Hooray for ANZAC and Gallipoli!

I may not have participated in the Dawn Parade, or bought a poppy, nor am I a direct descendant of those passed away in the war of Gallipoli, but I feel I have well and truly celebrated ANZAC day and in the most contemporary fashion possible.
It's nearly my sister's birthday so my mother and I went out for a lighthearted shop around town only to remember it was a public holiday today . The fact that pretty much no cars were on the road kind of nudged a big flashing neon sign of a clue in our faces but we just ignored anything out of the ordinary. I had never seen town so empty except on Christmas day. Around 12:30 a flooding of traffic rushed over the bridge and took all the good parking spaces. Come 1 o'clock there was a mexican wave of shop doors opening. My mother and I planned to stay for around an hour, but 50% off kitchenware and diningware at Briscoes soon put an end to that silly notion. Wallets were lightened and cars were filled with junk no one really imagined would benefit their life, but were cheap in times of fluctuating inflation rates. There was extreme human traffic at Pak 'N' Save who were offering a 'generous' 10c off the 185.9c/L fuel if you spend $70, which was funny because the BP station just opposite was offering just as 'generously' 188.9c/L without a 10c discount. It's funny, I've never seen anybody tight about their money till these recent years/just this year. Now everyone's on the balls of their feet to catch the biggest bargains or to save 4c off a litre of fuel. You just have to think of it like this: 10c off 185.9c/L fuel is probably the price of the fuel last week. Yet people bring themselves to the effort of leaving their house, driving maybe a few more kilometres than they usually do to save a dollar or two off petrol which would have been used in driving there and back anyway.
Apparently (according to the grapevine) one Auckland petrol station misprinted its petrol price to something extremely cheap (like 40c or something) and by mid-morning a queue was formed to the end of the road. Even though they realised their mistake they would probably have had to give all the petrol hungry customers the price they were expecting. Quite honestly, who would be bothered waiting an entire morning to buy petrol, no matter how cheap it is? People who are desperate .
The petrol station Gull dropped the price of their 91 petrol by 8 cents in comparison with its other leading competitors (Shell, BP, Mobil, etc) at 7am yesterday till 9am today. Its probably the only way it'll get customers, who are willing to pull themselves away from the loyalty of the bigger companies to save a few cents. I remember back when petrol was only 80c a Litre. Holidays weren't so much of a headache. Search fuel or petrol on any NZ news site and you're more than likely return with 'prices up to a new record' or something about biofuel. Yes, there is a biofuel bill in NZ, and no, biofuels are not good.
Though biofuels had a big advantage over fossil fuels in that they absorbed carbon dioxide while they were growing, some had a carbon footprint equal to or bigger than fossil fuels due to high emissions from infrastructure and cultivation.
Quite right, I agree completely. Biofuel is ecologically and socially harming. The amount of crops grown to make enough biofuel to fill the tank of a Range Rover can feed someone for a year. Rainforests were cleared by burning to make way for biofuel crops. The price of food crops have risen by 30% in some places in Africa that aren't well off because of competition with biofuel crops. We're not really going to run out of crude oil, there are reserves out in the ocean and in other obscure places in the world. But money isn't being put into those endeavours but rather into what's easier which is biofuel.

Back to the main point, about ANZAC day! Yes its just as commercialised as any other holiday even though people fought and died for New Zealand's freedom on this day exactly 9 decades ago. But it's warming to see some who wake up a few hours earlier to commemorate their bravery and service to our country's honour .
As the dawn broke over a cloudy Auckland this morning, 20,000 people at the Cenotaph at the Auckland Domain stood in silence.
No one spoke and for one minute, as the crowd remembered the dead from all wars, all that could be heard was an occasional cough.
It was the first time for several years that it did not rain during the Anzac Day Dawn Service in Auckland and, as the red light filtered over the eastern skies, an Air Force Orion flew over the assembled crowd.
It was, said Auckland Mayor John Banks, a time to remember the dead from all wars, and the trenches and the flies and the hardships that soldiers endured from Gallipoli on.
The crowd dispersed after 45 minutes, leaving hundreds of poppies under the Cenotaph engraved with the words "The Glorious Dead".
Many young people were at the service, a lot wearing the medals of their fathers, grand fathers and great grandfathers on the right side of their chest.

It's good to see New Zealand and Australia bonded in a non-racingcar way.