A year of wins and losses

OPINION: When people ask me what I did for Christmas and New Year, I smile with pleasure and reply "absolutely nothing", writes Tim Shadbolt this week.

It's not true, of course. Judging from the queues at the transfer station, I engaged in some catchup gardening and home maintenance along with the other half of Invercargill that didn't head for Central. In my job, hard physical labour is a luxury.

The other "activity" we engage in over Christmas is reflection. The inner city was a ghost town on Christmas Day but the cemetery was full of life – if you'll excuse the pun. From families farewelling loved ones to teenagers grieving their mates, there were people and flowers everywhere.

This is the first Christmas I've had without Mum for 62 years and it certainly felt strange.

We also reflect on the year that was. We relish our victories and become philosophical about our defeats.

Last Christmas the big issue we faced was the potential for economic devastation caused by the global recession. This financial meltdown was being compared to the Great Depression and some councillors were talking about soup kitchens and forming a partnership with the food bank.

Thankfully, along with Y2K, bird flu and swine fever, the global recession was a huge fizzer. To begin with, it wasn't really global. Ireland was smashed but Mongolia's economic growth was 7 per cent.

On a personal level, the impact was also up and down. If you invested in a finance company or a leaky home you were ruined, but for those with a steady job and a small mortgage it was business as usual.

Invercargill as a city also had its highs and lows. The number of young people killed on our roads was, in my view, our great defeat.

I witnessed firsthand the impact a car crash can have when Gary McCormick and I were first to arrive at the scene of a horrific car crash near Winton.

Though we mourn the loss of young Kiwis killed in two world wars, we tend to forget that far more people have died on our roads since the fateful landings at Gallipoli.

Perhaps we will have to follow the example of Norway and adopt zero tolerance towards drinking and driving. In Scandinavia, the limit is .08 per cent, which allows you to suck a cough lolly.

As a result there's no confusion as to when you're over the limit.

If you drink, you cannot drive.

It sounds draconian, but the results cannot be disputed.

The high point for the city is yet to be determined but I believe it will be our Auckland Island pigs. I accept that coal, oil and gas could have a greater economic impact than the biotech industry, but these developments carry with them the ball and chain of global warming and carbon debits.

Helping find a cure for a worldwide epidemic like diabetes will, however, have little impact on the environment. It will be regarded as a compassionate, humanitarian industry rather than a "dirty" industry.

On balance, I would sum up 2009 as a year of uncertainty. A half-baked global recession, huge economic potential but few runs on the board, tragic accidents but no solutions, a new super city but the old problems remain.

The economic uncertainty is reflected by our leaders. Rodney Hide, "the perk buster", was busted. Tiger Woods, one of the world's greatest sportsmen, also fell from grace.

My predictions are that 2010 will be far more calm and relaxing and my new year resolution – learn to drive a computer.

See you in cyberspace.

» Tim Shadbolt is the mayor of Invercargill.

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