Miraz Jordan

Back on 29 February 2020 I ordered a bag to go on my bike’s carrier. It took them a while to ship it, but eventually it was put on a plane which departed China on 01 April. Thing is, now it’s 23 April and apparently that plane’s still in the air! Must be a world record flight.

Our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is so good in press conferences. Journalist asks a great question and gets a detailed, helpful answer. Journalist asks a really stupid question. Answer: No.

Key projects:
… connecting shared pathways…

With a recent steep rise in the popularity of electric bikes, and recognising the extreme danger for everyone travelling along SH1 between Ōtaki and Levin, it would be excellent if shared bike / pedestrian / horse trails could be created to join the satellite communities to Levin and one another.

One possibility might be beside the railway line. These trails should NOT simply be beside the extremely dangerous traffic along SH1 as the current partial bike paths are, but should be completely separated.

Such trails would contribute to public health outcomes, and reduce pollution from taking a car on a shopping or cafe trip that could be achieved by electric bike or on foot.

If electric bikes continue to increase in popularity then people in Waikawa Beach, Manakau, Ōhau could reasonably cycle or walk between communities on a separate pathway for errands or just for fun.

It would also create an opportunity for the cycle tourists we sometimes see beside SH1 to be removed from that danger.

Waikawa Beach speed bumps

Under the Land Transport item on Page 34 and following I would like relief from the speed bumps on Strathnaver Drive and Sarah Street.

There are 5 speed bumps at Waikawa Beach: one on Drake Street, near the north end; one on Sarah Street and three in a one kilometre stretch of Strathnaver Drive. The Drake Street speed bump isn't of concern to me as it affects only the last few metres at the north end of Drake Street.

All the speed bumps use the old-fashioned half-circle profile, rather than the flat rectangular kind used for example on the road to the beach at Ōtaki.

The speed bumps are very uncomfortable and dangerous for cyclists.

The Sarah Street and Strathnaver Drive speed bumps are effective at slowing cars and trucks. On Strathnaver Drive motorbikes and quads simply drive around them on the grass verge. Many people avoid the speed bump on Sarah Street by using Manga Pirau Street instead.

However, as Waikawa Beach becomes more and more popular with families cycling on the relative safe streets, the speed bumps are not only inconvenient but dangerous for cyclists.

Riding around the ends of the speed bumps is a difficult and scary proposition. The grass verges on Strathnaver Drive are rutted, full of soft sand, rabbit holes, shingle and occasional bits of wood or other debris. While motorbikes and quads can easily handle that terrain with large tires, suspension and engine power, cycles have only narrow tires and usually no suspension. A bike can easily slide and slip on that kind of surface.

The speed bump on Sarah Street terminates right in the gutter and the grass verge on one side is barely navigable because of trees and shrubs. There are still bumps to cross the gutter.

Going over a speed bump on a bicycle requires slowing almost to a stop, standing on the pedals and jolting carefully over the bump, ideally crossing at an angle. That is very uncomfortable and also scary, especially when cars are heading for the same speed bump at a much greater speed than the cycle.

Surely speed bumps aren't intended to unfairly disadvantage cyclists?

I would like relief for cyclists so as to help provide safe, convenient and efficient transit of people within Waikawa Beach. Cycling has benefits for health and environment and the 5 or 6 Km return ride between the village and the beach via Strathnaver Drive is very popular, especially in summer as an exercise route or a family outing.

I suggest cutting the middle portion out of each speed bump or perhaps cutting the ends short so cars and trucks would still have to slow but cyclists could just bike through.

In this era where climate change is a major concern and now we all have a refreshed emphasis on good health and exercise thanks to Covid-19 I believe the Council needs to pay even more attention to making it easier for us to cycle and walk, for fun or for more serious reasons like errands.

Flax leaves (and those from toitoi and cabbage trees) are a nightmare when I weedeat around the plants. Leaves wrap themselves around the weedeater head and don’t break. However, when dry they’re wonderful for lighting the fire. Today’s job was to trim a couple of flax plants.

I’ve just discovered the NY Times Acrostic puzzles and I just love them. Can’t get enough. They’re a much better challenge than the sometimes humorous but often very simple regular crosswords I’ve been doing till now. Glad I subscribed yesterday.

They were lost and now are found… I’m gradually cleaning up the overgrown tunnelhouse. Found 2 huge yellow and rotting cucumbers in a dark corner. Found a marrow in an outdoor bed where I wasn’t expecting anything. Capsicum and aubergine are still going well.🌱

Great news today that Aotearoa New Zealand’s transmission rate for Covid-19 is R0.48. A week from today we move down from Alert Level 4 to a slightly less restrictive Level 3. I’m glad we’re staying at L4 for another few days. 🦠

I was just pondering an approach like this the other day: 🐶

the experimental project, which is seeking to establish whether the dogs can reliably detect COVID-19 in the way they can other disease.

🤞🏼

Glad to be part of of FluTracking: 😷

to develop a system that can provide:

• Community level influenza-like illness surveillance
• Consistent surveillance of influenza activity …
• Year-to-year comparison of the timing, attack rates, and seriousness of influenza in the community.

On the edge of the estuary, these grasses / rushes caught my attention today. Very textured.

I’m loving being able to see and edit the Pages on my 3 different Micro.Blogs with the alpha of MarsEdit 4.4. It’s soooo easy and works beautifully. Thanks @danielpunkass and @manton for the work to make this happen. Saves a lot of faffing about.

June Almeida peered into her electron microscope in 1964, she saw a round, grey dot covered in tiny spokes …would become known as the coronavirus. That feat was all the more remarkable because the 34-year-old scientist never completed her formal education.

Women to Remember.

Thanks to ‘On This Day’ I found that 2 years ago I did an online hearing test. Today I tried it again. Looks like there might be a decline in the low range, but perhaps it’s just user error.

This Covid–19 version of Waikawa Beach, with roads empty of cars, vans and trucks, is how some longtime locals remember the good old days: “Waikawa the way it used to be”, as one said on Facebook. So, how did it used to be?

Waikawa Beach (sometimes known as Manakau Beach) was an extremely busy place back in the 1800s. Māori had lived here since long before, making a good living from the sea and lagoons.

But before that even there were moa and moa hunters. Moa bones were found along Takapu Road in 1962.

Te Rauparaha settled here for a while in the 1820s — there’s a Heritage Trail information sign along Waikawa Beach Road pointing out where his pa used to be.

By the 1840s Europeans arrived and started farming and other activities such as flax and flour milling and boat building. There was a hotel, and the beach was the main, or only route, between Whanganui and Wellington. According to the book Bitter Water there were at least 3,000 people living here in 1845.

The late 1800s though brought road and rail nearby, and as time moved on, of course, life changed and the population dwindled.

By the time Bob Semple, Minister of Public Works, built a bach at Waikawa Beach in 1935, there were very few people here, and only a handful of baches.

Things started to pick up in the 1950s when Arthur and Drake Streets came to be. In the 60s a small dairy, public toilets, and the northern half of Manga Pirau Street arrived. In the 70s more small streets were added and the Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association was formed. Its primary concerns were river erosion, fire safety and a public telephone. By 1978 there were 8 permanent residents.

In the last 40 years there has been more development, with additional housing in Strathnaver and the area around Emma Drive. Life has become busier, but there are no shops or cafes. Daily life bubbles along, but in other years an influx of holiday makers has been the way of life at Easter and other holidays.

This year, of course, Waikawa Beach is quiet; quieter than it has been for decades. It’s rather pleasant…

Acknowledgement: the now out-of-print book Bitter Water by Deb Shepherd and Laraine Shepherd.

Photo: from the Archive of the Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association, aerial photo from 1962, showing Drake, Arthur and the northern part of Manga Pirau Streets.

Published in Ōtaki Today 17 April 2020, Page 18.

👍 decisive action. On the chart the red line is the model for how many Covid-19 cases Aotearoa New Zealand could have had. The black line is the actual cases we do have, thanks to a stringent shutdown instituted almost 4 weeks ago. Thank you Government who acted on science.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes high quality sci-fi. Recommended:

Diving Series is 1/2 off! First novel in the series, Diving into the Wreck, is free in ebook for a limited time, the rest of the ebooks in the 8-novel series are $2.99 each, while the four novellas are $1.99 each.

I really enjoyed reading Nefarious Doings by Australian Ilsa Evans. Engaging text and character, wonderful dry humour. The whole Australian (stands in for Kiwi) vibe. It’s so refreshing to get beyond UK / US writing. I’ll be reading more for sure.