Everything! Actually, we've got a few months to prepare, so nothing urgent, I'm just looking for general "moving back" information at this point, and this thread is the best I've come across.

play a symphony on the old heart strings

Beautifully put Chris. Thanks for sharing that link, it resonates.,,

Attacking the privilege of those who work and attend universities – and those who work and attend polytechnics and other tertiary institutions by default -…

I looked for that kind of information a while back, for an English relative who didn't end up leaving the UK (so what…

There's the problem right there – it worked. And with Labour so bereft of ideas and vision at the…

does my mortgage look fat in this anti-intellectualism?

Well from the perspective of learning to write confusing and ultimately pointless documents, no not at all.

And while I do get paid well enough now jeez I could have made much more money elsewhere, so yes wasted.

It's been fun though,…

All that science training wasn't wasted, then? :)

I can't recall the last time I've picked up north and south – it not being freely available online and all that. Should I?

If you are planning on using transformers bring a few US power strips and extension cords if you think you'll need them

While it is true that appliances will work on transformers you need to remember that it is a net loss of energy. Transformers get warm that tells you you are wasting energy. Also any…

That's more of the superman/Clark Kent, no one notices they are the same guy when he puts on the glasses thing .... when I suspect it's probably more of a latex mask or pod person sort of thing

Wow! What an electrifying web we weave.

No, but...

But at the risk of casting purls before twine
and other Aran nonsense from these fair isles
yew are opening a whole new canopy
with these stylish tree tops...

Perhaps they're the same person, Jekyll and Hyde fashion ;-)

one is apeing the other in the hopes of impressing? :)

Helen Clark has toned hers down since becoming UNDP Administrator.…

Our Illuminati lizard overlords occasionally have some difficulty with their skin suits. It can be difficult to fit their mandibles into a human jawline, and it affects operation of the voicebox.

Right then. Thought you might appreciate this tree (topical?) outside the aforementioned school. Yarn bombing in the burbs. We're a crafty bunch.

and Maori in New Zillund

I guess. It's interesting to note the influences of non-English tongues around the world – Yiddish in NYC for example.

Places like HK & SG are similar melting pots of languages and dialects.

I'm finding that putting the camera (accidentally or deliberately) in the hands of the younger members of the family is a great way to do this – they take pictures…

he does, you know :)

Bah! Bet you're the sort of guy who goes to a magic show and spends the entire time shouting 'it's up his sleeve!', 'the hat's got a false bottom!'.

I would have got away with it if it wasn't for…

It's a topiary knowledge, bro.

Fairenough and I see it won't be chance coincidence that said image is No.2 of…

Bonsai banzai...
Re the Williams F1 hedge...
I see this is called autopiary
and here's some gonzo topiary ...

Google image search. Try "car topiary" to get 204,000 results.

ah

I don't think it's the tones so much as the sounds retained in the Cantonese, Hokkien and related dialects, but lost in Mandarin, that are written as final -t, -k, -p, etc. The way they pronounce similar English…

I understand this, completely. Although I like rugby, I like noodles more. I should say something intelligent or witty, but I'm just happy to leave this…

Let's get it back on topic, then.

is that just retaining the rhythm of their own more intonation-based languages?

Marvellous

From your links, I think this is possibly the best car photo in the history of cars or photos.

Whoops, car jacked another thread. My bad.

But it's green. That must count for something.

And Ben, do you have to be so practical? In fact it's the kind of car the Southward Museum would love, so just get them to look after…

But that's the point of a car – you've got to drive it, even if only under controlled conditions, to demonstrate it's reality. Otherwise it's just a car-like sculpture – it could have an engine that doesn't work and wheels…

In Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, where English is a first language to many, I find it very hard to make myself understood at times, especially away from the urban centres.

And the West Pacific English dialect they…

I think someone on its planet of origin would miss it. Sayin. ;-)

That is the sort of car that someone not bothered by inflation would admire.
;-)

What did you make of Virginia Larson's editorial in the latest North and South?

I'd be flying it home. It does fly, right?

Yes, indeed. If it's got serious sentimental attachment, that would make it worth the bother. But don't do it for the money savings...chances are there won't be any and it's a bunch of hassle for nothing. If you've sunk hundreds or…

Snap-ish! Took me too long to write my post.

Was that because of language problems or culture shock? I don't mean to…

What happens on holiday, stays on holiday. That's all I'm saying. :)

I…

I used to play a similar game when travelling round Indonesia and strolling on the…

Depends how 'custom' (and therefore emotinally attached) it is.

I have a friend who brought his old matchless over in a container years ago, and still hasn't got round to putting it on the road, but he doesn't regret…

Hey, watch it there, young man!

That really is impressive. I am married to an Irishman and still struggle to tell a Kerryman from a Dub even,…

Miami vice

Thank goodness for the arrival of Macs Gold..

And Müller-Thurgau never really recovered from its association with the Equiticorp crowd.

This is scarily true. I still preferred wine cooler, though, preferably from a cask.

It was a very, very long time ago. I could've substituted Lion Brown or similar but not much else. A Steinie was the height of Kiwi sophistication then.

It was. Really.

No, the 1.2 million that they say were born in Ireland and are living abroad, which gives 18.8% comparing apples with apples. 80 million is 13 times the population of Ireland. It's an interesting number, sure, but you get that when you count everyone with any descent from…

Quite – the thing I find pleasurably disorientating about visiting Australia is that it's just similar enough not to go into full on culture shock…

Dropping in this wonderful photoessay, What are Young Chinese Thinking? because it deserves to be shared, and this is a slightly less arbitrary discussion than most.

Nice one George, thanks for posting that link. This might also interest you, photos taken by Chinese Uni students. Some of them are gold…

I lost the ability to understand much of New Zealand speech. In Australia. I'd have to struggle and strain often to…

Nah, that's just wrong, eh. :)

Heh – I do that, or things like it. Even after just a few months away the departure lounge on a flight to Auckland is mesmerizing.…

I'm quite intrigued by this. I – and I guess many others on here – come from an era when the gap between Australia and New Zealand was much clearer than it is…

I guess there is that. Brigid and I play a game on the train in Bangkok sometimes to kill a moment – you see an antipodean (they stand out strongly) and try to pick…

80 million?

Odd, I just sent myself a test message and got it. But anyway, thanks for that. I just didn't want to derail a thread that was going so well.

I'd still caveat that with leaving out the car or motorbike. I thought that way, but regretted it. There was a lot of unnecessary pissing around with a vehicle, where…

I would tend to agree with this. Particularly if you are going to have a shipping container in the first place. Might as well fill it, right?

But then I…

You did catch my mention of Ireland, right?

Really? Still? I would've expected the post-war ethnic cleansings of the Sudetenland and East Prussia to have…

From Jolisa's comments I guessed it might be that kind of house. That's why I, in my ridiculously overcomplicated…

Well growing up at a time where access to foreign exchange (and as a result travel) was very limited – when I left to…

I suspect that for those of us of a certain age the only way to experience any of the world was to leave NZ and go there. And since it was such a huge long trip anywhere from NZ we…

Surprise me with some numbers. I'm searching myself, but these are hard figures to come by.

And every Archie Bunker who emigrates to Queensland's…

And yet they tend to dominate the economies of large parts of the non-Chinese world. There are more Chinese as a pure number living elsewhere in the world by a huge margin.

I draw it at experience. Auckland is far closer to Sydney day to day than it is to – say – Gore. Which I think was part of the point of this thread.

Gore shares…

Like the North Island, the South's population is mainly urban. Rural/urban is a big cultural difference though, certainly.

Yup, and they're very different to Aucklanders in a lot of ways. There can be culture shock in attempting to fit in here, if…

Funny though, we have ours on a plastic wall hanger with photos of the children at the different ages. Never thought about it's utility in being portable. I imagine the process of transcribing the years from one piece of wood to another would generate it's own emotional cachet, particularly…

Certainly. It's an industry I don't know much about; always happy to learn more.

Yeah but is a copy the same as the actual piece of wood, emotionally?

I'd love to have this discussion in more detail one day with you Sacha. I don't seem to be choosing my…

Because that would be much easier than removing the door frame. My solution was much more complicated and expensive .

I welcome your collective wisdom and experience. Logistical, spiritual, frivolous, serious. What would you add to the to-do list of a homeward-bound…

The entire population of the South Island could fit into Auckland – it's still the same country. I'm not sure how that makes it an argument??

Australia shares an almost identical language…

to say nothing of Ireland..

You don't believe those ridiculous stories that there's another island down there, do you? Those mountains you see in the mist from Island Bay are just clouds. There's nothing there. Dragons and sea monsters, maybe. And then The Edge...

Talking out of a hole in my hat here, but I would be surprised if any number of small Pacific nations with significant expat populations in, er, New Zealand weren't ahead of us.

There are plenty of homebodies, of course. Travel is incredibly expensive for NZers. Which is what makes it such an amazing stat that over 1 million of us are abroad. As I recall that puts us at the top for proportion of…

That's all you had to say dude, and there's no need to tap your nose about it. I didn't know, now I do. What's the big secret?

In 140 characters or less? Jeepers, apart from that being more than 8 years ago, I think I'd have to write a book, which I'm pretty sure is beyond me. How does the New Zealand Government's evolving competence in supporting…

I have been debating how to continue this without it becoming uncomfortable for our host. I have met Jolisa. I stand by my comment. That…

How do you reckon NZ's evolving cultural competence affects that?

See, I don't think that is completely true.

Most New Zealanders didn't carry passports until they were required for travel to Australia, and whilst this forum – by nature of its demographic – is widely travelled I'm always astounded by the number of people I assume…

Before you do, you must read this from Nature. It may change your mind about topiary.

“Is your hedge trimmed in a strange shape? Call newsdesk on 020 7938 6000.”)

Dunno. The lights are always out. :-)

I don't think this will be a problem for Jolisa, just quietly.

Nah, I love it. Shunting off into discussions like this is what Public Address was invented for. Eh, Russell?

(As it says at the bottom of Recordari’s fine link: “Is your hedge trimmed in a strange shape? Call newsdesk…

re: conversation with folk who've spent time overseas:_ I never lived more than 6 weeks overseas, and that was hard (I dont uproot easily, and I really am happiest here in ANZ.) I am interested in other people's experiences but I get really easily uninterested…

I dunno, the Chinese (gross generalisation!) seem to have gotten through a lot of that, and are still under a fair bit of surveillance, with their natural curiosity and conversationality…

An ex-colleague extolled their virtues. Underground cathedrals she reckoned, the suppressed iconography seeping through, wooden escalators. Sounded amazing.

I have a USA Coat of Arms thingy from the front of a lectern. The one with the eagle and the…

Although it was hard…

I'm glad somebody likes hearing those stories, because last time – um, no, the only time I tried…

Among the more frustrating experiences on return will be estrangement from gossip. When you initially socialize outside close friends and family, you will be engaged in conversations about people you don’t know, which are of negligible interest…

You’d need a train for that, wouldn’t you? Toot toot!

ETA: Oh the puns, the puns! Avert your eyes.

Like Jolisa, I'm hedging my pets.

That is so going in my next seminar. And no, I do not want to derail this thread honest.

[if a tree falls in a forex...?]

(Via the excellent HedgeBritannia blog).

If yew build it, they will come (but yew will have to prune it carefully and regularly, viz. the Elephant Hedge at Rockingham Castle, for example).

A Yew Topiarian vision.

hence the GM. or some smart nanotech might help

I think you'd have more luck training a house to be a tree. No, I'm not kidding either.

But oh the humble tree house. Monkey Mansion is my favourite. Only $10,450! Or there's this.

The problem with growing…

Our wisteria is doing its best to make a sunroom of our deck, so there's a start.

One of the things I like to joke about when asked what I want to do is "I want to plant a seed and grow a house" ... only I'm not joking, I really want to see that…

Bah!

While we were in Arizona, each evening I'd set up the scope and look at something – often Jupiter and her/his moons. In auckland I tried to…