Election '17

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Saturday was a significant day: Election Day, the first actual day of spring in terms of the equinoxes, and the beginning of daylight saving.

The week has really been dominated by the General Election. The polls has the two main parties, Labour and National (the incumbents) very close, so the final result was a bit of a disappointment for those wanting change. National got the greatest proportion of the vote, but not large enough to form a government outright. Labour and two minor parties (Green and NZ First) got enough together to just form a government, but now much negotiating will take place as NZ First may also get together with National. However, not all the votes have been counted. The result of the 340,000 special votes won’t be known until October 7th, and this could affect the proportions of the party votes enough to change the basis of any negotiation. Even though Saturday was Election Day, we have had Advanced Polling Booths as they are known here open for two weeks prior to yesterday, and 1.24 million people had cast their vote by the time the polls closed on Friday. 

With it being a Saturday Nicky was working, so we went and voted up at the primary school after she had Scrabbled with Stella and Steve. On the way home we bought celebratory fish and chips, and then settled down to watch the election coverage with a two hour break for the new series of Endeavour. It was a lovely sunny day so I got two loads of washing done, and the requisite ironing, and watched some of the Big Bang Theory series 10 marathon on the tellybox.

The rest of our week has been much more mundane. Nicky went into town on Monday for assessment in the osteoporosis study in which she is participating. She had to go over to Greenlane Clinic for an X-ray so I collected her form there, then she went to visit an ex-work college in the afternoon. I have had a reasonable amount of work, and the weather has been pretty good allowing me to get the laundry done.

After putting the clocks forward last night we have enjoyed a lighter evening today. Mary came round for a cup of tea after church this morning, and we went up to Birkenhead this afternoon to have afternoon tea with Maria at a new café which claims the best views in Auckland:


We had teas and shared orange and almond cake and a granola and banana creation which was very nice. The weather was warmer over the bridge but it stayed fine in BHB so Nicky cut the grass when we got back.


Take care, Rick

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