Happy holidays

How was your holiday (if you had one)? And how’s 2015 shaping up?

Ha! That’s such a drab question – especially if you’re emailing someone a couple of weeks after everyone’s back at work. You rattle off an awkward ‘happy New Year’ or ‘how was your holiday?’, painfully aware that they don’t want to tell you, and you don’t want to hear about it – but it’s the first time you’ve spoken to them this year, so even though you’re both grumpy about not being at the beach, neither of you want to be rude.

So painful!

Thankfully none of that applies to you lot – the 10,000-odd regular readers of this newsletter. Sure, it’s one of those mass emails we all receive so many of, yet I get such warm and interesting responses from you that it feels more like a community than mass messaging. So seriously – tell me what you got up to over the summer break, and I’d love to get any feedback (good or otherwise) on our holiday issue magazine. We sent it out to lots of stores in the holiday spots around NZ, so shout out if you saw one on the shelves.

As for my own holiday, it involved Bay of Plenty berry-picking, baches and beaches, surfing and snorkelling, making my own sausages (so good!), plus a trip to Waitomo to see the glow worm caves (this was amazing – go if you haven’t already).

I’ve also been sharing some green ideas over the holidays with the lovely people at Radio NZ. Their Morning Report show turns into Summer Report over the break, and each Wednesday we’ve been talking about easy ways to be green. Today we looked at green ways to clean your deck, and last week shared tips for drought-proofing your garden when it’s hot. You can listen to earlier sessions here – and next week’s spot will be at 8.40am on Wednesday.

Also on my radar over summer is how the issue of swimming water quality has hit the headlines. Some popular spots around the country have surprisingly high bacteria counts, meaning you and the family are at risk of getting sick if you swim there (having come down with a dose of gastro last week, I know this is no joke). However, a new Government site has launched that gives easily searchable information on monitored sites all over the country, so you can check your local swimming water quality before you go: check out the site here, and you can get tips on how you can improve water quality in Green Ideas issue 13 (on sale until February 1, 2015).

Finally, can I just take a moment to brag about our office tomato and now bean patch (sorry if this is getting boring). I came back after 10 days away to find the neat garden had turned into a jungle. Look at those triffids!

Anyway, I hope 2015 will be a great year for you. Yes, we have some huge environmental issues to deal with – climate change and dairying are set to be burning topics – but I have to say that seeing more of our beautiful country over the summer has only made it seem more precious – and worth looking after.

Catch you soon.

Greg Roughan
Editor, Green Ideas magazine

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