GETTING THERE

 I know that you want an update on the path building - even that old knocker from Wherethehellareweoata. He's been making silly and scathing comments about my path building calling it the path to nowhere or something.

Well - here's where we are at present.

All the paving stones are in place and the surrounds filled in with the old lime chips. I just have to do a bit of levelling and tidying up before adding new lime chips.

Hey! I'll take some photos when that happens and post them for you.

That's it for today. We've been busy sorting and packing and, of course, I did some path work. The cricket is going well.

HERE WE ARE NOW - ENTERTAIN US

OK, I know that I've written about this before, see: 

HA HA YOU'RE DEAD

... and:

CALL ME AN OLD FUDDY DUDDY BUT ...

... but trivialising murder just isn't funny to me.

I have been watching, and am not sure if I'll continue to the finish, the Netflix series BLACK DOVES.

"Black Doves is a British spy thriller television series created by Joe Barton. The series, starring Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire, is developed by Sister and Noisy Bear for Netflix. Ahead of its premiere on 5 December 2024, it was renewed for a second series."

There's some pretty good acting in this, especially from Ben Wishaw and the production is slick and accomplished but ... as often is the case nowadays the plot is a bit silly and the narrative has huge gaps in it. I guess this doesn't worry younger viewers who are unlikely to have read classic literature or watched high quality TV drama series and films and who are addicted to social media 'sound bites'. Often there is an unwillingness to show realism when it comes to violence and murder. Whether this has a connection to the silly fantasy films and plethora of vampire, zombie and super-hero entertainment over the last couple of decades - I don't know. It is becoming the norm though for murder to be shown as funny. In Black Doves the protagonists are flippant when it comes to killing people and there are a couple of 'Killing Eve'-type female assassins who make bad jokes when shooting, strangling or stabbing people. To me, this just isn't good enough.

I just finished watching The Day of The Jackal series on TVOne with Eddie Redmayne

"The Day of the Jackal is a British television series, based on the Frederick Forsyth novel of the same name. It stars Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch. It is written and created by Ronan Bennett, produced by Christopher Hall and directed by Brian Kirk, Anthony Philipson, Paul Wilmshurst and Anu Menon. The first season began airing in November 2024. That same month, it was renewed for a second season. The Day of the Jackal received positive reviews from critics and received two Golden Globe Awardnominations, Best Television Series - Drama and Best Actor for Redmayne."

 This is classy stuff with outstanding acting from Redmayne (although Lashana Lynch doesn't add anything at all). The plot is a bit stretched and has no connection with the original story by Frederick Forsyth and the subsequent film but it is crisply directed and filmed in stunning locations. In some ways it reminded me of the good films and TV series based on the John Le Carre novels. In this series the protagonist is a contract killer, an assassin with no conscience and he murders a lot of people. In no way does he or any of the other characters think that this is fun and the killings are not trivialised. They are brutal and evil. The series is all the better for this.

We are living in fast-changing times and I fear that basic human values are slipping and are being replaced by expediency and entertainment.

As a counterpoint I also just finished watching a National Geographic documentary on Disney. It was

9/11: One Day in America and was done very well in a far superior way than many of the trite American documentaries that are churned out. The interviews and commentary were poignantly and sensitively  handled with the result that a strong sense of humanity came from the senseless violence and 3000 lives lost. Does it take real catastrophes to make us think? Sadly I think it does.

WORK IN PROGRESS

 I know that you're wondering what I've been up to. 

I have mentioned that I've been digging and paving but didn't go into sufficient detail for my news-hungry readers. I'm sorry about that and that you've had to satisfy your cravings by reading about Robert's garden pool extension. Never mind - here's an update on my excavations.

I laid a path with concrete pavers and lime-stone chips after digging out a channel below the deck about couple of years ago. See: HERE

I've now decided that the path is too low and, after the landscaper terraced the front garden, I built up the edges of this path with some left over wooden edging posts.

I lifted the concrete paver, scraped away the lime-stone chips and have been filling in with more earth to an extra depth of about 15 to 20 centimetres. I then cover with more weed mat and put the pavers down as you can see in the photos (3/4 done). I'll let these settle and weather in before adjusting the levels and orientation later.

I'm doing this because, although the deck has been compliant with regulations (minimum of 1.5 metres from the ground) I wanted the height to be even lower to the ground so as to be well within regulation. I've closed the gaps between pavers as well, having bought three extra ones and 3 more bags of lime-stone chips which I'll spread liberally.

It doesn't look like much but there's a lot of work to do here digging up about 3 cubic metres of dirt (about 16 tons) from below the deck and raising the level of the path. The concrete pavers are bloody heavy and manhandling them (The Old Girl didn't qualify for this job) into position has again munted my back. The rain yesterday and today has allowed me to take a breather but I'd like to get it finished by the end of the weekend.

I'll take some more photos then for you to drool over.

No need to thank me.

"DO THE BULLETS GO IN THIS END DAD?"

I note that Richard, who has been experimenting with humour has now given cartooning a try. 

The drawing reminds me a bit of the old Victoria University's monthly comic 'Craccum' in its naivety but does show promise. Obviously he's given up on the humour thing as the narrative shows and on-line designers need have no fear that he will oust them out of a job in photo-editing.

I do think however that it's best not to fiddle about with things you don't understand. Best to leave that to the big boys eh.

"Don't touch that son. Best to leave that to the big boys eh."

SNAKES

 Ha ha, my eyesight must be worse than I thought. I thought I was writing a post on this blog but used the Religious History Curmudgeon’s blog instead. See here:https://thereligiouscurmudgeon.blogspot.com

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 

'JESUS CHRIST' WILL SOON BE 1700 YEARS OLD

"ROLLIN' ON A RIVER ..."

 At Christmastime we get a lot of new craft anchoring in the bay. They range from pokey little yachts and motorboats to grand catamarans and luxury motorised yachts. It's always interesting to see them and generally the people onboard are well behaved. It's the idiot 'sales managers' who tow their speedboats and jet skis behind their company cars who create the problems.

Today a houseboat chugged into the bay and dropped anchor.

It's quite nice looking and, while not being much of a sailor, this is the sort of craft I'd like to be on.

I've stayed on houseboats in the Murray River in South Australia when I was in the wine industry. It's quite relaxing and a hark to the past. 'Sailing' in comfort while enjoying a nice glass of wine is my sort of travel.

NO LONGER THE POOL ROOM

 

GOING

GOING

GONE

The snooker table removal guys came today and dismantled and removed the snooker table for the new owner.

One of the guys. the owner of the business, remembered delivering and assembling the table for us nearly 15 years ago. He commented that the table was in good condition and still 'played' true.

We now have an empty 'front' room at the back of the house*.

After 15 years the legs of the heavy table made deep impressions (depressions really) in the carpet which looked like crop circles,

This afternoon I vacuumed the carpet and used my crafty trick to get rid of the depressions. I primp the depressed (compressed really) area with a fork, gently probing and turning the tines to release the pile before pressing a hot iron down on a wet cloth over the carpet for a few seconds. The resulting steam plumps up the pile which will, over a few days go back to normal

Much improved

The room, while looking great as a snooker room will, with new lighting and minimalist furniture look quite grand and will help with the sale.

Another task ticked off.

* Our house is a back- to-front villa. Villa's normally have kitchens at the back and front rooms - well, in the front but when this one was relocated a few decades ago the owners wanted a view from the kitchen over the bay.

AI IMAGING: YOU CAN GO BACK BUT WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO?

 There's a tsunami of AI imaging on the information networks now with photos, videos, gifs, reels and others, all showing idealised people scenes and scenarios.

At first this was novel but now it is becoming the norm.

But then, for the Luddites amongst us there are still the old 'analogue' images like this:

I know which I prefer.

YEP - I SEE THE RESEMBLANCE

Richard created an image of me or what he thought I might look like if I had his body. As if!

RICHARD's POST

I think that this is a better fit for me:

 

Can you see the resemblance?

Here's the whole thing:

 

This is what The Old Girl sees when I get undressed for bed - the lucky woman.

"ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS DOESN'T REALLY MATTER TO ME"

 

In 1974 I still lived at home. I was 21 and turned 22 in August  a mere 12 days before Richard. Robert was lagging behind by a couple of years. They both lived at home too. Our poor parents - becoming poorer I guess with having to keep us in food, clothing and other things.

It was my fourth year at university and I was shifting and changing direction in my studies, choosing to fail a new discipline each year although I did later excel at history, art history, and education (the theory). I should have made a go of these and got a degree although it doesn't really matter now.

Richard sailed through his Music degree and, in 1974 was adding Honours to his B.A. Well done that man - not being in 3P didn't cripple him completely.

That's all really. I just liked the cartoon that I found on Neighbourly. Carry on.

BACK THE TRUCK UP*

* Not something that Robert said to me back in the 1970s.

In explanation, at Murray Roberts the Wellington Wine and Spirit Merchant, when I decided to seek promotion from shop assistant to the lofty position as a delivery driver I was put under the tutelage of Robert, at the time the senior part-time truck driver.  Richard, Robert's older and wiser brother had moved on and Robert the - well, you can work it out - stepped into Richard's shoes (boots really, and usually unlaced). I don't know why but he was trusted and this was years before anyone suspected that he was a Christian. Robert had a HT licence which in those days marked him as one of the cognoscenti. They didn't need Masonic handshakes or weird Illuminati rituals those truck drivers, they just needed a HT licence and, of course, plaid shirts, jeans, boots (unlaced) and a decent smattering of body odour.

As Robert's pupil I had to sit in the passenger seat of the 'big truck', watch what he was doing and endure his endless monologue on safe driving techniques, best gear changing practices and secure loading. Yes, yes, yes but I wanted to drive. Badly. And I did - later - drive badly. Robert was appalled at some of my antics when he, begrudgingly, let me get behind the wheel of the big truck (not the smaller Bedford). See: ROBERT . He would allow me, under supervision to drive forwards but would never condone me reversing the vehicle.

Anyway, what this post is about is that we have a hiccup in our house sale plans. It looks like we will have to have the overhead power line removed and underground power line installed. I don't know how long this will take but I'm not holding my breath. I told The Old Girl to forget about listing the house before Christmas as it might be a couple of months before we get the job done. I started the process with phone calls to our electricity provider GreyPower, the lines provider Northpower and an electrician but can already see that we are going in circles with the looming form-filling and consent process let alone factoring in a time for a work crew to dig channels etc. The neighbours who recently put in a concrete driveway which is in the way won't be best pleased either. Hey ho.