mercoledì 30 ottobre 2024

Good news everyone, there is no Hell.

 



This is Peter. Peter is in bed.

 PETER HAS SLEPT IN AGAIN!



The Old Girl is already in the office, but Peter is still in bed. He's probably pissed off because he may have to write a post at the kitchen table.
So much for decluttering today.
Lazy bugger.

Maybe he's thinking about where he'll live in Wellington.
He doesn't seem keen on Moera, or Wainuiomata.*

Do you think he'll finish up bringing the snooker table to Wellington? Well, he sold those crazy boots for a song.



Who knows what to expect from a lazy guy who won't get out of bed and is then grumpy when he finally gets to comment (late) on Rob's blog





* Where the girls are smarter.

martedì 29 ottobre 2024

It's the Moera way.

 


Hi, me again, P.Eater.

Still decluttering in Kaitaia. A bit of excitement though, I was tidying up the spare room and I found a couple of bottles of Cleanskin wine.


Made from the best pumpkins grown locally, giving this fabulous wine a definite pumpkin taste with a dirt aftertaste. The skins have been removed from the pumpkins used, as have their seeds.

                                                                                         Kaitaia Wine Shop


I was chatting with Robot about this and he gave me a few tips about Moera wine customs. The favourite wine in Moera is Cleanskin Chardon, but the locals call it 'Hardon'. They also refer to Cleanskin wine as 'Forskin'.

They sound like a humerous lot and I wonder how my few jokes will go there. Robot said something about it being better if I wear a gang patch. I'm getting a t-shirt made up that will say, "Have you got a Hardon?"

Robot thinks I will blend in well. He said he'd take me to the Presbyterian church so that I can meet some of the locals. He thought a collar and tie might go down better than my t-shirt at church. I could always get something printed on my tie. 'Forskin' maybe?

lunedì 28 ottobre 2024

Old Misery Guts speaks out again.

 

Look closely at this lady's dress.


I think she might have soiled herself.

Robot from Moera pointed this out to me. He's a Presbyterian and doesn't go for all these silly old Catholic saints. His remark almost made me smile.

Almost.

I think that my very slight sense of humour might help people in Moera when I get there.

Still no offers for the chessboard though.


On the positive side, the bookcase is empty.



Hoppers come a cropper.

 Hi, P.Eater here.

I've been happier.

I'm trying to do a declutter job for our big shift to Moera. I'm looking forward to catching up with Robot. I'll probably also pop over to Wainuiomata to catch up with Rich Head, an old mate from 3M days. Actually, he only made 3R but let's not go there. He's done quite well for himself - and he's a folk musician. I was quite surprised to see that he knows about five chords on the guitar and also a couple of barre chords. He told me that he also knows one pentatonic scale that he can move around to different keys.

Anyway, my latest problem is this - I've discovered grasshoppers in the shed.


I went to our local hardware shop, Mitre 9, and found some insect bombs. I let a couple off in the shed. I'll go back and check the shed later today. 

It's a holiday up here today. Something to do with dustmen needing a day off. Reminds me of Lonnie Donegan.

LISTEN HERE.

Now here's a little story
To tell it is a must
About an unsung hero
That moves away your dust

Some people make a fortune
Others earn a mint
My old man don't earn much
In fact he's flippin' skint

Oh, my old man's a dustman
He wears a dustman's hat
He wears cor-blimey trousers
And he lives in a council flat

He looks a proper nana
In his great big hobnail boots
He's got such a job to pull them up
That he calls 'em daisy roots.
etc.

domenica 27 ottobre 2024

Old Misery Guts and the Chessboard,

 


I'd decided to sell things off so that our house in Kaitaia was ready for sale. I'd been told, by a friend who lives and blogs in Moera, that it wasn't always essential to wear underpants there. I decided to sell my best pairs on Trade Me. I had decided to keep the ones that were showing too much 'wear and tear'.


These underpants I was selling had hardly been worn, so I decided to sell three pairs for $45 and said that I would pay the freight. 
I had an offer and was very pleased! 
Later I found out that this buyer actually lived in Tonga and the freight would be $40.
Well, a deal's a deal.

Anyway, I still had the chessboard to sell. 
It was a really good board that I had bought for $200. Maybe I could sell it for a bit more, to cover the underpants?
The name of my friend in Moera is Robot. He is a Presbyterian who loves AI. He suggested that I keep the chessboard in the lounge while I was selling the house. Robot said that it would make me look intelligent.
In my youth I had attended St. Patrick's College in Wellington (this was in 1964) and I had only made it into 3M (the third best out of four classes). In my youth I imagined being Bobby Fischer, but I turned out to be a very average chess player. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea to milk the board a bit and then let it go.
Robert wrote an AI assisted message on my blog to say that he agreed. He finished off by saying that he quite liked me - I've had better compliments from Catholic acquaintances.


I'm okay, but I have been happier.

I wonder if Bobby Fischer is still alive and looking for a holiday home in Kaitaia?


sabato 26 ottobre 2024

Looks like change might already be underway.




OLD MISERY GUTS

 

The Curmudgeon to change his name!

 Was The Curmudgeon.

Now Old Misery Guts.




I was surprised to find an email from Peter this morning.

It read:

"Hi Richard (of RBB),

For quite a long time now I've used The Curmudgeon as the title for my blog. I guess I liked the picture it painted of me as being a little impatient and to the point. A curmudgeonly old chap with a great sense of humour. Well, time is rolling on for me and I have to accept that I am changing.

I've decided to update the image I present. Very soon all references to The Curmudgeon, on my blog, will be replaced with my new name - Old Misery Guts.

I'll also be using this appropriate new picture.


As they say, "If the hat fits, wear it."

See you on the blogs.

Peter."


Sabato.

 Buongiorno tutti.

It's a grey old day in the Nui.

Violin practice will be one of my first jobs today. I'm working slowly on Project Violin 100, but I'm also working up two Bluegrass pieces and I have a big jazz repertoire to maintain. On top of that I have double bass practice to do - a have a few solos to practise, along with nine original pieces that I would like to play with a small combo sometime in the future.

Oops, the boys will want a picture to keep their interest up.



I'm thinking of buying a jet. I'll need to win Lotto first to finance it. I could take Peter for an airborne tour when he finally moves to Wellington. Yes, yes, I know, all he'll do is grumble but, on the bright side, it'll give him material for a blog post.

The good thing about Rob getting up so early is that I often have a post to read when I wake up.




Peter normally rolls over in bed, thinks of the good times when he could get into 'the office', and leaves a message.




You may well ask how we know it's Peter when the comment is labelled 'Anonymous'.
Well, we just do. He often forgets to add 'TC', and who else would be reading Rob's blog at 5.14am?

You'd think that Peter would have time to write a morning blog if he's waking so early.

No. He's too lazy.


Well, that's it for this morning.

Ciao tutti.

venerdì 25 ottobre 2024

Bin there, done that.

 We've had gale force winds in Wellington since yesterday.

Today is rubbish day.

That means that bins are everywhere, and so are idiots.

Idiots don't secure their bins properly and often overload them.

That means that, in these conditions, bins are blown over and rubbish blows everywhere.

For some reason, our drive attracts rubbish.

I was out last night, and early this morning, cleaning up other people's rubbish.

I took a drive early this morning (Rob would have been out cleaning, but Peter would have been playing with his device in bed - hopefully the electronic one). You can see bins, either with their tops open because some idiot didn't use the little clip on the bin or blown over with their unsecured lids. I don't want to get into comparisons to rocket science, but it's not that hard to secure the lid on your bin and put it in a position where it has the best chance of standing up to the wind.











Robert's latest post is about purgatory. I left a comment, but he edited the post so that he could have a go at my comment. No wonder he sometimes calls himself Robert the sinner. Purgatory awaits you, Rob.




lunedì 21 ottobre 2024

The last Prowse?

 

A bit of fun to kick off this post.

Well, some of you will know that I'm a grandfather.

The shadow belongs to his dad
who is taking the picture.

Many years ago, I found dad (the shadow guy who was about eight, or younger, at the time) crying in his bed.

He told me sadly, "I'm going to be the last Prowse." - he was the youngest Prowse at the time.

Dad was eventually proven very wrong - there are heaps of younger Prowses now!

The youngest now is his cute little son, Harrison Robert Prowse.

Will Harrison grow up with the same fear as his father?

No, I can tell you that is not going to happen.

How do I know?

Because the next little Prowse is due next April.

Come on Peter, you were in 3 Pee, do the maths!

I will have two grandchildren - two boys with the surname Prowse.

In these days, when rents (and mortgages) are very high, both parents have to work.

That means that I will be a very busy grandad. Hey, but I can handle that!

For a starter, I have a collection of very good jokes and riddles.

Here are a few examples of my riddles:

Q. Colin gets two dogs, a German shepherd and a poodle. What is he called now?

A. Colin.

Q. What is brown and looks like a stick?

A. A stick.

Q. A horse walks into a bar. What does the barman say?

A. "Why the long face?"

Q. Two Irishmen see a sign saying, "Tree fellers wanted." What does one of them say?

A. "If Sean was here, we could have gone for that job."

Okay, you're probably rolling around laughing now. 

One thing is for sure, these two little boys are due for a humour treat!

I'll leave you there for today.

Ciao tutti.

domenica 20 ottobre 2024

Well, did you expect this?

 Someone from St. Peter's Catholic Church passed me this.



I first heard of this in a comment on Rob's blog.*


No chuckling from Robert! 




* Peter also refers to himself as The Curmudgeon and TC.

sabato 19 ottobre 2024

Proof.

 Good morning.

I thought I'd start with a nice picture.

Around these parts Rob's blog seems to be very popular and is building up more comments than any other blog. His latest post 'Prove it!' already has 15 comments.

This post starts off with, "Generally proof is required when contradicting an accepted belief. Atheism is not the status quo and never has been." What he's saying is that, for human beings, having a god is the accepted thing and thinking that there is no god is a bit weird. I got an Uber home from Wellington last night. I always like to chat to the driver because it's a half hour ride. The driver was Indian and told me that there are over 1,000 worshipped gods in India. I don't remember how the topic of gods came up and I haven't researched it online. If that is true, it means there is quite a bit of competition for being the one true god.

The word 'belief' seems to always pop up when talking about religion. Catholics, for example, seem confident that they have proof for the existence of their god. They tell us that this god is made up of three people. I don't think that any of them are female, though the Holy Ghost could be.*

I looked up the definition of the word 'belief' online. I got three 'answers'.

1) An acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof.
2) Something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion.
3) A religious conviction.

I have quite often asked Catholics for proof of their god's existence. I have been told many things. Often they refer me to the Bible as proof. Sometimes I'm told that a lot of people saw Jesus ascend to Heaven after the crucifixion. They sometimes quote miracles that have happened.
Did God write, or inspire the Bible? I don't think so. Anyway, there is no proof.
Obviously there are no photos of Jesus ascending into Heaven. We are reliant on what people from about 2,000 years ago might have written down or told someone else. I've heard that the Bible was written about two or three hundred years after Jesus buggered off. If that is true, information would have to have been passed on by written statements or passed on mouth to mouth. Over that time period it wouldn't be hard for things to get a bit muddled up.

Okay, fair enough, there are other things that have been passed down to us, like 'tempering' that took place in European music around 1750. I guess the fact that tempering is used today by most of the world to make chords work and scales sound the same in twelve different keys is proof of its existence.

Here's a score that I bought in 1971.
We studied it at university.


Anyway, I'd be interested in comments that can show me that there is proof of the Christian god. 
Keep your comments concise and to the point - no big flowery words please. You shouldn't need to use AI. 

Ciao.





* I doubt it though.

martedì 15 ottobre 2024

Peter is coming home!

 

This is wonderful news
for all his Wellington
friends!

Will he choose to live in Wainuiomata or Moera?

I'll be honest - probably not.

At any rate, it will be great to have him here!

What? You don't know Peter?

Here's a little background...

Peter grew up in the Wellington suburb of Mornington (or there abouts).  He was one of the first Kiwi boys to sport a mohawk.



After finishing primary school, he was sent to St. Patrick's College (town) where he was more heavily indoctrinated into the Roman Catholic faith and made it into 3P. 

That was in 1966.

After that he went to Victoria University, where he tried to find a girlfriend. A friend named Tony tried to help him out. He told Peter that young women preferred young guys who were pissed.

Peter stayed single for a very long time.

Then Peter got into the wine industry.


His friend Richard (of RBB) was able to teach him all about women and he eventually met his lifelong partner, Lynn. He has thanked Richard (of RBB) many times for his help.

Then Peter got into blogging. He had moved way up north, where he was falling into streams at the golf course and upsetting other tennis players.

His blog went by the name of The Curmudgeon. He wrote some very good posts, but then he got into house maintenance, gardening, moving his trailer and outside chairs being blown over.


He also bought some very silly boots.


He also started about 400 other blogs.

The list goes on, and on, and on.

The good news is, and maybe it was caused by medical intervention, that now he plans to move back to his hometown - Wellington.


Welcome home, Peter.


lunedì 14 ottobre 2024

Is God real?

 Let's ask a Catholic child, a Muslem child and a Sri Lankan child.

They all answer, "Yes, God is real."

Problem - they all follow what their parents have taught them.

There are lots of gods!









A very large number of people have followed every god, and this is only eight examples.

Yes Rob, and I'm sure they all have bible type books.

Your god of choice obviously depends a lot on where you were born. 

Work it out for yourself.