YOU HEARD IT HERE

In my previous post I talked about the Democrat Senator Kamala Harris announcing her run for the USA 2020 presidency and my belief that she could and definitely should win it.

KAMALA HARRIS

There will be a lot of other Democratic contenders to run against Donald Trump (if he's still there) but none of them have the WOW factor that Harris has. Leading these will be Elizabeth Warren.

ELIZABETH WARREN

Warren is a pretty good contender and has given Trump and the GOP a run for their money over the last couple of years but, if she had been running for the presidency in 2016 instead of Hillary Clinton:

HILLARY CLINTON

....then the result would have been the same. Trump would have won.
I told you back in 2016 that Trump would win. Remember?

DONALD TRUMP

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

This isn't the first time that The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ has given you a scoop on future political events.

We told you that John Key was going to be given the boot and that Labour, led by Jacinda Ardern would triumph.

JACINDA ARDERN

JOHN KEY

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

The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ has been pretty astute in it's predictions of events in the blogging world as well.

We told you that Richard (of RBB) would: travel to Italy long before that old guy even knew himself that he would do this; that he would have a falling out with Robert on both Facebook and the blogs: that he would do a lot of preparation for a gig only to find that it was cancelled; that his dynamic new blue painted house would need to be repainted to a more sensible colour; that getting older would mean that he ran the risk of going out in public wearing his slippers - and many more things.

We also told you, before they happened, that: Robert would denounce Stephen Hawking's amazing insights; that he would misspell Stephen Hawking's name; that he would delete all of his posts and blogs from time to time; that he would proselytise on the catholic church and the catechism - and many more things.

Well, how amazing is that?

AMERICANS - LOVE 'EM OR HATE 'EM

We've seen the ugly side of American politics over the last three years, more than ever before but the whole show has been fascinating ....... and scary. Like never before what the USA is doing on the world stage is in danger of seriously affecting us and creating a very unsafe world.
Trump and his administration have seemed to be hellbent on dismantling treaties, legislature and ways of doing things that have been built up over the last 60 years that largely have been well intentioned. The dismantling has been done for reasons of hubris, greed, ignorance and vanity and has created vacuums in areas that China, Russia and other less-well intentioned nations will take advantage of.

There are of course good Americans - millions of them who talk against Trump and his cronies but who have been a little pathetic until very recently.

THE BAD

THE GOOD

I've just watched Kamala Harris's announcement of her intention to run for the 2020 Presidency and am very pleased to see this. what an impressive woman she is see: HERE

I have watched her work over the last couple of years in her chairmanship and questioning in Senate Committee meetings. She's impressive.

This is going to be a very interesting election.

MONDAY MORNING 5 AM ........

...... SOME OBSERVATIONS.


I rose at 5 AM this morning which is pretty good for an old retired joker.

No doubt Robert would have been up for at least 3 hours playing WOLFENSTEIN  or something on his computer before going off to clean some grubby people's houses. Why do cleaners have to start work so early when they clean other people's houses? What's that about?

Richard would have been awakened by a nightmare about chickens at about the same time that I got up. This is a good thing as he'll need to start getting up early again now that school is back. Old teachers are pretty lucky in that after they retire, because there is a shortage of them they can keep coming back to look after classes forever. As long as they don't die on the job all is OK although, I guess, if they died but still managed to sit upright in a chair at the front desk the school authorities would be happy.


Old marketers don't get this opportunity but I'm sure that there would be a valid argument for them coming back part-time to babysit the naive young marketing managers and sales teams who tend to fuck up everything they do. Empirical knowledge is the way ahead not fancy schmancy theoretical book learnin' ...... but I digress.

I actually woke after a strange dream where I was wrestling a gun off a guy in a car. Initially it was a shotgun but then morphed into an air rifle. I was trying to pull the gun off him but couldn't get enough arm movement. When I woke I realised it was because I was tangled up in the bedsheet. I told The Old Girl (T.O.G.) about the dream and she blamed it on the medication I'm taking.

I had to get up early to take T.O.G. to the airport. It's nice getting out on the road early particularly today as it's Auckland and Northland Anniversary day so there was no other traffic on the road for miles. If it had stayed dark and a full moon had come out I might have turned the headlights off ...... but then I'd have got a bollocking from T.O.G. As it was dawn broke quickly and it became light by 6AM. It's about a half hour drive to town and the airport and I dropped T.O.G. off at 6.30.

It was still too early for shopping as supermarkets in our area don't open until about 8AM. I drove to BP service station for petrol and bought a container of fresh milk there. I also bought one of those 'Classic' cooked sausages that the BP cafes sell. These are smashing and would go really well inside a slice of buttered bread with tomato sauce but even on their own they are good. That was my breakfast. Fat and protein.

It was pleasant driving around the bays to and from the airport at that early hour. I must get up early more often ......


..... or not.

ALEKTOROPHOBIA

Well we learn something new about Richard (of RBB) every day.
We knew that he has phobias and has admitted to many himself in a recent post that he deleted.

He's scared of cows, shoes, moths, colourful underpants, wines with labels on them, cats, heights, flying, driving over 50 kph and the catholic church but now we learn he's afraid of chickens.

It's not hard to pinpoint the source of phobias

"Phobias can be traced to specific, concrete fears that adult sufferers recognize as irrational. ... Phobia sufferers are able to pinpoint an exact object or situation that they fear. Being able to recognize the fear as irrational separates anxiety disorders from the psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia."

                                                                               - source - someone on the internet. 

With Richard it could have been a bad food experience like if he had gone to one of Robert's favourite fast food joints:

Or, it came from an early experience with an actual living chicken:

Although it's hard to understand how these sweet little things could scare anyone:

Maybe he's been listening too much to Robert and his theory that chickens have evolved from dinosaurs:

I guess that he should just face this fear head on:

CHICKEN FIGHT

.

I'M GETTING LAZIER

I went for a dip this morning after my walk. It was hot and sunny and the water was clear and beautiful.
I took my body board with me as a flotation device as I planned to stay in for a while. Lovely.

The Old Girl joined me about a quarter of an hour later after she'd been for her run. She swam a bit as she's a much better swimmer than I am  and I asked her for a tow.

"What?" she asked.

"A tow" I said holding up the rope attachment on the body board that surfers use to connect the board to them.

"(Explicative off)" she said.

"Come on, be a sport" I said and repeated the request ad nauseum until I wore her down.

She swam over to me and I handed her the light rope that has a velcro ankle attachment. She snapped it on her ankle and started swimming. It worked amazingly well and she swam back and forth, towing me along until she got tired. Readers will be pleased to know that I was OK.

HER

ME

It must have looked funny to the odd passerby.

TOO DAMNED HOT

ELLA FITZGERALD

ANN MILLER

Ann Miller recorded a film of singing Too Darn Hot as well but Ella's version is better.

Ann is easier on the eye though.

Hot, hot, hot today but fortunately tempered by a few cooling breezes.
When the breezes dropped though the sun was 'heavy' and it was uncomfortable to stay outside too long. I was going to do some weeding - "Yeah right" said The Old girl - so have put that off for another day.

I read that in Adelaide temperature records have been broken with temperatures over 46 degrees which has resulted in people being hospitalised. The Old Girl is off there for 3 weeks work at the end of February so hopefully the heatwave might have dissipated by then.

46 degrees is 'too darn hot'. I remember being in West Australia down Pemberton way in January in the late 1990s. We were looking at vineyards and the temperature was over 44 degrees C. Too damned hot! Even with big floppy hats on the sun felt heavy on our heads and it made just walking around difficult. I'd hate to be in those temperatures all the time.


It was hot in Wellington and Paraparaumu the other day as well but not as hot as here. Wellington- surprise, surprise was also windy - a hot wind which was drying and exhausting and I think contributed to the migraine I got when I was at the airport. Dehydration.

I think I'm a cold weather person really which explains why i love mountains and the snow.

HOME - COMING AND GOING

I've just got home up north. It's good coming home. As we get older I think we appreciate it more and it's hard to leave for any period of time.

I've just been away to my old home town of Wellington. I miss that city and in a way, visiting there is like going home.

I had to go to Paraparaumu to visit my sister who has moved into a new house a few months ago. She's been living on her own for a few years since my mother died and basically wasn't handling things - house maintenance, day to day care etc so we as a family helped her to sell the old family house and buy a tidier and easier to handle cottage in a kind of gated community. My other sister and I helped this sister with the move a while ago and since then I've been worrying how she might be handling things hence my visit. I didn't know what to expect since she had been living in a mess at the old, and bigger house. I was pleasantly relieved to see that she has the cottage sorted and is looking and acting much better than before. I put most of this down to the shift.

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

I flew to Wellington on Tuesday afternoon and had booked an Airbnb in Oriental Bay for the night planning to take the train to Paraparaumu the next morning.
Richard (of RBB) met me at the airport and drove me to my accommodation after which we strolled down to Courtenay Place for a couple of glasses of wine.
Richard must have been in a hurry to get to the airport or he was in a state of excitement to meet me because he still had his slippers on - bless him.

We had, as I said a couple of glasses of chardonnay - as much wine as I ever feel like drinking nowadays and wandered back to Oriental Bay. Richard had to drink a decent Hawkes Bay and a Martinborough chardonnay as The Hummingbird wine bar didn't stock cleanskins. His taste buds were very thankful. We had a little chat about things old guys chat about - basically nothing as anything serious gets forgotten 20 seconds later although the subject of Robert's religion did come up. We toasted 'good riddance' to that and moved on. I remember once before sharing a couple of glasses of chardonnay with Richard in a wine bar in Wellington. This was in a bar on the corner of Boulcott and Willis streets and was to turn out to be a sad time in Richard's life. See: THE WINE GUY

*********

On the way back we walked past Chaffers marina and I decided to cheer Richard up by telling him of my brother's death by drowning there and pointing out the spots where he was thought to have gone in and the spot where his body was definitely recovered. The Old Guy likes a good story.
I'm sure that I wrote a post on this a few years ago but might have deleted it.

We walked past the newly sanded Oriental Bay beach and pretended not to notice the nubile young women (un)dressed in their bikinis. "It wasn't like this when I lived in Oriental Bay in the 1970s" I thought. It must be global warming. In a coffee bar Richard and I lamented the fact that when we were in our early 20s, young women didn't lay about in bikinis and we didn't have social media hook-up sites like Tinder to meet women. We looked at each other and laughed and agreed that we'd have still managed to fuck it all up.

Old friends - getting older but still good company. My current health situation demands that I have a 'nap' in the afternoon though and so while Richard battled the motorway traffic home I went back to my digs and had a snooze.

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

After visiting my sister I travelled back to Wellington (free on the train using my Super Gold Card) and had some time in hand before getting to the airport (free on the airport bus using my Super Gold Card) I wandered up New Zealand's best street. Cuba Street. I wish that every city and town in New Zealand had a Cuba street. It's magic. It always has been and I'm so pleased to see that it still is. I can see why Richard loves it. (Robert wouldn't as there is too much sin going on there).
I made it to the airport with body and soul intact and had the not unusual wait because of a plane delay arriving home to the Auckland apartment tired but happy.

The Old Girl and I met up with some friends for breakfast and drove home, to the real and current home later in the morning.

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

The Religious Curmudgeon has some findings for you about sin.

THE COLOURS OF SIN

DRIVING BY MOONLIGHT

I've been re-reading Lee Child's Reacher series of novels recently. This has proved to me that the earlier ones are better and that he's gone off the boil in the last two.
In the one I just finished Reacher and a policewoman are driving on a highway at night trying to go unnoticed by the bad guys. Reacher suggested that the policewoman turns the headlights off and drive instead by looking at the infrared screen she has on the dashboard.

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

I did this once. It was at about 1 O'Clock in the morning and I was driving the Turangi to National Park road to get to Chateau Tongariro at Whakapapa. 

It was a beautiful clear night with a full moon. There was no traffic on this road at that time of night so I turned my headlights off, opened all of the windows and drove under the stars and moonlight with the clean and frigid alpine air blasting in. I played music on the CD player, probably Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and some Pink Floyd which would have suited the occasion well.

I remember this being magic.

It was in the mid-1980s. I wouldn't do it now.

EUPHORIC TRUMPETS WELCOMING?

"Subliminal sublime deep rumbling, Euphoric trumpets welcoming...
Not today.
I counted to twelve then home.
Sublimely swallowing Obolon or whatever is close.
Euphoric bubbles burping, beckoning!
In dizzy frenzy documenting.
Lounging, lasonia lazily digesting.
Bear Grill's snobs and workers watching. Waiting. Willing. Killing?"

So said Robert in his latest post on his (amazingly long lasting) NOTHING TO DO WITH RELIGION blog HERE

This is preferable to the execrable and fawning religious claptrap that he normally expounds.

While still making no sense this latest offering however is up there with the psychedelic works of Aldous Huxley, Gertrude Stein and his own favourite Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Robert could of course have been influenced by his readings of John in The Apocalypse.

My theory though is that he's been getting too close to those cleaning chemicals he uses.

I MISS MY DAD'S SHED

I miss my dad's shed. The 'shed' I mean, I guess was the garage and the basement in Vogeltown.
he had a couple of sheds up the back of the property but one was for chickens and the other for explosives - see HERE

Dad's garage had all sorts of things  in it both useful and junk that were great to pick through whenever we wanted to make something.

My grandad on my mother's side had a great shed as well. This was on a farm and was an old shearing shed. The stuff in  this was different from the city stuff and more exotic. It didn't take much digging in the dust to find live bullets for example.

Nowadays I don't have access to a shed. I've never been a 'handyman' type person so haven't built up a big collection of tools and all of the bits that go along with them. The 'bits' are those boxes and jars full of nails, screws, nuts and bolts and every sort of plumbing, building, electrical and mechanical bric a brac that comes in handy.

The few 'bits and bobs' that I've had in the past all disappeared when we went overseas for a couple of years and put all of our good possessions in storage. Now, when I want to repair something I don't have a ready made repository to access. It's annoying when all I want is an eye-hook or a nut and bolt to have to go to a hardware store to buy it. I want to make a blowgun to fire chickpeas at the seagulls. In the past I'd be able to fossick in dad's or the old girl's fathers garages or sheds to find exactly what I want. Now I'll have to go to a builder's supplies yard or hardware place and end up buying much more than I want.

I miss my dad's shed.

FLUTES UP THEIR BUMS*

* No doubt that got your attention.



We couldn't decide whether this post should be published by either the Religious Curmudgeon of the Music Curmudgeon so it is here under The Curmudgeon.

I'm sure that both Richard and Robert will find this article interesting albeit that they will take different sides - Robert being with the 'first class citizens whose virtuous lives earned them passage to the uppermost heights' and Richard down below where stringed instruments produce the most hellish sort of cacophony, 'a fitting accompaniment for the horn whose bell is befouled with the arm of a tortured soul'.

OPEN CULTURE

JACK REACHER - BOOK NO 24

Reacher sat on the bus after all of the passengers got off.
The bus driver looked around at him and said "Hey Mac. This is the end of the line. You getting off or what?"
Reacher looked at him, holding his eye and said "You're driving a Dreamliner MCI D4505 made by Motor Coach Industries at their plant in Pembina, North Dakota. The MCI series was developed from a 1988 Canadian government request to develop a wheelchair-accessible intercity bus. The prototype was apparently developed from the MCI 102C3 with a 102B3 nose and extended to 45 feet 5 inches. A large wheelchair-accessible lavatory was installed in the rear. The prototype was completed in 1990, but couldn't enter service in the US because it was too long, until the 45-foot length was approved in 1991. Changes were made for the production model. The engine was upgraded to the large new Detroit Diesel Series 60 and received a bigger rear end with powerful radiator and intercooler.  This coach has a curb weight of 35,100 pounds.  Wi-Fi is free and all of the buses have personal power outlets, reclining leather seats, extra legroom, no middle seats, overhead storage, on-board restroom and are eco-friendly. They also have a kneeling setting to make it easier for elderly people to get off so DROP THE DAMN BUS!"

The driver pressed a button and the coach 'kneeled' to allow Reacher to step off easily on to the curb.

Reacher stood and looked about. He needed a toilet. He hadn't wanted to use the one on the coach. That was public and it was just something he didn't damn well do. He saw a coffee shop on the corner and thought "Coffee shops have toilets. They call them Rest Rooms. I won't be using that. That's for damn sure".

Reacher saw a cheap motel on the other corner and hobbled off to check in. He flashed his Gold Card and got the senior rate - $35 cash. He grabbed the key and shuffled as quickly as he could into the unit and into the bathroom. He just made it with only a bit of leakage. "That'll wash out" he thought to himself "and a walk down to that coffee shop should dry the damned pants".

Reacher had no luggage. He never did preferring to travel light. He emptied the contents of his pants pockets into the bedside drawers.

He only had his passport, a foldaway toothbrush, $75 in notes and some change.

He also had his Gold Card and a medical ID card. He put those in the drawer.

In another pocket he pulled out a packet of travelling wet wipes, a tube of pile cream and a small flask of Metamucil. "Just as well I bought those cargo pants with all the pockets" he thought.

From another pocket Reacher pulled out a bottle of beta blocker heart medication. He put that on the bedside cabinet alongside another bottle of blood thinner tablets. Alongside these went his statin tablets for managing high cholesterol and his diabetes pills. The top of the bedside cabinet was covered so the reading glasses from another pocket had to go in the top drawer along with the elastic knee brace that he carried. He tossed out the bible that was in there to make room.

Reacher stopped for a moment and then stretched and yawned. And scratched. "Damn" he thought as he gave his arse a good scratch "I'll have to get some more of that topical steroid ointment that the doctor gave me".

"Getting old sucks" he thought as he made for the door to go to the coffee shop before ducking back into the bathroom for another pee.

Hope for the best. Plan for the worst.

GETTING ARMED

I mentioned in an earlier post the problems that I have with marauding seagulls that eat the sugar bread I put out for the little birds.

I toyed with the idea of buying a shanghai or a spud gun but toying with the idea was as near as I got because old fashioned toy shops that used to sell these things are no longer around having been replaced by 'toy' departments in large format rubbish shops like The Warehouse and K-Mart. These only sell cheap plastic toys that don't suit my requirement.

The next level up is a sporting goods store that can sell BB guns, airguns and hunting slingshots that can be lethal and so are also no good. I want something that will deter the seagulls without hurting them.

While clearing away some junk today I found a hollow steel tube that was part of a foldaway wardrobe of The Old Girl's. As she's not here today she hasn't seen that I've purloined it and have been experimenting with its use as a blow gun.

I've been using almonds, peanuts and chickpeas which all work but they don't have the right size and spherical character to create a snug fit in the tube. A snug fit is essential for air pressure. The nuts will fire but they lack the necessary force. I fired at a cheeky seagull that was sitting on the deck rail, it hit it on the beak but all it did was to seem to make it angry. I need something better.

Jaffas would be ideal but I suspect that the diameter of the pipe I have is too small to accomodate a jaffa. I'll have to try other lollies.

I'll have to find one of those shops that have lots of different lollies in all shapes and sizes sold loose.

I can just imagine me going in with my tube and experimenting in the shop with different ones.

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

Well it is Sunday so The Religious Curmudgeon has a new post:

HERE

I TOLD YOU SO ...

..... Donald Trump is a Russian plant.

You've read or heard the news about how the FBI last year investigated whether Trump had been working with Russia in the sacking of former CIA Director James Comey:

FBI PROBE INTO DONALD TRUMP

Last year The Irish Times posed a question on whether Trump was a Russian spy:

IS TRUMP A RUSSIAN SPY?

And your own The Curmudgeon had similar concerns which fell on your deaf ears:

TRUMP - A SLEEPER?

Wake up readers. Why read Richard's Bass Brag* which is full of old news and self aggrandisement when you can get the scoop from following what's happening in the world via any of The Curmudgeon Inc.ⓒ's informative posts.

* The original Bass Bragging site.

OH I DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE ......

..... bar.



On our walk yesterday we met two Brits who have been coming to the Heads every year for years. They said that they used to own a property here with a batch on it and have since sold it. We swapped news and they asked who we knew at the local club. I hardly ever go there but there were a couple of people we knew in common.

The local club is like a cosmopolitan club with lots of those high tables with stools around or that you can lean on.

Like this only our club has lots of windows with nice views over the bay.

I don't know what the percentage is of Brits who live out at the heads but the percentage of Brits who make up membership of the club is very high. It seems that local pub going is more of a British custom than a New Zealand custom.

The Brits we met on our walk spoke enthusiastically about the club and looked forward to going there on their holidays (they live in Coventry in the UK) - to socialise with other Brits. Go figure.

It reminded me of that great Monty Python sketch about British people on holidays:

TORREMOLINOS

Also, I'm reminded of a great British comedy series, Benidorm which lampooned working class Brits on holiday in Spain:

BENIDORM

I'VE REALLY GOT TO GET NEW GLASSES

Yesterday we went for a nice walk to Smugglers Bay. The weather was stunning and the walk, while strenuous for me in my unfit condition, was good.

We walked the track around the old gun emplacements and up and over the hill to Smugglers Bay.

There's a lovely beach here where sometimes we swim but had decided to delay our swim until we were home and to swim in the bay outside or house.

I was standing at the end of the boardwalk overlooking the beach and The Old Girl came up to me and reminded me that we weren't stopping and were off over another hill to the carpark.

"I was just thinking of sitting on the sand over there" I said pointing to a prone figure lying on a towel.

She looked at me and said "Why? Do you think that woman in the water might be naked?"

I said "No, but that one lying down is" pointing to the prone figure on the towel.

The Old Girl had a quick look and then looked at me quizzically. "Matey, that's a man but if you want to go over there don't let me stop you".

I scrunched up my glasses and had another look and sure enough it was a young guy lying on his stomach getting a suntan on his back. I mumbled something and shamefacedly made my way back along the boardwalk to the track well aware without looking that The Old Girl would be smirking.

NEW POST - THE ALUMINIUM FOIL CURMUDGEON

New member of The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ, The aluminium Foil Guy, now known professionally as The Aluminium Foil Curmudgeon has written a quick post:

HERE

This is a place marker at this stage as he will have to spend some time in researching this subject.

"YOU BETTER WATCH OUT , YOU BETTER NOT CRY ...."

I was scathing in my comments on Robert's latest Post : HERE.

I guess that he does have a right to his belief even if it is based on nonsense.

One should always take out insurance though as a Northland family discovered when their uninsured house burned down. Of course, in keeping with the modern trend they've started up a Give a Little page to get other people to give them money. I don't really believe in that. I suppose that some Give A Little pleas are worthwhile but the whole thing is open to abuse. See HERE

Anyway, as to my insurance I should take out some protection if I'm going to go about criticizing Robert's gods in all their manifestations.

Just in case you missed it here's the latest on what the Catholic Church has been up to:

SEX ABUSE