Bill Dalton

An old mate of mine died recently and we have been helping his widow sort a few things out.

Bernie was a hoarder. Bernie never threw anything out.

Amongst some of the boxes of stored information I found a guide to Napier’s Scenic drive. I am guessing at the year it was produced but it looks like about 1962. The publication tells us that Napier had a population of 27,200.

We are told that Napier is one of New Zealand’s famous holiday resorts. That it is renowned for its sunshine, its magnificent Marine Parade, its stately pines and palms, flowering gardens, parklands and spectacular illuminations.

And you know, in those days, about 50 years ago, that’s what people wanted in a holiday destination. A nice environment in which to have fun. A nice safe environment in which the kids could make their own fun.

These days we expect that entertainment will be provided for us. We have lost the art of enjoying good company and surroundings and simply entertaining ourselves.

When I was a kid we used to go to places like Eskdale Park on a Sunday afternoon and have fun. Several families would meet there and we would have impromptu games of cricket or rugby or soccer, or bulrush. Mum would take a picnic afternoon tea and plenty of cold cordial for the kids. If it was hot we would swim in the Esk River.

Sometimes we would go to Westshore Beach and build sandcastles and swim.  And if we were lucky, we might get fish and chips on the way home. Do you remember? – 5 bobs worth of fish and chips would be 10 bits of fish and plenty of chips. Enough to feed a family of 6 easily.

Now expectations of holiday destinations are much greater. Vacationers want holiday programmes for their kids, they want theme parks, they want organised entertainment and they want sophisticated restaurants to dine in.

Napier rightly still regards itself as a holiday destination. We have plenty to offer adult vacationers in terms of wineries, bars and restaurants, shopping and the “café” culture. What we need to do is to find things for the kids to do.  Westshore beach is gone, the Olympic pool is gone and Marineland is gone. So we have a real challenge on our hands to make Napier an attractive destination for kids.

We need to develop an entertaining use of the Marineland site – if you have got any bright ideas on that please let me know.

In the meantime, wouldn’t it be great if we could encourage youngsters to make their own fun just as we did all those years ago.

My wife Shirley and I have just had a wonderful week in New South Wales. Frankly we have been to Sydney so often over the years that looking at the Opera House doesn’t do it for us anymore so this trip was all about catching up with friends.

We had great mates arriving in Sydney from Maine USA to begin a tour of Australia so we arranged to spend time with them whilst they were in Sydney. It was just great to catch up with them as we hadn’t seen them since 2008 when we visited them in the States

We then travelled by train up to the Hawkesbury River to meet some Australian friends. We had originally met this couple in Queenstown during a South Island holiday. Since then they have been to stay with us and we have visited them several times in Australia. Again, it was a real thrill to catch up with them and there was certainly no shortage of conversation over a very long lunch.

After a relaxing day spent with Shirley’s brother and his wife and friends on the Hawkesbury we set off by rental car to Walcha on the New England Tablelands.

Back in 1973 I worked as a loader driver for an aerial spraying company. I became good friends with the pilot and his family but as so often happens, our lives moved in different directions and we hadn’t had any contact for 36 years.

Late in 2009 I decided I wanted to find them again and through the marvel of the internet, I was able to track them down. Sadly, I was able to do so because Carolyn, the pilot’s wife, had written a book to help people cope with the loss of a loved one – their son Ben who was born whilst we were working together had been killed in a topdressing plane at age 21. Ben was a great baby and my own eldest son is named after him.

So 37 years after we last saw each other we met up again and it was just great.

David is still mad keen on flying so in no time we were up in the air, checking out the whole district. And there was a bonus to come. He owns an ex NZ Air Force Harvard and both Shirley and I in turn were treated to flights with full on low level aerobatic manoeuvres’. Barrel rolls, Aileron Rolls, Hesitation Rolls, a Half Cuban 8 it was an amazing experience and it took two days to get the smiles off our faces.

So a lot of fun but now it’s back to the grind. And I notice that one or two of our sleeping local body politicians are coming out with their triennial populist hobby horses, so it’s going to be a fun year.

Art Deco Weekend has come and gone and what an absolute cracker it was. We have had the worst summer weather wise that I can remember and we saved our best two days for Art Deco Weekend. How clever is that?

It is obvious that the Art Deco Trust has put its recent problems behind it and from my perspective at least, the weekend appeared to be very well run. Over the years the Trust has developed a formula for the weekend which clearly works. Having a formula is generally considered to be a good policy for an event like Art Deco Weekend because it means that the individual components of the weekend are ones that are tried and true. The danger of working to a formula is that the weekend could in time lose its vibrancy. And that’s going to be the challenge for the Art Deco Trust in the future. How do they continue to provide the events that people have come to expect and thoroughly enjoy, whilst at the same time adding freshness to the weekend that keeps people coming back year after year.

One thing I would like to see is a revamp of the street parade. I drove one of the early cars in the parade this year and the crowd were clearly pleased to see us. In previous years I have been much further back in the parade and frankly, many in the crowd looked bored. Perhaps we need more bands, clowns, street performers, marching girls – those sorts of things to break up the procession of vintage vehicles.

I also think we need to do more for the vintage car owners and families. This years Gatsby Picnic on the Sunday was great and the ability to picnic beside your vintage car was a great touch. These are the sort of new ideas I applaud and that will continue to encourage support for the weekend.

As a keen vintage vehicle owner, I would like to see the vehicles driving around town more. Sure they look good parked up and on display but in my view they look twice as good driving around the town.

And we need to involve Ahuriri much more. I know it is not our Art Deco quarter, but it is increasingly becoming our entertainment quarter and we need to include Ahuriri in our celebrations.

So congratulations to all those who worked so hard to make Art Deco Weekend 2010 such a success.

The event was a credit to you.

Much is being made of the need to extend the runway at Hawke’s Bay Airport – yet I remain unconvinced that the project is worthwhile.

I do know there is some absolute rubbish being spouted in support of the project.

There is no way that any airline is going to schedule international flights out of Napier – and if they wanted to we would need to spend as much again as the runway cost on security,  – a police station – customs facilities – immigration facilities etc etc.

Look around the country and see what has happened.  Invercargill extended their runway in the hope of attracting international flights into Southland – they have never had one.  Hamilton extended their runway in the belief they could attract three flights a day.  They have never attracted more than 3 a week and some of those have just been cancelled.  Palmerston North, which services a far larger area than the airport at Napier does, has just lost its international provider.

My real worry is that we will lose frequency of flights.  At the moment we can jump on a plane at all sorts of times during the day and be in Wellington or Auckland in about 50 minutes.  From there we can go anywhere in the World.

What is wrong with that?

Efficient airline schedules are based around hubs.  In the States you have places like Denver and Charlotte that are enormous hubs.  Auckland and to a lesser extent, Wellington and Christchurch are New Zealand hubs.

I don’t have a closed mind on the subject of extending Hawkes Bay Airport runway and as a Napier City Councillor I am intrigued that no one has ever asked my opinion or tried to convince me, that the project is worthwhile.

I just make the point that at this stage,  I am yet to be convinced that it makes economic sense to extend the runway when all we can hope for is perhaps the odd charter flight and maybe the odd freight plane.

I just wonder if there is not a better way of spending such a large amount of public money.

At long last the American people, from the pauper to the President, have admitted there are very serious faults in their financial system.

I have long marvelled at the average American citizens ability to remain totally unaware of what was happening in the financial world. I suppose when you get out of bed – go to work – have breakfast at the roach-coach – stop off at Denny’s for your evening meal – then go home and watch the baseball channel or the car racing channel or the porno channel, it is inevitable that important events would pass you by.

Well let me assure you – everybody in America is now aware of the serious problems facing the financial system. For the first time in my experience, travelling in the USA, I saw the average American becoming aware of the big picture.

On previous trips to the States, when they found out what I did for a living, people would say “I’m not involved in the money and investment market.” I would say then, what are you doing about providing for retirement?” and they would say they had a 401K account or some other super scheme. They simply never related their retirement schemes with the financial market.

Now all Americans realise that last week, the financial system in their country was on the verge of a catastrophic collapse. The world as they knew it, was no more. Their lives were changed forever.

Share prices were crumbling, the banking system was collapsing, and the country’s wealth was disappearing before their eyes.

The government had to, at last, act and they did. Bush announced a bail-out package that will cost the American taxpayers upwards of a trillion dollars

This essential package prevented the collapse of the financial system but it will not solve all of America’s problems. Rather, it will spread today’s problems over generations to come.

The stories of greed and stupidity by executives earning millions of dollars per year are simply amazing. Some unbelievable. My only hope is that the pendulum doesn’t swing too far. That we don’t see everyone going to ground and money not changing hands. Then we really will be in trouble.

In the meantime for investors, it’s a case of sitting tight, riding out the storm, and seeking good advice from experienced professionals with a sound track record.

For me, the best part of any trip is seeing Hawkes Bay unfold as the plane descends towards Hawkes Bay Airport.

The worst part is the two boxes of mail and over three hundred emails that require attention on our return. Mind you the junk mail and the correspondence from nutters is easily identified and able to be deleted or sent for recycling without the hassle of having to open it or read it.

It’s interesting traveling now that I am a City Councillor. I find myself taking great interest in refuse transfer stations and landfills. I find myself quizzing people about what rates (the yanks call it land tax) they pay and what they get for their money. I find myself looking at parks and sporting facilities in a completely new light.

The east coast of the United States is certainly a vastly different place than the west. We loved Washington DC with its memorials and monuments – its huge sturdy buildings that don’t block out the sky and the very real impression we got that we were visiting the centre of power.

Historic Boston was a great place to visit and the state of Maine was simply beautiful. We enjoyed being big kids in Orlando although I have to admit the new space ride in the Epcot Centre made me a little green around the gills.

Miami was just as expected. Warm, racy, brash and a great place to visit. In fact we could easily live in Miami if we won lotto – perhaps a couple of times!

There were two overriding impressions we gained from this trip to the eastern seaboard of the USA.

The first is that Americans are still the most hospitable people in the world. We had people we had never met inviting us into their homes for meals, taking us on outings and showing us around. One lovely fellow took a day off work to show us around Boston and then took us home to have dinner with his wife. Such was the generosity we were shown.

The second impression was that the Americans will never learn. They still serve everything in polystyrene and plastic despite the oil crisis – no thought of using crockery that can be washed and reused. And despite the fact that excess borrowing has precipitated their current economic crisis, they have airline stewards and stewardesses, up and down the aisles trying to convince passengers to sign up for yet another credit card.

Clearly the message about borrowing has yet to get through.

Anyway it is good to be home.