Hi ya Ukraine! NIce to see you. Happy Xmas and a happier New year.

Greetings from 'Down Under.' It's summer here of course and many New Zealanders are on holiday at the beach.  I hope to see mnay more of you reading my bloggs and books in the future. My best wishes.
 Neil

The beautiful Pohutukawa (hHe New Zealand Xmas Tree)

www.authorneilcoleman.com

Pre-surgery fodder! may as well while can.

My date with the surgeon should be sometime in April. For the month prior to his ‘intervention,’ I shall be partaking of a ‘diet’ (yes I can use that word and be OK with it for that time) consisting of Optifast and a few veggies. The aim of that is to shrink the liver to enable easy access re keyhole surgery. It also has the ‘testing factor,’ to see if I can sustain a disciplined approach prior to my operation and to set in place some good habits that are going to be ‘for the rest of my life.’

‘Well how come you can’t do that now,’ some of you who don’t know me well may say. OK, my reply to everyone is---‘How many people over 40 do you know who have taken a lot of weight off and kept it off? How many people do you know who go to gyms and live their new lifestyle, but the next time you see them, they are even fatter?’

I know we all know a few people who have made the transition and are doing just fine, but don’t you find that they are very much in the minority.  I’m not one of those people---full bloody stop! I still get people telling me that I am weak and all of the crap that goes with that, but I just say---‘talk to the hand.’ I know some people are just worried, but I am not. I have talked through this with many people who have had the operation and they are all happy that they did it. They have few regrets and they advise me to stop looking at negative sites online. If you look for it you can always find a reason not to do something.

OK, on a lighter note. I am having some really nice ‘pre-operation food; nothing to excess, but certainly not denying myself. I am being more careful with quantities and I leaving some foods off my list, because they consist of food that I will never be able to eat. I figure if I am going to spend the large amount of money on my operation, it seems stupid to carry on like I was, so in a sense I am entering a transition phase so that the journey has less ‘hooks’ in it later.

Xmas dinner was simple and enjoyable; turkey with lots of veggies and a trifle of course. We didn’t gorge ourselves; indeed for everyone, it was not like it used to be. Maybe that’s a factor of aging. We just can’t handle the gargantuan meals of the past.

Ok, I am looking forward to New Year’s Day. Hopefully the family will be here and we are having a number 30 chicken; can’t wait to see the size of that. How the hell do they breed them that big---hormones? They say not! Yeah right.

Hone and Hilda Halkyard Harawira lead the battle against 'P'---even within their own family.

The Harawira family is often in the news, usually in the form of one of Hone’s statements or actions. This time his wife Hilda is making a courageous stand, against the scourge of ‘P.’ She rightly condemns in no uncertain terms the damage this drug has on families, especially the young. Her community is being torn apart, with baches (holiday homes) being burnt down and retribution sought as both sides seek revenge (often within the extended family). It is reported that elderly members of the community are scared to look out their windows because they fear they will be labelled ‘narks.’

Give ‘narks’ a more positive label! They deserve to be lauded as they try to make their community safe. Hone and Hilda have long tried to turn their people away from drugs, alcohol and smoking, but ‘P’ is right up there in major damage it is doing, not just in their community but in all sectors of NZ society. The only way that we can help the police is to inform on ‘P’ labs and make it impossible for these ‘cook-houses’ to operate.

Hone and Hilda are not alone. Most NZers are behind them, because it affects us all. If we do not wipe out this nasty dangerous drug, more and more of our young people are going to be drawn into its web. One does not have to look far to observe the families being split because a family member has entered the dark world of ‘P.’

Instead of shrugging your shoulders when you hear about Hone making yet another ‘statement,’ look a little further and ‘listen’ to his words. He is not on the ‘outside’ when he fights to improve the lot of Maori. What he and Hilda are saying is representative of what NZ as a nation faces.  For the sake of all our people, ring Crime stoppers ( www.crimestoppers-org.nz ) and let those who can deal to these parasites in a legal manner do their job.  Maybe then, the burning will stop--- the burring of our nation’s future in the form of young users as well as the physical destruction of homes and property. Go hard Hone and Hilda!

Read Roskill, my book about the affect of 'P' on a young family. Go to www.authorneilcoleman.com

Selling household goods is a lot easier than selling my books!

Maybe I should give away a household item for every book I sell. Maybe my household items (now known as HI) can tell stories. Well yes, that is true---my HI can tell some fantastic stories. They have been around for many dramas in my life. Maybe I should sign them! I am selling my 'unwanted and unused (add the AS SEEN ON TV ONES) HI on Trade me ans SELLA. Of course my books are there too, probably feeling totally unloved. Maybe I should go into selling more HI and become rich. Then of course there are the questions people ask about my HI. I wonder if people read the adverts I place, because it's pretty damn obvious they havn't. I suspect the market for my books is a totally different one. Maybe I should write a book about selling HI and the lives they have led and the history they have witnessed. Hell, I havn't even had a drink! Now, where's that Bread Maker I won't be using after my Bariatric surgery!?

India and its women----- a long way to go.

The vicious rape of a young woman on a bus in India has highlighted the position that women have held in India for eons. Yes, there have been stand out examples of women who have gone against the trend and excelled in both politics and business, but for the majority, life is one of ‘lost opportunities.’ Men have traditionally seen women as being unequal in many senses of the word.

I have been told by Indian friends that this is not true and that women wield a great deal of power in the home, but that’s just it----IN THE HOME. I am not denigrating the position of motherhood or home-maker, but is that not limiting women to only one role in life. At a time when millions of Indians are moving from poverty to the middle classes and higher, women do not figure as having gained proportionally. Men still dominate politics and business, apart from the obvious exceptions.

Many women and men were disgusted by the recent rape and subsequnet death of the young woman on the bus. There have been riots and protests. Indian politicians will speak weasel words but until there is a major cultural shift in India, things will not change.

I know my Indian readers will take offence at my words and I also know that India’s business is just that----India’s. I just hope that India will find a way to make this ground shift and value the more than 50% that females represent in the population. In that figure lies some of the problems India faces too----- the disproportionate number of male to female; much like that we see in China.

My harsh words aside, I have only my best wishes to offer and fervently hope that India finds a different path for its women and girls.

New Zealand 100% pure---well no, we are only 80%

Ok, that is a bad use of a headline today in the NZ Herald but maybe it is a more accurate take on the real situation in NZ. Having said that, I would far rather live in our 'relatively' pure NZ, compared to most of the rest of the world. I also make the point that a large section of the NZ population is coming aboard to clean up our rivers, lakes and bays.  Yeah, we need to bring a lot more farmers on board too, re their claim that they are the backbone of our economy---that may be true but they contribute to the dirty inflow way-out of proportion to their numbers too, so they can't have it both ways. Yes, we depend on them, but not at any price.
Those companies wishing to mine our beautiful 'National Parks' should also pull their heads in. We will never be able to make the claim; 'NZ 100% Pure,' unless we address those two issues along with other little nasties lurking just out of sight. To the tourists with NZ as a destination in mind; come on down to the 'land of the long white cloud'---it's still a clean cloud and one hell of a lot better than the lands you hail from, and the sun shines through on lovely beaches, parks, and the great outdoors! There's another added advantage too--- we don't have snakes, terrible spiders, scorpions, dangerous animals and the sharks are well fed, on a non-human diet. See ya later mates!

It seems my little diatribe has stimulated interest from China!

Great--- that's exactly what I intended and it is so good to know that people can still access my blogs  in China. Ooops---call it a conspiracy theory but maybe it's not the attnetion I want----'officila attention!' Nah, I'm just been a pussy. Who the hell would care about my opinions there? Myabe China is chnaging faster than her leaders can cope with. Maybe China really is part of the world now, not just a country hiding away. Silly me, I only have to look on the shelves and cupboards of my house and know that---where would we be without the 'products of mighty China? So----onwards and be part of us---in the end---we all need one another!