funkypancake: August 2010 Archives

buzzy bee kiwi-style

the buzzy bee is a kiwi classic baby toy.

if you don't believe me you can read it for yourself on this highly stylish information box

it's all about the packaging. quite literally in this case.

gloves in the rain

the top one is clearly a glove but the second two below ... well you'll just have to take my word for it

the day we went to play on the motorway

here's a bit of a story for you. i've haven't really posted much life stuff on this blog as i've been doing that elsewhere.

however, i thought you might find this interesting.

yesterday in between (and during) rain showers we walked on a new bit of motorway in central auckland

it was open for 4 hours only as a celebration of all that is great about motorways and engineering and being a kiwi.

this giant blue crane was the magic behind constructing the new motorway bridge

and next weekend it'll be shut to traffic so they can do the final switcheroo

so for one day only you could walk along and enjoy the view and inginuity

in the rain

beside the view over the sides there were plenty of bollards to admire

and you could look down at all the spare bits of bridge they had left over (that always used to happen with airfix kids didn't it)

there's the motorway going up the hill in the distance just to prove it is all connected.

and here's some detailed instructions about the big blue crane thing

to be honest, it didn't look particularly solid from underneath. but i did an electronics degree, so what do i know.

there were hundreds of peoples taking their sunday afternoon stroll on the road

and it really felt like a lovely community thing. they even put some diggers out for kids to climb in and pretend to drive (there were no keys in them)

and i was delighted to see some gloves near this roller

there they are look. i don't think they were workmen's ones. unless workmen wear blue woollen gloves.

i loved it despite the rain. it's great to celebrate big feats of engineering and this was done in a lovely community way. we even got postcards to show we'd been there.

great stuff.

no mobile phones near the salt

factlity

a good sign (which you'll probably have to click to be able to read properly)

spirulina

it might be green and made of something like seaweed, but it's my favourite

watching

there's a big eye poster on one of the buses i sometimes get. that keeps us all in line.

there were a number of dead birds on auckland's queen street earlier in the week. i spotted a leg first, then another leg, then some seagull feathers. and then this further up the hill. makes you think doesn't it ?

jaunty bollard top hat

i took a picture of this, then a colleague sent me a picture of it too. obviously very funkypancakesque

please do not move the milk

steaming

i think we might have had this chap before, but he's such a good 'un he's worth repeating. anyone fancy a game of snooker ? or ten pin bowling ?

end of the line

some flowers are not natural

ladies men and children altered

the olden days

figure head

spring

the weakest link (replaced)

bikers searching for the lost shop

highway pursuit

i'm not sure if this is an official police car.

still, people sometimes bring their own laptops to work, or use their own mobile phones. so if you were a policeman then i couldn't blame you from bringing your own vehicle in.

cake

big cakes with big holes are very popular in new zealand

camouflage leaf

what a brilliant idea - camouflaged leaves so they blend in with their surroundings.

tiny tikis

tui in a tui tree

like a giant old fashioned mobile phone

if the bollard were an aerial this would be like a giant olden days mobile phone.

but it's not

gloves

jumping for joy

x marks the spot

some typical new zealand names

who calls their kid 'sexy' in this day and age ? honestly.

how it can all go wrong

tram track cyclists take care. that's why it's best not to be a tram track cyclist

sky tower hide and seek

telephone road

post box dice

corrugated metal drain

corrugated iron is a classic kiwi building material so it was no surprise to see this little stream protected by some. the water jiggled pleasantly over the corrugations and made for a lovely sight and sound. terrific

security dogs

if i was going to get some guard dogs, i probably wouldn't choose dachsuns. unless i was frightened of being burgled by oompah loompahs

sugar

chelsea sugar welcomes all visitors

painting the town white

are you all white up there ?

figure head

it's a figure head (a ship's front mannequin)

semi permanent day 2

excellent final day at semi-permanent NZ

today served up

Dick and Otis Frizzell
Poke
Katrin Sonnleitner
Adrian Shaughnessy
Buck

and the legendary Storm Thorgerson who used the opportunity to make a picture of some of the people present.

great stuff. now back to my real world

stop

auckland in the rain

we get decent rain showers here

pilots outside the flight centre

apologies for poor quality. wrong camera gromit.

look in to the night

semi permanent day 1

fantastic day 1 at semi permanent auckland featuring

Jessica Hirsche
Karen Walker and Mihail Gherman
Frost* Design
Duncan Speakman
Pixar
The Light Surgeons

followed by a splendid subtlemob

i suspect i was the only telecoms regulatory expert in a room full of arty designers who wouldn't know a dress down friday if someone attached one to a briefcase and threw it at them. but that made me all the more pleased to be there.

mannequin with a balancing hat

sadness

umbrella and letter box

cyclist in a tutu

strange knitting

on balance

knots

it's a box full of knots. what a jolly good idea.

magic turban

stick people toilet signs

neither the man nor women on these toilet signs have multiple legs. which could cause a problem if you think about it.

second thoughts, don't think about it.

demonstration crockeries with explanations

redacted kiwi

i'm glad they just redacted this with a black pen rather than printing a new sign. they'd obviously gone to all that expense in the first place.

new things every day

if ever you wanted a motto for life, this could be it. although you might just want to stick to the 'new things every day' bit and drop the 'under $10 winter clearance rack'

chef

nice use of a hair net on a mannequin don't you think ?

religious graffiti

it looks like i'm flying, but i wasn't. this was on the pavement near where i work.

is graffiti the disease or the cure ?

pumpkin

this was back at the end of May, but still an unexpected sight in the street.

there's so much going wrong here

it's the little burn ghost on the bottom left i feel sorry for

maori fence posts

aren't these the best fence posts ever ? not only do they keep people out physically, but they freak them out too. brilliant !

please supervise children

a fish out of water not setting a good example to children who should remain in their own environment

farm animals fairy lawn

f

getting a big thumbs up from the tuatara there

the end of rock 'n' roll

the unhappy bride

mannequin with good hair

pouty mannequin

brazilian wax - try something different!!

open 8 days

posh mannequins

maori mannequins

drop

walk safe

giant key for a small old car

no jandals

dead slow live chilrdren

door or no door

why did the chair lift ?

possibly slightly overdoing the air conditioning ?

cockerel

quite ridiculous animals. well done.

invisible washing

no dogs

i collect pictures of dog signs, so it's delovely when i come across one i haven't already found. like patch here. he looks like he might be half cow half dog. or perhaps he's a dog dressed as a cow to avoid the canine restriction.

two sticks are better than one

i like to look around as i walk. last week i spotted these two sticks in the ground and let my eyes follow then up to the top to see why there was two

and there seemed to be no logical explanation as this lovely selection of signs could have been held on a single stick

so my only thoughts are that it's for the benefit of dogs and this may be the first 'his and hers' weeing posts ?

confusing signs though, aren't they readers ?

healthy cakes

here are some cakes we got at the office as a way of thanking us for our patience in the office move.

one of my colleague picked off the star from the top of his cake and threw it in the bin. i pointed out it was chocolate and not marzipan so he went in to the bin and got it out to eat it. good