Posts by daleaway
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Would you good folk who talk about "a nation in mourning" and "4 million people" bewailing our apparent loss of a small war in Europe, mind deducting from that number my household, and the Scottish and Chinese friends who visited us on Sunday (all having held New Zealand passports for forty years)?
We offered anthems of thanksgiving. New Zealand AND Australian rugby hopes having been dashed simultaneously meant that we could hold a vain hope of once again watching television (even SKY news) , turning on the radio etc without being earbashed by endless blatherskite and chestbeating about our supermen, our natural superiority, our moral stupendousness, our-god-given invincibility etc etc ad nauseam.
It's not that we hate rugby. Quite the reverse. We just despise the way it has been used as a vehicle by big business to conjure up phony jingoism, line pockets, provide pill-free Viagra for the masses, and supplant real news. We loathe the obsession with it that turns this country into a nation of bores.
There are better things we could be doing with the time. And we might even be better at them.
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Whisky - not just for breakfast any more!
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Russell, must confess I have never been in the position of voting for any Auckland candidates at all, so I've never worn a rosette for your Mr Banks. In fact it's amazing how little his reputation travels outside of your fair climes. Seems a prime example of Short Man Syndrome to me.
Always felt popular culture was overrated...it comes dangerously close to downmarket fashion fads, which no person of discernment ever gets enslaved by. (Is there such a thing as bas couture?)
I'll see your :-) and double it.
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Would I vote for such a paragon, you ask?
S/he would be my FIRST CHOICE!
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You have reached the same conclusion as me, Stephen. That male sexuality being what it is, they award themselves the economic means to indulge it. I hear career choices for females in Japan are not extensive.
I don't think the females serving male fantasies would get a lot of job satisfaction in either cafe scenario.
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Would anyone like to start up an eatery in New Zealand where young blokes tottered round in mobility-restricting costumes and called me "Mistress"?
Or does that sound like another profession entirely?
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Lysergic never was anything but an adjective - like citric, oxalic, nitric etc. But we know what you mean.
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When I worked with Selwyn Toogood he told me his most frequently used playground nickname was "Seldom Anygood". He had lousy school years, and only found his strengths once he had been called up into the army. He ended up a Major.
He was indeed an institution in the 1950s and 60s and even into the 70s. When "It's in the Bag" hit town, there was no bigger drawcard. I went to a live show of it once in Kilbirnie and he could work a crowd like noone else. And it was fun.
All credit to the man for pioneering freelance broadcasting work in this country. He and his late wife Cynthia were a most affable and courteous couple.
Tineke's name was spelt thus.
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I spent a couple of years on a management committee with Kerry Prendergast in her pre-Mayoral days, and though I disliked her political stances and have never voted for her, I was forced to admire her capacity for sheer hard work. Not a shifty, two-faced, big-noting poser. She puts the toil in. Even a bit try-hard by Wellington standards.
But it could well be a case of buy one, get one free where her husband is concerned, and he's a whole other can of...
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Last week I went to a mayoral candidates' meeting in my (non-Auckland) neighbourhood - the hall was crammed, they had to put in extra rows of seats. In this area at least, people care strongly about the local issues. The questioning was very sharp, and candidates had really boned up on their local statistics. Quite impressive.
I like to meet the candidates, because it allows me, as usual, to decide which one I would leave my wallet with at the beach when I went in swimming. That's the one who gets my vote.
Years of trialling have proved this decision-making system infallible. Cross my heart.