The Star: August 08, 2019

The Star Thursday August 8 2019
28
NEWS
Little interest in
community building
• By Jess Gibson
AN EMPTY building available
for lease at the old Redcliffs
School site has struggled to
gain interest from community
groups.
Redcliffs Residents’
Association chairwoman
Christine Toner sent out more
than 200 emails to help the
city council find a group which
wants to lease the building.
However, after very few
expressions of interest, the
association wants to form
either a new sub-committee or
independent group to lease and
manage it.
The modern building, which
is owned by the city council,
has four rooms and opens out
on to a courtyard overlooking
Redcliffs Park and playing fields.
“It’s such a good building and
I’m sure eventually people will
realise it’s too good to pass up,”
said Ms Toner.
She said the association does
not have an interest in leasing or
managing the building itself.
“It’s still important that it’s
managed locally. We don’t want
a commercial user or somebody
far away being in charge of the
building, that’s why I’m stepping
up and trying to organise this.”
City council head of parks
EMPTY: The Redcliffs
Residents’ Association wants
the empty council-owned
building at the old Redcliffs
School site to be managed
by a community group or
organisation.
Andrew Rutledge said staff are
currently conducting an open
expression of interest process to
find occupants for the building.
The occupants would be
expected to have a building
manager who would oversee
bookings, insurance, security
and cleaning, among other
things.
A meeting will be held on
August 16 at the building
for residents, groups and
organisations to learn more.
Once that has been completed
a further request for proposals
will follow, with the results
and lease recommendations
then presented to the Linwood-
Central-Heathcote Community
Board for a final decision.
news online at www.star.kiwi
Highs and lows of travel
AS I SAID in my last column,
we’ve travelled to Italy so Vittoria
can meet the family. And what a
journey it’s been.
Before we even left, Vittoria
caused her parents a heap of stress
with her first ambulance trip to
the emergency department, starting
on a course of antibiotics for
pneumonia, setting us back a day
on doctor’s orders.
It sounds bad, and it wasn’t
ideal, but it was all okay apart
from unsettling our sleep patterns.
So we were lucky, our pre-dawn
flight on Saturday went swimmingly.
Vittoria was happy to nap,
draw or watch cartoons all the
way to Brisbane where we stayed a
night with my sister-in-law Sarah.
The only niggle was that she
leaked on me because her nappy
was askew but, like for most parents
I think, that’s a non-event.
It looked like either the antibiotics
or time were working a treat
on Vittoria, so we were quietly
confident going into the 14-hour
leg to Dubai on Sunday night.
And again, it went pretty good.
Fourteen uneventful hours.
Arriving in Dubai we were all
tired, dishevelled, probably smelly
and definitely over trying to sleep
in an aircraft seat with a fidgety
toddler. Between us and relaxation,
were only four hours in an
airport and a six-hour flight. Easy
right? Spoiler alert – no.
Our luck ran out 20 minutes before
boarding started for our flight
to Venice when Vittoria vomited
all over the floor in the middle
of a packed terminal. And a little
on my shirt and shoes. Honestly,
what’s the protocol for that?
I just floundered in surprise for
a bit until Laura went into nurse
mode and sent me off to clean
Vittoria up while she “dealt with
it” in the splash zone.
Once we were as “fresh” as possible
and a suddenly exhausted
toddler crying in my arms, we
made our way to the gate where
we were told we could get Vittoria
checked up for free at the airport
clinic and wouldn’t miss our flight.
However, once the “ambulance”
arrives (literally a push trolley)
we were told that a full check at
the clinic might make us miss our
flight – great.
With all the vitals coming back
healthy, and Vittoria totally out to
it asleep, I was offered a difficult
choice; do further checks and
miss the flight or sign a waiver
saying “refused treatment” and
that if it gets worse it’s all on you.
Although I was confident to
sign away and just get to the flight
so we could be done with it, I felt
terrible anyway. So for three long
VITTORIA
& Matt
CONFIDENT: In Dubai,
unaware of what was
coming next.
and stressful hours of the last flight
we thought of all the worst things
it could be – dehydration, gastro,
some sort of never-wake-up disease.
And what does Vittoria do when
she finally wakes up? Sits up, laughs
and becomes the flight staff’s
darling by running laps around the
plane with a huge grin on her face
for the duration of the flight.
Anyway, we’re in Italy now and
ready for family time.
•Former Star Media
journalist Matt Salmons has
become a stay-at-home
dad. We follow his journey
weekly.
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