Paul Hickey: Kiwi spirit no longer flagging

There has been debate about changing the flag for as long as I can remember, says Paul Hickey. Photo / File

If i was on the fence before, I can now confirm I am well and truly off it, and excited at the chance for us to stand up and make a monumental change for the future.

I will be happy to wave a new flag for this great country of ours. It's great to see the debate finally taking shape, but some people refuse to engage in sensible debate, and simply show their immaturity by continuing to turn it into an "I hate the PM" debate.

There has been debate about changing the flag for as long as I can remember (back to the '80s) and I think it is great that we've finally got people who are not afraid of actually putting it out there for us to decide, instead of just talking about it.

Yes the flag means something. If you want to keep it, vote for it.

But I'm voting for change - the black corner with the fern and the Southern Cross.

I mentioned last week I was feeling under the weather.

Well that was a bit of an understatement really. I was crook, really sick; like full-on man flu. But I soldiered on thanks to a concoction of brightly coloured but horrible-tasting pills and tablets, and managed to still make it to work each day, and maintain a pretty good sick-leave record.

I did at one stage start to feel a little guilty as there were a couple of people at the office as well as my daughter at home who have come down a little unwell, too.

However, with heaps of people at other offices I have been nowhere near have also fallen over, it can't have anything to do with me right?

Celebrations in the Hickey household always come in multiples, and this week in particular is always a busy time of the year for us.

In five days we have two birthdays and Father's Day. For two of them it is pretty low key, but an 18th birthday always deserves a bit of celebration.

So a birthday party was organised and the first barbecue of the season was thrown just before the end of winter, and despite me still not feeling 100 per cent, I managed to get through it and celebrate with our son. One of the big upsides of a birthday party like this is the chance to catch up with some family members whom you haven't seen in far too long.

I really do hate how it does seem to take "occasions" to do this though, and I suppose it's just a sign of the busy times we live in now.

But it was a great night, and hi again to all the family and friends who were there, and who comment on the weekly read.

Paul Hickey is the host of the locally based 9am-3pm show on The Hits Rotorua 97.5FM. Follow on Twitter @paulhickeynz or at The Hits Rotorua on Facebook.