Posts by Jolisa
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Wow - this is why I shouldn't post just before I clock off for the night. And yet, it is exactly why I should post just before I clock off. Fantastic, honest feedback along every possible dimension. You guys are amazing.
Paul, I was counting on you to show up and tell me how it's done, right down to the Christmas ornament tip. You should write a book. Actually, we should write a book, or go into the resettlement advice business as per Sue's suggestion. (And ten years, really?? That went fast!)
Stuff-wise, my inclination is to bring everything (what we don't use we can sell at the other end, right?), but my fantasy is always to just travel, monk-like, with a pair of sandals and a begging bowl (or like Spike Milligan, with a toothbrush and a credit card). Somewhere in between is probably how it'll happen.
I wish I could bring that part of the doorframe, but it'd be a tricky thing to match and patch in a historic house. Plus, we're just one layer of history on this old house. But good advice for the record, for anyone else contemplating it: take the doorframe, take a photo, or start out with something more portable in the first place, like a bespoke yardstick.
Am telling myself that the real yardstick is the boys themselves, and they're all the evidence I need that growth has happened :-) I just can't shake the weird feeling that leaving here will also mean leaving the ghost of their respective childhoods behind, y'know? But by that token, my own child-ghost is still roaming the hills of the Hutt Valley, and I'm OK with that.
Again, thank you all for weighing in - will assimilate it and respond more later. The first of many farewell dinners is about to be served!
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Up Front: One, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
I am surprised no one has come up with a time travelling portaloo
But apparently somebody did!
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Am now looking forward (not) to a series of satirically titled Don Brash speeches, plundering the best lines from centuries of protest literature. "A spectre is haunting New Zealand"; "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your fiscal strategy", etc.
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P.S. Don Brash, I know you’re too busy to keep up with popular music the kids listen to these days, but I’m pretty sure the lyrics go “this land is your land, this land is my land”, not “this land is your land, so you can tell everyone else to fuck off”.
If the great Woody Guthrie hadn't been cremated and his ashes scattered off Coney Island, he'd be spinning in his grave. Even so, if I were Don Brash, I'd be cautious strolling the boardwalk, lest a Woody-nami rise up and sweep him out to sea.
Here's another of the less-frequently-sung original verses from that excellent song, which still rings true and timely:
In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me? -
Beautifully put, Emma. On Twitter you billed this piece as "a bit wrist-slashy", but personally I found it inspiringly bomb-throwy (if that's not a too, er, incendiary turn of phrase) on behalf of the people of Chch.
And to take everything this last couple of years has thrown at you, your family, your place, and still be standing, however wobbly-kneed? Staunch (she said, carefully avoiding the R word).
I'm still stupidly annoyed that the Feb 22 quake took away the chance to unleash some Great Blend love on the place, as well as an opportunity to check in with the city. But I'm looking forward to soon being within a grabaseat of being able to visit beloved friends, and to bear witness to the broken places, before it's too late.
Meantime, this modest reconstruction made me smile, but this picture is seriously doing my head in.
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Hard News: Is that it?, in reply to Ben McNicoll,
Now this last bit is where I jump the genetically engineered super shark into conspiracy:
Would the company town concept not make a profitable model for a service provider?
Company town, or sink estate?
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Lynley, thank you so much for these extraordinarily kind words. And thank you for joining here, in order to say them. I hope you'll stick around!
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Muse: NZIFF Rant: A Diva's Place Is On…, in reply to Sacha,
OK, you win :-)
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Muse: NZIFF Rant: A Diva's Place Is On…, in reply to Sacha,
Happy and glorious.
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Muse: NZIFF Rant: A Diva's Place Is On…, in reply to Emma Hart,
Wot, no PA Story drinking game?
But seriously, you'll have no trouble engaging the audience. Disengaging them, maybe.