They say catastrophes often come in threes. I don't exactly know who they are, but have you ever noticed they have an awful lot to say?

Anyway, there's been a lot of catastrophe in the headlines lately, plus some near misses.
Our hearts and thoughts go out to our Australian cousins who have been suffering in the bushfires.
There have been some really tragic stories over the last few weeks.
But one particular story simply made me laugh, and I knew it was coming – a Climate Change zealot trying to point the finger of blame on global warming. This, despite the fact that some were deliberately lit; and that bushfires five times larger (by area) scorched the same area in 1939, way before climate change was ever dreamt up.

Catastrophic
Other catastrophes this week include the near miss of a couple of submarines. Since bad things come in threes (they said so) we can only ponder what else might have gone wrong in the submarines before they bumped into each other.
'Cap'n, the cook's burnt the baked beans again.”
'Cap'n, do yer think it's a bad sign that my socks are wet up to the ankles?”
Then crunch. 'Oh my goodness, what was that terribly frightful sound?”
On second thought, I don't suppose they serve baked beans in small, enclosed spaces such as submarines.
The odd thing about this story is that the media pumped it (sorry, no pun intended) to be a 'near nuclear catastrophe” and then proceeded to report navy officials who said 'there was no chance” of a nuclear mishap. Any whiff of the word ‘nuclear' and the media try to turn any story into a public paranoia-fuelled feeding frenzy.

New columns
This week, our new columnist Angel takes a look at crisis management, after a couple of interesting letters from readers. Ask Angel has proven very popular with readers, thanks to all who have written. Don't despair if your letter doesn't appear the same week it's posted, they will be answered!
Angel suggests that problems can often lead us to change the way we react to a crisis, and sometimes taking a different approach can lead us around the hurdle, open our eyes, slow down and smell the roses.”
This worked for Claire when she dropped her cellphone overboard last week. Although she didn't smell the roses, only the pungent aroma of melting circuitry.
Another new columnist that alert readers will have noticed is from our new Member of Parliament, Simon Bridges, bringing us a regular update from the Beehive.
Simon and Bay of Plenty MP Tony Ryall are soon to open their new offices in Tauranga on Devonport Rd between 1st and 2nd Aves. It used to be Tallulah Belle's fashion shop. However Simon has pointed out that this won't mean a more flamboyant dress code for our MPs. Anyone expecting anything long and flowing to replace the blue-grey suits might be disappointed. Simon reports a busy start to the new government's term and we look forward to hearing more news direct from our MPs through the column.

Frisbees
The editor's phone has been ringing red hot lately with community groups inviting me along to speak to their meetings. Here at the Sun, we'll attend anything involving scones. I was pleased to get an invite to Omokoroa Probus, who clearly have recovered from my last outing there which involved a rather unfortunate incident involving Sun Frisbees and a quantity of delicate glassware and crockery.
This resulted in some clever Rotarians, at a subsequent speaking engagement, donning hard hats when I arrived. There's always a comedian or two.
Another wag told me recently his club were quite happy for me to attend their meeting with Frisbees, but they'd hold the meeting at No.1 The Strand so the only risk would be to my own crockery.
We're also off to see the good folk at the Mount, Arataki clubs and the Katikati Lions in coming weeks.

Artful arrival
That's it for this week. I'm saving my energy for the hectic live music schedule ahead at No.1. After a cruisy night with Marg Harper on Thursday, we kick off our Caribbean week with my irrepressible yachtie mate Art, pictured here trumpeting his arrival in the Tauranga entrance.
This character sailed into town last weekend.
He's starting Sunday afternoon and continuing the following Thursday night (26th) and Saturday and Sunday the following week (27-28).
Amidst the Caribbean/calypso/reggae feast we have a prescription for the blues with legends Doc Span and Mike Garner on the Friday 27 on their national Blues from the Heartland tour.
Then it's a matter of fixing the minor leak in Art's starboard bilge, before he gets so low in the water he becomes a hazard to submarines.
They've got enough to worry about.