Posts by Hebe
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Good work James: you lay out the wider picture well. The drainage network is broken, to the point of the Estuary having been uplifted so the tidal rivers cannot drain properly. The Heathcote River bed has been uplifted, the channels narrowed by lateral spreading, the land movement on the Port Hills brings more silt off the slopes in each downpour, and the evil brown murk oozes inexorably through our gardens, garages and sometimes houses.
The Cera magic bullet: it’s there, it’s not being used. Why not? It must be: this is a core infrastructure and health issue for the city. Every time there is a flood, sewage soaks homes, garages and work places.
The state of the waterways has been known about since very soon after the quakes. My partner Greg was told in May 2011 by one of the scientists assessing damage to the Heathcote River what the problems were and the effect they would have. That was three years ago and a scientist was able to give a 15-minute short version on the street!
Why did the council and Cera not address it as a matter of urgency?
the fund that got almost $100m of donations from around the country in the wake of the the quakes. The biggest of the final payouts was to the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra
Yesterday seeing that news item, I was struck by a deep and weary sadness. The disconnect is vast between those who are making decisions like distributing hundreds of millions of dollars donated by the public to help residents of Christchurch with the effects of the earthquake. Bet you thought your donation would help people who had to move out of their houses because of earthquake issues survive financially and physically?
It hasn’t: yesterday $1.25 million went to a Symphony Orchestra, which though worthy and nice-to-have will not go a long way towards building river stopbanks, raising houses. putting in pumps and whatever other measures can be done.
Three times in six weeks. Now for a walk with the dog: blue skies, stinking mud and upended rubbish bins. I’ll take some pictures.
-
Lubbly. I esp like the golden plane.
-
This thread makes me want to move to Auckland: up the top of Mays Road would be dandy ta.
-
I enjoyed your piece Russell. A life well-explored: the 80s haircuts were collateral damage for us all! Isn't life an odd circular business?
-
Feed: Grandpa's Kitchen, in reply to Raymond A Francis,
Greg makes fried scones for breakfast if he gets the chance. The recipe comes via his Scottish nan Peggy. They are disgusting.
-
Feed: Grandpa's Kitchen, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
...and don't forget the bins!
The bins! My Grandma's kitchen opposite Crichton Cobbers had a fine 1920s kitchen until the late 90s: bins, swishing sliding doors, a monster 50s fridge with no shelf space, and an original terrazzo grey stone-chip bench with ever-increasing canyons in the chip. The bench gave my hospital-matron mother nightmares about its food poisoning potential.
-
These memories of ancestral tucker are great. Especially Robyn's dinner -- a typical menu for that generation. Certain rellies are near 90 and still eat near identical meals. Each day of the week has its unvarying menu. An offer of zucchini from our garden last year was met with suspicion: "What are they?" "Courgettes sorry." Followed by an enunciated: "No thank you. We don't eat THAT sort of thing." It was evident that my poisoning attempt had been noted and seen off.
-
One of my sons has significantly reduced hearing. This year, going to a new school, he decided to study NZ Sign Language. Then he thought to take it as an NCEA subject, assuming that – like another official New Zealand language, Maori – it would be an approved course.
He discovered that Sign Language is not an NCEA subject.
So, one of the three official NZ languages is no longer deemed important or worthy enough to be an NCEA subject. Appalling.
This from the NZQA website:
“As part of the normal review cycle NQS scheduled a review of unit standards in the domain New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). During the scoping and consultation for this review, it was identified that the standards:
· have had little or no recent use (6 reported results for 3 standards in 2005, no reported results in 2006-2008, and 12 reported results for 2 standards in 2009)
· do not align with the learning languages objectives of The New Zealand Curriculum
· do not align with teaching and learning guides for NZSL.“Although NZSL is an official language of New Zealand it was difficult to justify keeping the unit standards for the reasons above. Therefore, NQS planned to designate the standards as expiring and to exit from standard setting responsibility for New Zealand Sign Language domain.
“In accordance with NZQA’s obligations under the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006, the Chief Executive consulted with accredited providers and organisations with interest in NZSL on the proposed expiry and no objections were received.”
An official language of NZ, essential for some people to communicate with, doesn’t align with the NZ curriculum! Change the curriculum I suggest.
-
His dream kitchen wasn't what we'd build today. It was small and quite dark, although the ceiling was high. In place of a table there was a diner-style booth. Proper meals were had in the living room next door.
That conjures up an evocative mental picture. Were the walls T+G or hardboard with half-round edging the joins?
I pretty much aspire to Elizabeth David's ideal simple kitchen --here she explains: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/elizabeth-davids-dream-kitchen-625982.html
A picture: http://lukehoney.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ef13a4f8834019aff8ec1ae970b-pi -
Feed: Grandpa's Kitchen, in reply to Russell Brown,
Boiled underpants puh-lease.