At the request of some relatives, I carefully compiled an online Christmas and birthday present list for my toddler. Here's a good tip for you – there are some pretty amazing (and free!) online wishlists that allow you to add web links to gifts, or add your own photographs and descriptions. So handy, especially when your relatives all live in different locations.
Anyway. It took hours of research to make this thing. I walked around shops taking photos of toys, books and crafts, looking them up online and adding all the information to the list. The final masterpiece has a widely varied selection of items at different price points that should suit everyone's gift-buying needs.
Then, the literal second I hit the "send" button on the link to the wishlist, I realised my error. I hadn't saved any ideas for us.
Rookie mistake. Back to the drawing board.
So, when a friend mentioned catching the bus to Tauranga CBD for a library-and-coffee mission, I thought it'd be a great chance to do further reconnaissance.
I opened the Transit app and found out how far away the next bus was – about 25 minutes. I packed a quick lunch for the toddler, got the pram sorted, shoes on, and away we went with a 10-minute grace period.
Or so I thought. I crested the hill before the bus stop and saw the big yellow beast driving off. Bugger.
I've got no idea how that happened - the Transit app has live updates, after all. Probably user error. Some millennial I am.
Rather than waiting half an hour for the next bus, we got into the car and drove to the CBD. By the time we met my friend, I desperately needed a coffee fix and nabbed a table at the nearest café. Millennial status restored.
Next stop: The library. Have I told you how much I enjoy our city libraries before? I'm sure I have. Book stash repleted, it was time to wear the kid out at the playground before hitting the shops.
Say what you will about the state of the CBD at the moment, but scattered among the empty buildings are a surprising number of stores that sell some really good stuff for kids. I bought a couple of stocking-fillers and took some photos of other ideas for prezzies, then, with the toddler nodding off comfortably in his car seat, returned home satisfied with my day's work.
And so, we come to the conclusion of my story.
Yes, reader, there is a point to my ramblings about a day in the life of Me. We're getting there, I promise.
Free parking, dear reader. Free parking is the point.
I spent about three hours in the city centre that day, both spending money and using free amenities. That wouldn't have happened if I had had to pay for parking.
Sure, $1 an hour isn't too bad. Nor is $2, in the scheme of things. But when I'm relatively equidistant between five shopping centres and four of those have free parking - well, it's a reason to avoid the fifth.
Tauranga City Council director of transport Brendan Bisley said earlier this week that the move towards user pays was to create cost-neutral parking and pay down debt.
Okay, sure. Getting rid of debt is usually a fairly good idea, I'll admit. But if that's the reasoning, then why is it just Tauranga CBD that has to pay for itself? Do the carparks at the Mount Maunganui and Greerton mainstreets somehow pay for themselves?
Another reason for parking charges given by Bisley was to deter workers from taking up the city centre's parks all day.
That leads me, a layman, to interpret that workers parking on the streets in the Greerton and Mount Maunganui CBDs isn't a problem. My guess would be that this is because there is ample free all-day parking on the streets nearby, a luxury central Tauranga no longer has.
Yes, I understand there is a pressing need to encourage more people to use public transport. I'm a huge fan of the idea. But this layman just doesn't understand why Tauranga CBD is the sole centre that's forced to – literally – pay the price. Especially when it's already struggling to get back on its feet.
There are 79 days until Christmas. And there are 55 days until paid parking is implemented in Tauranga's CBD on December 1.
Hopefully, I'll have most of my shopping done before those 55 days are up. But if December comes and I'm still not finished, well, I'll probably go to Pāpāmoa. Or Bayfair. Or Tauranga Crossing, Greerton, or Fraser Cove. Or Gate Pā. Or, if I feel like a longer journey, maybe even Bethlehem or the Mount.
At least it helps me narrow down the choices, I guess.
Sonya Bateson is a writer, reader, and crafter raising her family in Tauranga. She is a millennial who enjoys eating avocado on toast, drinking lattes and defying stereotypes. As a sceptic, she reserves the right to change her mind when presented with new evidence.
