Posts by Paul Brislen
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Happy Birthday, Bob.
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I've got the adult-child pass (well, my daughter does) which has a picture of her on it so ANY ADULT can take her along to the zoo without either of them paying.
I'm a bit concerned about the potential for this, but I'll run with it.
So if anyone wants to get in for free I'll lend you a six year old who will drag you around past the otters (best! animal! eva!) beyond the tigers (AWOL, always AWOL) and through the Aussie part (no dingos) straight to see the white cockatiel called Captain who will a: talk to you and b: try to eat you if you let him.
Oh, and there's no water in the moat by the elephants - it's just empty. I thus cast doubt on your entire "taking the daughter to the zoo" post! Ha!
(Oh and get a full face helmet!)
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I loved reading "A Day with Wilbur Robinson" to my girls, and they loved the wacky pictures and the story ...
And somehow the movie they made of it ignored the fabulous art work, dumped the story line, changed the characters around and became, well, something else entirely.
This is not on.
Mind you, having said that, I much preferred Shrek the movie to Shrek the book. But that's just me.
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OK, I'm going to need a warning at the start of your posts from now on. I insist on it.
I think I would shatter into a million pieces if it was one of my girls.
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For those Aucklanders considering a scooter, I heartily recommend Retro Scooters. I've lost count of the number of times I've been in "bike" shops where they either refuse to talk to you because you're not looking at the latest green Kawasaki beast, or that simply don't know what they're talking about when it comes to things like helmets, gloves etc, or just treat you like shit because they can.
Retro Scooter were great. They took their time, the bike I originally wanted turned out to be HUGE so we talked turkey about other options and eventually Mike (good man that Mike) talked me down from the 250 to the 125 version of the bike I was looking at (I don't go on the motorway and he said the gearing was better on the 125 anyway for start/stop traffic).
No affiliation, just very happy to promote their name. They're online too.
Now all I need to do is find a better quality full face helmet that doesn't bend my glasses out of shape. Anyone got any recommendations?
Gloves are a MUST HAVE. I had a nice man crush my scooter like a bug by indicating right and turning left at the last minute into a new parking space. Without the gloves I'd still be picking bits of glass out of my palms I'm sure.
I do struggle with hot hands though so I have a pair of gloves I bought from Mitre10 (supposedly for chippies and the like but which they'll never wear) which are lighter weight and still have good solid protection. Ideal for summertime.
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I'm on to my third scooter now and I love it but you DO need a full face helmet because some GOOBER will try to kill you (it's mostly to preserve the dental records so they can identify your body without upsetting your mum, as I understand it).
Vespas, however, are for girls. I know this because I work in a building full of scooter riders (we park for free) and all the marketing girlies ride Vespas with open face helmets and no armour plating at all. There I am, struggling into the wet pants, the boots with the steel toe caps, the jacket with Kevlar elbow pads and the full face helmet and gauntlets and they flounce down to the basement in their summer dresses, jam on a crap hat and toot! toot! they're away.
Sorry, Damian. Someone had to tell you.
Parking is an issue though - I've had tickets for parking on the footpath which annoyed me. I asked a parking warden and he said so long as you park out of the flow of foot traffic you should be OK. However I did that and got another one which I'm arguing about.
Then there's the bus lane thing. Can scooters turn right where only buses can turn? What about that dodgy little bit of road by the central library that leads on to Queen Street and is verbotten to all but buses... am I a bus?
I'm getting my learner licence this Thursday (fingers crossed) so it's 125cc for me. And then I'll be dangerous.
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Will the last one out of The Listener please turn off the lights.
Oh, I see the lights are already dimming. Best of luck to those that are left.
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It has been a slow news day for about a week now... quite odd really.
I do like motor racing, I do... but the Indy seems so very tedious. In the end I think it comes down to the drivers' ability to maintain their focus for 800 laps.
I did enjoy this week's Top Gear with the 24-hour endurance race. That was very interesting, although I have a sneaking suspicion that Prime is now trimming Top Gear to fit in the astonishing number of ad breaks they have. The previous week they started the show with talk of driving a new Aston Martin and the car simply didn't appear in the show at all. Now that's not cricket. To the Torrents!
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Is it just me or is the Indy Car thing so completely facile? Go straight, turn left, go go go, turn left, go go go...
surely that's how you decide who's very good at ... turning left?
(I'm not a Formula 1 fan either but I do enjoy rally driving)
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Erm, excuse my ignorance (many do, including me) but how are lift buttons handed at all... aren't they just, well, buttons?
My mother in law is a lefty and reports on being forced to write right handed at school, and having a tennis racquet strapped to her wrong hand presumably in an effort to wipe out the evil that is wrong-handedness.
I myself am cack-handed, as my grandmother put it. Using my knife in my left hand and fork in the right at dinner. She had a real thing about it, as I recall, pointing it out for all to see. Odd.