I hope my newsletter finds you well.
Wow! It’s already March, we’re gearing up for Easter. However, before I talk about what I’ve been up to, I’d like to go over some main events globally and locally. A heck of a lot happened in February, and its easy to forget. Let’s have a little recap.
Multiple devastating earthquakes struck Southern Turkey and Northern Syria which flattened entire residential areas and destroyed vital infrastructure. Estimates indicate that over 41,000 died. But how many were injured, or had their homes destroyed, it’s just very sad.
The United States saw some spy action of its own when a Chinese (spy) balloon flew over the United States and was eventually shot down. Naturally, the Chinese protested and said it was a weather balloon which had accidentally gone off track. If it had been the other way around, a US balloon overflying China, they would have shot it down almost immediately and demanded sanctions on the US for breaching their sovereign territory. Just look at their history of aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea towards Freedom of Navigation activities in international waters, and airspace. Naturally, the US went on high alert and more balloons were shot down. Probably not Chinese origin or conducting surveillance, however, great to have shake-out drills and some high-altitude target practice.
There was also the Superbowl. Where the half-time entertainment and the television adverts are as much of the spectacle as the game. A game where I have no idea what’s going on. My son gets it and enjoys watching. Me, clueless! So, if you want to explain what’s going on and why everyone off the ball gets tackled, feel free to drop me a line.
Then, there was the State of the Union Address. Naturally, a polarised nation viewed the address as either great, or the pathway to a socialist take-over. I have my own views which I’ll not share here.
There was the toxic spill with the train derailment in Ohio. The pollution to the land and water systems will take years to clean up and who knows what the long-term health impacts are when you add the fire and “controlled burn” of the chemicals in the tankers which made the air toxic for a few days. The air, land and water pollution won’t be good for the people of East Palestine and there should be long-term health monitoring for the wider community.
If you’ve read my book Prizm, you’ll be interested in the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News where damages of over $1Billion are being sought. What we learnt from the depositions was that some of the Fox News hosts didn’t believe the guests who were saying the 2020 election had mass irregularities. Indeed, their private communications showed the hosts didn’t have much respect for their guests.
The Russian war with Ukraine had reached its 1-year anniversary. Most people (including myself) believed the war would be over in weeks as either the Russians steamrolled over the much smaller and less well-equipped Ukrainians. Or the Russians would run out of steam due to logistical challenges. Today, both sides have fixed positions, the Russians attack and the Ukrainians defend. The attacker normally has more losses than the defender which is calculated to be a 3:1 ratio. Hence the Russians experiencing heavy losses as they undertake human wave attacks across an extended front line. The Ukrainians continue to trade territory for time and slow the Russians down while they wait for advanced western weapon systems and more western trained Ukrainian soldiers to arrive. There is a lack of ammunition on both sides, this has been shown by the Russians artillery bombardments going from 60,000 shells per day to 20,000. 20,000 is still a big number. Hence, the recent Russian discussions with China for ammunition and drones. What the Russians do have is men, lots of them to throw at the front lines, using tactics straight from the second World War. High casualty rates doesn’t bother the Kremlin and the use of prisoners is viewed positively by the Russian population as it is seen as “Cleansing the country of criminals”. However, those criminals who survived 6 months have received pardons, and many return to their home communities. This hasn’t been well received in those communities as some very nasty people return home, complete with a degree of protection from the police due to “their service to mother Russia”.
Keeping on the subject of the Russian war in Ukraine, President Biden made a surprise, and historic visit to Kyiv. It is a first for a US President to visit an active war zone where the United States doesn’t command the battle space or control the critical infrastructure. While he was traveling to / from Kyiv and while in the city, I’m sure if there was a move by the Russians on him, there would have been plans in place to deal forcefully with the threat.
In New Zealand we’ve had two cyclones to hit the country. The first one struck Auckland and Northland quite hard. There were many land slips and much flooding. Even Auckland airport was flooded which resulted in closure of the airport for a few days while they pumped the water out and cleaned up. Cyclone Gabrielle then struck which impacted Northland, the Coromandel and the Hawkes Bay area. A national state of emergency was declared, and the army had to carve new roads due to the slips and washouts. Some communities will take years to recover, and the government has some hard decisions to make. The first one is a review of the forestry industry and their powerful lobbyists, as the practice of leaving forestry slash behind after logging operations has regularly caused problems as the left behind wood and debris gets washed into waterways along with the silt. This causes dams to form which eventually burst sending a torrent of water, logs and debris downstream which takes out houses and bridges. Next, is whether areas should be re-populated or left as part of a managed migration onto higher (less flood prone) ground. There is little point in repairing properties if they flood again in a year or two. Homeowners will be impacted when their insurance companies refuse to renew their policies, or to offer policies to people living in these now flood prone areas. So far, we are looking at a multi-billion-dollar repair bill and the government is looking at increasing our taxes to cover the cost.
We also had a 6.1 magnitude earthquake a short distance from Wellington. However, it was very deep, so there was no damage.
What have I been doing in February?
Waitangi Weekend Break
We headed down to the South Island, flying from Wellington to Nelson and then took a helicopter over the Awaroa Lodge in the Abel Tasman. You may recall that last February we went there and after our first night we awoke to find a note telling us that a staff member had COVID and we had to leave. This year, different rules are in place and so our plans weren’t disrupted. The reason for flying to the lodge, is time. It would mean an early start (4am) to catch the ferry and about 12 hours door-to-door. Flying and the use of a helicopter is around 4 hours door-to-door and is pretty cool!
While at the lodge we walked along near empty sandy beaches. I’d planned to go Kayaking on the Sunday morning, however, a weather front was about to pass over and the wind and rain were to build while we would have been on the water. The last hour would have had us punching into the wind with “wind-over-tide” which makes for big waves. While safe, it would have made the experience less fun and I didn’t plan to be unhappy. So, we met with our guide and talked it through before we cancelled and instead just chilled. With a few glasses of sparkling wine, from our lodge we watched the heavy rain. I also wrote more on Revolution (Book 6 in the series).
Overnight, the weather front had passed through, so on Sunday the sun came out for the entire day. We took a sea shuttle from Awaroa Beach to Totaranui, then walked along the Abel Tasman track to Anapai Bay where we stopped for a swim and lunch.
Since we had time to kill before we walked back to Awaroa Lodge (as we couldn’t start to cross Awaroa Inlet before 3:30pm), we sat at bench and enjoyed the beachfront view of the sea. When the time was right, we retraced our steps to Totaranui and then to Awaroa Inlet. Walking with light daypacks was far easier than the last time we walked it with a tent, sleeping bag and 12 days supplies for our walk one way and back (it didn’t need to take 12 days, we just needed to burn time between Christmas and New Year, so took extra time on the most northern part). But, oh my! Walking with a light load, what a difference.
Crossing Awaroa Inlet as we hit low tide, at the deepest parts the water still reached our thighs.
Approaching the lodge, we stopped at the highly popular pizzeria which is run by the lodge and had a chilled beer as a treat at the end of a lovely day.
The food at the lodge is amazing. However, the menu is limited to a choice of 6 mains, so if you’re staying for more than a few nights and there are items you don’t like, you can find yourself having the same main meal.
On Monday, we were being picked up at 11am and after breakfast and packing, we decided to go for a walk along the local beach. We were lucky enough to watch a large stingray swimming in the shallows as it moved into the breaking waves, probably looking for food, such as jellyfish.
At the lodge that morning two other helicopters from the Nelson based company I was using had arrived with their passengers. At 11, we headed over to the airfield when an employee from the lodge arrived on his quad bike which pulled a trailer which carried our gear. A few minutes later, our helicopter arrived and after our gear was loaded and a quick safety brief, we were on our way back to Nelson airport and our Air New Zealand flight to Wellington.
The views over the Marlborough Sounds on the short flight to Wellington were again stunning as we could see many of the small islands and bays.
The rest of the month has been a bit of a blur and I’ve tried to stay more focussed on writing.
Migraine Update
Last month I wrote about suffering from repeated migraines which were quite debilitating and fatiguing. Cathy suggested we reorganise my home office so I’m looking out of the window and so the screens I use don’t have glare from the daylight streaming through the windows. While sceptical, the idea of looking out beyond my screens at daylight and a wall of trees and shrubs from our neighbours property was appealing. Since moving things around, I’ve not suffered from any further migraines. Long may this continue.
Writing
Framed (Book 5) is finally finished. It’s been a long journey to get to this point as I re-wrote almost the entire first half of the story. I’m really happy with the story and its gone through more spelling, grammar and proof reading checks … though errors will always sneak passed. I’m just waiting for my print book cover design to come back and then I’ll upload it onto Amazon for pre-orders. You’ll hear more about Framed in April.
Revolution (Book 6), I’m on Chapter 28 having written 52,500 words and I’m making good progress. Where we are in the story is the identity of the killer has been revealed to Flint. He knows what connects the victims, but he has yet to figure out why this person is on a killing spree. With Flint being attacked more than once, he’s just put a call to the police and requested the bomb squad.
Murder in Moscow
If you haven’t checked this out, I’d like to introduce you to a fellow author, Frank Daley from Waterloo, in southern Ontario, Canada. He’s married, with two children and a small Golden Doodle named Gracie.
Frank has written Murder in Moscow: The Oblast Court Trial, which is based on a real court case in Russia in 1958, originally written by Frank as a stage play. The story is an easy read with a court setting, which I finished over two sessions.
Book Description of Murder in Moscow
An accidental shooting, a teenager’s death, and the resulting trial lead to some astounding results. Alexandr Bazenov only wanted to protect his property from thieves. Instead, his murder trial raises questions from Russian law students on the bias of the judge, laws concerning private property, and the realization that there might be a deeper agenda – one that concerns all citizens.
Reviews:
I liked this novel a lot. Truly shocking! The author did a good job writing it with a cold (dispassionate) tone. It felt almost as if he was reporting it. The story was fascinating.
Excellent for book clubs or anyone interested in law!
Great writing! A really great story wonderfully put together. Intense!
I’m supposed to be preparing for meetings tomorrow, but I made the mistake of starting to read your novella. It was like eating potato chips on an empty stomach. I couldn’t stop reading until I finished. Beautifully written (which I would expect), suspenseful, but also informative. It all ties together at the end as a commentary on Russian culture. Thanks for writing this.
That’s all from me for this month.