Monday, September 3, 2012

Birthday--- I was tempted to take the day off!

When your birthday falls on a weekday, it can be tempting to take the day off. I thought about it but then, what the hell was I going to do? My friends and family were all at work, so apart from spending the day with Perdy, it didn’t seem like the right thing to do, so off to work I went. I brought some cakes from the bakery for my tutor group and I had also purchased a real flash ‘Mud Cake’ from the Cheese Cake Shop.
The word soon got around that it was my birthday so kids kept trying g to guess my age. They were way out, at both ends of the scale. It’s funny how bad they are at judging the age of oldies, eh. I fed my tutor group right at the end of the tutor time and they seemed happy enough.
Then, it was the turn of the workmates I hang out with in our kitchen and teaching area. The cake was huge. We cut it up and quickly realized that it was so rich that we could have halved the portions. There was still some over after our session, but I can tell you that no one wanted seconds.
It’s at times like this that you really appreciate the collegiality or your workmates. We laughed so much we didn’t even realize that the bell had rung. I’m sure if the students heard our comments they may have had quite a different picture of us.
I will head home, happy in the knowledge that my workplace is supportive and fun.
Now, what does the evening hold? I shall save going out to dinner until the weekend. I hate late nights now, except for the weekend. Age!
Thanks to all my Face book mates for their kind words.

I shall be watching RT (Russian TV) to see how----

I want to get a handle on what is happening in Russia re the position of The Russian Orthodox Church and Putin’s Government. Are we witnessing something that looks like an ‘unholy alliance’ between Church and State, or is it that I am watching Western sourced TV news reports that are not telling us the full story? Come on Russian readers--- tell us what is happening. ‘If you can’t, then I assume that you are frightened to express your opinion online. It is not a ‘brave new world’ after all. Tell me I am wrong.
We have seen other countries where the religious parties are basically in control. I would not have believed that possible in Russia. What a turnaround from the old Soviet Union.
MMM—it seems that power corrupts and that sometimes strange bedfellows are the order of the day in order to maintain power.
What say you my Russian friends?

Asset sales--- where to from here?

John Key looked decidedly uncomfortable as he fronted the cameras on TV last night. No amount of posturing could camouflage the fact THAT HIS Government has at least suffered a reversal in his plans to partially sell off State Assets.
There has been a good deal of opposition to his plans but it finally took the actions of the NZ Maori Council to slow down the process. JK says that he needs time to ‘consult’ with Iwi but the fact remains that now he is in a position whereby he may be trying to sell assets in election year.
All this means that the opposition to the sales process can now gather its forces and forge alliances between like-minded ‘end-result’ groups to stop the process altogether.
One way to go will be to acquire enough signatures to force a ‘non-binding’ referendum. That needs to get a move on because we want it before the 2014 election. If the result of the referendum clearly portrays a high level of opposition to the sales, then no government can comfortably proceed without ‘electoral fall-out.’
Now is the time to build momentum and to keep the pressure on. That is when the cracks will appear (read Peter Dunne) and the ship will sink.
Maybe there’s hope yet. Keep these State Assets. My Granddad would be turning in his grave.