Ok, who turned out the lights?

Some fork lift driver lifting a container near Otahuhu apparently.

That was all that was needed to knock out the power supply to not just a small part of Super Auckland but much of Waitakere and all of North Shore, Kaipara and Northland.

Not a huge deal given the time of day (8am to 10am) but it would have been if it lasted longer.

My secretary decided to weed the garden instead of using the powerless washing machine.

Subsequently I spent the time catching low flying buttercups and attempting to murder pansies (of the plant variety).

Still I have to wonder about the logic in supplying such a large area with just one power line and no power stations.

Does this sort of thing ever happen to Wellington?

Update: I stand corrected, there are two lines carrying electricity north. The other one was out for maintenance :S

The goverment giveth and taketh away again

Remember those tax cuts we got last year?

ACC levies are rising and not by a small amount.
After over 100 years of classes at low cost for all who wanted to learn community education is being discontinued.
Contrabutions to the Super Fund have been suspended - for 10 years.

I think I have just figured out where the money for those tax cuts came from.

Catching the surf - Tsunami style

Just as well the wave turned out not to live up to expectations.

It sort of happened like this:
Doooo Doooo Dit Dit Doooo Doooo Dit Dit Doooo Doooo Dit Dit

What is that alarm?
Why is it getting louder?
Is that on this side of the harbour?
No?

Waitakere City Council was on the ball - it turns out that was the tsunami siren warning alert signal.

Of course not living in Waitakere City meant it took half an hour of web site searching to find that out. Something the secretary didn't do until the next day.

That could have been a bit of the problem considering Civil Defence was advicing people to stay 35m above sea level or 1km inland.

We're neither.

Still that was better than North Shore City Council.

Apparently you have to sign up to receive a phone/email alert if you think your property may be in a danger zone for tsunami.

The secretary didn't know that, she does now after wondering why there were no warnings from our own council even as the "stand down" sounded from across the harbour.

As it happened I didn't get my paws wet, with sea water anyway but not as a result of any advanced warning from our local authorities.

Thank god for radio and breakfast TV.