PARADISE LOST

“A mind not to be changed by place or time. Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.”

        Paradise Lost - John Milton

 I woke to a beautiful morning which is so much better than the weather we've had for weeks now.

The outlook made me think of Atata Island in Tonga for some reason and I recalled my lovely experience there ... but also the devastation of 2022. See: HERE

The beautiful island, among others was totally munted by the tsunami that followed the volcanic eruption and the people (population 106) were evacuated to one of the main islands.

I searched the internet to get an update of the fate of Atata and found this sad little videoblog of one of the survivors. This is worth a look. 

ATATA SURVIVORS

Remarkably, the people of Atata, even though there was a tourist resort at one end of their small island (Royal Tongan Sunset Lodge where I stayed in 1995) managed to maintain their community and garden-of-eden lifestyle right up to 2022 and the tsunami. The simple and in many ways idyllic existence has been replaced by a jarring movement to the 21st century - even though that is just a few kilometers from where they were - which has brought drug issues, monetary problems and social dysfunction.

Let's hope that they can make a slice of heaven from their current situation.*

"A Paradise within thee, happier far."

          Paradise Regained - John Milton

 

* No, I haven't downloaded Dave Dobbyn's 'Slice of Heaven'. You can imagine that song in your own heads.

PRIVATISE

No doubt you readers are aware that Richard's Bass Bag Toursⓒ is defunct having not recovered from its disastrous showings most recently in 2024.

Your investigative reporter The Curmudgeon, in January of 2025 raised the issue and suggested that the business might be folding. See: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO RICHARD'S BASS BAG TOURS? 

It turns out that The Curmudgeon might have been right as there has been no reported activity of this business even though a major potential customer Robert of Bob's discombobulate Bobadilish (don't ask) has been FREQUENTLY travelling to Feilding and even further afield. He could have availed himself of the 'Tours' services (if he had plenty of time to spare as Richard drives at a maximum of 50kph on motorways) but seems to have preferred to 'go his own way'.

I guess that this was the final blow to the Richard's Bass Bag Tours enterprise but there might be some light on the horizon if Richard is prepared to diversify. Today a thought came to me as to how 'The Tours' could morph into a more viable business - snooping.

Yesterday Richard telephoned me to say that he and Shelley were staking out the apartment building/hotel where we signed up a lease.

I thought this odd at first but then realised that a Richard's Bass Bag Detective Agency could be the way to go. I mean, it couldn't be worse than the Richard's Bass Bag Toursⓒ fiasco could it? Even Donald Trump with all his failed businesses must have had a winner somewhere*.

Mind you, with his current selection of motor vehicle he'd probably look more like this:

In the middle of the night** last night budding Detective Richard telephoned me with an update on the parking situation at the new lease we've taken. Had he been staking out the apartment building all night? Was Shelley with him? Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart? There are so many unanswered questions ...

... so many in fact that This detective or private eye business could be very successful and require an assistant. I've got a fair idea that Bob's discombobulate Bobadilish won't be a long-term runner so maybe Robert could join forces with Richard in the snooping business and combine it with his cleaning operation..

Just a thought (it's a slow day up north).

* Nope.

** It was actually 7.55AM

RIP Chris Faiumu (Fat Freddy's Drop).

BIG FIGHT AT TENNIS THIS MORNING

Old ex school teachers might jump to conclusions and assume that I was fighting with Mike but the fight was between a Kārearea (New Zealand falcon) or it might have been a Swamp Harrier and some White Fronted Tern or Black Billed Gulls.

New Zealand falcon

Swamp Harrier

White Fronted Tern

Against the backdrop of Mount Manaia these birds had an aerial battle going on for well over 5 minutes before the Harrier was chased off.

Mount Manaia as seen from the tennis courts

The terns flew in flights of 4 or 5 and, wheeling, turning, climbing and diving they attacked the harrier. I saw mid-air collisions and the harrier climbing even higher to, in turn, attack the terns. This was pretty dramatic stuff, things I'd never seen before and it made me think of the Battle of Britain and WW2 dogfights.

I don't know if any of the terns were killed or injured but it is likely. They, in numbers though sent the bird of prey packing.

Exciting stuff this.

**************************

Update

"In New Zealand, White-fronted Terns will sometimes harass or mob Australasian Harriers (also known as Swamp Harriers or Kāhu). This behavior is a form of defense, where the terns attempt to drive the harrier away from their nesting or feeding areas. The terns, being smaller and more agile, will dive bomb and call loudly at the larger harrier, hoping to deter it."

        Google search 

FORSEEN CONSEQUENCES

Anyone with half a brain would have known that AI would pollute the internet with both useless and dangerous images, videos and information but I'm sure none of us realised how fast this would happen and to what degree.

This John Oliver programme is well worth watching: 

It really is getting to the point where nothing can be trusted and that original creativity is becoming a thing of the past.

This would be bad enough if it was just a dumbing down of creativity, excellence and effort but unfortunately, where the internet and mass media is concerned the scammers, liars, criminals, cheats, pornographers and politicians are having a field day and the general populace, already duped by politicians, mass media and religions will be fucked over even more ruthlessly.

Already Robert's blog pictures are mostly AI generated slop and soon, I guess he will be using AI generated videos. His church will soon be using AI generated imagery and videos at Mass if they haven't already.

I admit that I dabbled a bit with Chat GPT and Meta AI to see what it was about and created a couple of silly images but that stops now. I refuse to be a part of this. I know, I know, I am a bit of a Luddite anyway and deliberately avoid new technology until it becomes impossible to get by without it but I'll hold out for a while. I bought a new phone recently an Apple 16 series that has an option for using Apple Intelligence for writing and designing images and videos. Bah Humbug!

Hopefully this image was actually drawn by a human and isn't AI generated

I think I'm fighting a losing battle though.

Watch the John Oliver clip and, if and when YouTube/Google disappear it from this post search to for it on the internet.

WELLINGTON PART ONE

We haven't sold the house yet and, with winter well and truly here it's unlikely that there will be any interest until spring or even summer.

The plan was to, once we sold, rent a place in Wellington for a while to give us time to properly check out the market and find what we want within our budget. I had planned that the place (a townhouse ideally) we rent would have an attached large or double garage so that we could store all of our extra furnishings and goods until we bought an apartment or a townhouse. That was the plan ...

... and of course, things change. The Old Girl, after her couple of months stay in Christchurch, went to Wellington last week to stay with her cousin in Wakefield Street until August when she and the cousin are taking a trip to Melbourne. While in Wellington she was to check out likely locations for us to look to buy. I said that if she wanted to work out of the Wellington office for a while, she should rent an apartment in the interim. This she has done and we take possession of a Cuba Street apartment next weekend!

It's a great apartment - spacious 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom across 2 levels in an apartment building that is partly hotel accommodation at 233 Cuba Street. I think that's between Vivian and Abel Smith Streets and close to Lighthouse Cinema. It's a good location, handy to shops, restaurants, cafes, foodstores and entertainment.

The apartment is fully furnished which means we won't have to buy or rent furniture in the short term but means that when we sell our house all of our furniture will have to go into storage. The rental comes with a secure covered car park in the building but not a garage suitable for storage. When we finally sell I'll have to rent a storage unit somewhere in Wellington - the closest are in Newtown or Thorndon.

Anyway, she takes possession on Friday 25th July. I'll drive down that day with a car load of bedding, extra kitchen ware (the kitchen is currently stocked with plates, pots and cutlery), her computer gear, some of her clothing and, no doubt other things that she 'needs' like artwork, wine and stuff. No doubt I'll have a very full carload. I'll stop at Taupo for Friday night and plan to arrive in Wellington on Saturday 26th. I'll stay a couple of weeks to when she goes to Melbourne and when I have to be back home for Jury duty on 11th August. Busy, busy, busy, but, I'm used to it. We've done  a fair bit of shifting in our time. After that I'll pre-purchase Air NZ 'grab a seat' deals for September through December and try and spend two weeks each month in Wellington.

In Wellington I'll have the opportunity to catch up with Richard, Shelley and Robert, The Old Girl's cousin and her husband, my sister in Waikanae and other friends and family. I'll also be able to check out likely long-term living locations, storage availability plus things like a golf club and a tennis club to join.

USEFUL ADVICE *

* Never miss an opportunity to take a piss.

The other bloggers have been going off at tangents in their recent posts with Robert in his blog - now known as 

- continuing to regurgitate the contents of his sunday sermons which are invariably silly Bible stories - parables - that are supposed to have meaning for the great unwashed or, in the case of baptised Christians - the recently washed. These are generally stolen from ancient lore as most of Christianity's tenets are and often are obtuse maybe having something to do with poor translations or having been passed through too many hands like Chinese whispers. I prefer nursery rhymes, Grimm brothers fairy tales or Aesop's fables myself.

Robert's parables have set off his grim brother Richard to write his own fables, one being something about rotten fish and bass bags. Really, it made as much sense as Robert's 'bobadilish'. Here's an example from his post:

"Jesus stopped and asked one of the fishmongers what he was writing. The man replied, "Well mate, I have a pair of balls so I call my little stories 'pair of balls'. I suspect that, as history has its effect and languages change, the spelling of my little writing miracles might change too.""

        - Richard of Richard's Bass Bag (not to be confused with the superior Rich of Basschat - see: https://www.basschat.co.uk)

I think that these guys should take more care in their writing as readers will be confused and get the wrong idea.

Sometimes you have to be hard to be kind so, in the interests of tough love I should step in and critique what they write and offer some helpful advice.

FEELING GOOD

 

After many days of stormy weather that's kept me indoors, today I woke to blue sky, sunshine and a day with no wind and no rain. I'm feeling good.

I've done two loads of washing and put it on the line and now I'm off to play some golf.

*****************

I checked the other guys' blogs but won't let that ruin my good mood.

Robert banged on about buckets using some rather dodgy historical sources to identify their origin (along with the obligatory spelling errors). I'm just surprised that he didn't manage to get Jesus, Mary and the Holy Trinity in there. Never mind, I've done it for him:

Over at Richard's blog that leaky bucket would have been apt but he's still sulking because no-one commented on his post yesterday. See:

What a prima donna.

Anyway, I don't care - I'm off to have fun in the sun.

INTERVIEW # 35

Yes, you read it right - 'INTERVIEW # 35', who would have thought? 

Well, me really as the interviews are from my imaginings but, as you readers* know, I would never continue with a post series unless at least 50% of readers* endorse them by the comments that you leave.

Our last interview, INTERVIEW # 34 back in April was with Lazarus and elicited 8 comments - many times the readership. Here are a couple of them:

Thanks readers.

Inspired by this, and the acceptance of the earlier interviews (that can be accessed via the clever search engine on Google blogger that is at the right hand side of the Home Page titled 'Search this blog' 'INTERVIEW # 35' is here for your reading pleasure. No need to thank me.

INTERVIEW # 35

We've all noticed (how the hell could you not) Donald Trump's seizure of the USA's presidency like a bird killer ...

... and the way that he has surrounded himself by idiots (so as to try to be the smartest person in the room) and to select the most unqualified, but sycophantic people to head up major cabinet posts and positions of power and influence. Some examples are:

Vice President JD Vance 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio 

Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent 

Secretary of Defence Peter Hegseth 

Attorney General Pam Bondi - 
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick
Secretary of Labour Lori Chavez-DeRemer
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem
Administrator of the Environment Protection Agency Lee Zeldin
Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Ratcliffe
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer
Administrator of the Small Business Administration Kelly Loeffler
Chief of Staff Susie Wiles

Director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Kash Patel

Almost all of these lack political experience but have served Trump's purposes over the last 9 years by endorsing his policies and supporting his actions no matter how insane or dangerous they might have been.

These people are always in the news - some because of their incredible stupidity and incompetence so I will not be giving them any more free 'press time'. Today, instead we will interview a lesser-known, well, unknown Trump appointee to the newly created position of Secretary of National Parks and Treasures, Butch Erthem. This new department will work closely with the Environment Protection Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.

Butch Erthem

The Curmudgeon: Hello Mr Erthem and welcome to The Curmudgeon's Interview series. This is interview #35

Butch Erthem: Thanks The Curmudgeon. Can I call you TC? You can call me Butch.

The Curmudgeon: OK Butch - good to hear ...

Butch Erthem: No problems ...

The Curmudgeon: ... I mean, it's good to hear again. The Old Girl's

been at me to use my hearing aids and so I charged them up. The deciding factor I admit was when Richard of Richard's Bass bag said something about God preferring ice hockey and I thought he said that God prefers Wysocki - Father Wysocki. Ha hah ha you had to ...

Butch Erthem:... yeah whatever TC. Hey! Does this Richard guy have some sort of fish'n and shoot'n blog going?

The Curmudgeon: What? No - ha writes some sort of music blog it's ...

Butch Erthem: ... never mind. I've got no time for most of those music guys unless they play a banjo. Have you heard 'duelling banjos'? Now there was a tune and a darned good movie as well. Pity that those good 'ol boys got shafted though ..

The Curmudgeon: ...um, Butch. Can we get to the interview. Forget about Richard for a moment. He's probably forgotten about himself anyway. He's a bit old ha ha.

Butch Erthem: Sure. Shoot!

The Curmudgeon: Shoot?

Butch Erthem: Yeah, shoot! Ask your questions buddy.

The Curmudgeon: Oh, OK, I see what you mean. Look Butch, how did you get the position of Secretary of National Parks and Treasures?

Butch Erthem: I like to shoot things.

The Curmudgeon: You mean ask questions?

Butch Erthem: What? Have you been drinking? I said I like to shoot things. Bang bang - like that unless I use a crossbow.

The Curmudgeon: Oh, I see. But I thought that the Department of National Parks and Treasures would be about conservation and protection. I thought ...

Butch Erthem: ... get off the grass TC.

The Curmudgeon: Huh? I'm not sure ...

Butch Erthem: I said get off the grass unless you step on that big pile of whatist that my dog just did behind you.

The Curmudgeon: So that's what the smell was. I just thought it was another of those odours coming off that hunting jacket you're wearing. My but there are some interesting colours on it. Is it camouflage?

Butch Erthem: Camouflage? No , just blood and shit and stuff. It's my work jacket. (pointing) This stain here is a Bald Eagle. That one is a California Condor. Here's a Red Wolf. That one's a Florida Panther. Over here's ...

The Curmudgeon: ... but but but ... aren't they all protected species. I thought...

Butch Erthem: You know what thinking does TC ?

The Curmudgeon: No, what?

Butch Erthem: I don't know that's why I was asking you. Look, the boss told me to get rid of these annoying critters that ...

The Curmudgeon: ... the boss?

Butch Erthem: Yes, the boss. Mr Trump to you. He said that all this beautiful land and real estate that's hiding trillions of dollars worth of minerals, rare earth, oil deposits and coal, is being used up by Bambi and its pals all supported by the woke environmentalists. The Boss said that if there were no bambis then the wokes would have nothing to bitch and moan about so he's given me Carte Blanche to go about it.

The Curmudgeon: Carte blanche - you mean the green light to ...

Butch Erthem: Green light? What the hell are you on man? Carte Blanche is my assistant provided via the Boss to me from the Department of Homeland Security. She's a mean sonofabitch - used to work for Kristi Noem.

The Curmudgeon: Kristi Noem? She's the one who shot her dog isn't she?

Butch Erthem: Yeah, good ol' Kristi. It was only a little dog mind but she did also shoot her pet goats that were bigger. She's got balls that one which is why you don't see her wearing tight trousers in all of those cosplay costumes she wears. I've been training her in the use of the M24 sniper rifle to control those pesky Mexicans at the border. The .338 Lapua Magnum bullet can take a head clean off.

The Curmudgeon: Oh!

Butch Erthem: TC?

The Curmudgeon: Yes Butch?

Butch Erthem: Look, as riveting as this interview is, I've gotta go.

The Curmudgeon: Oh, it's just down the corridor to the left ...

Butch Erthem: ... I mean I'm heading off. I've got a full workload. I have to dynamite some glaciers and then scrape off Abe Lincoln from Mount Rushmore. The Boss has gone off him - too liberal - and wants his own mug up there. Gotta go ...

The Curmudgeon: Righty. Keep up the er... have a good day Butch.

The presidents: "Oh no!"

* Readership well into single figures now.

BUK - BUK - BUK

 I was a bit confused at a comment and image Richard posted on his blog this morning:

I checked the internet for 'dried and dressed' and found this image:

Yes, I can see the similarity.

BAD HABITS

Richard's been practising a lot on his instruments recently and doing 'the Atomic Habits' whatever that is.

I practised my instruments for two hours yesterday - one hour each. I'm still doing the Atomic Habits. Within those habits I include work on four solo pieces on each instrument.

I initially thought that Atomic Habits was the name of a 60s psychedelic band like Toby Twirl which sounded like something he would have been involved in. I couldn't find an Atomic Habits band but did find Toby Twirl.

 

I then did another Google search and found Atomic Rooster ...

... who had a song titled 'Devil's Answer'. Seeing as Richard was also banging on about tritone substitution maybe that was what he had in mind.

Anyway - more power to him I say, maybe atomic power (a little joke there).

As he's planning on starting up The Prowse Brothers band again some new material wouldn't go amiss.

Some new members wouldn't either. I'm sure that prospects are lining up out there:

"Giza job mate"