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Sunday, November 24, 2013

The Time is Nigh

It will soon be three years since I made the move to Petone. Three wonderful years, in a lovely wee house. The previous owners had left everything neat and tidy - very, very neat and tidy. I can definitely recommend buying a house from obsessive-compulsives. The house was spotless on settlement day and the quality of the finishes throughout were pristine. The walls bore just a few hooks from the previous minimalist decoration style, which were easily used. Cautiously since then I have added more and more to the walls, but shied away from making permanent marks by using those 3M Command Adhesive hooks. Today I arrived home with two lovely new pictures.


I've always loved the cupids, and these are in particularly gorgeous oak frames. Now the good folk at 3M, while happy to give a recommended weight for the capacity of each type of hook, do add a wee disclaimer and caution one not to sleep beneath anything on their hooks least they fall and concuss you in the night. For this reason I have been reluctant to hang up my most treasured of items, in case they come crashing down. Only the sweet duo ...


... and my single seagull have made it onto the walls.


I was similarly worried today about 3M's ability to look after my new cupids, so I did something I have not done in such a long time. I got the hammer and I whacked in with nails. God, it felt good! The real me was finally unleashed once more. My respect for the sanctity of my smooth walls is over. The other sixty ducks are once again going to fly as they flew before, and I shall truly, truly have made this place home.





Saturday, November 16, 2013

Friends and Acquaintanes

Over the years, I have met many, many personalities through work. Some have become dear friends, still an important part of my life long after we stopped working together. Almost all were lots of fun to work with. And then there are those very few who could only be described as colleagues - you brush along because you have to. I currently am obliged to work closely with one of the latter. His name is HP.
He really is a surly control freak. You know the sort. Always has to be right, and incredibly petty - cunningly choosing the best possible time to be the most annoying. He sneakily changes organise to organize behind my back. We plan a lovely presentation for a lesson together, he refuses to open it at the given time. Just yesterday, I was well advanced in the writing of a report. He decides to do a systems update. No 'May I?" Oh, no. He just closes everything down and slowly ambles his way through the 23 items he only updated a couple of days ago. And where is my report when he decides he could do a little work again? "You should have saved it" he says. Well, I would have if he had bothered to mention he was going to close down - but of course he never does. He's so unpleasant I refuse to invite him home. This is a point of contention. "I have a carry case, you need me and you know it!" he says. But I have learned from past experience that it's never a case of 'he ain't heavy, he's my brother'. He's incredibly heavy for his size and takes all the fun out of my walk to school. I've told him he won't miss out on anything I do at home, I'll bring it in on a USB to share. His response is the cold shoulder, he simply refuses to recognise the USB. After a day together it's a relief to get home to the sanity of true friends.


Desktop and I have been good friends for a long time now. He picks up a lot of the slack from my poor relationship with HP. He never fusses, just gets on with the job of processing photos and updating the class website - tasks HP goes out of his way to make near impossible. We have a lot in common and get together to watch DVDs and catch up on Coronation Street. There's nothing we like better that singing along to our favourite YouTube videos of quality 60s and 70s music. We share similar eclectic tastes in comedy clips, too. We're both into oak furniture, and Desktop would no more sit on an MDF computer desk than fly to the moon. Recently we've had a new addition to the family. Desktop is cool with it all, no jealousy or resentment that we don't spend quite as much time together anymore. 


My new friend Mini and I are just so made for each other. She's into pink and blue accessories just like me. She'll go anywhere I suggest at the drop of a hat. We play Candy Crush, surf the net, take photos, Skype, visit Facebook - you name it. Mini even collects my library books and has them ready for me to read, any font, any text size. She likes to be close at hand, so I let her sleep on the bed next to me. Sometimes she sneaks into my handbag, but she's light as a feather so I hardly know she's there. Even though we haven't known each other long, I just know we'll be there for each other for ever and ever. 




Sunday, November 10, 2013

A Little Culture


It's who you know. Which is how I got an invitation from the Singapore High Commission to attend the reception to open the ASEAN Film Festival on Saturday. 


That's the High Commissioner himself delivering his speech. The catering was excellent, and the people hospitable and friendly. I met the Philippine ambassador and consuls, which made me realise I had no idea why some countries have high commissions and others have embassies. Apparently it's all about whether the country concerned is a Commonwealth country. As far as I can work out New Zealand has a high commission when in another Commonwealth country, but an embassy in others. Anyway, it was a pleasant gathering and the films on offer looked interesting.


I saw Sandcastle on Saturday, and Four Sisters and a Wedding on Sunday. Sandcastle was excellent, and I learned a little about the history of Singapore. The second film was more of a comedy romp, from the Philippines - funny and entertaining. It was great to have the opportunity to see cinema from Asia - although the lovely Lighthouse shows lots of foreign language films they are all from European countries. And isn't it nice that it was a FILM festival, that word 'movie' didn't get a look in. The festival all took place at Te Papa, which is a place I always enjoy visiting. 

And so another weekend all too soon draws to a close . . .








Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Little Shop of Horrors

Some weeks ago now, I was in the New World supermarket in Thorndon with a friend. There was a large display of Little Shop accessories. For the uninitiated, Little Shop are wee replicas of grocery items that were given away with New World groceries - one for each $40 spent, I believe.


The friend's son was collecting these, and so we knew some of the accessories would add to his fun. There was the shop itself, a supermarket trolley, a cash register, scales and a wee tin for storing the collection.


My friend was pleased to see the display because the local Hutt store had run out of these items. She bought two, from memory a tin and a cash register, and the total was somewhere in the region of $11. On the way home she mentioned there was a lot of activity on TradeMe with people buying and selling Little Shop items. I checked when I got home, and sure enough it was going crazy. The same two items were listed as an auction, and had already reached $52. I considered going back, stocking up and making my fortune, but lethargy got in the way and by all accounts word soon got out that one supermarket still had accessories. By the next day all was gone. This did set me thinking, however. If people were so keen to buy Little Shop at inflated prices, then could all those stickers I was getting from Countdown, to buy cut price cutlery I didn't want, have any value? A check on TradeMe and definitely - yes!


A few of us are now clubbing together. The last sale of two sheets of stickers sold for $38. The current sheet is showing a lot of interest so far, and we have another ready to list. This is an amusing diversion, which is funding a few coffees along the way as we marvel at it all. And remember, it's not too late to spend a lot of money so you can save a lot of money to buy that lovely cutlery you didn't even know you wanted until Countdown told you you did. 


I really must watch Little Shop of Horrors again soon. It really is a great musical. In the meantime, enjoy the dentist scene!