Observations of the week

I took today (Wednesday) off work so I could support my youngest daughter.
They have now started a campaign of peer pressure for school aged children to get vaccinated and the ‘vaccination bus’ was visiting her school that day.
They don’t need the parents permission to vaccinate the kids. They just need the child’s ‘permission’. When you factor in the ‘incentives’, like a $100 vouchers for a supermarket, it’s a dubious operation.

Our reasoning for our children been unvaxxed is really simple.

We left it up to them to decide. (they are 14 & 16yrs old)
They did their own research, and as their parents we support whatever decision they have made.

In the end we decided it was just easier to keep our child away from school & avoid all the hassles.

So that meant I had a spare day at home. I normally go for a good bike ride, but it was pissing down with rain this morning, so me and daughter went and picked up our new kayak instead.

The weather cleared in the afternoon, so I went for that bike ride to my favorite cafe.
There was a lot more life to the place, than last time. People were sitting down around tables & talking casually without masks on. It was like normality had returned, even if only briefly.
There were only desserts still available at this time, but I was so hungry, I just gulped it down and almost forgot to take a photo..

The ride back home was faster than normal. I think I just needed to work off that dessert!

Another week of up’s and downs in New Zealand

The final day came and went for nurses, midwives, teachers, and firefighters to get vaccinated or loose their jobs.
It appears that most of the teachers capitulated at the last moment.


The firefighters got a time extension until the end of the month. It’s not hard to work out why -most of them are volunteers that are spread all over rural NZ. You only need to lose the only qualified fire truck driver, and you have a huge problem.

There are two large protests that are scheduled for the coming weekend.

The ‘Mother of all protests’ organised by the Freedom and rights coalition on Saturday.
It’s pretty self evident what they are protesting about (the clue is in the name)
There last protest backfired somewhat -They created massive traffic jams, which created a lot of anger because the average person simply treated it as an inconvenience without looking into why they were protesting.

The ‘Father of all protests’ organised by ‘Groundswell’
These are the farmers and growers that are protesting about unworkable regulations that could put farms out of bussiness, It’s also about the government trying to take the water supply systems away from towns and cities and handing control over to the indigenious people (Maori’s). (I am 5/32 Maori by the way)

We were led to believe there would be a big announcement on the 29th November, about Xmas for Auckland which has been locked within it’s own borders for months. However, out of nowhere, the Goverment announced in a piecemeal way that travel out of Auckland would be possible over Xmas. (they really had to do this, otherwise, they will lose their base voters trust).

As per usual thou, the arrangements dont make logical sense.
Vaccinated people can travel as long as they have a vaccination certificate to prove it.
Unvaccinated people must have a negative test to prove they are covid free before they can travel.

The pfizer vaccination doesn’t stop the transmission of covid to other people, and merely reduces symptoms at best. This means they are going to spread covid all over the (relatively covid free) country, and it’s the double vaccinated who will be responsible for doing this.

These announcements were probably done in order to get the pressure off the Goverment, and logic wasn’t a priorty.

One of the conclusions we can gather from the events of this week is simply this..

When they fired 1300 Healthcare staff for not complying with the vaccine mandate early this week, obviously the covid pandemic can’t be a big deal, and the compulsory vaccination mandates are actually about something else.

On the subject of death (my own)

Most people are terrified of death. This leads them to a life of avoiding death at all costs, therefore never taking risks and not really living life as a result. They just survive day to day, making sure to merely preserve what they already have.

You only need to look at the hysterical response to covid, which you have a 99.95% chance of surviving.

I view death as something that will happen at some point, but there’s no point in worrying about it until it happens.
That doesn’t mean I’m a reckless person, but it does mean I look at risk in a rational way.

I taught this skill to my oldest daughter who is a bookworm by nature. It led to us jumping out of a perfectly good plane at 12,000ft, so we could freefall for 40 seconds before the parachute was opened. It’s hard to describe the experience, but it’s something you never forget.

The battle for my kids to be confident – Uncoffined (wordpress.com)

The only times I’ve confronted death (apart from near misses) is when I’ve gone to funerals..

The first funeral I went to was some guy that held me in his arms when I was three, and apparently was a really good guy. I was about nine yrs old at the time and obviously don’t remember him. I do remember that everyone was sad for some reason and that the club sandwiches on the table with a strange green thing (asparugus) tasted really horrible.

The second funeral was for my father. I wasn’t close to him as my parents had got divorced years earlier and I got kicked out of his house 2 weeks before School C exams (high school) to make room for his new partner.

The third funeral was for a mate who lived life to the full, and was killed in a motorcycle accident. it was a very positive affair and was effectively a celebration of his life. When I die, I would like my funeral to be like that, rather than a sad affair that leaves people unable to move on.

The forth funeral was for my father in law. It was a very sad event. I gave a positive uplifting speech which I think lifted some peoples spirits a bit (but not much). Over time my wife and family have moved on and now he’s a pleasent memory.

In conclusion, you are only here for a limited time, don’t waste it.