HAVE YOU HEARD THE GOOD NEWS?

 

For a while now we've talked about selling up here and downsizing to a smaller residence or even an apartment. This has been driven by several factors; first, we're ageing and have to consider medical emergencies due to our health issues; second, we live a half hour drive away from shops, services, health outlets etc; third, there is no public transport here and we are totally dependent on a car that always works; and fourth, we have an old house that requires maintenance and have a smallish property that still requires gardening, tree cutting and general rubbish removal by trailer to the tip (a half hour drive away).

We thought we'd make the change in a few years but have now decided to do it straight away.

Wellington is going to be our destination. The Old Girl has few relatives left alive but one of her cousins who moved to New Zealand a decade or so ago has now permanently relocated to Wellington. I have friends in Wellington and a sister living in Waikanae. These factors really dictated selecting Wellington but for me it's returning home.

We will sell our house first and have the money banked before we look to buy in Wellington although I have spied a couple of prospects but am unsure about the neighbours:

Actually, Oriental Bay or Wellington waterfront are the desired locations. We will not 'fall in love' with a place before having the sale money in our pockets though and, if we can't find the right place will rent in Wellington for a few months while looking.

Ideally I'd like to get the house on the market before Christmas which will require a lot of downsizing and a big tidy up. Sanding, painting, cleaning etc is on the cards as will stopping The Old Girl from getting a new kitchen, bathroom and laundry built. I have to keep reinforcing to her that it is dead money as new buyers will likely redo it anyway. I'll discuss with a real estate agent when we get one along.

The choice of an apartment rather than a house is because we are looking for an easy care property that we can just lock and leave whenever we travel. Twenty years ago I'd never have considered this but, after having owned apartments in Auckland and lived in fairly large apartments in Toronto and York, the prospect, with the right sized apartment is now a possibility. The Old Girl knows that I like space and that us living together in a tiny apartment is a recipe for disaster. To this end we'll be looking for a 3 bedroom apartment with a couple of bathrooms, a garage and storage space. This is why it might take time. I have already sneaked a peek at some great ones in Oriental Bay that fit the bill but, as I said it's foolish to look too seriously before we have the money and are ready to move.

With luck we might be ensconced in early 2025.

JUICY 2

11 years ago I wrote a post (see below) about juice and used a video clip 'Juicy' which aunties YouTube and Google took down.  JUICY

Here's hoping it will stay this time as it's a good (if rude) song: 

I hope that this ones sticks (see what I did there?).

Anyway, as I mentioned a while ago, after giving the orange tree at the rear of the house a good pruning, it came back bountifully and we've been enjoying orange juice for a while.

The problem is that the tree was planted by the previous house-owners in the wrong place and it overshadows one of the bedroom windows and obscures the side of the house.

This morning I gave it a severe haircut as you can see:

I'm sure that it'll grow back again with perhaps even more fruit.

We can now also see the stingray sculpture again.

I got a lst load of oranges before the pruning and will make up some juice mixing with apple, kiwifruit and carrot. Yummy.

SERENDIPITY

Yesterday, October 7th was the anniversary of The Old Girl's wedding of many years ago.

By a strange twist of fate and in no way planned, the same date is the anniversary of The Old Girl's divorce 14 years later. How strange is that?

In this Guardian article Paul Broks investigates the supernatural side of coincidences:

ARE COINCIDENCES REAL?

"The rationalist in me knows that coincidences are inevitable, mundane, meaningless. But I can’t deny there is something strange and magical in them, too ..." he says.

Have a read of the article. There are some interesting things in it including this one: 

"The biography of the actor Anthony Hopkins contains a striking example of a serendipitous coincidence. When he first heard he’d been cast to play a part in the film The Girl from Petrovka (1974), Hopkins went in search of a copy of the book on which it was based, a novel by George Feifer. He combed the bookshops of London in vain and, somewhat dejected, gave up and headed home. Then, to his amazement, he spotted a copy of The Girl from Petrovka lying on a bench at Leicester Square station. He recounted the story to Feifer when they met on location, and it transpired that the book Hopkins had stumbled upon was the very one that the author had mislaid in another part of London – an advance copy full of red-ink amendments and marginal notes he’d made in preparation for a US edition."

Life is strange and there are many things that we experience that we cannot account for - Robert's posts are just one example.

REM sang in 'Losing My Religion':

"Oh life is bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes ... "

 

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 

THE LITTLE SHOP ON THE PRAYERIE

THE LAST POST ...

 ... on this subject - well, from me anyway.

The blogs have been abuzz with posts and comments on The Ten Commandments.

Two thirds of bloggers think that it's a load of old cobblers and one third believe that they are the most important rules given by God. This gift apparently is so sacred and self evident that the believers in it don't feel the need to justify or explain The Ten Commandments.

Here's what Robert said:

"Reading posts by two commenters, it is interesting how and why they both take umbrage at the 10 Commandments I have on my side bar. There is unanimous agreement, by them, that they could do better. Yet when they try, their attempts fizzle after three ideas. A surprising commonality is that God does exist but could have done better! Here again they try to suggest how but fizzle once again after "no slavery" and " be nice." They quote one person saying God should tell us to be loving! Obviously they haven't read the Bible. One that made me chuckle was "no one should be forced to be religious"; and bad intentions are not sinful!

They skip over many important subtle aspects. Murder is wrong they agree, as it is especially wrong to abuse children ; yet I know them to be pro-choice (for abortion). One shouldn't commit adultery, they agree, but fornification is agreed by theologians to be in that basket and not mentioned by them either because they are obviously not against sex outside marriage!

If I bought a brand new expensive motor car and one of them said "throw away the manual, I've written a better one, but I only had three ideas to put in it"; I know what I would say.

I don't feel the need to justify or explain the Ten Commandments. Others more learned than I have done this, and these are freely available through the internet and on YouTube."

 

Well Robert, I know that in your usual christian arrogance you don't feel the need for justification or explanation but surely you must see the ridiculousness of this 'gift from God'. 

Purporting to be, and celebrated as, the most important guiding and "beneficial laws given by God on Mount Sinai that show us how to live a better life now and please God forever." - from Life, Hope and Truth, The 10 Commandments are taken by Robert and his cronies to be alpha and omega with no need for questioning.

How is it then, I ask, not really expecting a sensible reply, that of the ten things there really are only six instructions?

1. Believe in and honour God
2. Respect your parents
3. Don't murder.
4. Don't steal
5. Don't lie
6. Don't be adulterous.

The exercise is padded out to ten things by repetition:

• Three mentions of honouring God
• Two mentions of stealing.
• Two mentions of .committing' adultery.

I'd have thought that if those old religious guys wanted ten things then they could have found at least four more bad things that were going on around them.

George Carlin though has narrowed it down to two:

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

FRIDAY

 I had an early start to the day having woken at 4.30 and couldn't get back to sleep.

It's a cracker of a day here and I'm thinking about taking the kayak out seeing that the water is so calm.

I've had breakfast and done my 'chores' (set the bread to bake, cleaned both dishwasher drawers and set them to run on a short cycle with baking soda in them, used 'Drano' down all the plug-holes and put a suitable derogatory comment on Richard's post). I'm all set to go.

It's amazing how changeable the weather is. Over the last two days we've had a big storm with high winds and lashings of rain - now it's calm as anything.

There have been orca and dolphin in the bays over the last week. I doubt if I'll see any though as they seem to favour rougher water for some reason.

This little family of orca were videoed in Urquarts Bay which is three bays away from McLeod Bay. a few days ago.

... THROUGH MY TEETH

 

I had my teeth inspected and x-rayed today. The dentist said that all teeth and fillings are sound. He gave me some Sensodyne toothpaste to use for the sensitivity I have been experiencing though. That's the trouble with us curmudgeons - we are too sensitive.

😇"Sit down and tell me about your day. I really would love to know."😇

MAINTENANCE

 I'm off to the dentist this morning to check out a 'grumbling' filling.

Not by these dental nurses though. They probably caused the need for fillings in later life.

My teeth are generally OK - not pretty like American ones but they do the job. I haven't had a check up for a couple of years though so I'm well overdue.

It's important to have regular checkups on our bodies and functions, although it doesn't always prevent problems. Yesterday I received a call from a good friend who has been given an awful result from a medical check-up. It's very disturbing.

I mentioned that I had a 'mole-map' procedure last month and will be visiting the doctors for the removal of a superficial basal cell carcinoma soon which is fortunately non-melanomic. It can give peace of mind by checking these things.

I regularly, on advice from my doctor, have blood tests to anticipate potential problems. I might ask her to add in a few other checks considering my friends experience.

Remember:

WELL, THAT WAS TUESDAY

It's been a bit quiet on the blogs lately.

Richard has been commenting a bit on other blogs but hasn't yet made an effort to write a new post.

Robert has, as per usual, been copying and pasting a lot of Catholic nonsense without any editorial input.

I've been a bit lazy only posting three times over the last couple of days. I have been busy doing other things though like further excavation under the house, golf yesterday and tennis today. I also 'battened down the hatches' by clearing gutters, double bolting the basement doors and putting in some timber to block the run-off of gravel down the drive - we're expecting a big rainstorm tonight and tomorrow.

At 2:30 tomorrow* I have to go to the dentist so might be a bit limited in my blogging then as well.

Hopefully those other jokers will have found some inspiration by then and can keep the show running.

* The appointment is actually at 12.45.