Very sad to see end of Mosgiel Caravan Park
WITH the looming closure of the Mosgiel Caravan Park, I can’t help but feel the authorities have been extremely shortsighted and illadvised in terms of the location of the new swimming pool.
When you build a larger facility than the one you already have, you would be planning for more people, more traffic and more congestion.
One major concern is the present entrance is totally inadequate, even with present volumes, and is situated in a dangerous spot just off the bridge, on the main road to and from Outram.
The contour of the road just by the bridge creates a blind spot for traffic coming to town, and partnered with slightly higher speed or rough conditions, will be dangerous.
Another key factor is the loss of a community asset, the Mosgiel holiday park.
It is no real surprise the council has chosen this site for the pool — your newspaper in 2016 noted this. But with time on its side, the council has done nothing to recreate this for the town but has made the decision that it is not required.
I recognise that often caravan parks can be seen in a lesser light but the one in Mosgiel was a lovely community of hardworking folk who truly loved being there.
Why was it not one of the terms of building this facility that assets like a holiday park be retained and nurtured?
It may not be the No 1 holiday destination in the country but Mosgiel, like other towns, deserves to have a holiday park, and one near a flash new swimming pool surely could attract families and other travellers.
I believe it is not too late to create a better asset for the town by really looking at what is needed for Mosgiel. Les Hawker
Brockville
[Abridged]
Cricket behaviour
AUSTRALIAN cricketers just can’t help themselves.
During the recent third test against India, Tim Paine, appointed as captain to instil some integrity and sportsmanship into the team, was involved in some inappropriate sledging.
The normal aftertheevent apology was, as always, insincere.
During the same game, while Australia was in the field, Steve Smith scuffed the batting crease with his foot. Paine’s explanation was ‘‘oh, that’s just Steve’’.
He was cheating. Clearly, a slow learner after the infamous sandpaper incident after which he burst into tears — not because it had happened but because they had been caught.
Bending the rules, cheating, seeking to intimidate the opposition, bad sportsmanship, and being ungracious losers appear to be endemic in this team; all unnecessary as they are very good cricketers.
‘‘Trevor Chappell has never apologised to New Zealand for the underarm ball that shocked the cricketing world in 1981’’ (ODT,
26.1.21). Of course he hasn’t and never will — it’s in their DNA!
One of the positives to come out of this incident was the immortal line from Robert Muldoon: ‘‘An act of true cowardice and I consider it appropriate that the Australian team were wearing yellow.’’
John Milburn
Wanaka
Presidential tune
I WAS interested to hear that the
Invercargill March was played at President Biden’s inauguration and is a very popular march in the United States of America, and sometimes mistaken for the New Zealand national anthem.
Why do we not hear it here?
It would be a pleasant change from
Scotland the Brave. Invercargill is a fine city and worthy of recognition. Daphne Lowery
St Clair
IN recognition of the importance of readers’ contributions to the letters page, the newspaper each week selects a Letter of the Week with a book prize courtesy of Penguin Random House. This week’s winner is David Tordoff, of Macandrew Bay, for a letter about the challenges of addressing parking in Dunedin. The prize is a copy of Farm For Life, by Tangaroa Walker. The winning letter was printed on Wednesday.