19 posts tagged “kilbirnie”

They no longer look this nice, thanks to some strong winds on Sunday. But they grew to a beautiful size, considerably larger than last summer’s.

While it was a fine day today, it rained last week and this rainbow resulted.

Today was glorious: a chilly, cloudless day in Wellington.

After today, I count eight red-light runners in Kilbirnie alone for this week. What gives? Has the law in New Zealand changed so that red lights are now advisory as they are in Beijing and New Delhi?
   Oh, in terms of race, of these eight I counted four Caucasians and one Polynesian; the others I didn’t notice because I was too busy braking or tooting my horn.
   I know there’s a proposal in Wellington for red light cameras. Are some stunt drivers being paid to drive SUVs and vans (as many of these runners are large vehicles) to make us accept that there’s a need for them?
   A word of warning to those who run red lights: if I have a green and I judge that the gap allows me to proceed safely, I’m going—and you should learn to stop on a red. One Mercedes ML driver last Wednesday learned that the hard way, but think of that as a test of your ABS.

I saw this in Kilbirnie. I do not know the person putting the ad up but if this missing watch means that much to them, I thought there was no harm posting it to get a few extra eyeballs.

The cloudless view outside my office about 10 minutes ago. I have got to take my hat off to digital photography for these of-the-moment blogging shots. Temperature: 26°C, around 77°F, I believe.

That autumn weather is coming in. I had to wear a scarf today. Here’s what the clouds were doing to the north yesterday: to the naked eye they almost looked CGIed in the scene. Doug, our photographer who was visiting us, called them ‘doom clouds’.

His Excellency George Fergusson, the British High Commissioner and a fellow alumnus of St Mark’s Church School, did respond to my letter about the status of my Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card—which is far better than one of his predecessors, who ignored me outright when I had a complaint back in 2001.
   It only took a month to get here from the High Commission—which is about an hour’s walk from here—thanks to goofs in the postal system.
   First up, the envelope was misaddressed, to PO Box 14-168 and not 14-368.
   The first postmark, from what I can make out, was February 10. It arrived at box 14-168 and the boxholder wrote, ‘Not @ 14168’, crossing out the incorrect address.
   Sadly, it returned to that box after February 16, the second postmark. The boxholder decided that if the post office could not sort things out, (s)he would. (S)he opened the letter, possibly to find if the address inside was correct (it wasn’t), then Googled me and got the correct information from our website.
   (S)he wrote a Post-It note apologizing for opening it and explaining the circumstances, then re-sealed the envelope and clearly wrote the correct details.
   Sadly, it has taken the post office another two weeks before it arrived March 5.
   I have written to the person at 14-168 to thank him or her for taking the initiative, especially when administrative gaffes made the initial error, then a post office that is probably so automated that, without the human element, keeps making mistakes with its multi-million-dollar mail sorting system.
   The problem is I have put the thank-you note into the post. Do you think it will get there?

   The blog post could end there, but here’s another thing: anyone spot what is wrong with the envelope above (obviously apart from the errors already detailed)?
   No, it’s not the use of Arial (which is sort of a crime with the Font Police) and that in my world, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office should use Times (which it did for many years—Times New Roman is almost as associated with it as with The Times).
   Verso, the Dieu et Mon Droit seal is present, but where’s OHMS on the front? And when did that disappear?
   I remember when my documents were returned in the 1990s for my passport, it was still OHMS; I do not know in 2006 when it was renewed as I went to the Commission to collect it.
   Last time I looked, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office was still on Her Majesty’s Service, much like James Bond.
   Maybe things are different under ol’ Gordon.

I have called Fairfax about this. I have called Fairfax’s distributors (PMP) about this. For goodness’ sake: either put my papers in the letterbox or tube, or chuck them over the fence. Are you people such goddamn wimps that you can’t even do a proper overarm throw on to the property?
   Legally, I do not need to do a thing about this. I have made multiple calls to two of the companies concerned, and I think the Council should fine them for littering.
   PMP is a joke, anyway. I have been calling the number printed on the front page of The Wellingtonian since last year (910-2100) and the voice says I can leave a message. Sorry, I cannot. The outgoing message goes round and round, non-stop, and there is never a beep telling me I can start recording.
   No one has ever picked up the newspaper’s line—guess no one works there after hours—and I have left several messages.
   I imagine these two companies are not alone. One of the papers looks like APN’s City Life, and I guess they have another distributor who is also too lazy to come down the path and deliver it and has particularly wimpy, loose-armed staff. Maybe the Irish bosses give complimentary Guinness each week and the distributor is too squiffy?
   At the end of the week I give it a tidy-up and dispose of their mess.

The sky was cloudless a few days ago: