Posts by kmont

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  • OnPoint: Children come first, except…,

    Excellent post Keith, I can't wait to come back to this conversation when time allows.
    I think I/O and Steven Crawford have outdone themselves with actual useful things to say. The MSM have been friggin doing my head in with their coverage of yoof crime.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report

  • Hard News: Make you crazy like datura,

    gluttonous white sandy beach exclusivity

    That is some pretty pretty word use there Steven.

    I think you are touching on something with this:

    But it's become allot more difficult, since people started putting so much extra emphasis on 'owning' the slice of paradise. There are actually some that share land but let's not start getting political here.

    I think that for some people their dream may actually be to live in a city with an abundance of quality shared spaces. They may actually dream about dwelling in a well designed inner city apartment, it may also be better for the environment (urban and ecological) if people aspire to living this way rather than letting urban sprawl and a nostalgia for the quarter acre section limit our national conversation about how we want to live.

    I don't want to minimise the importance of livable spaces for families but we don't all want to live on a quarter acre.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report

  • Hard News: Make you crazy like datura,

    Oh I was feeling rogerd's comments about 7 above, not so much the last comment.

    a nice house on a quarter-acre section in a part of town they wanted to live

    This may not be a realistic dream anymore. There are other ways to live.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report

  • Hard News: Make you crazy like datura,

    I wrote the above before reading rodgerd's comments.

    I hear that too, it is fine for me to be blase about house prices because I don't have a family, but still.....

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report

  • Hard News: Make you crazy like datura,

    Really interesting comment -- and I wonder if there's any empirical data out there to back up my instinct that the younger you are, the more comfortable you are with the notion of being a long-term renter. Is real estate really the national fetish the media would like us to believe, or is this another case of middle-aged, middle-class baby boomers turning the media into a funhouse mirror?

    I wonder about that too. I am also saddled with a huge student loan that was gathering interest at an alarming rate for a long time (thankfully that has stopped) so home ownership is just not on my radar. The fact that a morgage is not happening for me anytime soon doesn't keep me awake at night. I am not sure how representative I am but I do wonder at the media obsession with this one issue at the expense of all of the other things that are happening in NZ (not to mention the rest of the world).

    The conversation going on here, sparked by Simon Grigg and ably counterpointed by BenW was of far more interest to me than the endless banging on about house prices and yoof issues that the media seem to feel are the only issues that connect with large swathes of middle New Zealand. It does seem pretty middle-aged and middle-class, but who knows maybe I will have to eat my words one of these days.....

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report

  • Hard News: About a Cat,

    I dunno, this site is great for learning Japanese and there is plenty of audio on there.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report

  • Hard News: About a Cat,

    I also need to know but am preparing myself to have my ego severely battered....

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report

  • Yellow Peril: Bai bai,

    I love all this mix and hustle and bustle, and the thought of living in a society where people are singled out for abuse because they look different worries me. I'm sorry if this seems abnormal - perhaps I am bad at expressing myself. That's why I don't blog, and I wish Tze Ming still did.

    Keep on trucking Tasmin6, I am getting your point and enjoying that you offered it. I completely take your point about enjoying the hustle and bustle, and the variety on offer in major world cities. Your neighbourhood in London sounds great to me.
    My two cents worth is you will miss the variety if you return to NZ but there is plenty of diversity in NZ and interesting things happening if you seek them out.

    Complacency is rife in this country but be the change you would like to see and all that. </hippy rant over>

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report

  • Drawing on Walls,

    Thanks for that.

    I saw the police arresting or otherwise interfering with a bunch of people doing their thing in Graffiti Alley (near Left Bank) I am guessing they were the F is for fun crew. We yelled boo, because really, boo! Don't the po po have better things to do. The police even had the grace to look a bit sheepish

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report

  • Word of the Year 2007,

    horse mounted hippies disciplining the flock

    I know that was way back on the thread, but thanks Steven Crawford for giving me the most bizarre mental image of my entire week (and I love bizarre).

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report

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