Linda Hall: Parade spirit conquers chill

Many people braved the weather to watch the Blossom Parade.

I ummed and aahed on Saturday morning about whether or not to go the Blossom Parade.

It was so cold and dark clouds were rolling in from the north and south.

Then I thought about all the people who had spent hours preparing floats, organising costumes, arranging this and that - they had no choice but to go ahead.

Besides, my little people wanted to go and I couldn't say no to them.

So off we went.

We managed to find a parking place relatively easily and that made me worry that the crowd would be small.

We found a spot by the cinema and huddled together waiting for the parade to begin. It was cold, it rained on and off but people kept arriving and lining the streets.

Elmo made an appearance much to the little people's delight - until he got too close, then there were tears.

Apparently a life-sized Elmo is pretty scary. It seems watching Elmo on TV in the safety of one's Frozen seat is the best option.

Shortly after we heard music, people all up and down the street were popping their heads out into the street saying, "Here it comes." And it did - floats, marching girls, dancing men and women, all with huge smiles on their faces. They seemed oblivious to the cold and rain as they marched proudly down the street. Thankfully the sun came out but it was still bitterly cold.

Some of the floats must have taken hours of work. I really liked the Frimley School one.

Well done to everyone involved.

I didn't see the end of the parade because I had to dash off to work to meet and greet the top 30 contestants in our Indulge Magazine Model Search.

What a hoot some of them were ... especially the men. All of the contestants are just lovely. Many of them entered because they were dared to or just to have some fun. That's what it's all about. On Saturday we will publish photos taken on Saturday of the 16 semifinalists.

From there a judging panel will select first, second and third in female and male.

It's been fantastic to see so many people of all ages, shapes and sizes have a shot at this.

Now for a subject that's not so nice - in fact, it's horrible. A young Kiwi mum was allegedly run off the road and beaten around the head with a cast iron metal plate by her former partner and father of her child.

Tara Brown died on the Gold Coast after being taken off life support. It has been reported that she had gone to police for help but was turned away. She also had a temporary protection order in place against the man.

What more could she have done to protect herself? Nothing, apart from locking herself away, and no one can live like that.

New Zealand domestic violence statistics are shocking.

According to White Ribbon, a campaign that educates men about non-violent attitudes towards women, police attended 100,000 incidents of domestic violence last year.

You can bet that probably that many again went unreported. It is just unacceptable.

The only good thing that has come from Ms Brown's tragic death is that a lot of men from all walks of life have rallied to a call from Stan Walker against domestic violence. Good on you, Stan, the more people who speak out the better.

Let's all get behind White Ribbon Day on November 25 and help spread the word that family violence is not okay, in any shape or form.

-Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.