ROY MOORE (JUST FOR ROBERT)

The Republican candidate for the Senate contest for Alabama must be Robert's hero (or alter-ego).

There are so many similarities in what good Ol' Judge Roy says and what Robert has posted in the past (sadly deleted like Donald Trump's most embarrassing tweets) that you'd swear that the two were connected.

See here:

Acknowledgement of God


Christians


Idiot


There are many more but my dinner is ready so I've got to go.


Feel free to leave a message.

POST, POEM AND PICTURE

Richard's away for a few days and one of his alter-egos is looking after his blogs.
Well good luck with that I say.

As he's away here's a poem to keep the alter-ego happy:

I cleaned the house yesterday

While The Old Girl was still away

I was bored as I don't like cleaning

For me it has no meaning as,

I'd rather be outside

In the tide, but, 

While frolicking in the water, I'd look back and see that I'd oughta

Paint the deck and fix the door locks. Eh.

Which reminds me - the best white wine to drink is Chardonnay.
 

This house needs repairing

• 
  

A CUNNING PLAN

Whenever I come up with a cunning plan and tell The Old Girl (she who according to Robert is far too good for me) she say's something like - "What! That's a stupid idea - don't do that".

Today I told her of my idea to keep the garden shoes, beach shoes and gumboots that we have at the backdoor in a tidy state:

Me: "I'll look in the Op Shops for a kind of cabinet with shelves that can go in the porch at the back door"

Her: "yes, go for it, that's a good idea"

I looked at her for a while and asked her what she'd done with The Old Girl (as she'd been in Canada for 3 weeks and might be some sort of replicant).

The outcome is that I'll be looking for some sort of shelf unit like this:

Well that's the plan. In my world that's a big thing as I'm not one of those weird handyman types.
I just hope that the thing I buy is satisfactory or we're back to square one.

A POME

I was confronted by a poem on someone's blog this week.
When I say confronted I say advisedly as the experience was horrific.

Now this poet has in the past demonstrated his influences from the likes of William McGonagall (or Val Doonican) but the latest was his best - or worst- yet.

Along with the usual misspellings, grammatical errors, invented language and 'poetic' devices was a disturbing and confusing narrative that only resort to the use of hallucinogenic drugs might unravel.

Strangely enough though, like say a sore tooth that you cannot help but push and prod, this poem inspired me to write an equally bad one. It's no where near as good (or bad) but here goes:

-->

The poem came at me like a slithery thing

You know, like something you don’t want to see

It was wrapped in misspellings and grammatical errors

If I were a teacher I wouldn’t even give it a ‘C’

I battled on reading it – why, I don’t know

It got worse as it went on – relentlessly

Rationality went out the window and,

After reading some more lines I wish it were me

I should have expected the worst, I know, I know

I’ve read his poems before so there’s no excuse

For some reason I thought things might be better

But alas, no, it was just more literary abuse

BIG PANIC UP NORTH

I'd had a reasonably nice day, playing tennis in the morning and doing some gardening in the afternoon and taking garden rubbish to the tip.

I was sitting down at 4PM contemplating steak and a baked potato for tea and planning on opening a bottle of Pinot Noir.

Then a text came from The Old Girl:

"I'm just leaving Auckland now and the bus should arrive at just before 7"

WTF! I thought that she was arriving from Auckland at 4PM - TOMORROW!
A hasty response confirmed that I was wrong. As usual. At least she didn't call me at 7PM asking where the hell I was. There is that.

I did a whirlwind job of showering, changing the bedsheets, cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming, tidying the various rooms, putting away dishes etc.

The Old Girl has been away in Australia and Canada and stayed in Auckland last weekend so hasn't been up here for a month. Now I'm not a great housekeeper so ..... the place was a mess.
It's looking a lot better now at 5.20PM (and so am I now that I am showered and shaved and looking and smelling lovely). I'll head in to town at 6PM to get some provisions and meet her at the bus stop.

ALMOST

I had a great idea for an App the other day.
I was waiting for the bus to Auckland and noticed a young woman backpacker. She was smoking a cigarette. I wondered why, at age of about 20 she was smoking given that all of her life she must have been exposed to discussion and warnings about the dangers of smoking.

At Kaiwaka where we stopped for a break I noticed that she smoked two more cigarettes.
I actually thought about approaching her and asking her why she was smoking but decided against this as she'd think I was a dirty old man or worse, odd.

Dirty Old Man

Thinking about this on the rest of the trip I created, in my mind, an App for smart phones whereby you can take a selfie and apply it to a programme to show what the effects of smoking will have on you over the years.

I told The Old Girl about this and to my surprise she said it was a good idea and I should go for it. I was surprised as she normally scoffs at my proposed inventions:

EUREKA

When I got back home up north I thought about how to create an App and googled it.

To my disappointment I discovered that some sneaky bastard had already thought of this and created an App.

How unfair is that?

WATCHING AND WAITING

A volcano on the island of Bali is about to erupt. Thousands of people have been evacuated but there are still many who are watching it to see what will happen (like the twits in the photograph above).

Mount Agung's seismic energy is increasing and, according to the National Vulcanology Centre of Indonesia, has the potential to erupt.

Now they should know as in their region in 1883 Krakatoa erupted being the greatest volcanic eruption in modern times. That eruption was heard 5000 kilometres away and was so powerful that it ruptured the eardrums of sailors on ships nearly 70 kilometres away. The pressure wave radiated out at over a thousand kilometres per hour so forget about trying to outrun that sunshine. That wave rounded the globe three and a half times.

Krakatoa

Now if the Indonesians for some reason have forgotten their own history then surely they've heard about Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted in 79AD releasing energy 100,000 times the power of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs combined. There was no way that the residents of Pompeii were able to outrun the gases, ash and lava flow there even if they survived the initial blast.

Vesuvius 79AD

This certainly puts the North Korean posturing into perspective.

WHOOOO. WHOOOOOOO....

Well the elections are over and Labour didn't perform as well as hoped. To be fair though, they performed much better than they would have before Jacinda Ardern took over.

Remember this?

I only wish that they hadn't mentioned taxes in any form though. If they'd kept schtum I guarantee that they would have rolled National.
Never mind Winston might save the day if he doesn't side with National although it'll be stormy with NZ First, Labour and the Greens all in bed together.

Still  from a selfish point of view - i.e. from a Northland perspective it doesn't matter whether Winston Peters sides with Labour or National as he'll use his party seats' leverage to get rail from Auckland to Whangarei (much needed) and maybe even the expansion of Ports of Whangarei which will increase jobs and efficiency (although Robert disagrees). I really hope that this happens, particularly the train service.

THANKS DONALD TRUMP

"No problem TC"

No, really, if it wasn't for Donald Trump and his stupidity and disastrous presidency I wouldn't have rediscovered American news television.

"Well fuck you TC!"

Years ago I liked the way that the Americans covered the news. We often saw great news coverage of world events (admittedly the world according to America's view) on our local TV screens. Ground-breaking programmes and clips from ABC, CBS, NBC and others were included in our local (once good) TV One and TV Three news programmes.

Then there was the decline brought about by the popularity of the internet, collapse of traditional newspapers and traditional media and I guess the rise of 'social media'. FOX news, that aberration brought about by the same little gnome who brought about the decline of journalism in the UK took over the popular viewing in USA and Canada and triggered spin-offs of equally bad television journalism from start-up channels and, in New Zealand accelerated the decline of our once proud news services. Kim Kardashian's boobs and big fat arse were considered to be more interesting and important than the reporting of genocide, natural disasters and social upheaval in Africa, Asia and other 'uninteresting' parts of the planet.

This decline went on for about twenty years.

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

Then along came Donald

This bloated, narcissistic, poorly educated, racist, xenophobic and unashamed capitalist somehow got to be president of the USA. He had been in the news for years as a bloated, narcissistic, poorly educated, racist, xenophobic and unashamed capitalist but a minority of voters thought he would be the man for them and - due to the totally fucked-up American electoral system - managed to gain the number one spot.

From a New Zealand perspective the American newsworthiness suddenly took an upwards turn. The anti-Trump faction has the 'voice' of the good media - print, radio, television and internet - regardless of the 'Fake News' chant of Trump and has been given a real boost over the last 10 months in having not a windmill to tilt at but a real dragon. It's been really interesting following this (I do it on-line) as both the right and the left attack each other and feed off each other daily fuelled by the ridiculous input from Donald Trump and his ill-advised advisors.

I enjoy watching and reading of the latest disasters on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, NYTimes, The Guardian and lots of other 'traditional' media.

I also enjoy watching  the satirists who dissect the latest news and re-present it in a funny form.

My favourite is John Oliver:

JOHN OLIVER

Followed by Trevor Noah:

TREVOR NOAH

Then Stephen Colbert:

STEPHEN COLBERT

And then Bill Maher:

BILL MAHER

And lastly Seth Meyer

SETH MEYER

Oliver is the best as he is clever, funny, witty and writes most of his own stuff.

Noah also is clever and witty and if he doesn't write all of his own stuff at least controls it.

Colbert is very funny, clever and witty but on a bigger show is obviously controlled by the producers who insist on the stupid format of previous 'tonight show' programmes.

Bill Maher is sharp and funny but has allowed himself to be 'captured' by a dull format.

Seth Meyer is funny but his writers are crap and default to that 'lowest common denominator' American humour.

All are worth watching though and I try and keep up with all of them while balancing it out with coverage from the 'serious' news reporters.

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

For a real laugh though you need to check out FOX news, the alt-right channel that Donald Trump believes in and which spews out the most diabolical untruths and stupidity second only to what christians espouse.

FOX CRAZINESS

TAKE ME BACK

The edgy, fragile version of Van Morrison's 'Take Me Back' song still raises the hairs at the back of my neck.

Admittedly the performance needs to be seen in the context of the excellent film Georgia from which it's taken (one of those great films that the Americans can make that aren't connected to Hollywood and the Oscar craziness).



TAKE ME BACK - JENNIFER JASON-LEIGH

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

Old Van Morrison was pretty good at writing songs like this. A couple of my favourites are Cypress Avenue and the visceral TB Sheets.

Check this out if you dare:

TB SHEETS

DISCONNECTION

I remember in the early 1970's, trying to explain to Richard why I thought that the Roxy Music song If There Is Something was so good and how I really liked the three parts to the song connected by piano bass-guitar and saxophone.


IF THERE IS SOMETHING - ROXY MUSIC

We were at Tony's place in Hargreaves street listening to the album and Richard (being Richard) was listening closely and dissecting it. He was at this time studying Pendrecki at university. To get a sense of what Penderecki sounds like pull out the cutlery drawer in your kitchen and let the whole lot fall on the floor.

MUSIC THAT RICHARD USED TO LISTEN TO

Richard didn't really get the Roxy Music song. He didn't connect with it.

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

I connected with it.

At the time I was head over heels with a young woman who was in my French and English classes at university. Her name was Robyn Westbury and she was beautiful - way out of my league. I mooned over her:

NOT LIKE THIS!

MORE LIKE THIS

I remember once sitting in the library. I was at a reading table and was leaning way back in my chair which I had tilted at a critical angle. I was daydreaming as usual when Robyn came up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and asked me a question about the English course. I got such a shock that the chair toppled back and she was just able to stop me falling to the floor. Boy I was embarrassed.
Nothing came of this infatuation but recently I've thought that maybe she was interested in me.

Anyway

CRASH

CONNECTIONS

I was born in 1952.

I first heard REM's E Bow-The Letter in 1996. It had immediate resonance for me.
Why? I'm really not sure, but I was 8 years into my relationship with Lynn (The Old Girl) and the music and lyrics just hit the spot for me.

REM- PATTI SMITH E-BOW (THE LETTER)

Lynn and I have now been together for nearly 30 years. We are still going strong and getting stronger.

I was once a christian - or, more correctly, was brought up as one not by choice but because my parents said they were and sent me to Catholic schools - and I once dabbled in the occult (astrology and Tarot but mainly because a young woman I fancied was doing it) so have some sort of lingering 'it must be ordained' belief in my subconscious. To this end I guess I can give a nod to Kismet and Serendipity and say that The Old Girl and I were always going to get together.

Well, that's whimsical but nice to think of.

What is serendipitous is the fact that E Bow-the letter which I like features not only REM and Michael Stipes who are superb but one of my all-time favourites Patti Smith.

I trawled the 'net tonight and found this:


A LATER LIVE VERSION OF E-BOW-THE LETTER WITH REM AND PATTI SMITH

Magic.

TIRED

I'm tired.

I don't think I slept well and had to get up early ....... to play tennis.
We play on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8.30 to midday. That's quite a long time for old buggers.

We're actually social amongst ourselves but at coffee break sit around and discuss politics, crime, school teachers and cleaners and get a bit homicidal.

After tennis I came home for lunch (tuna and spicy noodles) and sat down to read thereby promptly falling asleep. I was woken by mate Rod - the one who thankfully has bought a car - and whom I'd been playing tennis with, to ask me to go for a walk around the bay with him. I grumbled and moaned and made all sorts of excuses but could see that he wasn't going to bugger off so I agreed and set off with him. Yesterday's bad weather had gone so it was a pleasant hour and a half walk but when I got home i discovered that I was .....tired.

I had another snooze and this time (it was later in the afternoon) I was awakened by my cat Willow. She who had been bloody sleeping all day decided that as it was 4.30 (how does she know that?) it was time for her meal.

After sorting her out I decided to sort out my evening meal. Looking in the fridge and freezer the makings of 'mince and tatties' eventuated. My mince has as ingredients: lamb mince; onion; garlic; spring onion; home-made stock; capsicum; peas; carrot; various herbs; soy sauce; Worcester sauce; anything else of interest lurking in the fridge or pantry. 'Tatties' will be mashed potatoes with Parmesan cheese.

It's after 6pm now and the mince mixture has been quietly simmering and the potatoes peeled and ready to be boiled.
I made a pact with myself on Sunday that I wouldn't drink this week. Not at all. None. Nada. On Sunday night I opened an alcohol-free bottle of wine, a 'Shiraz' and had a couple of glasses. I had another glass of this concoction last night with my meal. Tonight, looking at the one third bottle of alcohol-free 'Shiraz' in the fridge and at the makings of my Tuesday nights meal - 'mince and tatties' - I relented. I opened a bottle of Esk Valley Hawkes Bay Chardonnay that I'd bought on special last week and guzzled down a couple of glasses. It was (is) good. Not as good as that slippery bastard the Te Mata Chardonnay I talked about in a previous post but still pretty bloody good.

I've got to stop doing this.

(Not stopping drinking wine obviously)

No, I've got to stop making these stupid pacts with myself.

POOR WEE THING

It's pretty stormy here today

Cold rain and big winds resulting in very choppy conditions in our normally sheltered bay.

I walked down to the jetty this afternoon as a neighbour told me that the leopard seal was close to the beach by the jetty. Before I got to the jetty though I saw this baby seal dead at the edge of the water.

I went to the beach past the jetty but couldn't see the adult seal. I hope that it's not a parent of the little guy that died.

I wonder if I can make slippers out of him?

SLOW, SLOW, SLOW

It's a bit slow going up north this morning.

It's raining and I can't go walking, golfing, gardening, tennissing, kayaking, - anything outdoorsy.

I note on other blogs that nothing much is happening.

Robert has mastered walking and thinking at the same time which is a good move in his development but it hasn't actually led to anything re posting.

Maybe he's still walking. Or thinking.

Richard seems to be sitting by the telephone anxiously awaiting a call from his luthier to give him news about the double bass which is undergoing surgery. Poor guy, he had to go all night without the big fiddle. Sad.

"I told you Richard, it's not ready yet"

TESTING PATIENCE

I've been helping Rod, my friend and neighbour this week to buy a car.

You might remember Rod, who I met at the Real Estate Training course I did a few years ago.
See here:

THE OLD ENGLISH BLOKE

Now Rod's a nice guy but he is pretty infuriating. He is picky and closed minded. He talks incessantly and is very annoying. We're mates never-the-less.
On Wednesday I drove Rod down to Auckland for the day to look at a couple of cars that he had seen on Trade Me. He wants to buy in Auckland as he's convinced that cars in Whangarei cost about $3000 more than in Auckland. He wants to buy a $5000 car! He's nuts.

The first car we looked at was from a dealers yard in South Auckland. We drove past many car dealer yard that looked very good until reaching the worst and dodgiest looking car yard in the city. This was the one that Rod wanted to go to. The car was crap. Rod mucked around with it and wanted to take it for a test drive. I told him that he was wasting his time but that he could do that but I wasn't going to come with him. The car sounded like a diesel engine even though it was petrol.
About 3 minutes Rod came back all in a fluster. The fuel warning light had come on as he left the yard and he panicked as he was worried about getting stranded (Rod doesn't handle the big city and traffic very well).
We left to look at the other car.

This of course had to be on the other side of the city out West. The seller was a private owner who was playing bowls. He gave Rod the keys and we checked out the car - A Mitsubishi 380 sedan. 120,000 kms, 2009 model in perfect condition.  Price $5250. We took it for a drive and everything was tip top. I told Rod to buy it. He said that the guy in the ad had said 'or near offer' so offered the guy $4500. The guy was insulted and said he'd rather keep it for his kids when they visit. We left and drove back to Whangarei. I couldn't convince Rod to ring the guy and buy it at $5250 as he got on his high horse complaining about how 'immoral' it is to advertise as 'or near offer' and then renege. He's an idiot.

Back in Whangarei on Thursday I got a call from a prospective apartment buyer who wanted to view on Friday. I told Rod as we were both at the tennis club and he said he'd like to come with me to look at more cars. We went down by bus on Friday morning. I showed the apartment to the prospect (he's thinking about it) and in the afternoon Rod and I bus-hopped around the city looking at car sales yards. We saw lots of good cars at between 5 and 6 thousand. Rod didn't like any of them. Why? He wants a Mitsubishi or a Toyota. We saw Nissans, Hondas, Mazdas and all sorts of other ideal cars but Rod wants a fucking Toyota.

We stayed in the apartment overnight as we had booked the Saturday 1PM bus and had planned more car yard visits on Saturday morning.
On Friday evening after a wasted afternoon I said we'd go to see a film. Rod hasn't seen a film in a cinema for about 20 years ("I don't like the way the audience rustle their lolly papers" he said). I wanted to go to a film so that he would have to sit quietly for a couple of hours (I told you that he talks incessantly). The only film I could interest him in was Dunkirk which I'd already seen but agreed to. He kept banging on about how he'd seen the original Dunkirk film with John Mills in it about 50 years ago.

The film was OK for him but he complained about the fact that there was only one Heinkel in it (he's a plane watcher and even used to be a train spotter in the UK. Bloody Anorak!). When we left the cinema it was about quarter to nine and I said lets go to a cafe or restaurant. It was too late for him to have 'tea' though as he normally has 'tea' at 5PM and goes to bed at 9PM. Fuck! He had brought down some cakes that his wife made and packed for him so for dinner we had a cup of tea and a cake. Very unsatisfactory.

By this time I was thinking of dangling him out the window of our 14th floor apartment.

The next morning we once again had no success with finding him a car. By this time I'd give up and was looking for a car for myself as I want to buy a more robust car once I've sold the apartment.

We got the bus back to Whangarei (another 2 1/2 hours of listening to him witter on.)

Never again!

I'm meeting up with Rod this afternoon to play snooker with some other old guys down the road so we're still mates.

*WARNING, WARNING*

Beware this little bastard:

I bought a bottle at Countdown supermarket yesterday and opened it and started sipping while cooking dinner last night - fettuccine with pesto, pinenuts and parmesan.

Normally about $24 Countdown had this on special at $19.

This wine is peachy and creamy to the nth degree. It is so easy to drink that it slips down without you realising how much you've drunk. The Wine Guy will be able to wax lyrical on this but I'm just reporting my experience. I hadn't even poured what I consider to be a whole glassful, instead just splashing some into the glass as I cooked.

Fettuccine with pesto isn't a gourmet feast. It takes only about ten minutes from go to whoah but when my meal was ready I saw that I'd drink more than three quarters of a bottle of this slippery rascal.

I have to play tennis this morning and will be moving a bit slow (slower).

Beware

IN THE INTERESTS OF KEEPING UP

I'm off to Auckland tomorrow for the day but I may end up staying over.

As I have trouble accessing blogs and responding to them when I'm away from my trusty iMac I thought that I should pre-register some comments on blog posts that Richard and Robert may write.

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

These will be options depending on the possible posts.

Richard's Bass Bag:

1. Boring

2. No, I disagree, a $7.99 chardonnay that has a back label stating that 'this is the best chardonnay ever made' cannot be trusted.

3. Pasta again? Haven't you heard of potatoes?

4. Look you should give thought to the amount of coffee you drink in the morning and the number of times you have to go to the toilet. Just saying.

5. Robert's gone again. He's deleted all of his posts.

6. Now he's deleted the entire blog. Was it something I said?


Robert's blog (whatever it's named this week).

1. For fuck's sake, read the news properly before you go off on a tangent again.

2.  Look, the pope (bless him) cannot excommunicate New Zealand's next prime minister (Jacinda) because she's not married. Anyway she's a bloody Mormon not a Catholic.

3. Fuck!

4.  I know I said that the earth isn't flat and I can't absolutely prove it but I have travelled by bus, train, plane and ship and haven't fallen off the edge yet. Sheesh!

CRISIS, WHAT CRISIS?

THE MEANING

Every time I turn on the radio or read news segments on the internet I hear about the 'Housing Crisis' facing New Zealanders. This is now one of the critical issues that the upcoming elections might swing on. Almost all of the contending parties have this 'crisis' on their electioneering agenda. Whenever on-street polling and interviewing is done by TV and radio journalists the respondents talk about the 'housing crisis' making it impossible for them to buy their own house or apartment.

Invariably the journalists are interviewing people in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch or other flourishing communities.

I'm not surprised at the response that they get and if we take Auckland as an example, that anyone earning less than a hundred thousand a year will find it difficult to make ends meet and may never be able to buy the house or apartment they want - in this city. The scary downside to this is the fact that there are so many critical jobs in health, education, services etc, that are never going to be paid a hundred thousand a year or more and that these workers will be driven out of the city.

Hold on though. In a roundabout way this highlights the real nature of the problem and that we don't have a 'housing crisis' in New Zealand we have an 'employment crisis'.

What I mean by this is that in New Zealand, like in other countries, the big cities are becoming very expensive places to live and as long as we keep allowing gravitation of population to them to find work then things will only become worse. Decentralisation is essential to take the pressure off.

New Zealand is a young country but even if we go back say only a hundred years or less we had a decentralised economy with flourishing towns and communities up and down the country. Yes, you can say that this was because we were an agrarian based economy and that towns and communities grew up around farming enterprises that provided employment but, apart from tourism and education as modern 'export' industries the biggest earners contributing to our economy are still farming based - dairy, meat, agriculture, wine etc. yet we have seen a disturbing decline in our rural communities and big migration to the major cities.

I remember in the 50s, 60s and 70s when travelling about the country that rural communities and large towns were thriving and vital places to live in. What's gone wrong? These places have been stripped of job opportunities, and services and as a result, people. to the point where they are dying. Rail services have been decimated by a mad drive for building roads and motorways that usually bypass the towns and communities thereby accelerating their demise (two road puns there).

I live in Northland a place of wide open spaces and seemingly unlimited potential - limited only by the fact that there has been bugger all investment in this area in the way of enterprise and creation of employment. It is the most geologically stable part of the country yet the government still put billions into rebuilding Christchurch and propping up Wellington - two cities that could collapse at the next seismic rumblings.

There are many other parts of the country - West, East and South that need enterprise and employment creation if only our successive governments could get their heads out of their arses (and their hands out of big businesses pockets) and start to do something that will have long-term benefit.
One of the many advantages of having industry and employment in other parts of the country as opposed to just in the big cities is that there is more space, cheaper cost of living and housing is and will remain affordable.

At present when driving through rural areas and the old service towns and villages it's like visiting the wild west.

Mangaweka after SH1 bypassed it

This is something that you don't find for example when driving through UK (a country the same size as New Zealand) where towns and villages away from the major cities are still thriving.

A British Market Town

A recent suggestion that the Ports of Auckland be relocated to Whangarei has met with a negative reaction from many business and political leaders. I can only think that they have short-term (in their own life-times) vested interests. The sooner that these myopic bastards get out of the way the better.

CURMUDGEON TAKES OFFENSE

Good old Richard the schoolteacher (newly positioned in a decile 10 school) has uncovered some disturbing instructions in The Bible.

I was interested in this so checked out some of the bible's OT quotes and came across this one from 2 Kings.

·       Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 2 Kings 2:23-25 NIV

I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand I think that old Elisha might have overreacted a bit here. On the other hand I think those boys were bloody rude and, speaking as a follicly challenged person, they got what they deserved.

ALERT

New post at THE WINE GUY:

CHEATS, CROOKS AND TRICKSTERS

DO IT AGAIN (2)

It's DO IT AGAIN 2 because I wrote an earlier Post called DO IT AGAIN:

DO IT AGAIN (PREVIOUS)

DO IT AGAIN

I heard today that Walter Becker died.

I saw him and Donald Fagen perform in Auckland a few years ago. It was one of the best concerts I've been to. Marvellous.

Steely Dan, for me, defined the 1970s. I'm not a musician but I like music in various forms. Steely Dan seemed to seamlessly combine pop, jazz, blues and rock, presenting the combination in an understated and non-precocious way. They didn't indulge them selves in the way that the 'super-groups' of the era did. They were professional and accomplished and I loved them.


Songs like Do It Again, Rikki Don't Lose That Number, Reelin In The Years, The Royal Scam and many others still take me back to Wellington when I hear them.

Here's an earlier Post I wrote where 'Do It Again' had resonance:

DO IT AGAIN - 1978

TIME TO GET ACERBIC

..................... not on this blog though. I think that I already strike a nice balance between curmudgeonly moaning and cheeriness (a little bit of cheeriness admittedly). No, it's time for me to get a bit more acerbic on my other blog - The Wine Guy.

The current The Wine Guy blog I use is The Wine Guy: http://nzwineguy.blogspot.co.nz.

I've been using this since January 2008.

I also have an express blog THE WINE GUY EXPRESS:http://thenzwineguyexpress.blogspot.co.nz

I set this up in October 2012 because some of my readers (schoolteachers mainly) didn't have enough understanding of wine and the wine industry and were basically lazy readers so I had to create short and pithy posts.

When I was in the UK a couple of years ago I had difficulty accessing my The Wine Guy blog so had to set up another one named The Wine guy NEW: http://thewineguynz.blogspot.co.nz

This is still in existence but I haven't used it since September 2015. Now that I'm back in New Zealand I use The Wine Guy: http://nzwineguy.blogspot.co.nz.

Confused?

Good.

*********

Now, to get back to this post's title 'TIME TO GET ACERBIC'.

I've been in the wine industry (originally the Beer, Wine and Spirit industry) since the early 1970s.

It's a great industry and I've been very lucky in it having contributed well I think and having been well rewarded both financially and by great travel and experience.

This is not to say that the industry is without its faults. It has as many scammers, bastards, idiots and miserable scrotes as any other industry I'm sure. Fortunately they have been more than balanced out by nice people.

Now that I've retired from the industry it's time that I make mention of the scammers, bastards, idiots and miserable scrotes. I've only made some passing remarks about these so far as I was conscious of the fact that I was still working in the industry in full and part time capacity working for legitimate wine companies. Now that I don't have to worry about embarrassing anyone I can talk freely (or as free as the libel laws will allow.) I think that I'll start a series on good people I've had dealings with and another on bad people I've had dealings with.

Feel free to check them out if you want but don't be in a hurry as I haven't written anything yet. With The Old Girl in Canada for the next tree weeks though I might have the time to do so.

I'll put alerts on this post when I've written a The Wine Guy post. OK?