I’m glad I started my blog all those years ago, it was a kind of therapy for me to jot down my views, memories, observations and so on, after the sudden death […]
The Olive Tree
sandysview
Sunday Morning. 17.03.2019
It’s 7:30am on a Sunday Morning, Sunday 17th of March 2019 in New Zealand. Two days after an Australian White Supremacist terrorist murdered 49 innocent people in a Christchurch Mosque. Another has died […]
Collusion Illusion
Here’s a thing, you know when you get so caught up in one story, that you lose sight of the bigger story? The story we’ve got caught up in is a daily […]
Are We Sitting Comfortably?
It’s 4pm on a sunny Tuesday, January 1st 2019. Amazing to think just a few short years ago, or nearly twenty years in fact, yesterday, we were all concerned about aeroplanes falling out […]
Surprising New Zealand
Let’s talk about New Zealand again! My wife and I love a road trip, we have just finished one around the central South Island, a short 4-day epic. There are images from […]
The Day After Poetry Day
I’m not really a Poet, although I occasionally turn to Poetry when I feel the need, or I might win a T-Shirt. I was advised I should put my random and rare […]
Retail Therapy
The title is ironic, if you really did need therapy for anything in New Zealand; one of the worst things you could do is go shopping. I was watching the television news […]
Eating Out
There’s an awful lot of, mostly awful, advertising on New Zealand television. Much of it the sort of thing you’d see on QVC in other countries. One of the most common phrases […]
Superlatives And Other Things
If I had a dream job, it would be working with words and pictures, improbably as a roving blogger and photographer for Tourism New Zealand. I’m not greedy; they could just pay […]
Chapter Six: Being Forgotten
It’s been a while since I was here, I had other things to do. While I remembered I had a blog of course, I’d just neglected the writing. Actually I had decided […]
The Deep South
This should probably go on my photography blog, but there is a bit more explaining to do than on the usual photography post so I’ll wheel out the words blog for this […]
20 Tips For Surviving Driving In New Zealand
It seems an awful lot more people are visiting, or moving to New Zealand these days. Either because of Brexit, or Trump, or cheap airfares and new aeroplanes, which can fly further. […]
The Living Is Easy
We have an iconic New Zealand comic character from the 1970’s called Fred Dagg. We were big fans in my home when I was growing up. Fred Dagg was an archetypal Kiwi […]
Democracy, it’s not for everyone
I’m reminded of the lyrics to the Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. Although the recent cover of that classic by The Disturbed is by far the better version ‘Hello […]
Road Trip
This can be a travel post of sorts. Well it’s not even of sorts; it’s a travel post. I went for a drive. I know I don’t write much anymore. Not sure […]
Part Three, The School Bus
If you have been following my blog over the years, you’ll know I’ve been prevaricating about writing a ‘novel’ for years. I’ve started it. But couldn’t start to finish it. My new […]
What were they thinking?
In England they put blue plaques on the outside walls of places important or at least significant people used to live. ‘Orson Wells lived here once’ sort of thing. A friend posted […]
Because You’re Worth It
I can’t actually remember what caused me to start thinking about this or why. Maybe one just has a moment of quiet reflection when we get to a certain age, an examination […]
More pictures, less words
I know the wordiness has become less and there is more photography. I actually get more joy from photography than writing. I think this is because I’m better at it, I don’t […]
Taking pictures
I know I usually string words together for the sake of amusement, entertainment, information or occasionally even inspiration, but I haven’t been feeling particularly wordy lately. What I have been doing a […]
Driving south in the North Island
I’ll get straight to the point for once. I said once upon a time that only two towns in New Zealand were worth making a special trip for. Russell and Queenstown. I’d […]
A River runs through it
This is a bit of a travel post. I’m going to talk about a place plenty of people on their New Zealand holidays travel through, but not many travel to. I’d venture […]
2014. A summary
It’s the week before Christmas and all through the house…etc etc. It’s a funny Christmas, this one. I don’t think I’ve ever felt less Christmassy. I think it’s the dramatically disrupted year […]
Our ‘other’ stuff
Look, it’s me again! I’m like a bus, or something. A British bus, not a New Zealand one. The adage in London is that buses don’t appear at all for a while […]
Winner!
I know, I know, there was another post on here for a while, I took it down. Varied reasons, none of which matter all that much. I will be putting more stuff […]
That’s what friends are for…
I’m back! I was left to my own devices for a bit and had too much time to think. I’ve been brewing this for a few days, wasn’t sure whether to post […]
It’s all good
Well this feels a vaguely odd; it’s a bit like getting a beloved but neglected toy down from a shelf when you are feeling nostalgic. It’s only been 6 weeks since I […]
An open letter to the internet
Hi Internet, you remember me? We’ve known each other for about 20 years now. I remember when we first met; you were very young at the time. You were pretty shy I […]
An interview
I was asked to do an interview by one of those expat blog sites. There are a few of them where people who like to spend their time living overseas can go […]
In the news
When I lived in England I used to be an avid reader of newspapers. I used to watch the news on television every night without fail. Since returning to New Zealand my […]
Misconceptions
Misconceptions often, or even usually, arise out of ignorance and I must confess to my own ignorance. I have no idea at all what people from Asia or the Sub-continent think of […]
Dawn and Dusk
I wrote recently how I was of the opinion that despite the adage, a picture was not in fact worth a thousand words because I felt you generally needed so many […]
Home away from home
Did you know that despite having the perfect platform in this blog, I hardly ever make any strong points about anything important to anyone but me? I don’t even do that very […]
It must be love
That’s not so much a heading as a command. With the recent death of tall glamorous designer L’Wren Scott in the news, it’s hard to miss all the pictures of her alongside […]
Keep it under your hat.
Did you know I almost always wear a hat? This story is not about hats but in my house there is a thing known as the Panama hat cycle. I wear hats […]
The Fencers
I’m not a poet, I don’t write poetry, well hardly ever. It’s outside my comfort zone so I don’t go there, much. However this is quite a cool little story about a […]
A list of things to do
You’ll have noticed I’m not putting much on here anymore. I’m not sure why not, but it may have something to do with the fact that I’m back home in New Zealand […]
Somewhere else
This is a tale that goes nowhere, what’s the point then you may wonder, why does there have to be one? I might respond. It’s kind of like an open discussion, designed […]
People are awesome!
Who knew we loved Lions so much? We knew we loved Polar bears of course, but now we really love Lions, we don’t love Melissa Bachman much even though she helped us […]
A word to the unwise
I spoke to someone the other day who is going for a big adventure overseas. Traveling they said. They’d not been far from home before and were having an epic adventure out […]
The nature of New Zealanders
So here’s a thing. well two things. This is about us, not our nature, but our nature. I’m also going to put a couple of images of the incredible New Zealand scenery […]
Our name is still on the boat!
Well that was pretty devastating. You know what I’m talking about. If you are a kiwi you do. So many New Zealanders got up, stayed in, stayed home, didn’t get to where […]
An open letter to Emirates Team New Zealand, from Team New Zealand
G’day Deano and the crew. This is from us back home. You’ll be having some strategy meeting. Knocking around a few ideas. Hell, you might even be asleep. Us at home? We’re […]
Some enlightenment
I’m not what you would call a Sci-fi buff, I’m pretty sure I’ve never read a science fiction book but I do like the odd science fiction movie from time to […]
Going for a drive
I’ve been back in New Zealand for just over a month now. For three weeks of that month I went for a bit of a drive, just to have a look around, […]
The trip home
The 2nd of July 2013. 8:30 am on the 2nd of July, my dear friend Dawn, my colleague, the person who does what used to be my day job in another part […]
The wrong place
This is the continuation, the next stage of what started as the giant eel story which is the opening of my novel. (There is no mention of eels in the rest of […]
The Extinction of the Falcon
As you probably know, I’m off back to New Zealand in a month or so. When I say a month or so I mean I set off a month today. At the […]
Going home
Momentous day today, it’s worth a note. Friday 17th of May 2013. Sounds non-descript, a day like many other days in mid-May. However, it’s my own May Day, nothing to do with […]
Just words
‘A picture is worth a thousand words’. That’s a pretty common phrase, as though great imagery is better than great description. While it’s a nice concept, it is almost entirely rubbish. That’s […]
