(Z)OODLES OF SOCIAL HISTORY

This morning I left with The Old Girl but in Cuba Street when she turned right to walk to work I turned left and walked through Te Aro, Mount Cook, Vogeltown, Berhampore, Newtown and home. It was a fairly substantial walk with a few steep hills thrown in so I was tired when I arrived home.

On the way I spied a few things that are social history and that could become part of a The Curmudgeon's Tours itinerary in the future.

Do you recognise this house in Mount Cook? It was the scene of quite a few social gatherings in the 1970s.

In Finnimore Terrrace, Vogeltown I discovered where one of Richard's blogging identities lives.

Liardet Street Vogeltown was where I grew up.

In Berhampore I rediscovered the house that Shelley's elderly relatives almost bought back in the 1960s.

All up it was a walk of about 12kms - a bit more than I intended and I managed to hurt my broken toe again when I took a tumble down a bank at Berhampore golf course. On the positive side though I found two golf balls! I've left these on the kitchen bench as an offering to The Old Girl but I suspect that this will be as wanted as a dead mouse that a cat brings into the house for its owner.

in Tory Street I called in to Moore Wilson's to pick up some supplies for dinner - I'm making prawn zoodles and spaghetti with chilli and lemon. Yummy. You might be wondering what a zoodle is though and, before I read the recipe I'd never heard of them either. Zoodles are long, thin strips of zucchini that resemble pasta or noodles.

Unfortunately Moore Wilson's didn't have any despite that fact that its website advertises packs of them so I bought a couple of zucchini instead which I will peel in to narrow strips. I bought some nice prawns though. The dish will go well with a glass of Villa Maria Hawkes Bay reserve chardonnay.

THE DISAPPEARING GOON

 Not this: THE DISAPPEARING SPOON

Robert the discontented bobsled (or something) - a member of this blogging community is a bit like someone's elderly and demented relative who wanders away from time to time. Just when you think he's fallen down a hole or been eaten by feral cats he turns up again, a bit worse for wear but essentially the same - that is: addled, confused and ever so more Christian which I guess is the same thing.

Robert keeps deleting or parking his blog with posts disappearing from time to time - sometimes temporarily and often - forever.

Robert seems to think this is funny but, to the many, a few some of the readers, this is very annoying. I mean, why bother crafting a clever and witty riposte in the comments section, or something that Richard might write if it's not going to be left for posterity for future bloggers to read?

When I revisit an old post of mine to copy the link if relevant into a new post, I look at the comments made at the time of the earlier post. If Robert has previously commented, when he deletes his blog his comments disappear as well. Often his comments are so bizarre, racist, sexist, anti LGBQTist or disturbingly religious that Richard and I comment back to him. When his initiating comments go up in a puff of smoke then our responses stand out in isolation like a ship in a dried up sea.

Sheesh!

OK, YEAH, I'LL PROBABLY JOIN THEM

Yes, I did go for a walk this morning - thanks for asking.

I walked with The Old Girl along the wharves to her place of work and continued on along Waterloo Quay and then Thorndon Quay and back to Cuba Street - 8kms. I was checking out a place to cross the railway lines from Thorndon and found steps that go up to the pedestrian area and walkway that connects the 'Cake Tin' with the railway station. This will enable me to walk from Hobson Street, along the wharves to Oriental Bay and from there to Evans Bay - a pleasant walk I plan to do frequently.

On our walk we both complained about and remonstrated with, dickheads who rode their bikes and scooters way too fast in between the pedestrians. What's wrong with these fuckers? Why don't Wellingtonians complain and lobby the council?

When walking along Thorndon Quay I spied and entered an E-bike shop and talked to the owner about suitable bikes. After complaining about the cyclists, The Old Girl and I discussed the possibility of buying bikes once we get settled in the new place. The guy was very helpful and suggested some ideal bikes for us:

We might do this as I noted the safe bike lanes on Thorndon Quay and the very sensible separation of  lanes for cyclists and lanes for pedestrians on the Oriental Bay and Evans Bay footpath.

We would be careful and considerate when riding among pedestrians on the wharf though. Honest!

"THERE IS NO FUTURE IN ENGLAND DREAMING ... GOD SAVE YOUR MAD PARADE"

 I went for a walk along Oriental Bay Parade to Evans Bay today (8kms). It's a nice walk on the flat and will be my 'go to' walk twice a week in the future (a bit further from Hobson Street). I'll get the bus back from Evans Bay or Kilbirnie.

As I said, it's a nice walk but not in a southerly wind. Brrr! I'll have to check the weather forecast before leaving - particularly the wind direction. To make things worse, halfway along the Evans Bay side it started to rain so I got soaked by Wellington's finest - ice cold rain blown in from Cook Strait.

Along Oriental Bay Parade I spied a house where a group of us from Victoria Universitygathered one afternoon to have some beers and to irreverently 'welcome'  Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips, and Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. Queenie attended the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch and the then New Zealand Day events at Waitangi. This was in February 1974. We gathered on the balcony of this house ...

... to watch the royal prats slowly go past along Oriental Parade. Fortunately none of us threw anything more solid than a few catcalls and raspberries so we were not - 'detained at Her Majesty's pleasure'.

I don't remember, and probably didn't know then whose house it was - probably a student flat.

I TOLD YOU IT WAS A GOOD IDEA

 

You actually read it here years ago when I wrote a Curmudgeonly Inventor post about this idea.

Unfortunately I can't find the post - maybe the nifty Nipponese deleted it when they stole my idea.

It was similar to my instant cooling idea, see: HERE

You see, it pays to read my posts.

BAD ROBOT ...

 BAD ROBOT MUMMY MAD

I admit that it's clever and the technological advances in robotics and Ai are interesting but, like most technological advances things rapidly get dumbed down.

I'm already sick of the Ai imaging and artificially created videos that are polluting the internet and it's getting so you have to check the credibility of anything written or screened now to ascertain its origins.

I started to watch a new Netflix series last night. This is a Western tiled The Abandons. As it has a good cast and directorial 'chops' I decided to give it a go. This 'go' lasted all of 5 minutes because most of the filming was Ai generated pap. Sheesh! It was worse than reading one of Robert's posts.

HANDEL'S MESSIAH TWO

No, Handel didn't create two Messiahs. 

We're going to the 2025 performance on Saturday night at The Michael Fowler Centre.

When talking it over with The Old Girl the other day and her asking when we last saw this performance I said that I thought it was last year.

Fuck! It was actually 2020 - 5 years ago. See: HANDEL'S MESSIAH

 Time flies - or it certainly seems to at my age.

"CAREFUL NOW"

 

Let me see if I got this right:
Robert is on the left, TC is on the top right and Richard is at the bottom.

The bloggers no doubt are all preparing for Christmas. There was quite a bit of sinning throughout the year but according to Robert a quick wash up of the souls will make everything OK.

Fortunately I've bought a house in the cathedral area of Wellington with St Paul's Anglican cathedral just around the corner and Sacred Heart Catholic cathedral a couple of streets away. It's like having  neighbourhood laundromats or carwashes where I can get a scrub up or two before the big day on the 25th.

St Paul's

Sacred Heart

Robert said in his blogs, that are a bit like the disappearing spoon, that he has scrubbed up his soul already, not that it was very dirty - just a smudge here or two.

I'm not sure how Richard will fare in the old scrubbing up exercise as I don't think he knows where a church is. Maybe he could use one of these:

Remember to keep away from sinning after the soul wash or, if you couldn't help yourself, to turn your soul inside out so the churchy people won't notice. They're not very bright after all.

HOBSON'S CHOICE ...

 ... but in this case a good one.

This morning after walking with The Old Girl to her place of work I continued on from Lambton Quay to Hobson Street. I wanted to check out what the walk is going to be like for her on a daily basis from home to work. I also wanted to explore the Thorndon area and check out the side streets.

I was very pleased with the walk - not too steep and quite quiet traffic-wise other than Murphy Street which feeds off the motorway. The Parliament grounds are nice - quite serene really and I can see myself spending time there in the future. It's interesting to see, by the flags on display, which visitors are there. There is always activity as well. The security guys were putting up traffic control barriers for some arrival. A protestor chap came along and set up a double sided sign protesting GMO and the proposed Gene Technology Bill. One of the security guys came over to him and they had a long discussion that ended with them shaking hands and the protester packing up his signage and going away. From where I was sitting it looked quite convivial - something not to be seen in American politics.

I'm going to enjoy watching the events and look forward to going to the public galleries of the debating chamber when the House is sitting. From there you can watch the MPs answering questions, debating the issues of the day, and voting on legislation. It's better than Robert's Mass any day.

Yesterday we signed up for Thorndon Medical Centre which I discovered is just around the corner from where we are going to live. I was surprised at how easy it was to enrol as I thought that there was a squeeze on GP registration at the moment. I was also surprised at how quickly we were able to get appointments having been used to month-long waits in Whangarei.

The streets are tidy and well maintained as you would expect with the embassies in the area, top-notch schools, Cathedrals (Anglican and Catholic) and the fact that it is the Parliament-precinct.

I talked to a traffic warden about parking and learnt that Hobson Street has all residential parking which means that by having proof of residence and payment of an annual fee of $199 we will be able to park at any time of the day. I note that the current owners always seem to use the carpark right outside the townhouse and use the garage for storage. We will be able to do the same and, when victors come they can park in or right outside the garage and we will use the residential parking spots of which there seem to be plenty. It's a quiet street as well.

I believe that we have made the right choice.

YELL COUNTER

 The more observant reader will have noticed the addition of a new feature to the right of this blog. This is the Yell Counter.

Keep an eye on this as, depending on events, it will be updated daily.

This morning I walked with The Old Girl to her place of work (actually she made me do this) and back to get my daily walk kms in - 4km this morning. It's a beautiful day and we walked along the wharf walk to Customhouse Quay and Whitmore Street where her office is located.

This was before 8am and road and pedestrian traffic was light making for a very pleasant walk. All too often though our way was interrupted by some dickhead scooter and cycle riders who rode far too fast amongst the walkers. Why would they do this instead of riding on the road? Because they are c***s I guess. I had to three times yell at them to "slow the bloody fuck down there are people walking here" etc. but they ignored me.

This prompted me to create the yell counter. No need to thank me.

I'll head out again later and maybe take the ferry to Days Bay. Richard no doubt would call this Day's Bay and Robert, Daze Bay.

Chow!

1984? SHEESH, YOU HAD IT EASY BACK THEN!

I applied on-line today to Thorndon Medical Centre for acceptance as a patient.

I tell you, patience is needed when filling out the forms. As a quasi-Luddite I find it difficult when, having started entering details on an on-line portal, there is a requirement for information like: vaccination history, health history, proof of ID, proof of address etc. that necessitates jumping to other websites. Sure, I know that tech-savvy people can jump from tab to tab dementedly like a fire walker or a Catholic trying to validate crazy catechism constructs but I invariably manage to close down the portal I was entering data into and have to go back and start again. Sheesh! 

I think that I managed it properly and certainly hope so as with my medical conditions I'm dependant on my drug prescriptions. As part of enrolling with a new medical practice, officially leaving a current provider is necessary. 

Now I've had bad experiences in the past in changing banks, telecommunication providers and electricity companies where some over-enthusiastic employee 'pulls the plug' too early. I certainly don't want a plug pulled early when my health is concerned.

I was going to then start the process for The Old Girl but after the lengthy struggle that I had entering my data I thought it best that I left it to her to do it herself.

PRONTO?

 I must practise my Italian.

Apart from reading the odd, very odd, post from Richard where he bangs on about pianos in Italian, I haven't had occasion to use the little Italian I studied years ago...

A little Italian

... other than when dining in Italian restaurants or reading the cooking instructions on pasta packets.

The Old Girl and I did an intensive course before a trip once but she's much better at speaking it than me.

I saw this yesterday:

We've decided to check this out either to go with the package trip or to make arrangements as free agents. There are plusses and minuses in both. The advantage of the package tour is that all bookings would be done by others who know what they are doing. There is less chance of errors or being ripped off in that. The downside is being part of a tour group and getting stuck with some real opera nuts or Christians or ... both!

The tour covers two operas at the Verona Festival and three operas at the Verdi Festival. 
Accommodation will be: Verona (4 nights), Venice (4 nights), Trieste (3 nights), Ravenna (3 nights), Tuscany (3 nights), Reggio Emilia (4 nights), Parma (4 nights). 
Place to visit with guided tours will be Verona, Venice, Vicenza, Mantua, Padua, Murano, Burano, Florence, Milan, Bologna, Trieste, Vinci, Lucca, Tuscan hills, Emilia-Romagna, Ravenna, San Marino, Modena, Cremona, Parma, and Slovenia including Lake Bled!

Robert will be relieved to know that fate won't be tempted by us visiting Catholic Churches or going to see Il Papa in The Vatican.

Of course September 2026 is a long way away but we have to start planning early for a trip like this.

As I said I will start practising my Italian language:

"Non voglio il salame nel caffè e voglio sapere dove sono i bagni della stazione ferroviaria. C'è un vecchio protestante che possiede una sala qui vicino? Quanti pianoforti possono muovere gli scimpanzé contemporaneamente?"

 

WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN

Having a carpark in a parking garage beneath the apartment block we are living in I'm reminded again how large modern cars are - unnecessarily so.

The allocated carpark spaces are invariably too narrow and short to cater to the behemoths that some people drive. The interesting thing is that the brands of a lot of these behemoths were once considered small or compact cars. Is this an American-influenced thing? I know from experience that many European countries produce smaller and more manoevarable vehicles - metro cars for city driving. I think that it's time that in New Zealand we considered doing the same.

In the wide open spaces where long distance driving is the norm like USA, Australia, Africa etc. big and powerful vehicles make sense. The same trying to get around narrow and windy Wellington streets and to fit in to car parks in buildings that were built when cars were smaller is just ridiculous. Most of these things never get out into the country and are more vanity purchases than essentials.

We have a small car - a 2016 Toyota Corolla which is bigger than the earlier models of Toyota Corollas. The 2025 version of this is way bigger again. Why? When we move in to our new house that has a double garage I can see us parking the car there and very rarely taking it out given that the supermarket and other shops are within easy to medium walks away which is of course one of the reasons for making our move. If we do buy another car in the future we will be checking out all the very small cars but, looking at options today as I walked past a couple of dealers the very small cars are becoming harder to find unless we buy an older model. Maybe one like Richards' Nissan Micropene is the way to go.

In the lawnmower shop next door to our apartment block I looked at motor scooters - electric ones and thought that, when it's time to retire the Corolla, a his and hers pair of motor scooters might be a good idea. What could go wrong?

Not these

Maybe these

CHRISTMAS LETTER

As the other old codgers wrote Christmas Letters I felt obliged to do the same.

Here it is ...

... "NOT" as Richard would say. Are you mad?

Here's some better things instead.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRVXc7OE6PP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

SHIT HAPPENS ...

 ... and generally we hope that it doesn't happen to us.

Friend Rod from up north sent me an email today in which he said:

Those people who bought your house still haven’t been seen. Yesterday there was a major sewage leak near the hall. Swimming banned until 10th December. Today on my walk watched all the rubbish from 3 sacks floating from the wharf towards your place. Going to ring Council. You got out exactly the right time. I have put a clip of the rubbish on Facebook.

I guess that I'm glad too that the sewage overflow didn't occur when we were there and I don't like the idea of the rubbish bags floating from the other direction.

The sewage plant is at the eastern end of the road by the hall that Rod mentioned and the wharf where the rubbish bags have come from is at the western end of the road. Our 'old' house is in the middle. 

I'm glad that the new owners haven't moved in yet and hope that the water quality is improved before they do.

As I said ... shit happens.

 

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

Now, The Religious Curmudgeon has been a bit quiet recently - maybe Kierkegaard has had something to do with that but tonight he has surfaced with a a timely reminder of how silly religion, and especially the Catholic version of Christianity is,,.

See Here: SHARING IS CARING

 

ICH BIN EIN WELLINGTONER

 Not this ...

... as I'm not a doughnut. 😉

I've been back in Wellington for a couple of weeks now and already find myself acting like a Wellingtonian. As I walk about everywhere, I find myself jaywalking, 'running' red lights (pedestrian ones) and dodging traffic - all the things that a couple of weeks ago I was complaining about. Maybe I'll get a bike again and annoy Richard when he's bimbling along in his Nissan Pene Minuscolo or whatever he drives now.

The walking will be good for me as it will help me to keep fit and lose some weight which I've recently put on. My broken and sore toe is limiting but I'm still managing at least 5 kms a day. Today I've done over 9 kms because I walked to Thorndon and back.

I revisited the Hobson Street townhouse that we looked at a couple of weeks ago and walked away from because it is a monolithic cladding house. At the time it was on a fixed price basis with the owners looking for offers above the rateable value. As they did not get this (due to it being a monocled house) they have reduced the asking price. Today, after revisiting, talking to the owners and the real estate agent and fortuitously the builder who earlier this year did the recladding on one side of the house and who had arrived to day to do some resealing and paintwork I, after also reading the building inspection report, made an offer below their new asking price. The estate agent will submit that to them and we will wait to see the outcome. They might tell us to bugger off but, if they don't and our lawyer finds nothing to object to we may have a place to live in Wellington - city fringe. It's a really good street with top class schools and some embassies so security is pretty good. If anything we'll be the worst people to live there (I'll have to hide my beaten up old Toyota Corolla).

YOU WILL BE SURPRISED AT THIS ... A GRIPE

I'm getting very annoyed at all of the 'improvements' that banking and retailing technology is bringing my way. Here are just two random ones that have managed to get up my nose recently.

Now I very, very rarely eat at McDonald's and at any of the other shit-food takeaway places but today, after a long walk in the midday heat I was both hungry and in need of a cooling drink. I thought that a small-sized milkshake would cater to both of these requirements and so walked in to a McDonald's 'restaurant' on Manners Street. There didn't seem to be any staff to take an order over the counter and all of the customers were ordering food from big screens. I tried this but found that I was unable to do so unless I scanned the McDonald's app from my phone. I refuse to have a McDonald's app on my phone not only because I will, hopefully, never use it but I don't want yet another information stealing app.

I walked out of the joint without ordering and chose to go home and drink a glass of cold water instead.

Last week I was downtown with the car and wanted to buy something in Lambton Quay. I was short of time and didn't want to go all of the way back to the apartment carpark, walk back to Lambton Quay to make the purchase, walk all the way back to Vivian Street to the apartment carpark and then end up being late to meet up with the Crown removal people. I found a carpark only to discover that to use it I had to use a 'Paywave' card or, if I could find one of the rare machines, use coins. I couldn't find one of these rare machines and if I did I had no coins. Who keeps cans nowadays? I have had Paywave disabled on my debit and credit card as well as, patently it's fucking ridiculous. You might as well get a thousand dollars from a money machine and drop it on the footpath. Sheesh! I then went all of the way back to the apartment carpark, walked back to Lambton Quay to make the purchase, walked all the way back to Vivian Street to the apartment carpark and then ended up being late to meet up with the Crown removal people. Sheesh again!

What the fuck is going on? Have I missed something from having lived out in the sticks for the last 16 years?

I've found, over the last week or so that many Wellington retailers are only using Paywave eftpos machines and that they are not set up for swiping a card. I've walked out of food stores because of this and today, when buying a hat the shop assistant had to scrabble under the counter to find an old fashioned 'swipe' eftpos machine. Sheesh yet again!

While Paywave (contactless payment) is a secure and convenient technology with built-in encryption, its primary "dangers" relate to the financial impact of potential fraud if a card is lost or stolen, and the surcharges often passed on to the consumer by merchants.

Security and Fraud Risks
The main security risk stems from the fact that low-value transactions generally do not require a PIN or signature, making it easier for a thief to use a lost or stolen card. Unauthorized Transactions: A person who finds or steals your card can make multiple small purchases (up to a certain limit, e.g., NZ$200) without needing your PIN.
Accidental Scans (Highly Unlikely): While a concern for some, banks and security experts state that accidental "walk-by" purchases are highly unlikely as the card needs to be very close (within a few centimeters) to a payment terminal to work.
Customer Negligence: If a card is lost or stolen, banks typically cover the losses if you have taken reasonable care of your card and reported the loss promptly. However, if negligence can be proven (e.g., waiting a week to cancel the card), you may not recover all the money.Data Vulnerability (Minor): Contactless transactions use unique, encrypted codes that minimize the risk of data interception or reuse, making them less vulnerable to traditional card skimming than swiping a card. Apple Pay and Google Pay add an extra layer of security by tokenizing the transaction, meaning the merchant never sees your real card number.

Financial Dangers
The other significant "danger" of Paywave is the surcharge often applied by merchants to cover the fees they are charged by banks and card networks (like Visa and Mastercard). Extra Cost to Consumers: These surcharges can sometimes be as high as 4% and mean you pay more for the convenience of tapping your card. You can usually avoid this fee by inserting your card or using a different payment method like standard Eftpos or cash.
Potential for Price Increases: If surcharges are banned by regulation (as is being considered in some regions like New Zealand), businesses may simply increase their overall product prices to cover the costs, meaning all consumers (including those paying with cash or standard Eftpos) end up paying more.

Summary

The technology itself is secure, but the primary dangers lie in the easewith which an unauthorised person can use a physical card for small transactions and the potential for unexpected surcharges. You can protect yourself by treating your card with care and checking for surcharges before you tap.

 

STILL LOOKING

We're still looking for a house to buy in Wellington. A couple of promising prospects turned out to be duds in that they, both being monolithic cladding townhouses, had histories of leaking and having to be reclad at the cost of hundreds of thousands. "All good" you might think - "they've been repaired" - but the research I've done suggests that cladding repairs can only be guaranteed for twenty years and the ones that we looked at were repaired about 2008. We moved on.

A third townhouse we looked at, in Kelburn, has an impeccable record and has cedar cladding with no history of leaking (built in the early 2000s).

This is a very nice house and ticks every box that The Old Girl likes except for an easy walk to her work in downtown Wellington. For this reason we decided to, not rule it out totally, but to put it on the back burner to revisit later. I must admit that I wasn't too concerned at this as I consider the house to be 'an old lady's house' - too tidy and fussy to appeal to blokes. It also has no panoramic views being in a gully (The Glen).

We then looked at other prospects in Mount Victoria, Te Aro, Mount Cook and even, yesterday, in Khandallah. In general we have now eliminated suburbs like Oriental Bay (too expensive), Mount Cook, The Terrace, Brooklyn, Mount Victoria South, Hataitai, Newtown, Berhampore (regardless of the fact that Shelley's uncle and aunt almost bought a house there), Island Bay, Karori, Northland, Miramar, Kilbirnie, Seatoun and, for obvious reasons, Lower Hutt*.

I admit to being 'over it' and basically anything will do. An exascerbating factor is that, at this time of year not a lot of new properties get listed. I really don't think we can stand leaving our search until say, February given that I don't like living in this inner city apartment we are renting.

When discussing the options this morning The Old Girl removed her  major objection to the Kelburn townhouse saying that as she only intends working for another year, the walking to work difficulty would not last long. We've decided to have another look at the property with a view to whether we can live without a seaview. I looked carefully through the property information toady - builder report, LIM, body corporate details etc. and we thought we will make an offer, discounted by lack of a seaview after we have revisited.

Old lady's house here I come.

* To be honest though I floated the idea past The Old Girl today of living in Eastbourne and the bays and 'watchlisted' a property In York Bay that we could afford.

GETTING THE MILES IN

 I walked to the railway station this morning and caught a bus to Island Bay to wander about and to check out whether buying a property there is a good idea. I only walked for about 5kms because my broken toe was sore but I feel that I 'got the miles in'. 'Getting the miles in' is important when wearing an Apple Watch because if you don't the watch beeps and reminds you of the fact. I tell you, it's about as annoying as Richard moaning about posting frequency or correcting grammar in the posts. Sheesh!

On my walk, the water bottle in my backpack leaked and saturated my wallet, my phone, some mail and my book. Bummer. I emptied out the pack and turned it inside out to dry in the sun by laying it and the other items on the Island Bay beach wall that I was sitting on, looking at the view of Taputeranga (Rat Island) and Cook Strait.

Rat Island is reportedly known as that due to an infestation of rats that came from ships in the late 1700s but I prefer to think that it was so named due to its shape...

... where a hunched rat's body can be seen with a long tail.

While sitting for about a quarter of an hour the bag, wallet and phone dried out and, by carefully positioning the book, the warm breeze ruffled the pages in the sunshine and fairy quickly dried that out too.

Job done. I caught a bus back into town and did some shopping.

WHAT GOES ON?

Well, the senior bloggers met yesterday for lunch along with their squeezes.

Lunch was tasty and not at all like Robert reported in his AI inspired blog post this morning. Robert's reports not surprisingly are about as accurate as 'apostles' reporting on the life and times of Jesus more than 300 years later and expecting people to believe it. In that case though hundreds of millions of gullible people do believe it but, unlike with Robert's post though the reports via the New Testament do get read.

Anyway moving on - Richard and Shelley brought the contents of a delicatessen to our place when invited for lunch: wine, chocolates, cheeses (not Jesus) etc. I wonder - when they go to concerts do they take their own music or DVD players when they go to the movies?

It was a great catchup and underscored to me the advantage of moving to Wellington with or without the gratefully received goodies.

Over lunch Richard and I discussed Kierkegaard's notions on individual existence—particularly religious existence—as a constant process of becoming and for his invocation of the associated concepts of authenticity, commitment, responsibility, anxiety, and dread, Existentialism is our forte you see. We also debated whether Rubber Soul was the greatest Beatles album and whether Saint Rita - Patron saint of impossible feats really merited sainthood given that she was not a virgin, which is the most important prerequisite for becoming a nun and that there was a whiff of scandal about her involvement in the murders of her husband, his brothers and half of the congregation in her home village.

After exhausting the topics of philosophy, music and religion and because Richard had to use the toilet we had a natter about Robert and what he's been up to. We all decided that he was about up to his ankles so far, as 'testing the waters' in relationships between devout Catholics is about as stimulating as watching old screenings of the Val Doonigan Show ...

... which signalled the end of the luncheon.

Really though, Richard and Shelley had to go off to do some grandchildren minding - a responsibility that The Old Girl and I have managed to avoid.

The more observant reader will have noticed the highlighted links (orange writing) in the text. This is due to the extremely annoying Google search links function that I, and millions of other people apparently, don't know how to disable.

  

FUCK ME* ...

... GERIATRIC GIMP COMPLAINS.

* As Robert would say but with use of asterisks which makes me think that his spelling would generally improve if he used asterisks in his words more often.

I broke my little toe yesterday and so have been hobbling about.

Today I walked from the Cuba Street apartment to Willis Street (Unity Books) and back but got so pissed off at the slow shuffling bimblers that I returned by walking up Willis Street and down Vivian Street.

Have young people lost their ability to walk, through overplaying video games and sitting on couches (see previous post) or riding on coaches (see previous post)? They shuffle along so that gimpy people with broken toes have to pass them or barge through them. See: BITTER, SWEET F.A. SYMPATHY.

Sh***h!

LET'S TALK ABOUT COUCHES

 Not these:

They are coaches that are the symbol for Richard's Bass Bag although, in recent times this image is more apt:

Couches are long bits of furniture that men like to sit on and women like to buy. That's a seemingly symbiotic arrangement but ... looks can be deceiving.

Men like to sit on couches meaning that comfort is a priority.

Women like to look at couches which means that shape, colour and ambiance are the priorities with comfort coming way down on the list.

Men take a practical view when selecting and purchasing (a theoretical situation only as it is women who make the final selection and close the deal) so, after comfort - price, size, weight, manouverability and the logistics of moving from one house to another are important considerations. None of those ever feature with women.

Should this post be successful and liked by readers, further discussion on the differences in approaches to life by women as opposed to men may be discussed.

MUSIC TO PLUCK THE HEART STRINGS

 

One of those is the ECG that my Apple Watch recorded and sent to my phone this morning.

The Watch records AF (Atrial Fibrillation) events and tells you what your blood pressure is at anytime. You can set it for alerts but as I generally can feel when my heart is 'out of whack' I will use this for confirmation and, if asked forward the reading to my doctor.

It's a lot easier than being hooked up to ECG sensors and machines and, while the manufacturers are at pains to say that the Watch does not guarantee readings and will not predict heart attacks (their lawyers no doubt enforced this), the readings are apparently pretty good and many doctors wear the Apple Watches themselves. My sister and brother in law are both doctors and both use them.

FROM THE HILLS OF WELLINGTON

 I sort of 'hit the wall' today and think that the last month's stress and activity has caught up with me.

Having finished with the house sale, the moving, the storage of furniture and tidying up and ending supply contracts I can now settle down and relax.

Mind you, I 'hit the wall' after I went for a long walk this morning after The Old Girl had gone to work.

I decided to check out some Te Aro properties that we had identified as prospects so walked up to The Terrace and then back down and up Thompson Street and then down and around Mount Cook area (past Tony's old place in Hargreaves's Street) before climbing up Bidwill Street.

None of the properties that looked good in the on-line photographs looked any good close up though and two of them were of the dreaded monolithic cladding-type.

In a previous post I mentioned a couple of townhouses we viewed on Sunday, one in Hobson Street and the other in Upland Road. These are monolithic cladding type and have both had weathertightness (leaking) issues in the past. Although the houses have been recladded, all of the reading I've done on the matter suggests that there may be future problems as well. The property reports that the real estate agents suppled had enough red flags to deter us. We've decided that, even though we could secure either townhouse at below asking price, the risk factor is too high. We will not be looking at flat roofed and monolithic cladded homes in the future. We will probably not look at anything built in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s either unless it was of brick, weatherboard or other solid materials.

Earlier I mentioned a beautiful house in Buller Street between the top of Vivian Street and The Terrace that we were interested in. Before we made an offer though we did some research and discovered that the Wellington tunnels project was likely to start soon and would disrupt the area. On Monday the project was officially announced and yes, the major construction will affect homes in the Te Aro, Mount Cook, South Mount Victoria, Hataitai and Kilbirnie areas. We will keep well away from those as we have no wish to live out our dotage in a construction zone.

This will mean we initially will concentrate our search on Oriental bay (very expensive), Mount Victoria, Thorndon and Kelburn for close to the city options and non 1980 to 2010 builds. We have already decided not to purchase an apartment so already our options are becoming limited. The Old Girl's desire to live in the inner city or on the city fringe might have to be adapted and we could end up looking at the outer Wellington suburbs. Personally I don't mind as some houses in Island Bay, Houghton Bay, Evan's Bay, Seatoun, Miramar and Brooklyn have magnificent views including the kind of sea views that we've been sued to living in Whangārei Heads.

It may be that we consider long-term renting thus leaving the property risk to the owners. In fact, today, I contacted the real estate agents to withdraw our interest in the Upland Road and the Hobson Street townhouses but said that if the owners cannot sell at a suitable price for them that we would consider renting for the long-term.

I have to prepare The ld Girl's dinner now - teriyaki salmon and salad.

ROADSIDE RAGE

 I've only been in Wellington for a few days and already I'm becoming annoyed by cyclists. It's no wonder that mild mannered ex-schoolteacher Richard who usually drives like your grandad turns into a raving road-rager when cyclists are around.

Wellington has been in the news a lot over the last few years with the council spending a lot of money on creating cycle lanes that has angered motorists and rate-payers. I used to cycle to university in the 1970s and it was dangerous for cyclists then and was forced off the road a few times.

The fact is though that Wellington streets are narrow and windy (in both senses and pronunciation of that word) and cycling is a risk. Unfortunately, creating cycle ways on most of them narrows the roads further and takes away valuable and useful parking spaces.

That said though, there a re a lot of cycle lanes that are safe to use and are in pristine condition. One of the reasons for them being in pristine condition apart from the fact that they are relatively new and well-made is that may cyclists don't use the bloody things.

Over the last few days, when driving around Wellington (something that I'm soon going to give up in favour of walking, bussing and Ubering) I've been stuck in traffic following some twonk riding in the middle of the road.

Sheesh!

I come from Northland and those pests have largely been eradicated up there.

As I said, I'll be leaving the car in the garage as much as I can in future and walking but, no doubt, I'll be annoyed by cyclists not using the cycle lanes or the road and riding on the footpaths instead.

TOWNHOUSE

 

So now you know.

We looked at three townhouses today - two in Kelburn and one in Thorndon.

One

Two

Three

All were acceptable in different ways but with plusses and minuses.

Number One, in Upland Road near the cable car terminal is a large monolithic cladding house that had problems (a legal settlement in 2008) of water leakage through defective workmanship. It and its attached twin were reclad 16 years ago. I mentioned this in a recent post:

There's a decent sized townhouse for sale in Kelburn, close to the cable car and university. The location is ideal. We could buy it within our budget and there doesn't seem to be a lot of urgency because potential buyers are put off by it being a 'monolithic cladding flat roofed dwelling'. These are the ones that have had water issues over the last couple of decades - the proverbial leaky homes. The property files tell me that the townhouse was re-cladded in 2009, 10 years after it was built suggesting that it was the result of a legal claim and settlement. The building report highlights some minor remedial work being necessary. The real estate agent suggested re-cladding in cedar wood to put it in a higher price bracket for future sale. We are going to see it next weekend if it hasn't been sold and If it looks suitable we will get a detailed engineering report to see if the damned thing will stand up for another 15 years. After that who cares. As long as the issues are cosmetic and aesthetic (flaking and cracking stucco can be a bit unsightly) and not fundamentally structural allowing leaking then we would be happy.

It is a magnificent house that has sadly been neglected but can be brought up to standard pretty quickly. We don't have the money to reclad it in another material like cedar wood but, if it proves to be sound then we can live with it over the next decade. The location is good and the views over the Glen gully are beautiful. The Old Girl likes the location but finds it to be too big at 250m2 (plus a few other grumbles). She is going to ask a cladding expert at her workplace (the advantage of working for a civil engineering company) for advice with a view to having an inspection done. I like this house. 

Number Two in Ngaio Street is a more modern and beautifully decorated house that has everything we need and basically ticks all the boxes except for view and location. While close to the Upland Road house it is quite a walk to the cable car and a bus stop. It is a fussy old woman's house though which is why The Old Girl likes it more than me. Perhaps I'd better rephrase that - she likes the house more than I do as it is smaller than the other two (177m2). I'd be forever worried about making a mess as it is so pristine. While it is very attractive I think the Old Girl rules it out because of the walk involved.

Number Three in Hobson Street opposite Wellington Girls College is also beautifully decorated but is not as fussy as the Ngaio Street one. It is not as big as the Upland Road one at 200m2 but she still thinks it too big. As for me I like the house to be big as, growing up in a small house that was cluttered I like space around me now. The location of this is very good and while not having a great outlook like the Upland Road one, it still has more views than the Ngaio Road one. It is in great condition and would not need the remedial work that the Upland Road one does.

 It's exhausting looking at houses and trying to evaluate what they are worth and whether to take a risk on buying one but the exercise was worthwhile as it is helping us to zero in on what we want. We've (she has) dropped the idea of buying an apartment so a townhouse is the likely way we will go unless a stand-alone small cottage with no gardens  becomes available.

We're having a rest this afternoon. I'm tired after having been up at 4AM to watch the rugby. The England team played magnificently and deservedly beat the All Blacks. Hey ho. I have to be up early tomorrow as well to meet up with the removal people with our furniture at the storage place in Newlands. Once this job is done I can then really relax and begin to enjoy Wellington.

FAST CAR

As you many some maybe two regular readers know, I've been otherwise occupied and in transit over the last week so the frequency of posting has been somewhat limited.

Never mind, I'll make up for it with a plethora of posts for your edification and believe it or not, your enjoyment.

In  one of Richard's previous posts, in the comments, I referenced my journey. Richard responded thus:

The old grandad was alluding to the fact that on two of my four trips down and back to Wellington over the last few weeks I have picked up two speeding tickets.

Yesterday as I was nearing Hunterville - the scene of my first speeding ticket where I was chased for a few kilometres by a police car*, I remembered Richard's advice and, as fortune would have it, I spied an old geezer in - believe me it's true - a Nissan Note ...

He was doing 30kph in the 50kph areas, 50kph in the 80kph areas and 70kph in the 100kph areas. Other cars before me were showing obvious signs of irritation and, while he wasn't galloping along, still managed to overtake him dangerously and aggressively. "This will do me" I said to myself and tucked in behind him for the last 5kms to Hunterville (the scene of my aforementioned 'chase') until I was safely past (not passed Robert, that comes later) and after the environs of Hunterville I blipped the accelerator (that's all it took) and passed the old geezer. Prowses can come in handy sometimes.

Ha! Job done.

Sticking with serendipity though, a couple of kms past Hunterville I saw the policeman who had given me the ticket parked at the side of the highway using his speed scanner. I gave him a friendly wave. I'd since passed the old geezer in the Nissan Note but was only going at 100kph so all was good.

More updates to come.

* I saw him in my rearview mirror and assumed that he was on the way to a serious offence or chasing a speedy driver so ignored him. As he kept following with his lights flashing and making no effort to overtake I then assumed that he was after me. It was a 100 kph road with no safe pullover areas so I kept going as I knew that Hunterville was just up the road a few kms. When I got to Hunterville in the 50kph zone I pulled over in an empty lot. The policeman (I don't call them 'Cops' as I think it's disrespectful) asked me if I'd seen him following. I said I had but chose to pull over when it was safe for both of us. He still gave me a ticket. For 108 kph in a 100 kph area! Fair enough - they are doing a great job and keeping everyone safe. It cost me $30 and some demerit ponts but to be honest I was expecting something much more. All good.

I'M BACK ...

 

Yes, I'm back in Wellington so those other old bloggers had better watch out ...

...  I've forgotten what for but then so have they most likely so we're even.

I started writing this post a couple of hours ago before preparing, cooking and eating dinner (tuna pizza for me and lamb chops, kumara and sautéed green vegetables for her) and got as far as the title. Now when, after dinner, I return to write the post I've forgotten what it was that I wanted to write.

Oh well, your loss.