WELL WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT?

It's not often that I borrow anything from Richard's (of Richards Bass Bag*) blog other than the spelling of practice vs. practise, license vs. licence or Penderecki but today, an image he posted on his latest (read most recent old) post appropriately fits our situation.

The image

I've had the builders here all day replacing some weatherboards that were rotting. Because of the age of the original house, (1910) the original weatherboards are all outsize compared to what's available 'off-the-shelf' so the builder had to make arrangements with a wood turner to calibrate his settings to the larger requirements of width and length to match ours. I asked for extra weatherboard lengths to be produced for possible future renovations because the set-up costs are so high. The result is great and the two builders did an 11 hour stint installing the boards and fixing other little problems like missing flashings and 'studs' that the renovators in the 1980s 'forgot' to put in.

All good.

But ..... as they were leaving, the head honcho alerted me to a problem with a retaining wall beneath the front deck. This is known to me and the remedy is on my 'fix-it' list - down at about number 12. The deck replacement was number 1, the attic ladder was number 2 and the weatherboard replacement was number 3. All of these have now been done but the retaining wall now is becoming serious. Basically the retaining wall holds back ground-fill at the front of the house below the deck. It's been messy ever since we've lived here for 11 years with some crappy concrete steps going up to the 'front' door. As we live in a house that was repositioned back to front when placed here 40 years ago the 'front' entrance is really the back entrance and vice-versa. Anyway - it was always on the soon-to-do' list but the news today kind of makes this job a bit more of a priority. The builder said that the slippage was distorting the deck above and would need to be addressed. Here is a reminder of what could happen.

I reported this to The Old Girl on our daily Facetime call and she agreed that fixing this would be the next priority.


So far so good.

Unfortunately I didn't have a piece of cellophane to crinkle next to the phone while I was talking, in order to blame telecommunications faults, so my arguments of getting the job done simply, efficiently (and cheaply) was countermanded by "I want it to look nice and classy Matey). Bugger!

It looks like those Tarras Airport start up shares will have to be on hold or, as Robert suggests, an off-the-wall investment in deep sea mushroom farming ventures will just have to wait.

"A real investor would seek out ideas from people on the fringe.
As a friend of Turing said "Sometimes it is people that no one imagines anything of that do the things they imagine". "  - commented Robert on another post of mine.

* My apologies for the obscure reference.

NEW POST - THE DARKER CURMUDGEON

In the absence of a Financial Curmudgeon, The Darker Curmudgeon volunteered to share some investment advice.

MAKING THE MOST (OUT) OF IT

SOME SNIPPETS

This is a holding post while The Financial Curmudgeon - oops, we don't have one of those (yet),  the Darker Curmudgeon will have to step in - writes a post about investment.

 No doubt you've heard the important aspects of the news today unless you're like those twits who only get their news from Facebook, Twitter and other social media but here are a couple of snippets  to keep you going.

ANDY HADEN TAKES HIS LAST DIVE OUT OF ..... LIFE.

Sixty nine is a number that has connotations but in life it's really quite young to die. He was controversial but was a damned good rugby player and All Black and many of the young players today who are (have been) earning the big bucks can thank Andy and his compatriots from the 1970's for that.

THE GOVERNMENT RULES TO CHARGE (SOME) NEW ZEALAND RETURNEES FOR ACCOMMODATION DURING THE MANDATORY TWO WEEK LOCK-DOWN PERIOD IN HOTELS.

Yes, personally I wouldn't have had so many exceptions built into this but am pleased that this is happening. It might make people think twice about taking that holiday away from New Zealand and, for returnees and other overseas people who were thinking about a nice safe holiday they have to be prepared to stump up some extra holiday money. Yes it could be seen as vote catching for those ex-pats who can and will vote but no, I don't favour what Judith The Hun proposed and certainly not what the disloyal and offensive Winston Peter's has said. I guess that this is his final nail in the coffin. With luck and of course good management, Labour's high polling will continue through the elections and NZ First will be kicked to touch (continuation of a rugby theme there) at long last.

FALLING AGAIN - DON WILLIAMS

"Here I go,like a fool, falling again."

There are a lot of songs about falling and a disproportionate number of Country songs. I guess those old jokers in the funny hats just never learn.

I fell again today - while playing golf.
For the first time, honest, on a par 3 by the roadside I hit my ball out onto the road.
When I was up by the green, I parked my golf trundler and set off through the bushes and up a steep bank to the road. I found my ball and headed back. As I left the road and stepped into the foliage my ankles caught against a hidden strand of fence wire and I tumbled head first down the bank. I landed heavily on my left shoulder and lay still for a moment or two wondering if I'd broken it. The ground I landed on was fortunately soft after all the rain we've had up north and, apart from being winded and feeling a bit silly, I was OK.

The course was showing the effects of the big storms we've had. Some of the streams seem to have changed their course and there were vast mounds of debris that had been swept down. If I hadn't fallen I'd no doubt have gone for a fossick amongst the debris as I'm sure that a lot of golf balls would have been dredged up and swept along.

I'd played five holes at this stage - not very well but I did find 5 golf balls so all was not lost. After the fall though I decided to quit and came home. I had scrapes and grazes from the wire and the foliage and my shoulder was sore so decided to have a soak in a hot bath. I put some Epsom Salts in.

"The theory is that when you soak in an Epsom salt bath, these get into your body through your skin. That hasn't been proven, but just soaking in warm water can help relax muscles and loosen stiff joints. People use Epsom salt baths as a home treatment for: Arthritis pain and swelling." - Wikipedia.

Anyway, I believe it.

Here's a tip for young players: When in your supermarket looking to buy some bath salts ignore the fancy, schmanzy labels that say 'bath salts' and buy Epsom salts instead. A couple of weeks ago, in Wellington I demonstrated to The Old Girl the difference in prices. A 500 gram bag of Epsom salts cost $2.49. On the shelf beside it a 500 gram bag of some branded bath salts cost $14.99. The ingredients on the bag of Epsom salts read: "Contains Magnesium Sulphate". The ingredients list on the bath salts read: "Contains Magnesium Sulphate and Aromatics".

While relaxing in the bath, listening to National Radio my phone rang. It was The Old Girl calling me on Facetime to tell me how wonderful the day was in Wellington. I told her that it was the same up here - blue sky, no wind, harbour like a mill pond etc., etc. so she asked me why then was I soaking in a bath. I told her that I'd hurt myself playing golf and yes, I admitted that I had gone looking for a golf ball, but, in my defence it wasn't a random golf ball, it was the one that I'd hit. This of course fell on deaf ears and I got a lecture about looking for golf balls when we have a shed full of them. She ended by saying that she had no sympathy for me and would have had none even if I had broken or dislocated my shoulder. "Bit harsh" I thought.

So, how's your day going?

NEW POST - THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON

I know what you're thinking. The Music Curmudgeon should also have written that last post - yeah?

Well here's another one:

"MAYBE I'M AMAZED"

No doubt Richard of Richard's Bass Bag (if he hasn't used up all of his wit today) will be able to call this one a 'mini-post as well.

As there's no irony in it maybe Robert will discover some.

PUTTING IN A GOOD WORD OR TWO

"Am I missing something?"

I listened to a Jarvis Cocker song - 'Am I Missing Something' -  on National Radio yesterday and was struck by a really good line:

“I don’t wanna dance with the devil, but d’ya mind if I tap my foot?”

It's not quite up there with Scott Walker's: I'VE SEVERED MY REEKING GONADS AND FED THEM TO YOUR SHRUNKEN FACE

..... but, it's not bad.

The song reminds me of T-Bone Burnett's songs which I also like.

AM I MISSING SOMETHING?

SHOPPING AND JOBS TODAY

I've been busy today. As it was fine I did three loads of washing which I now must take in off the washing line. (done) Feeling industrious I then did the vacuuming. The Philips cleaner was decidedly sluggish with not much suck. I was tempted to use my new ($25) AL-KO Hurricane outdoor vacuum but instead looked up the internet for a solution. The internet is great for this and I found a very helpful Scottish woman who troubleshooted possible problems, one being clogged filters. Sure enough, when I removed the filter I discovered that it and the sponge square behind it were totally clogged. I cleaned them and .. ... job done, the vacuum is working fine now.

I cleaned the rangehood grease panels and decided to buy new charcoal filters. The rangehood was in the house when we bought it 11 years ago so, of course, the model isn't recognised by any distributors in New Zealand (checked on-line again). I established that Bunnings stock charcoal filters for other brands and models so I measured the required diameter of mine and set off. I found a pack of two with the same measurements I needed ($29). Job done.

One of the ARLO security cameras decided to stop working the other day. I checked out if it was a  battery problem by replacing with one of the working one's battery but no change. The unit was munted. I set myself up for a protracted hassle with the retailer - Noel Leeming. Last night I sent an email explaining the problem and, by identifying the purchase date (8 months ago) established that it was within the 12 month replacement warranty period. I received a response this morning from them asking to bring it in for checking with a warning that the evaluation would cost me and that replacement would depend upon the problem being covered by the manufacturer. "Here we go" I thought and girded my loins ready for battle.

The pleasant young woman at Noel Leeming (I've dealt with her before and she is very competent)* sorted it out without argument, prevarication or obfuscation. She opened a new box containing the security system, took out a camera and battery and swapped for the ones that I'd brought in. I must mention here that the retail price of a camera is about $600 and the battery another $110 so I was most pleased. When I got home  tested it and it is working satisfactorily again. Job done.

After this I went to COUNTDOWN to do some shopping. Between home and there I managed to lose my shopping list but went around the shelves anyway. This takes longer when you don't have a list as you have to go up and down all of the aisles in the hope of remembering what was on the list.  I bought, I think. everything I needed and, with regard to the food items I've got the ingredients for meatloaf, gravy, roast vegetables (potato, and pumpkin) and greens (broccoli and cauliflower). I prepared the meatloaf mixture with my usual additions of lashings of garlic, chilli, soy sauce, ginger, capsicum, spring onion and piquante peppers and managed to make six small loaves - one for tonight and five for freezing. Job done.


So. How was your day?





* On completion of our business I asked her if she gets complimented on her work. Surprised she asked why. I told her that she is excellent to deal with and sorts out problems remarkably. I will put an endorsement on their website if there is an opportunity to do so.

NEARLY DONE

The builders were here all day making quite a racket.
The attic steps have been completed - installed and painted with a nice architrave around the hatch.

This will be great for access and I won't have to go up the narrow chute in the cupboard anymore.
(see the cupboard behind the attic stairs).

There was obviously a big mess on the floor but I told them that I'd clean it as I was itching to use my new purchase - the AL-KO Hurricane outdoor vacuum.

I called into an op-shop in town yesterday and spied this. I bought it for $25 to clean the leaves and other bits of wind-borne rubbish that accumulates in the back porch. Sweeping it away is a pain because the wind blows it back again. I'm very pleased to say that this machine, which sounds like a jet engine, more than adequately sucked up all of the dust, wood chips and other debris from the ceiling work.

The builders also chopped out chunks of weatherboard from the side of the house. Some of the weatherboards were soft with rot in places so I'm getting them replaced. Being such an old house the boards have to be specially made.

Note the message from god made by sunlight reflecting off the neighbour's house windows. I wonder what it means?

I TOLD YOU SO

See here:  OVERPRICED AND OVERHYPED


I published a post on this a while back: BLOODY LEECHES


I hope now that the vulnerable people will see through the cynical TV advertising and realise that they are being ripped off.

FREEZING

It's cold up here today.

Just as well I bought my face warmer which is named a Unisex Apex Chute.
I bought this from Icebreaker in Wellington last week for our trip to Queenstown in August. I didn't think it would ever be necessary in Northland - but there you go.

Maybe Richard should buy one of these to use when he's playing his fiddle. It would have the double advantage of protecting his neck from the edge of the instrument and protecting his identity should he play any off-notes or forget how to plug his amp in.

UMMM- TUESDAY I THINK

It was a busy day for me today.

I didn't play silly buggers and stage my own concert-for-one like some people. No, I got on with serious stuff.

First thing I took the trailer into town to pick up a set of attic steps for installation in the ceiling.

I did this while the builders cut a hole in the ceiling and prepared for installation.

The steps are now in place, folded in the ceiling. They come down nice and smooth by using a pole with a hook. Tomorrow the builder will finish off with architrave and painting so - all good.

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

While the builders were installing the steps I got on with the newsletter for the old folks organisation. This looks pretty good and was embellished by The Old Girl who is a bit of an expert in this sort of thing. I only got stressed out once when: in the middle of doing the newsletter the electrician was here having problems on the phone with the power provider; the builders were making a hell of a racket (and mess); and friend Rod turned up for a chat and a nosey. I threw him out of course, helped the electrician who was fixing the hot water situation, manhandled the bloody trailer back into its position at the back of the house (munting my back in the process) and assisted the builders. They finished up about 5PM. The electrician got the hot water going again by by-passing a few things and said he'd arranged for the power provider to come and replace some old and dodgy electrical gizmos (sorry about the technical jargon). I thought that maybe they'd come a few weeks hence but, at 5.30 a nice young man turned up and fixed the problematic gizmo - no charge.

The Old Girl and I have a bit of a laugh at the 'young man' thing as policemen, service people, doctors, nurses, lawyers and accountants (not teachers) all seem to be getting much, much younger nowadays.

YOUNG MAN

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

The bit of deck outside the kitchen is finished and looks great.

It's a big improvement on the old one.

I'm about to prepare my dinner - Piccante chicken, rice and vegetables and am looking forward to a relaxing and therapeutic soak in the bath if the water heats up sufficiently.

So, how was your day?

ZEALANDIA

Now before Robert gets too excited, the 'Zealandia' mentioned in this post heading isn't the old Catholic newspaper:

Zealandia was a  New Zealand tabloid newspaper owned, and published weekly for 55 years, by the Catholic Bishop of Auckland. Its first issue is dated 10 May 1934 and its last is dated 23 April 1989.  - From Wikipedia

No, this Zealandia is the magnificent fully-fenced urban ecosanctuary in Wellington. The 225 hectare sanctuary is an ongoing conservation project that has reintroduced many species of native wildlife back into the area.

The Old Girl and I met Richard (of Richard's Bass Bag) there this morning and we spent a pleasant couple of hours walking around the vast and beautiful area .

My knee was giving me a bit of gyp so I used my hiking stick but was quite slow on the up bits of which there were lots. You don't have to do the climbs though as the layout suits all ages and fitness levels with many easy sections to choose from. There are some interesting features like the viewing tower, the dam and the suspension bridge which connects one side of a valley to the other.

The Curmudgeon was at the middle of the dam when he took this photo of The Old Girl and Richard who stayed safe at the edge of it.

We walked across this suspension bridge which disappointedly didn't swing

The birdlife is fairly prolific although I suspect that at other times than when we were there it could be greater, when the weather is warmer, and it's not the last day of the school holidays with many children making a lot of noise (including barking like dogs).

The rare takahe with the Mr giving his wife a hard look

Richard (of Richard's Bass Bag) showed a remarkable - lack of knowledge- of ornithology when asked which birds were which. This was disappointing coming from a blogger who touts his blog as the 'leading' bass bagging blog. Later however he rescued some of his tattered reputation by showing scepticism at someone's assertion that Bob Dylan wrote 'The House of The Rising Sun', suggesting that it was a traditional song with no known composer. We at The Curmudgeons Incⓒ, in the interest of accuracy did some research (wikipedia) this afternoon and ascertained that Richard was correct. It's an interesting story, the history of this popular song and The Music Curmudgeon will be writing researching borrowing from Google an overview of this soon.


All in all a nice outing. Well done Wellington

MY TRIP

MY TRIP

by 

THE CURMUDGEON

We've just got back from our big trip away.

This was the first holiday we've had for quite some time. My partner - The Old Girl - has been working hard for months so took a week's leave.

We hired a rental car and chose a 4WD vehicle. The rental car site said it would be a RAV 4 - type so I was expecting a smaller vehicle with 4WD capability in case we encountered icy or snow conditions on our jaunt to Martinborough and Hawkes Bay.

The car we were give on Sunday was a Mitsubishi Outlander which is like the behemoths I disparage on this blog, for example: WANKMOBILES

As it turned out we didn't encounter black ice, snow or slippery conditions so didn't really need this monster but I admit it was handy to easily stow the quantity of baggage that The Old Girl decided to bring with us and we got a discounted deal through her employer so - 'mustn't grumble'

MARTINBOROUGH

I like this area. I remember, in 1979 when Mike W. was in the UK, he wrote me a letter saying that his brother, who was earning mega-bucks (or sterling) and banking them in tax-free havens was looking to invest in the NZ wine industry. I took a trip to Martinborough because I had read a soil and climate analysis by Derek Milne who concluded that the area, as yet unplanted with grapes, could be a significant area for New Zealand viticulture. I looked at farm properties for sale, topography and other bits and pieces and reported back to Mike. Nothing came of this as Mike's brother invested elsewhere and neither he or I had any money but, a few years later Martinborough did indeed make a splash in the wine world after some 'pioneers' invested in land, grew grapes and produced award winning wines.

In the mid 1990s Geoff B. raised finance and interested support from friends and family and we bought, planted and grew grapes on a beautiful piece of land which we named Pinnacles. A few years later, as it was time to build a winery and raise further capital the shareholders voted to sell, at a profit, the land and plantings. It was sold to Palliser Estate Winery and, the fruit from the vineyard - Riesling and Pinot Noir went on to win accolades.

Mike is now, through a connection with a financial friend in Auckland, a shareholder in Palliser Estate Winery. When The Old Girl and I visited the winery on Monday and tasted some of their excellent sparkling wines we discovered that, following the last AGM the company has decided to release more shares. We are looking to buy some and will be telling Geoff about this so he too can buy some. There's something decidedly circular in this - serendipity if you will. Maybe, what might have happened in 1979 was destined to happen, albeit in a smaller way, later.

Anyway, the visit to Martinborough was great. We stayed in lovely accommodation at Margrain Vineyards. I posted about this a couple of days ago. Robert commented thus on a photograph of the longe in the room:

Is that a complimentary bottle on the table?

His spelling (in this case) was spot-on but, even if he had misspelled it 'complementary' would also have been appropriate as the bottle, on the coffee table in a lounge with an old-fashioned stove and vineyard and wine imagery on the walls was well placed,

But ..... I digress.

The highlight in Martinborough was a tutored tasting at Ata Rangi. They do this really well. A free tasting, seated at table with 5 or 6 of the top wines including the expensive and gorgeous pinot noirs.
More wineries should have the confidence to do this. Naturally we bought some new release pinot noir and chardonnay for later drinking. I buy Ata Rangi wines on-line because they are one of the very few wineries who package some of their wines in 375ml bottles - Crimson pinot noir and their top pinot noir. Again, other wineries should have the confidence to do this.

NAPIER

We drove to Napier on Tuesday and stayed two nights with The Old Girl's relatives. We would have stayed longer but it was cold and rainy so walks were out, their swimming pool was freezing and we didn't feel like doing winery visits. We had a nice stay nevertheless though with Chris, a professional chef cooking a magnificent meal on Tuesday and we all went to a new restaurant - the Fire Station on Wednesday. Great food and great wine on both evenings.

Today we drove back to Wellington taking the route to Palmerston North instead of back via Wairarapa. The Manawatu Gorge road is still closed but we went on the replacement road through the wind farm.

MANAWATU GORGE REPLACEMENT ROUTE

These magnificent windmills are very close to the road with an effect like driving through a forest with giant trees. Impressive.

On arrival in the city we collected the Sonia Savage painting we bought. It looks great on the red wall in the apartment and The Old Girl is threatening to paint one of the walls red in our house when she returns there at the end of the year!

We've still got the rental car tomorrow so plan to visit Zealandia Ecosanctuary.

All good.

WINDY

It's blowing a bloody gale here in Martinborough. The drive over the Remutakas (when did they change the name?) was pleasant and, fortunately, the wind didn't come up until after we'd arrived.

We had a bit of a drive around but the weather's not great for being outdoors so we are relaxing inside at our accommodation. It's warm, spacious and comfortable so I'm glad at the choice I made.

This'll do.

SOME LOOKALIKES

Robert The Apathetic Sinner

Roger Stone

Richard of RBB

Salvador Dali

TC

Hannibal Lecter

FOR ROBERT

Robert, have you been to this 'church'?

I saw this in Marion Street yesterday.

IT'S A PANDEMIC STUPID

I flew from Whangarei to Auckland and then from Auckland to Wellington. Both flights were fully booked and the planes were crowded (school holidays).
On the smaller plane from Whangarei I was the only person wearing a face mask. On the trip to Wellington I think there were a couple more wearing them but the overwhelming majority weren't.

Air New Zealand are jam-packing people in at the moment hoping I guess to recoup losses. There is no effort to enforce social distancing, no hand sanitiser available on the planes and no mention of face masks.

How do I know whether that woman pressing up against me had just arrived back from the UK or the guy who coughed in the seat behind me hadn't been on the recently arrived flight with the two confirmed cases of Covid-19 who came from Afghanistan a few days ago?

Are people not wearing face masks because they feel silly or worse, like the fat orange idiot Donald Trump, they feel that it makes them seem weak (and silly). I think that people are not taking this pandemic seriously enough. Airplanes are 'petri-dishes' in that captive passengers, in a small enclosed space, are rebreathing and ingesting all sorts of micro-organisms and germs.

WHO warns against airborne COVID-19

BLOODY LEECHES

I've been pissed off for a while now at the insurance industry advertisements on TV that are selling funeral insurance to old people. The bastards behind this are playing on the fears and weaknesses of people in their dotage.

The advertisements have a subtle, underlying message that old people should be concerned at the cost impact of their funeral, which will be borne by their loved ones and, if they really love their children (and recipients of their worldly goods) they would make plans in advance to diminish the financial burden.

Fuck that!

In many cases the recipients will be inheriting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of assets and should be able to stump up for the cost of a funeral out of this.
In other cases where nothing, or nearly nothing is left then how about the off-spring stumping up a few thousand to bury the oldies who brought them into this world and brought them up. If the oldies were absolute bastards then put them out for the scavenging birds to have a go.*

I see this as an odious ploy of the insurance industry to capitalise on the ageing population.

So, if this wasn't bad enough, today, while watching TV in the afternoon - OK, OK, I've already been admonished by that old school teacher from Nuova Lazio for doing this but I was tired after a few hours of walking around Wellington - I saw another advertisement from one of these carpetbaggers ( I wish that I'd noted down the company name) selling insurance to terminally ill people. This is despicable - the underlying message, like the funeral plan ones, is one of guilt if you don't provide something for the loved ones left behind.

Bad enough?

Well, in this ad (and I've seen something similar in previous life insurance ads that weren't pitched at the terminally ill), the outcome of the death is portrayed as good news for the recipient family with 'Lotto-type' imagery.

Fuck!    TIME TO GO




* Jest

HOISTED BY MY OWN PETARD*

* I used to think, years ago that a petard was a kind of nautical rope and, in my mind I imagined inattentive sailors getting entangled in ropes and being hoisted up into the rigging.

It was years later that I learned that the expression comes from William Shakespeare and means being blown up by your own bomb - a petard being an explosive charge.

Anyway, when The Old Girl was living in Toronto and didn't have a car she had to walk to the supermarket and complained about having to haul heavy bags of grocery goods back home. I suggested that she buy a shopping basket on wheels to which she replied "I'm not that old and infirm yet Matey!" Ongoing recommendations from me fell on deaf ears until she took this Wellington apartment and, without a car, has to walk quite a way to New World or Moore Wilson. This is OK for small purchases but for a fortnightly stock up is a bit onerous. She finally succumbed to my suggestion and bought herself a wheeled shopping cart.

It's a nifty device and ideal for hauling home heavier items like wine.

This morning, as The Old Girl is busy at work it's my duty to do shopping at both Moore Wilson (for the fancier items) and New World (for the basics). I said that I'd better take a backpack but she immediately suggested taking the shopping cart.
I said that I'd look like an old duffer. She said "Ha!"



I took the shopping cart and must admit, it was very handy.

IT'S BECAUSE ....

It's quite good not being locked into 'regular' TV viewing. For years now, ever since we came back from living overseas we haven't hooked up our television to SKY or any sort of fixed viewing platform. We just use the TV via internet meaning that the things we watch are from Netflix, Lightbox, On-demand TV, YouTube and other sites. It means that we can chop and change freely and are not locked into schedules that don't suit us. It also means that we can have the television turned off most of the time so that it doesn't become background noise.

This evening I found, on YouTube  a very interesting video on 10 CC's making of one of their great songs. I particularly want to share this with Robert who enjoys creating music at home, using computer based programmes and I think that he'll find it quite enlightening. I also wish to bring it to Robert's attention because some time ago, on The Music Curmudgeon's blog, Robert wasn't exactly in favour of 10 CC eliciting Richard into saying of his comment "Well, that sort of killed those beautiful lyrics."

ROBERT DESTROYS A SONG


Watch:

MAKING OF 'I'M NOT IN LOVE'

A JAUNT 2

Jaunt 1 is our planned trip to Queenstown in August.

To be clear, this doesn't make us well-heeled holiday makers. What it does demonstrate is that there are some great places in New Zealand to visit that, for once (or again) are available without having to queue up behind well-heeled overseas tourists who put pressure on bookings and a premium on pricing. COVID-19 is a right bastard but the border closures will, for a time bring a lot of these tourism destinations within reach of the average New Zealander.

Before anyone bleats about the unfairness to the tourism and accommodation owners might I remind them that these same operators have been enjoying inflated revenues for quite some time and it's long overdue that prices come back a bit. Many Kiwis should take advantage of this 'window' which is really a 'win-win' giving them a deal and enabling the providers to get some return on their assets.

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

Jaunt 2, in July was supposed to be cheap flights to Christchurch and a return trip on the TranzAlpine train to Greymouth with a couple of nights stay on the West Coast.

I heard that NZ Rail were running trips all through July at a heavily discounted price of $75 per person. I quickly tried to book but learned that all tickets had sold out fast. Bummer. I enquired about August but was told that July was a one-off and there would be no trips in August or later.
That's why we are going to Queenstown instead.

So, when I go to Wellington next week, in the second week, The Old Girl will take a week's leave and we plan to hire a car and drive to Napier via Martinborough. Given the polar blast that the region is experiencing, we'll have to hire a SUV or other type of 4WD vehicle. I'm glad that we're not planning to do that this Sunday as I heard that the Rimutaka hill road is dodgy and the high-points on the way to Hawkes Bay might be snow-covered. With luck this might change by 12th July. In Napier we'll stay with relatives for a couple of nights and, on the way up there, plan to have a couple of nights in Martinborough with some vineyard visits during the day. I'm hoping that there will be deals to be had for some extra-special accomodation.

Before Robert decries us for conspicuous spending I'll remind him that there are deals to be had in making such trips affordable and available to the average Joe.

The Old Girl's employers have a great arrangement with a rental car company since they use them a lot so I'm hoping we'll get a good deal.

We were planning, on The Old Girl's retirement, to have some overseas trips over the next few years but COVID-19, other pandemics, airline collapses and likely global financial crises have made this plan redundant. We now plan to do domestic tourism, visiting places we've never been or places we want to revisit. The next two months is a start to this.

A JAUNT

I bought some cheap flights to Queenstown in August where Lynn and I will spend a week leading up to my birthday. I haven't yet booked accommodation, hoping that better deals will be available closer to the day.

It's a nightmare booking hotel accomodation nowadays as the booking sites - Booking.com, Trivago, 
Agoda, Expedia, HomeAway, trip.com etc all hijack the requests for on-line information. I've had bad experience of these sites when we were overseas. They are leeches and, when something goes wrong, are very unwilling to give refunds. I prefer to deal with the hotel direct.

There are so many hotels in Queenstown now and I'm unfamiliar with most of them. We used to travel to Queenstown a lot for skiing, adventure and my work marketing wine. We haven't been there now though for some years and expect that the town has changed a lot. If the weather is bad we don't want to be stuck in crappy accommodation so I'm looking for a deal on the 5 star joints. Fortunately the high paying Yanks, Chinese and Japanese tourists won't be there due to border restrictions so we might get lucky.