Posts by Gervais Laird
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Here's one from my childhood that I found recently whilst surfing Youtube with my 2 year old:
Or how about this:
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Isn't one of the main functions of zoos the fact that they're places where scientists can go to actually study live animals without having to trek all the way to their habitat and the entertainment factor for the general public is merely the means that they get the cash to be able to support that important research. There's a moral justification if you need one the next time you're admiring the otters.
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Taronga zoo in Sydney has this great thing where kids and parents can stay overnight. Apparently you get to go behind the scenes and get special talks and see the animals feeding. Since a lot of the animals are nocturnal you get to see (and hear them) them during their waking hours which is apparently awesome. I'm looking forward to doing that with my son when he's a bit older.
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Kookaburras are one of my favorite things about living in Oz. They generally hang out as couples and at dusk they patrol the edge of their territory (which for us means eventually sitting on the power pole outside our house) and laugh maniacally which makes my two year old boy crack up. And they are really smart. I remember watching a family carve up a prepared chook at a picnic at the beach with one stalking the roast chook from the powerlines directly overhead. It swooped down and nicked a half of the chicken once it had been carved, much to the hilarity of everyone sitting around the people who lost their lunch!
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Most of the expats I know are overseas for reasons that the NZ government has no control over. For the bulk of my friends its because once we started travelling we did really well in large international organisations which can only exist in places much bigger than NZ and in industries/businesses that NZ simply doesn't have the scale to support. There's not a lot you can do about that unless you want to add another 10-15 million people minimum to NZ and at least double the size of Auckland. If or when I come home it won't be because of whichever party is in power, it will be closer to my friends and family in the place I still think of as home even after the better part of a decade living in 5 different countries.
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Aah ok Graeme - thanks for clarifying that. That raises an interesting question for me though about a sitting member of the opposition representing the interests of a foreign country, which at least on its face is much more bizarre than a NZer who lives in a country being the NZ representative there? Why is that not a conflict of interest?
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Good to see an ex-pat investing some of his money back in NZ if you ask me. This seems like a typical case of "tall poppy" syndrome to another ex-pat looking in at this remarkable and unnewsworthy seeming fuss.
Its not as if the last consul wasn't a partner in a large NZ law firm as well as a National Party MP while holding that post. At least this guy actually lives there part of the year round.
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When I was living in London in 2003 and shifting house so I rang Lloyds Bank to change my contents insurance address. I got put through to a charming Indian subcontinent call centre operator who when we got to my address details insisted on asking me what country London was in. I actually thought that was pretty funny - especially since my policy with Lloyds Bank's was in fact through Lloyds of London...
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Close - Browns Bay is an affluent middle class suberb on North Shore. There's a lot of English ex-pats and Koreans settled there as its not a cheap area to buy into. Not exactly a hot-bed of revolutionary discontentment. The limit of revolutionary fervour in the Bays was voting for Gary Knapp of Social Credit over Don Brash twice in the 80s for some totally incomprehensible fiscal reason. So yeah, there isn't likely to be barricades in the street outside Woolworths Browns Bay in the immediate future
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<<" Police station damaged by pipe bomb
6/11/2007 10:56:02
A pipe bomb was thrown into the Browns Bay Police Station on Auckland's North Shore overnight.
The bomb exploded, causing broken windows and shrapnel damage. Repairs are expected to cost several thousand dollars and the public counter area will be closed for the next few days. North Shore Area Commander Les Paterson says it is fortunate the building did not catch fire.">>Who's to say if it was the looney left or some bored East Coast Bays kids letting loose on Guy Fawkes with a larger than normal "banger". Throwing bottles at cops and destroying police property in the Bays was going on as far back as the early to mid 80s when I went to school up there by bored kids. It's pretty pointless leaping to conclusions about this incident, as it is prejudging the police actions in the last couple of weeks until there's a bit more information.