UK readers starting to catch up Russia.

I should never have given my Russian readers the 'stick.' I don't really know why the numbers have dropped so dramatically but I suspect that many of the readers in far off Russia were 'trawling' for suitable partners in NZ and when they read my blogs more deeply they relaized that they wouldn't meet thier match in my good self. The other more sinsister conspiracy theory is that my blogs may have been perceived as 'taking the piss' out of Dear Leader Putin and some shadowy body in the Kremlin blocked my blogs. What a laugh and a presumtious thought on my part. Hell, 1000 odd readers in Russia don't exactly make up a '5th column.' Maybe it's just my weird sense of Kiwi humour that leaves them high and dry when it comes to understanding my offerings. That's where my pommie mates (the UK) come in. After all, I am only 5 generations removed from those much vaunted shores and the many readers are actually just my neice reading all my blogs, which lends me to believe that I have multiple readers. Either way, the numbers are rising and I hope that my UK readers send the link to their friends so that the UK can emerge as real competition to NZ and the USA who are way out in front. OH, yes, then there is Australia---they too are catching on. The total is now over 66,000.

Young people and bad choices. police chase--what else can they do?

It appears that a police chase, late on Sunday night had its origins in a car theft on Saturday. Whether the occupants in the car that crashed after the chase were the perpetrators of the theft is yet to be determined, but the results could well be a multiple death toll.

The young female teenagers had allegedly been involved in anti-social behaviours in a café at Mission Bay late on Sunday night. Numerous calls were received by the police about the ‘carryings on’ of the young people. One would suspect that alcohol was involved, but that has yet to be determined. What followed was a short chase by the police and the car crashed leaving the lives of the occupants hanging on a string.

The families of these young women will now have to wait and hope that their daughter s will survive. It has to be said that the decision to ‘run’ from the police and the behaviours leading to this crash are the causal factors, not the fact that the police gave chase. So often in the past, we have had fingers levelled at the police for their decisions to pursue fleeing drivers, often resulting in tragic deaths.

Once again, the police face the dilemma of choosing to chase or letting the drivers go, to possibly be followed up at a later time. If the latter decision is made, that puts at risk other road users who may become victims of the bad decisions of those who ‘steal cars, act in an irresponsible and dangerous manner thereby dragging innocents into the actions of what can only be described as criminal behaviours.

Now we have the sad possibility of families facing multiple funerals or at the very least lives diminished by one stupid act; lives that will need a massive amount of taxpayer money to put together the bodies that have been damaged in the crash.

Sadly, it seems that the lessons have not been learned. When will we see the next deaths from such occurrences?

I love TVNZ One on Thursday night

Why would I make such an almost passionate statement about a particular night on TV? Well, Thursday Night on TV One has four programmes in a row that I really look forward to, a combination of a surprisingly good NZ offering and three beaut (as we say in NZ and Australia) British/Irish comedies.

Firstly we have the NZ one, The Agent, a funny take the piss poke at the Real Estate industry. It started a bit lame, but it has grown on me. I don’t care if the industry gets the pique; maybe they need to. It’s just a damn good laugh.

Then we have Miranda, a comedy that you either love or run a mile from. Miranda represents that little bit of us that we don’t like to show. She puts it out there and lets us feel that we are verging on the normal, despite out fears, shyness or other quirks. I do wonder if she will be able to have another series. I suspect that she will need to take her humour in a different tack completely, but if anyone can, she can, In the meantime, bring it on girlfriend!

Next is Mrs Brown’s Boys. This one has me almost rolling on the floor, a bit like she doers sometimes. That ‘she’ is a bloke makes it even better. I am afraid that ‘Feckin’ has now become a part of my vocabulary and the fact that I don’t use it on my blogs it almost a feckin miracle of self-control. I just love this comedy.

Finally, a newbie onto the screens for me. Citizen Khan is bloody funny. It totally takes the piss in a way that quite surprises me in the new age PC Britain. That it can get away with the subject matter really leads me to believe that the UK is OK. The characters are over the top but once again, maybe there is a truth in that we are all a bit like that. Think of your own families or religion and perhaps you can arrive at the same conclusion as me---we are all the damn same----if you look beneath the surface or behind closed curtains.  Long live Thursday night on TV One.

  Cheers

Ben Affleck 'loves New Zealand.' Yeah right

Some New Zealanders took umbrage at the portrayal of New Zealand’s involvement in the Iran crisis way back in the late 70’s in the film Argo. The historical reality of the event was distorted badly if not dishonestly. To many young film goers of the present such a presentation would paint New Zealand in a bad light, particularly from an American point of view. That New Zealand stood by, as the movie portrays and did nothing to help in the crisis is an unfortunate but typically Hollywood way of ‘rewriting history.’

Oh yes, Ben sort of wiggled his way out of what could have been a delicate situation, but in the end some damage has been done to NZ’s reputation. The facts of the matter are of course very different. Why did Hollywood choose to go down the path it took? Why----it does so regularly and if generations of film-goers have been misled, then I guess it is their own fault in that they rely on their world vision being informed by a ‘fantasyland’ industry that has influenced every nation on earth with its story-telling.’

Therein encompasses the position we should all take before we overreact. Films are generally just that; a form of storytelling where the facts are often substituted in the name of entertainment. New Zealand should just move on, as our ‘esteemed’ Prime Minister, John Key stated in the New Zealand Herald. Hell, if we take Argo too seriously we will have the world believing that New Zealand really does have a population of Hobbits living in cave-like dwellings, surrounded by enchanted forests and fairies. Oops, that’s true, isn’t it?

Optifast---be gentle!

I met with the dietician yesterday. This was a very rushed process as I had to travel to Whangarie for a family funeral (we said goodbye to a wonderful old Aunt of 92 years of incredible living).

I learnt about the process re Optifast. It seems that the first 3 days of this VLCD (very low calorie diet) are going to be the worst. After that the body goes into a state whereby the fat is burnt quite quickly. This is all to shrink the liver to allow for easier access to the bits they want to ‘transform.’ Given that the whole process is laparoscopic, I shall do my best to assist by ‘doing the right thing.’  

I will be on this regime for 4 weeks prior to my date with my surgeon. I see him next week and he will give me my operation date. I can order Optifast online, but I propose to visit the chemist I know and get deal form him. I also want him to make up a mixture of the available products so that I don’t get too bored. I can add two cups of veggies a day and one small piece of fruit. How I eat them may be made more interesting by adding the veggies to a thin miso broth. I also propose to make an ice cream out of the ‘shakes,’ using my ice-cream maker. That sounds a bit decadent but it is all within the rules. Hell I am not about to waste $19,000 that I am going to spend on the whole procedure!

Am I looking forward to this next phase? Well, it’s more like, I just want to get it all over and done with and discover a new healthier me. Once again I say to anyone who is thinking---‘just go on a diet,’ I am no different to someone who has a problem with smoking, gambling or alcohol.’ I won’t be rude because most comments I receive (but not on here for some reason---maybe it’s a bit too public) that are negative are based on misinformed thinking. By entering this new  phase of my life I am also saving myself and the Taxpayer money, by not further complicating my health and becoming a drain on the afore mentioned. We need our taxes for other things, don’t we?

Mm---what’s for dinner tonight, as I can still have 5 more days of relative freedom? Hell, I lost 3 KGs in the last 3 weeks and I don’t know how.

Onehunga's time has come---just have to wait a few years

Take a look at the picture. If the end result of the development is even half as good then we can say with pride, that Onehunga has been restored to its rightful place in Auckland; as a premium suburb with great features.

The Manukau in general has faced an onslaught of human activity. It has been used a waste dump for our toilets and our industrial waste. It was once a place where people enjoyed the foreshore and finally, we are about to see revival.

The trucks and earthmoving machinery are attacking the foreshore and using material from the Waterview Tunnel project to claim new land, which in turn will be the framework for at least five beautiful beaches. If we can be sure that the water quality is safe, then Onehunga will become a place to relax and enjoy life at the seaside. Wouldn’t it be great if those two wonderful old buildings along Orpheus Drive could open up and provide café-like settings? Sunday afternoon will feel like a ‘blast from the past.’ I can’t wait to see the end result. In the meantime we can happily put up with the dust and noise.

Onehunga Foreshore in the future..It has started!

John Banks has absolute faith in Charter Schools, so so should we!

If John Banks believes so ardently in the efficacy of Charter Schools, then so should we---- right? I mean, let’s face it, such schools will allow the ‘less fortunate’ to have access to all that these wonderful new schools bring to the ‘new education scene.’ Those ‘lucky’ students from decile one schools will be able to hook in to a vast new network of privilege and ‘connection.’ Isn’t this what John’s new model promises? So, why are we so denigrating of his efforts to bring good schooling to the masses?

Therein lays the main (and there are so many) week point and downright dishonesty of the proposed new schools. Just how many of the students of South Auckland will be invited to take part in this experiment? What happens when behaviours and deficits in cultural capital (go look it up to save time here) get in the way of the ‘direction’ in which these schools wish to travel? What happens if absences and poor grades start to reflect on the ‘reputation’ of the new schools? Just watch them (if they get off the ground) slowly transform into elitist institutions, where poor kids are gradually discarded as ‘cannon fodder’ for the distorted political agenda of those like John Banks.

Listening to him on the radio this morning was like hearing something akin to Alice lost in Wonderland. He places his political livelihood on the success or otherwise of his Charter School experiment. The trouble with that is that a whole lot of resources will get sucked into yet another bad dream, one that has shown itself to be of dubious quality in many overseas situations. Must we go down the same path, all in the name of thinly disguised political survivalism on the part of the National Party and the Act Party?