Ahh, no longer shall I have to endure walking 40 minutes in the windy, wet weather to get to my boyfriends house. Now there's an alternative, the long awaited Sunday bus service. The idea was proposed some time ago and has since been in the making. A little while ago people from Environment Waikato went on the buses and gave surveys out to people. I remember taking this particular survey on one bus trip home a little while ago. The survey was to help Go Buses determine how necessary Sunday buses were. Another survey was done before that which was given out to everyone and outlined the long term plans for the bus system.
Obviously the Sunday buses had positive feedback because on Sunday September 28th, a free bus day celebrated dramatic changes in the bus timetable. Key routes will be running on Sunday which includes Pukete, Silverdale, Dinsdale, Flagstaff, Glenview, Nawton, Fairfield, University, Rototuna, Hamilton East Uni, Te Rapa and the Orbiter. The Orbiter goes to 10pm on weekdays and til 8pm on the weekend. That's a very big increase in operating hours that have been well received by the public. Being a regular bus-goer myself, I always hear other people talking about how great it is that the buses go on Sunday. People also use them a fair bit on Sunday. I haven't gotten on one that's been empty on a Sunday yet. The buses also now run on public holidays which is totally blissful.
Other changes to the bus system includes new advantages for SuperGold cardholders. The SuperGold card is available to all eligible New Zealander's aged 65 years and over and those under this age who receive the New Zealand Superannuation or the Veterans Pension. From 1st October 2008, SuperGold cardholders are entitled to free fares during off-peak travelling hours. This applies to buses on all Hamilton city routes and bus routes to Cambridge, Huntly (21, 41, 44), Taupo, Mangakino to Tokoroa, Mangakino to Taupo, Paeroa (22) and Raglan (23). Off-peak times are 9am-3pm and 6.30pm to the end of the service on weekdays, and any time on weekends or public holidays. I think this is a really good idea for senior citizens since most of them are on the pension and that doesn't provide a lot of money.
I think the operation of buses on Sunday will benefit our city. For starters, when people without a licence want to go somewhere, they don't have to get rides from others, they can just hop on the bus. Fewer cars on the roads means less car exhaust being released into the air. You might not think it makes a difference but every little bit helps. The extension of the Orbiter hours is also beneficial because the route goes to all four corners of the city, almost covering every suburb.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Go GO BUSES!
A fire to REMEMBER.
On Saturday the 5th of April, 2008, I was going about my weekend job, scanning groceries, handling grumpy customers, all while being in what I like to call "a supermarket daze". I got a text from my friend saying something about a fire and how there was smoke over the city. Interested as I was, I couldn't ask what she was talking about since I was working. So I kept working, desperate to get outside before dark so I could see the smoke. Thanks to the lack of daylight savings at this time of the year, I knew darkness would blanket the city well before I would leave the building.
Then a customer came along and said something about a fire. Since I only had this half of the story already, I pumped the customer for information because I wanted to know where the fire was. He said it was out at Tamahere, by the airport. Information kind of poured in after that, thanks to various customers who were in the know since they weren't stuck behind a checkout. I found out that it was at the IcePak Coolstore and that fire fighters were badly injured and fire fighters were missing. It wasn't sounding good to say the least.
The next day, April 6th, the fire was all over the news. It was on the Australian news as well. It was an absolute fielday for reporters. The fire made the front page of every newspaper and the pictures showcased bloody injuries that might make someone with a weak stomach throw up. But it was effective and it really hit close to home. It was revealed that the fire was caused by an explosion due to flammable gas. The fire killed senior station officer Derek Lovell and injured seven other fire fighters. As if that wasn't sad enough, the maddening thing was the report released just last month. The report found that there was no smell of gas before the explosion and no signs warning that flammable gas was present. If there had been then fire fighters would not have entered the coolstore. The Fire service also had no prior notification that hazardous substances were at the premises.
Icepak wanted to rebuild on the site but the community wouldn't have a bar of it. The coolstore site is now for sale and Icepak are facing charges. The community have every right to oppose the rebuilding of the coolstore because they are the ones that suffered after the explosion. One resident's window was broken due to the shock waves of the blast and for weeks after the explosion the area stunk of the cheese that burned in the coolstore. The nearby school had to be closed and it's no surprise that the gas in the air raised potential health hazards.
The reason I wanted to write about this is because I really feel passionate about it. I was completely enraged at the report's findings and the obvious measures Icepak could have taken to prevent this tragic outcome. 
Derek Lovell had been serving in the line of duty for 25 years. He died in Waikato Hospital at around 11pm, April 5th, as the coolstore fire continued to blaze into the night. He had a baby daughter. He didn't deserve to die. I was there the day all his colleagues gathered to give him the send off he deserved. The road was closed and people gathered in the hundreds for a procession like no other. Firemen were all in their best suits, fire trucks littered the scene, a helicopter flew overhead and Derek Lovell's body rode on the special 1938 vintage fire engine known to all firefighters as "38". It was a very emotional moment and really touched me. I think that's partly why I feel so saddened by Derek Lovell's death, even though I didn't know him personally.
Walking past the fire station days after, I saw the pile of bouquets that the public had placed in front of the station in honour of Derek Lovell. It was just really beautiful.
Icepak should feel completely responsible for, what I feel, was the murder of Derek Lovell. This fire taught me about the importance of living each day as if it's your last. It also reminds us of how much the fire fighters do for this community. Everytime there's a fire, they put their life on the line to protect us. Is there any greater act of heroism? I would hope that April 5th will become as memorable as September 11th, especially for Hamiltonians. I can't remember there ever being a disaster this close to home.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
It's NOT A HOAX!!
GLOBAL WARMING!! It's all you hear about nowadays. Carbon dioxide and other gases warm the surface of the planet naturally by trapping solar heat in the atmosphere. However, by burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil and clearing forests we have dramatically increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere and temperatures are rising. This is called the greenhouse effect. There's movies been made about it. We are all aware. The other day I heard someone talking about global warming and how in all its glory, it's a hoax and Al Gore is a fake. I don't understand how people can be that thick-headed! There's this little thing called evidence and it used to matter...
If you think about it, we abuse our planet so much. We take for granted the beautiful blue skies and the way the trees blossom in spring. But what if one day, our beautiful country is buried beneath water? I'm not saying it's going to happen, I'm saying that it could happen if we don't do something about it. We don't restrict the use of our cars because we don't seem to care that the gases we are releasing into the air is polluting it. The surface temperature of the earth is warming up and the drastic change in weather over the past few years is no lie. Oceans are warming, glaciers are disappearing, sea ice is melting in the Arctic and Antarctica and Greenland's ice sheet is melting!! The number of category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled in the past thirty years, the flow of ice from glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled over the past decade and at least 279 species of plants and animals are already responding to global warming, moving closer to the poles. This is pretty extreme and can't exactly be ignored or shrugged off as "circumstances of nature".
Some people who don't believe in global warming don't deny that our earth is warming up but they just think the causes are not man-made. But what else could it be? I don't see anyone else polluting the air with greenhouse gases! And REGARDLESS of who or what caused it, it's still happening!! Our earth is crying out for help and we are not listening because we are creatures of habit. We will keep doing what we've always done until global warming reaches a level so critical that it affects our daily lives.
Why do people continue to ignore the science? And why is it that people keep saying that scientists don't believe in it? They do. According to a survey released by the Statistical Assessment Service (STATS), over 8 out of 10 American climate scientists believe that human activity contributes to global warming. They know that global warming is already happening so why can't we? What kind of world are we living in if we can't believe scientific evidence anymore? Freedom of speech might be our ultimate destruction.
I read an article where one guy was rambling on about how global warming is fake and that scientists don't believe in it. However, the only impression I got after reading this article was that he cared more about boasting about his many degrees and apparent credibility than whether global warming is real or not. I've just shown you statistics and what proof did he have? None, none I tell you!!
Global warming is not a hoax. Sadly, if I ran all over town in my underwear screaming this chilling fact, no one would listen to me. In fact, I'd probably just end up in Henry Bennetts. So perhaps I'll stick to blogging. Al Gore started a global trend with his global warming campaign so why don't we follow suit? Let us be sheep. Let us save our planet.
Social networking..Why do we love it??
Social networking is a popular pastime for young people all over the world. Being the biggest fad to drown the world since cell phones, I felt the need to write about it. It's become such a meaningful thing to do in life, that it's taken precedence over porn on the internet. Amazed? No... not really. I mean, do you have a Bebo? Or Myspace? Or Facebook? Of course you do!! We all do. I'm sitting here in the hub (in the early hours of the morning I might add) thinking about the appeal that social networking has. Maybe you participate in social networking for any of the following reasons:
Different age groups prefer different social networking sites, as do people with different interests. For example, Facebook is seen as a website for older people while Bebo is more for teenagers. Myspace is a site for people who are into music because there's numerous band pages. Myspace is ranked as the top social networking website in the world, with Facebook coming second and Bebo third.
I wasn't surprised at Myspace's popularity because it attracts a wider audience including music lovers and social networking fiends. There's also a lot of social networking sites that haven't quite grasped the momentum to be highly recognised in the cyber world. Sites such as Zorpia and Hi5 pale in comparison to leading sites like Myspace. However, they still generate a large amout of visitors. When I was in school, Hi5 was all the rage. This leads me to believe that social networking is like fashion, trends come and go and when somethings in, it's big.
So, why do we love social networking websites? Maybe a more sentimental blogger would say it's a way of keeping in touch with who we are. I'm going to say that it gives us a sense of identity. It tells the world who we are, what we are. It also allows us to keep in contact with others. But the thing with that excuse is, why can't we just ring them on the phone? Why the obsession with social networking when the person we're talking to, may very well live down the road? Thinking about that (excluding correspondence with people overseas obviously) sort of narrows down the reasons behind this compulsive behaviour and our need to pour out our soul over a shiny black keyboard. Maybe we're just stalking ourselves.
