RICHARD HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!*

 * Although, if he had I'd be thanking him for trying to stop holidaymakers coming north to  interrupt my peace and quiet.

The more observant of readers of The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ (which might qualify as an oxymoron) will notice that this post is brought to you by The Curmudgeon Express who hasn't posted for years (the idle bastard - ed).

This is because a pedantic old ex-schoolteacher gets off (creakily no doubt) his high horse to croak "filler!" when any member of The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ posts a short post.

In the interests of full disclosure though The Curmudgeon wants to tell you that he actually forgot about me given that he has so many other Curmudgeon blogs to manage. He said to say "mea culpa" - probably an auntie of his.

Anyhoo - here's what I wanted to tell you:

A BRIDGE BUT NOT TOO FAR

It speaks for itself really.

Have a good weekend (at your own place hopefully).

LIKE MATRYOSHKA DOLLS

 

I purchased a kitchen mixer repair set on-line from Bunnings.

It arrived yesterday in this box:

The set I ordered is very small and 50 or maybe a hundred could have fitted in that box:

The part I wanted is a small horseshoe washer:

This is to anchor the kitchen tap mixer where the old washer has disintegrated.

I went to Bunnings, Mitre 10, Plumber's World and other trade stores but was unable to buy a single washer. The kit that I eventually bought from Bunnings on-line cost $23. The same kit at Plumber's World, after a trade discount that the embarrassed salesman offered, was $70. I only need the little washer not the whole kit but relented and paid the $23. 

Somewhere in the word is a factory pumping out millions of these washers that are sitting in boxes on shelves in their warehouse.

Go figure.

LOOK-ALIKES

 Have you ever wondered if there's a doppelgänger out there for you?

Well, Richard doesn't need to wonder as he's got at least two (one now dead) in New Zealand plus that trombonist somewhere.

Richard

Robert Muldoon

Chris Luxon

Max Collie

CANTO III

Level-2 could move to level-1 soon. I'm not happy with either of these and would prefer we moved back to Level-3. The rush to shops, bars and entertainment spots when we moved to Level-2, and the assumption by people that it's OK to forget about the protocols that were in place, and observed, in the higher levels is worrying. If we don't watch out we'll be at death's door like the stupid Americans who've abandoned all sense and are congregating again.

When shopping I still wear disposable gloves, use hand sanitiser and have a mask in my bag or in the car so as to comply if asked. I was surprised yesterday that the hospital staff weren't wearing masks although they were actioning the distancing and sanitising rules.

COMMUNITY HUMOUR

This pic turned up on Parua Bay/Whangarei Heads Neighbourly site today.

It's great seeing people with a sense of humour to do this. I live in a nice area.

The background is that the Laundromat has been advertised as coming soon for may months and has been held up by some sort of council permit issue. It still hasn't opened.

ALAN

ALAN

I think our friend Alan is coming to visit soon from Scotland.

The Old Girl will call him to check if he will be here at New Year.

".... YOU UNDERSTAND NOW WHY YOU CAME THIS WAY".

CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH

After being dentisted by Mr Fang yesterday I was half expecting  that my cardio consultation would be with Dr Hart but no, it was Dr Lee. Dr Lee is also Chinese like Mr Fang. Both are very competent.

Dy Lee examined my ECG readings and history and suggested that continuation of the drug therapy is a good idea and that, to reset the continual arrhythmic heart beat (AF) an electric shock might work.
I asked him for a change in medication from beta blocker to calcium channel blocker which he agreed to. He said 'Good idea" and showed some surprise. I told him that my sister is a doctor and it was her suggestion.
I asked him about ablation which is a cardiac operation (by catheter) that corrects heart arrhythmia. He nodded and said that the waiting list is at least two years and that it was best to stick to the drug regimen. I then uttered the magic words: "What if I went Private?"

Dr Lee's eyes lit up and he said that he could recommend  a surgeon right now. I told him that we have southern Cross insurance and so he wrote down the name and number of the Auckland surgeon. He said that he would write a reference letter straight away and send it to him. The likelihood is an operation early next year.
He explained that the cardio ablation procedure costs over $50,000 and that the health service hasn't the funds to do many of them hence the long wait. Having waited seven months just to get this consultation I thought that his "at least two years" wait was probably an underestimation.

2:30 APPOINTMENT

Actually, I'm joking. It was a 10.30 appointment at the dentist but I thought that you readers would appreciate that old joke. You are old after all.


Now get this. It's true. My dentist who is Chinese has the surname PHANG. No kidding.
I've only just started going to this dental practice and know him by his first name but today read his surname.

I asked the receptionists how he pronounces his surname and they said 'FANG'
I said "Then becoming a dentist was a certainty then".

They laughed.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE CLOWNS GONE?*

* I don't mean blogging christians, politicians and those idiots who overtake without proper clearance - I know where they are.

No I mean these guys.

There used to be lots of fairs and circuses visiting Wellington when I was a kid something I assume was replicated all over New Zealand and the world. There must be thousands of sets of these sideshow ping-pong ball games in storage somewhere. I'd really like to have a set (although The Old Girl most likely has different ideas on the matter).

It's a shame to think that these are gathering dust somewhere in a dirty shed.

OOPS!

This will no doubt get Richard a bit worried:

And this:

He's obsessed with chairs tipping over on my deck. Maybe it'll take his mind off his guilt over drinking and upsetting Shelley or someone.


Actually it wasn't a wind-storm that blew the chairs over this time - it was me as I had to tip them over to get at wasp nests that the little bastard Asian paper wasps were building underneath them. I swear that ever since Richard got rid of his grapevines in Nuova Lazio that his wasps have made a waspline for the north.


Anyway, a big storm is coming so maybe I can report soon that the table has been upended.

LEOPARDS DON'T CHANGE THEIR SPOTS!

See here:  NAZIS STILL THERE


And Here:  LEOPARDS DON'T CHANGE THEIR SPOTS

AND SO IT HAPPENS

Yesterday a light plane crashed in Waihi due to a drone crashing through the windshield.

DRONE CAUSES PLANE TO CRASH

Two people are injured.

Imagine if this was the 777-200 flown by Air New Zealand that was almost hit by a drone recently. See here: DRONING ON AND ON

SUCKERS

Hi there folks. Sorry about being away so long but being an express version of The Curmudgeon, when I'm on holiday I do the opposite to the normal yearly grind as most people do so my holidays were naturally extended.

Anyway, onwards .... ha ha.

I don't know why I laughed there as I don't normally do the puns and jokes - no time you see.

I notice that The Curmudgeon has filled the gap a couple of times quickly getting out some short and pithy posts which are quite a change from his excessively rather long and boring entertaining ones.
Unfortunately that old grouch from Nuova Lazio got his (they're probably Shelley's) knickers in a twist and called the posts 'Fill-ins'. What a c... crazy old guy! I think that the relief teaching is getting to him.

**************

What I want to tell you in this post is that the DeLonghi dehumidifier we have is a godsend.

We've had this for well over twenty years and it performs marvelously. The Curmudgeon has mentioned before how older appliances seem to be much better made and more reliable than the modern disposable rubbish. I guess the old adage 'buy quality- buy well' is appropriate for household appliances and the longest lasting ones have always been the more expensive, better brands. Buying cheap is often false economy.

The DeLonghi sucks up moisture like a thirsty man in a desert. It's amazing how much moisture there is in the air especially with this 99% humidity we're having.

MAMIL

I discovered this blogger while trawling for something else.

I like his/her style.

Have a read of this post. I'm sure it'll appeal to Richard:

MAMIL

FAIRY PRINCESS .... OR ..... PRISSY FARCE

"In an interview with the BBC on Monday, Harry gushed that Princess Diana and the former "Suits" actress would be "thick as thieves, without question.""

Yes, well, I don't know about "thick as thieves" as Diana was more like 'thick as two short planks'

Wow! Blasphemy almost and the Dianaphiles out there will no doubt troll me but fact is fact. Diana Spenser was far from being the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Princess Diana ‘was really spiteful, really unkind’, Mountbatten sisters claim - Vanity Fair Feature

When I float the name of the late Princess of Wales by Lady Pamela, she initially offers a couple of positive remarks, then lowers the boom: “She had enormous charisma, she was beautiful, she was very good at empathy with the general crowd … and she had no feeling at all for her husband or his family. Quite the reverse!
“She was really spiteful, really unkind to him—and, my God, he’s a man who needs support and encouragement. [The marriage] absolutely destroyed him. He looked grey and ghost-like. Now of course he’s blossomed again.
“She made everybody believe she’d been thrown to the wolves. Such nonsense! She was given the Queen’s favorite lady-in-waiting, Sue Hussey, to help her, to teach her. But she didn’t want to be told anything. ‘That’s boring, Sue,’ she’d say. Instead, she wanted to listen to her music and go disco-ing or to some jive concert. She didn’t try. She had no need to try because she saw the people admired her, then they admired her more. She reckoned she was the star.”

It's all coming out now - I guess because her youngest son is about to marry and the whole royalty machine is gearing up for another PR onslaught so the anti-brigade have to respond.

As for me I think that they are all a bunch of inbred leeches and I always thought that Diana was a dumb simp.

I enjoy watching the comedy series The Windsors which send them up 'royally'

FAT, IRREVERENT, IRRELIGIOUS AND VERY FUNNY

I like Ricky Gervais. He's nicely self-effacing and unpretentious.

This is a great interview with Corbert:



RICKY GERVAIS STEPHEN CORBERT

UK CHRISTMAS

Look, just quickly - I don't have time for this rubbish but here's something to get you off my back.

UK CHRISTMAS

GETTING BACK INTO IT

I've been a bit more active today now that my knee is improving.
I played tennis first thing this morning and managed to last the whole session (on Tuesday I only managed an hour and a bit and was in pain afterwards).

After lunch I played lawn bowls for a couple of hours and then went for a swim.

I'm missing my walks but will give it a try this weekend when The Old Girl comes up. We have a great choice of walks around here, from the easy-on the-flat type through to the bush walks and the mountain walks. I'll start with the easy-on the-flat ones.

Getting better and back into it is a bit of a challenge and also a bit of a balancing act. The Old Girl forbade me playing tennis and golf after my accident a few weeks ago and I've generally followed her prohibition, only lying to her about my tennis today. The big problem is, as she's coming up tomorrow and staying until Tuesday, is in convincing her that I'm still too infirm to vacuum floors, clean windows, surfaces and bathrooms and generally need assistance in these areas.

BUSTED

As Secretary of THE CURMUDGEONS INCⓒ I must support the Chair THE CURMUDGEON in his recommendation to members to not take direct action against Angry Jesus, Baxter and the other members of The Bass Bagging Confederation.

I'm mad as hell about it though.

To what levels will this rag-tag bunch of has beens stoop to try to gain back readership and ratings?

Oh well, soon, as The Curmudgeon predicted some time ago the Bass Bag bus station will soon be just an abandoned hub.

See HERE

WHANGAREI LEADS AGAIN

New statistics have been released that show that in Whangarei 7665 milligrams of methamphetamine is used per week per 1000 people.

That's nearly four times the 1953 milligrams used in Christchurch. Auckland's use of methamphetamine is 2824 milligrams.

Testing of wastewater has shown this. Testing is only done in the 3 cities - Christchurch, Auckland and Whangarei. If Nuova Lazio was tested no doubt it would show a high incidence of Picosalax use.

**************************

I guess this explains the crazy drivers we have up here just like these idiots in this American video:

METH DRIVER