Not happy about that headline
For those of us who suffer skin complaints I was not pleased to read the front page headline in yesterday’s paper, ‘‘Chlorine in water could have been avoided’’.
So many of us have taken coping with the chlorine to the extreme. I now limit my shower to once a week, which will be tricky with the warm weather.
And as usual we are like mushrooms and kept in the dark about what is happening with the repairs. We were told it would all be finished in March, then May and now June.
Come on city council, tell us what is happening.
Bronwyn Frost, Christchurch Central
Parenting
Lynley Cullinane (Oct 22) has pointed out some very valid points regarding parenting. By choice we had four children in five years and enjoyed most but not all of that period of our lives.
I gave up teaching to become a mother and we lived on a single income. If we couldn’t afford we managed without. Grew vegetables, made clothes and taught our children to appreciate what they had.
They are now working parents and we are part-time grandparents, which enables our grandchildren to build huts, grow flowers and vegetables. More importantlly in my opinion to respect.
Preschools are wonderful but should be preparation for school, not a substitute for family life.
My vote would go to someone who encourages mothers to want to make motherhood a profession, not a chore.
We now have two or even three generations who didn’t learn to enjoy family life to the full.
Anne Brittan, Rangiora
Sustainability
Having just read Air New Zealand’s latest iteration of its annual ‘‘Sustainability Report’’, in particular ‘‘Carbon’’, it all makes perfect sense if one redefines ‘‘sustainability’’. ‘‘Sustainability (noun): The ability to sustain a business growth agenda despite the moral imperative to stop growing.’’
Warren Begley, Christchurch Central
Terriers
I would like to inform Michael Abrahamson (Oct 22) that terrier dogs are far superior rat catchers to cats. A visit from a terrier in the day would deal with any rat presence. A cat inside at night might deal with a rat or a mouse.
In New Zealand a cat is just a cheap pet, costs nothing to buy and bears no responsibility of ownership. They kill any native birds or lizards. In my opinion the rules for ownership of cats should be the same as for dogs.
D W King, Rangiora
Crossword combo
Obesity and crossword clues seem to be favourite letter topics at the moment. I can combine the two.
In Friday’s Telegraph Crossword the answer to 2 down, overweight, is obese. Overweight and obese are surely not synonyms, I thought, that would mean most of us are obese. Alas, my thesaurus gives one as a definition of the other, an appropriate circularity perhaps.
Katherine Gillard, Ilam (Abridged)
Popular meat
Gerard Hutching’s arguments in ‘‘Behind New Zealand’s most Popular Meat’’ (Oct 21) are understandable but they are not compelling when one takes into account certain unpalatable truths; the first one being market forces.
There is no market without the consumer. The commercial market is a cruel place but so is the world in general. People in most countries no longer hunt – they live and work in urban environments.
Most of these people do not earn enough to pay for the luxury of guiltless consumption of humanely raised and processed animals after necessities like mortgage payments and transport are factored in.
When we demand the lowest prices possible that is when things tend to get messy and inhumane. It is just commercial reality, the bottom line ...
G G Vince MacDonald, Middleton (Abridged)