P Wong, MP

12 sleeps to the general election

Early spring air, Grey Lynn villas, quiet street.

John A Lee and Richard Prebble, and fast Eddy Isby* may have stood where we stand, and addressed the faithful as local MP. Now I stand alone waiting for the scheduled street corner "powwow" and for the sub five foot Chinese carpet-bagger from Christchurch to tell me why she's National.

Wong was in full chinglish imperspicuity, in search of the perquisite street corner mob represented entirely by someone intent on heckling her. She said she got ten in Herne Bay at the weekend. Whatever.

All three of the casual Pakeha small business owners listened and questioned. "Nothing from Judith Tizard," complained the woman with the large dog - and of course I nodded having had the underwhelming occasion to have been graced with her presence and nothing at all in the letterbox from her despite 12 individual pieces of political material from everyone else. It seems the crank parties are more organised than her.

We departed assured her tokenistic representation afforded us lower rates, and amidst the concern for where we'd be if we built Robbie's system, some vague promise about finishing the motorways in eight years time.

31 years - that's her level of spoken English! As a native English speaker I find it insulting she only uses it as a minimal tool of necessary communication with the locals - no need to learn syntax or plural terms for words when you can use a txtg versn stble locl wht pepl. ok? Y

No votes changed here.

*I worked for Prebble as an electorate agent, did political studies at Auckland University with Isby and was a Grey Lynn bookshop proprietor as John A Lee once was. With that awareness of history and therefore, I think, an adequate judge of local moment I venture to say this was not a moment.