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The Informer

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BY GORDON T  The neighbour came to visit the other evening and, unlike the Vicar, brought a few beers with him. We were enjoying the evening, filling in the time with irrelevant conversation and preparing our evening meal.  He suddenly asked me if I had seen the Council plans for the Esplanade and boat launching…

BY GORDON T 

The neighbour came to visit the other evening and, unlike the Vicar, brought a few beers with him. We were enjoying the evening, filling in the time with irrelevant conversation and preparing our evening meal.  He suddenly asked me if I had seen the Council plans for the Esplanade and boat launching facilities. I replied that I had, seemed like another case of the Council, having made up its mind, now sought to persuade people to believe the Council’s plan was their preference. “This is how TCDC consults with rate payers,” I remarked.

The neighbour has a boat and is a keen fisherman so he continued “About parking for trailers and so on, looks like they are trying to move us”. I offered him another beer, to soothe him before I responded,” and so they should. The Esplanade is too valuable a piece of land to be used as an all-day car and trailer park for fishermen. Should be a recreational park for locals and visitors, could even have a giant saltwater pool and beach such as they have overseas, think Townsville or Brisbane if you want examples”. I carried on.  “While they are at it, they should cut down every second Pohutukawa along there, and trim the rest, to open up the views of the estuary”.

He could see I was getting steamed up about this topic so he responded carefully. “All very good, but where do we launch our boats? Where do we park? Do we have to use Robertson Road?” I nodded and told him that the Council’s plan seemed to be to relocate the fishing boat facilities to Robertson Road, expand the number of launching areas and provide extra parking at Hilton Park.

The neighbour drained his bottle, burped loudly then said, “That’s impractical. It will take forever to walk between the boat ramp and Hilton Park. And it lengthens the time it takes you to get out to sea.” He frowned and took another gulp from his bottle. I noted his girth and commented, “You could have a point. Many fishermen are in a similar shape to yourself, so the plan looks incomplete”.

A silence fell as we both considered what we had been discussing and what it would mean if it all came to fruition, when suddenly an idea came to me. “One man’s problem becomes another man’s opportunity,” I said, carrying on. “What ambulating challenged people such as yourself need is someone to give them a ride on a Tuk Tuk. A couple of bucks and you could be whizzed between boat ramp and car park”.

The neighbour started to think of the possibilities as he looked on the internet at photos of Tuk Tuks, becoming quite excited. You can now get electric Tuk Tuks as well as the manually pedalled ones, no need to invest in dirty petrol-based ones. We discussed this for some time, both agreeing it was a fine idea. Eventually, my neighbour commented, “You wouldn’t make a living off the weekend fishing traffic though, needs something more. lso, who is going to run it?”

More thought was needed –  “Whiti Taxis are the ones to run this, they have all of the infrastructure in place and a Tuk Tuk will only cost them $4000 or less, much cheaper than a new taxi. Just think, for the price of one taxi, they could probably get ten Tuk Tuks then all they need is some part time slave labour, students or pensioners happy to earn a few extra bucks. Then they are good to go”. The neighbour was getting caught up in my excitement and continued, “They could run srides up and down the beach, through town as well, would be great for summer. I can just see Phil screaming down Buffalo Beach Road with his hair streaming back in the wind and a couple of oldies in the back enjoying the trip.” 

I had to laugh at the thought and then added, “They could do a sub-contractor model. People could buy their own Tuk Tuk and get to keep most of the income; Whiti Taxis just taking a fee for their booking and marketing services, and of course a small profit.” The neighbour started smiling widely then asked me “Where was that web site, I think I’ll buy the wife one”.

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