It’s ANZAC Day in New Zealand, which tends to make one reflective, contemplative. When I’m reflecting and contemplating, I tend to go ‘big picture’ quite quickly, extrapolating from a single point. In […]
Reasons To Be Cheerful.
Chapter Nineteen. The Parcel.
Chapter 19 This is the final chapter of the book. Hemi hacked his basic, alright, he excelled at it. He was fortunate, as Guy had told him what to expect, also, Hemi […]
Chapter Eighteen. Fencing with Mr A.
Chapter 18 Fencing with Guy’s dad was a different kettle of fish to the gentle rolling country Hemi had been used to fencing on. Guy’s dad was a high-country fencer. The really […]
Chapter Seventeen. Making Plans.
Chapter 17 Guy and Hemi had grown apart as their lives diverged, but they’d grown up together, talked about loads of stuff when they were boys. They had shared the same interests, […]
Chapter Sixteen. Like Starsky and Hutch.
Chapter 16 Hemi didn’t end up at the freezing works. The father of one of his teammates in the 1st XV worked for the local council’s roading division, they were always after […]
Chapter Fifteen. Basic Training.
Chapter 15 Guy joined the army after his last summer holiday with some mates from School up in Taupo. When making their way home across the desert road, Guy was confronted with his future. […]
Chapter Fourteen. Finishing School.
Chapter 14 Guy didn’t know what happened to Hemi when he left school; they lost contact. He assumed he’d have gone to work in the freezing works with his mum. Guy did okay in […]
Chapter Thirteen. Prize Giving.
Chapter 13 Hemi did ride with the gang again, he couldn’t say no. He learned to say no soon enough when his dad found out about him riding with the bros again. Word gets […]
Chapter Twelve. Gang Associate.
Chapter 12 A few weeks after his encounter with the Bros, Hemi and a mate were walking in town at lunch time. School kids often went downtown in the lunch hour. You had […]
Chapter Eleven. Changes.
Chapter 11 While Guy was away at school, his home got sold again. The farm owner had decided to sell the farm and the guy who was buying it was going to […]
Chapter Ten. Good Fulla’s
Chapter 10 By now, the Bros had a joint being passed round and were knocking back the ‘crate piss’. Hemi had caved in and accepted a beer off them. There was no way […]
Chapter Nine. Being Forgotten.
Chapter 9 Hemi enjoyed his footy. Luckily, because his mum worked at the freezing works on the other side of town, he could get to practice during the week. Footy practice was […]
Chapter Eight. The Crossing.
Chapter 8 Soon enough, the town boundary appeared and Hemi and his mother were cruising down the main street. Hemi enjoyed watching the Charger’s reflection in the shop windows, thinking, man, this […]
Chapter Seven. Driving to Town
Chapter 7 One of the down sides of living so far out in the sticks, is how much of a mission it is to get your supplies. Sure, you can grab groceries […]
Chapter Six. Hemi Finds His Place.
Chapter 6 Hemi set off for his first class. The environment at his school was completely different to Guy’s though, half the size, co-ed, less rigid, friendlier. This was a small-town high […]
Chapter Four. The Hostel
Chapter 4 While Hemi was having his school bus conundrum, Guy was standing at the gates to the boarding school hostel. Richard had already gone after a parting piece of encouragement: ‘You […]
The Far End of a Long Road.
So, I finished my ‘novel’ after about ten years of prevarication since I started it. I can’t get anyone to publish it though because I don’t know enough about editing and my […]
Finished It!
Happy New Year, welcome to 2021. If you read my blog, you’ll be aware I’ve been trying to get around to starting to finish my book for years. Expert procrastination. But I […]
Crossroads of disgrace
The crossroads of disgrace. Most people are disgusted by Trump declaring war on US citizens, who had his militia fire rubber bullets and smoke grenades upon peaceful protestors, including members of the […]
Brexit’s Cabbie
The British have just had a general election. One of the worst possible people ever to hold a position of power was elected, over the other worst possible person to be in […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
Wisdom
I’m not sure how long this post will stay up for, but it needs to be said. It’s not part of my usual repetoire, but it’s something I need to say and […]
New Zealanders at War
NZ Memorial to the lost in the battle of the Somme I was in the New Zealand Army for a while and take quite an interest in NZ military history. There are […]
The truth about Dragons
This post is primarily intended as an educational resource for young people but clearly the information contained here is useful for adults as well. I think it’s time to unveil my greatest […]
Who knew?
If you look up from this and look around you, you will notice quite quickly that the world about you is not a barren dusty wasteland with self-replicating Amoebas as the only […]
Carrot or stick?
It was the BAFTA’s last night, or the Stephen Fry show depending upon how you look at it. Lots of thespians getting gongs for being fabulous. There was much gushing and eye […]
