Outside the supermarket this lunchtime an old lady was shouting for assistance, needing help putting her shopping into her bags. I obliged but soon ended up carrying her shopping a few hundred yards up the road to her bus stop. This would have been fine had it not included trying to cross 5 lanes of city centre traffic. I was ok, but it turned out the old lady was a touch mad or a touch drunk. Or both.
She almost got run over twice and when I tried to hurry her up to save her from the juggernaught bombing toward her she merely said "no one in Auckland is going to run me over - I'm an Auckland pedestrian. And do you know what I'd do if they did? Kill 'em."
Ok.
She was very nice though and gave me a hug to say thanks. Although I would have preferred a couple of the beers I'd just carried for her. She also said that a nice young girl would be lucky to have me.
Bless.
Did you hear that, nice young girls of Auckland? You'd be lucky to have me. Form an orderly queue please.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Monday, September 25, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
Car wars...
I was quite shocked yesterday to learn of Richard Hammond's accident and I wish him a speedy recovery. Top Gear is one of my favourite programmes and is a very big hit over here.
Just bear with me as I climb on my soapbox...
...right, here I am. I think it's in incredible bad taste for various left-wing, greenie, tree hugging groups to use this as an opportunity to promote their cause and cite Top Gear for being irresponsible and encouraging reckless driving. Or to blame the public for their desire to watch dangerous stunts. I'm sure if Richard Hammond was asked if he wanted to pilot an attempt at the British Land Speed record without the cameras rolling he would have jumped at the chance.
As would I.
Even though I already hold the British Land speed record for the Hyundai Honey on single lane roads...102mph. Incidentally, the same stretch of road that witnessed the World Land Speed record for a Suzuki Alto...58mph.
It doesn't seem right to mention those 2 cars in the same sentence without talking about the Days of Thunder-esque street race from the racecourse cinema to Edenthorpe. From Heyes' Suzuki on 2 wheels to take the advantage out of the car park, to my overtaking move round the outside completed just before the police car came in to view. It should be a Gran Turismo demo.
Happy days.
Err, Mum, none of the above ever happened. I always treated your car with the greatest of care and respect. I made it all up to sound hard.
Just bear with me as I climb on my soapbox...
...right, here I am. I think it's in incredible bad taste for various left-wing, greenie, tree hugging groups to use this as an opportunity to promote their cause and cite Top Gear for being irresponsible and encouraging reckless driving. Or to blame the public for their desire to watch dangerous stunts. I'm sure if Richard Hammond was asked if he wanted to pilot an attempt at the British Land Speed record without the cameras rolling he would have jumped at the chance.
As would I.
Even though I already hold the British Land speed record for the Hyundai Honey on single lane roads...102mph. Incidentally, the same stretch of road that witnessed the World Land Speed record for a Suzuki Alto...58mph.
It doesn't seem right to mention those 2 cars in the same sentence without talking about the Days of Thunder-esque street race from the racecourse cinema to Edenthorpe. From Heyes' Suzuki on 2 wheels to take the advantage out of the car park, to my overtaking move round the outside completed just before the police car came in to view. It should be a Gran Turismo demo.
Happy days.
Err, Mum, none of the above ever happened. I always treated your car with the greatest of care and respect. I made it all up to sound hard.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Ups and downs
It was an evening of personal triumphs and failures at the quiz last night which I'll share with you now. Only because I know you want me to.
One the one hand I picked the flag of Nepal (although we put down something else), got that Spitalfields market is in London and knew a Maserati from it's picture. On the other I blew a couple of UK questions....
What is the highest peak in Britain?
And, yet again I failed on a Beatles question...what 1967 album is Lucy in the sky with diamonds from?
Not getting either of those is pretty embarrassing.
But I did redeem myself with getting the next two:
"It had to be you" is the theme to which 1989 film?
Who played Brian in the Life of Brian?
Going back to the Maserati question - I actually saw one the other day and made a mental note of the badge. Now that's commitment to the quiz cause.
I've just realised - all I seem to talk about on here is going out and Tuesday quiz nights. I'm going to have to get some interests in my life other than drinking and trivia....
....Nahh
One the one hand I picked the flag of Nepal (although we put down something else), got that Spitalfields market is in London and knew a Maserati from it's picture. On the other I blew a couple of UK questions....
What is the highest peak in Britain?
And, yet again I failed on a Beatles question...what 1967 album is Lucy in the sky with diamonds from?
Not getting either of those is pretty embarrassing.
But I did redeem myself with getting the next two:
"It had to be you" is the theme to which 1989 film?
Who played Brian in the Life of Brian?
Going back to the Maserati question - I actually saw one the other day and made a mental note of the badge. Now that's commitment to the quiz cause.
I've just realised - all I seem to talk about on here is going out and Tuesday quiz nights. I'm going to have to get some interests in my life other than drinking and trivia....
....Nahh
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Saturday night...
So much for a quiet remainder to the weekend. Me and Rob strolled down to Eden Park for the Auckland vs. Waikato rugby game. It's getting to the end of the season and these local rivals are among the favourites for the competition. Despite this, and entrance only costing $10 (£3.50) the crowd was pretty poor. But this didn't matter as we had a good view of the game, the cheerleaders and you can drink on the terraces.
After the game we went to the Kingslander and met up with Casey, Si and Leanne for a bit more drinking and a little bit of dancing. Leanne wanted a photo with the lads. Shame none of us were capable of posing properly...for a change...
After the game we went to the Kingslander and met up with Casey, Si and Leanne for a bit more drinking and a little bit of dancing. Leanne wanted a photo with the lads. Shame none of us were capable of posing properly...for a change...
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Weekend...again...do I do anything midweek?
Don't think much happened this week really. Kept tabs on Oldham's stunning away win at Nottm Forest on Wednesday morning. Went for a few games of killer in the local pool hall on Thursday night with Dave and Rob. Other than that it's been fairly quiet.
We decided that Friday would be a big night out and it's been a long time coming. So we got some beers in and got started. A few lads Rob coached at rugby came round (5 of them, all about 18/19) which made for a good laugh and some interesting conversations.
Then Casey came round and me, him and Rob went off in to town. First stop was a karaoke bar. Not really sure why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. This video may suggest otherwise...
To be fair, our Hey Jude rendition got the whole place up and dancing. Ok, this may have only been the Korean owner lady (who was very impressed with my knowledge of Korean alcohol), the couple of dodgy old blokes who were trying to pull her and a couple of young girls who worked there (not in that way).
We left them wanting more and headed off to First Base Backpackers bar to sample the "Indie night". I was actually pretty impressed, ok, so it wasn't exactly indie but it wasn't bad music, the crowd was pretty good and I partnered a German girl to a stunning table footie victory over two lads who looked like John McEnroe and Paul from the Wonder Years.
We then moved on to the viaduct and tried a few places out. Nothing special really but that didn't put us off. Casey left about 2 but me and Rob kept going till about 4 before heading to the Whitehouse then home.
2 days to relax now before going back to work...I'm going to need it.
We decided that Friday would be a big night out and it's been a long time coming. So we got some beers in and got started. A few lads Rob coached at rugby came round (5 of them, all about 18/19) which made for a good laugh and some interesting conversations.
Then Casey came round and me, him and Rob went off in to town. First stop was a karaoke bar. Not really sure why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. This video may suggest otherwise...
To be fair, our Hey Jude rendition got the whole place up and dancing. Ok, this may have only been the Korean owner lady (who was very impressed with my knowledge of Korean alcohol), the couple of dodgy old blokes who were trying to pull her and a couple of young girls who worked there (not in that way).
We left them wanting more and headed off to First Base Backpackers bar to sample the "Indie night". I was actually pretty impressed, ok, so it wasn't exactly indie but it wasn't bad music, the crowd was pretty good and I partnered a German girl to a stunning table footie victory over two lads who looked like John McEnroe and Paul from the Wonder Years.
We then moved on to the viaduct and tried a few places out. Nothing special really but that didn't put us off. Casey left about 2 but me and Rob kept going till about 4 before heading to the Whitehouse then home.
2 days to relax now before going back to work...I'm going to need it.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
The weekend
Ah, it's been a while. Not sure if I'll be my usual witty self.
So what did I get up to this weekend? Well, Friday was fairly quiet. Me and Rob got a few beers in and took it easy in front of the box.
Saturday was a big one. Originally, I was supposed to be going to Whips'n'Spurs at Ellerslie Races. A day long event where people eat, drink, gamble etc. Now it turns out that it's also a massive singles event pretty much.
I had better things to do though - it was the end of season football awards night for our Sunday League team. Me and Rob got a thanks in the speach for, well, for turning up really. It was a really good laugh though and the first time we'd had a few beers with the rest of the team.
When back in work on Monday, Hamish (who'd been to the races) sent me a couple of emails which suggested going to the footie was a bad idea. One was about a champagne breakfast he and Will had attended where they were the only blokes and the girls were all single. And the other was a picture of Will, some woman who runs the country (Prime Minister Helen Clark) and Hamish...
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Quiz time...
Timed the walk to the pub last night from our new place and it took 16 minutes. That qualifies as a local in my book.
From last place after round 3, we finally finished 8th out of 30. Not bad, but we're getting killed on the music round every week. There's very little from 1990 onwards, so you need some pretty specialist knowledge i.e. you need the Creegans.
The first music question was a video clip, and it was apparently Living Colour. Then there was a Bowie album cover - Diamond Dogs. There were questions about obscure 1960's motown combos and even one about the Bruce Willis classic, Under the Boardwalk (although we did get that one).
Fortunately, from a pommie point of view in other rounds I was able to identify Surrey from a very dodgy picture of a map and also recognise a Constable painting. I knew that trip to the National Gallery just before I left would come in handy.
Selection of questions for you to mull over...
1. What 1986 film, directed by Rob Reiner, shares the name of a 1975 John Lennon hit?
2. Which Elton John song shares it's name with a book of the Bible?
3. Which film's tagline is..."Sit back and enjoy the fright"?
4. This is the opening line of which 19th century novel?..."It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife"
5. What relation to you is your mother's father's sister's daughter's son?
...FYI we got 2,3 and 4. We would have got 5 if we'd gone with my answer. Tsk.
From last place after round 3, we finally finished 8th out of 30. Not bad, but we're getting killed on the music round every week. There's very little from 1990 onwards, so you need some pretty specialist knowledge i.e. you need the Creegans.
The first music question was a video clip, and it was apparently Living Colour. Then there was a Bowie album cover - Diamond Dogs. There were questions about obscure 1960's motown combos and even one about the Bruce Willis classic, Under the Boardwalk (although we did get that one).
Fortunately, from a pommie point of view in other rounds I was able to identify Surrey from a very dodgy picture of a map and also recognise a Constable painting. I knew that trip to the National Gallery just before I left would come in handy.
Selection of questions for you to mull over...
1. What 1986 film, directed by Rob Reiner, shares the name of a 1975 John Lennon hit?
2. Which Elton John song shares it's name with a book of the Bible?
3. Which film's tagline is..."Sit back and enjoy the fright"?
4. This is the opening line of which 19th century novel?..."It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife"
5. What relation to you is your mother's father's sister's daughter's son?
...FYI we got 2,3 and 4. We would have got 5 if we'd gone with my answer. Tsk.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Weekend review...
Lot to cram and with no internet at home it's still text only. So for those of you who only look at this site for pictures of drunk people you may want to go somewhere else for the time being.
On Friday night, me and Rob moved a few bags over to the new place, but nothing too strenuous as we had a long day of shifting things ahead of us. I hadn't been to the supermarket seeing as I was about to move so it was fast food time. I chose KFC for the first time in a while and I have to say, although the taste is exactly the same, getting a bread roll and a mini pot of mash&gravy thrown in for free makes a difference.
At 8.30 on Saturday, Leanne and Si turned up in her dad's ute to do the shifting. The travelling went something like this:
Remuera to Mt Eden
Mt Eden to Glen Dowie via Remuera (to pick up stunning new 3 piece suite)
Glen Dowie to Mt Eden
Mt Eden to the north shore (to pick up Rob's girlfriend Mia's spare fridge)
North Shore to Remuera
Remuera to Mt Eden
All in all we did about 150k's.
We were finally in our new flat by around 3pm.
With everything dumped and in no way sorted, we headed off to Rob's parents place in Clevedon (about 45 mins drive south of Auckland) where we were given beers and eggs on toast. In return for their hospitality we left with a clothes rack for Rob, a kettle, a toaster and some booze. Oh, and Dave, Rob's brother, who was to be our first house guest.
We were back for hardly any time when we had further visitors - Mia, her daughter and Mia's friend and daughter. When the ladies all left me, Rob and Dave set about the Heinekens. After a while we tested out the locals - we have an Irish pub (The Clare Inn) which is not too bad and a pool hall where it's cheap, tables are good and they serve incredibly strong vodkas. After me and Rob took down Dave and his mate Woody we headed in to town and ended up in Crow Bar dancing along to 80s tunes. Not normally that sort of music in there, but it was someone's private party or something. Anyway, the highlight was Rob managing one chin-up off the aircon.
Would tell you about the incident involving a rat, but animal welfare might be reading.
The next day me, Rob and Dave went for a pint in the Irish local. That place has potential, bar the fiddledy-dee/walking in the air music.
After that me and Rob went to the Warehouse in Balmoral, the next suburb over, for all our homeware needs. The Warehouse is kind of like Ikea, but a bit cheaper and not as good quality or variety of stock. Still, we got almost everything we went for and as a Brucie Bonus I got to meet the "Mayor of Balmoral". This is a crazy old guy who hangs around in the Warehouse car park voluntarily performing a variety of helpful tasks. Normally he has a mad hat and a homemade badge saying "Mayor of Balmoral", but he was obviously undercover on Sunday. An example of his good deeds is when he helps people reversing into tight parking spaces by waving them back until they crash into something. Then he runs off. Fortunately for me he just took my trolley once we'd loaded up the car.
One more thing - I saw a disturbingly accurate lookalike on Saturday. There was a guy walking down the street that was the absolute spitting image of my half brother, Richard. I know Heyesie has his looklies, but this was a complete doppelganger. Richard, if you're reading, let me know if you ever need a stand in for anything and I'll track this guy down!
On Friday night, me and Rob moved a few bags over to the new place, but nothing too strenuous as we had a long day of shifting things ahead of us. I hadn't been to the supermarket seeing as I was about to move so it was fast food time. I chose KFC for the first time in a while and I have to say, although the taste is exactly the same, getting a bread roll and a mini pot of mash&gravy thrown in for free makes a difference.
At 8.30 on Saturday, Leanne and Si turned up in her dad's ute to do the shifting. The travelling went something like this:
Remuera to Mt Eden
Mt Eden to Glen Dowie via Remuera (to pick up stunning new 3 piece suite)
Glen Dowie to Mt Eden
Mt Eden to the north shore (to pick up Rob's girlfriend Mia's spare fridge)
North Shore to Remuera
Remuera to Mt Eden
All in all we did about 150k's.
We were finally in our new flat by around 3pm.
With everything dumped and in no way sorted, we headed off to Rob's parents place in Clevedon (about 45 mins drive south of Auckland) where we were given beers and eggs on toast. In return for their hospitality we left with a clothes rack for Rob, a kettle, a toaster and some booze. Oh, and Dave, Rob's brother, who was to be our first house guest.
We were back for hardly any time when we had further visitors - Mia, her daughter and Mia's friend and daughter. When the ladies all left me, Rob and Dave set about the Heinekens. After a while we tested out the locals - we have an Irish pub (The Clare Inn) which is not too bad and a pool hall where it's cheap, tables are good and they serve incredibly strong vodkas. After me and Rob took down Dave and his mate Woody we headed in to town and ended up in Crow Bar dancing along to 80s tunes. Not normally that sort of music in there, but it was someone's private party or something. Anyway, the highlight was Rob managing one chin-up off the aircon.
Would tell you about the incident involving a rat, but animal welfare might be reading.
The next day me, Rob and Dave went for a pint in the Irish local. That place has potential, bar the fiddledy-dee/walking in the air music.
After that me and Rob went to the Warehouse in Balmoral, the next suburb over, for all our homeware needs. The Warehouse is kind of like Ikea, but a bit cheaper and not as good quality or variety of stock. Still, we got almost everything we went for and as a Brucie Bonus I got to meet the "Mayor of Balmoral". This is a crazy old guy who hangs around in the Warehouse car park voluntarily performing a variety of helpful tasks. Normally he has a mad hat and a homemade badge saying "Mayor of Balmoral", but he was obviously undercover on Sunday. An example of his good deeds is when he helps people reversing into tight parking spaces by waving them back until they crash into something. Then he runs off. Fortunately for me he just took my trolley once we'd loaded up the car.
One more thing - I saw a disturbingly accurate lookalike on Saturday. There was a guy walking down the street that was the absolute spitting image of my half brother, Richard. I know Heyesie has his looklies, but this was a complete doppelganger. Richard, if you're reading, let me know if you ever need a stand in for anything and I'll track this guy down!
Friday, September 01, 2006
News update...
I'm moving this weekend!
Me and Rob are moving out of the house in Remuera and into a 2 bed flat in Mt Eden. The new place is a lot more convenient for important things like boozers. It's also within walking distance of the supermarket and has much better transport routes.
The flat itself has got a massive lounge which will be home to our recently acquired leather 3 piece suite ($150 or 50 quid off Trade Me - the auction website over here). There's also a huge garden out the back that will be for our use solely, with a lawn, a bbq area, a shed and even a couple of lemon trees thrown in for good measure.
Trade me is also being plundered for lazyboy chairs, a home brew kit (for the shed) and a proper poker set.
The place is going to be amazing in the summer. Pictures to follow when I'm hooked up to the net again.
As for this weekend, well, I'm almost totally healthy again so there's only one thing for it - to christen our new place with a few drinks on Saturday night. So there's a small chance I'll have some drunken antics to spew out onto here.
Me and Rob are moving out of the house in Remuera and into a 2 bed flat in Mt Eden. The new place is a lot more convenient for important things like boozers. It's also within walking distance of the supermarket and has much better transport routes.
The flat itself has got a massive lounge which will be home to our recently acquired leather 3 piece suite ($150 or 50 quid off Trade Me - the auction website over here). There's also a huge garden out the back that will be for our use solely, with a lawn, a bbq area, a shed and even a couple of lemon trees thrown in for good measure.
Trade me is also being plundered for lazyboy chairs, a home brew kit (for the shed) and a proper poker set.
The place is going to be amazing in the summer. Pictures to follow when I'm hooked up to the net again.
As for this weekend, well, I'm almost totally healthy again so there's only one thing for it - to christen our new place with a few drinks on Saturday night. So there's a small chance I'll have some drunken antics to spew out onto here.
Number plates...
Been a while since I've had a moan about this. 2 shocking personalised number plates spotted this week...
On the back of an Aston Martin DB9 (incidentally, my favourite car) - DBNEUF.
It appears quite a big thing over here to advertise the car you're driving via your number plate. I've no idea why.
But my personal favourite number plate of recent times... RSWYPE.
Quite.
On the back of an Aston Martin DB9 (incidentally, my favourite car) - DBNEUF.
It appears quite a big thing over here to advertise the car you're driving via your number plate. I've no idea why.
But my personal favourite number plate of recent times... RSWYPE.
Quite.
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