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January 2010

surfs up

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this is how we spent yesterday – boogie boarding about in the huge surf at tawharanui.  it’s a bank holiday weekend here in new zealand and like all the best bank holiday weekends it did rain later in the afternoon.

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hope this warms your cockles if you are in chillier climes

my moon (and mars) are upside down

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did you see the moon on friday night.  it was great.  around midnight mars was nearby.  we’re in the southern hemisphere so mars is to the bottom right of the moon

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i completely over-exposed my first shot, but the internal reflection was nicely exposed so i thought i’d keep it !

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and here’s an interesting thing.  it’s the moon at perigree upside down as viewed from down under in new zealand.

radio controlled funness

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here are some photos i took last week at the local radio control car club.

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it’s such a cool thing to watch.  both the on and off track action.

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there were spills and thrills

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and cars which whizzed so fast i couldn’t photo them

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but ultimately we were just looking at some very small cars whizzing about at very high speeds.  and it was great.

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complete set of photos here:


stormy

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the new zealand press

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isn’t the correction above the best thing ever ?

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and you’ve got to admire this chief executive’s honesty

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and this is how kiwis view britain – a national of lardy wobblers

smiley mannequin

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i’ve never seen one so happy

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sky tower

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i love auckland’s sky tower. which is handy.  as it’s a landmark which can be seen from miles away.

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half leg waxing

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if i was going to have half a leg waxed, i think i’d go for the front half of my left leg.

unless the choice was inside or outside, in which case i’d go for outside.

although i’m not convinced i’d just want half a leg waxed anyway.  better to have a pair done.  or neither (my preference.

it also seems the price is irrespective of length or hairiness meaning a tall bloke with hairy legs gets better value than a stumpy lady with stumbly legs.

enough of this talk already

(now i remember why i don’t write so much on the blog)

this is NOT an accident and emergency service

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writing signs about things not being other things is potential a massive opportunity for sign writers.  think of how many combinations of things not being other things there are.

this blog is not a teaspoon for example.

it’s me !

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good job i’ve got my glasses on in this picture as my eyes have those dreadful anti-tans that people have who go skiing.

the beach after work

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i’ve not talked too much about our ordinary life as expats in new zealand on the funkypancake blog

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that’s because we’re keeping a separate online blog about that

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but i thought you might be interested to see what we did after work yesterday

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it’s weird sitting on a local beach watching a cruise ship gently slide by a dormant volcano whilst people go about their beachy lifes

dogs prohibited

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a lovely old time no dogs sign

abandoned xmas trees

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i walked past these two chaps yesterday.  interesting that two appeared on the same day a few kilometers apart.

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rural trolley

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we might be on the other end of the planet, but it’s great to find an abandoned trolley rusting nicely by a main road 

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bored steward does bollard tricks

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toilet in a showroom (and nothing else)

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tsunami evacuation zone

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a reminder that this green and pleasant land has its ups and downs.

walk the structure

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walk the structure people.  don’t run

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shoe tree

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new zealand – the land of the free (toast)

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