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Take cover

Warkworth residents are well-used to hearing the fire siren sound when calling the volunteers to duty. But a recent Facebook posted reminded us that it is a novelty for new residents.

There was much scorn and ridicule voiced online recently, when Vector blamed the major power failure on July 31 on a wood pigeon colliding with a power pole. Sceptics (including, it has to be said, some Mahu Matters staffers) pooh-poohed the idea that a mere bird could wreak such havoc across the region. However, it seems the doubters may well have been too hasty – a trusted contact, whose friend works for the lines company, sent in photographic evidence from his pal of the pole in question ... not to mention the poor, departed kereru.

That’s the spirit

It takes more than a major power cut to faze the Matakana Community Group, as members proved on July 31. Just minutes before its annual general meeting was due to start, the community hall was thrown into darkness when the now infamous pigeon struck a power pole in the Dome Valley. Undeterred, the 11 people who had turned up carried on regardless, even though they couldn’t see each other and had only phones for light.