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Random Norwegians
On Saturday night I found myself at a party talking to a woman from Norway. As we chatted I had to restrain myself from randomly asking her about every tiny thing I knew about Norway. I don’t know a...
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Mission Cleopatra
I’m watching Mission Cleopatra with my 8 year-old daughter. It’s a funny film. Her choice. She plucked it from the plethora available, avoiding the usual Simpsons or the good/awful Grammy performances...
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3 Days in Auckland (part 1)
In the air I first visited Auckland nearly 30 years ago. It was a different city, I was a different person. A fresh-faced 20-year old on the road (in a plane) with the band I had played bass with since...
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3 Days in Auckland (part 2)
K’ Road in a Daze. Laxing in Aotea Square The afternoon passed by in a pleasantly reassuring haze. I felt like a kid in a candy shop of the familiar and the new. A traveller to the past where...
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3 Days in Auckland (part 3)
Into the Night I’ve always felt comfortable in Auckland at night. I’m not sure why. Christchurch always seemed to have an ugly underbelly waiting to slip a knife. Wellington conceals a solid seam...
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3 Days in Auckland (part 4)
5 Hours in Paradise When I booked my weekend in Auckland, I wasn’t entirely sure if I would make the trip. It was all a bit of a whim, anchored around a 50th. And since I was using Airpoints there was...
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Love Is
What is love? It is an English word. A very old, Old English word. So how is French the language of love? These are things I have thinking about lately thanks to some of my favourite podcasts and a bit...
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Game Day
Today is grey and cold. Tonight the All Blacks are playing the Wallabies in Wellington. I’ve never bought a rugby shirt. Or a rugby ticket. Or had a beer at the game. But I’ve been to more...
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2 Days in Christchurch (part 1)
Christchurch is the town that made me. I was born here. Grew up here. Shambled into adulthood here. And while I have nearly spent more time living away from my home than in it, Otautahi contains my...
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2 Days in Christchurch (part 2)
Hanging in the Square Working in theatre, television, sound and health I’ve travelled most of my life. Either up and down New Zealand or through bits of the world. Even when I’m travelling just to see...
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2 Days in Christchurch (part 3)
No Escape It was hard to prise myself out my funky room at BreakFree on Saturday morning. I was four floors up, isolated from any noise with a generous (for NZ) 500MG of data. I opened the blind and...
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2 Days in Christchurch (part 4)
2 Men in a Shed No one knows what men get up to in their sheds. Books have been written, TV series made, but the mystery remains. When I think of a shed I think of (Great) Uncle Willie on the way out...
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Unmovie
Thanks to a sudden operation on my knee I’ve been laid up for the last week, seeking distraction. I’ve needed an arthroscopy on my right knee for most of the year but the hoops I’ve had to jump through...
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Fire!
Last night, in the early hours of the morning, I thought I heard the fire siren go off in the Bay. It’s one of those old air-raid type sirens used by volunteer brigades, with a reassuring whine that...
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The Carnival Is
For the last week I’ve had a very persistent earworm; The Carnival Is Over by The Seekers. It’s because I’m working on the Wellington Sevens and the only story/topic of conversation is who killed the...
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A Number of Things
At work yesterday a colleague asked me what 47 and 5 was. I thought it was a trick question. Or, more likely, she was pointing out that I had incorrectly added those numbers. I may have; it was a hot...
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Into the Night
Last night I went to a pub to see a band. It’s something I haven’t done in a long time. I used to be a regular in my teens and twenties in Christchurch. Thursday, Friday or Saturday. There was always...
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3 Days in Samoa (part 1)
I’m flying to Samoa. The last time I went there it was last century, the end of the millennium. To a thirty-something New Zealander Samoa was the island of the day before. Since then the world has...
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3 Days in Samoa (part 2)
Dazed from the heat and humidity, and a 10 hour trip (plus afternoon rums in the Koru lounge in Auckland and Merlot with dinner), I ticked sport on the immigration card. When questioned I said,...
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At Sea
It’s a strange feeling pretending that you are invisible in the middle of a celebration, silently observing, placidly staring in the opposite direction. My work life has been peppered with such...
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