Sweet Child in Time

Its Ian Paice's birthday today. Yep Ian with the magic drumsticks that drive the rhythm section of Deep Purple. Did you know that he is the only original member of DP left in the band ? says a lot dont it ? Sit down some time & have a listen to his 10 minute odd drum solo in a track called simply "Mule" I have it on Deep Purple Made in Japan. I have that on vinyl. Mule takes up one complete side of one disc. His performance on this track is nothing short of genius. Not at all repetitive, but diverse & innovative & definitely shows the influence of Buddy Rich. he is one of the few left handed drummers who uses a full left handed kit, Phil Collins being another. Other left handers ie Ringo Starr have adapted by learning to play on a right handed kit. Happy 58th birthday Paicey.. Keep on rockin man, you do it so well...

I'm in here claiming sanctuary

The new series of queer eye for a straight guy has started & Jude is a compulsive viewer. I'm not homophobic you understand, whatever spins ya wheels. A lot of perversions are undertaken in heterosexual relationships as well. I do object though, to programmes that glorify camp mincing homosexuals. there are a lot of sexually insecure people around, both male & female & I have seen my good share of those that see a same sex relationship as an easy way to gain companionship without the minefield of marriage/children/family, although the marriage aspect has changed with the advent of civil marriages. Programmes like this portray this sort of lifestyle in a glamorous light. Its not glamorous. Despite all the PC PR around that says its Ok to experiment with your sexual orientation its a cruel world . Not everyone is as understanding as the folks on the TV screen. Rant over..

I'm spending a few days on the early run to Auckland, which I thoroughly enjoy, as it gives me the opportunity to catch up with old friends. Just this side of Mangatawhiri is a road called Bell Road. at the end of it is Morphona Farms. This is a huge dairy farm that is totally organic. It is actually 5 dairy farms combined. They now bottle & market their own certified organic milk.

Anyway, I had a delivery to the Dairy there this afternoon. I stopped entranced by the sight of a big beautiful cock pheasant doing his thing in a paddock. The light was hitting him in in just the right way to show to advantage the beautiful plumage on his chest. It occurred to me that you would have to be a very insensitive boorish clod to even think about pointing a firearm at a gorgeous creature like that. I also got to catch up with Lucky, the cat at Ahead Lumber & her MumThat was nice. They both look a million bucks. Also met a lovely friendly Bull Terrier bitch & his sidekick a real Bustafer Jones Black & white cat who pushed the dog out of the way to say hello to me. And a pair of big floppy Labradors & a racehorse that was more interested in the contents of my pockets. all that & a beautiful day, & more of the same to look forward to tomorrow.

Ethnic Urge Overkill

Just lately our senses have been subjected to a barrage of news, (mostly bad) involving our ethnic brothers in this country. Apart from the violent end of things that have been happening, women raped, 3 month old babys killed with the extended family covering up , there is also our local Iwi (pronounced eewee & generally understood to stand for the words " I Want It" ; thats tribe to you non kiwi's. )they are trying to get us, being the tax payer , to pay for the gold in them thar hills past & present. Now the only gold from them thar hills that I possess is that which I wear on my ring finger. Jude gave it to me. I presume she paid coin of the realm for it & didnt hold a Maori to gunpoint for it.

I also have a book that describes an early horse racing event run in Thames by a local Maori family because they werent welcome at the white man's meet. Ok, that wouldnt be PC now, but these are more enlightened days as the Dubliners said in a song. Anyway, the upper crust of this particular tribe were wont to taunt the lesser heeled among the Pakeha, (Read NZ er of European origin) by lighting expensive cigars with 50 pound notes. This money was part of the payment received for allowing said white person to dig for gold on their property. I dont know about you, but if I had a banknote of that equivalent value, I could think of 50 better things to do with it than that.

My point is, that anything that Jude or I own, including land, we have bought from the current owner with money that we have earned fair & square, & we are damned if we like the concept of paying twice for things, the second time being millions of dollars of taxpayers money that usually ends up being squandered on bad investments or worse, stolen by a select few instead of being filtered down to those members of the race that are in desperate need, & believe me, they are more prevelent that you may care to think. Every time I hear Maori being sung or spoken on TV now, I cannot help but wonder what is being asked for now. I am not racist nor ever have been. Our present PC government has created the situation. If they held that particular carrot out in front of me I would probably take a hearty chomp at it too...

Rant over

Fixing Things

Its been a weekend for fixing things. I have finally got the garage door sorted out. I think the grease in the tracks helped a lot, but I also think that realising that the locking bar had slid out of its guide & was jamming up every time the door was operated might have helped a lot. Why couldnt I have figured that one out about 3 weeks ago & saved me a lot of work ? But all is good now, the door will close without having to be helped along.. Aaaah the luxury of remote controlled garage doors. Have also just about fixed the waterblaster. This was a little more complicated & involved liberal quantities of bondofil, epoxy resin & nuts & bolts. ( Dont ask OK ?) Anyway, I'm now down to one small pinhole leak, that just on sheer principal I am determined to fix. One more application of epoxy resin should do it... I think the reason that it started leaking is that we have such high water pressure here. Just about dont even need a waterblaster. Anyway, the join that was leaking is now a lot tighter & stronger, so here's hoping......

Just wish it was as easy to fix Jens lung cancer. Had a call from Ken yesterday. Its confirmed thats what it is & the outlook isnt great. I felt powerless only being able to say "Anything I can do you call" but what else can you say ? Poor bastard is not only trying to cope with all this, but has sold his house as well & has 30 days to be out. Sometimes life can deal you a shitty hand..

Just finished watching Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Lovely heart warming movie. Bit of a change from his eco thriller thing that he seems to do so well. I enjoyed national Treasure as well. I guess i am a bit of a Nicholas cage fan in a blokey sorta way

I had a phone call tonight

from one of my oldest & most steadfast Fire Brigade buddies. Normally K. is fulll of life with an answer to anything & everything you say to him. His wife has been ill for some time now with various ailments that have proved hard to track down. She has just been admitted to hospital with a node on her lung that lies very close to her pulmonary artery. Not good, & not good prospects. I wish there was something I could do other than tell him "anything I can do , just yell" but there isnt. K sounded quite down & more than a little lost & defeated, which isnt him at all. Hang in my friend like we always used to...

I've never been a Stephan King fan

except when I cant find anything else to read at the library like on Saturday. I picked up one called "Hearts in Atlantis" The title intrigued me. One of the things I find fascinating about King is his ability to get into the minds of children. He does this in a very adult way, not at all condescending. I read quite entranced his account of 2 12 year olds having their first kiss at the top of a ferris wheel. Was lovely & sorta got me thinking about my first kiss with a girl other than my Mum. It was the daughter of an old family friend. I was Robin Hood & she was Maid Marion. We had to kiss for good luck before we went on a mission ... Damn we went on a lot of missions that weekend.. It was a lot more satisfactory time than my first actual date. I finally plucked up the courage to ask her out to the 1:30 matinee at the old Regent picture theatre in Thames. We were too scared to sit together, so sat at opposite ends of the theatre. We got enough static thrown our way just for walking in together. So werent game to sit together .

Another little bit of memory lane stuff. Hands up who remembers R.M. Ballantyne? he wrote tales for adolescent boys that were considered "Ripping good yarns" in their day. This was the 18th century.. A jolly good old Scots writer in the same vein as R. L. Stevenson. One of the few memories I have of quality time with my Dad was him sitting & reading me a chapter a night of one of Ballantynes books called "Martin Rattler" being an account of his adventures in South America with his trusty Irish Sidekick. I found that book for sale at the Saturday market this weekend. The same edition exactly as the one dad used to read. A lot of memories flooded in as I looked at it. Of course I had to buy it. Am now looking forward to reading it to my grand children

Its an ill wind that blows nobody any good

Recently , a mean spirited & cowardly person tried to take revenge on me by attacking people that I care deeply about instead of confronting me, despite an open invite to do so. So far as a result of his actions, 3 good things have happened. Thankyou Mr B. Keep reading, you've nearly made the hundred views

Brain surgery with a blunt axe

Quite a few years ago, Jude & I , well more me than her, where rash enough to sell a freehold home & buy a hot bread shop. it didnt work out. We went broke & homeless with a dull thud, ending up in Mum & Dad's spare bedroom. We went from there to a one bedroom flat that was absolutely soulless, but never the less, a roof over our heads where we could lick our wounds for a while. Clapton got it right when he sang how, "Nobody loves you, when you're down & out" Even our lawyer had harsh words to say to us when he saw us relaxing after a hard week trying to earn sufficient to live on & service our debts.

Trying to acquire reasonable rental acomodation wasnt easy & it was only due to the intervention of a very dear friend that we finally managed a house in Waiomu. For those thatare interested, Waiomu translates as,"The place where Mu stopped for a pee." Who exactly Mu was, nobody is quite certain. I dont particularly care anyway. This little house although small & cramped, has many pleasant memories for us as it really was our first step towards rehabilitation into respectable society. It was situated across the road from the local motorcamp. The camp had these little cabins that were let out on a long term basis. One such cabin was rented by a chap that every dole day used to buy a bottle of something strong & spiritous & celebrated his uniqueness with solo partying to the wee small hours. This wouldnt have been so bad if his celebrating didnt include badly out of tune singing accompanied only by the syncopated rhythm of a wooden spoon on a pot bottom, but it was OK, because it was only one night a fortnight & he was actually a decent sort of harmless bloke that kept himself to him self.

Every year , the same old Mama Ducks that used to live there would bring their babies across to meet us & would generously allow us to feed them all with bread soaked in water. For the 6 weeks over Xmas we would watch in amazement as the camp grew to the proportions of a small town, with the influx of holiday makers & become a happy noisy place. The camp also had a set area for permanently placed caravans, some of which were also permanently occupied.

There is a creek that flows around the back of the camp, a haven for ducks, eels & small children. If you tire of fresh water, the beach is literally 2 minutes casual stroll away, all this with a lovely little store where you could get an icecream of generous proportions, collect your mail & chat with Max, the proprietor , who was also our landlord.

The native bush behind in the ranges is a natural catchment area & brings a lot of rain, sometimes too much rain, as happened one year when the little stream became a raging torrent, destroyed several caravans & took the life of an elderly lady. Since then it has flooded again on more than one occasion, although not with the same results. I delivered some ground cloth there today & was shocked. Environment Waikato have purchased the place & everyone with semipermanent facilitys there has been ordered to move out. Insted of a nice neat camping ground, we now have something that resembles ground zero at Hiroshima. The former owner has been given two months free rent to remove his chattels. he has bought a motel in Cambridge. In his words, "Anywhere but on the fucking Coromandel."

The place is apparently going to be turned into a flood catchment area. Surely, it would have been better just to take a part of this ground, enough to build a decent stop bank on & upgrade the sadly outdated & far too small bridge that restricts the flow of water & thus causes the backup & flooding. Elsewhere, they have built a solid wooden wall to divert the water away from homes that would otherwise be threatened. Instead , we now have a wasteland that looks a total mess instead of a charming & picturesque asset to the peninsula.. As i say, brain surgery with a blunt axe

It was a braw bricht moonlit nicht the noo..

It truly was .. A lovely night for a run to Auckland in the old Ford for a good load that her sitting tight on the road like a big fat white bug. Jude came too. She usually does when I have a night run.. She loves to see all the boys out in their B trains on the line haul runs. She says they look pretty with all their multi coloured lights. She likens them to stately ladies in crinoline gowns waltzing down the road. She was also quite blown away to see how even the smallest gaps in the freight have freight wedged into them. No space is wasted at all.

I was impressed by the team leader at the depot, who even though he had trucks & freight up to his armpits, took the time to personally load out my truck & also offer Jude the hospitality of the depot smoko room in the form of a hot drink if she wanted it. I like taking Jude with me on late runs. It gives us some good quality time together.

I met a beautiful huntaway dog (purebred) today.. What a glorious. animal. Comes from Ruatoria, but I dont hold that against him. Obviously treated with love & respect by his boss. You can tell how a farm dog is treated by the way they behave when you approach them.. Not sure who taught him to dribble though...

There's nowt so quare as fowkes

Honestly, there's not... Who but a people carrier full of Tauranga refugees would drive around Coromandel for God sake with the message "Winston is our MP" emblazoned in 4" high letters acros the front of their wagon... Sorry Morty, you can phone Jude & threaten her with blackmail & black magic all you want.. My motto is "Publish & be damned.." But on the really good side, I had a great day today, the cooks tour. Over the Kopu Hikuai. Drop at Tairua, up to Whitianga with a drop there , then round the top & over the Whangapoua hill to Coromandel with a couple of stops there, then all the way down the coast back to Thames. Then in the PM, the Waihi run with a trip down to Waihi Beach. Almost a shame to spoil it by putting my time down on my timesheet..... Almost.....

The Grateful Dead

have never really meant that much to me. I mean, they never really made it big & they never really had any hits in New Zealand. All we ever heard of them here was the odd reference to them in TV programmes. That is, until as part of my growing Dylan collection, some 50 odd albums, I acquired a disc called "Dylan & the Dead" It was recorded as part of a tour that Dylan did in partnership with the Dead. This was a time in Dylan's life when he was basically at a creative standstill, merely cycling through a repertoire of around some 20 songs in this particular tour, even though Jerry Garcia was continually at him to experiment more. The album has been described as "Shambolic" by those who are supposed to know. I would agree that Dylan's performance is lacklustre here but the Dead...

Purists will probably throw up their hands in horror, but to me, Garcia's instrumental work in"All along the watchtower " for one track, is nothing short of brilliant. Better even than Hendrix's interpretation. This started me on the road to searching for some of their recorded material. Not easy. There are obviously some dedicated Dead Heads out there prepared to pay damn good money for what is around, so I havent managed to afford anything from my usual online auction source. Imagine my glee to find a DVD entitled "The Grateful Dead,Alive & Kicking " for $9.99 at the Red Shed..

Anyway, had Dylan & The Dead on the cd player in the van on the Waihi run this arvo. Just put it on & let it keep playing. Nice coincidence that watchtower was playing as I was coming up to the narrow bit thru The Karangahake Gorge that I call "The Squeeze" & mellowed out into "Knockin On Heavens Door" right after it all.. Groovy way to end the day.. Alive & Kicking is awesome, & Jerry Garcia had just the coolest guitar I've seen in a while.. I want onee..

Well, today has been about as much fun as a train wreck

The spa pool pump has to go to the doctors. I fixed one leak, but found another & managed to stuff the thermostat in the process. Found out that one of my neighbors, a really nice guy, has leukiemia & if he doesnt have chemo then he only has about 3 months to live . If he can handle the chemo & goes into remission, then he is bumped out to 5 or 6 years.. Not nice. Went & saw my Mum this arvo. It was good when she was in the general wing, I could just wander in & out as pleased. She is in secure now, so you have to know the code for the door to get in. I have the code in my wallet now, so hopefully wont feel so claustrophobic about being shut in next time..

What is it about dementia that causes sufferers to be so restless? One old dear never stopped writhing around for the whole hour we were there.;my heart bled for the elderly gent that was visiting. His wife i dont think even knew she was there, yet he chatted away to her & fed her mandarines. Came time to go & he very painfully rose, got his crutches, bent down & kissed her good bye, & said "I'll see you tomorrow Dear" He then shuffled off in quite obvious pain on his crutches having to push one foot forward with them so that he could move at all. It obviously caused him much pain just to even walk, & yet he evidently goes up there every day & chats to her. That to me shows true love & devotion. I know that Jude would do that for me, I just hope she never has to.

Sometimes I feel

like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke, only I feel like I have my whole head in it sometimes and Morty, I mean the earth wall sort of dyke NOT the lesbian one with male tendencies. FINALLY figured out the leak in the spa pool. It wasnt the fitting that had been hacksawed through that is held shut with a hoseclip oh my word no.. It was the fitting that the thermostat sits in not sealed properly at the bottom where it was crimped over. Thats fixed . Unfortunately, I didnt realize that because of the leak, the thermostat had corroded into place in the tube & twisted the damn thing off getting it all adrift. I am waiting for some araldite to set. This so that I can reassemble everything & turn it back on & see if it works.. Otherwise its pull it all to bits again & take it to the spa pool doctor on Monday for a new thermostat.. See what i mean ? Oh & going to visit Mum this afternoon as well

This one is for my most ardent fan

Who visits my blog more often that I do...This ones just for you Mr B...

Happy Birthday Les Paul

Yup, the guy that is responsible for the electric guitar as we know it today. he also built the first ever 8 track tape deck. In 1948, he was in a near fatal car wreck that shattered his right elbow. he instructed the surgeons to set hid arm at an angle that would allow him to continue playing his guitar. les paul & mary ford recorded together pioneering a technique known as over dubbing. His innovated design work for the Gibson company has made his instruments a by word for many rock artists including Eric Clapton & Chet Atkins..

Even at the age of 88 he is still rockin on.. Thanks for the sounds Les & Happy Birthday

It's an ill wind.....

Well, You should all know how that one finishes.. If you dont, turn in yer sporran on yer way out , cos I'm sure that the bard would be mortified. Phil, thanks to the vagaries of his intestinal system, has had an extra 2 days off for the long weekend, as he seems to do every long weekend. Ed is currently sampling the fleshpots of Thailand, would probably take a somewhat dim view of being recalled to do the Auckland late run, so guess who got lumbered with it ? Six months ago, this would have sent me into a blind, unreasoning panic, probably ending up with a vomiting attack. I dont like the run, but I handled it as good as gold.. I'm proud of that..

Oh, the other good things about was that it got me out of picking up 3 pallets of empties from the Commercial , as well as got me out of delivering 2 pallets of books to our favourite hand unload customer in Paeroa. All in all, not a bad trade off

Happy Birfday Liz

I'm not sure why you have your birfday now instead of when it is, namely 21st April, but happy Birfday anyway.. I guess its probably so that you & Phil & the kids can have a quiet day together with the kids. Shove on the old track pants & sweat shirts, pile into the limo & beetle off down to Mac Donalds for a couple of deli rolls, a coffee that takes the skin orf ya tongue & tastes like crap & a cheap chokkie cake with a couple of skinny candles in it.

Its not that I want to rain on your parade or anything, but you forgot to mention me in your honours list again. It would be so cool to have somethimg other than MNZFBI after my name. I mean you mentioned Ric Carlyon & Ivor Reid. I remember Ric from city station in Auckland days. One of the most dedicated fire buffs you could imagine. In those days he was an NZBC reporter covering fires etc. I think the first encounter I had with Ric was when I helped to forcibly remove him from a fire scene. He also turned up at a major fire once in his antique Dennis fire appliance & offered his services to Squizz Wilson, the chief at the time. Squizz , in his usual diplomatic but forthright style, told him , "Fuck off." One of the things I remember most about Ric was his willingness to share. After the big Ash Wednesday fires in Australia, he came down to the station with a tape of all the news feed that came in off the satellite & there was a lot. Our training that night consisted of sitting & watching it. We, as general public, really didnt get to know the half of it. Do you realize that it was the equivalent of fighting a fire on a continuous front from Auckland to Christchurch?

Ivor was my SSO at Hamilton when I was there Nice quiet guy who eventually ended up in Masterton as Chief.

Well, thats my Queens Birthday speech. Happy Birthday you old Queen you. We thought we had it rough. All that power & money & you're still working full time at age 80. Tough shit for ya huh ? Still, I spose you could always turn it all over to Chaz & Camilla to run... On second thoughts, maybe the corgis are a better proposition..

Solid Rock

Two solid hours of it on TV1 this morning.. He still be The Sultan Of Swing.... Nice one Mark

Are we still in the game ????

Have just finished watching this movie on TV1.. Very graphic with lots of blood, violence, implied sex & gory closeups of dismembered mutant reptiles.. Almost upchuck material in places... But I liked it......

While talking about unusual vehicles.....

These guys take the concept of strange vehicles to an absolute extreme. The in line one would probably be relatively stable to ride because of the gyroscopic effect & I would imagine that the torque would tend to hold the back wheel on the deck, but I can see the bottom one being a recipe for disaster. One good manly twist of the throttle on that baby & I can see a very confused biker lying downside up on the road with a bike on top of him. The only thing that bothers me about the top one is that there appears to be no way of actually steering it. Maybe they are all for show. All noise & no go. Kind of like some people that I know. All big & blustery, but dont actually do anything.

May the Force be with you.....

Now THATS what ya call a Star wars fan. To drive round in summink like that takes a certain dedication, not to mention an innate stupidity... But I love it..