AN INTERLUDE - THE CHUCKLE BROTHERS

Here's an interlude during the Transalpine Trip series - kind of like the intermission at the cinema in days of old:

You'll have noticed that when he isn't referring to himself in the third person or banging on about religion, Robert chuckles a lot.

It seems that this is catching on amongst the Prowse clan with brother Richard joining in.

It reminds me of these guys.

Yep ... they're about as funny as the Prowse brothers.

TRANSALPINE TRIP #3

 

PUNAKAIKI

It seems that the first post in this series has been appreciated and, no doubt the just published second post will go down well. Thank you.

I mentioned a while ago that we had a choice to make with this trip - go north from Greymouth or to go south.

The train arrived in Greymouth early Friday afternoon. I'd booked a rental car for Saturday and Sunday with the plan to head south the next day. As we were checking in at the hotel - Copthorne- I had a call from the rental car company to say that they would have no-one on duty on Saturday morning and would I mind collecting the car straight away thus getting another half day at no extra cost. I agreed and we walked down to their depot after putting our bags in the room.

It was only 2PM so we decided to drive north to Punakaiki to see the famous rocks. I'm really glad that we did as they are spectacular and the reserve that's been created is well thought and and the tracks and viewing platforms well maintained.

These are just a few of the many photographs I took with my cellphone. The Old Girl took lots as well with her cellphone that has a much better camera in it. I can have these collated into a slide show for when any readers who come to visit. No problem.

Coming soon .... episode #4.

TRANSALPINE TRIP #2

 

THE TRAIN

Yes, you read the title correctly. It's the second post in this new series.

We were obviously spurred on by the response from episode 1. Remember when I asked: I hope that you enjoyed that. Please provide feedback in the complementary comment section which will enable The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ to better cater to your needs.?

Well, The Wine Guy was very supportive and his/her/its response triggered a tsunami of comments mostly from that old reprobate Richard of Richard's Bass Bag. It's hard getting this guy to comment on any blog post other than his own so we at The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ see this as a measure of success.

I left you at the end of the first episode salivating over the delicious meals that we had on our trip - not the tiramisu in Franz Josef and certainly not the very, very ordinary (but with a fancy description) chicken dish I had there.

Let me go back to the beginning - you're not doing anything important are you? Right - let's continue. 

We boarded in Christchurch at dawn's early light*.

* I threw that in to retain Robert's interest as I won't be talking about abortions, Catholicism or the catechism in this post and I've found that you have to 'throw in a few bones' to keep him reading so I referenced that dire USA national anthem that he no doubt loves:

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?

Of course 'dawn's early light' for me is 8AM.

The train runs from Christchurch to Greymouth and travels through the Southern Alps via Arthur's pass. The scenery is spectacular with views of river valleys, gorges, snow-covered mountains, viaducts - you name it.

Here are some photographs:

The Old Girl took better photos on her phone and these will be available in the slide show that will be put on for you if you visit. No need to thank me.

Here are some professional photos of the area that I found on the internet:

It is a very special journey and I hope that the readers will take the opportunity to do this themselves sometime.

Here comes episode 3 ......

TRANSALPINE TRIP #1

FOOD

I note the minimalist approach from another blogger but, in fairness to my readers I won't go there. They deserve better ... and more so that's why the Transalpine trip will become a series. I'm not sure how many episodes there will be but - let's just see shall we?

To begin with we'll get the food thing out of the way. Regular readers of Robert's blog will know that he keeps his readers in thrall awaiting announcement of what he'll be cooking for dinner. This always comes at the very end of his posts. I'm not seeking thralldom from readers just a bit of attention and respect.

We left on Friday morning from Christchurch and had booked the premium package which involved preferential seating with meals and drinks inclusive.

The breakfast and lunch on the trip out and the late lunch and dinner on the way back were top restaurant standard. Very impressive and served with nice wines.

Dinner at the Greymouth hotel was pretty good but dinner at the fancier Franz Josef hotel was a disappointment. We complained about the dessert there and had the cost removed from our account.

At Pukekura I saw a 'menu' and a recipe on the wall that is typical West Coast New Zealand.

At Hokitika we visited a traditional bakery - the type that unfortunately has largely disappeared in recent years elsewhere and bought some lunch to go.

Note the cream horns and the custard donuts.

I hope that you enjoyed that. Please provide feedback in the complementary comment section which will enable The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ to better cater to your needs.

I'M BACK

 

Readers of those other blogs will be pleased to know that I'm back and will be posting from tomorrow ... hell ... even the writers of those other blogs will be pleased to know that, as it's obvious that they've been struggling with their posts.

I have lots to tell readers - some 'travelogues' from the West Coast trip, some observations on the travel industry and some new ideas for post series - all good stuff.

I recommend that you stay posted.

CHAT TIME

We're back from the mountains and the coast after a great trip on the Transalpine Express and walks to the glaciers and Punakaiki rocks. I'll write some posts on this when I'm back in Auckland. Meanwhile - do you remember this that I wrote back in February?

WELCOME TO THE MACHINE

I promised to add a ChatGPT response to the odd posts and then promptly forgot about it.

I was reminded of this when I re-read Richard's latest (even though it's now days old) post which still didn't make a lot of sense. I decided to ask ChatGPT what it was all about. Here's my question and following, the AI response:

Fair enough, that explained it nicely. It wasn't really a big ask of ChatGPT though as Richard, while 'slipping into the realms of fantasy'  usually does make sense. I thought that a bigger challenge for AI would come from one of Robert's narratives.

I asked ChatGPT this:

AI answered with this:

Well - whoopdy do. Old AI is on to it. You know what? I think that it would be better for Robert to write his posts to ChatGPT as it seems to understand him better and writes nice comments at the end of its response like this:

"Overall, the message encourages resilience, growth, and the understanding that life's journey is one of progress and learning".

Well done that man ... er, thing. 

"IF YOUR CAR COULD TRAVEL AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT, WOULD YOUR HEADLIGHTS WORK? "*

* Steven Wright.

Is it time for some new Curmudgeon blogs?

In the current The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ I've got a few things covered in general but sometimes a subject or theme doesn't quite fit in to the 'mission statement's* of the respective Curmudgeon profiles. 

Science is a case in point.

Sometimes I write a post that has a science theme or contains useful scientific information like:

"There is no god without empirical proof of she/he/its existence".

Is this a basis for argument for The Religious curmudgeon, The Philosophical Curmudgeon, The Polemical Curmudgeon or another? Do you see what I mean?

The question, with its use of the word 'empirical' and suggestion of the concept of empiricism which  states that all knowledge should be verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic, suggests that it is scientific in nature. Science in fat.

Maybe The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ has been shortchanging readers.

As you know the use of post themes to individual Curmudgeon blogs has been of great benefit to (most) readers as we reported in an earlier post:

We will begin the process of creating a The Scientific Curmudgeon blog asap. First up will be the selection of an appropriate avatar. Any suggestions? No, Robert - God The Supreme Scientist will not be considered.

I wish I had an image of Father 'Pygmy' McCann to use. That would be perfect and would come with an almost unlimited portfolio ff McCann's sayings like:

• Well done that man.
• You're sitting there using up perfectly good air man.
• What are you, a cabbage?
• etc.

There may also be a requirement for a The Nice Curmudgeon.

Trials are underway for this.

"Hey! I like this. Well done Robert. Well done Richard."

* As most the current profiles don't actually have mission statements It might be opportune for me to write one for each of them. Any suggestions from the two readers (three if we include the one from Afghanistan) will be treated with the respect that they deserve.

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

I'm off to Christchurch this morning which is just as well given the state of this blogging community at present.

Richard is showing further signs of  regression and confusion.

His posting is erratic and he has problems with placing comments due to somehow misplacing his computer. He's put it in a hard place I guess.

.

Robert seems to be living under a rock with others including worms and Mary of Jesus of Ágreda. I wonder if Sue knows what he gets up to.

If I had to choose I think I'd choose to live with the worms rather than with a flying, bilocating nun.

It's probably just as well that I won't be able to check the blogs when we go to Franz Josef later in the week.

ANOTHER NEW POST FROM THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON

 Wow! Two posts so far today from The Music Curmudgeon. You guys are so lucky.

"STEADY ON, IT'S ONLY PALMERSTON NORTH"

NEW POST - THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON

 

"TURN THAT JUNGLE MUSIC DOWN"