I reported in the previous issue (Watchdog 149, December 2018) that CAFCA's final project in wrapping up the 20 years of the Roger Award was to find a suitable new home for the hideous trophy itself, inside its specially built travel case. Bill Rosenberg suggested we offer it to Te Papa. We duly did so, the relevant person was very keen to accept it. But, in November 2018, she conveyed the sad news that Te Papa (which she described as "a complex institution") had decided that "it is not considered a collecting priority at present". She had been overruled by those higher up the food chain.

She suggested that we offer it to Canterbury Museum, which would keep it in its home town. Once again, we duly did so and once again the relevant person was very keen to accept it. The difference this time was that the Museum actually collected it and took it in for evaluation, to decide whether to accept or reject it. I'm very pleased to report that, in February 2019, the Museum officially accepted it. So, the trophy now has a much grander home. Whether it ever sees the light of day there is another question. It certainly deserves to be seen by as many people as possible and to, hopefully, make them think about what the Roger Award was all about.

For most of its life the trophy sat in its display case in our garage, which serves as the props' museum for both CAFCA and the Anti-Bases Campaign. It never suffered the ultimate indignity of joining the obsolete props dumped out into our semi-derelict, wide open and utterly non-weatherproof back shed (which, nevertheless, survived 18,000 earthquakes in considerably better shape than many much grander Christchurch buildings).

I had a crew of hard case chainsaw boys working for two very noisy days in late 2018 to remove some big old gnarly trees and we all had a lot of fun. While they were getting rid of the big elderberry tree hard up against the back shed, one was working inside the shed and I heard him ask: "What's this thing I'm standing on? Is it a water feature?". I was puzzled, because I've never had such a bourgeois affectation and had a look and then laughed. "No, that's a cast of John Key's head".

They looked incredulous, so I told them the story and pointed out the actual object (a giant wearable John Key puppet head which ABC commissioned for a recent Waihopai spy base protest). The one who had first asked about it then looked at me and asked: "So, not a fan then?" I had dumped "John Key" in the shed, to free up room in the garage and because he's now yesterday's man, even in puppet form.

I also pointed out the "Afghan Child" coffin in the rafters to the arborists and told them the September 2010 quake story about that i.e. that it was the single solitary thing which fell down in the shed in that biggest of all the quakes, the one which started the whole 2010/11 seismic reign of terror. One looked at me and asked: "You haven't got an actual Afghan child in that, have you?"