29/jacinda-ardern-covid-isolation/

My wife and I have enrolled our kids at an online school this year. This means they are avoiding all the turmoil at the schools at the moment over masks, positive covid cases, lockdowns, closures, yadda, yadda, yadda.

We have also a joined a teen social group setup for the kids, so they don’t miss out on developing their social skills, etc

We took the kids to an offroad track with the new bike over the weekend, but both of them never managed a single lap of the track.

My youngest managed to launch the bike over some tyres after encountering a sand trap, and my oldest dropped the bike, putting her out of action for the day with a sprained ankle. It was all over in about 30 minutes.

The photo above is a rare photo that my wife took, before it all went pear shaped…..

So all this means is that I’ve got a lot of work to do on the bike, to make it easier for them to ride it.

Plans are to cut some foam out of the seat, to get the seat lower, get rid of as much weight off the bike as possible, and fit some better tyres.