Brian Rogers Rogers Rabbits www.sunlive.co.nz

Simon Bridges has ruined my week again. A perfectly good column was scheduled, on the woes of travelling State Highway 2. Now that has gone to the shredder, thanks to the Transport Minister's recent announcement of a $520 million upgrade, including the long awaited $286m Northern Link.

Just when I had a witty, powerful and entertaining piece ready for my readers, the Honourable Member does the dishonourable deed by rendering all of it useless.

So you'll just have to settle for this:

The new Northern Link will be a seven kilometre of highway that will initially connect Tauranga's Takitimu Drive with Te Puna on State Highway 2.

The new road will be two lanes in each direction, will reduce traffic through the busy townships of Bethlehem and Te Puna, and provide a more direct drive into the city. Construction will start in 2018.

Brilliant! But that doesn't help with a column this week, does it Simon?

All jokes aside, it's great to see the government taking road safety and efficiency seriously.

Unfortunately this stretch of road has been over-represented in death statistics and any improvements means you - our readers, spread from one end of the Bay to the other - will travel safer. From what I can see, these are proper fixes.

Not just tinkering with paint lines and posts as we've seen in the past – real four-laning linking Tauranga's Takitimu Drive Toll Road with SH2 at Omokoroa.

Until the SH2 project is complete, Omokoroa commuters may have to car pool for a few years to reduce congestion.

Along with the Welcome Bay intersection work and the already amazing Eastern Link, it's a major boost for our growing region; not just in safety benefits but in transport efficiency, and should mean the end of delays and frustration for our most productive citizens.

Thanks Simon and your fellow MPs Scott Simpson (Coromandel) and Todd Muller (BOP) for helping push through these much-needed projects.

Feedback files

Among the responses to last week's column, a couple here worth sharing. Thanks to all for your feedback. There's more in the letters pages this week (40-41)

'Brian I had to write to compliment you on your piece on the stupidity of society.....as regards our priority spend.

'You laid it out so simply and cryptic as to how stupid we are...so wasteful on useless military hardware and manpower. Essential services need fundraise to fund their charitable services. A degree of social society spending such as art and culture I can go along with to a degree, but only when we have prioritised what are essential spends. 'It drives me to distraction when I see the stupidity of my fellow New Zealanders....we are much better than that.

'Your weekly humorous editorial gives me a laugh and helps preserve my sanity! Keep it up,” regards Leo.

'I liked your article in the Sun on Society spending. You hit the nail right on the head.

There was one thing you failed to mention and that was the $26 million that was wasted on the flag referendum. If ever there was a waste, that was.

It could have waited till next year (election year) and the cost would have been a less.

'This was a waste of taxpayer money just like the ships tied up and not being used…

'The army has a new training facility at Ardmore at a horrendous cost. How much more are us tax payers going to have to fork out to keep all these facilities going… You are correct when you say the ambulance is at the bottom of the cliff, but that's not where it should be. How do we change it? Sack the lot in Parliament.”

- Kelvin McLean.

Thanks Kelvin, I purposely avoided mention of the flag topic last week, I figured we'd all heard enough and are properly 'flagged out”.

Grammar tragedy

Finally this week, a warning about grammar. We try our best to get it right, but alas, no-one is ever perfect and mistakes still slip through, despite all the new-fangled technology. There's small comfort in the fact we're not the only ones and some of the torture of the language appearing these days is truly mind-numbing. So this story tickled our fancy…

A family feud broke out in a nearby neighbourhood, after an email exchange, when mother replied to daughter, including a comment she hadn't received a particular message and asked 'are you coming for lunch?”

Daughter replied: 'I resent that email. Lunch would be appreciated.”

Mother was distraught, couldn't understand what could possibly have been in the message that caused such resentment.

Much hand-wringing and soul searching and sleepless nights ensued.

Tensions were high and an epic mother-daughter showdown loomed… until it was pointed out that the context of the email was 're-sent”, not 'resent”.

Crisis averted, mother-daughter relations cooled to Warning Level Orange, lunch was enjoyed by all and a lesson learned about the importance of a tiny dash. In this world of instant typing and texting communication, sometimes a good old-fashioned phone call and chin wag can prevent a lot of mis-understanding!

Have a great week, and especially enjoy your lunches.

brian@thesun.co.nz

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