This is me expressing my opinion
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 farmer sort of character, blunt, plain speaking, dry wit and observational humour. He also sang a few modified and original songs. One of […]
Read More…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 darkness, my old friend I’ve come to talk with you again Because a vision softly, creeping Left its seeds while I was, sleeping […]
Read More…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 why, it’s not like I’m short of things to say. I mostly spend my spare time taking photos these days. You’ll probably know […]
Read More…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 year’s resolution for 2016 is to finish it. Happy New Year by the way. Here you can have a preview of where the […]
Read More…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 of our situations and ourselves. When I say one, I mean me. I do. I’m one of the luckiest people on Earth; I’m […]
Read More…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 know. What I do know is that I will happily go to far greater lengths to capture a pleasing image than to construct […]
Read More…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 lot though is taking photographs of the stuff all around me. I carry my camera everywhere I go and if the saying, ‘a picture is […]
Read More…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 I’ve had personally. I won’t bore you with that. I’ve also written much less on here this year than previously. I’ve been busy […]
Read More…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 and then 3 come along at once. I know, hilarious, but surprisingly true all too often. Much news this morning about some significant […]
Read More…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 on here soon. Life has taken another change of direction and I will have a bit more spare time on my hands. Speaking […]
Read More…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 put up ‘the Freedom Years’ but I didn’t write that, I don’t write anything much these days. I haven’t the need. That’s what […]
Read More…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 guess. I mean I’d ask you something and you’d take ages to answer. You liked to show me stuff you knew about but […]
Read More…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 to find out all sorts of things about living overseas. They have an expat interviews section on this particular site where they ask […]
Read More…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 when they think of New Zealand. Having said that, I also haven’t a clue what the people of South America or Africa might […]
Read More…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 words to describe the picture. My position, put simply, was that each great picture needed volumes of words to explain it. I was of […]
Read More…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 often. Part of the reason is that my blog is intended primarily to entertain, inform, educate, amuse, or maybe even inspire. Yeah, I […]
Read More…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 a lot. In the summer, my headwear of choice is a splendid Panama hat. I also have had dogs for most of my […]
Read More…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 to give pause for thought and reflection. I have the platform of this blog, the luxury of time and the inclination to ponder […]
Read More…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 realise how much we love Lions. There was me thinking Lions just spent all their time lounging about beneath an African tree in […]
Read More…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 among the comments. Silly not to really, it’s not like I’m short of them, all you have to is go outside and point […]
Read More…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 they should have been and if they got there, they weren’t paying attention to work or school. They, we, were watching Emirates Team […]
Read More…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 time. Not just any old one though only the big ones. Things like Star Wars, The Matrix, Star Trek, the Aliens films and […]
Read More…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, as one does. I drove about 3,500 Kilometres or 2,100 miles in old money. I didn’t see all that many other road users, […]
Read More…‘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 just my view of course, I can’t paint a picture of my view on that so I’ll write a thousand words or so […]
Read More…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 it’s this. It’s simply an observation or two, a bit of wisdom maybe, an admission and something significant to finish. First, some wisdom […]
Read More…I was in the New Zealand Army for a while and take quite an interest in NZ military history. There are some very inspiring and interesting stories about what Kiwi servicemen and women got up to in the world’s great conflicts. Kiwi’s have a pretty incredible military history and I want to talk a bit […]
Read More…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 secret. The thing that no-one but me knows. The thing that no-one knows about me. If you read my stuff regularly you will […]
Read More…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 life form. If you are able to see out of a window, you will most likely spot some shrubbery in various shapes and […]
Read More…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 wiping and a wonderful night was had by all. Well except those who didn’t get to stand on stage to gush over a […]
Read More…The 6th of February is Waitangi Day in New Zealand. Also known as New Zealand day. It’s sort of our little version of the American 4th of July but with an awful lot more controversy surrounding it over the years and not so much celebration, which is a shame. I worried about doing this post […]
Read More…I’ve got one of those smart phone things. Not a silly one which the people who really want an iPhone have, but a proper iPhone and not just any iPhone but the 5, the top of the range one that can carry about 20,000 songs on it and all of the internet, plus some films. […]
Read More…I know I said happy Christmas and all that on my last post but the post wasn’t very christmassy. This is going to be along the lines of a ’round robin’ thing one might put in a Christmas card. Sort of a roundup of the goings on in 2012 which in many ways was quite […]
Read More…Apparently recycling is a good thing to do at Christmas. So I’m doing just that. Spot the 2nd helping! Christmas is coming and while some people might think that it’s all about Jesus, I know better. Christmas is about a huge meal, copious booze and presents, hopefully mostly for me. I am actually a big […]
Read More…This is just a nonsense post to keep the pages ticking over or people will think I have run out of ideas. Well I have but lets keep up the illusion I have something worth saying on a reasonably frequent basis. If you knew me in person you would know that the gaps in my […]
Read More…If you have read my last post you will know I talked about the importance of recording your own corner of history, writing down what you’ve done for those that come after you, be they kids, friends, family, whatever. I talked about how my Dad only ever wrote one small snippet about his life before […]
Read More…This is more of a plea than a post, pay attention! Back in 2009 my father died suddenly. He had a massive heart attack about 5 kilometres into a 110 km bike race and died where he fell. Dad was a keen racing cyclist, at the age of 70! While it was an awful time […]
Read More…A couple of simple numbers inspired me to write this particular post. They are the numbers 102 and 116. I’m writing it because it is nice to have a positive tale of this sort and also a large percentage of the people who read my stuff will be either unaware of this guy’s existence or just […]
Read More…It’s all very well having nice pictures of the highlands on my blog but I’m more about words than images. I am in the mood to make some wild generalisations about one of the things I know most about and what I like to spend my spare time and day job doing. Moving about in […]
Read More…I wrote a thing recently called formative years about how parents form the opinions of their kids largely by accident. This is an elaboration on that theme in a roundabout sort of way as it got me thinking about what life was like when I was busy having my mind accidentally formed. This is because […]
Read More…The season of getting together is upon us. Christmas, Thanksgiving and lots of other meals together with friends and family. Many like a grace, a thanks, a recognition of the event and the meal and we aren’t all Religious. So, if you want a non religious grace for your gathering. I’m happy if you […]
Read More…This is the one I started on holiday a couple of weeks ago but typing a blog post on holiday on an iPad is far from easy and I like an easy life. So I did a ‘to be continued’ thing because my thought pattern was still emerging. It started with me thinking about what life […]
Read More…You may recall if you pop here from time to time that I put a post up recently called ‘on food’. If you missed it, go and have a look, it’s just over there > I mentioned in it that I hate cooking, I mean really hate cooking, unless of course it’s cooking meat with […]
Read More…I don’t usually do blog posts so close together. I wrote my 100th post yesterday. I actually wanted to write this one for my 100th though. I guess maybe I felt the other one called ‘100th post. Mind games’, might have more universal appeal. I hope some people got something useful from it. This is […]
Read More…This is my 100th blog post, who would have thought I had so much to say? It was really hard to decide what to write for the 100th post. You sort of feel it needs to be something worthy to mark a milestone, but what? I had absolutely no idea until I saw my cousin, […]
Read More…First things first, I don’t have children because I chose not to. When I was young on the family farm one of my summer jobs was spraying blackberry and gorse with a herbicide. The herbicide choice of my dad was stuff called 245-T. Now revealed to be an incredibly toxic poison banned in most countries […]
Read More…I have a love/hate relationship with food. The most cursory glance at me will tell you that I clearly love the stuff. I didn’t get to be the man I am today by not making the most of the meals put in front of me. However I really hate cooking. I mean, I HATE cooking. […]
Read More…Wine, I drink vats of the stuff, it’s what I drink when I’m not drinking beer. It’s what I drink before I turn my attention to my new-found favourite late night snifter, aged rum. I don’t know a lot about wine really considering how much I consume but I seem to know a little more […]
Read More…This is a diversion from normal service for me, but it seemed appropriate somehow given things I’ve heard said or have seen written by people I care about, so indulge me, it’s my blog. Sandy’s quote: You live in a world you didn’t make Deal with things you cannot change Make the best of what […]
Read More…You know the the Fourth of July? That’s when Americans celebrate Independence Day, Independence from British Colonial rule. They make quite the song and dance about it. Some might suggest a little over the top as the actual event was an awfully long time ago. But it’s nice to have a big party to celebrate […]
Read More…On a reflective weekend, given I’ve just found out about new members of my family on my Dad’s side. For no particularly relevant reason it put me in mind of Dad’s favourite poet. My family were descended from the sort of people described in this poem. My father died suddenly in October 2009. This poem […]
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