PAST MISDEEDS

I have email alerts on my blogs that inform me when someone comments on posts.

The other day 'Steve' commented on an old post from May 2019: HERE

Richard and Robert, have a look at this and go to the comments section where Steve has added a comment. It's interesting and I doubt that you would like to formalise any complaint but over to you.

BEING PREPARED

I dressed up in my safety outfit this morning and went down the drive to shoo away neighbour Rod and his wife who had come down from the road behind us to go for a swim from our beach.

They got quite a shock on seeing me and - this is true - just as I summoned them the local fire brigade which is just down the road, sounded the emergency siren to call volunteers in for some kind of emergency. It's an old WW2 air raid siren and went well with my outfit.

We had a laugh.

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

DAY 4 AND ALL WAS WELL

It seems that Robert's god favours us up here better than those sinners in Wellington where he/she/it has sent the great flood to wash them away and cleanse their souls in the process.

That's pretty bizarre logic there by the man in the sky - "I'll save you by drowning you" but then, nothing makes sense in religion.

Up North we've had a great day - warm, sunny, windless, peaceful - a great Sunday, great enough to make a person believe in g ........ no, we won't go that far.

I lay in bed reading this morning before taking a photo with the new iPhone. I'm glad it works.

I must admit that I lazed about a bit while The Old Girl was working in the study. She doesn't let me in the study while she's working so I couldn't get near my computer except for when I was allowed access to complete and send the Probus newsletter that I'd written.

I didn't go for a walk today as the old ticker has been playing up but I did go for a swim about midday.
It was a little bracing at first but, once in was warm and refreshing both.

I have to admit that I'm happy that we didn't get stuck in isolation at either the Auckland or Wellington apartments. It's pretty bearable here.

An unexpected advantage is that with way less traffic on the roads it's much safer to ride my bike around these country roads and I'll take advantage of it when I feel a bit better (the medication I had to take for a week before the now-cancelled cardioversion op has fucked me up a bit, I'll stop taking it now and should get back to normal.).


I've finished the latest Lee Childs 'New' Jack Reacher book. Rubbish.

I think this lockdown will spur me on to re-reading, and, in some cases finish reading some of the 'hard-to-read' classics like In Search of Lost Time, Finnegan's Wake, Ulysses, Gravity's Rainbow, War and Peace and others that are gathering dust on the bookshelves.


I hope all is well with everyone.

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON

We are all doing our bit during this lockdown period - except of course the bastards, cheaters, idiots, drug-dealers, burglars, robbers and other fools who are ignoring the sanctions - but, hopefully, most of us are.

Things seem to be going OK after 3 full days of lockdown but there are worrying reports that the internet may not be able to carry all the extra weight driven by new demands. It could well be that we see broadband slowdown or a complete crash.

This would be a real nuisance for internet users and in particular the readers of this and my other blogs. Providing that there isn't a corresponding electricity crash* here is what you can do to sustain you for the next 100 days (or more) of lockdown:

The Curmudgeons Incⓒ was prescient in setting up the members blogs with a useful 'blog archive' which can be accessed at the right of this screen. This has links to all of the posts over the last 12 years. There are 2,652 THE CURMUDGEON POSTS  along with many more of THE CURMUDGEON family posts. In addition you will find, via the useful links nearly a thousand WINE GUY and associated blogs posts.

I suggest that you download all of these to your computer so that if the internet crashes, you will still be able to read and enjoy them in the dark days ahead when you've read all of the old Jack Reacher novels.

*In the event of a complete electricity crash it might be advisable to have printed hard copies of all of the posts in advance.

Day 2

"And on the second day the sky was created"

- from some old book.

Right. The Old Girl has packed up her work for the day so I can get on with the more important exercise of blogging.

I have my own computer and she has hers but apparently I make distracting noises if I blog while she's working (no poor taste jokes please).

Day 2 of the lockdown has been good. I went for a walk and then had a swim. I had planned to do some gardening (weeding and weed spraying) but the walk upset my heart rhythm so I've been reading most of the afternoon. I'm reading the latest Jack Reacher novel which is a huge disappointment. It's titled Blue Moon and subtitled 'The New Jack Reacher'. I'd read somewhere before that Lee Child (James Grant) had run out of steam on his Jack Reacher series and was deciding whether or not to kill the character off. His readership was outraged so he compromised and said that from 2021 onwards his younger brother Andrew Grant would take over the writing and keep old Jack going. It seems that for the 2019 book Blue Moon Andrew Grant has already been writing most of it and rather poorly. There are sections in chapters that stand out and these have obviously been written by James (Lee Child) but there aren't enough of them to salvage a very pedestrian story, dully written. Shame that.
You can read some of The Curmudgeon's 'Jack Reacher' inspired posts though like this one HERE
and Richard (of RBB) and The Wine Guy have also written some.

My iPhone 8 arrived (finally) in the mail today and I've set it up. It seems to do the same things that my old iPhone 4 has been doing but it has a grunty 256 GB in its system which I probably won't use. Never mind, it has a much better camera - 12MP vs 8 MP so my blog pics will be greatly improved.
The Old Girl thinks that I'll be better able to communicate with her using the new phone (it means I won't be able to blame the phone for not hearing her (very useful) instructions on how I should be conducting myself when she's calling me from Wellington.

Talking of Wellington I'll have to have a close look at the rental contract we signed for the apartment there. It's costing us $700 a week until the end of December so if this lockdown runs on (I expect it to be at least 100 days) we need to see if we can get out of it or sublease it.

I'll write some more posts on the weekend (if The Old Girl doesn't decide to do some 'overtime') but now a glass of wine calls. With The Old Girl here it'll probably be bubbles. I'm going to cook Teriyaki fish on rice for dinner.


Stay well. Stay safe. And, most importantly be kind.

BUBBLE BOY

BUBBLE BOY

I guess that I'm staying in my bubble now. 

The Old Girl comes home tonight so then it'll be our bubble for at least a month.

It's a beautiful day here - blue skies and sunshine but playing golf is discouraged and from tomorrow will be forbidden. I think I'll go for a walk though after lunch.

I stayed in all morning as the car windscreen fix-it guys were coming. The car passed its W.O.F. last week but provisional on replacing the windscreen due to a bad stone chip. The Toyota people recommended a mobile service which I used and  the service was excellent. All done now and the insurance company pays. The guys have another couple of jobs this afternoon and then they are in lockdown for a month (or more).

The Old Girl's employers closed all of their offices and employees have been instructed to work from home. She elected to do this from up here rather than being stuck in the Wellington apartment. She will finish a couple of projects and then take some leave so that, if the weather stays good we'll be able to kayak and walk together seeing that we will be bubble buddies.

LET US PRAY

I told Robert that I'd make a start on some prayers for the day given that the ones he says are pretty naff. They are out of date having been written in different times that had no connection with the problems we face today.

Here goes:

Number One

Dear Big Guy

Up there in heaven

Or maybe elsewhere since you're supposed to be omnipresent

How's it going?

We're OK for bread although flour isn't on the supermarket shelves anymore,

Buy you could give us a virus antidote.

If things get tough Bro we might have to jump the fence and encroach on your safe territory.

You'll have to forgive us on that.

It's not a threat but if your old enemy Satan has a better offer, you know, we might be tempted.

Just saying.

Some people believe in the power of prayer especially this American Dick:

MISSISSIPPI GOVERNOR PRAYS INSTEAD OF HELPS

GOD ISN'T DEAD ....

.... he's just self isolating.

The local church at the end of our road has an interesting sign outside.

The vicar or the vicar, priest, shaman, minister, swami, imam, rabbi and others in this non-denominational church has a sense of humour going by the sign on the back of his or her car.

I like that.




**NOTE** The Religious Curmudgeon, like the others is currently in self isolation.

2020 VISION

I wish that we'd had an ability to foresee what 2020 was going to bring when we made our arrangements for this year.

The Old Girl elected to work in Wellington for her last year of work. We took a contract on an apartment for a year and I booked air travel each month through to December with the intention of spending two weeks of each month in Wellington.

Now that's turning to shit with the Coronavirus/Covid-19 thing disrupting everyones plans.
The Old Girl's work is moving to having everyone work from home in the short term (couple of months) with the possibility that this will go on for the whole year. She doesn't want to be in isolation in Wellington so will work from up north instead where there is a better office set-up in our study and with the added bonus of me being there. She's flying up here next week.

Air New Zealand is changing and cancelling flights galore and already my flight arrangements for April and May have been cancelled. I expect that the same will apply to the following months as well as this pandemic continues. The cancellations have given me credits to use on future flights rather than a refund. This is annoying but I'm glad that I got super-cheap flights so the loss, if any, won't be great.

We'll have an empty apartment in Wellington until the end of the year though. This costs us $700 a week so we'll see if we can sub-let it to recoup some money otherwise it'll be just an expensive bolthole or a place for friends and family to use when and if they visit Wellington this year.

But, as I said to The Old Girl this morning, as long as we have our health nothing else matters.

WAR GAMES

I'm annoyed at that idiot Donald Trump likening himself to a wartime president in his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. It's typical of him in his big boy fantasies of trying to pretend that he's tough and in control when the reality is (supported by a lifetime of facts, actions and responses) that he's a spoiled little brat in a big man's suit. He's also a golf cheat, a coward and a draft dodger so it makes me laugh seeing him in this current posturing.

“I do, I actually do, I'm looking at it that way,” Trump told reporters during a press briefing at the White House when asked whether he considered the U.S. to be on a wartime footing. “I look at it, I view it as, in a sense, a wartime president. I mean, that's what we're fighting.“  - Donald Trump 18th March 2020.

Mind you, Trump isn't the only fool doing this as I've read reports of his fat counterpart Boris Johnson doing the same and even Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel and France's president Macron have been using similar language. It's just silly and I wish that they'd stop it.

In New Zealand I heard our prime minister Jacinda Ardern announcing the border closures and noted that she avoided using the 'wartime leader' reference even though the media would like her to do so.
She said that at no time in New Zealand's history has a power like this (closing borders to entry for anyone other than New Zealand citizens and residents) been used – "I recognise how extraordinary it is."

I much prefer our 'president'.

STRAPPED FOR CASH*

* That's a funny saying and kind of suggests masochism.

Anyway, yesterday after seeing shelves 'stripped' of goods in the supermarkets yesterday, I went to get some money from a cash machine.
I don't often carry cash but needed some to pay a couple of local bills. I found a machine outside a bank but had to form a queue - there were three people in front of me. I hadn't experienced this before - queuing for money - and immediately thought of the bare supermarket shelves.

I hope that we don't get a run on money and panic withdrawals.

Most countries and banks  only carry small amounts of cash and a run would be devastating.
Panic withdrawals would also add to crime as you can imagine old age pensioners with mattresses stuffed with cash being prime targets for burglars, home invaders and robbers.

Let's hope that it doesn't come to that*









* Although I winder given how many people are already overreacting.

"NOW WE KNOW IT'S SERIOUS"

 ........ said a woman in the Countdown supermarket baking supplies aisle today.
The shelves that normally hold flour, bread-making mix and other baking products was completely bare. There had been a run on it.

I needed baking yeast for my bread-maker so called in to Pak n Save on the way home. Same result.

Nearer to home I called in to New World supermarket. They had no flour or bread-mix.

This is getting ridiculous. A quick look at shelves that are usually full of grocery items show that there are many gaps and not only the ones that hold hand sanitiser, wipes or toilet paper. A friend said that there was no Marmite or Vegemite to be had as it had all been bought.

The outcome of all this stupidity will be government imposed rationing like this and other countries had during and after the Second World War.

This of course will stimulate blackmarket activities but these are already happening with hand sanitiser - see my post on this : HERE

I reported these bastards - Horo.co.nz for selling a $4.59 bottle of hand sanitiser $28.85 to the Commerce Commission.

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES.

I've noticed quite a few changes in the area where I live.

We started coming up here 20 years ago when my sister built a holiday house at Urquarts Bay.
It was my first experience of Whangarei Heads as, although I'd been to Northland before, getting to the Heads is sort of off the main drag. You have to turn right at Whangarei and go out on a peninsular ending in Bream Head.

In 1999 it seemed that most of the accomodation was holiday houses for people who lived elsewhere, along with elderly people and alternative life-stylers.

In 2009 when we bought or house here things had changed a bit but our observation suggested that about 40% of the houses were holiday houses with absentee owners and that there was a shifting of balance from older, retired residents to younger ones with jobs in Whangarei (25 minutes drive away).

In 2020 most of the accommodation is used all year round whether owned or rented and, although there are still a lot of holiday properties (one of my immediate neighbours lives in Auckland and stays up here every second or third weekend), the shift has gone to permanent residents vs casual and younger vs older.

There has been a lot of new build as well, bringing increased population. I don't have numbers for Whangarei Heads residency but 2019 census figures show, for Whangarei and district:

1999 - 69,000

2009 - 79,000

2019 - 96,000

The increase in 20 years is 40%.
I guess that Whangarei Heads increase is the same if not more given that it is a more desirable location than Whangarei itself.


A lot of the new residents in the area are what I call the Builders.*

The Builders (or Tradies as some people call them) are the youngish (late 20s through late 40s) guys who work for themselves or for others in building, carpentry, landscaping, painting, tree-felling, plumbing and related light-industry trades. In a previous time in this country they would have been educated in technical colleges or through the New Zealand apprenticeship scheme but a National government of yesteryear saw fit to get rid of those. Nowadays these guys have gained their skills any which way, usually by working for big building companies in Australia and go out on their own not unlike the way that cowboys did in the Wild West of America.

They are usually named Todd or Jason, Jayden or Scott and rarely have any names beyond one or two syllables. Even so the names generally change to Toddy, Scotty, Jaydo and Jase when addressed by their friends. Toddy, Scotty, Jaydo and Jase often are married to Chloe, Gaylene, Lisa and Tanya and are now 'settling' in the Heads. They have children named Zack, Tyler, Kiranda and Jazlyn and plan to buy or build their own houses once the old retirees die or bugger off.

Toddy, Scotty, Jaydo and Jase seem to have a liking for grunty utes and can be seen in Ford Rangers, Nissan Navaras, Holden Colorados, Mitsubishi Tritons and any other vehicles that have big motors and bigger wheels. They like to drive these monsters right up the arse of anyone in front of them and to pass slow traffic on corners and on double yellow lines. This is to demonstrate how tough they are and that silly rules made up by the oldies don't apply to them.

I don't like these people.

It may be that they are here to stay (unfortunately) but maybe in another 10 years these idiots will have grown a bit older and wiser and will moderate their behaviour. Most likely by then they will be complaining about the younger set moving into their neighbourhood.





















* WARNING. We at The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ reserve the right to be self-opinionated, prejudicial, judgemental and stand-offish and make no apology for that.

SUNDAY - DAY OF REST*

* Well, to be honest everyday is a day of rest for me nowadays.


Sunday, in my life experience has had religious connotations even though I abandoned Catholicism when i was about 15.

Wikipedia tells us:

Sunday is a day of rest in most Western countries, as a part of the weekend and weeknight. For most observant Christians, Sunday is observed as a day of worship and rest, holding it as the Lord's Day and the day of Christ's resurrection. In some Muslim countries and Israel, Sunday is the first work day of the week.

OK, Christians as per usual try to take over what is a rest day from the working week and convert it to their own ends. We're used to that.

I like Sundays though. There is something palpable in the atmosphere. Maybe it's because many people are not working and commuting to their jobs. The sounds in the neighbourhood are different - sounds of leisure activity and, I guess, the absence of sound from people who are resting.
Sundays are always relaxing and for relaxing.
It's a beautiful Sunday here today. Blue skies, warm, no wind - marvellous.

The lawns need mowing and it would be ideal conditions to do so, with a dip in the sea at high tide afterward but I don't want to break the peace. I get annoyed by those gung-ho home maintenance types who fire up their mowers, weed-eaters, blowers and other noisy shit on a Sunday. There are 6 other days to do this.
.

I'll keep listening to the radio, read, do crosswords and enjoy the sunshine on the deck until later in the afternoon when I'll go out and play some golf.

Sunday. Don't you love it?

THE DEMISE OF ON-LINE BUYING?

On-line buying has grown exponentially over the last few years with virtual shops advertising just about everything along with mega on-line sites like Amazon, Ebay, Walmart, Target, Trade Me etc dominating retail spending.

Most of these have got their systems right with very good interactive ordering sites but there are a lot of wannabes who are trying to get in on the act but without proper support systems.

Most of, if not all of the on-line retailers work on the principle of J.I.T (just in time) delivery. They advertise products as being available, take orders and immediate payments and then place the order with their supplier (and no doubt get extended credit for bulk purchasing) with the product being delivered (often from the bulk supplier) to the consumer who has ordered and paid. This system can work as long as there is no disruption to the supply line.

Guess what?

There is major disruption to the supply line now due to coronavirus and Covid-19. Most of the goods sold on-line originate from China, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries where Covid-19 scares are locking down borders and shipping channels. Ships are not leaving on time or at all and goods are being delayed.
With major, reliable companies the result will be that J.I.T. will be L.W.L. (later with luck). With smaller and less reliable companies that never were good at J.I.T. the new system will probably be K.Y.M.G. (kiss your money goodbye).

I have recently started ordering things on-line for convenience even though I have had two instances of being scammed and having my credit card account hacked. See: HERE   and  HERE
We've sorted things out with BNZ and fortunately haven't had any further problems although I'm cautious about which sites to use.

At present I have three pending on-line orders that I'm waiting on.

The first is a small and reliable shipper from which we purchase Barry's teabags. These come from the UK and are not available in shops in New Zealand. I ordered about 3 weeks ago and hadn't heard from them. Two days ago I emailed the company asking where our order is. To give them credit I received a phone call from someone in the company explaining that the container had been held up and it will be another 3 weeks before delivery. Disappointing but understandable.



The second is a supplier of ant-bacterial products named  Zoono.

I read a financial report on how Zoono shares have gone ballistic as the Zoono products are so good. I looked on-line and ordered a small amount. Delivery was assured as being 2 to 3 days. As this hadn't arrive within 2 weeks I contacted them and received this standard form response.

Hi there,
Thanks for your enquiry.
We apologise for the delay in getting your orders to you. The unforeseen outbreak of Coronavirus has resulted in significant demand for our advanced antimicrobial technology. We appreciate your patience while we increase production and resources.
Unfortunately, we’re unable to respond to all your emails so please refer to the below commonly asked questions:
· When can I expect my order (orders via zoono.com)?
· We expect to despatch your items within 15 business days after confirmation/placing your order.
For more information - please refer to our FAQ's on the wesbite. (sic)

15 more days! This isn't good enough. They banked my money pretty damned quickly and should be offering some kind of rebate.



The third is a supplier that I thought was reliable and now discover that they are a pack of arseholes.

I ordered an iPhone 8 from Dick Smith's after doing a lot of research on the product, prices and suppliers. Unfortunately I didn't do a search on 'Dick Smith Customer Service' If I had I would have discovered, on three different consumer watch sites that Dick Smith's and its owner Kogan have just about the lowest reliability rating there is. The star system runs from 1 star to 5 stars and Dick Smith's 1 star rating is over 40%. There is no 0 star rating otherwise over 40% would have been zero instead.
All of the 1 star reviews tell consumers not to buy from Dick Smith's and Kogan and that, as I've discovered. it's near impossible to contact anyone at the company as they hide behind a very complicated website and 'customer service' pages.

I placed the order in mid February expecting delivery within a few days. My order was processed and the payment ($630) immediately taken but no phone was delivered. An unwanted Kogan Mobile Prepay: EXTRA LARGE (30 Days 32GB) plan voucher was delivered - no use to me as I use Spark - but no phone. Battling with the web ordering system I found that the delivery was going to take place AFTER 10 March. Well, 10 March has gone so I tried to contact one of the ghosts at Dick Smith's and, buried in the shipment details was a small alert saying delivery would now take place AFTER 14 April. WTF? This is 2 months after I ordered and paid for the bloody thing.

I've read many of the complaints on the consumer websites (and posted one myself). Most are very recent and some the same timing as my order and delivery issues. All talk about the impossibility of being able to email or telephone a customer services person at this company.
Worryingly some talk about how they thought that Dick Smith's and Kogan were Australian companies and are concerned that all activity seems to be based in China with all products being Chinese models with compatibility issues.

Interestingly enough, when reading through the complaint posts, after a whole lot of 1 star reviews would be a block of about a dozen 4 and 5 star reviews. These are all posted on the same day by people using just their Christian names and glowingly praising Dick Smith's, the products and the service, These ere obviously written by a Dick Smith's employee. The fucking hubris of it is astounding.

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

My experience is of just three recent on-line purchases. I have no doubt that the problems are representative of a world-wide problem that is going to get worse. I believe that people will (eventually) become risk averse and maybe stop or certainly reduce the amount of on-line buying that they do. If this happens then it may help to reverse the trend from real retail to virtual retail and we may see the resurgence of smaller shops where what you see is what you get - before you pay.

I'm certainly looking forward to that.

BEING THERE*

* Not the excellent Hal Ashby film but it does deserve a nod.

Some of the precautions and suggestions to deal with Covid -19 are:

•  Avoid close contact with people with cold or flu-like illnesses.
•  Cover coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues or clothing.
• Stay home if you're unwell.
• Wash hands for at least 20 seconds with water and soap and dry them thoroughly:           -      - - before eating or handling food; after using the toilet; after coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose or wiping children’s noses; after caring for sick people.
• Self-isolate if you have been traveling overseas or think you have been in contact with someone who has been exposed to Covid-19

Well - have I got news for you.

I do a lot of this anyway.

I'm a hygiene crank and I'm also a bit of a hermit. I'm shy and tend to avoid people that I don't know and am very selective in interacting with people who I do know.

I've been 'self-isolating' for years which has been made easier by the fact that my partner, The Old Girl usually lives and works during the week in other cities and on occasions in other countries leaving me alone 'up North'.

Things that I normally do or don't do include:

• Avoiding social situations - events, parties, get-togethers and meetings if I can possibly get away with it.
• Stay home as often as I can (self-isolation)
• Only travel domestically or internationally if I can't get out of it.
• Never use public toilets unless absolutely necessary
• Avoid shaking hands with people unless it's unavoidable
• Wash my hands as soon as I can if shaking hands with people was unavoidable
• Carry pocketfuls of paper towel or tissues in case I want to sneeze, cough or blow my nose

Bring it on!

FRIDAY

I've had a 'busy' day today - at least in my world.

I played lawn bowls this morning, went bike riding in the early afternoon and cooked a banana cake later.

BOWLS

I'm not mad on bowls but neighbour Rod plays so I agreed to go with him this morning. I refuse to join the club as I can't stand the idea of spending hours on end at the game. Rolling the bowls is OK but in club competition games there's just too much wasted time with their slow protocol, morning and afternoon teas and lunch. I'll go with Rod as we can just get on with playing 15 or 20 ends with out all of the palaver.

I'm quite good at bowls as, I guess, anyone who has played any sort of ball sport should be. I use The Old Girl's dad's bowls as he was a keen bowler and they are really good. Rod beat me but I played some fine 'draws' and 'drives'.


BIKE RIDE

I haven't been for a ride for months but Rod talked me into it so we set off to Pataua South which is a quiet seaside area not far from where we live.

There's a bridge that goes across the estuary linking Pataua South to Pataua North.

We rode across and then around the safe streets where most of the houses are holiday homes.

It was a good outing and has rekindled my intention to go cycling for fitness.


BANANA CAKE

I had a craving for a cake or biscuit and since I didn't have any I decided to bake one (it's in the oven now). I'd like cream cheese frosting but don't have any cream cheese. Second choice would be vanilla lemon icing but I don't have any lemons. I've settled on chocolate icing and while I don't have any cocoa powder I do have some Milo and some drinking chocolate so I reckon that I can cobble some sort of icing together.

We'll see.

 The icing didn't turn out well. It was tasty but didn't set so was messy.

Today I bought some cream cheese and lemons and made a nicer filling and icing.

Again, it doesn't look pretty but is delicious. I'm hoping it will set but never-mind, it'll all be eaten by the end of the weekend.

Not pretty but pretty tasty

LIFE AS WE KNEW IT

The Covid-19 scare is changing a lot of things and behaviours around the world, some for the worse but maybe some for the better. The worse things of course are:

• People becoming infected and a very high percentage of these dying.
• Collapse of financial markets
• Reduction in tourist travel
• Unemployment
• Disrupted supply chains
• Profiteering
• Mass hysteria and panic
• Cancellation of major meetings, concerts, sporting events and other gatherings

Some good things that may evolve are:

• Collapse of financial markets (and sensible resets)
• Disruption of supply chains and a rethink of trade and trading partners
• Reduction in tourist travel
• Cancellation of major meetings, concerts, sporting events and other gatherings
• Cancellation of religious services*
• An awareness of personal hygiene

I read that one of the cruise ship companies has 'parked' 79 of their monster ships as they don't have enough bookings to sustain them. This can only be a good thing although I feel sorry for the thousands of staff who crewed them. This means that the owners might, at last, clean the bloody things properly and fix the plumbing and sanitation on them.

Airlines are anticipating up to 50% reduction in travel. I guess then that, if they still have maintenance crews on their books, they can do some proper cleaning and maintenance on the overused and overworked planes.

The public safety messages on personal hygiene (hand sanitation and proper washing techniques) are having an effect which hopefully might be long-lasting. Maybe in the future we'll be able to press a lift button, open a public convenience door, use a supermarket trolley or touch a stairway bannister without picking up the residue of some dirty unhygienic bastard who was there before you.

Maybe the world as we know it is due for a reset.

* All things must pass

APROPOS OF NOTHING

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

I've been tidying up the study today in preparation for producing the monthly newsletter that I've been lumbered with that I volunteered to create for the PROBUS club.
This meant emptying out all of the storage boxes containing the remnants of at least 8 different offices that The Old Girl and I have worked in. There were multiple hole punchers, staplers, memo pads, Sellotape dispensers, marker pens, erasers, boxes of staples and paper clips, computers, keyboards, mice, plugs, connections, chargers - and of course about a hundred pens of all shapes, sizes and functions.

I sorted these by type and allocated drawers in the dresser in the study and a file cabinet to the different items.

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

In one of the boxes I found some old photographs and memorabilia including these two from my Marist schooldays.

Standard 6 I think

I was pretty good at rugby back then before I switched to soccer (and, later back to rugby in the 7th form at college).

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

I also found this polaroid photo of me sitting on Father Christmas's knee. This was taken at some sort of corporate Christmas bash back in the late 1980s. I was looking for this to use in a 'Santa' post back in December.

A QUICKIE

"I was worried when he told me that he was getting into blogging".

"TWO WHEELS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD" *

* WITH APOLOGIES TO ANIMAL FARM

CYCLING ON FOOTPATHS MAY BE ALLOWED UNDER PLANNED LAW CHANGES

Just dandy!

Pedestrians in the major cities have been putting up with idiot scooter riders over the last year or so and now some dickheads in government (most likely cyclists) want to change the laws to allow wheeled vehicles on footpaths.

This is just ridiculous.

It's part of a raft of possible changes including imposing a 15 km/h hour speed limit and a 75cm width limit on all wheeled transport using the footpath - including e-scooters.

15 km/h! That's enough to do someone serious damage if hit from behind unawares. What's wrong with some people!

"Riders would have to give way to pedestrians and people in wheelchairs." Yeah right - that won't happen. It's bad enough now when it's illegal. Give these bastards the right to ride on pedestrian footpaths and good luck policing them for speed and courtesy.

Fuck 'em I say.*

* And I have a bike which I ride where it's safe on the road. I don't ride on footpaths.

I'M BAAAACK!

I'M BACK (AGAIN)

Yeah, yeah - I've used that before but I'M BACK BABY, I'M BACK!

I went to Auckland on Sunday morning to meet up with The Old Girl who came up from Wellington. We went to see THE BOOK OF MORMON at The Civic. Now I'm not much of a show watcher - give me a good stage play or an opera any day but The Old Girl likes them so it was 'collecting brownie points' for me kind of like when Richard goes to see a chick flick with Shelley (The Old Girl and I have an understanding on this. If she watches one on TV I'm banished from the room and if she wants to see one at the cinema we find a suitable film for me playing at the same cinema complex at about the same time and we meet up afterwards for a glass of wine and or a meal).

The musical was OK. It started off strong with some great Mel Brookes-style song and dance routines but faded a bit with a lot of corny jokes and a silly plot. I did like the send up of The Church of The Latter Day Saints though. It'd be great if the creators of this gave the same treatment to the Catholic Church since both are based on fantasy and a few people telling big lies that got taken up by millions of people. The ending is great with one of the central characters creating his own take on religion based on Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings etc and calling his religion The Book of Arnold (his name). Funny, and I can see how other forms of Christianity especially The Catholic Church could have the piss taken out of them along these lines. The Jesus character in the musical is like a laid-back surfer dude who reminded me of Owen Wilson's character in the 'Fockers' series of films: HERE

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

This morning we signed off with a letting agency to rent out our apartment for a couple of months until the settlement day of the sale of it in June. This means that instead of it staying empty with me in Whangarei and The Old Girl in Wellington it can be used and bring in a bit of needed cash for us. We need cash for: new spectacles for me; some dentistry for me; a new iPhone for me. Yes, I know, it sounds like it's all about me but The Old Girl is going to London on Wednesday and no doubt she'll pack in a shopping expedition into her itinerary. She'll be away until just before Easter.

I headed back to Whangarei on the bus and she flew back to Wellington.

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

The bus tip was Ok except for sick people and my argument with an American.

OK? Oh, maybe an explanation is necessary.

The American

At the bus station for the Intercity bus, people assemble (rather than queue) waiting for the bus driver of the designated bus to turn up and open the doors. The first thing that the driver does is open the passenger door - I guess to air out the bus - and then open the cargo door. He calls out destinations so he can load passengers' baggage (furthest destinations first and closer destinations last) before letting passengers board. People tend to mill around a bit at the passenger door but, in good old Kiwi tradition most people are aware of their place in the 'queue'. This American dude, in his 40s with his wife had come to my notice earlier as he arrived later and stayed back watching and making snide remarks about the other passengers (translation: he was a cunt). Around the time that the driver was finishing with the bags of the last few passengers the American said to his wife: "Fuck this, let's just get this rolling" and started to push his way through the gathering at the passenger door. There were about eight people in front of me, mostly old dames. Kiwi protocol says to always let the old ladies and infirm go first. I put my arm out in front of this 'dude' and said "Mate! Wait a bit. The driver has to check everyone in on his hand-held device so he knows if everyone is loaded and if anyone is missing. Just wait a bit". He replied "I just want to know what's going on. Why can't they have a quick scanning system? I don't know what you guys do over here".

I replied (without a breath taken): "Yes, it's a shit system but we're all stuck with it so just show a bit of courtesy"

He avoided me at the Kaiwaka refreshment stop  2 hours later.

The sick

It was an uneventful trip north albeit a bit slower than usual due to rain from Kaiwaka to the other side of The Brynderwins. The bus was nearly full which surprised me having been in an empty Queen Street and Auckland Public Library earlier in the day - Covid-19 scare.

What annoyed me though was that on the level I was on (double decker bus where I always sit in the lower level because it's safer and doesn't induce motion sickness as much) there were three people coughing. One was a man in his late 20s, one a woman in her late 60s and the third a man in his 50s.

Ok, cough if you need to but none of these thought to cover their mouths with a handkerchief or even a sleeve. What inconsiderate bastards of a type that have always pissed me off! Now I'm a bit of a hygiene-crank I know but in light of the bloody pandemic scare that's disrupting our lives now you would have thought that these arseholes would show more care.

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

Arriving in Whangarei and retrieving my car I went to Pak 'n' Save supermarket on the way home.

Pak 'n' Save, I guess like other supermarkets, is placing limits on the number of packages of toilet rolls and sanitary wipes that can be bought. The shelves that previously held hand sanitisers are permanently empty.

I did my shopping and, because I didn't have a shopping bag with me used one of the cartons that are available in the packing area. I put everything in the carton and then into my trolley but when shifting this from the trolley to my car the bottom of the carton gave way and everything fell onto the ground.

The eggs, which I had put at the top in the carton fortunately fell on top of some softer items but the garlic cloves at the bottom got munted by the milk and the wine. Pity that as garlic is bloody expensive. Other items scattered under and around the car and I had to fossick around before throwing onto the back seat. The wine - a Church Road McDonald Rose* which I'd never seen before, in addition to munting my garlic got itself an impact fracture and was slowly leaking. I dumped the tomatoes out of the plastic bag which I had fortunately used (normally don't) and wrapped and sealed  the bottle of rose in this and laid on the floor. Arriving home I decanted the rose wine first through a sieve and then through a tea-towel to get rid of any fine glass residue. I retrieved 500 ml out of a 750ml bottle which I've now drunk ( explaining this rant to some degree).

Anyway. I'M BACK and have some good ideas for more posts. Stay tuned.

* The Church Road wine was disappointing. Babich Marlborough Pinot Noir Rose is the best current wine I've tried.

NEW POST - THE WINE GUY

BUMMER!

AN OLDIE BUT A GOODIE

As much as I decry it and state that I refuse to comment any more on religion, Robert always seems to get my goat (and Richard's) on religious issues with claims that Catholicism is the only true religion and that ethics, morality, conscience etc. all stem from teachings of the Catholic Church.
This of course is bollocks and I was about to pen a post but remembered a previous post (August 2018) where I kind of covered this. See here:

PERSONAL JESUS

LITTLE ACTS OF KINDNESS

I was in Pak n Save today after I had been shopping at Countdown.

At Countdown I purchased most of what I needed but they had no broccoli and I couldn't find the council pre-pay rubbish bags. I also wanted some hand sanitiser but the shelves that usually hold these and the various hand-wipe products were completely bare with apologetic signs stapled to them saying that they were completely out of stock. I wasn't totally surprised but a bit miffed because I'm travelling by bus to Auckland on Sunday and would like to be able to wipe down the armrest on the seat and to clean my hands afterwards. Also, The Old Girl may still be flying to the UK on Monday so I wanted to be able to give her a bottle of sanitiser for her trip.

I called in to Pak n Save on the way home, found the broccoli and the rubbish bags but the shelves that normally hold the sanitiser products were also completely bare. Stripped clean. There was a woman next to me also looking for sanitiser and I told her that Countdown had also been stripped.

A man approached her having seen her looking at the empty shelf and handed her a bottle of Essence hand sanitiser.

He said that he and his wife had just taken the last two off the shelf but they only needed one so she could have the other.

Nice.

Meanwhile in answer to a question from her I told her that I was travelling to Auckland by bus which is why I wanted to buy some sanitiser and that my partner may be flying out of New Zealand on Monday and may not be able to buy any in Auckland and Wellington. The woman handed me the bottle of Essence which I at first refused. She told me that she was an owner of a motel just north of Whangarei and was just topping up her supplies and that she still had some bottles at home. I accepted her offer and thanked her.

Nice.

Strangers helping out others.

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

Now here's a funny thing. I looked on-line for a pic of the 250ml bottle of Essence that I bought to include in this post. I paid $4.59 for the 250ml bottle of Essence Clear Ice anti-bacterial hand sanitiser.

The web-site I got the image from is named Horo.co.nz and is selling various hand-sanitisers on-line.

The same bottle that I bought for $4.59 is selling for $28.85. I kid you not. On the hand sanitiser sales page are other normal supermarket items selling at outrageous prices.

Take a look here:

HAND SANITISER PRICES

This isn't an act of kindness. It is evil profiteering.

Not nice.

I'm going to do more checking on this tomorrow and see if there is something that can be done.

**SPECIAL REPORT**

⛑ COVIT-19 ⛑has been getting everyone excited so THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ has decided to try and allay readers' fears.

It appears that Robert The Inveterate Sinner has the religious side covered. See here from a recent post by The Curmudgeon (me 😏): HERE

The Curmudgeon has written an important post on hygiene.

We at THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ have observed that, outside of China and Iran the most serious cases of COVID-19 with associated deaths have been in Italy!

You might have noticed that in THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ we do not have an Italian correspondent. Mea Culpa (fortunately we do have ex-students from St Patricks College who studied latin and one Altar Boy who went on to be a sacristan) but this situation may be rectified in the future. 

["'Rectified' - I love the pun there, The Curmudgeon. We taught you well"]

- Father Minto - Rector of St. Patrick's College 1964 - 1972).

Er, thanks Father Minto. Moving on though we've decided to call in an expert in all things Italian to help explain this geo-political and pandemic crisis.
We contacted Romero Breslin who we knew as a great restauranteur and  former owner of Il Casino in Tory Street Wellington. We were confident that Romero would know.

THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ . ☎ Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring

Mmmm. No answer. Never mind, we'll contact Richard of RBB. He's an Italophile so should know someone who can help.

THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ ☎ Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring

RICHARD (OF RBB) Pronto.

THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ Well that didn't sound very pronto to me matey! It took 12 rings for you to answer.

RICHARD (OF RBB) Chi è là?

THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ It's me, The Curmudgeon. I want to ask you ......

RICHARD (OF RBB) Ah! Il blogger esperto. Come stai?

THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ Yeah, never mind all that palaver, I want to know the name of an Italian expert that we can talk to.

RICHARD (OF RBB) Hey. Puoi parlarmi con mia piccola coniglietta.

THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ What ...... oh never mind. Look, we at THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ
want to know why there are so many Covid-19 cases in Italy . We .....

RICHARD (OF RBB) Sì sì sì Il dio di Robert sta causando questo perché vuole che io vada all'inferno perché ho preso in giro la sua religione lui ....

THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ What?  Look, I don't know what you said but it sounded a bit of a rant. We want to know why the current coronavirus is devastating Italy.

RICHARD (OF RBB) Ah sì, il papa ha detto che tutto aveva a che fare con Pio nazista - simpatizzante e il fatto che Robert si stesse rifiutando di riconoscere i misfatti passati del Catholic Church. Dice anche .

THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ Look, thanks anyway. We'll see if we can find an Iranian person or someone who knows something about Iran. Goodbye.

RICHARD (OF RBB)  Si, si, addio.

I'M ALREADY A HYGIENE CRANK BUT .....

To follow is from an email that a friend of The Old Girl sent her today from USA.

Subject: What I am doing for the upcoming COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic
by James Robb, MD UC San Diego


Dear Colleagues, as some of you may recall, when I was a professor of pathology at the University of California San Diego, I was one of the first molecular virologists in the world to work on coronaviruses (the 1970s). I was the first to demonstrate the number of genes the virus contained. Since then, I have kept up with the coronavirus field and its multiple clinical transfers into the human population (e.g., SARS, MERS), from different animal sources.


The current projections for its expansion in the US are only probable, due to continued insufficient worldwide data, but it is most likely to be widespread in the US by mid to late March and April.


Here is what I have done and the precautions that I take and will take. These are the same precautions I currently use during our influenza seasons, except for the mask and gloves.:


1) NO HANDSHAKING! Use a fist bump, slight bow, elbow bump, etc.


2) Use ONLY your knuckle to touch light switches. elevator buttons, etc.. Lift the gasoline dispenser with a paper towel or use a disposable glove.


3) Open doors with your closed fist or hip - do not grasp the handle with your hand, unless there is no other way to open the door. Especially important on bathroom and post office/commercial doors.


4) Use disinfectant wipes at the stores when they are available, including wiping the handle and child seat in grocery carts.


5) Wash your hands with soap for 10-20 seconds and/or use a greater than 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer whenever you return home from ANY activity that involves locations where other people have been.


6) Keep a bottle of sanitizer available at each of your home's entrances. AND in your car for use after getting gas or touching other contaminated objects when you can't immediately wash your hands.


7) If possible, cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue and discard. Use your elbow only if you have to. The clothing on your elbow will contain infectious virus that can be passed on for up to a week or more!


What I have stocked in preparation for the pandemic spread to the US:
1) Latex or nitrile latex disposable gloves for use when going shopping, using the gasoline pump, and all other outside activity when you come in contact with contaminated areas.


Note: This virus is spread in large droplets by coughing and sneezing. This means that the air will not infect you! BUT all the surfaces where these droplets land are infectious for about a week on average - everything that is associated with infected people will be contaminated and potentially infectious. The virus is on surfaces and you will not be infected unless your unprotected face is directly coughed or sneezed upon. This virus only has cell receptors for lung cells (it only infects your lungs) The only way for the virus to infect you is through your nose or mouth via your hands or an infected cough or sneeze onto or into your nose or mouth.


2) Stock up now with disposable surgical masks and use them to prevent you from touching your nose and/or mouth (We touch our nose/mouth 90X/day without knowing it!). This is the only way this virus can infect you - it is lung-specific. The mask will not prevent the virus in a direct sneeze from getting into your nose or mouth - it is only to keep you from touching your nose or mouth.


3) Stock up now with hand sanitizers and latex/nitrile gloves (get the appropriate sizes for your family). The hand sanitizers must be alcohol-based and greater than 60% alcohol to be effective.


4) Stock up now with zinc lozenges. These lozenges have been proven to be effective in blocking coronavirus (and most other viruses) from multiplying in your throat and nasopharynx. Use as directed several times each day when you begin to feel ANY "cold-like" symptoms beginning. It is best to lie down and let the lozenge dissolve in the back of your throat and nasopharynx. Cold-Eeze lozenges is one brand available, but there are other brands available.


I, as many others do, hope that this pandemic will be reasonably contained, BUT I personally do not think it will be. Humans have never seen this snake-associated virus before and have no internal defense against it. Tremendous worldwide efforts are being made to understand the molecular and clinical virology of this virus. Unbelievable molecular knowledge about the genomics, structure, and virulence of this virus has already been achieved. BUT, there will be NO drugs or vaccines available this year to protect us or limit the infection within us. Only symptomatic support is available.


I hope these personal thoughts will be helpful during this potentially catastrophic pandemic. You are welcome to share this email. Good luck to all of us!

It's funny but I already do  many of those things.

• NO HANDSHAKING! Use a fist bump, slight bow, elbow bump, etc. There are some people's hands I avoid shaking.
• Use ONLY your knuckle to touch light switches. elevator buttons, etc. I've been doing this for years ever since seeing my sister who is a doctor and has worked in hospitals, roll her sleeve down over her hand before pressing lift buttons and opening doors when we were visiting Wellington Hospital.
•  Open doors with your closed fist or hip - do not grasp the handle with your hand, unless there is no other way to open the door. Especially important on bathroom and post office/commercial doors. I always do this when using public toilets anywhere.
• Use disinfectant wipes at the stores when they are available, including wiping the handle and child seat in grocery carts. Our local Pak n Save has a disinfectant wipe dispenser at the doorway. I always use a wipe to clean the trolley handle before I use it.
• Wash your hands with soap for 10-20 seconds and/or use a greater than 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer whenever you return home from ANY activity that involves locations where other people have been. I always do this as soon as I get home after having been shopping or having met people and shaken their hand.

I think that I'll start doing the other things as well.

.