Paul Hickey: We are the winners in numbers war

Rotorua is lucky to have some of the cheapest petrol in the country. Photo / File

As things got back to normal last week at the radio station, like most workmates getting back together after the break, there was the swapping of holiday stories in the office. While the length and location of everybody's holidays varied, there was one constant theme; the weather and how great it had been. The general consensus was it may even be remembered as "one of the golden summers" because it had been so outstanding.

However somewhere in the conversation the topic of Rotorua's hottest temperature came up - again something which I'm sure many others have debated too, and do so on an annual basis. Most thoughts went along the lines of the fact that the television news temperature each night was ripping us off by a couple of degrees. I brought this up on the air as well and got plenty of feedback along the same lines.

Now I'm no expert weatherman (no relation to Jim at all by the way) but boy, I do wonder about the logic of the arguments. I certainly don't rate my ability to stand outside, stick my finger in the air and say with confidence "yep it's 27 degrees right now" and then complain when the television has us at 26!

But then my car tells me it was 29C outside at one stage, but our thermometer hooked up to the studio computer at the radio station says we only got to 25C.

Who is right and who is wrong? Is it really that important? Is it worth all the stress?

One lot of numbers that can't be disputed though is the price of our petrol here in Rotorua, which at some servos ranks as some of the cheapest in the country. I've lived on the east side of Rotorua most of my life and boy, we are spoilt at the moment when it comes to filling up our vehicles. With the Caltex, Gull and Mobil service station all locked in a pretty competitive battle for our Eftpos cards, we are the winners for sure.

But not according to TV1 news. I never watch that channel, but saw a friend have a swipe at them on social media last week. It prompted me to actually watch the late edition to check the story, and my friend had every right to have a go. They ran a story about New Zealand's cheapest fuel, and guess what? It was in Auckland. And their price was two cents dearer than in Rotorua, and had been for a day or so.

So here was an actual story with real numbers that actually make a difference in our daily lives that is positive for Rotorua - and we get ignored. Good on ya TV1. I'll stick with the other channels south of the Bombays where life does exist too.

-Paul Hickey is the host of the locally based 9am-3pm show on The Hits Rotorua 97.5FM. Follow on Facebook The Hits Rotorua and on Twitter @paulhickeynz.