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Happy New Year 2022

Richmond New Years Eve 2021

It was a fairly quiet night in Richmond on New Years Eve with people choosing to have a night in to celebrate rather than going out.

There were quite a few parties going on in the suburbs with some fireworks going off during the very mild evening. Every now and then one could hear loud roars of laughter and cheering  from different locations during the evening.

The New Year has arrived with a beautiful day with a temperature of 14 degrees at 6 am going to a high of 27 degrees during the day with a gentle breeze from the south west.

Richmond New Year Morning 2022

After nearly two years of Covid it is time to reflect for a few moments and acknowledge the stress we have all been under and hope that the New Year will bring better times.

Happy New Year to you all.

My Christmas Lillies

NEWS FLASH - LATEST UPDATE ON SANTA'S TRAVELS

 

Nelson's Christmas Tree

On Christmas Eve December 24, 3048 in an undisclosed location in the Top of the South the following story was found in an archaeological dig in what looks like a plastic milk container near a secret stash of presents.

It reads:

Once Upon A Time when there was a great sickness, Santa Claus whispered in my ear that he was starting early this year, 2021,  to organise transport and stockpiling toys for all the children in the world. 

Santa thinks the demand for toys this year is going to be huge but he has his elves to help him to design, make toys and deal with the millions of requests from all of the children.

Children from all over the world needed more presents because with all the lockdowns, due to the big sickness, children had worn-out all of their toys.

Santa at Mitre 10 Nelson

Santa’s elves have been very very busy, making more and more toys. Bushy Evergreen, the elf in charge of Santa’s toy making machine, told me “it’s hard keeping up with meeting children’s endless demand for new toys in this time of the big sickness.”

Santa believes that there is such a demand for toys he has instructed his elves to call on the Richmond Menzshed workers to make a new toy making machine for elf Bushy Evergreen.

Christmas in Richmond Mall

Santa’s elves under the direction of Humphrey, the Chief Elf, has had to build a new factory in the North Pole to cope with the demand for toys and the new toy making machine.

Santa used to rely on big container ships to stockpile toys around the world to later pick them up with his magic sleigh on Christmas Eve. Due to the big sickness all the ships are delayed.

Tasman District Council Christmas Tree

As a result Santa needed a new bigger magic sleigh. Elf Wunorse Openslae, who is in charge of the reindeers and Santa’s magic sleigh, had the job of enlarging Santa’s sleigh, increasing it’s size and power, from 9 reindeers to 18 reindeers to cope with the extra load of presents. Of course, Rudolph the red nose reindeer who has the magic to guide all the reindeers and who is the most experienced is put up front to lead the way.

Because it has been so busy Mrs Claus has been called in to help Santa this year with all the presents. The creative young elf, Sugarplum Mary, has taken over Mrs Claus’ work in the kitchen making all the sweet treats.

Santa could not go in any Santa Parades as all over the world they were cancelled due to the big sickness which has made Santa and the children very sad.

Nevertheless, Santa’s elves have been extremely busy helping each shop owner in Tasman and Nelson to decorate their shops for Santa. Helping to put up big Christmas trees around the towns and cities of the Upper South Island of New Zealand so Santa will feel welcome when he does his rounds on Christmas Eve.

"Dear children" said Santa "didn’t worry about not having a chimney for me to slide down as Mrs Claus is coming to help me, due to the ultimate demand for toys, and she has a fairy wand to unlock the door of every house in the world."

All households have a Christmas tree so Santa can put presents underneath it. Santa told me “I don’t like beer very much anymore.” So children leave out yummy nuts and fruit for him and Mrs Claus to find under your Christmas trees to give them energy to keep going.

Some clever children asked their parents to plant a Christmas tree in a pot to make sure there was one for next year, because of climate change.

 

Children didn't queue to see Santa this year. Due to the big sickness Santa is very busy talking to all of you in little healthy dedicated Santa rooms all over the world to find out what you want for Christmas.

To help Santa, his good friend alf Alabaster Snowball, a very intelligent elf, kept tabs on the behaviour of all the children by an elaborate computer system which gives each child’s “naughty or nice rating”. Not surprisingly, due to the big sickness, all the children have been nice this year and Alabaster told Santa he would have extra work as there were no naughty children this year.

Around Nelson and Tasman, Santa likes cruising around the hills in his new magic sleigh before Christmas. He speeds along the Maitai Valley, zips along the Richmond Ranges, across the valley and up and over gliding down the majestic Takaka valley and hills.(he is really testing out his new sleigh)

  

He pops into local businesses buying a pie in Wakefield, a cup of tea in Murchison, an orange juice in Tapawera and an ice- cream in Mapua.  He has tried out the new traffic lights in Motueka and fed his reindeers nourishing and delicious cherries in Riwaka. He loves coming to the Top of the South. All the children are keeping a keen eye out for him.

The big question among all the residents is what is Santa getting for Mrs Claus for Christmas?

After Christmas it was thought that Mr and Mrs Claus would go home to the North Pole for a well-deserved rest, but in the days following Christmas all the children kept an eye out again as it was rumoured that Santa might have a fishing holiday in Golden Bay. He has a taste for snapper you see!

Sadly, due to Santa being overworked and underpaid, he forgot to leave a present for the Pigeon Post News Editor …. oh well there’s always next year.

The archaeologists have also found in the archaeological dig part of Santa's sleigh. It must have broken off the new up-graded sleigh making it tip out a pile of presents.

There was no reports of children not receiving any presents in the year 2021, except for me, so Santa must have made up time to deliver all his presents.

Of course by the time he had delivered presents to Tasman and Nelson he would be still going delivering presents on the other side of the world in another time zone.

Anne-Maree Therkleson Creative input

Copyright
Pigeon Post News
Merry Christmas from the Pigeon Post Team - see you again in the New Year.

Tasman District Council requires library staff to be vaccinated

 

Following consultation with staff, Tasman District Council has released its Covid-19 vaccination policy. 

Tasman District Council has had a difficult job weighing the pros and cons of this policy due to the fact that there are many people in places like Golden Bay that have low vaccination rates.

The new policy, which applies from Monday, 20 December 2021 says all high-risk roles require staff to be vaccinated. At this stage, all roles in the Council’s libraries are considered high-risk, meaning library staff will need to provide evidence of full vaccination by Monday, 24 January 2022. 

The Council is also currently considering the introduction of the My Vaccine Pass (MVP) for its libraries, with a decision expected later this week. 

The Council has also decided that if the region moves to the Red Traffic Light setting, mandatory vaccination for all staff will be required and MVP entry for all Council offices and libraries will be introduced. 

In finalising the policy, a range of important factors were considered, Tasman CEO Janine Dowding said. 

“These included the relatively high rate of community vaccination uptake for the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board (NMDHB) area, the current number of vaccinated staff and the Government’s additional vaccination assessment tool guidance that was released on 15 December. 

“Our obligations as an employer under the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) were considered, as were the obligations of every staff member to take reasonable care of their own health and safety and to ensure their actions don’t cause harm to themselves or others. 

“As an employer we would prefer all staff were vaccinated and we continue to encourage those staff not vaccinated to do so. The situation with COVID-19 can change very quickly and we need to be able to respond to any changing circumstances just as quickly.”

Pigeon Post News

Takaka Hill Road Finished - Two Lanes Open

GOLDEN BAY RESIDENTS WILL BE PLEASED - NO MORE TRAFFIC LIGHTS

After four years, 28 million Dollars and some setbacks, work to repair damage from Cyclone Gita on State Highway 60, Tākaka Hill Road between Riwaka and Tākaka have been completed today.

The Tākaka Hill repairs team said that from today at about 3pm the hill road will be open to two way traffic.

Residents from Golden Bay will be so pleased that there will be no traffic lights on the hill anymore as now the first traffic lights they will encounter are the new sets in Motueka.

The Christmas holiday makers will have an easy ride to Golden Bay this year to the pleasure of businesses who depend on them for the summer season.

Waka Kotahi said today “the traffic light system on the Riwaka side of the hill will be removed and two lanes will be back in action after nearly four years on this rebuild project, following Cyclone Gita.” 

Takaka Hill site 11 February 2018

“The speed limit will be temporarily reduced to 30km for the busy holiday period, and to allow motorists to adjust to the road with two lanes; and again in the new year, when minor tidy-up works are being completed on the road sides. This will be done under localised traffic management, with minimal impact to traffic.”

Takaka Hill 13 December 2021

The Waka Kotaki and Downer team worked on 15 worksites in total, the first 10 more straightforward sites were tackled in the first two years, with the remaining five more complex and highly engineered sites designed only after geotechnical investigations. They've been under construction over the past 18 months. 

The first COVID-19 shutdown in April 2020 delayed the start on this work and pushed it into the winter months, affecting its final completion date. 

Takaka Hill 13 February 2018

Waka Kotahi said “the harsh conditions - it's very cold winter on the south side of the hill - and complexity of work required in these steep gullies have been extremely challenging for the crews.”

Takaka Hill 13 December 2021

The NZ Transport Agency said “please take extra care driving this narrow and windy road. With multiple bends and no median barriers to safely separate oncoming traffic - we ask everyone to please stay alert and keep left.” 

The Team thanked everyone for bearing with them as “we know these last few years have been tough on everyone who uses this key and only route in and out of Golden Bay. 

Thank you for your patience and understanding.” 

Waka Kotaki “wish you a very merry Christmas and a wonderful, safe New Year."

Pigeon Post News

(Julie & Mark we will see you more often!)

Police Pre-Christmas Warning

File Photo

Police would like to remind people not to send gift-cards, vouchers and money through the mail, in the lead-up to Christmas.

“We’re starting to head into what is traditionally the busiest time of the year for items being posted, and unfortunately we do see more instances of mail theft,” Police Investigation Support Unit Constable Cheyenne Welsh says.

“These kinds of presents are usually sent in cards and letters – which aren’t tracked, unlike larger parcels.”NZ Post encourages Kiwis to check its Web site before they send something to see if it is prohibited.

If a parcel is stolen after NZ Post completes delivery of the item, the theft becomes a Police matter and people will need to report the theft to the Police.

The Police advise to get packages delivered to a place where someone will be home to receive them, or to a work address if you are an essential worker.

If you do have deliveries made to your home, make sure you're going to be home to sign for them, or have a secure location where they can be left.

Make sure your delivery instructions are clear and ask for packages not to be placed at your front door, or on top of an apartment building post box.

If you're not going to be home when the parcel is delivered, arrange to collect your parcel from the depot, or have the parcel redirected to the address of someone you trust.

Be smart when disposing of packaging, so passers-by can’t see if you've been buying expensive items.

Report any suspicious behaviour to Police. For example; if you see a car following a courier van, or an unexpected visitor knocks on your door asking for someone you don't know.

If you see any suspicious activity, such as people loitering around vehicles or looking into car windows, please contact Police immediately by phoning 111.

Pigeon Post News

Tasman District Council Planning Consent Delays

 

The Tasman District Council has announced that it is having delays in processing applications for Planning Consents.

The Council advised that due to a combination of high demand for services and staff shortages, the Council’s  consents team have had to set some realistic timeframes in order to assist planning for their customers.

The Council states that “along with other teams across the country, our consenting services have been affected by a shortage of experienced planners. Over 1,000 consent applications have been lodged since the start of 2021, which has presented significant challenges to our expected timeframes.”

In the weeks leading up to the Christmas holiday period historically the Council sees an increase in applications and duty planner requests being made to the Council as many of their customers seek information and consents before they head into the Christmas break. 

The Council said “we are already entering the busy pre-Christmas holiday time of year with an existing backlog of applications and duty planner queries. With the current staffing constraints, we will not be able to meet all the demand prior to the Christmas break.”

“For anyone who lodged a consent application or requested duty planning advice after 22 November 2021, it has been logged and assigned to a planner and will be responded to in the order they were received. However, it is unlikely that these will be processed until at least 17 January 2022. Our pre-application service will also not be available over this period.”

The Council stated that the situation is below the level of service they want to deliver and they know that the service is below what the Tasman community deserves but Council believes it is important to provide clarity and as much transparency as possible about their current timeframes so people can plan for and understand the potential delays. 

The Council said “we are working hard to manage the matters within our control to reduce the impacts to our customers and we ask for your patience at this time.”

Pigeon Post News