Busytown by Jolisa Gracewood

Read Post

Busytown: Sons for the Return Home

258 Responses

First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 11 Newer→ Last

  • Chris Bowden,

    We managed to get our garden equipment, and tent, in without much more than a 'man clean' by myself. In fact, customs was a lot less interested in our stuff then we thought they would be. If in doubt, give them a ring. I found them very helpful on the phone when I called them regarding my wife's 50 or so food essences!! You might be surprised about what you can bring in.

    I often tell people I moved to London with a backpack and three tea chests and moved back with a wife and a whole shipping crate, and that the two are definitely related. Get a few quotes from different moving companies but expect to pay more once they have wrapped everything up. My wife brought a whole bunch of antique furniture which I thought was excessive at the time but has been great to have now. Once you reach a certain volume of stuff, the marginal cost of including even more is fairly small.

    Whether you like Georgian furniture or Ikea, the range in NZ is a lot smaller and more expenisve than the UK (and the US probably), and it is also good to have stuff that remind you of your overseas adventure. Bring back those lamps.

    And if you are moving to Auckland, prepare to be shocked re house prices.

    Auckland • Since Apr 2011 • 27 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    And a whole lot of better and more exciting galaxies to stare at down here too!!! With unpolluted, light free (nearly) skies!!

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Christopher Dempsey, in reply to Ross Mason,

    how do I enroll the kids in school? answer: find a school, bowl on up and talk to the principle

    Yep, those principles are very handy when talking to the principal.

    And a whole lot of better and more exciting galaxies to stare at down here too!!! With unpolluted, light free (nearly) skies!!

    Wearing elected rep hat: Unfortunately light pollution hasn't really figured much in Council planning/capital works etc. I'm working on it though. Doffing hat.

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    oh heh! sorry

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __,

    Jolisa, your posts often make me cry, and this was no exception! What a sweetly sad piece of writing.

    I love the treehouse idea. I wonder if you could train a tree to be a house like these folk in India have trained trees to be bridges?

    The disjuncture you describe between how familiar places look and how they exist in the mind is familiar to Christchurch people. I suppose our memories gradually get overwritten. I thought this was a poetic visualisation of change in a landscape: artfully merged images of Toronto past and present.

    ETA:

    Flying home from the successful job interview, the astrophysicist in the family says he felt as if he’d landed the biggest fish in the world.

    I’m dying to ask if it’s Dancing With the Stars . But I’m resisting! ;-)

    Congratulations, and welcome home! :-)

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Can I suggest that you make sure to make contact with as many friends as possible. You want an instant social life, it really softens the blow. Don't forget the PAS peeps!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to BenWilson,

    Somehow, I don't think that'll be a problem......

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    One thing that I've only just worked out is that my children have been little repositories of disease this year. In the last couple of years in South Australia, they had relatively little time off school, but this year back in New Zealand has been quite different - there has usually been at least one child home for at least one day every second week. I think it may be something to do with reacclimatising to the NZ germ pool. I'm hoping that by next year they will have developed some resistance to the local bugs.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Ross Mason,

    And a whole lot of better and more exciting galaxies to stare at down here too!!! With unpolluted, light free (nearly) skies!!

    Bah!

    While we were in Arizona, each evening I'd set up the scope and look at something - often Jupiter and her/his moons. In auckland I tried to do that and really our skies aren't too light polluted ... but the clouds :( I hadn't remembered how many days it is cloudy, even thin wispy stuff ruins an evening of gazing :(.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Lilith __,

    I wonder if you could train a tree to be a house

    One of the things I like to joke about when asked what I want to do is "I want to plant a seed and grow a house" ... only I'm not joking, I really want to see that done someday and know I had a part in that. Of course making it a home such as the one Jolisa is leaving is a much more complicated task.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    a GM house...

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    integumental shellter...

    “I want to plant a seed and grow a house” … only I’m not joking, I really want to see that done someday and know I had a part in that.

    ...with convolvulus for cabling,
    hedges for proximity alarms
    and lilyponds for solar power...
    I wanna see that done, too...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    Of course.......Auckland. I forgot. ;-)

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • James Butler, in reply to Lilith __,

    I wonder if you could train a tree to be a house

    Our wisteria is doing its best to make a sunroom of our deck, so there's a start.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report Reply

  • recordari, in reply to Lilith __,

    I wonder if you could train a tree to be a house

    I think you'd have more luck training a house to be a tree. No, I'm not kidding either.

    But oh the humble tree house. Monkey Mansion is my favourite. Only $10,450! Or there's this.

    The problem with growing a house would surely be the wait? Especially if you wanted one with hardwood floors.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to recordari,

    The problem with growing a house would surely be the wait?

    hence the GM. or some smart nanotech might help

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • recordari, in reply to Sacha,

    smart nanotech might help

    They could call them Entwood houses.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    I want to plant a seed and grow a house

    A Yew Topiarian vision.

    <coat>

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Jolisa, I too found your writing wonderful and very familiar. I constantly think about returning to NZ, possibly for the wrong reasons, and you have named and identified many of the things that both trouble and excite me albeit with so much more clarity. Although I've been away nine years, it has been in Australia, a far more familiar place, I suspect, than New Haven. Still, when last in Auckland, the place I spent my first 19 years, I felt very dislocated.

    A Yew Topiarian vision.

    Genius.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason, in reply to Rich Lock,

    That copse the lot.

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa, in reply to Rich Lock,

    A Yew Topiarian vision.

    If yew build it, they will come (but yew will have to prune it carefully and regularly, viz. the Elephant Hedge at Rockingham Castle, for example).

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    This, on the other hand, is a Mew Topiarian vision.

    (Via the excellent HedgeBritannia blog).

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to recordari,

    And how do you finance a treehouse? Mortgage or hedge fund?

    [if a tree falls in a forex...?]

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __,

    Fluctuations in forex must be logarithmic.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Rich Lock,

    A Yew Topiarian vision.

    That is so going in my next seminar. And no, I do not want to derail this thread honest.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 11 Newer→ Last

Post your response…

Please sign in using your Public Address credentials…

Login

You may also create an account or retrieve your password.