Columns

SNOWY, SNOWY NIGHT

It’s just been one of those weeks, really. The internet is moving as slowly as a dying snail, the snow has melted, changing the weather from romantically idyllic to painfully cold, and assignments are setting in, leaving the general population in an academic malaise. First world problems, huh?

Our first world-ness was really highlighted last week with the truly excessive snow coverage in the media. I was particularly taken by Campbell Live, which spent a good ten minutes focussing on the snow/hail scandal in Auckland. The Campbell Live team set about getting to the bottom of the issue at hand, by walking outside their studio, seeking expert opinion from local workers and café-dwellers across the road, and showing footage of the snow/hail falling. After successfully deducing that the snow was, in fact, not snow (thanks miscellaneous foreign man), apart from the places outside Auckland where it was snow, they showed lovely images of the white stuff from their viewers. Most memorably, when showing a pic of a naked butcher, John commented “there are frozen sausages in Cheviot”.

Sure, the crappy programming mostly reflects on Mr Marvellous himself, but it’s somehow comforting to know that our big news in New Zealand is a smattering of snow which we are mildly incompetent at dealing with, not a riot, or a terrifying mass killing or plummeting credit ratings. We’re pretty lucky, huh?

This week, we say goodbye to our lovely ad designer Kathryn, the bastion of sanity and cheerfulness in our otherwise deranged and overly caffeinated office. She keeps the ads looking slick and State of the Nation looking pretty, week after week. Good luck on your new job “Voice of Reason”, we gon’ miss you.

Have a great break,

Julia Hollingsworth