Author: telboy2

Out with the old

Today I handed over the credit card to pay for a new bike. It is only the second time that I have bought a  new bike and how it hurts to hand over $2300!

It is a hybrid suitable for commuting- more robust than a classic road racing bike and able to go happily on tracks.

It is a replacement for the road bike that I have been using to commute for the last year. I only do so once a week, maximum twice, but sometimes  not at all. The bike has always been too small and is old. I bought in on Trade Me about six years ago for EQ. I started to use it when the previous second-hand road bike finally bit the dust.

Slowly it has been making more noises and signs of wear. Three weeks ago the pedal arm came off. More money to repair of go the whole hog? It was time to go at this point and take the hit.

I have taken off the parts that I can use potentially in the future: the ‘newish’ front wheel; lights,; tyre and tubes. The rest is for the tip.

Let’s hope the new machine lives up to the hype.

 

Momentous time

Catholic school board fees- the final invoice.

As Catholic schools are partially outside the public schooling system they have to pay for the construction and upkeep of the school buildings. As such parents are expected to pay school board fees that pay back loans for these activities and cover the insurance. So we have been paying these for the last fourteen years. The final invoice arrived and has been paid. Isaac won a prize last year which cut the bill in half -so less than usual.

I am sure the money will disappear in some other way to support his studies in future.

The Three Brexiteers

Cabinet ministers David Davis, Liam Fox and Boris Johnson have been nicknamed ‘the three Brexiteers’ for their cavalier approach to the finer details of leaving the EU. The withdrawal process is ‘simple’ and at the same time ‘more complex than a game of chess’, they say, but definitely not as straightforward as a hard or soft boiled egg.

Brexit

May triggers article 50 with warning of consequence for UK

British PM addresses packed Commons minutes after European council president receives article 50 letter

UK envoy Tim Barrow (left) hands Donald Tusk the letter giving Britain’s formal exit notice.
UK envoy Tim Barrow (left) hands Donald Tusk the letter giving Britain’s formal exit notice. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AP

Theresa May has told parliament that she accepts Brexit will carry consequences for the UK, as a letter delivered to Brussels began a two-year countdown to Britain’s departure from the EU.

The prime minister made a speech on triggering article 50 minutes after the European council president, Donald Tusk, confirmed he had received notification. He declared that “the UK has delivered Brexit” nine months after a bruising referendum campaign.

Cricket at the Basin Reserve

Yesterday Sara and I went to the Basin to watch the second Test against South Africa.

It was hardly classic cricket conditions with minimal sunshine, somewhat chilly and a nice chilly southerly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was not a great performance on the part of the Black Caps. In the end they had lost by 8 wickets by the end of the day, Day 3. We had already left but were mostly present to see the tumble of wickets and slow scoring.

Not really a great advert for cricket or New Zealanders at times with the number of people who were pretty pissed by early afternoon.

All part of the plan

 

Donald Trump bars New York Times, CNN, Los Angeles Times and Politico from White House press briefingSeveral major American news organisations were on Friday afternoon barred from a White House press briefing in a an unprecedented move by the Trump administration.

Source: Donald Trump bars New York Times, CNN, Los Angeles Times and Politico from White House press briefing

All so consistent. When you are a despot you want to make sure that news information is contrloled which includes portraying the media as the enemy and the problem. Next stage is to exclude the ones who are more of an problem and split any semblance of group protection.

This latest action was predictable. How does the US deal with its President now?

How can anyone overseas treat him with anything but caution and contempt rather than acquiescence and promotion?

Round the Bays active family

Last weekend was the annual fun run and serious run in Wellington. In total about 10,000 people participated; about 2,000 each for the 10km and the half-marathon. Eleanor and Joe each did the ‘half’ while Shaz did the 10k.

All did well with Joe and EQ running in less than 2 hours and Sara beating last year’s time by a bit. Joe was possibly more comfortable at the finish than Eleanor. Good stuff by all concerned though.

Sven was in the crowd cheering on heartedly though maybe too American-like for me. Isaac was watching too as he apparently does not like running. I had planned to run but again the body showed its vulnerability and injuries to the achilles and calves proved to be limiting.

Maybe in June I can have a go if the body improves? Maybe the old man needs to fins something more suited to later years of life?

Smell the desperation

An eventful week for world politics. Following his inauguration on the 20th Donald Trump has made many executive orders to try to make an impact and harassed parts of the government to have information presented in a manner that reflects well on him. In particular when his ego was hit with the lower number of attendees that for Obama’s first. A worrying week 1.

He managed to fit in a visit from Theresa May who did her best to suck up and it would appear fight for a trade deal.

She did her best to avoid any comment on his support for torture and came out with the usual trite comments about ‘the special relationship’. Any trade deal with leave the UK screwed as the UK is in a position of weakness and that is well known. As described below:

He will have seen May as that most desperate of creatures: the housebuyer who rashly sold her old house before she had found a new one. Having tossed away Britain’s keys to the European single market, she will soon be homeless – and Trump knows it. For all the niceties – May’s shrewd deployment of a royal invitation for a state visit and her compliment to the president on his “stunning election victory”, flattery which saw Trump glow a brighter shade of orange – he will have seen May as a sucker who needs to make a deal. And he will look forward to naming his price.

What would such a deal look like? Tariffs between the US and the UK are already low, so it is the dropping of a different kind of barrier that Trump would be after. That could be a softening of the food standards that have kept out hormone-injected US beef. Or granting access to the NHS to overcharging US drug companies. Or a relaxation in environmental or labour rules that, set with our onetime EU partners, proved too onerous for US firms until now.

An to add to the air of weakness and lack to principals May is not cozying up to Erdogan in Turkey– another despot in the making.

All because of cutting off ties with natural allies, being out in cold in a worse place than at present with Brexit and the necessary drive to fill in the gaps at any cost. But the proponents tell us it will be all so easy and positive. The place really is going to the dogs. Let’s hope there is some traction of changing that apparent reality.