STEEL WOOL

Sorry, that image isn't of steel wool but I can see why you might get confused. It's of a Moeran christian careering at full tilt towards oblivion.

Here's the image of steel wool:

For an explanation go to the comments in Riccardo's Basso Bagno blog's latest post (if you dare)

Robert the Moeran christian (it's a very small society) in his latest post said a lot of silly things - I know, I know, you are asking "so what's new" but hey! Stay with me. This latest post from his is a doozy.

Robert said:

"Evidently the local elections have come and gone. Hang on while I get another coffee. Yelling comes from the street "Why are you doing this to me?". Lots of F words. A women is yelling at a young man attired only in shorts (he's doing the swearing) as they walk up the middle of the road. He yells back in the incensed righteous way of drunks. So it goes. The problem with local elections is that we have zero feedback about performance. I believe we need more scrutiny of council members. An independent body that rates their performance or looks into prospective representatives qualifications and past behaviour. That's partly why I didn't vote. The envelope sat in my lounge. No one said when the elections were. So I just left it and left it. Now it has been. I'd just be ticking random people anyway for the afore mentioned reason. K told me that Margaret Cousins (former deputy mayor) was pleased with the new Mayor that was elected. She is kind of conservative in her preferences. That is good. A smallish city like Hutt can't afford 'think big' projects. Another problem is one never knows if projects are local, regional or Government funded. Do I blame our mayor for the ridiculously expensive Eastbourne cycle/walkway or the huge project underway to safeguard Hutt against a 1 in 500 (maybe its 200) year flood?"

In the interests of making you all suffer like Richard, sorry Riccardo, and I had to do by reading his entire blog post I decided to copy and paste entire swathes of this diatribe dialogue. No need to thank me.

I feel that I must point out some key statements in his dia ... dialogue:

"That's partly why I didn't vote. The envelope sat in my lounge. No one said when the elections were. So I just left it and left it. Now it has been. I'd just be ticking random people anyway for the afore mentioned reason. "

OK, there's a lot there and I recognised it when I first read this stuff and the entire post which, believe me, contained a lot of other stuff that needed ranting remonstrating over. The trouble is though that after a tiring drive through bad weather, exacerbated by a couple of glasses of chardonnay (delicious Craggy Range Hawkes Bay Kidnappers) I think I've lost the plot.  I still think that what Robert wrote was nonsense in that, with regard to the local elections, there has been ample information sent out by post, by major news media, by local newspapers and by social media shit like Facebook that I know that Robert subscribes to. The information on the regional electorates has been adequately promulgated. The issues have been discussed in the various media and opportunities to attend local meetings have been provided and lobbied for. I've been to some in my local area.

The information regarding the candidates pedigrees, current activities, intentions and political associations is all available and, to help voters, has been summarised in the documentation that came with the voting papers. The dates of the elections, the timing for getting votes in and the procedures have been spelled out personally and directly to the voters via the mail-outs and ad nauseam through social media, mainstream media and local newspaprs. What more does Robert want? Guidance from the Holy Ghost, Mary or Jesus? Sheesh!

I'll leave it To Riccardo, sorry, Richard to put it more succinctly in his morning post that wasn't fuelled by chardonnay" 

"Actually, Rob didn't vote in the local election. Maybe the task was too difficult?
Here's what they expect you to do:
Get a letter from your letterbox.
Open it.
Check the voting form.
Read about the candidates.
Tick a few boxes.
Put the information in a supplied envelope.
Pop the envelope into a postbox.



Rob and I both live in 'The Hutt' so I had to go through this process too. I knew of a few candidates, but some I had to read about in the included pamphlet. It was all pretty clear, and I completed the task in a short period of time. It certainly didn't take hours, or weeks. I measured the time it took in minutes."

Well said that man.