Let the thaw begin, well for the rest of the week anyway, as for the first time in more than two weeks, my little thermometer not recording a temperature less than zero degrees this morning. But in the absence of the frosts that we've all come to loath, we should hopefully have some snow this week according to David Crow. Although the freezing conditions have been a hassle for the majority, you'd be rolling in business if you were a Plumber, Panel Beater, Physio, or someone who sells chains, etc.

Well it certainly hasn't warmed up any as last weeks temperatures illustrate, with the average temperature being around minus 4 at 8am in the morning. In this week's edition, we link to the first movie trailer available for 10,000 B.C. which had parts shot locally. We discuss Mayor Geddes's biodiesel fixation, and the Green Parties statement that there will be no economic benefit to the region if oil is discovered in the Great Southern Basin, and lastly, we discuss the elderly bedding shortage.

Pessimism - You either get proved right, or you are pleasantly surprised. Surprised by the snow that we got last week after I forecast 'nothing significant', and my definition of significant is anything more than 10cm. Maybe I should be more of a pessimist so we can all have a snow-loaded winter, or is that now being optimisitic? Regardless of all the retoric, the snow we have is awesome, especially at The Remarkables!

What a weird and wonderful week we've just had here in Queenstown. We had cancellations and postponements at the start of the Lindauer Queenstown Winter Festival due to snow closing roads, and we had some more cancellations at the end of the festival due to rain closing skifields...