I'M BAAAAAACK!

Although Mike looks more like Arnie than I do

Yes, I'm back in sunny Northland after a brief visit to Auckland.
I had lunch with old friends Mike and Tony which was good. We try to catch up during the year for lunch or a game of golf (that extreme sport) but always meet up before Christmas.

Marcial Maciel 

Lunch was good with some good chat across lots of topics - family, work, Mike's novel, retirement etc.
Mike said that he had watched a documentary on Pope John Paul II's refusal to accept that the depraved priest Marcial Maciel of the Legionaires of Christ was a Paedophile even though the rest of the Vatican knew he was and had molested hundreds of children. Even the old Nazi Ratzinger knew about it and, when he took over as Pope (Pope Benedict XVI) he dismissed Marciel immediately. The documentary film was Mea Maxima Culpa, Silence in the House of God which Robert will most likely denounce. We had a lively discussion on priests and paedophilia and I was able to recount how Father Woodcock from St Pats Silverstream got seven years for molesting and raping boys over 20 years. You don't often get a chance to talk about things like this in normal conversation and 'Woodcock' is not the sort of name that you usually get to drop into a conversation.


The conversation turned to neo-liberalism for some reason (started by Mike) and Tony challenged Mike's assertions that neo-liberalism was a term that was bandied about too much and made no sense. As it turned out, Tony had written at least two articles on the subject. We agreed that Tony's ideas were good but he needed to change his terminology i.e. get rid of the term 'neo-liberalism'. At this stage my mind was wandering a bit .... over to the woman at a nearby table who was wearing the tightest and most revealing trousers I've ever seen that (sort of) covered her magnificent bum ..... but I digress. Tony said he'd send his articles to us which he did this morning. These are interesting. I've forwarded the email to Richard as why should I suffer alone, Richard will be interested in the subject and the very academic approach taken.

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My knee and ankle were extremely sore and swollen and I had difficulty walking around but The Old Girl gave me one of her powerful anti-inflammatory tablets (sort of like strong Voltaren) which magically fixed it so that I'm walking OK today. It seems that when I packed the car full of garden waste and took it to the tip on Wednesday that I aggravated the injury. I got a bollocking from The Old Girl over that.

The Old Girl and I went out for an early meal at the Norther Steamship bar pub in Britomart.
This was pretty interesting being a big venue with lots of tables and bar leaners and table lamps that someone had decided to hang from the ceiling!!

Never mind, the food was good - I had an outstanding burger with a cauliflower based patty and polenta chips. Bloody delicious and no animals were harmed in its creation.

I caught the morning bus back north which was OK except for a prat up front who kept talking on his cellphone to his wife. The conversations were both boring and annoying. At one point he asked her to list the items of mail that had been delivered and they discussed the bloody shopping list for groceries he was to pick up on the way home. "Get toilet paper" she said which we all heard because this idiot had her on speaker phone! I went up a few seats and tapped him on the shoulder and suggested that if he had to have mundane conversations that he took his phone off speaker phone as the whole busload of travellers didn't want to know what his wife was saying - listening to him was bad enough. He was a bit non-plussed but mumbled 'OK'. I got off at the next stop so I don't know how it went after that as the bus still had a good 3 hour journey further North. Why are people so bloody rude nowadays - not me I hasten to add - him and others of his ilk.