A friend of ours opened a new business last week. 

It was a soft opening and will be full steam ahead by the school holidays. 

So far he is going gangbusters. There's a lot of local support and it looks like a good news story. 

He is however, if you believe the headlines that have been supplied by his industry association, in very dark and difficult days. 

They don’t look difficult at his place. 

The GDP figures came out as we were away on the long weekend - up 0.8% for Q1. 

The Reserve Bank thought it would be 0.4%. Most banks thought it would be 0.7%. The reality was better than everyone thought. 

Nick Tuffley, the ASB's head man on economics, also on Thursday told us he still had growth in the second quarter just gone, April, May and June. He had us 0.3-0.4% up. 

Other commentary last week from manufacturing and services said we had hit a brick wall. If Nick is right there is no brick wall, the same way Q1 was not 0.4%, it was 0.8%. 

The point is this: is it possible we are in such a funk we don’t want to see reality? 

You know what else I read? Australia, the repository of so many disillusioned New Zealanders, is now losing more people than it has since Covid. A mass exodus is on. 

People are bailing out of Australia, healthcare is chronically bad, you can't get seen, the Government is sinking in debt, house prices have spiked past an average of a million everywhere, there are more people than ever since records began and people are working multiple jobs just to make ends meet. 

This is Australia, the golden answer for the miserable Kiwi looking for better. 

Maybe better is here? Maybe in a turbulent, troubled world the Land of the Long White Cloud is actually coming right and people like our mate and his new business sees it. 

And a lot of what's in front of us is attitude. Is there trouble in some areas? Yes. 

Are there issues still unresolved? Yes. 

But do we have growth and prospect? Yes. 

Do the numbers back that up? Indeed they do! 

Maybe the grass is in fact nice and just as green here. You just got to want to see it.