Smoke Signals
Nandi, a refreshing change
Monday 16 November 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Our MPs are notoriously well travelled, attending the most obscure and unjustified courses and talkfests the world over, and they take flak for it, but mostly they just arrogantly ignore the cries of ordinary people for feedback, justification, and accountability. CINews has tried several times to request a travel diary or itinerary of cabinet ministers, […]
Monday 24: ISLAND SALESMANSHIP
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smokesignaller said he loves the unique approach taken by island marketers. “I recall a shoe sale a number of years back that said: ‘Buy one shoe, get the other one free’! Another chuckled after hearing this radio advert: ‘Buy your loved one your love forever. Get her a washing machine… (price etc). Get one […]
Monday 24: CLASSMATES
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A former Tereora College student was looking at a 1997 photo of her class online and counted that out of 22 students, three have died (just under 14 percent) since the photo was taken 12 years ago.
Monday 24: Our killer roads!
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
The Cooks has come second in the world, but it’s not a record we can be proud of. World Health Organisation figures confirm what the Cook Islands Road Safety Council has been warning all along – our roads are some of the deadliest in the world. WHO says the African state of Eritrea is the […]
Thursday 20: SHOPPING TIMES
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller who claims to have been turned away from a supermarket recently – along with others – at 5.45pm when it’s advertised they close at 6pm – wonders if this is the result of there being a monopoly on supermarkets in town? Another signaller who has a very accurate watch commented that at […]
Thursday 20: FAIR TAXI FARE?
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
“I had a great meal in town the other day with a friend from overseas,” one of our readers writes. “We decided we did not want to wait for the next bus, an hour away, so asked the waitress to organise a taxi. ‘Could you tell me roughly how much it would be to go […]
Thursday 20: ADOPTION COSTS
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Great idea and very successful says one of our readers of the adopt-a-country programme for the netball champs. “Indeed the school visits were seen as highlight experiences for just about all the visiting teams. Just one downer in all of this…while a very limited number of t-shirts were sponsored, all the school children had to […]
Thursday 20: OCH AYE
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
On the subject of the netballers, judging by the close-up shots in the filler snippets played on CITV, the Scottish lasses sure know how to swing their bums in time to the local drums!
Thursday 20: Copycat crime story
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller wonders whether two Polish prisoners who broke out of a German jail might have heard about our prison breakout on the coconut wireless. They escaped by tying their bed sheets together to abseil down a 15 metre wall. “The wall is pretty high,” a spokesperson for the prison in the southern city […]
Wednesday 26: RAINMAN FOR HIRE
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A weather watcher remarked yesterday that we should loan the Cook Islands’ weatherman Arona Ngari to countries like Australia where they need someone to break the drought. “Every time Arona predicts a weather pattern, or pronounces such and such, we usually get the opposite weather pattern. Like the other day when he said we were […]
Wednesday 26: BEST PRICES
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Since critics are always quick to slam CITC, someone ought to note how the Main Store’s prices for sports gear are among the best anywhere, a smoke signaller says. “Nike apparel, for example, is cheaper here for the same latest range as in NZ and Australia. Evidence of that was seen on Saturday when visiting […]
Wednesday 26: INITIATE, NOT REACT
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
In responding to Wilkie Rasmussen’s expulsion from the Democratic Party, one signaller says that he only wishes that “MPs like Rasmussen will get off their butt and initiate things, rather than just react to anything and everything”.
Wednesday 26: SMOKE TERRORISTS
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A reader says rubbish burning is an issue the island needs to urgently address “as it’s a real health hazard for children, the elderly and people prone to developing respiratory illnesses. Shops and households burn cardboard boxes, plastic, cans, green waste, and all other waste in between. These are the Smoke Terrorists – you never […]
Wednesday 26: Good deed pays off in the end
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Here’s a smokie with a happy ending. A parent writes: “Had to mention this one. My daughter and her friend found a wallet in town – they were waiting for the bus at Cooks’ Corner. They did the right thing and headed to the police station. The police officer opened the wallet, looked at the […]
Tuesday 25: MILLER TIME
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
The police headquarters in Raro gets plenty of courtesy visits from fellow police members from other countries, and there was a special visitor last Wednesday. Senior Constable Bruce Miller, one of the two officers wounded in the Napier shooting siege in New Zealand in May this year (one officer, Senior Constable Len Snee, died in […]
Monday 24: HELLO?
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Some phone users get rattled when they’re confronted by an answerphone message rather than a live person at the other end of the line, and quickly hang up. Over the weekend Air New Zealand’s answerphone – which is normally kept busy updating callers with the latest flight arrival times – was not working, so friendly […]
Monday 24: PIZZA ON WHEELS
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A reader is curious when a mobile oven that can cook about 30 yummy pizzas an hour, is going to hit the beach. An article in Wellington’s Dominion Post a couple of months ago featured the Petone firm Piazza that has developed the mobile ovens. “People can set it up in a sports ground or […]
Tuesday 18: OVERKILL?
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Where are the cops when you really need them, asked one lady at the World Youth Netball Championships at the Telecom Sports Arena last week. “When you want them, they are never there. But look at them here [at WYNC] – they are crawling all over the place!”
Thursday 13: Every HoM position should be re-advertised
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
“Cook Islanders are so familiar with the process by which HOMs are chosen from a tiny pool of political shoe-ins that talented and experienced young Cook Islanders just don’t bother to apply,” a reader says. “Thus it is that Cabinet ends up with a short list from the tiny pool of those who are otherwise […]
Tuesday 18: HOM PANELS
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
While Audit is looking at the HOM appointment process should they be asking questions about the selection panel itself, a smoke signaller asks. “Mark Short has publicly defended his appointment in part due to the fact that a fellow lawyer, Tina Browne, sat on the panel. Is this the same Tina Browne that is the […]