Brian Holden: Vibrant yes, but all a bit of a rat race

Hey, don't you get sick of Auckland being rammed down your throat and how it's bursting at the seams with the influx of the masses, while down this end of the country the scenario is exactly the opposite.

If I could have $10 for every local home I've gone into where the "children" of the family have scarpered north to the big smoke, I'd have enough to afford to migrate there myself.

Actually I'm quite happy here, but it is gutting to know how things are positively booming further north, when rural towns are suffering, with empty buildings and houses due to the dwindling population.

With space becoming tighter, Aucklanders are being asked to adapt to a new way of life that includes having more high-rise and small-size (even leaky) apartments to cope with the shoehorning of another million residents into the city.

And the trend is expanding, with Milford, Browns Bay and Orewa having the threat of "walls" of apartments along their beachfronts. Pakuranga residents too, are not too keen about development plans for the Tamaki Estuary area.

Renters are so hell-bent to jostle themselves into pole position in the Auckland rat race, they're prepared to pay top dollar by tender rather than face the crowds competing for the best properties.

"It's where the jobs and opportunities are," they say. "We love the vibrancy of the bustling city and all it has to offer, not to mention the expanding cultural diversity, ra ra."

Well I certainly can't argue about the jobs and opportunities, but when someone mentions "bustling", that to me means traffic - and lots of it. Scary too, there's the threat of rush hour traffic grinding to a walking pace within 10 years we are told. "Expanding cultural diversity" too, if not checked can also turn into a monster as has been experienced by other countries.

Indeed the desire to be part of a prosperous city and community has appeal. But if the trade-off is having to get up an hour earlier to get to work and fork out three times the rent or purchase price for a place to live, then this relatively quiet neck of the woods will do me for now.

The Rotorua Daily Post has become the newspaper of choice in our household, although we do get the Herald on Sunday each week to top up our daily fix to stay informed.

In last Sunday's paper, there was an apology for the previous edition not having staples because of a "mechanical problem". Oh dear - serious stuff. Too bad that this week's edition was also devoid of staples. OMG, that means two Sunday editions in a row. How are they going to explain that?

Which brings up a point - does this newspaper have staples or not? Does it matter? Do we really care?

Dan at the local gym is a perfectionist in that everything in his daily routine has to be just right. He confesses to vacuuming the carpet in the same direction so as not to cause unsightly patterns.

Being fitness minded, he watches what he eats, but every second Friday treats himself to a (teensy weensy) delicious, decadent, moderately fatty sausage from a bakery round the corner.

Salivating when the special day arrived, he patiently waited to be served, but was gutted to see the rather large woman in front of him buy all that was left. Sigh - sometimes life deals a cruel hand.