gdp's Comments

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : A poverty of imagination

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:01:58 +0000

I'm buggered if I know where my page of relevant, incisive and witty comment went, Never mind. I cant be buggered retyping it. We did this to ourselves. We grew up just after the war engineering our own entertainment. As you point out, there were reserves and ponds & lakes to fill in idle hours. We didnt have the wherewithal to do what is taken for granted by the kids of today, but we made sure that our kids had everything we didnt. We created a rod for our own backs.

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : The end of a favorite hut

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:34:23 +0000

I have no time for DOC as an entity, but I did work with some good guys there. They have been stripped of cash, then stripped and stripped again. I doubt that this government has thrust bags of cash at them either! They have no maintenance budget for the back country - and have been told to put their resources into the front areas where the tourists go. A lot of the staff feel as we do.

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : Obviously not a Happy Meal

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:05:22 +0000

I'm betting another 'Vitamin P' case... I suppose I'll get castigated by the Politically Correct, but really, theres no need to bring Meth into it - The offenders name gives a strong clue.......

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : Dumbass kid and parents

Mon, 9 Jan 2012 18:45:58 +0000

I was taken to the Wellington zoo in the late 1940's by my father. I have never been since. If someone must keep these animals prisoner, then it should be on a vast area of fenced land - the size of a county - where they can roam free and do their own thing.

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : Balloon Crash

Fri, 6 Jan 2012 23:35:39 +0000

Sad news.

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : Just wondering

Wed, 4 Jan 2012 22:24:31 +0000

Quite true. When the Police were hijacked by the MOT in the early 90's, the MOT brought their ticket-books and a peculiar system of finance with them. They sell blocks of time spent on particular aspects of road policing. EG, they may sell say, 80,000 hours of enforcing the open road limit, 100,000 hrs of Blood Alcohol, etc etc. Money for jam! They probably havnt sold any hours for agricultural vehicle enforcement and it would have to come out of the HGV block.

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : Taxi!

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:38:26 +0000

Too true Oz. I would be happy to carry one - and even use it if I broke my leg, but It'd be a frigid day in hell before I suffered the embarrassment of calling a taxi-ride. If someone cant handle and survive a couple of nights bushed, they have no right to be there in the first place

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : The thought police are busy banning- HERE

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:09:11 +0000

Mixed feelings. Books/videos depicting sex with infants and similar sorts of depravity have no place in NZ, for instance. And as a matter of fact, I havnt finished reading the entire contents of my local library yet, so it hasnt affected me greatly................

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : Guilty by association is a dangerous step

Thu, 8 Sep 2011 19:34:37 +0000

Coroners are invariably lawyers. Most do not have the benefit [if you can call it that] of having dealt with criminal law - they are, and always have been, civil litigators. And no - they dont live in the same world as we do.

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : No- don't shut her down

Mon, 5 Sep 2011 22:54:57 +0000

I have said it elsewhere - I have no problem with her racism. What she believes is hers. What I have a problem with, is her position and with it, her ability to imbue her students with the poison she vomits. I have a problem with the weak response from the jelly-spined deBres. And I have a problem with the university, who's spokesman defends her poison as legitimate academic speech.

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : Speaking of coming down...

Sat, 3 Sep 2011 05:28:23 +0000

Looks like you're pissing off a couple of birds in that top photo.

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : Cry havoc and change the rules- again

Thu, 1 Sep 2011 23:00:34 +0000

Thank god - At last this ridiculous rule is reverting back to the way it was. I suspect ther may possibly be the odd prang, but I'll be surprised if it will be any real issue. I just wish they would bring in free left turn on a red light as they have in America while they are about it. [Theirs is right turn, of course]

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : The bastard tree from hell

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 09:31:57 +0000

You do have resource consent, don't you?

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : Any doubts about it being the Village of the Damned?

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 23:05:38 +0000

A cold day in Hell then.......

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : No snow yet

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 05:19:31 +0000

Must've leapfrogged us. Light rain and 6º here

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : Moaning about milk

Wed, 3 Aug 2011 00:15:25 +0000

Yeah - Well, it what you get when you have a monopoly. I do see the point when you can buy NZ milk cheaper overseas than locally. Personally, I dont care much. Dont drink milk.

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : On defense forces cuts

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 04:13:28 +0000

The Police did this in the 1980s. They got rid of the sworn staff that manned district office and replaced them with an equivalent number of civilians, in the case of my station, they replaced a Sgt & a Constable with 2 civvies. There was an existing civvy filing clerk. After two weeks, the new office O/C went to the boss and said that if he thought the job could be done with him and 2 other staff, he was crazy. They hired 4 more, then a while later it mushroomed to 8. Save money? [cue cynical laugh]

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : The New Zealand voter

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 22:05:58 +0000

One reason I am very indifferent to blogs, is that I cant use a sarcasm emoticom in my replies - At least if its possible, I havnt figured it out yet..........

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : The New Zealand voter

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:26:48 +0000

Ah! A constitution. We really need one of these! Something to enshrine the Principles Of The Treaty Of Waitangi. [Whatever they are....]

Oswald Bastable's Ranting : Today is better

Sat, 4 Jun 2011 05:06:40 +0000

Fairly similar - except it was 0600, and a 5k walk was substituted for the bacon & eggs.