Posts by Soon Lee
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Up Front: The Surprisingly Sincere Up…, in reply to Sacha,
You would have thought so wouldn't you? I did.
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So I went and cast my vote today which is the first day of Advance Voting. And in the process gained even more empathy for those with mobility difficulties.
I found a conveniently nearby location for me from the map of Advance Voting locations:
Auckland University,
AUSA Club Space,
The Quad,
Alfred StreetSo far, so simple. And then the adventures began.
(Rant ensues)The actual room you want to get to is one level up from the Quad and is not the only one that can be called a "Club Space". The one you want is upstairs from the foodcourt section, not upstairs next to the Maidment.
I thought I was being clever as I had identified the location of the lift I would need (in the passage between the Kate Edger building & the Student Commons Building). I can manage stairs on crutches (broken knee; long story) but it's much slower with increased risk of falling. But when I got there, I discovered that the lift was not working. So as a work-around, I thought to use the lifts in the adjoining Kate Edger building instead. I made a guess on which level I needed to get to, made my way across the bridge separating the two buildings (which included a few stairs along the way). At the end of that corridor is a room marked "AUSA Clubspace", but the door was locked and there was no sign of life inside. So I reasoned that it must be the *other* Clubspace room. I figured I can get to it by going through the Common Room. But when I tried to open the door, found the Common Room to be locked.
So I had to make my way on crutches back across the bridge to Kate Edger, take the lifts back down to ground level, make my way on crutches to the other side of the Quad. To get to the Voting Station, you have to walk up a flight of stairs as there is no lift on that part of the building complex. Or at least what I hoped was the Voting Station location (there was no visible signage). By this time I was determined & willing to take a punt, so I made my slow way up the stairs on crutches. It wasn't until I reached the top of the stairs that voting signage was visible.
Once I got there, voting was straightforward. There were a couple of people staffing & a National Party observer. I didn't have an EasyVote card so was asked to provide the name of my electorate, and my full name. Once they confirmed my address, I was given my voting papers & directed to a voting booth. Having made my two ticks, I deposited my vote into one of the boxes provided, and I was done.
Except that I wasn't. I stayed to make a few suggestions on (what I thought were) necessary improvements. They were already aware of the lift problem, but also agreed that having the Common Room locked blocking access between the lift & the voting station was also an issue. Had I been in a wheelchair instead of on crutches, I would not have been able to vote there.
It turned out that there was voting signage at the bottom of the stairs, just not the ones I climbed (they agreed that signage on both sets of stairs would be a good thing).
I personally like the idea of Advance Voting: giving people more opportunities to vote is excellent. Having a voting station at the university makes it easier for younger voters, a demographic that has had low turnout. I appreciate that it was the first day of Advance Voting and there would be a few wrinkles to iron out. But I didn't expect there to be so many wrinkles. I was especially disappointed by the poor/lack of mobility access.
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Hard News: Touching Waterview, in reply to Moz,
We had looked to get tickets for the walkthrough, but with the spouse booked for surgery & recovery, I didn't feel like going without her, so I'm experiencing the tunnel walkthrough vicariously.
I'd been leaving my car in North Shore, visiting spouse in ward first thing before catching the Northern Express to work. Then returning after work to spend time before visiting hours ended, before driving home.
I have to say that the Northern Express bus(way) is outstanding, and I'm saying this as a first time user of the Northern Express comparing it to my usual West Auckland bus service. It's convenient & efficient. When catching it for the return trip from the CBD (lower Albert St) during peak time, the buses depart as they fill up. It takes under 20 minutes to go from downtown CBD to Smales Farm & we're whizzing past cars as we go. I kept asking myself why we couldn't have a similar system for the West Auckland's Northwestern motorway.
The Northern Expressway absolutely makes it more convenient for commmuters, but even that doesn't go far enough as shown by the Park & Ride carparks filling up early every day. Aucklanders are willing to use public transport, so long as it is set-up properly to be more convenient & affordable than sitting in your own car, stuck in traffic.
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Hard News: Barclay and arrogance, in reply to Paul Campbell,
The Bradley Ambrose "taping" happened in 2011, Barclay recorded Glenys Dickson in 2015.
I do not find the "he didn't know it's illegal" excuse believable.
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Capture: Autumn, what autumn?, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
No, maybe animated gifs work?
ETA: Apparently yes.Ran your clip through this & uploaded the result.
https://ezgif.com/video-to-gif -
One morning while catching Pokemon in Auckland's Wynyard quarter.
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Capture: Autumn, what autumn?, in reply to Sacha,
Guilty as charged.
And thank you.
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In town for a birthday celebration, turns out the Wellington Lux light festival just started. #timing
Edit: Okay, so they weren't 90 degrees off when I looked at them on the phone.
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Sunset from the deck.
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Chris McDowall @Spinoff does some analysis.
The real story is this: Young people buying a home either need to move out of Auckland, get some cash from their folks, shack up with someone who can, or build a time machine.
