BLUESKIN NEWS COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER Est. 1985 MAY 2020 Seacliff • Warrington • Evansdale • Waitati • Doctors Point • Purakaunui Who’s in your bubble? In this issue.... Don’t nark on your neighbours page 3 WCCB update page 4 Peaceful pinnipeds page 7 The Rant page 13 There’ll be dancing page 15 In the lockdown kitchen page 18 plus lots more ... Editors Note Blueskin Bay Community Spaces Hi everyone, I’m still sitting at my desk in my living room as I was last month at this time. It no longer feels odd Warrington Hall though and there is now a feeling of optimism that we Available for birthdays, family gatherings, exercise classes, dances and do’s etc at reasonable rates. may have weathered the worst – there is still no room for Hire includes a fully equipped kitchen and tables complacency however and following the rules for level 3 and chairs. will ensure our optimism is not misplaced. Contact Lyn 482 2896 or Rowena 482 2667 I have a few people to thank this month – huge thanks go Waitati Hall to Anne at Digiart who managed to print the last issue Suitable for large meetings, weddings, parties, only hours before lockdown, and will print this issue as concerts, dances etc. (up to 120) features kitchen, well. I’d also like to thank all the people who sent articles toilets, stage, sound system and large projection and those who responded to my call for pictures of the screen. bears around the community. Some may be disappointed Contact Blueskin Nurseries at 482 2828 not to see their contributions – there were just too many Waitati Hall Meeting Room to include them all. SuitableALL for committee CLOSED meetings, UNTIL small gatherings, As we are all still going to be in semi-bubbles for the next demonstrationsFURTHER etc. (up to 20 NOTICEpeople) features little time I would love to celebrate coming out of them kitchen and toilets. next month with lots of stories and pictures of what you Contact Blueskin Nurseries at 482 2828 have been doing for the last month. Sand sculptures Blueskin Bay Library Meeting Room have been appearing on the beach at Warrington and I’m Suitable for committee meetings, presentations, sure there has been lots of creative activity happening in training, interviews etc. (up to 12 people) features homes around the Bay. modular tables, large projection screen, kitchenette On Anzac day we stood in the road at dawn and listened and toilets. to the Last Post on the radio and then a bagpipe Contact Blueskin Bay Library 482 2444 | [email protected] recording my son had sent from the UK. I felt really proud Hire charge is usually applicable, details can be to be part of this great community in New Zealand. obtained on request Keep safe, warm and well - Bernie 2 | May 2020 Don’t Nark on Your Neighbours! Hello from Blueskin These are very strange times, we scuttle around our villages trying to get some mind saving fresh air, to Nurseries escape the house (and sometimes those we share it We hope you are all enjoying some time in your own with), we keep our dogs on tight leads and step around backyard. We must say it has been nice to have a slower each other on the footpath. Some people are trying pace of life and stand back and smell the flowers in our to work from home in trying circumstances with own garden. too many family members and pets and testy tech. Some people are all alone, missing family and regular We are preparing for the garden centre open again when gatherings and just being able to wander around the we move back to level 3. We are hoping to be able to shops. Some people don’t have a warm comfy house, sell plants, however there will be changes to business enough money to pay the bills and buy food for a bunch procedures and you may have to be patient with stock of hungry, demanding, fighting children. Some people and plants arrival. are desperately worried about their businesses, paying 1. Bulbs can still be planted. Bulbs can be planted in pots the rent, keeping staff employed, avoiding the tax man. use a good tub mix preferably one especially for bulbs. Some people may have already lost their job or think it Shorter growing varieties are better so they don’t need will happen soon, or have had their pay cut, their hours staking. Give the bulbs space to come up between the cut or just have no idea where they stand. And of course flowers. Alternatively add some bulbs around the base while the rest of us are restless and bored and frustrated of your trees or topiary shrubs. These are particularly at home, some people are going to work every day to good around deciduous trees, planted in the lawn difficult and dangerous and probably underappreciated with a small garden at their base. You will have spring and under paid jobs. colour before the trees come into leaf. In amongst all this there have been so many examples 2. Hydrangeas – when your hydrangea flowers are past of human kindness, humour and initiative. Neighbours their best. Cut the flower stem right back to a bud or and family making an effort to reach out and offer help, branch about halfway up. Or pick them when they are to pick up shopping or to phone or skype or zoom. ready and hang them up-side- down in a nice dry spot Organisations have found new ways to provide support; inside. new services have sprung up to meet the needs of the 3. Plant an Orchard at home - Autumn is a great time to elderly, disabled, and kids not in school. The media has plant an Orchard. We are going to have a special offer adapted to the new order with regular updates, staff to Valued Customer Card holders 30% off Fruit trees writing and broadcasting from home, the inter-web is until the end of May 2020. Includes Apples, Pears, fizzing with clever skits, helpful information and mind Plums, Figs and Stonefruit. If you are not a Blueskin numbing movies and Netflix series. Valued Customer member come in and sign up to get Meanwhile some people who are feeling grumpy, who this special discount. think they are almost perfect, who know what the new 4. Apples are well suited to our climate, reasonably easy rules are and want to tell everyone else, are sneaking to care for and most are self fertile. Apples are very around watching other people from behind their versatile you can grow them in most shapes and are twitching net curtains. Then some people are telling ideal for espalier or even a dwarf variety in a pot. other people what to do, gossiping to neighbours, calling the cops, behaving like petty school kids. Don’t do it, it’s 5. Vegetable gardening - Time to plant Broad beans not helpful, no one is perfect, we are all trying to do our and garlic in your garden. You can still plant your best to adapt to the new order, everyone has to find their Brassicas and some other vegetables may need a own path through these difficulties and when the lock up cold frame. Slugs and white butterflies have been is over we still need to live in this community, be friends abundant though. with our neighbours and not feel ostracised or judged. As If you have any orders or special requests, please email us Jacinda says “Be kind”, don’t nark on your neighbours. and we can have these aside and ready for you to collect Geraldine Tait when we move to level 3. [email protected] May 2020 | 3 Waikouaiti Coast Community Board Update Alasdair Morrison I would like to start this month’s update by saying Thank You to a number of folk, on behalf of my fellow Community Board Members, and the wider public. Thanks must go to the proprietors of the general stores in Waitati, Karitane and Waikouaiti for keeping their businesses open during the lockdown. This has been a great help in reducing the need for people to go into the city for their daily needs. And we must not forget to say Thank You to their cheerful staff. We also say thank you to our ‘Posties’ who have continued to deliver the mail, no matter what the weather brings. We have to say Thank You to the Dunedin City Council staff who have been on duty and have kept the essential services operating during the lockdown. We thank the Police for maintaining good order and doing their best to ensure that people have been obeying the Alert Level 4 lockdown rules. We also thank the Government agencies for giving us concise and clear information on a daily basis about the current pandemic. We need to say thank you for dedicated people who keep on producing the Otago Daily Times, the Blueskin News and the POWA monthly magazine to keep us informed about current issues. We should also thank those individuals who have provided ANZAC Day tributes at the local war memorials to ensure that, in lieu of the usual public remembrance, there would still be something there for people to visit and reflect on years gone by. I would like to thank my fellow board members for their hard work in producing a yellow COVID-19 information flyer which was distributed to all residents in the north coast area early in the current lockdown period. Part way through the lockdown there had been a bit of frustration that there not been much in the way of public information coming from DCC.