It's time to stand up to the Australians, Mr Key!

 I have a simple meassge for Mr Key today---DO NOT LET THE AUSSIES get away with their bully boy tactics. Grow those 'things' you need for the meetings you attend. We need close relationships with the Austrlaians, but ones based on trust and equality. Stand Up to them! If not---go the way of others who have failed us!

An 'Ode' to an egg---not just any egg---Doug's egg!

Only someone who has gone through bariatric surgery or some other medical procedure that results in a prolonged period of abstinence from real food will understand my opening headline. Of course members of the family or anyone supporting the above mentioned people will also be in the ‘know.’ When one has to endure thin watery soups or yoghurt, pureed fruit and veggies along with a few other delightful non-foodie supplements; sometimes for several months, there comes a time when that first poached egg becomes a beacon of hope; for things-better-to-come.

You dream of your first lightly poached egg. You imagine the yolk, leaking from your mouth, mainly because you are so entranced with the rich flavour that your manners go out the window. Nothing is wasted. Your tongue searches for every last vestige of the wonder-egg. You laugh at yourself, thankful that nobody is observing your obsession.

Who cares? After the operation and ‘doing the right thing’ for so long, you damn well deserve to take pleasure in something so simple. It is the beginning of a new life. It is almost perfect that it should be an egg. There will be further delights, but the egg is almost symbolic of your new journey. That wonderful food, encapsulated within the pearl-like shell. Oh wonderful egg; we don’t care if they laugh at our love affair, with an egg---do we? Doug knows exactly what I mean. ENJOY!

www.authorneilcoleman.com

What's up with you, Australia? Is it some sort of 'economic war?'

Today we hear that two major retail outlets that between them control 80% of the supermarket trade had demanded that only Australian goods be on the shelves of their outlets. This excludes more than $400 million of NZ fruit and veggies. In the past, if was NZ apples that were illegally banned from Australia under the 'mistaken' idea that our apples represented a threat to the Aussie orchardists. This had been proven wrong many years ago and it was only after NZ took the Aussies, kicking and screaming, to court that we finally won access to that market. Is this what we are going to need to do again, even though we have an extremely close economic trade agreement with Australia? Surely things should not come to this. What is it with you guys, our  ANZAC 'cousins.' You seem to be ramping up the game. You deny NZers equality on a range of issues, including access to benefits and other rights that we bestow on you after two years of residency in NZ. What is it about you that you come over to NZ to recruit our workers, including teachers, tradespeople, doctors and many other 'professionals, yet when we arrive there, we are treated so badly?
You are treating us a 'second class' citizens and quite frankly you are acting like nasty economic bullies. Maybe NZ needs to look at the bigger picture and NZ's political leaders should shape up and shove it at you and retrospectively cancel the rights that your citizens enjoy here in NZ! Your actions smack of big bully, nasty and 'up yourself ' -----'let's just use NZ as and when it suits us,
' something akin to how the USA treat Mexico or Canada! Hell, you seem to be a good job of pissing the Indonesians off, so I guess little NZ is an easy target, from both major political parties in Australia. Come on home Kiwis and help make us the best little nation in the Pacific and leave Aussie as a 'holiday project.' So much for brotherly warm fuzzy feelings. They just don't exist unless the boot is on the big 'lucky country's' foot.
www.authorneilcoleman.com