funkypancake: January 2010 Archives

surfs up
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this is how we spent yesterday - boogie boarding about in the huge surf at tawharanui. it's a bank holiday weekend here in new zealand and like all the best bank holiday weekends it did rain later in the afternoon.

hope this warms your cockles if you are in chillier climes

my moon (and mars) are upside down
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did you see the moon on friday night. it was great. around midnight mars was nearby. we're in the southern hemisphere so mars is to the bottom right of the moon

i completely over-exposed my first shot, but the internal reflection was nicely exposed so i thought i'd keep it !

and here's an interesting thing. it's the moon at perigree upside down as viewed from down under in new zealand.

radio controlled funness
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here are some photos i took last week at the local radio control car club.

it's such a cool thing to watch. both the on and off track action.

there were spills and thrills

and cars which whizzed so fast i couldn't photo them

but ultimately we were just looking at some very small cars whizzing about at very high speeds. and it was great.

complete set of photos here:

smiley mannequin
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i've never seen one so happy

the new zealand press
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isn't the correction above the best thing ever ?

and you've got to admire this chief executive's honesty

and this is how kiwis view britain - a national of lardy wobblers

stormy
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half leg waxing
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if i was going to have half a leg waxed, i think i'd go for the front half of my left leg.

unless the choice was inside or outside, in which case i'd go for outside.

although i'm not convinced i'd just want half a leg waxed anyway. better to have a pair done. or neither (my preference.

it also seems the price is irrespective of length or hairiness meaning a tall bloke with hairy legs gets better value than a stumpy lady with stumbly legs.

enough of this talk already

(now i remember why i don't write so much on the blog)

sky tower
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i love auckland's sky tower. which is handy. as it's a landmark which can be seen from miles away.

this is NOT an accident and emergency service
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writing signs about things not being other things is potential a massive opportunity for sign writers. think of how many combinations of things not being other things there are.

this blog is not a teaspoon for example.

it's me !
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good job i've got my glasses on in this picture as my eyes have those dreadful anti-tans that people have who go skiing.

the beach after work
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i've not talked too much about our ordinary life as expats in new zealand on the funkypancake blog

that's because we're keeping a separate online blog about that

but i thought you might be interested to see what we did after work yesterday

it's weird sitting on a local beach watching a cruise ship gently slide by a dormant volcano whilst people go about their beachy lifes

abandoned xmas trees
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i walked past these two chaps yesterday. interesting that two appeared on the same day a few kilometers apart.

dogs prohibited
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a lovely old time no dogs sign

rural trolley
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we might be on the other end of the planet, but it's great to find an abandoned trolley rusting nicely by a main road

toilet in a showroom (and nothing else)
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tsunami evacuation zone
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a reminder that this green and pleasant land has its ups and downs.

bored steward does bollard tricks
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don't play by the effluent hole
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this rather nice signs warns kids not to pay by the poo outlet pipe. good advice. interesting that the photo looks like a face with a sign eye patch.

sometimes i'm glad comments are broken !

lost toy on a chimney
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walk the structure
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walk the structure people. don't run

shoe tree
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new zealand - the land of the free (toast)
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crossing the road in new zealand
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jane and i on a date
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my lovely wife and i went out on a date on friday night as the girls went to a sleep over at some lovely friends' house

we went for a walk down the beach. it was low tide

i had pork and bacon and apple which looked like an owl

jane was delighted

then i had a cheesecake and washed it all down with a hot chocolate which was a bad idea.

then on saturday morning we went to a posh cafe for breakfast where i had sausage bacon and toast. there were four sausages and a giant's fist full of bacon.

we had friends round for tea this evening and had a big meal with them cooked by jane. so we're all feeling a little rotund. but good.

a lonely walk on long bay
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night-bell and speaking tube
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it's great when you stumble across a piece of history in an unexpected place. this lovely building is near my office and yesterday was the first time i'd stopped to read the sign.

how fantastic to have a 'speaking tube connecting the front door to the doctor's bedside' back in 1892 !

nut
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it's interesting to see what happens to the tree here in new zealand as the seasons progress. we arrived at the beginning of spring so we've seen all sorts of stuff start to happen.

these things remind me of similar nut-jobs that were around in london. no idea what they were called either.

tired
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funkypancake live video picture - spotty line
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i really must learn to slow down a bit when speaking, especially at the end of these videos. will. try. harder.

funkypancake live photo find
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i've started going out for an hour long evening stomp around the locality in the aid of fitness. it struck me i should be doing something with that time. so here's an attempt at a live photo. what do you think ? worth perservering with ?

(best comment on the video in youtube rather than here as comments still aren't working. sorry about that)

a lovely cafe
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a great cafe which used to be a fire station i think. and you can also see the kiwi version of double yellow lines which are dotted yellow lines. more excellent paint saving

the latest fashion
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you always need to to check out the dangerous fashion of those on the back row.

trolley and shadow of a trolley
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shoe on k-road
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birthday cakes make the best pies
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sign in a kiwi pub toilet
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it's funny the things you find in toilets on the other side of the planet. ti's probably about impossible to be any further away from church street london over here. but there's a sign hanging in a local pub.

the facts of life
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there's something very cool ("sweet as") about the way white lines are drawn over here. rather than being a solid line of which paper they seem to be made up of lots of runny drops

they also have a slightly 3d structure and you can feel/here a slight rumbling if you drive over them

but i can't help thinking of secondary school biology lessons and cartoon videos of the facts of life.

flamingo
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can you see it ?

just resting
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what happens when the bus doesn't stop

keep at all
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mannequin tea party
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in a bar
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all hair refunded if not totally satisfied
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sky tower on an office block
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tunnel vision
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gorge-ous

cathedral cove
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precarious rock
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some great signage
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nice to see a starfish on a sign. you can click on the star to bookmark it in the real world. probably.

fern
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home made toilet signs
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is this possibly the worst toilet sign ever ? it looks like they didn't have any writing materials so had to use what they had to hand. yuck.

still, it prepared you for what was behind the door - a legendary kiwi long drop toilet.

whistling octopus
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abandoned purple whistling octopus on the beach

fun at the beach
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shakespear park
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a lovely evening on the beach with bnug and family

give us a wave
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thin face
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hair and ears. but no mouth and nose. or eyes actually.

the longest drink in town
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now empty. suggesting even the longest was not enough

the new barbie head
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remember barbie head from last year ? well, we discovered this chewed toy near our house last night. i'll keep an eye on him for you

floating flower arrangement
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apparently nothing
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sky power
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daisies - the same the world over
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wonky
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rubbish
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you pay for your rubbish collection in auckland by buying plastic bags like these which cover the cost of collection or renting a wheely bin. bit strange at first but i think i like this system

kiwi sky
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new zealand is a cloud spotter's paradise. just make sure you apply enough sunscream ok ?

big nosed ugly guy
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it's my best kiwi mate bnug

bush mannequin
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great pointy dog sign
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this is a classic dog sign. look at the protrusion - it looks like it's being poked with a giant finger.

glove
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good reason for no dogs
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little spotted is another way of seeing 'seldom seen'. as no dog excuses go, this is a good one.

do not feed the birds
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shop toilet
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best to keep the two things apart

red corrugated iron roof
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a roof of corrugated iron. typically kiwi. and a nice line in clouds too

red door
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solar powered light
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house with a fog horn
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lighthouse
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shadowy fern
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and the views so nice
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significant tree
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cabbage tree
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i miss big british trees. but i'm beginning to love the native versions. like this comedically named 'cabbage tree'

jandal
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new zealand's biggest bed
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so, the big news is ... new zealand's biggest bed is on sale. although i note it's been massively reduced probably meaning it's no longer the biggest bed

the strange upside down trees of new zealand
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it's a very strange place

tirtiri matangi
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I don't usually do this, but i took quite a few pictures at tiritiri matangi yesterday so i made a flickr show instead of uploading them here.

(apologies if some of these turn up separately in the next few weeks. i've not really got my system working properly yet)

farteze
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\

you've got to love a fine food takeaway that calls itself 'farteze'

it's in stiff competition with this advertising in the chip shop two doors down

more lovely countryside
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some kiwi birds
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fun with friends on the coromandel
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this is a donut
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let's not get in to an argument over spelling. the concern here is more about shape. this is a kiwi donut.

tadpoles
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tadpole is such a cool word. sweet as

what is manchester
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manchester randomly added to the list of things on sale in the local john lewis equivalent type shop.

UPDATE: there's some problem with comments on the blog at the moment. This is what two of my new zealish friends said:

BUSS SAID:
Answers on a postcard.

a)Manchester (pronounced /?mænt??st?r/ ( listen)) is a city and
metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England.

b)A linen and bedding manufacturer in New Zealand.

ANDY SAID:
towels, bedsheets, pillowcases all equal Manchester - from a time when
all such products were produced from said city's mills.