Tim Shadbolt's blog

As yet no-one really knows what caused the buildings from 149-157 Dee Street to crack apart.

All things considered, Invercargill is getting through the winter in reasonably good shape.

Most of the flooding and snow storms have been north of the city; the economy is in reasonably good shape compared with Greece and there's plenty of sport and cultural activity taking place.

It's been a busy week in Invercargill. Last Friday night I had to welcome visitors to the Invercargill Licensing Trust Southland Sportsperson of the Year Awards at Stadium Southland; then rush off to the Ascot Park Hotel to welcome delegates to the Inner Wheel National Conference and then it was off to the Civic Theatre for the ASB 2010 Stage Challenge and J Rock.

Despite the onset of unseasonable weather, the large number of events being hosted by the city continues unabated.

Once again it's been a busy and exciting week for Invercargill with the South Island Country Swimming Championships; Badminton; ‘Big Day Invercargill'; the Royal New Zealand Ballet; the launch of the Bluff oyster season; the red carpet premiere of ‘Oku Tuakana' (a local movie) and the Chinese New Year celebrations.

At present council is setting the rates which means spending hour after hour analysing page after page of financial data.

The school holidays are over and usually there's a collective sigh of relief as parents all over the country send their little darlings back to the classroom.

Looking back over the past year, Invercargill has plenty to celebrate.

Usually when I'm invited to a function it's to perform as the guest speaker and it's hard to fully relax and enjoy the occasion. However last week I had the luxury of sitting back and being entertained by others. It was great.

Magnificent! Brilliant! Fantastic! Glorious! Stunning! Heroic!