CBD by Miranda Spary

I’m typing this in Queenstown Airport while the engineers reboot the whole plane system. So far Air NZ and Queenstown Airport have literally kept us on our toes - ZQN Security had us in a huge queue and they are back to insisting shoes, belts and laptops pose a major threat so must be checked thoroughly. If all the security staff were fired, there would be a lot of happy hospo businesses able to hire them, and imagine if they got rid of all the road “workers” (strange word for people who just stand on the road). After a relaxing hour sitting on the plane, Air NZ invited us to return to the terminal while they decide what to do with us. Ho hum….

Maybe Air NZ should use AI to sort out their many woes? I went to the Liger Academy class where the students were giving oldies like me a free lesson in using technology. WOW! They showed us all sorts of things AI can help us with and even I, a dim nearly pensioner was able to understand what they were saying. The classes are going to be on at 4.30pm for the next three Tuesdays and the teenage teachers are so courteous and encouraging. On the way home, my husband’s voice rang out on the speakerphone. As he’s prone to say ridiculous things, I warned him I had my friends Alf and Louise Bell in the car, and that Audrey was with us too. His response was “You’re having in orgy in the car?” - honestly, the man is deaf and/or a lunatic.

As usual, there’s so much going on in the Wakatipu and it’s very exciting to know that Chelsea Gawron is opening an apothecary in Arrowtown just before you turn right down to The Dishery. She’s finished all her training and for anyone who wants natural remedies, she’ll be the one to go to for perfect health and happiness.

And a big happy birthday to sculptor Morgan Jones, the district’s newest 90 year old - hugest congratulations, dear Morgan.
I’ve just read (with extremely mixed feelings) that QLDC have approved 2400 housing units on the Ladies Mile - please please please let this be the start of some smart thinking about traffic. For the cost of that ridiculous road to Lakeview, we could have had dozens and dozens of electric buses saving all the traffic woes of our district. And surely it’s time to introduce a toll on cars on the most congested roads. I do try and get as many people into my car as possible when I’m going anywhere but still most of my driving is just old lady me scooting around town. If I knew I was going to have to pay, I’d make sure to cram in extra passengers to make it better value.

I hope none of the residents on the lake side of Lake Hayes got big frights this week. Apparently they had asked everyone to keep their loo seats closed as they were doing some work to clear a blockage in the sewerage while they were going to be blasting the pipes. Could have been exciting for people who needed a WC session at the wrong time!!