Bay Harbour: January 22, 2020

PAGE 10 BAY HARBOUR
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Wednesday January 22 2020
Your Local Views
Consider available travel alternatives
Environment
Canterbury
councillor Vicky
Southworth
writes about
bushfires and
climate action
SITTING ON Rapaki Beach on
New Year’s Day with the smell
of Australian smoke and weird
orange glow to the sun, it felt like
a visitation from the ‘ghost of
climate change future.’
Images of bushfire evacuations
have looked more like a war zone.
We can’t let the Australian
bushfires drop off the front page
of the news, fade in our memories
and carry on as usual. We
are now looking at our children’s
futures, not some unknown
distant future relatives.
The way we travel has a huge
impact on our carbon footprint.
Ferrymead
The Assistant
by S. K. Tremayne
What would you do if your home assistant turned
evil? She’s in your house. She controls your life. Now
she’s going to destroy it. From the No. 1 Sunday
Times bestseller.
She watches you constantly. Newly divorced Jo is
delighted to move into her best friend’s spare room
almost rent-free. The high-tech luxury Camden flat is
managed by a meticulous Home Assistant, called Electra, that takes
care of the heating, the lights – and sometimes Jo even turns to her
for company.
She knows all your secrets. Until, late one night, Electra says one
sentence that rips Jo’s fragile world in two: ‘I know what you did.’
And Jo is horrified. Because in her past she did do something terrible.
Something unforgivable.
Now she wants to destroy you. Only two other people in the whole
Kingdomtide
by Rye Curtis
There are more cars per head
here than in almost any city in
the world. Many of our car trips
are less than 2km long so here’s a
good place to start.
I love my bike but hate exercise.
Cycling the commute or to
visit friends is exercise on the
sly. Electric bikes make the hills
a breeze and are lots of fun, I’m
told. Expensive to buy, but if they
can replace a car they can save
you hundreds each year.
Cycling on the roads can be
intimidating but the cycleways
are connecting up now and
there are classes available to help
adults get back in the saddle. I’ve
been told Christchurch was a city
of bikes in the 60s with hundreds
of cyclists flooding into the city
every morning and night.
I’m lucky living on the Purple
Line as there’s a bus every 10min
at peak times. It takes longer but
ENTER TO
WIN
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The lives of two women-the sole survivor of an airplane crash and the
troubled park ranger who leads the rescue mission to find her -intersect in
a gripping debut novel of hope and resilience, second thoughts and second
chances. I no longer pass judgment on any man nor woman. People are
people, and I do not believe there is much more to be said on the matter.
Twenty years ago I might have been of a different mind about that, but I was
a different Cloris Waldrip back then. I might have gone on being that same
Cloris Waldrip, the one I had been for seventy-two years, had I not fallen out
of the sky in that little airplane on Sunday, August 31, 1986. It does amaze
that a woman can reach the tail end of her life and find that she hardly
knows herself at all.
When seventy-two-year-old Cloris Waldrip finds herself lost and alone in
the unforgiving wilderness of the Montana mountains, with only a bible, a
sturdy pair of boots, and a couple of candies to keep her alive, it seems her
chances of ever getting home to Texas are slim.
book
release
I use the time to read, listen to a
podcast or just think.
Sometimes, coming home
tired on a crowded bus, I know
I’d rather be in my own car – but
we need to make concessions.
Every additional passenger helps
justify improvements to the bus
service, which is undoubtedly
needed.
Finally, walking. Most of us have
smaller trips we can take on foot
– the school run or picking up the
emergency milk, for example.
Every time you reach for the
car keys try asking yourself,
‘Could I make this journey another
way?’ Like me, you’ll often
find the answer is yes but I don’t
have time now. Try and make
time next time and change just a
journey a week and build up.
Let’s make 2020 the year that
we each take action to kick our
fossil fuel addiction.
Mixed views on ‘Midnight Express’
Readers respond to last
week’s letter about plans to
run a “Midnight Express” bus
service which would take
partygoers home from the
central city to Sumner
Rina Duncan – It’s a marvellous
idea to provide transport when
the buses stop running.
However, there may be
unintended consequences where
young people not from Sumner
(who don’t have a drivers licence)
will be stuck there without
a service to get them back
home, and they might get up to
mischief.
Topsy Rule – Of course there are
concerns with these buses. We
had them before, known as booze
buses.
Each Friday and Saturday
night the drivers decided not to
let the occupants vomit on their
buses, so they unloaded them
outside my home at the Redcliffs
Cutting and they all vomited
over the footpath and my
garden.
If I was not up before 6am
on each Saturday and Sunday
morning, there would be a local
jogger or walker telling me of
the disgusting mess and health
hazard, which I proceeded to
clean up with my disinfectant
and hose, as a volunteer.
BIRDS OF THE ESTUARY
Elegant heron a
common sight
Tanya Jenkins is the manager of the Avon-
Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust, a non-profit
organisation formed in 2002 to protect
one of New Zealand’s most important
coastal wetlands. Each week she introduces
a new bird found in the estuary. Her column
aims to raise the understanding of the
values and uniqueness of the area.
A TALL and elegant bird, the
white-faced heron is actually
quite new to New Zealand
This heron species introduced
themselves in the 1940s and
are now commonly seen in
our estuary, McCormacks Bay,
Charlesworth Wetland, Linwood
canal, Bexley and even on sports
fields and paddocks – but only
after heavy rain, as they prefer
to search for their food while
wading in shallow water.
They are awesome birds to observe
while they stand patiently.
Without moving as much as a
feather, they wait for prey to be
within sight to then at lightning
speed grab either a small fish,
crab, worm, mouse, lizard or
frog. Lizards and frogs are more
common around the estuary than
most people are aware of.
White-faced heron’s nest near
our estuary in the tops of pine
STALKING: You’ll often see the
white-faced heron standing
motionless while hunting.
and macrocarpa trees particularly
favouring South New Brighton
Park and the lower Avon River.
How can we help these birds
thrive? Keep dogs on the lead
when walking near the estuary as
to not disturb them while feeding
or resting.
WIN THIS BOOK
We have one copy of The Assistant to give away, courtesy of Take Note Ferrymead. To be in the draw,
email giveaways@starmedia.kiwi with The Assistant in the subject line or write to Take Note Book Giveaway,
The Assistant Star Media, PO Box 1467, Christchurch 8140. To be eligible for the draw, all entries must include
your name, address and contact number. Entries close Tuesday, February 4, 2020. The two book winners for
The Fowl Twins was Gail Halvorsen of Sumner and Funny Kid Kicks Butt was Milton Messervy of Linwood.
Last Chance to
Enrol for 2020