Journal Entries
15th August 2004
Posted Aug 15, 2004
Eating 'Traditional Cottage Pie" for Sunday tea, (microwaveable frozen meal... It's - adequate.) There's not a lot traditional about it, to be honest.
It's accompanied by the music of Chuck Berry, specifically, 'My Ding-a-ling' live before a Canadian audience. It is so hilarious! Garth sure had some 
"vibes" as he would call them (
recordings of all types)
We have had rain for about 10-14 days now, usually just a few annoying showers. Guess what? The weather forecast predicts another week of it, and I have lost both my raincoat *and* now my umbrella. What is it about umbrellae that makes them so eminently loseable?
Nigel sent me a C90 tape of 'The Hitch-hiker's Guide' he taped from the LP. In a stroke of fate DNA himself might have appreciated, the last 5 minutes were cut off the end of the tape. Still, what a buzz to hear it, so nostalgic.
I am so disturbed by some pictures I saw, emailed from The Palestine Guy as I call him, Leslie at http://palestine.org.nz who sends me regular emails about the Mess In the Middle East. The pictures were of the mutilated bodies of four young men who had been killed in mysterious circumstances by the IDF, or as Palestine Guy calls them the IOF...
Well, that about wraps it up for the Traditional Cottage Pie, so it's off to get some Mallowpuffs for the kid and me, and to read 'New Scientist'. Lots of fun!
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Latest reply: Aug 15, 2004
Just before signing off - 23 July 2004
Posted Jul 23, 2004
Online too long! It's slowly got 
ny outside and the sun is creeping in and across the floor - yay!
Last week, right where family members live, there were massive floods and earthquakes, truly, a natural disaster. Only months after the floods in Marlborough, as well, and so not good at all! Thankfully, all the family are all right.
There was a letter to the Editor in our local paper yesterday, which blamed Prime Minister Helen Clark for the floods. No, really! She criticised Israel, about the alleged spies who were convicted of passport fraud, and who are currently appealing their sentence. So, said the letter writer, God sent the floods to punish New Zealand for its criticism of Israel. I happen to think God doesn't operate that way!
Recommended book: 'Rogue State' by William Blum. It is full of the most fascinating and surprising, (and shocking) information about the United States. 
Time, and past time, to sign out (for now) and have 
and food. Why is there not a sandwich smiley?
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Latest reply: Jul 23, 2004
The coldest place on Earth - 13 June 2004
Posted Jun 13, 2004
Oh, wow, it's Petey Atkins birthday, I just realised... 
Oh, well, he won't mind...
This is not really the coldest place on 
, it's just that the more I hear about lovely weather in the UK, the more sad I get about here. We currently have bright sunshine, but it is so cold 
inside the house, (maybe it's haunted? Oh, spooky possums!)
To my right, two guys are playing Dune on PSOne, and I am sort-of listening, with mild interest.
Last night, someone answered my advert, and came and bought Garth's turntable and LPs. I felt a bit bereft, though essentially, it's better to have them gone. He can't use them any more, and we never would have... and the guy who came and bought them was genuninely pleased and will make good use of them. That's one aspect of a death I had never thought of, or had to deal with before. In 42 years, a person amasses a huge amount of stuff! We decided to give the Monty Python CD to Jim's friend Alban for his birthday... On December 26th, Garth played it for us, and nope, I still wasn't impressed with MP, but Garth liked them - and Alban does too, apparently. If it was only that easy to find a good home for all the other stuff that Garth liked, and none of us do, not that there is a lot, but the Elton John CDs... I want to keep one or two, but some things just make me shiver... I am clearing out junk while I am alive to do so, and will take care to keep pruning as the years go by. I don't want my "heirs and assignees" to have to wonder what to do with some things, or to find anything embarassing.. if I get warning of my demise, I am getting rid of ragged underwear and the like! Garth was such a neat freak, he had no threadbare towels or suchlike around.
In the outside world, Ray Charles 
and Ronald Reegan died. About the latter, I can say nothing, no really, I got modded, because something I thought to be reasoably sensitive "might cause offence." What, Ronnie had sensitive supporters out there on hootoo?
BTW, Kelly Waymire (Elisabeth Cutler on Enterprise) and Robert Pastorelli (Murphy Brown) died last November.
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Latest reply: Jun 13, 2004
Stormy weather... 28th May 2004
Posted May 28, 2004
Indeed... It certainly is, and I am a little annoyed by it. (But not surprised...)
It's been a while since I was here, or so it seems, but it was less than a week. Am I addicted, or what? 
Yesterday, I heard John Asshcroft on the BBC WS, and I thought, this guy has really lost his little glass gaming spheres! He urged people to be on the lookout for members of Al Qaeda, who might be planning the new attack (about which he has "credible intelligence". (Riiiight...) 
"They may be trying to look innocent by travelling with their families, or disguised as Europeans", said Mr Aashcroft. Hey, they could be anyone! Your mail carrier, your baby's nanny, your local GP, all could secretly be terrorists. Ghaccckkk! We are all in danger - panic and scream! This is just truly, deeply ... I feel so pleased that we are not in the USA - I know there are perfectly reasonable Americans, but they are not the ones we hear about. A New Zealander, Andreas Schafer, was missing for 3 months, and it develops that he was in American custody in Iraq. Thing is, his parents and the NZ government had been told by the American authorities, that they didn't know anything about him. 
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3568747&thesection=news&thesubsection=general
Check it out!
It's infuriating.
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Latest reply: May 28, 2004
Noise pollution - 11th May 2004
Posted May 10, 2004
When I was walking along Fifth Avenue, I heard a symphony of horrible noises - the Bobcat digging up the end of the street, dump trucks, buses and diesel trucks screaming along Carrington Rd - and somewhere a 
barking accompanied by the characteristic sound of the New Zealand suburb - the lawnmower
Astronomers talk about light pollution. Noise is just as bad! Worse! More s. (I was trying to hear the BBC WS on my Walkie-type thingy. How do all the students in the area hear their cellphones?)
I need and 
I need some food, and a nice 
to read. I just finished a biography of George Harrison last night, now I am reading the 'Prison Diary' of Jeffrey Archer. (No, I am not, he pubbed it as 'Prisoner 8282' but in the text, reveals who he is. Quite interesting. Jim has discovered another Catherine Fisher series. 
I want to write a book as good as Catherine Fisher can do. I have lots of series going, and I started a new novelette in April. We'll see how it goes!
What's happening in Iraq (particularly Fallujah, and the revelations about Abu Ghraib) should make it plain to all that the invasion has been every bit the disaster that was predicted. To some people, I say "I told you so"
- something I seldom get the chance to say in daily life.
But I am sorry to have to say it...
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: May 10, 2004
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DA ; Simply Vicky: Don't get pithy with me!
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