Public Address | Cafe | Southerly: Village People

Steve Barnes

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:26:26 +1300

See, I’m down with the 10yos.

Yo, you seem like a fun guy.
Now that was creepy, all that with the musick of Elton John.
Saying no more.

nzlemming

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:06:01 +1300

Your links even scare Chuck Norris (but not Piri Weepu)

Lilith __

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 18:17:23 +1300

[double post]

Lilith __

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 18:16:47 +1300

That was scary for a bit there

My links scare you before you even look. Win!

JacksonP

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 16:05:01 +1300

I now wish to see that film

You are a braver man than I. ;-)

That was scary for a bit there, until I clicked on the link and it was like 'yeah, my kids would totally love that'.

See, I'm down with the 10yos.

Lilith __

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 15:15:53 +1300

I now wish to see that film

You are a braver man than I. ;-)

nzlemming

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 12:42:39 +1300

I now wish to see that film. Damn you, madam. Damn you to heck.

Lilith __

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:24:44 +1300

I’m having a hard time thinking of inappropriate things to do with gnomes.

It’s for people like you the internet was invented! ;-)

PS I’m pretty sure this counts. [Don’t watch unless you have some brain bleach handy.]

Joe Wylie

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:41:12 +1300

WTF?? Didn't think we were quite in Dear Leader territory....
Presumably that's what art and design schools do these days – turn out people who are guaranteed to make the world safe for their event manager overlords.

Anyway, the convergence between Weta Workshop's let's-not-frighten-the-chooks industrial style and that of Pyonyang's…

linger

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:46:39 +1300

... that's why they're called effigies ...

JacksonP

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:22:13 +1300

“The gnomes had to go away at night and be locked up, not left on site, in case someone stole them and did inappropriate things with them.”
Could they be a bit more specific? I'm having a hard time thinking of innopropriate things to do with gnomes.

merc

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:15:42 +1300

All effigies must be pre-approved.

Lilith __

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:07:17 +1300

"We had to provide an image of them before they would sign off on the green wall going in the gardens, and my understanding is that they went through the Christchurch City Council and CERA to approve the whole lot."

Security was also required. "The gnomes had to go away…

Joe Wylie

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:39:23 +1300

"Designer Craig Pocock says the Botanic Gardens where the festival is being staged was a bit nervous about the political gnomes "

The merest whiff of controversy is enough to send those Botanic Gardens smurfs into rapid underwear-changing mode.

Kumara Republic

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:06:47 +1300

Gnome Earthquake Recovery Authority – tribute or trashing? You decide.

Lilith __

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:47:16 +1300

if we move to a rental in Christchurch, we can simply transfer our existing contents policy

You may want to check if that's conditional on zoning. I have just moved from green zone to white and was dismayed to find when I rang my insurance company (State) to advise my…

Sacha

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:53:03 +1300

I aspire to not say.

linger

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:42:28 +1300

you don't say :?)

Sacha

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:12:51 +1300

it wavers now and then, my resolve

nzlemming

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:07:46 +1300

Parker is pretty slow on the uptake

I thought your New Year's resolution was to quit restating the absolutely bloody obvious.

Joe Wylie

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:34:26 +1300

Like the Cheshire Cat, the smile is the last to go.
Thank you Gudrun Gisela

The Communicator of the Year is almost beyond parody these days. Despite his apparent role in the nobbling of ECAN and his supposedly being kept up to speed with the emergence of CERA, you really…

Sacha

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:28:06 +1300

Parker is pretty slow on the uptake if it has taken him this long to see where the power really lies.

Sacha

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:20:48 +1300

Lack of proper engagement with what's important and what will work – and not just Council but outside organisations who should know better by now. And neither pays the price.

Sofie Bribiesca

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:09:28 +1300

This is the same Council

Bob doesn't play with Gerry anymore. I can see this exploding.

Ian Dalziel

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:25:24 +1300

A disability advisor for the Christchurch City Council Cam Scott says there are no quick fixes to create universal accessibility and unfortunately that is making some people angry.
This is the same Council who held up consents for small businesses trying to get restarted in tiny premises who did not…

Stephen Judd

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:49:13 +1300

For the record, our current insurers (AMI) told me today that if we move to a rental in Christchurch, we can simply transfer our existing contents policy. So that’s good. But this is because I’m an existing customer. They also told me they are not writing any new business in…

Sacha

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:17:26 +1300

There's stuff-all point in just doing an audit after the build wihtout being involved in the planning and design processes all the way through. It also shows up the sad lack of understanding by disability groups about how to get progress in local government.

A disability advisor for the Christchurch…

Hilary Stace

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:03:03 +1300

Just came across this story about a new Christchurch recreation centre, named after a well-known disabled person who died a few years ago, which is not wheelchair accessible. But instead of apologising to them, the disabled critics are criticised.

TracyMac

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:07:37 +1300

I agree with the equivalence of dinosaurs and sprawl. We're putting pressure on our arable land as it is, with stupid irrigation schemes in Canterbury as a glaring example. If housing is designed WELL, not just thrown up by some mickey-mouse builder who can draw a few boxes on a…

Islander

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:29:28 +1300

Like, several million years ago (except for tuatara of course.)

Sacha

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:21:54 +1300

Not that there is anything inherently wrong with dinosaurs (in the right time and place).

Sacha

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:21:05 +1300

There is nothing inherently wrong with sprawl

It makes all infrastructure like water more expensive too, not just transport. Fairly allocating to developers the actual cost might see some more realistic decisions about the relative attractiveness of intensifaction. We might keep more productive land to grow food on rather than…

Ross Mason

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:11:28 +1300

There is nothing inherently wrong with sprawl. (Ha) But if your mode of transport is a car then miles and miles of converging traffic into a central point is the big problemo. But if Auckland's sprawl included transport corridors, – walking, cycling and rail / trams – then it works.…

merc

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:10:15 +1300

Really good point. And if you work for off-shore wages here, as I once did, you know we are protected by NZ employment laws, ay Mr Key.

Steve Barnes

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:12:04 +1300

escaping the crowded squalor as Charles Dickens wrote of.That’s a looong hangover. I think the mythology of escape from overcrowding has persisted, though. As if the poverty of Dickens’ time were a function of overcrowding alone,

There is more to this than has been mentioned.
There was this little thing…

merc

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:49:42 +1300

Contact have just put power charges up again.

Steve Barnes

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:37:31 +1300

You’re not the first to muse that Christchurch really needed the old Ministry of Works and its power to command resources. Many of the MoW’s old roles have become specialised and may be more suited now to contracted-in machinery like the big blue thing that added the lanes to the…

merc

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 15:18:28 +1300

Hehe the way the rate is struck is way better than any old poll tax...then there's those property valuations, non-transparency on tenders and spenders, LATE's and property development.
Our council is way past needing or wanting a poll tax, believe me.

Kumara Republic

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 14:08:37 +1300

Wonder how Rodney feels about the working dogs increased fees. Rodney, who wanted no part in Supershitty.

Nek minnit… poll tax.

Sacha

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 12:22:49 +1300

Buy Now Mallard

nice

Sofie Bribiesca

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 12:18:16 +1300

And our rates go up, along with the advice it will soon be a luxury to own a dog and if one can't afford house and dog rego increases one instantly becomes a criminal,
as one bright lady on C live last night said. Hulse last night says dog regos…

merc

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:53:33 +1300

Sadly, it is only the beginning, follow Highway 16, follow the money. Soon the areas in yellow in http://transportblog.co.nz/2012/02/25/council-chooses-sprawl/ will be re-zoned to accomodate land already being prepared, see http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/abtcit/cp/massey.asp
Rain apparently still follows the plow.

Sacha

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:45:23 +1300

There was significant official action against sprawl for the last decade in Auckland, fuelled by obvious disasters like the West's Massey suburb. Now being unpicked exactly as those who stand to make out like robbers from it wish.

merc

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:42:21 +1300

I was about to post that link. Sprawl was a deal done long ago. I lived out west when the true nature of urban development was displayed. Suffice to say land is the only game in town controlled by a very few, and they will have their way.
Auckland was…

Sacha

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:33:31 +1300

Apparently, land prices also dictate developers building the biggest house that local rules allow, to get maximum return.

The bigger picture of urban planning is playing out now with developers and the political right succeeding in lobbying for more lateral suburban sprawl where the true costs are put onto everyone…

merc

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:19:52 +1300

I watch Time Team on telly. For me our councils, our urban development may be traced back to the time the Romans invaded what is called Britain.
Certainly our councils, and water boards and so forth have direct antecedents in Britain, including the ward system. Then I think of the…

Kumara Republic

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 10:42:16 +1300

I also think that the modern tendency to build a house almost to the outer limits of the available land area is nuts. What happened to the idea of having outdoor space? Why build these enormous houses on relatively small sections?

Probably because it means speculators laugh all the way…

Sacha

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 10:14:18 +1300

Transportblog has addressed differences in our historic housing patterns with some great aerial shots to illustrate, from Freemans Bay and Dannemora. Worth a look. And another recent article.

Tamsin6

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 04:34:25 +1300

I don't entirely disagree with thinking about attachment to the land, but how do you explain the strongly held (at least in district plans) attachment to entirely detached dwellings, even at the point that this frequently means a pointless an unusable strip of land between houses that is home to…

merc

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:43:00 +1300

Imagine...if we could share power reticulation, communal areas, had water savings in place, grey water collection, an actual real stormwater system, proper sewerage, collection recycling that the council didn't consider as their property, public transport...oh dear, must stop.

BenWilson

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:08:09 +1300

Sacha

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:04:39 +1300

standard landbanking behaviour that has screwed the Auckland region for decades

Hebe

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:42:29 +1300

Bob Hope's method of getting rich: Buy land on the edge of town and wait.

merc

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:18:58 +1300

The sad truth is that when you first cut up your farm it is cheaper to parcel in say 1500 square metre sections (you will need to get on the council to be able to do this).
It's only later when the serfs have to live in your town to…

Sacha

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:14:08 +1300

a masochistic relationship to drafts from all sides?

merc

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:19:06 +1300

I blame Masport ;-)

James Green

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:12:48 +1300

That's a looong hangover. I think the mythology of escape from overcrowding has persisted, though.

BenWilson

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:28:33 +1300

In NZ’s case, I wonder if it’s a lingering hangover from Wakefield’s New Zealand Company, escaping the crowded squalor as Charles Dickens wrote of.

That's a looong hangover. I think the mythology of escape from overcrowding has persisted, though. As if the poverty of Dickens' time were a function of…

Sacha

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:23:02 +1300

..and better weather

Fooman

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:36:25 +1300

Oooh, do you have a recipe for your 'everything free' cake? First daughter and possibly second son has similar allergies (although not soy, strangely/luckily) and that cake looks delish.

Look up recipies for Crazy Cake, if you haven't already done so. One of our son's friends was gluten/egg/dairy intolerant, and…

Kumara Republic

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:11:37 +1300

What’s up with “high rise hell”? I can’t actually see anything inherently wrong with high rise living at all – it suits a lot of people.

Indeed. Quakes haven’t stopped the Japanese or San Franciscans from living in apartments.
But in NZ this considered to be slumming. Our social attitudes…

StepDoh

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:59:02 +1300

Oooh, do you have a recipe for your 'everything free' cake? First daughter and possibly second son has similar allergies (although not soy, strangely/luckily) and that cake looks delish.

James Green

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:01:23 +1300

I had no idea that parts of Canberra were like that. Although my quick googling suggests these areas were centrally designed, and around the same era as Twizel. I'd just compare it to other suburban development in New Zealand, with the same type of density, but where it's impossible to…

Deborah

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:17:28 +1300

I used to live in Kaleen in Canberra, just one suburb over from your neck of the woods, Aidan, and it was brilliant for cycling. I could get all the way down to the ANU riding on bike paths all the way, bar the 50 metres it took me to get…

Aidan

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:23:08 +1300

I know I’ve said this at length elsewhere, but there really is a lot to commend in terms of the layout of Twizel. A town deliberately engineered so that walking or biking was enormously more direct than travelling by car. This was principally achieved by having all the roads in…

BenWilson

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:03:07 +1300

I guess my ideal would be something like this and the developers' triumphalism at seemingly winning the density battle in the Auckland spatial plan worries me as a sign of things to come in Christchurch.

It does. What's up with "high rise hell"? I can't actually see anything inherently wrong…

BenWilson

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:33:59 +1300

I worry that it's easier to go and find your own little cave these days, than to learn to co-exist with your close neighbour.

It sure is, these days. I'd love a pocket neighborhood on my street – there's so many kids here, but no really viable place to just…

JLM

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:13:07 +1300

I worry that it’s easier to go and find your own little cave these days, than to learn to co-exist with your close neighbour.

By "your" I meant "our" of course, the generic kiwi person alone response, though typified by my husband which is why we now live happily in…

JLM

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:47:02 +1300

I'm trying to work out why I find your picture so appealing, David, and have decided that it's a sort of faux nostalgia I have to guard against. Faux because I now live on an acre two km from a village centre, with a horse paddock in front, and a…

Hebe

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:05:46 +1300

the shot my parents have.My family archive has lots and lots from 1961 on at Benmore (when Dad got the Voigtlander camera). Heavy machinery which make Twinkletoes the demolisher look like Lego, and he photographed them all, lovingly. There's a particularly fine slide of my mother standing next to the…

James Green

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:37:47 +1300

But imagine how Christchurch might have used the men and machines from our great public works projects.

Every Christmas, before they knocked off, MoW staff used to line all their machines up in a massed display of strength. My parents have a photograph of it somewhere, and it is a…

Ross Mason

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:16:52 +1300

Ministry Of Works instantly triggered the song. With VERY sincere apologies to One Man and His Dog.

MOW

Jerry and his bods, want to MOW the town down ( rpt)

John Boy came along, wants to MOW the town down (rpt etc)

CERA came along, wants to MOW the town…

Tamsin6

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:40:54 +1300

Hah! That's why I'm resisting going to the village: I spent my first seven years in another dam town, Otematata.

Ahhh – all kinds of memories of Otematata (and Omarama) from sailing holidays at Benmore long, long ago. And Hakataramea and Kurow for that matter.

You're not the first to…

Russell Brown

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:38:41 +1300

Damn; I had a sandpit full of Euclids, scrapers and cranes as a girl.

Heh. Fair call.

Hebe

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:24:53 +1300

the men and machines from our great public works projects.Damn; I had a sandpit full of Euclids, scrapers and cranes as a girl.

Russell Brown

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:57:25 +1300

I was going to suggest that what Christchurch needs is not CERA, but MW, with their army of yellow trucks and diggers, and whatever faceless bureaucrat looked to Scandinavia for urban planning and insulation.

You're not the first to muse that Christchurch really needed the old Ministry of Works and…

Hebe

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:49:53 +1300

It reminds me of the early days of Twizel (but with trees). Hah! That's why I'm resisting going to the village: I spent my first seven years in another dam town, Otematata.

James Green

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:37:04 +1300

It reminds me of the early days of Twizel (but with trees). Rows of uniform houses, no footpaths ... perhaps it was cooked up by some hangover of the Ministry of Works. I was going to suggest that what Christchurch needs is not CERA, but MW, with their army of…

linger

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:21:07 +1300

insurance against theft was unobtainable. WTF
it’s pretty hard for them to justify that one, surely. * points to the (government-sanctioned) corporate looting *
… looking at the likely premium levels, it could get recursive, too.

David Haywood

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:06:56 +1300

Many thanks for all the kind birthday messages! Things are going well at the earthquake village (no resemblance to a Stalag at all); Bob has already joined the local scooter gang.

Perhaps being a gang-member has given him a bad attitude as I'm still trying to get him to sleep.…

Hebe

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:47:22 +1300

Happy yesterday. Your pictures almost resign me to Stalag Linwood.

Sacha

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:20:19 +1300

Surely at this point we could all agree that there is no free-market solution to this problem.

insisting otherwise is beyond stupid – it's downright insulting.

Gregor Ronald

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:19:33 +1300

Happy birthday David – you share the day with our daughter Alice, who's 29 today. I hope the stay in Butlins isn't a long one, it could lose its charm fairly quickly. Happy house moving!

Sacha

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:44:32 +1300

I hadn't realised insurance against theft was unobtainable. WTF

it's pretty hard for them to justify that one, surely.

chris

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:44:32 +1300

I'm a bit of a mess today, but that image has cheered me right up.

Likewise, I was laughing at David's comic brilliance until I choked up my denial of all that's happened there. Sending my love to you and Jen and Bob, David and everyone else there and thereabouts.…

Jolisa

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:33:58 +1300

PS I know you just say these things to get attention, so I'm giving it to you in the form of a giant, inescapable virtual hug and a promise of hospitality ANY time you guys are in Auckland. It's the very, very least we can do.

Jolisa

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:33:01 +1300

My biggest consolation in terms of birthdays is that no matter how old I get I will always be three months younger than Jolisa Gracewood.

Whippersnapper!

Seriously, dude: if I could somehow swap the seriously crappy bits of the last year (+ your unhappy move), for the wonderful bits of…

Stephen Judd

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:23:03 +1300

You say it’s not for economic reasons, so I’m guessing it’s for the cycling.

The Beloved wishes to return to her ancestral homeland and be among her people. I'm not sure here and today is the right place to list all the positive reasons I have for moving to Chch,…

Sofie Bribiesca

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:10:24 +1300

The child in the street on a scooter, particularly.

Is that Bob?

Deborah

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:54:09 +1300

Who would come to Christchurch under such conditions?

Well, we would, and we are...

I saw how you cunningly slipped that into the conversation, @Stephen Judd. You say it's not for economic reasons, so I'm guessing it's for the cycling.

BenWilson

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:47:52 +1300

For various reasons, I'm a bit of a mess today, but that image has cheered me right up.

Me too, on both counts.

Edit: The child in the street on a scooter, particularly. When I was little, that was how we met most of the local kids. Seems like some…

Russell Brown

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:37:23 +1300

Happy birthday, David.

The temporary earthquake village looks very sociable. No doubt soon you will be found hanging over a back fence and sharing a quick ciggie with your neighbours while you share stories of the year that has passed

For various reasons, I'm a bit of a mess today,…

Stephen Judd

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:15:31 +1300

But the long-term recovery aspects (planning and regulation and large-scale rebuilding) seem as far away as ever. How can you expect the recovery of a city when one of the conditions imposed by the insurance companies for rebuilding is that insurance will be cancelled – thus instantly placing the owners…

BenWilson

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:05:18 +1300

Happy Birthday David. Thank you for your stories, when you've had time to give them. They're always strangely cheering, even when they're full of bad news. It's real life, the bitter with the sweet.

In the long run, I doubt excessive hugging during this time will be held against you.…

Lilith __

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:00:32 +1300

David, Happy Birthday for yesterday and I’m so pleased you’re all comfortably in the Earthquake Village! They started building that in the aftermath of the disastrous Emergency Caravan Park which attracted only one resident, and some were sceptical that it would be used, but there you are! Best of luck…

Bart Janssen

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:46:34 +1300

The main street

I know it's just association with the power ad that comes up next to your post but I can't help expecting to see a Dalek coming down the nice smooth and step free street. Please make sure you have some spray paint handy to block their eye…

Bart Janssen

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:38:04 +1300

and the small person responsible for making the recipe so damned difficult

I love the "who me?" look of sweet innocence on her face.

Emma Hart

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:27:50 +1300

How can you expect the recovery of a city when one of the conditions imposed by the insurance companies for rebuilding is that insurance will be cancelled — thus instantly placing the owners of the homes or buildings in breach of their mortgage conditions?

This, this more than anything. Surely…

Conrad Heine

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:19:41 +1300

When you do get there, there will be a there there, to paraphrase someone. Very best birthday wishes from London (where it is still the 21st) – I'm eating a Shrove pancake for you, and for Christchurch, and thinking of you all.

nzlemming

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:00:12 +1300

Happy Birthday, Doctor President-for-Life Haywood! It has certainly been a big year for you and yours. Once you get to the new place, some rest and recuperation will be mandatory.

One way to get around the *-free issue, is to bake 2 cakes – a big one for the ordinary…

Deborah

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:15:02 +1300

Happy birthday, David.

Why are you hugging us so hard, Daddy?

Since my…

Sofie Bribiesca

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:37:15 +1300

My biggest consolation in terms of birthdays is that no matter how old I get I will always be three months younger than Jolisa Gracewood.

Excellent. Happy birthday and forever ahead on your new land with your family.Now that the day is closely related to other things, join us Mexicans…

David Haywood

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:21:49 +1300

Many thanks for the birthday wishes people! (on the 21st)

My biggest consolation in terms of birthdays is that no matter how old I get I will always be three months younger than Jolisa Gracewood.

My biggest non-consolation is that Jolisa looks about 20 years younger than me. The smug…

Megan Wegan

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:14:38 +1300

I grew up playing in that park, and walking through it to get to school. I still remember when Eastgate was shiny and new – and still called Linwood mall.

I hope your children can find some of the fun I had there.

And happy birthday!

On a completely unrelated…

Sacha

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:11:02 +1300

"Why are you hugging us so hard, Daddy?"
Way with words, sir. And happy birthday, as I suspect you may not hear that enough today.

Geoff Lealand

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:37:02 +1300

Indulge yourself today, David. You richly deserve it.

Your 'vilage' reminds me a bit of the cluster of baches at Urenui Beach in North Taranaki but at least you don't have loud speakers on every corner.

With so many ingredients missing from that cake I hope you didn't have make…

Gee

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:11:05 +1300

It's hard hearing 'you'll get there' when 'there' is so far away, I know. Here's to getting through each short-term goal. And happy birthday.

Jackie Clark

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:16:02 +1300

All anyone can do, in the end, is focus on looking after their family, and themselves, David. It's enough. It's more than enough.

Islander

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:19:26 +1300

Very happy birthday David – and many happy returns!
As for your daughter – despite allergies – she looks very well – thriving!
Well done, you all – and you all *will* get to where you all want to be, a sustaining
quieter earth place, one that doesnt rollick, or…

Public Address

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:19:26 +1300

Discussion from blog post.