**WORK IN PROGRESS** *

* I used the  **WORK IN PROGRESS** title as a working title while I wrote this post but when going to put in another title decided that Work In Progress is quite apt.

I shopped at our local Pak n Save yesterday for the first time in about 8 months.

I was stocking up the pantry at the end of the house where we keep 'bulk' items or items in bulk like canned tomatoes, canned chick peas, canned kidney beans, sauces, oat milks, oils, breakfast cereals etc. When these run low I go to Pak n Save and buy, where I can, whole cartons of goods. It's much cheaper than the other Foodfstuffs stores New World or 4 Square and their competitor Woolworths (previously Countdown). I use these stores though for my general, non bulk buying as they do have a better range of items that I prefer to cook with.

Anyway, when going to the checkouts with a very full trolley I saw that half of the checkout aisles have now been replaced by self serve checkouts.

I hate self-serve checkouts and find that, when I have more than a few items, it takes much longer and can be very annoying when things don't scan properly. Why do retail outlets now favour them so much? Obviously, to save on wages. They've calculated that any losses suffered from cheating customers is way more than offset by savings in labour costs. Bastards! This means that a huge number of full-time and part-time workers are out of jobs and added to the unemployment scrap heap ...

... like the many, many others that the Luxon coalition government have put out of work.

I worry about this. New Zealand unfortunately is following the UK (albeit 30 years later) in having an unemployed and sadly, unemployable class as  many jobs dry up due to cutbacks, closures and technological advancements like AI and automatic checkouts. Add to this the decline due to COVID and its after effects like work from home, decline in dining out and on-line ordering - and we have the makings for a perfect storm.

The youth unemployment landscape in the UK remains a growing problem for employers, educators, policy makers and young people. Youth unemployment has been an escalating problem in the UK since 2005, with the most recent rises directly attributable to health issues or other responsibilities such as education or caring
In the last 4 years, youth employment has become more complex than ever, with the impact of the pandemic, disruption to education and rising cost of living
Being unemployed while young is linked to long-term reductions in wages and increased chances of subsequent periods of unemployment, also known as long-term scarring
High levels of youth unemployment and economic inactivity have long-term economic and social costs. Learning and Work Institute calculations estimate the economic and fiscal cost of high youth unemployment will be £31 billion from 2021-2025.
In the Youth Voice Census 2023, young people stated their biggest barriers to employment are lack of work experience and skills, and mental health and anxiety.

         - Youth unemployment UK


The full article is here: YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE UK

The dismal social landscape in the UK - disaffected youth, truancy in schools, education and health cutbacks, youth crime, underage pregnancies, development of a never-working class coupled with renewed class differences largely driven by the economic divide has, to me, made UK an ugly place to visit let alone to live there.

We may be on the same path here in New Zealand.
 

Unemployment is forecast to increase. The Government, however, has a goal to shift a significant number of people off the Jobseeker Support benefit. This demonstrates a conflict of expectations and reality. How do you shift 50,000 people into employment while unemployment is simultaneously expected to increase?

        - berl July 10th 2024

Here's the article in full if you wish to read it.

UNEMPLOYMENT TARGETS A DIFFICULT CHALLENGE TO MEET

The key take-out of the article is here:

New Zealand has an enviable labour force participation rate, well ahead of countries such as the USA. If New Zealand is to achieve its new Jobseeker Support target, we should also be clear that getting there should be delivered by increased employment rather than simply moving people onto other forms of ‘non-employment’ benefit. In Britain, researchers have long documented the increased use of sickness benefits as a means of reducing unemployment registers. Evidence from Australia suggests that more people were on zero-hours jobs than on an unemployment benefit, despite having no guarantee of any work.

Getting there will require a range of interventions that both support people at work and help retrain them for new roles. International research regards active labour market programmes as essential to delivering sustainable reductions in unemployment, particularly for those groups who might otherwise face discrimination in the labour market. Support for retraining should also help tackle New Zealand’s long-held issues with labour productivity.

The May 2024 Budget did not include any new resources for those who may soon find themselves on Jobseeker Support. While the Government has signalled a desire to take a “social investment approach” to welfare, it has also indicated that it will use more sanctions in the future to incentivise those on welfare to look for work. However, the evidence of the effectiveness of benefit sactions is very mixed. This is an area of work in which much more targeted support, with higher levels of resources, will be required.

Because these are long-term issues that will impact everyone disastrously if not properly addressed, it is too important to be left to and driven by partisan governments. A non-partisan whole House approach is necessary if we want to continue with "an enviable labour force participation rate" and not create a permanent 'never-working class'.

How to do this? I don't know and it seems that successive governments including the current poor one haven't got a clue either. Taking jobs away from people and putting them on benefits - no matter how positive the language is like 'Jobseeker Support' is not good for self esteem, physical and mental health and, of course productivity. We are going to have to face up to the fact that technology and AI-driven shortcuts are only going to get worse by getting better and that there will be much larger sections of the current workforce who will no longer have jobs. The challenge is to not allow this to be an entire class of people and to look for ways to dignify the situation - to not allow social stigma to undermine family structures and to maintain work ethic and social values.

This in no way is looking backwards to the work programmes of our yesterdays. Having people build stone fences and filling in potholes isn't the answer (although the country's infrastructure problems could do with some massive labour input). The 'unemployment' benefits will have to be a living wage and better that can be increased by effort and input. Continuing education programmes must be a condition of receiving the living wage and training in civic responsibility should be incorporated. We don't want people who have lost jobs to feel worthless and that they don't contribute. Just watch the TV series  Boys From The Blackstuff to see the perils in that. It's now a stage play in the UK. Hopefully we will see it in New Zealand soon but, more hopefully New Zealand can create a situation where it has no relevance.

****************** 

After writing this post I recalled a post I'd written some years ago on the subject HERE

where I concluded:

"What's been missing is a recognition that all those people who've progressively been 'thrown on the scrap heap' aren't useless. They aren't misfits, drongoes, underachievers and failures - it's just happened. OK? We've already wasted centuries on mishandling this situation (and I've wasted at least a minute trying to keep the readers' reader's attention). Our government and every government by reining in corporates and industries, needs to embrace the problem. Sure, the old adage said work gave dignity. But, if there is no work, what then? We need to 'get over ourselves' and admit (at last) that there is a big change in the way we are currently living. If we want people to behave in a dignified way (assuming that's being crime-less, ethical, moral - not necessarily religious and helping each other) then there has to be one hell of a big change of view and policy. We need to make people feel valuable, that they are an integral part of society and can contribute - not to feel that they are wasters, bludgers and losers."

CASTLE HOWARD REVISITED

Mentioning Evelyn Waugh in the previous post reminded me of our visit to Castle Howard in Yorkshire a few years ago.

This was the setting for the television series and later film of Waugh's Brideshead Revisited which, if you've never read the novel or seen the dramatisations, I recommend that you do.

Ancestral wealth is odious given that the accumulation is based on various forms of theft, subjugation, colonisation, slavery and oppression but ... like my appreciation of the architecture in Christianity, the remaining iconic buildings are stunning and long may they be preserved.

Here's a link to an older post of mine:

CASTLE HOWARD

DECLINE AND FALL

 No, not this excellent TV series on Evelyn Warre's novel...

... although the themes of cultural confusion, moral disorientation and social bedlam might well apply to the subject of this post - Richard (of RBB).

I've been watching, with some concern, the old guy's confusion, disorientation and bedlam and it seems that since attaining the ripe old age of 72 he's just getting worse.

His posting is slipping, like him into his dotage, to pithy reminiscences and daily activities like trying to find things like his socks, underpants and rosin wax. He'd be better off trying to find his wits and his marbles but I suspect that they've rolled out of reach.

An example of his confusion can be seen in his latest post:

SEPTEMBER?

You'll see, if you read it, that he's now confusing the months of the year having moved on from forgetting what day it is. He thinks that August is September! Not long from now he'll get his years mixed up and even his millennia. It's sad really.

WHAT'S COOKING?

 

Remember them?

I made another batch of chilli jam today. Yummy!

I used the red chillies I've got in the freezer. I've found that chillies, picked fresh and blanched in hot water can keep for a long time frozen. I've got lots of red ones and green ones of different shapes, sizes and spiciness.

I use these for curries, stir-fry dishes, eggs rancheros and of course con-carne chilli. I'm always staggered by the cost of them in the supermarkets where a single chilli can cost at least a couple of dollars.

JUDGING A BOOK BY ITS COVER

 Regular readers will know that I took a trailer load of rubbish to the tip yesterday.

In fact, two of the readers were so impressed they posted favourable comments on the post that I wrote about it:

Not so impressed though was a shop assistant in the Harvey Norman shop who attempted to ignore me when I called in after doing the tip run. In the large and confusingly laid out shop I looked about for Apple products, particularly iPhones. The guy saw me but pretended not to as I was wearing my tatty 'going to the tip' clothes and, admittedly, might have been a bit grubby. I saw him and approached and asked where the iPhones were. He vaguely indicated 'over there' and walked away.

I went to look at the phones but saw that they only had the iPhone 15 at a ridiculously high price, I'm looking for an iPhone 14 at a ridiculously low price so wasn't interested.

Anyway, even if they did have what I wanted I decided that there was no way I was giving them my money given the 'judging a book by the cover' attitude the guy displayed. I left the store.

I do want to buy a new phone as my iPhone 8 is giving some battery problems and, being small, is hard to use for anything beyond telephoning and texting. The iPhone 15 though doesn't offer me, with my low usage requirements, enough improvements over the iPhone 14 to justify the significantly extra cost.

After buying a few items at the supermarket on the way home (they willingly took my money) I called in to the nearby Noel Leeming store. A very helpful assistant (I always enjoy great service at this store) led me through the iPhone offerings (a greater range than the other store had) pointing out the differences between the various iPhone 14 models and the iPhone 15 ones. She explained the GB ratings and what they meant in relation to usage. She accessed my phone which showed a 256GB capability but that I still had 237GB available showing that I don't use it a lot. This meant that I certainly didn't need the higher rating phones and could even make do with a lesser rated one. She told me that iPhone 16 would be released soon and that then the iPhone 15 would be reduced in price making it a good deal and to be recommended. I thanked her and said I'd talk to the boss - my boss The Old Girl.

I will consider the iPhone 15 now and will keep an eye on the prices.

I've looked a lot at on-line offerings for new and refurbished phones but, as I've been gypped before (Dick Smiths for the current phone I have) I'm wary of these. Every time I find an attractive offer from a purportedly NZ supplier I do a background check via Google and discover that they are either not a NZ company and goods will come from overseas or that there are too many bad reviews about them. I think that I'll stick with the official Apple store or with Noel Leeming and buy new with manufacturer guarantees.

A WATCHING BRIEF OR, WATCHING BRIEFS

 

"RBB was a remote viewer. He had been doing it since reading Rob's blog. It just came to him. He didn't know how or why."

         -  Rob August 27 2024

Should we be concerned?

Is this an example of the old guy reverting to his primary school days when he was on the lookout for girls' knickers?

Was Robert not the only one spying on Mrs O'Sullivan back at Garden Road?

"It's OK TC, I've got my eye on him" - The Holy Seagull

BUGGERED

 I took advantage of the beautiful weather today and did some 'chores' that I've been putting off.

First off I took a very full trailer load to the tip.

Not this untidy but you get the idea

It was hard work unloading as the garden rubbish of flax, palm fronds, branches and debris had matted together with the rains of the last month.

After lunch I mowed the lawn and did a general tidy up to pathways, the driveway and the front garden.

I'm now buggered.

Oh well, it'll get the Wainiuiomartians off my back.

 

THERE YOU GO ...

 I know that you readers have been waiting to hear about the progress of my woodshed conversion to toolshed - after all, what's the alternative on the blogs?

Today I finished clearing out the firewood scraps and debris and have made room for the garden tools. I can even get the wheelbarrow in there now.

Well, I'm happy.

I've loaded up the trailer and next week will take the rubbish to the tip (Re-Sort recycling station).

I'd go tomorrow but, it being a Sunday there will be no end of home-gardener guys trying to reverse their trailers up to the edge of the tipping pit. It'll be a nightmare.

I'll go when it's quieter. I'm OK with reversing a trailer but, like peeing at a urinal or teeing off at golf I prefer to do it without too many people about.

NOT PRODIGIOUS, JUST PRODIGAL BUT IT'S ABOUT TIME HE RETURNED

 

"And stay there Richard until you get over your obsession with grammatical errors"

Now that Robert has retired from blogging, Richard is complaining about my grammatical errors and reads through my posts extra carefully looking for spelling mistakes.

I guess it's been ingrained in him as he's been a teacher since Christ was a cowboy but I do wish that, while trawling for those errors he actually read through the posts and understood the messages. He's done this before you know but Robert was way worse. I guess that he feels the need to fill in for Robert and is doubling up on his pedantry.

An occasional reminder is acceptable but not on every bloody post. Sheesh!

It's hard to believe I know but I wish that Robert would start up his blog again.

I'm sure that Richard and me are not the only ones.

TURNING THE BLOGS OVER

 

 

... said Richard of Richard's Bass Bag in defence of the posts he's been writing.

His output has increased since Robert gave up blogging although it steams a bit.

To be fair to the now very old guy though, substituting for Robert's posts doesn't require a lot of Charles Lamb-like essay skills. In fact, like the image above other lamb output is probably appropriate.

English essayist Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834)

I did a bit of turning over today - out in the garden. I dug over the vegetable patch in early preparation for spring planting. I haven't decided what to plant yet. Most of my efforts are disastrous with the only successful things grown have been chillies. Several kinds grew very well but those from last season's crop were so numerous I cleaned, bagged and froze them. I've now got enough in the freezer for a couple of years so I don't think I'll plant any more. I'm planning to use up some to make some more preserved chilli jam but this'll hardly make a dent in the stock.

I use Ruth Pretty's recipe which is pretty good

I also made a start on cleaning out the woodshed in preparation for storing all the garden tools. I might have mentioned this previously.

I did a load of washing which is happily sitting on the washing line and I'll bring it in later.

I then did my duty as a coastal home-owner, raking up fallen flax, palm fronds and the usual debris from bushes and trees and putting in the trailer for carting away next week. This is a never-ending job kind of like Richard's Project Violin 100 and you can imagine the similarities.

In short (actually I just put my longs on) this is why I haven't blogged so far today as Richard the nagging pedantic inconsistent and likely incontinent ex-schoolteacher (well, he is filling in for Robert so needs a longer title) reminded me in those posts of his. Hopefully this constitutes as a post and will keep him quiet for a while.

If he is going to do some more fill-in posting for Robert though, he might want to consider adding in some more execrable recounts of visions by the lesser known saints - the nuttier the better. These 'saints' tend to be sexually frustrated cloistered nuns or schizophrenic hermetic monks who have thought that they've seen Jesus, god or the Virgin Mary while - well, doing whatever they were doing. I don't know where Robert got them from. Maybe he has a big book of  case studies from his days of studying psychology. I guess Richard can just borrow from his university day reminiscences.

'

'

'

ABOUT FACE

 Robert's blog is soon to go again.

I know, I know, this is a fairly regular occurrence with him but this time he say's that he's had it with blogging and is off to Facebook instead.

This blog has been corrupted. Whether it's Google or me I'm not sure. I'm sick of it.

All future posts will be here on my Facebook page.

        - Robert 22 August 2024 

I wonder what Google Blogger can do to attract him back?

That might work but, being a Christian and, even worse, a Catholic, Robert can be a bit stubborn.

Google should be aware through Robert's previous blogging that he has a 'thing' for the Virgin Mary. Maybe they should send him some spicier images to entice him back.

"I love you Robert"

I guess that it's appropriate here to insert an older comment of Robert's relating to a previous post on my blog:

... speaking satanic, this cartoon is apt:

THE POWER OF ... MANY

 My god!

Well, my personal one, not Robert's, I just watched Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Conference and ... I was gobsmacked. Wow! If you haven't seen it yet you owe it to yourself to watch it here:

This will go down in history as among the greatest of American speeches.

As you know, I'm a great supporter of Kamala Harris and picked her years ago as being the best prospect for POTUS (President of USA) but to be honest that was because she was my second choice to Michelle Obama who had declared that she would never run for the position. With her speech she would be a shoo-in.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the way things are working out. Kamala, with the Obama's support and with her particular ethnic background (African American by way of Jamaica and Indian) will bring in many, many millions of votes. These votes may well be largely 'new' votes given that the demographics largely didn't bother voting in the past seeing it as a 'white man's game'. She will also bring in many swing voters, particularly if that fool Robert F. Kennedy Junior drops out.

There's quite a groundswell in USA that is nudging the very strong Republican base. It's also giving confidence to the rest of the world, something that is much needed in our troubled times. Another Trump presidency was looking like a distinct prospect a few months ago. This would have the effect of enabling and emboldening dictators like Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un and others. With luck this will not happen now.

Oh, in case you also missed it, Barack Obama's follow-on speech after Michelle's is a doozy as well.

GETTING ON*

 * No. this isn't about that excellent British comedy featuring Jo Brand about a nurse in a geriatric ward. See a previous post where I mentioned this:

GETTING ON

The British can do pathos amazingly well unlike the Americans who have to broad-brush everything because the consumer panels that they use to trial programmes, before they go to air, are populated by dullards and fuck-wits ... who actually statistically represent the average US TV viewer. These dullards and fuck-wits manage to screen out (see what I did there?) anything that is in the slightest way cerebral. TV series like Getting On and Afterlife would never get through.

This post is about ageing because two of the leading readers** of this blog have, over the last two days had birthdays and become even older.

There's nothing wrong with becoming older. The latest NZ Listener where the excellent Chris Slane cartoon so appropriately underscored the articles on ageing and the ways that we can stave off the cognitive and physical deterioration that comes with it. It is suggested that we must work at it through diet, exercise, moderation in regard to the dangerous things we imbibe and ingest and of course anything that keeps or minds working.

Obvious?

Yes but, as I just said .... remember? It was just two sentences above - "we must work at it". This, in the context of social media and blogging is to make an effort to write well constructed, relevant and interesting posts. If for any reason to do with health, tiredness, ennui or outright laziness this is beyond you -

“You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!”

 - Baudelaire/Eliot

- then well considered and clever comments will suffice. 

Not this:

I'll have to leave it there. Time is getting on and I have a Thai green curry chicken to cook for my dinner.

** As much as I hate to admit it there are only two regular readers and contributors to this blog so I cannot afford to alienate them even if 'leading readers' is a bit of a stretch.  'Bleeding needies' would actually be more appropriate.

ONCE IN A ...

 I was looking at the blue moon last night. It's a rare event as the name suggests and it was magnificent.

Of course the camera photos are inadequate. The video I took of the moon rising behind the peaks of Mount Manaia is better but the file is too large to post here. I've trimmed it a lot though:

The background noise is the water lapping at the shore.

This got me thinking of other phenomena. The most current one is that the two other old bloggers almost share the same birthday, with Richard turning 72 on Tuesday and Robert 69 today. I hope that they have had a good time without overdoing things.

Uncle Keith

DON'T TAKE OFFENCE ...

 ... but now we have a fence.

Yes, the fence was completed while I was away. I'm very pleased with it.

The next step is to identify and buy the right trees and shrubs to plant alongside it.

I'M BACK*

 * The more observant reader will notice that I've spelled 'back' correctly unlike that old, and I mean old, and inconsistent grammar Nazi from down south.

Not this woman

Everything is generally good around the house:

• No deck furniture blew over in the storms.
• No obvious leaks under the house.
• The rear fence has been completed. Posts (see what I did there?) to follow soon.
• The fridge wasn't working properly but turning it off and then on again after 5 minutes seems to have worked.

It not being my birthday today and tomorrow no-one has given me any presents and there won't be a cream covered pavlova to gorge on.

I might buy myself a treat though when I go shopping today.

Well, that's all really. I'll photograph the new fence for you and post on it later in the day. That'll give you something to look forward to.

I'M AN IDIOT

I'm an idiot. No, don't contradict me - I'm an idiot when it comes to booking and paying for things on-line.

Not for the first time I've bought something on-line thinking that I'm paying in New Zealand dollars and in reality it was in US dollars. Sheesh!

On Friday I looked on-line for something that The Old Girl and I could do on Saturday. A wine tour to Waipara not far from where we are staying in Christchurch came up as an option and, it being a NZ location serviced by a NZ operator I booked and paid for the two of us. All good.

It was pricey though- $196 for the two of us but, as lunch was included and a tasting visit to three wineries I thought "Why not".

As it turned  out the trip was good even if some of the wines were indifferent and we and a good look around Waipara. The coach driver was well informed and entertaining so this morning I thought I'd post a positive comment on their website. When I trawled through the emails for a 'review' link I discovered that I'd booked via Trip Adviser and that the payment was in US dollars not NZ dollars. This means that the $196 I spent thinking it to be expensive turns out to be $323 based on an exchange rate of 1.65!

I'm pissed off.

Sure, I know, I should have known better and checked before paying but I was in a rush. I was also, I thought, searching a New Zealand site selling a New Zealand service. As these c ... bastards have algorithms and calculators in their website why the hell can't they clearly show a conversion to NZ dollars? Pricks!

I'm going to be more careful in future ... sort of.

NEW BRIGHTON TODAY

 The long pier is the main feature here.

For Robert, who doesn't quite grasp the concept of a beach here are some pics that don't just show a lump of concrete and a cross.

It's quite impressive with the long and wide beach with surf coming in and the very long pier that goes out into deep water where fishermen use rods and dangle craypots to catch a lot of different seafood.

I went for a long walk along the beach and the spit before heading home. Along the southern end of the spit I was much closer to where we are staying in Mount Pleasant but there was no way of walking there so I had to take a long journey back by bus.