The break over the Christmas New Year period for me was a chance to recharge the batteries, spend some quality time with family and friends, with a view to hitting 2023 ready and willing to tackle all that she can throw at us. Be careful what you wish for, as up here in the BOP it was like mother nature flipped a switch on the 1st of Jan and what started off as promising dry and calm summer turned to custard.
As I write this blog, we are “battening down the hatches” awaiting the full force of Cyclone Gabrielle to drop her weather bomb on us and that is after what has been the wettest Jan that I can remember, causing flooding, slips and downed trees all over the upper North Island. Our infrastructure has certainly struggled to cope with the deluge, with our roading network buckling under the sheer volume of water over prolonged period.
Whilst these are amongst some of the most testing times climatically speaking, I am heartened by the resilience and “can do” attitude of Kiwi’s as they went about navigating the chaos that week after week of wet weather caused. There is no better example of this than our own Kylie Miller (Sinclair fruit label coordinator), who got married in AKL the Friday after the rain-soaked AKL anniversary weekend. Basing herself at her parents’ house not only did she have to deal with all the pre wedding activity and pressure, but on top of that her parent’s house suffered a major slip, which resulted in the house being amongst several in AKL to be red stickered. The wedding went ahead under clear skies, with Kylie organising an Airbnb for everyone to relocate to and still finding time to attend to all those last minute pre wedding tasks.
Talk about can do attitude and resilience, I take my hat off to Kylie and her ability to stay calm under such a trying situation. I would like to think that this ability to stay calm under pressure and get stuff done it at the core of the Jenkins DNA, so no matter what lies ahead I am confident that the team here at Jenkins has the resilience and calmness under pressure to deal with whatever comes our way.
Bring it on!
P.S since I wrote this blog, we have seen through images and TV news the full impacts that Gabrielle has had. To our customers, friends, and family in the Gisborne/Tairawhiti and Hawkes Bay regions our hearts go out to you as you now face the daunting task of clean up and re-building your lives. We want you to know that we are thinking of you and wherever possible the team at Jenkins are ready and willing to support you to get back up and running. So please reach out if we can be of any assistance in whatever capacity that may be.