Kia ora koutou

*Ponderings about sustainability

*Filming postponed until February

*Accident and near misses in the car park

Ponderings about sustainability: Three weeks to go to the end of the school term. And just under five weeks to Christmas. I don’t know about you, but I love Christmas and I love the opportunity that Christmas preparation brings to focus on my whanau/family. For many years now, my children have purchased presents for each other through a “Secret Santa” process – pulling the name of the person that they will secretly buy for from out of a (metaphorical) hat. Given that each one has seven siblings, it is not realistic for each of them to buy for every sibling, and then there are the nephews! However, this year they have decided to put the money together they would spend on presents and give it to a charity. I think the question of how much “stuff” we really need is a valid one and it is becoming a much more urgent and pressing question as our world struggles to cope with all our “stuff”.

As you may be aware, John and I recently moved up the Kapiti Coast, from a 315m2 house in Churton Park to a rented tiny home which is less than 30m2. This has raised questions for us about what we really need to live a comfortable, fulfilled life. We are currently enjoying our much more outdoor lifestyle, especially while the weather is warm. The climate is allowing us grow our own vegetables and herbs – even strawberries - and it feels a bit like camping (little housework etc.). However, we know that when we build again, we will want to maintain the outdoor focus and the feeling of camping, but we will certainly build a bigger home than the one we are currently in. It is a little too cramped for a busy lifestyle and I love a decent kitchen for cooking. But we have also realized that we don’t need as much space as we once thought we did and that we have to be more realistic about what our world can sustain – about the size of the footprint we can each afford to have.

We have just purchased a beautiful, nearly two acres of sand dunes with wonderful views of Kapiti Island and the ocean. It is just a few minutes walk to the beach and the area will never be built-up because of all the covenants put on the land by the Environment Court to ensure the land remains as natural as possible. We will build a comfortable home for our retirement, but we will also be mindful of what a sustainable footprint will be.

Filming postponed: The documentary filming that was due to take place on Wednesday (that I emailed you about a week or two ago) has been postponed until later in February 2020. While we were excited about the filming, the postponement is something of a relief because this is an extremely pressured time and February will be a much better time for filming in schools in New Zealand.

Accident and near misses in the car park: When we are on car park duty in the afternoons, it is often made clear to us that some people think we are being overly and unnecessarily pedantic when we enforce the car park behaviours and rules that we have set. However, several things have happened recently that have reminded us why we need to enforce the rules even when people think that it seems unnecessary. The situation in the car park can change very quickly, and a car that is waiting in the wrong spot for a park to become available or for their children to emerge, can be safe one minute, but become a hazard in the next minute. Hence, we choose to draw a very clear line and enforce the expectations and rules, rather than risk a hazard developing. Last week we had an accident between two cars in the car park – no one was hurt, thankfully; and while I was on car park duty another afternoon last week, I saw two very near collisions between cars. Our policy is that it is better to be safe than sorry and so we will continue to require people to follow the car park rules to the letter, because you never know when what seems like an “innocuous” breaking of the rules will become a dangerous hazard.

Enjoy the countdown to holidays and Christmas.

Ngā mihi nui

Lesley