Refresh refresh refresh goes the nation
Diary of the weekend, vaxathon, and sundry disappointments
Saturday 9.30am
Morena Aotearoa - look at that warm blue sky! A glorious day to be a Team 5 Mill person; also a glorious day to be a grifting civilly disobedient asshole; also a glorious day to be a vapid influencer who loves to party and put it on Insta.
Out into the warm October morning goes the teaming populace to do their own special thing, Levels permitting, assuming Levels actually mean something to you, and the wellbeing of your fellow citizens is something you give the remotest fuck about.
Out into the warm October morning go the unsung thousands ready to administer their vials.
Out into the warm October morning goes Dr Ashley Bloomfield, ready to spread the good vaccine word.
Out into the warm October morning go a whole bunch of Vaxathon faces to beam out a Telethon from Avalon in an age of ironic meta Tik Tok irony and whatnot. Do we think this can work? We sure hope so.
Onto the screen go the engaging and entertaining faces of vaxathon.
Into the vaccination clinics, out to the sausage sizzles, onto the Air NZ 787, go the hesitant.
Into his best kilt goes reader Graeme Smith - hi Graeme! - to make a special day of it in his Picton pharmacy.
Onto the webpage goes the tally.
Refresh refresh refresh goes the nation and by golly ,what do you know, this damn thing is working, it really is working.
Onto the screen comes Miss Geena Sparkle with the very best words and the crowd gives it up for Miss Geena.
Refresh refresh refresh goes the nation. Look at those numbers go!
Dr Ashley is here, Dr Ashley is there, Dr Ashley is everywhere. Dr Ashley is busting some excellent moves, undeniably the nation’s favourite Dad.
Just to mix the theme up altogether, it’s Telethon, but not your Dad’s telethon,
Refresh refresh refresh. There’s a lot of good feeling in all of this, there’s a mood for everyone to pull together.
But let's not overdo it, what’s this we see in the Domain and repeating itself in other towns and cities?
Civilly disobedient deniers with placards! Civilly disobedient deniers on bikes! Civilly disobedient denier Brian, devout worshipper of the holy trinity, The Credit Card, The Debit Card and the Holy Cash.
Get a load of Brian lounging in the deck chair, acting like his picnicking is perfectly lawful when what he's really doing is: giving succour to suckers. The message keeps moving even when his mouth’s closed: this so-called Covid is in God’s hands. So keep your vaccines out of us you, evil sinister State with your free hospitals and your free life-saving medicine and your free education and your free and fair elections. Satan, your kingdom and your sinister vaccination plot must come down and while we we pray for that, brothers and sisters, the eftpos machines will be coming around, have your offerings ready.
Saturday 8.00pm Refresh refresh refresh - what a big day! Go team 5 million!
Go to bed with a warm smile about good people doing good.
How long will that warm glow last? Not all that long, buddy. Wait till you hear tomorrow what's happening right now somewhere near Albany and well, let’s just watch the footage they’ve been sharing on Instagram; some of the city's most selfish thoughtless, arrogant, self-absorbed and vapid. Congratulations champs, you’ve made Brian’s picnicking look restrained
Sunday 9.30am
Oh look! A Sunday paper has a wedding story about Neve’s Mum and Dad. Awww.
Oh look! It’s a non-story! LOL, talk about clickbait. LOL, talk about deepest media cynicism.
Some guy thought he was going to have his place hired for the wedding but as it became clear they didn’t want his caterer - because if you can get Peter Gordon that's a pretty good proposition tbh - a meeting of the minds gradually faded largely for lack of a quorum. Now this guy is trying to stick them for an imagined cancellation fee of 5,000 and LOL.
Laughable, really, and you can see from the way it’s splashed on the front page that what they seem to have latched onto is a twofer clickbait prospect: the wedding stickybeak factor for wedding stickybeaks, and a little bit of fake catnip for the Cindy haters.
But hang on, what's this? Why has the room just fiddled with a putrid and vaguely familiar stench? Oh there you go.
Sometimes this little newsletter uses the name Waikato Invader for Auckland’s mighty news organ. Maybe a better one would be Victoria St Muckraker.
Oh what is that you say? It’s just the Sunday edition? Fair point, but also, check out this stuff they’ve run from Bill Ralston’s Listener column Money For Old Rope in which he uses customary wild hyperbole that readers know to not take seriously …. but, does everybody actually know that?
Monday 9.30am
Hello readers of the free editions, yesterday I wrote about lives so narrowed by poverty, and day to day grinding issues that they have no time for anything but coping.
Readers asked if I might think about opening it up for everyone to read, so here it is.
Readers were also in touch to share stories. This one is anonymous, but I’m very grateful for it. Thank you, anon.
I've never employed a cleaner, even after 10 years on my own. But l hate vaccuming. Dunno why. My daughter talked me into it. “Dad you'll be giving money to someone who needs it.”
So l hired Denise from a FB post. She is so keen and hard working. Loves that l pay her $6/hr above her previous and minimum wage at a major supermarket where she worked from 10pm to 2am most nights. She got four hours pay but it almost always took five. She was flattered to be called the supervisor of two others but same pay. Now she sings when she works. Loves real coffee and chocolate biscuits, says it feels so good.
She's twice not replied to texts until the day after. Apologetic as hell. “Sorry, l ran out of minutes.” Two weeks ago called asking if l could pay her two days in advance as car had failed the WOF for a bald tyre. Up to date now. I gave her a dozen eggs from my chooks and she burst into tears.
Trying to give up smoking. Hasn't got vaccinated because she didn't believe it was free.
She's probably 40 and dirt poor. Has teenage kids and a dunga car. Rent takes most of the money. At the supermarket she worked six nights a week. She has no idea what "choices" even means. Gave up alcohol five years ago. Can't afford it.
Has never voted. Can only name one NZ politician and Donald Trump.
Denise is not her real name. Just loves to work really hard. Guess it fulfils her sense of self worth. Poverty ain't getting better where l live. So many people like Denise.
Monday 4.00 pm
Watching the announcement, learning we’re staying right where we are in Auckland. Level 3 is fine, says the PM, if people comply. Let us hope for more compliance.
What I wrote a couple of weeks ago is still how I see it:
One possibility is we just continue to make our way along bumpily, fractiously, managing day by day to stay just ahead of large-scale outbreak and large numbers of death and illness as we vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate and protect, protect, protect.
Another is that we don’t. In that case it probably won’t take long for the national mood to shift to somber and anxious and aghast and desperate to find protection as we witness gathering snowballing misery. At that point, people may prove to be altogether more open to doing whatever it takes to get safe.
Dirt poor for working hard getting rid of other people’s dirt. I fail to understand why such an important job as cleaning is so undervalued. The term unskilled labour is commonly heard but I don’t think there’s any such thing. If shops and offices aren’t cleaned properly they can’t function safely. People need to be paid enough to cover their outgoings for a comfortable place to live, healthy food and transport with some left over so they can actually enjoy the fruits of their labour. My heart goes out to Denise and those like her who are faced with poverty every damn day.
An important milestone - and two millstones - added to the archive. Thanks!
Sadly stereotypical perceptions of North Shore 'Go Girls' + dry humping character and lifestyles have been reinforced by the entitled indulgers of Redvale. Good to see that model agencies have removed at least two participants from their books. Simeon will be mortified that it wasn't a gang.