Posts by jb
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It's not as if the underclass just popped up out of nowhere. They've had their role models (sic) for at least 3 generations and probably longer.
And don't forget that Ponsonby and Freeman's Bay were classed as slums (with social attitudes to match) until well into the 1970s.
Living in Germany where the streets are mostly litter-free, I find release by asking obviously able-bodied folk skipping away after parking in a mobility-challenged parking space if they need a hand to carry their shopping back to their car.
I'll admit to having been threatened with physical violence on occasion, but if no-one says anything, it becomes the norm. -
Is anyone REALLY surprised at this brain fart? I mean, knowing just how DIM Nick Smith is?
More proof here http://bit.ly/mbJPI -
Settling down. And just so young......
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20 marks would be ..er... €10.23?
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I'd look to see what Gareth Morgan's doing and get in his slipstream
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MacMini? I was on the verge of doing exactly the same - before they repriced....
In mid-December, the top of the line MacMini worked out at US$924/€814/GBP567 and NZ$1478.It's now US$1049/€1029/GBP849 and NZ$2428
+14%, +28%, +49%, +64%.
So it's off to New Hampshire in April - works out at €840, including the credit card charge
What was that about comparative advantage....?
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Jeez, what a humourless bunch.
Damian - delete it if you wish. I thought you might have appreciated it, given your acutely honed sense of irony.
At least you once admitted to being "one of the new breed of state school kids who were never taught grammar"
And Brent: read the entire post. Please.
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Mr Christie
I wish to be relieved of the heavy responsibility of acting as your grammar mentor/coach.
We struggled (fairly successfully, I thought) with the possessive gerund by applying the "Lop off the last bit ©" test.
Example:
The tax incentive program has resulted in South Carolina’s currently having seventy new businesses in the northern coastal area. [The incentive program has not resulted in South Carolina; instead, it has resulted in the *state’s* having seventy new businesses in the northern coastal area.]Your (vastly improved) correct use of the possessive pronoun has been a source of considerable joy.
However, the 2nd sentence of this post fills me with great sadness and forces me to take this drastic but necessary step.
"Her and her partner have bought their first house in a pleasant, but largely state-house suburb on the fringes of Auckland City."
Her has bought her first house........
It's "SHE and her partner", Damian.
If the partners had been male, you would have written "His and his partner", the ridiculousness of which might have rung a few bells in the cranium.
Your on your own now, Damian. Its been a pleasure working with you.
Please correct these two sentences as proof that my efforts weren't entirely in vain.....
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OK, so it's irrational, but the craving for things you value/crave increases in direct proportion to the difficulty of getting hold of them.
To wit: Anglo-Saxon Xmas stuff (and other comestibles) when you're living in Germany.
So we pop over to London for a couple of days before Xmas - carol service at St Martins in the Fields, Tate Modern, Hatchards for books and - on the way to the airport - Marks and Spencer in Hammersmith for the essentials.
Check with the folks we're staying with when they open on a Sunday - an utterly convincing "10 am".
Get there at 9:50.
Wrong by an hour.
Quick calculation: Flight leaves at 12:20, have to be there at 11:40, M&S opens at 11, shopping takes 15 minutes, 5 minutes to the tube, 40 minutes to the airport......SHIT.
So I call the store, get the manager on the line and give him the sob story - the disappointment in the faces of the (non-existent) littlies when I have to break the news that there'll be no Xmas pud this year. No, no mince pies either. Xmas crackers? Sorry. Just bratwurst, sauerkraut and dry bread.
"No worries" he says through his tears "Come round to the staff entrance and grab what you need. Let someone know when you're finished and I'll have someone open a till for you"
I felt just like the Queen (or Phil the Greek) must do when they open up Harrods for their Royal Shopping Tour.
So I zip around, with everyone asking whether I'm finding everything and do I need any help, fill up the trolley, they open up a till, manager comes over and wishes me a Merry Xmas and we're away with tons of time to spare.
Wrote to M&S in Baker St, commending the manger for enterprise and compassion.
I hope they knighted him...
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OK, so it's irrational, but the craving for things you value/crave increases in direct proportion to the difficulty of getting hold of them.
To wit: Anglo-Saxon Xmas stuff (and other comestibles) when you're living in Germany.
So we pop over to London for a couple of days before Xmas - carol service at St Martins in the Fields, Tate Modern, Hatchards for books and - on the way to the airport - Marks and Spencer in Hammersmith for the essentials.
Check with the folks we're staying with when they open on a Sunday - an utterly convincing "10 am".
Get there at 9:50.
Wrong by an hour.
Quick calculation: Flight leaves at 12:20, have to be there at 11:40, M&S opens at 11, shopping takes 15 minutes, 5 minutes to the tube, 40 minutes to the airport......SHIT.
So I call the store, get the manager on the line and give him the sob story - the disappointment in the faces of the (non-existent) littlies when I have to break the news that there'll be no Xmas pud this year. No, no mince pies either. Xmas crackers? Sorry. Just bratwurst, sauerkraut and dry bread.
"No worries" he says through his tears "Come round to the staff entrance and grab what you need. Let someone know when you're finished and I'll have someone open a till for you"
I felt just like the Queen (or Phil the Greek) must do when they open up Harrods for their Royal Shopping Tour.
So I zip around, with everyone asking whether I'm finding everything and do I need any help, fill up the trolley, they open up a till, manager comes over and wishes me a Merry Xmas and we're away with tons of time to spare.
Wrote to M&S in Baker St, commending the manger for enterprise and compassion.
I hope they knighted him...