Squeezing out the summer

Will Johnston, host of The Hits 9am - 3pm radio show. Photo/George Novak

There's nothing like Easter in the Bay.

I'm convinced that everyone here, local or not, uses Easter as that last little burst of the summer they indulgently took for granted for the past four months.

Easter is the prime time to have every ounce of outdoor summer behaviour squeezed out of it, like the water you should've been squeezing out of the sponge you should've used in the car you should've cleaned this long weekend!

You know you should, but it seems like a waste to spend a long weekend cleaning right? My car is still filthy! Letting summer wash over you in the Bay and then watching it slowly slipping away is nothing to feel bad about.

Every summer it's the same for me. I forget quickly what the chill of winter is like and just feel like I've got a million days ahead of me that will not require a jersey... or shoes. Or pants, on a good day.

There are two things that Easter has highlighted to me. Firstly, we live in a place everyone wants to be on a long weekend (just walk the streets of downtown Mount Maunganui, or head to a mall/shopping area or beach on Easter Saturday). Jazz Fest also went crazy - it's enough on its own to drag people here.

On that shopping thing, it's like we had been starved of public places and shopping spots for months. That one day we aren't allowed to go buy stuff we don't really need has driven us crazy and we must go immediately to an establishment that will take our money. In fact throw another 15 per cent on top of your price for good measure?

Deal! Side note: I get the surcharge, it's needed. Calm your farm.

Oh and secondly, we have a traffic problem in the Bay. It's official. We aren't that place anymore that can give such a large middle finger to Auckland and their continuing traffic debacle.

Easter is the prime time to have every ounce of outdoor summer behaviour squeezed out of it.

Will Johnston

Our traffic-middle-fingergiving prowess is decreasing by the day. But this column isn't about traffic; it's about the fact the traffic is caused by our awesomeness.

I think the best part about it all is the slight smugness we all can hold on to, the smugness that comes from the fact that when the rest return to their not-such-a-sweetplace-as-here homes, we get to continue to exist in our own slice of awesome!

* Will Johnston is host of The Hits 95FM Day Show. Live and local from 9am till 3pm, every weekday in the Bay of Plenty.