April 30, 2020
Day 40
Skies getting bluer, water clearer. Too good to last? The gains made by nature will not be lost quickly. Air travel will rebound one day, but the question is when? New Zealand used to be able to count on 10% of it’s revenue coming from tourism. That was then… It’s all in the wind now to the extent that Queenstown, an utterly beautiful, formerly prosperous tourist destination on the South Island is now one of the poorest cities in the country. ‘Jafa!’ is a commonly used epithet here that means ‘Just another F#$%ing Aucklander. Now that New Zealand has basically quarantined itself, the city fathers of Queenstown are trying to lure locals to visit by rebranding Jafa to mean ‘Just another Fabulous Aucklander’. Kind of desperate, but these are desperate times so good luck with that.
Optimism of another sort is evinced by TWG, one of the major retailing groups in the country as they made a plea today for everyone to buy local by supporting their stores. This despite having a reputation for importing nearly their entire stock from China. Can they make a profit without China? Hope springs eternal, and it’s hard not to applaud a good try, but maybe people will be less gullible now.
The old saying that ‘the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price fades’ should be changed to ‘the cratering of the worldwide economy should not be forgotten just because a toaster from The Warehouse costs seven dollars’. If people don’t wake up and vote with their wallets, they might as well start learning Mandarin. A realist would.
https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/archive/thisweek/2008/06/02_made_in_china.asp
The road ahead will have these numbers as mileposts…
2 New cases. 12 recovered cases. Ratio of recovered cases to active cases is 84%. 16% to go. One Zero on the board today and it’s a good one for somebody. More power to them. 235 people still have it. An unknown number don’t know they have it and are in for a rude awakening in a few days time.
ironwoodwind 
Dear Doug,
People? Gullible? Say it isn’t so. Counting the days til pool opening…but it will be slow and controlled. Not sure I’m ready to learn Mandarin. America would be in trouble. An appalling percentage of the population can barely speak English. And I’m not talking about immigrants. Turning the corner and sending love to you and Valerie.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Dear Rochelle,
We both had good laugh and agree with you wholeheartedly. So glad to hear the pool may open. Do you remember how?
Still chuckling.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Love,
Doug
I read the book to which you linked. Very interesting indeed!
😘
janet
Hi Janet,
Do you mean the article? Or did you download their book? If so, that was very fast. Are you a speedy reader:)? Thanks for reading Sink or Swim. It’s going to be a long haul, but I am going to try to figure out ways to do it (Boycott China) They are, at the very least, guilty of being unsubtle. That alone is enough for me to say, enough is enough.
Cheers,
Doug
Sorry for being unclear, Doug. I am a speedy reader, but I meant I read the book some time ago. 😊
Hi Janet,
And I was simply interested in which it was. Will talk to you later about the book.
Cheers,
Doug