Southerly: Everybody Needs Good Neighbours
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The third time, a kindly neighbour disconnected the alarm somehow. I don't care if it involved a 2x4, breaking and entering, or a small bomb. They were the best neighbour EVER.
Neighbours that have a spot of electrical training or what not are the best neighbours EVER (only if they are completely normal in other respects). Mine thankfully crawled under a car which had been parked in our street for weeks on end with a very sensitive car alarm that paused, periodically, you know, so that Noise control couldn't do anything. He sniped some wire or something. Noise stopped but I made sure to leave a note for the car owner explaining this. Never saw the car again.
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I recall one neighbour whose car alarm regularly went off at 2am because of the swishing roadside willow leaves it was parked near. They'd eventually beep it without steeping foot outside, after waiting just long enough to disturb everyone else.
After many growls and appeals to re-tune its sensitivity, the closest neighbour finally took matters into their own hands one breezy evening with a swift brick through the windshield. News spread quickly, drinks were shouted. The offending car moved out soon after and peace was restored.
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willow on lather...
...the closest neighbour finally took matters into their own hands one breezy evening with a swift brick through the windshield.
Hardly cricket, pruning secateurs might've been a better first option than the breeze block...
and what is it with this specific 2am wind
- that sounds unusual,
spooky, even... -
I alway remember a rather clever stunt Michael Moore pulled, where he lined up a flotilla of cars outside the HQ of one of the major US car alarm manufacturers, and set them off simultaneously.
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spooky, even...
The wind in the pillows. A tale of 2am in the city.
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The wind in the pillows. A tale of 2am in the city.
or as it would be in Christchurch
A Zephyr in Manchester St... -
I'm not surprised she yelled at them with a name like that. In my teaching experience certain names crop up as always presenting challenges in the classroom. Jaydin/Jayden/Jaydan is one of them
our staffroom decided that 'Dylan' was the ultimate for this.
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our staffroom decided that 'Dylan' was the ultimate for this.
or Jared. Female equivalent? Teaching certainly limits naming your own kids after a while.
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Teaching certainly limits naming your own kids after a while.
As a taxpayer, I'd be quite happy if someone did a study on this.
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As a taxpayer, I'd be quite happy if someone did a study on this.
My son has been in Prague and he says that over there they have a list of names you can choose from. Not sure we need to go that far but I feel sorry for some of the kids I teach and the names they are given and have to live with for the rest of their life.
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They'd probably be teased more if they had approved Czech names though.
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Anna I wrote:
Love your stories David - so much so I've bought both your books. BUT... I just wish they were more often :)
You sound like a particularly perceptive person, Anna. And, may I say, with exceptionally well-developed taste.
Yes, I've been a bit inefficient in my writing of late -- floundering around trying to produce a novel -- but I shall attempt to be more productive from now on, I promise!
I've banned myself from writing satire on PA (so many other people are so good at it), and shall henceforth be concentrating on this type of humorous essay. Hopefully that will help.
I may also throw in the odd short story -- but I'm not sure they really work in a format such as PA. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Anyway, thanks very much for your kind message, Anna -- it's cheered me up no end.
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I may also throw in the odd short story -- but I'm not sure they really work in a format such as PA. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
I've often though that the Web would be the ideal place to publish novellas and novels in instalments, but it doesn't seem to be taking off in any major way - at least to my knowledge. At any rate I'm pretty sure that if you published short stories here we'd read 'em. (Especially if they're, you know, odd). But there's nothing like trying us.
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David, I can imgine no world in which more of your writing could be anything other than spendid.
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I've banned myself from writing satire on PA (so many other people are so good at it)
Oh, fuck off, Haywood, we don't need your pity. (P.S. Satire)
floundering around trying to produce a novel
Novel-writing is pants, isn't it? Where's my deadline? I'm just stuck in the middle of this huge smooshy unbounded thing...
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Novel-writing is pants, isn't it? Where's my deadline? I'm just stuck in the middle of this huge smooshy unbounded thing...
Hey Emma. I'd like another chapter by Friday please.
That help?
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You two are the oddest couple in that you both appear to be Walter Matthau.
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giovanni tiso wrote:
I've often though that the Web would be the ideal place to publish novellas and novels in instalments
An interesting idea! Maybe something sufficiently gripping such as a serialized detective novella might be fun to run on PA. I'll have a think about that.
Emma Hart wrote:
Oh, fuck off, Haywood, we don't need your pity. (P.S. Satire)
I should also have said, of course, that NZ is very well served by satirical newspapers/websites. The UK only has Private Eye, and the US only has The Onion, but we have both the NZ Herald and Stuff.
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a serialized detective novella
Something akin to this ripper local initiative, perhaps?
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The tall bloke tweeting in the second picture while Robyn sits at the back akin to a disapproving Greek chorus does a lot for me.
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I should also have said, of course, that NZ is very well served by satirical newspapers/websites. The UK only has Private Eye, and the US only has The Onion, but we have both the NZ Herald and Stuff.
And don't forget kiwiblog - that is satire isn't it?
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I had to read through some Kiwiblogs threads last night for research. It got cold, terribly cold in my little office.
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And don't forget kiwiblog - that is satire isn't it?
No, I think that's satyrs ...
Satyrs are described as roguish but faint-hearted folk — subversive and dangerous, yet shy and cowardly. As Dionysiac creatures they are lovers of wine and women, and they are ready for every physical pleasure. They roam to the music of pipes (auloi), cymbals, castanets, and bagpipes, and they love to dance with the nymphs (with whom they are obsessed, and whom they often pursue), and have a special form of dance called sikinnis. Because of their love of wine, they are often represented holding wine cups, and they appear often in the decorations on wine cups.
Satyroi were depicted as animal-like men with the tail of a horse, assine ears, upturned pug noses, reclining hair-lines, and erect members. As companions of Dionysos they were usually shown drinking, dancing, playing tambourines and flutes (the instruments of the Bacchic orgy) and sporting with Nymphai...
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Novel-writing is pants, isn't it? Where's my deadline? I'm just stuck in the middle of this huge smooshy unbounded thing
My own novel-writing experiences have been so traumatic that I've stuck to shorter forms for the past dozen years or so. There is an upside, however - the relief when you finally finish the bastard makes it all seem very nearly worthwhile, for a bit.
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I've often though that the Web would be the ideal place to publish novellas and novels in instalments
Well, it is used this way, all the time - in fandom, anyhow.
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