Competition finally hits NZ

There is a lady in Tawa who insists New Zealand is the cheapest place to live. I have always dismissed the idea. It has a lot to do with it being a small place with a small population, and therefore without the interest from a lot of players to get involved.
So, with mobile networks there has mainly been two: Telecom and Vodafone. There has been a small player piggy-backing onto Vodafone’s network. Now there is a significant 3rd player-2 degrees. They only do prepay, but it is currently half the price of the big two. Maybe a loss leader, but closer to level that a recent Commerce Commission report into the mobile industry suggested was an international equivalent.

Maybe things are on the move.

Life chugs on

Nothing great to report, life ticks on, no holidays, no visitors, but work and school and sport. It really must be time to do something.
Well it is winter, but July is over, the month in my mind that is always the worst. Not so much the cold, but I have in my mind the image of constant rain. It has been cold, but seems to warming. My mind is possibly coloured by the current fine weather; beautiful still days, clear skies. It would be perfect skiing weather if we were going to the South Island.
The daffodils have just started to come to life, and I did have to cut the grass at the weekend. This weekend is looking good, so more time to do the garden, and maybe I will get back on that bike and cycle to work as I have been promising myself.

The difference between the mind and the body

On Sunday the family group had an indoor sports event. It involved playing football and basketball between the adults and the children. Two hours of fun and running around, with the reminder of the effect of age coming along rapidly.
Playing football and asking the legs to respond and finding they did not do so in quite the way of old. Muscle tweaks here and there followed the next day by buttock and adductor pain and an inability to walk properly.

It was great fun but a reminder to either sort self out or get real.

Maybe I should become a long distance cyclist. Certainly all the bike shops have significant sales on currently.

The Arts

A novel experience yesterday-going to the cinema for a 1-30 pm viewing. We went to see “In the Loop” which is past of the NZ International Film Festival.
It is a British film which satirises the British and US governments over the initiation of the war.

“British political satire takes on Washington in this lacerating spoof of bureaucratic opportunism. Expanded from Armando Iannucci’s critically-lauded BBC TV series The Thick of It, In the Loop features a virtuoso comic cast with Peter Capaldi already a legend as the PM’s lethally foul-mouthed Director of Comms.”

Sara loved it, while I thought it was merely good.

On Friday we are off to see a Danish film “Flame and Citron”.

So the Amritsar luvvies continue.

Flu time

Despite it being as far away from Christmas as you can manage and no birthdays to be celebrated, I still have managed to pick up the lurgy.
I assume it is the swine flavour as apparently Wellington is the swine centre of New Zealand, with very high levels of sickness in schools. Eleanor brought this home. Of course Sara had it earlier but fended it off more effectively than I have managed.
So feeling sorry for myself, lying on sofa watching tv and sleeping lots. Had first day off sick in about 2 years-not good when it is day 3 of new job though!

Anniversary

It was on Monday-during Wimbledon fortnight as one would expect. We did not doing anything on the day as Sara had the virus, and anyway, we had already spent up large.

We both took Friday off, and went out Thursday and spent a night in a hotel in Wellington-the one Becks used when he was here for Galaxy pantomime show.
Sara’s work colleague moved in to keep the children happy.
So we went out eating and drinking cocktails and watching live bands, and visiting bars the likes of which I have not been in for years.
Friday was a bit slow, and was spent on the sofa watching DVDs. Good ones-“Slumdog Millionaires” and “Doubt”. Both highly recommended by the love duo.
Click to the original venue!

The expense of growing old

I have recently taken possession of a new pair of glasses. So what you may think.
Well other than the generally inflated cost of acquiring such things in NZ, despite the arrival of Specsavers to these shores, age is having a negative impact.
The short-sightedness is much the same, the astigmatism is unchanged, but now the long-sighted old man’s eyes canot be ignored. Reading print with my usual glasses has become too difficult, and to now to fulfill all the requirements I have moved onto varifocal lenses-the modern version of bi-focals. As you might gather, more complex technology comes at a price, especially when put in some trendy designer frames.
So, thinning hair, grey in colour of what is left, less resilient achilles, apparently progressive deafness and now failing eyesight.
The viagra though is still in the packet.