Almost the opposite view of yesterday’s picture.  The box in the mid-distance right by the lake edge is for the benefit of bird watchers.

from the council:

Plastic recycling changes on 1 July

From 1 July, Kāpiti Coast collectors and transfer stations will only accept plastics numbered 1, 2 and 5 for recycling. These make up most of the plastics used for packaging in New Zealand (87%), and include things like milk bottles and ice cream containers.

Plastics numbered 3, 4, 6 & 7 will no longer be accepted, because they cannot be recycled in New Zealand. Please put them in your general rubbish bin.

There are no changes to other types of recycling that will be collected, such as paper and cardboard, glass and cans.

To avoid unrecyclable plastics going to landfill, the best thing to do is to try and buy fewer of them, or reuse the containers at home. There’s information about how to do this on our website www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/waste, and ideas on how to reduce plastic waste on the Sort Waste website.

From The BFD

Monday’s protest marches run by rent-a-mob have achieved nothing other than to make the Prime Minister look like a complete fool. The first politician to point this out was none other than David Seymour, this country’s number one Opposition MP. He correctly pointed out that the demonstrations in Auckland are an “insult” to every New Zealander who had followed alert level two restrictions, which include a 100 person limit on public gatherings.

I’m the first to support free speech and protest, and to oppose abuse of police power. But this gathering is a slap in the face for every business that has restricted its operations, lost money, and laid off staff to comply with the Govt’s rules. Those rules must be removed now. pic.twitter.com/A1ISUW6AVo

— David Seymour (@dbseymour) June 1, 2020

Predictably, a spokesman for Jacinda Ardern declined to comment on the demonstrations. Mustn’t do or say anything to upset your fan base. You could tell it was her fan base just by looking at the pictures. All of them, if asked, would have said what a great job she has done and how her (silly) restrictions have helped. But then, with the combined intelligence of a bed bug, they all completely ignored them. I’m sure they felt that the cause justified disobeying the rules.

So where were Ardern’s compliant Police Force, the boys and girls in blue who have been throwing families of maybe half a dozen off the beaches? Where were they making sure no more than one hundred were in a group? Where were they ensuring social distancing during the protest? If they were in attendance they did sod all.

Monday’s demonstrations have served only to highlight the monumental farce this COVID-19 lockdown has been from the start. It’s been all about control but when control was most needed it was nowhere to be seen. It’s easy to pick on a family relaxing on a beach and to tell them to move along but when it comes to a rent a mob it appears doing nothing is the better part of valour.

This whole thing has been a sick joke (if you’ll pardon the pun). The demonstrations have made Ardern, Bloomfield and the other participants in the charade look like complete idiots. The Prime Minister should have been on the six o’clock news announcing the immediate cancellation of all levels and rules. At the very least we all now know that her control-freak rules can be ignored, particularly those about social distancing. Restaurants and public transport should all immediately return to pre-Covid operations.

Anything else is unacceptable. Rent-a-mob have burst the PM’s control bubble well and truly and now there is no putting the poo back in the donkey.

A Book for All Seasons

The tree’s most important means of staying connected to other trees is a “wood-wide web” of soil fungi that connect vegetation in an intimate network that allows the sharing of an enormous amount of information and goods. —Tim Flannery, Scientist and Conservationist

The social network of trees

By Roger Childs

Peter Wohlleben has been a forester in the Eifel Mountains in Germany for decades, and he has put together an amazing book on what he has learnt about trees. 

The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How they Communicate will change your perceptions of what goes on in a forest, forever. Much of what the author reveals has been known from university research for many years, but has never been made this accessible to the public.

The fundamental concept that provides the basis for the book is that forests are like human communities, and that within the wood-wide web trees think, feel, smell, communicate and share.

Interacting communities

The chapter headings of the book are indicative of how the author sees trees as being families and communities. A sample:

• Friendship
• Social Security
• Love
• Forest Etiquette
• Tree School
• Trees Aging Gracefully
• Street Kids
• Community Housing Projects.

Delightful elements of Wohlleben’s style are the ways he draws analogies with the human experience and stages of life, and compares different species to companies e.g. Spruce & Co.

Compared with human existence, life moves at a very leisurely pace in the forest and trees can live to very ripe old ages: possibly the oldest living thing on Earth is a spruce in Sweden which has been alive for over 9,000 years! 

However, forest communities are constantly busy places, as trees interact with one another and other elements of the ecosystem: soil, rock, insects, birds, animals, fungi, vegetation, sunlight and rain.

Multi-faceted connections 

In this complex social network there is competition and conflict, but also compassion and cooperation. Helping each other survive takes many forms. 

For example in the African savanna, giraffes eating from an acacia bush find that the next tree they come to has pumped toxic chemicals into its leaves. How so? The first tree has released a warning gas into the air for the others to pick up and take defensive action.

Fungi in the roots are key elements in linking trees of varying species, sharing nutrients and passing on vital information such as warnings of insect attacks. The scale can be huge: there is a honey fungus in Switzerland which covers close to 50 hectares!

An entertaining read

The Hidden Life of Trees is a highly interesting and very informative book. Although there is plenty of scientific detail provided, Peter Wohlleben explains things clearly and fluently, and the 36 chapters in the 250 page work are short and to the point.

The fascinating material is based on Wohlleben’s own on-the-ground experience and investigation, but also draws on articles from scientific journals and research from universities in Canada, the US, Germany and elsewhere.

This is an extraordinary book and, not surprisingly, has become a world-wide best seller. It is available from both the Waikanae and Paraparaumu Libraries or can can be bought from a good bookshop.

Mary Gow and Jian Liu

The Paekakariki concerts are back

By Mary Gow

After a long break because of Lockdown, Kapiti’s popular Mulled Wine Concerts are back with the first concert featuring Jian Liu, Mary Gow and friends.

Concertgoers have been eagerly awaiting the return of concerts and events and musicians of all stripes have been longing to play for audiences again.

Mulled Wine Concerts in Paekakariki will bring together some stellar names from the world of classical music in New Zealand. So, the first concert is at

Paekakariki Memorial Hall
Sunday, 7 June at 2:30 PM 

The size of the hall and the Lockdown Level 2 restrictions will limit the paying audience to 90, so people are advised to get their tickets as soon as possible.

A varied and entertaining programme
The programme features Jian Liu, Director of Classical Performance and Head of Piano Studies at the New Zealand School of Music. Together with long-time friend Mary Gow, organiser of the Mulled Wine Concerts, and also of major events in Brussels, Belgium, the duo have brought together Monique Lapins, violinist in the NZ String Quartet, Gabriela Glapska — a pianist from Poland who has recently completed her PhD in piano performance at the NZSM — and Ken Ichinose, Associate Principal Cello of the NZ Symphony Orchestra.

Concertgoers will be treated to an afternoon of fine music in a beautiful seaside setting.

Jian Liu starts the programme with pieces by Douglas Lilburn and Zianzhong Wang before being joined by Mary Gow to present–

Beethoven’s Sonata for Four Hands, Op.6;

The friends – Gabriela, Monique and Ken perform Haydn’s “Piano Trio in A major”, Schumann’s “Three Romances for Violin and Piano” and Janáček’s “Podádhka for Cello and Piano”.

The performance ends with the magnificent “Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor” by Rachmaninoff.

The shutdown has been problematic for musicians and concertgoers alike. But it has had the upside of keeping several of these high-level musicians, who would normally be travelling the world, at home in New Zealand and available for this concert. Local concertgoers are lucky indeed!

Getting tickets

Pre-sales (until 6 June) Adults: $25, Students (under 14): $10.

Door sales: $30.

Online sales: marygow@gmail.com
Info: 021 101 9609.

Available from Magpie at Paremata, 99 Mana Esplanade; D’Arcys Paekakariki Fruit Supply, 11 Beach Rd Paekakariki; Milk and Ginger, 18 Margaret St Raumati Beach; Moby Dicken’s Bookshop, Paraparaumu Beach; La Chic Hair Design, Kapiti Lights, JENOA Shop. 2 Mahara Place, Waikanae.

by Geoffrey Churchman

If there’s one thing that Mainstream Media News loves, it’s violence; they are attracted to it like moths to a flame — much more exciting than the daily Jacinda adulation.

Yet another in the infrequent but appalling race-motivated executions by thug cops in America has seen a wave of street protests in its major cities, some of which have inevitably involved violent incidents, not on the scale of the L.A. riots of 1992, but certainly enough to dominate the news bulletins there and here.

There are some intriguing differences with this latest incident, however, and skeptics are starting to pose alternative scenarios, like those on this webpage which begins:

Who benefits from the death of George Floyd?

The answer, of course, is that the forces of chaos and destruction (i.e. anti-American, anti-Trump) benefit from his murder. The more chaos and destruction is unleashed during this election year, the more the media hypes up the disaster and assigns blame to President Trump. Logically, it’s absurd, since President Trump had nothing to do with the murder of George Floyd. But emotionally, the media propaganda messaging whips up fear, anger and frustration — emotions that will largely be translated into anti-Trump sentiment in the coming elections.

There have been several similar incidents where genuine social protests against the forces of the state have been hijacked by anarchists and the ultra-violent Hard Left organisation Antifa to maximize destruction and mayhem in central cities.

That’s America — but there are aspects to all this which have a local relevance.  One is that a small number of cops like Derek Chauvin of Minneapolis are sure to exist in NZ, too. Another is that Jacinda and Stuart Nash’s intended constant arming of the police will create more opportunities to kill disliked petty crims easily — as long as they have a weapon (not necessarily a gun), a case can be made for needing to shoot them dead that a judge will accept.  And the most disturbing aspect is that statistically, Maori and Pasifika are likely to feature disproportionately.

Would there be a reaction here like that in America?  Depending on the particular circumstances, it’s likely and would work to the advantage of an authoritarian government like the one we have at present.

Update: statement by President Trump on 1 June (US time):

Signed Claire Lynch. It’s a painting, not a photo (usually not a good comparison for an artwork) set close to the river mouth. The water channel in the foreground doesn’t exist like that now, so this could go back several years.