Posts by Stewart
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I have my own skinny-dipping story which involves late-night drunkenness; a small island far, far away; 2 males and a female; and a hasty departure occasioned by the sound of sirens* in the night.
* Of the police-car variety rather than the 'luring mariners to their deaths' type. -
Gotta admit the 'bong' and doughnut' references got me off on the wrong track entirely there. But aces to hear that you are right for now, Emma. Be sure to wring every ounce of enjoyment out of your every waking moment (and any of your somnolent moments you're aware of).
Despite being from a medical family I never really appreciated the stuff they get you to drink prior to the colonoscopy - and of course the shitting-through-the-eye-of-a-needle result. They made me lie on a gurney and have a wee afternoon nap, but I think someone fiddled with my botty while I was asleep.
The degeneration of age is a pisser, but it sure beats the alternative.
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Bill English is increasingly shown to be a tad "fast & loose" with the truth. Not a good look for such a senior minister.
I will await further developments in this story with interest, but the Herald's lack of reportage smacks of political bias. Admittedly, I would support Labour over the Nats, so I would say that wouldn't I?
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Oh shizz... does this mean I'm gong to have to join the twittering throng? Maybe, maybe not.
But I have enjoyed your thoughts & ruminations here David and I look forward to your eventual reappearance in PAS.
Fare well. (and prosper?)
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Sure, Bart, I wasn't in any way meaning to denigrate your viewpoint on being called pakeha, just offering a contrary persepctive. My understanding is that they are terms used by Maori and Samoan groups to refer to 'white man' or non-Maori/non-Samoan but specifically we paler skinned dudes. In that respect they are not really analogous to 'darkie' as 'darkie' doesn't have the same neutral origins.
And I am sure there are circles in which referring to you as 'Dutch' could be just as insulting as 'pakeha'.
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I have no probs with being referred to as pakeha or palagi despite it having occasionally been used as an insult. Turn it on them, much as 'queer' has been adopted by teh gayz.
And, ChisW, I think you will find that Oklahoma is land-locked...
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Well, I am on the other side of the world from where all but my immediate forebears would be interred so I don't get the hankering. Dearly Beloved has started looking into her family background but we're a long way from her family's resting places, too.
I know I have the blood of ages running in my veins but I am happy to look forward from here, rather than back.
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Great little short story, David.
My wife & I moved into a street just a bit along from Osman St in 1986 and no-one told me the area was so undesirable. We rented there for 6 months before buying a cheapo in Ranui - out of the frying pan & all that...
You probably changed the intersection when you remembered that the intesection of Gt Nth Rd and Glenview Rd would have been too busy for them to hit the bike & not get slammed for it. By Waikumete Cemetary there it wouldn't have gone unnoticed.
And back in 1980 I was visiting the area & got on the turps with my father's wife's son and his mate, Snottered in the Westward Ho, we were down to our last couple of bucks when we won a meat-pack raffle which we sold for the price of another 5 or 6 jugs. At the time I never realised how I was dicing with death with the hard men and thugs. Mind you, I had survived some rough pubs and areas in the UK so I wasn't exactly piscatorial in a non-aquatic environment.
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+1 on the congratulations, Emma.
And, in your piece, I loved this:
On a rise (possibly a lesson learned about dead bodies and high water tables from the Barbadoes St cemetery), it's just huge crumbling gothic headstones to the horizon in every direction. Marble columns thicker than my thighs lie on the ground snapped clear in half. Plinths on alarming leans show why the headstones have toppled and smashed as the ground has subsided. Time is erasing expensively-engraved Biblical sentiment. On a nasty grey Christchurch nearly-winter's day, it's the perfect place to be. The total absence of moody art photographers and black-draped teenage girls was kind of surprising.
I'd had a minor adjustment to smoke before i read it last night and it really touched me. I tried responding then, but for some reason couldn't get teh cut&paste to work for the quote.
I don't seem to have the same connection with the past - no idea where other than immediate forebears have had their ashes scattered or bodies interred, and no real itch to find out.
Have a pleasant memory of sharing a joint in the cemetary in Union St, Aberdeen but that's about it for me & graveyards. -
Loving all the argument before the budget announcement.
I am hoping that those on lower incomes will be heartened by some tightening down on all the ways that the wealthier taxpayers avoid having to pay their share. If this can result in an increase in the tax-take from the upper income bracket and there is some easing of the lower thresholds then it could well be a positive move for those on low wages.
I just get my tax removed at source (PAYE) so it makes little difference to me, and I don't think any employment of an accountant to reduce my tax bill is either ethical or cost-effective.
As income tax is supposed to be paying for education, social welfare & health I don't really buy into the fuss around high income earners effectively paying a lower percentage as long as they are paying a higher $-amount.
Just getting some of them to pay any income tax would be good.