JUST SAYING*

 

* There are no Kurt Vonnegut quotes in this post.

NEW TABLE

 The Old Girl needed wanted a new table for the deck.

The builder runs his own furniture making business so we visited and she bought the ceramic-topped table for the deck and a couple of 'coffee' tables for the lounge.

You know what this means - it could be the start of a new series TABLES.

ZOOM PIC FOR RICHARD

 

I don't know why but Richard wanted a photo of my ZOOM outfit.

Whatever turns the old guy on I guess.

ZOOM? - MORE LIKE SHUFFLE

Chris: "What's that Richard up to now?"

 The old team is planning another ZOOM call for Sunday evening.

This always seems to be a bit of a challenge for the old guys with lots of:

Are you there?

Where's Tony?

I can't see Richard.

There's only ten minutes to go.

You've disappeared again.

Oh, I forgot to press that thingamajig in the top right corner.

I can hear you Mike but can't see you.

Richard's gone dim again.

Oh, here's Peter at last.

Oh, he's gone again.

Right, now that we've got that settled I want to talk about .. BLANK

Let's hope that it goes better this time, especially for Richard's sake as his older and less tolerant brother Chris might be on the call. Chris won't put up with poor performance and could banish Richard from future ZOOM calls.

ZOOM CALL WITH OLD PEOPLE

.

SOMETHING IN THE WAY HE MOVED ......

I went to the physiotherapists today for my second meeting.

I  was checked over and given some exercises to do before a second deep tissue massage. I'm getting better.

When I was doing some push up exercises the woman said "you move pretty well given your age."

Oh well, at 69 you take the compliments where they fall.

WHERE WE LIVE

 Many of my readers * have asked me what's special about where I live.

I thought about this and decided that this might make a good series if I included the other main bloggers in this community with the idea of each post (episode) featuring one highpoint of their neighbourhood.

I'll go first.

THE CURMUDGEON - MCLEOD BAY.

Named after the Reverend Norman McLeod, McLeod Bay, in the Whangarei Heads has long-standing roots back to the Western Scotland settlers who fled Scotland during the Clearances (look it up), went to Nova Scotia, then to Australia and finally settled in New Zealand between 1853 and 1860 (Waipu and Whangarei Heads). My ancestors were part of them.

Old Norm was a right old bastard and lived in Waipu but his congregation was also living across the harbour in Whangarei Heads so this is why McLeod Bay is named after him.

The old historic church at the end of my road wasn't his but the site may be connected as the McLeod Bay Settlers church was built in 1858.

RICHARD OF RICHARD'S BASS BAG - WAINOUIOMATA

I don't know why Wainouiomata is named Wainouiomata but did a Wikipedia search and found this:

The word 'Wainui-o-mata' is a Māori name made up of the words Wai = water, Nui = big, O = of, and Mata – which could refer to a woman's .............. WHOAH! Let's stop it there. This is a family oriented blog.

Going back to safer ground I found this: TIGER SLIPPERS

Apparently this is the most special thing about Wainouiomata:

CHLOE

 There are no others.

Moving on.

ROBERT THE FISHING HUTT - MOERA

 I researched Moera and discovered this.

Mmmmm .... I think this will be the only post in this series.

* Well, it was one of my own alter-egos to be honest.

NEW POST - PETER'S GOLF BAG

 I wasn't sure whether to post this as Peter's Golf Bag or The Curmudgeonly Inventor but decided on Peter's Bass Bag.

ONE SHOT

BOOK CLUB

 

I gathered a small group to discuss the new Lee Child (actually written by Andrew Child) book that I've been reading. The group consists of myself (TC), Jack Reacher (JR), Robert The Sinner (RTS) and Richard of Richard's Bass Bag RRBB).

TC: Welcome guys - I can call you guys can't I?

THE GROUP: Sure, fine, go on, why not, needing someone doesn't make you weak, I love all of you, pfft, not, the bible, shotguns and children don't mix .....

TC: Oooookaaaay - let's move along. Jack, I'm reading your second to most recent book .....

JR: Don't blame me for that shit. I'm just in it. Those other guys write it. Expect the best but plan for the worst.

TC: ...... the second most recent Jack Reacher book then - Sentinel - and, quite frankly I'm disappointed.

JR: It's shit.

RTS: I think that you'd be better off reading the bible. I think ...

JR: Who the fuck asked you?

RTS: Ummm ..... I..um ...sorry. I love you.

JR: What? Are you coming on to me you little snot. I'll hit you fast, I'll hit you hard and I'll hit you a lot ...

TC: Now now guys, take it easy. Robert is just being Robert. He doesn't mean anything by it ..

RRBB: Like his posts - it's all meaningless.

TC: Now Richard, behave.

JR: OK but I have to warn you. I promised my mother, a long time ago. She said I had to give folks a chance to walk away.

RRBB: Sheesh!

TC: Richard. Stop it. Now, let's get back on topic. Jack, what the hell is going on with those Child Brothers?

JR: I think that James - that's Lee's real name - James Grant, got tired of me and wanted to get rid of ....

TC: Was that because of your personal hygiene issues? .....

JR: What!

TC: It was Robert. Robert said that.

RTS: No no no no - wasn't me ... it was Richard.

RRBB: Bastard. You cunt. It wasn't me Mr Reacher it was ......

JR: Easy big guy, I'm just fucking with you. I know that old Lee or James or whatever he wants to call himself used to forget to write in going to the toilet parts for me and putting on fresh underwear. Some of his readers noticed and must have told him so in the more recent books he wrote in that I bought new skants - that's 'panties' to you Robert - when I bought new jeans and tee shirts. This new guy though - James' brother Andrew - Andrew Grant who confusingly has changed his name to Andrew Child - has forgotten to write in new underpants for me, Bastard!

TC: Whew - well that clears that up for us - well, not for you Jack but maybe you could just sit a bit further away ..... a bit further .... there you go. Let's move on.

RRBB: What about that toilet thing then? I'm not afraid to tell everyone about when and how often I take a .....

TC: Thank you Richard - we get the picture -- ooooh - when I say 'get the picture' I don't mean ...

RTS: The writers of the bible didn't resort to scatological references to defecation and ...

RRBB: But they didn't say anything about not putting their toilets near the drinking and bathing water either ...

RTS: Blasphemer! The bible is my friend it ...

TC pulls Jack aside

TC: Jack, let's get out of here. I know a nice little bar where the barmaid is only slightly pregnant and they play some good blues music We'll leave these bozos to fight amongst themselves.

JR: Sounds good my man - as long as they don't play any of that Mississippi Fred McDowell music. He looks too much like that religious nutter Robert for my liking.

TC: No, they do a lot of John Lee Hooker, BB King and Blind Blake. Let's go.

BUGGER!

 

OH BROTHER!

 Imagine if Richard gave over the writing of his posts to his brother Robert!

That would be a disaster. Richard's current posts are at least well constructed, have good grammar and generally make sense. If Robert was to take over?

• ANGRY JESUS would become CALM JESUS
• DIFFERENT TIME ZONE BILL would be permanently stuck in the Dark Ages
• BIN'S BASS BAG  would become FATHER CHRISTIANGUY'S VIOLIN CASE

It's just too horrible to consider. Robert's religious posts on his own blog would be supported by religious nonsense he'd write on Richard's blog.

Uuuurgh!

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

Anyway, what is this post about?

I'm reading, against my better judgement, the second to latest 'Jack Reacher' book. This is the first one fully written by Lee Child's brother Andrew Child' even though the front cover states the writer as Lee Child with the assistance of Andrew Child.

 This really is misrepresentation. Lee Child's real name is James Grant and his brother's name is Andrew Grant. In order to pass over the mantle and to try and hoodwink readers, Lee Child got his brother to change his pen name to Andrew Child. Pathetic? Yes but the target market isn't exactly made up of  serious literature readers.

I'm about a sixth of the way through the book - it isn't very long - and already the deficiency is showing. Lee Child writes well and carries the reader along at a cracking pace. 'Andrew Child' writes a bit more in a cumbersome way and is clearly struggling to get the narrative flowing. He throws in 'Reacher ' sayings like: 

“Never forgive, never forget. Do it once and do it right. You reap what you sow. Plans go to hell as soon as the first shot is fired. Protect and serve. Never off duty.”

but these don't come naturally.

I looked up reviews on-line of the book and, while the earlier novels received ratings of four and five stars out of five this has an average of one and a half stars.

I then looked up a review of the latest 'Andrew Child' novel and this one has a one star average in the reviews.

I don't think I'll bother.

GOTTA MOVE

 

YOU'VE GO TO MOVE

No, this isn't Robert Prowse in 'blackface', it's Mississippi Fed McDowell.

We're doing a bit of furniture rearranging today.

I moved the stereo and old wooden CD cabinet from the lounge to the snooker room.

Where it was stuck in the corner of the lounge

Where it is now in the snooker room at the end of the house.

I've got Steely Dan playing and the sound from this room is great. I think I'll get a lot more use out of the system with it placed here as, when I played it in the lounge, The Old Girl would get a bit cranky and ask me to turn my racket down.

BRAHMS' THIRD RACKET

In here, the music drifts through the house nicely and, if a racket is suspected I can sit in the snooker room and close the door.

Now that the unit has been moved from the lounge and the kauri dresser moved a bit into the space there's still a little area in the corner to be filled.

I kind of suspect that my laptop and I'll be moved from the dining room table to there.

Kind of like Donald Trump at his small desk.

I WAS MANHANDLED BY A YOUNG WOMAN YESTERDAY .....

 ......... not like this:

What the hell were you thinking?

After 3 weeks of pain and restricted movement I decided to go to a physiotherapist. 

I had an examination by a competent young women who ran all sorts of tests on my back and leg tendons and muscles and concluded that the problem wasn't structural (spine and discs) or Sciatic (nerve tested OK) but was likely a muscle strain.

She made me do a set of exercises and then gave me a deep tissue massage in the areas that I identified as pain spots (lower back, buttocks, thighs etc.). This was quite painful as she dug her fingers in deep. I've never had any form of massage before so this was a new experience. I felt better afterwards and decided, like Corporal Jones, that I like it.

"I like it. I like it."

I've got another appointment next week.

NEARLY THERE

 Whew! I might have just got back in time with a window update. This old blogging community has been getting a bit ragged what with Richard cancelling all of his posts and then coming back with 'nothing' and then writing a few posts that  ..... well, best to just say that his 'nothing' post was better.

As for Robert .......

Don the builder spent a day today finishing off the surrounds to the windows and doors. They are basically complete now and will just need some touch-ups and painting.

Hey! Here's an idea. I took some photos to show you how things stand.

Kitchen

Bedroom

Bedroom

Bedroom

Study

Kitchen

Bedroom

They look so much better with the architraves and surrounds on. They are more in keeping now with the old villa.

The Old Girl has a curtain and blind maker coming on Thursday to measure up for some bespoke blinds for each of the rooms. She threatened to book a painter as well but I told her that I would do the painting.  Let's see how that goes.

IT'S ALL ABOUT ME - "SOMEONE'S TRYING TO, LIKE, RIP ME DOWN".

 Amongst all of the other dross that the rise of social media over the last decade has produced, the creation of the bogus role of INFLUENCER is the most ridiculous.

I've written on this before. See: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE.*

I discovered this complete waste of time on the NZ Herald app.

THE SKANK

This silly tosser gets herself all upset because some viewers criticised her and accused her of doctoring her images. She goes to silly lengths trying to justify herself and assumes that WE CARE!

God (Robert's imaginary friend), get a life.

* The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ  provides a fascinating links service back to past posts. Other blogs that delete older posts cannot offer this service.

BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE!

 

I put this set of APILCO PERRIER JOUET BELLE EPOQUE DINNERWARE (45 pieces)   on Trade Me recently with a reserve of $350.

The highest bid was $201 which I refused.

This is very nice china with the beautiful Belle Epoque pattern.

It's hard trying to sell second hand items today. People want things for nothing. The value of 'stuff' has declined with the rise of big format retailing and endless supply of crap. People would rather buy shoddy mass produced crap on a very frequent basis than outlay for quality that can last a lifetime.

I have a beautiful set of 1930s SPODE BUTTERCUP (about 100 pieces) that I've owned since the mid 1970s. I won't even attempt to sell this through Trade Me although I will keep an eye on WEBB's upcoming auctions.

WE LOST

Well, the All Blacks lost this morning in an exciting but ultimately disappointing game. 

WE lost to Ireland! Again! This is the third loss to Ireland in five games after a century of them never beating US. What's going on?

The game was dominated by Ireland, a gabby referee and interfering linesman but ultimately the All Blacks were outplayed.

There was too much chat from the ref and the players with just about every refereeing call being questioned. From time to time the Irish were like big girl's blouses, whinging about something or other. No surprises there since one of their forwards name is Doris.

I set my alarm for 4AM and got up to watch the game but managed to miss the fist twenty minutes.

The so-called SMART TV at the end of the house wouldn't work. I spent a long time trying to get an internet connection before giving up and trying the one in the main lounge. This would not link to SKY Sport because it's too old (4 years). I gave up on that and started up the Apple Mac in the study. The computer worked but the bloody keyboard decided to not work. Bummer. I dug out the boxes of computer parts and found another keyboard which did work but by this time the first half was nearly over. Bloody technology.

We had a scheduled power outage on Friday morning and this interfered with the tv settings. I fiddled about with it today for an hour or so until I decided to unplug both the TV and the Internet modem from the power point, wait for a couple of minutes and then reconnect. Thankfully this worked and we're back in business. This will be handy for the New Zealand vs Australia cricket T20 World Cup final tomorrow morning between 2AM and 6AM.

CREATE YOUR OWN VALUES

 

We've had life insurance (they use the term assurance because it sounds more comforting) for more than thirty years.

It started out as seeming like a good idea and was sort of demanded by banks in order to obtain mortgages years ago. In the beginning it was relatively affordable but recently the premiums are quite onerous. There hasn't been any recognition for a history of paying premiums with no claims and more of a 'you're getting old and will die soon so the premiums are going up' mentality. What was a couple of hundred dollars a month at the millennium has now been increased to over $1400 a month today. This is over sixteen thousand dollars a year. Fuck that.

We've decided to cancel this immediately and to 'value ourselves' figuring that if either of us snuff it the other gets a mortgage free house and a bit of savings.

I went on-line today to set about cancelling but, surprise, surprise, the insurance company has no  CANCEL NOW link on its website. I sent them a message via their CONTACT US  tab but don't trust this. The terms of the policy say that cancellation has to be in writing (for the insured to cancel but those bastards, the insurers can cancel the insured's policy whenever they bloody like!) so I'm going to phone them on Monday and get the exact email details of the person to write to.

We have an automatic payment arrangement whereby the insurer robs our account each month (now more than $1400). I went to our on-line banking today and can find no mechanism for cancelling the payments. I sent them an on-line message as well but don't trust this either so will phone the bank on Monday.

I want to have this done before the 20th of November when the next month's payment is due. No doubt these bastards will have some kind of time clause in the small print. Oh well, at least I've started the process.

WINDOWS AGAIN

 I know that you've been waiting for an update and I apologise for the delay.

Don the builder returned on Wednesday with a mate and in two days removed the second old window in the bedroom and replaced it with the new fitting ....

Old

New

.....  and took out the north facing windows and replaced these with French doors. This was a big job and I'm really glad that it was done so quickly. Today Don is doing all of the trim work. He was a cabinet maker by trade before being a builder so is good with architraves and fancy fiddly bits which he can manufacture.

The weather was kind and won't turn to rain until the weekend so hopefully today we can get a lot completed.

The old windows

Windows completely taken out

French doors installed

We had a discovery when the outer panel above the windows  was removed.

We had always wondered why such an ugly 'box' arrangement had been built above the bedroom windows.

When the panel was removed in order to install a new beam to support the french doors we discovered a bank of small windows.

If we had known of this years ago we would have exposed them,  cleaned them up and made use of them. It's too late now though as they had to go for the installation of the beam and a new panel put in.

While not meeting Robert's aesthetic expectations the new aluminium French doors will be weatherproof, soundproof and, when wide open provide a great view of the bay from our bedroom. The old windows were in worse condition than I realised with the sills and side supports totally rotted through. It was just as well that we replaced them as a big storm might have blown them in.

The next instalment will have to wait until all of the window trims are are completed.

Stay posted!