1997 and all that

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In case you haven’t heard, we had a General Election here yesterday. Labour won, and for the first time since Aotearoa adopted the MMP system, a party has gained enough of the popular vote to govern alone. Even though Labour governed after the previous election, they had to form a coalition with two minor parties in order to have a majority in parliament. Not this time!


Watching the results coverage last night put me in mind of Labour’s victory in the UK in 1997. Not only were Labour gaining long-held National seats, but some of the “big names” in the National Party were loosing their own electorates. Many of them will still be in parliament because of the list system, but it put pay to any notion of their status being enough to get the votes.


We have been down to Wanganui again this week. Much detail in the frame and roof structure has been completed, we have the beginnings of a car port, and some of the fascia has been installed. Apparently, the roof iron was installed by the end of the week. The stained glass windows are now finished and we went over to New Plymouth to see them before going onto a meeting with Bert the Builder/Project Manager. They are looking good:




There is more scaffolding around the house because of the car port, and this is a view of the river that we won’t get once it has been taken down:



We also had a really good meeting with a garden designer and are looking forward to her ideas as to what will do as an alternative to just mud. Just for fun, before we left I parked on our (currently gravel) driveway for the first time as we had a last look round the build:



The rest of our week has been dominated with doing laundry, and meeting with removal companies to get detailed quotes for the cost of taking all our stuff south. I have also has some work, both remote and on-site, and Nicky went into town for a concert, so the week has felt quite busy.


Nicky was at BHB Quilters yesterday, while I stayed home, enjoyed the sun, and pottered. Today she was late up and needed to prepare before  going into prison so missed out on church. She called in at Stella’s for Scrabble on the way home. I have had a quiet day pottering, ironing, reading and enjoying the sun.


Take Care, Rick

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