TYPIST-IN-CHARGE, Episode 17

 Hi there

TYPIST-IN-CHARGE, Education Department Head Office, Ground Floor and 1st floor typing rooms, Government Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand, 1974-1978 

The 1st floor typing work was different to work we had completed for officers on the ground floor.  This time there was a lot of typing re overseas teachers coming to New Zealand.  My readers may remember that there were not enough teachers at Wellington East Girls' College the year I sat School Certificate so I couldn't sit the three subjects that I was good at, and I was given the choice of sitting Art, or not sitting at all.  Well, it was the same during my time in the 1st floor typing room: New Zealand teachers were thin on the ground so the department had a recruitment drive for overseas teachers, especially those from Britain. Applicants were offered free travel to NZ, and a job at most any school the govt felt like sending them to.  We typed a lot of contracts telling such teachers that if they skipped out on the job, their surety (usually mum and dad or, sometimes even grandma) would be forced by the government to pay all fees associated with the move.  Bankruptcy much, I often wondered.

above: my typewriter rubber (if you're American, it's an eraser).  In the 70s, Mrs Rowley allowed typists to use Snopake paint on some things (but still no corrections allowed on the typing of mail from the Minister of Education.

If the collation part of the department's sole Gestetner duplicating machine was out of action, or there was a queue to use it, a typing pool would get a call from an officer to help with urgent collating.  Lining both sides of every corridor in Government Buildings were white-painted cupboards about chest-high.  If an officer needed 100 copies of 15 sheets of already typed and duplicated pages, the pages were lined up in order of pages 1-15 on top of the corridor cabinets. We 'girls' would traverse down the row picking up each page in order.  At line end we would staple our 15 pages together, then go back to the beginning again and gather up another 15 pages.  And another 15.  And so on.  Well, it was a change from typing..

School Publications Division was finally ordered to move into Government Buildings, much to the distress of the School Pubs workers.   They took up residence in the annex.  Prior to their arrival , they'd been a very free-wheeling crowd, not caring much about departmental rules (see an earlier TIC blog).  They brought their own typists with them.

NZ Playwright Roger Hall worked in School Pubs.  Rumour had it that the room number of the Stores Division in his most famous comedic play "Glide Time" (about a govt dept stores division) was the same as Stores Division's room number at Govt Bldgs;  I never did get around to checking up on that.

One morning in 1977, we were all working hard in the pool.

The door was flung open.  A man stood there in a rather theatrical pose.  Think of Doc Brown in the "Back to the Future" movies and you'll have a pretty good idea who this guy looked and acted like. 

All typing stopped.  We stared open-mouthed at the entrance.

"Which one of you delightful ladies is Lorraine?"  He waved the department's most recent staff newsletter in a grandiose gesture to the front of him, as if conducting an orchestra.

"Um...  Me?"  Why was I indecisive about my own name?

It turned out that he was the senior editor of the New Zealand School Journal, working out of School Publications.

He tapped at the newsletter.  "You write plays?   It says here that you wrote a 6-part radio sitcom series for Radio New Zealand?"

I nodded.

"Well, I want you to write for us.  Read some School Journals, familiarise yourself with the style of writing and here's my card - send me something.  It's good pay."

And  ... he left the room in a swirl, and a slam of the door.

We typists just sat there, staring at each other.

"What - What just happened...?"  I couldn't get my head around this guy and his request for me to write for something as great as the School Journal.  The School Journal went to every child at every school, in every class, in the whole country.  Each Journal contained stories, plays, non-fiction, and poems.  There were many journals per year, catering for different age groups.

No-nonsense Maureen said, "You'll take up the offer of course...."

"Well, I will have to try and write something.  And study the market.  And -  And -"

Newbie Helen squealed.  Oooh, you can do it!"  She sounded positive.  I wished I were as positive.

But...  Somehow I did write something.  That night, actually.  In 25 minutes .  And my first play for The New Zealand School Journal, "Elephant in the Garden", saw print in 1977.

l

above:  "Elephant in the Garden" (open above) was my first printed work for the School Journal. It was published in 1977.  And my last SJ writing - "Nothing Ever Happens", a poem printed in 2013 - is on the right.  You can see from the pile of School Journals that, wow, after "Elephant in the Garden" I had many Journal acceptances.  I was so blessed.

TYPIST-IN-CHARGE, Episode 11

Hi there

It was 1969.  I was Senior Typist (Display) at the Curriculum Development Unit of the Department of Education in Hobson Street, Thorndon,Wellington, Yippee, at last, I had my foot on the first rung of the typing graded position ladder.    

At the CDU, I typed all the yearly booklets, pamphlets, reports, exams that were needed for the secondary schools' syllabus.  

And I got a spanking new Selectric golfball typewriter, the only one in the department.  Scored!

above: not quite the model I worked on but this machine is showing a good view of the 'golfball'.

above: similar to the machine I had.

Please imagine a small metal ball with every alphabet letter and number that's on a general typing keyboard crammed around this ball.  The ball is clipped onto a fork in the basket of the typewriter.  And - bingo! - when a typist types, the ball rotates up into the air, fights its way through the inky ribbon, and miraculously finds the right letter/number to put on the page.

I could prise out this general golfball, and in its place slot in different  golfballs containing umlats, italics, symbols, or macrons.  There were other golfballs too, full of mathematical figures, foreign languages, fractions, and  scientific equations.  Frequently I used a golfball for just the one key strike.

The Maori language, full of macrons, was difficult to type on a golfball machine because every time I came to a letter that required a macron above it, I would have to change golfballs.  

And I wonder if anybody realises how many upside down question marks there are in a Spanish-language exam paper?  

My record for the highest amount of golfball changes in one line was seventeen.  I got blisters on my index finger.

The Curriculum Development Unit was in two separate buildings, a one minute walk away from each other.  At morning and afternoon tea time, the officers from the other building trekked over to my building, no 32.  Obviously it was to partake of Mrs Fraser's piping hot and freshly made scones, cakes, biscuits, and savouries.  I don't know how she fitted in time to type.  Um.   Well ...   She didn't much.

above: 1969.  In my memory this building was numbered 28 Hobson Street (corner of Hobson Crescent)

above: the building as it is now.  It seems to have a different street number from no. 28, the building I knew.  Actually, the only thing I truly recognise is the entrance arch.  At present, it's an apartment block. 

above: side view, 32 Hobson Street where I worked for the CDU.  (yes, yes I know I've shown you this building a couple of times before but, sigh, needs must...).  Photo taken from 'the other end' of Hobson Crescent.

above: modern day view. It's a house and nowadays is numbered 33 Hobson Street. ??

I would shoot between the two buildings quite a bit to ask a question about my typing (translation: when I couldn't read the writing).  I adored the old-fashioned architecture and layout that was inside no. 28 (?), with its beautiful wood-look, and all the nooks and crannys of the work spaces.  We had the entire building.

The directors at the Curriculum Development Unit weren't a bad crowd, except for the one who kept his hand on my mini-skirted thigh as I drove him to the railway station one evening.  

I never reported it ...  

I was too scared to rock the boat.

*** One of my four readers has told me that after  the CDU  building was the Curriculum Development Unit, it became a hostel.  And she stayed there!  Wow, great information...

New Plymouth Again

Hi there

I suddenly decided to go to New Plymouth for three nights, and was out of the house within 35 minutes.  Over the last few months I thought I'd lost the super-power of fast packing but, no, I had regained that power  -

Wait, no!  I forgot my hiking shoes.  And my going-to-town-and-posh-dining-in-restaurant shoes.  For the whole time away, I was in my scungy, scuffed shoes; the ones I drive in.  

I walked for hours (and hours) in New Plymouth, in just my old Skeechers court shoes, wearing the soles completely flat by the end of my short holiday .

I love New Plymouth's Coastal Walkway.  I walked it backward and forwards twice, walking from the port to the modern-looking walkway bridge  -

above:  from this end of the bridge, I could see Mt Taranaki (okay, I wasn't quite standing in the right place to get the mountain exactly framed in the middle of the span (missed the vista by this much).

above:  this is the other end of the bridge, with more of a view of the beautiful workmanship of the structure.

 

TYPIST IN CHARGE, episode 3

Hi there

Here's episode 3 of 'Typist in Charge', my typing years' bio that I'm supposed to write for you once a month but seem to be a bit neglectful over the timeline -

***

Mrs Parr sloshed into Typing Room 305, Education Department Head Office, Government Buildings, Wellington.  She looked like a drowned rat.  Her linen coat and once-smart figure-hugging dress clung around her like a bunch of wet washing.  Her peepy-toe shoes leaked droplets of water.  Her rainhat - one of those finger-length strips of plastic that miraculously unfolded into a bonnet that did up in a bow under the chin - was draped wetly across her forehead, dyed blonde curls snaked in the wet down to her nose.  She clutched a short tightly-rolled umbrella, the fold-up style that had only recently hit the market;  yes, the early 1960's was such a 'with-it' era.

"I hate-hate-hate fold-up umbrellas!"  Mrs Parr, near to retirement and this icon of well-known stability, actually stamped her feet.  Mrs Rowley, our Typist-in-Charge, tsk-tsked heavily as she noted the muddy footprints on the lino. Thank goodness footprints would wipe off, unlike the threepenny-piece sized gouges everywhere on the floor where the typists had walked in stiletto heels.

Elspeth and Evaline nodded solemnly, obviously glad they hadn't gone to town in the rain for their lunch.  Francie rushed to help Mrs Parr pull off her soaked-through coat.

Mariana, our whiz at anything mechanical, muttered that these new-style umbrellas were hopeless as nobody could open them.

"Except Lorraine..."  Mrs Rowley acknowledged me.  And trying my best to look humble I gave a demonstration on the proper and efficient way to open a folding umbrella without a half-closed canopy collapsing on one's head.  Or, as seemed to be the case with Mrs Parr,  how to work the catch to even open the darn contraption.  Trumphantly, I ended my demo without ripping my finger.  I was heartily applauded.

Yes, we 'girls' helped each other in many ways. I helped them in jobs like opening umbrellas, and the other typists helped me when I couldn't understand an officer's bad writing, spelling, or adding up.  As well, they enlightened me in The Ways of The World.  One evening about half a dozen of us younger typists went out for a meal.  The typists who were enlightened in The Ways of The World started talking about the four letter word.

Amy, a new typist, and she was a Salvation Army girl to boot, looked across at me in puzzlement.  I shrugged.  "What's a four letter word?" I asked.  I was 16 and prior to this conversation had truly thought I was conversant with The Ways of The World.

"Mmmm..."  Mariana's forehead creased as she was thinking.  Finally:  "It rhymes with 'duck'."

Nope.  Neither Amy nor I had a clue.  (...and back to the present for a moment:  in the supermarket the other day, I heard an under five-year-old spouting the word that, indeed, rhymes with 'duck'.  No-one batted an eyelid.)

One thing that the typists couldn't help me with was my typing.  I wasn't very good at it.  I just didn't have the patience to check my work.  If there was a long job, maybe twenty or more foolscap pages, I  could ask another typist to silently scan my finished typing whilst I read out loud to her from the writer's manuscript.  And yet, still, Mrs Rowley insisted that I hand all my finished typing to her for re-checking.  Much of it came back for retypes.  How did the woman put up with me?  Beats me.

***

Below: an exact google image of a 1960's rainhat

below.  A google image of an Imperial 66 typewriter from my era.

New Plymouth images

Hi there

 I came back yesterday from four nights in New Plymouth.  I really like New Plymouth.  I stay at the Belt Road Seaside Holiday Park in a small en suite cabin, and with the most magnificent view from the deck; I sat on the deck for hours, just watching the ocean.  I walked The Coastal Walkway every day and goodness I was tired by each day's end.  

I took three photos.  Interesting?  Disturbing?  

above: sculpture of four sitting nudes, with a gap between the third and fourth nude, leaving room for a person to sit and be photographed.  I saw a guy being photographed.  He was fondling a big and beautiful sculptured breast.

above:  something on the menu called a Sambo? 

above:  an Indian restaurant called "Arranged Marriage".  We have a campaign in the country at the moment trying to stop overseas arranged marriages of  child brides.

Tui in my Kowhai Tree

Hi there

When I bought my native kowhai from the gardening place about twenty years ago I was assured that it was a dwarf plant.  This hasn't really been the case.  The branches are up to my guttering and overhanging into my neightbours' property.

Now, for my two overseas readers, I must explain that the kowhai has the most beautiful yellow tubular-like flowers ever, and the New Zealand tui bird absolutely lives for gathering its nectar.  For the past week or so a tui has flitted backwards and forwards between a tv aerial on the house across the road and my kowhai bush.  The bird has been singing its little heart out with joy. Tuis   only come to my kowhai during flowering times, about once a year.

But, I had decided to chop some branches.  I didn't think I could wait until the tree stopped flowering in another week or two because the falling flowers were leaving a mess.

So I put on my hiking boots, rolled up the legs of my fleecy trouser pants, donned my thickest sweater, slipped on gardening gloves and, armed with two tree loppers, a rusty saw and some pruning shears, I marched across my muddy front lawn.  The tui was sitting on its usual aerial, singing away.

I was halfway through sawing my first branch when that darned bird dive-bombed me!

I guess I know what it's like.  If someone tried to block me from eating Bluff oysters in April and May, the only time of the year such oysters can be got, I would feel like dive-bombing someone too.

So it's one point to the tui, nil for Lorraine-who-doesn't-have-the-heart-to deprive an antsy little bird of his once a year treat.

above:  my kowhai tree, plus the aerial.  below, my tui

Americas Cup - we got it!

Hi there

There are millions of people on this earth who have never heard of the Americas Cup, including millions in America who don't even think about yachts.  The Americas Cup Is officially the oldest sporting trophy in the world and I was the only person to voice this answer at a table quiz a few weeks back!  Kudos to me.

After four years of preparation and weeks of gruelling competition in Bermuda, Emirates Team New Zealand won!  I reckon every solitary person in New Zealand, the whole four and a half million of us, watched or listened to the unfolding drama of that final race against Oracle.  Oracle had its millionaire backer, we had dozens and dozens of sponsors and donators.

After the debacle (for us) of the Americas Cup competition four years ago, the country is now deliriously happy.  There is to be a ticker tape parade in Auckland next week.

Goodbye Bermuda, hello New Zealand

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Hi there

As I type this, it's about 8 am on Christmas morning, in New Zealand...hopefully, the weather will be fine (and its about time; I'm sick of this unseasonably cold spurt Wellington has had over the last couple of days).  I want to swim this afternoon, after lunch.

Of course, I may not be able to swim after lunch,- I may just sink to the bottom of the waters at Hataitai Beach because I will be so heavy with Christmas fare.

My friend and I are going to a posh hotel for Christmas lunch.  It's a posh hotel buffet at a very expensive price.

"We have to get our money's worth," says my friend.  But he's as thin as a rake.  And I'm .. curvaceous!  I don't know if I can eat my money's worth and still waddle to the beach afterwards.

Have a wonderful day, today ...

Churches in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand

Hi there

When I was in America I was intrigued to see a church on practically every suburban block.  But when I got back to Wellington, I realised that in, say, a 300 metre area in my suburb of Wellington, we have the churches of Holy Cross, St Aidan's, Salvation Army, Gospel Hall, and Baptist.  And about a km down the road is an Indian Temple.

Above: Gospel Hall sign.

The swimmer in the thong

Hi there
I wonder if I have fooled you with the heading?

Today, J and I went for a swim at Hataitai Beach, Wellington, New Zealand.  Our fifth swim for the month.  We've had such terrible weather for the last couple of weeks.

When we arrived at the beach, the guy we call Thong Man was in the water.  He has been coming to the beach for a fair number of years now.  Summer, winter, he swims in just a  .... yes, you've guessed it ..... thong.  Or is it a g-string? - I never know the difference.  Anyway, with this gentleman, there's virtually nothing covering his bottom and a very small pouch at his front. 

He must be about 80 years old.

Today he insisted on talking to us about the weather as he got out of the water  and plodded up the stairs.  We were heading down the stairs.  Honest, we didn't know where to look!

On the one hand we admire his bravery swimming in the cold winter in such skimpy attire.  On the other hand we wish he'd swim in board shorts.  Heck, we'd even accept Speedos.  Better yet, how about a neck-to-toe diving suit....

Hataitai Beach. 

Stone Street Studios, Miramar

Hi there

I was rambling past the Stone Street Studios in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand today and it got me wondering when Peter Jackson was going to actually start "The Dam Busters".  I know a heck of a lot of back-room activity has gone on with it already.  I think the actual filming was due to start some time back but then, because of Hollywood machinations,  Jackson had to step in to direct "The Hobbit".

I was talking to a Weta Cave guy a few years' back and he said that Peter Jackson was waiting for the dam busters book to be re-edited .  Apparently, with the lift of a declaration of secrecy time limit rule, there is  now new information that can be incorporated into the book, followed by the movie.

Of course, all the Avatar stuff is being done, too.  And I see that director James Cameron has bought more land in the Wairarapa.  He and his family are staying there indefinitely.

Here's the Stone Street Studio.  You can see the green screen.  I took the photo today, looking into the sun.  Sorry it looks hazy.

I was also intrigued by the parking notices in Stone Street that are on the studio wall -

One notice says 'public parking at all times' with one half of the arrow going to the right.
The next notice - just about 15 parking spaces away as the tourist trudges in a straight line - has an arrow going to the left and says 'private parking only'.  So, who's actually allowed to park in those spaces between the arrows?   Private studio people?  The public?  A mix of both?  Obviously Orcs can park anywhere.

It's me who's first-time effort it was with the  red blobbing out in the pic above.  I'm sure the studio would have done it more elegantly.

PS:  J and I got in our second swim for July today at Hataitai Beach.

Matariki - Maori New Year

Hi there

It's Matariki, the Maori New Year.  Mid-winter.  Matariki is a time to remember ancestors, store crops, gather fish, give thanks.  'Matariki' star system (the Pleiades) shines once a year in the heavens above Aotearoa (New Zealand).  Over the last couple of decades, Matariki has become widely recognised as a time for celebration.  There are exhibitions, shows, many occasions to honour Matariki
.
Below is a link to tell about Matariki

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/matariki-maori-new-year

vampires in Wellington, New Zealand

Hi there

I was so impressed with the New Zealand vampire mockumentary "What we Do in The Shadows' that I thought I'd google vampires, see if there were any others living in Wellington.

There's an Amazon Kindle e-book with free computer sampling called "Kiwi Vampire".  The vamp in question actually does live in Wellington.  There are a lot of places to  recognise.  You can google 'Amazon Kindle Kiwi Vampire' to read the first few chapters of  the the book free on your computer.  The actual book is, I think, a dollar.  There's a free Kindle computer app if you want to get the whole book.



I went for  a lovely walk in the sun yesterday.  Halfway up the Maupuia hill (behind Miramar) I had to take my jacket off because it was so warm.  T-shirted walkers that I passed were grinning, full of the joys of life and happily shouting "hello" to strangers.  Fine weather does this to people.

Here are a couple of pictures that I took from the hill suburb of Maupuia,  looking down on Miramar.  If you 'hit' the top picture you can see more clearly over to the far right what looks like a huge water tank and a square block building behind it - this is Peter Jackson's film studio.

Bermuda Triangle off-shoot in Miramar?

Hi there

Okay, I don't have actual proof that a branch of The Bermuda Triangle is here in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand, but there is so much circumstancial evidence that I'd say it was a pretty clear case.  Either The Bermuda Triangle or a temporary rift in the time and space continuum.

There are two things that I lose all the time:  pens and combs.  Oh, yes, naturally I lose socks, but socks are so high up the what-the-whole-world-loses chart that I just take the losing of them as natural phenomena.  Yesterday, I was determined to keep control of my socks prior to putting them in the washing machine.

I took two identical pair of socks from the laundry basket.  Black with thin white stripes, and only a month old.  I counted them:  4-four- four socks in total. 

When I went to hang my socks on the clothes line to dry I could only find:   1-one-one sock!   How did that happen?    I wrote a play once for the New Zealand School Journal entitled "Gremlin in the Computer".  I reckon when Fisher & Paykel sell us their washing machines they instal their very own sock-eating gremlin.  It's the only explanation.

Anyway, back to pens and combs.  Over the years I must have bought hundreds, thousands of pens and combs.  I lose them around the house all the time and have to run out and buy more.  Every six months or so when I give the house a good clean (make that a barely passable clean), I locate a dozen or so of each.  But within a few more weeks, all the pens and combs are gone and the cycle starts again.

****

Swimming at Hataitai Beach All Year Round:

My friend J and I got in our second swim for the month yesterday (our first was the day before).  Because of a set of circumstances over both our heads we haven't been able to get in our minimum four swims for the month of May at Hataitai Beach.  It isn't even true winter yet- it's late Autumn here in NZ -  and we are getting a bit biting-our-nails-worried.  Please, my five readers, cross your fingers and toes that we can get our allocated number of dips in the water for this month, otherwise the whole year's swimming allocation ahead could be ruined.  I figured, that the winter months of June, July, and August would be the challenge.  I just wish I hadn't caught The Black Death earlier in the month because it laid me up for a time.

The sign to end all signs....."

Hi there

I'd just finished writing my last blog when I suddenly thought of a glorious photo I took recently that I felt I had to share with you.

.

If one is driving south along Highway No 2, here in New Zealand, this property is about 10 minutes past Eketahuna.  On a very busy road.

It might be a pig farm.

I could be wrong.

Martin Freeman Q & A session at Roxy Theatre, Miramar, Wellington

Hi there

Yesterday I attended a movie screening of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".  I prefer the original tv series where the story, because of length, was explored more leisurely.   I also love the audio version which I still listen to on long car journeys.  Having Martin Freeman (Bilbo, "The Hobbit"), however, in the film version was great casting.  I don't think anyone else could have done filmdom's Arthur Dent better

We were not allowed to talk to Freeman about "The Hobbit" or take photos of him during the Q & A session, sorry.  I did have a chance as he walked in the door, but by the time I dithered, he had taken a seat two rows in front of me.  During the Q & A session, surprise was expressed to Freeman that he would want to sit through the movie yet again but he admitted, with a grin, that he never passed up a chance to watch himself on tv or movies whenever he could.   He told us he hadn't seen "Hitchhiker" in a few years and before that occasion, not since the London premiere.  

Freeman told the audience that the only job he had ever had was acting, He went into the theatre straight from drama school, and was seriously thrown by lots of stagey directions, eg."banana the table" and "favour the wall".

There is a scene in "Hitchhiker" where he and others are running toward the "Heart of Gold" spaceship, and this was all before the days of CGI.  Pyrotechics were being used and, for some reason, the cast were being shot at with hard pellets .  Zooey Deschanel (New Girl) got shot in the back and yelled out to stop filming.  It was so highly dangerous.

Freeman said he so admired the scenery in the south Island, and he loved Stone Street Studios. 

He told how he loved working with Ricky Gervais, and that filming with the guy was hilarious.  Gervais had the cast in fits of laughter so much it was surprising they put out as much work as they had.

One (silly?) audience member asked Freeman who would he go for if he was gay.  Answer (tongue in cheek) : Bill Nighy!

He was also asked how a young person could make it in the business.  "You must love it  Love it!", Freeman shouted   He said a person must seriously want to act, and not just want to be famous.

I'm Singin' in the Rain, lah-de-dah-dah ....

Hi there

This week, I went to The Roxy picture theatre in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand to see "Singin' in the Rain".  This is such a well-known picture to me that I was mentally chanting all the dialogue with the actors.   I couldn't get over the fact that the picture was in pristine condition.  Wonderful colours, so vibrant-looking.  "An American in Paris" will be on later this month.

I went to the matinee and, goodness, there couldn't have been one audience member under the age of 60!  Ah, nostalgia, it's a wonderful thing.  We were obviously all reliving earlier days.  I do believe the 20-somethings went to the night-time session.

The Roxy put on a devonshire tea before-hand for us.  Movie and devonshire tea came to only $12.50.   Good on ya, Roxy.

This coming Sunday, there will be a matinee of "Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy", another movie I know almost intimately.  And with the added bonus that Martin Freeman, the star of that picture and also Bilbo in "The Hobbit" movies will be doing a Question and Answer session afterwards.  I hope the audience will be given five or so minutes before the discussion to take photos.  And I mustn't forget to take my towel!

Here are two pictures.  1)  our devonshire tea.  2)  a small portion of the Roxy's 1st floor ceiling (2nd floor, for the benefit of my one American reader).  

The Roxy decor is art deco mixed with robotic!  If you want to go upstairs and see the ceiling, just ask the kind folk at the box office or in the cafe.  The ceiling is definitely worth a look.  The Roxy often have Weta staff exhibits on the 1st floor, too.  A 'Thunderbirds' exhibit will be featured soon.

My Favourite Inventions

Hi there
For years I've maintained that one of the best inventions ever is ...wait for it! ... the umbrella!   An umbrella is so simple an invention that's been around for thousands of years.  It dates way back to ancient China.  Just think:  it's pouring with rain and you, under your umbrella, are in your own little dry cocoon.  Such a simple but effective invention.

...except if you'[re in Windy Wellington, of course.  I once went through five umbrellas in one week - a record for me.

One invention that has never been updated since Victorian times, and I can't for the life of me think why not? ... is the flush toilet.   In such a technical age, why are we still operating on a plumbing and pipe system that has been roughly the same for the last hundred or so years?  Why aren't lasers getting rid of the waste?  How come there are brainy scientists working on the next new detergent and no boffin is out there thinking about a toilet with its own laser beams that operate by the touch of a button (or chain, if you prefer old-school)?

When I was a teenager in the Department of Education typing pool, I was given an electric IBM golfball typewriter.  Wow, what technology, what magnificence!  Typewriters would never, surely, be the same again?   The older typists in the pool hovered away at a distance.  They wanted nothing to do with this new-fangled invention; it was just too-too modern for them.   Will the same thing happen to the whiz kids of today when they hit, say, 60 years of age?   Will they shrink back over the new technology of the day?

Speaking for today, I quite like microwaves, and fridges, and television   Oh, and what about electric blankets, and don't forget Kindles and Diet Coke.   3D movies are a joy ...

xxx

Here's a pic of my local picture theatre, the Roxy, in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand.  They, of course, operate 3D - otherwise I'd move to another suburb.

4th swim for June, Hataitai Beach

Hi there

J and I have completed our 4th swim for June at Hataitai Beach, Wellington, New Zealand.  It was quite cold yesterday but the sea was as flat as a pancake.  We have decided to treat this swim as Our Official Mid-Winter Swim.... unless we can get one more in this week but we doubt it, because the upcoming weather looks to be terrible.

9th Swim - but never in today's cold weather

Hi there

It's Tues morn 28 May as I type this.  And the Wellington temp today is said to go no higher than 8c.  Brrrrhhhh...  It's New Zealand's first real dose of winter.   The Desert Road  is with snow, as is the Rimutaka hill (thereby sort of cutting me off from my favourite holiday haunts 'cause I won't drive if there's the slightest hint of snow .... or hail .... or pounding rain .....   okay, okay, even if the forecast is heavy drizzle I chicken out).  I guess we can't complain because we had such a brilliant summer and Autumn  - sorry farmers, I know you were annoyed by the drought but, oh dear, I loved the weather.

The only time Wellington-proper has ever seen snow  was when I was in Las Vegas a while back.  An American who  knew I was from New Zealand told me at the time that he saw it on US news that a city in New Zealand was covered in snow and the people in that city had no idea how to drive in snow, most of them had never touched snow and they were at a loss of what to do.  He laughed heartily.   I poo-poohed the very thought that the city was mine.   What a shock I had when I got home to be shown photos by my friends of a snow-bound Wellington.

Anyway, J and I have now completed our 9th swim for May - day before yesterday.  It was nice and because we cut our swimming time down a fraction, I didn't freeze so much in the changing sheds.