New Zealand’s 9/11?

15/3/19.

As of now, 49 people lost their lives in the Christchurch shootings yesterday. The population of NZ is a bit under 5 million.

The population of the US in 2001 was about 285 million, and 2,996 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks (including the attackers).

In per-capita terms, expressing these tragedies only as a percentage of national population murdered by terrorists, the two events end up looking almost identical. How can New Zealand not be changed by this?

9/11 changed — is still changing — America, and because America takes up so much space in the world, those changes spilled out into the whole of human history. Events in NZ cast smaller ripples onto the world’s ocean of consciousness, but New Zealanders surely live in a darker place after 15/3 than before.

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Why?

Just last week we were watching the latest 7 Days, in which one of the main themes was how tough it is to do topical comedy in NZ because nothing much actually happens, and certainly nothing bad.

But the metastatic diseases of gun violence and bigotry and whatever else have spread even here, and so today a (the?) mosque in Christchurch joins the global list of “those places.”

Dozens dead. Just trying to pray or hang out with family or learn cultural stuff or whatever you do at church.

Why?

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Third time’s a charm

Last night I officially beat kitchen gadget expectations by using the pasta maker for the third time. And the noodles were my best effort so far.

Some years back, Lee and I both enjoyed a series of mystery / police procedural novels set in Venice. Inspector Brunetti’s wife is always whipping up fresh pasta for lunch. Even considering that it’s an old-school 2-hour Italian lunch break, there’s no way I would be even close. It’s more of an all afternoon thing for me.

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Scoot!

For as much noise as they’ve caused, it’s a little surprising that I haven’t written more about the Lime scooter invasion.

Lime scooters are awesome electric scooters. You unlock them with an app on your phone and whiz along at up to about 16 mph. Totally fun. And they do solve the last mile problem for a lot of trips.

But Auckland seems to have been completely overwhelmed by Lime’s famously aggressive rollout team. Nobody figured out the details of how they have been introduced, where you can and can’t ride them (sidewalks, bike lanes, etc), who pays for the (many!) injury claims, who is responsible for maintenance lapses, and so on.

Or rather, Lime figured out all those details and Auckland failed to disagree. So the money goes to the VCs, and the costs stay here. The situation is particularly troubling in NZ, because of the national, tax-funded, no-fault insurance policy we all enjoy. When a private company introduces a dangerous product, their liability is mostly absorbed by the citizenry. That can be balanced by good product regulation, but government missed the mark on this one.

The City Council did take the scooters off the streets last week over safety concerns, but now they’re back. Still fun, but for me the bloom is off the rose, and I’ll be much less enthusiastic about Lime than I was at first.

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And the agony of defeat

More of me than most of you wanted to see…

I lost traction on my bike Wednesday morning and now am sporting some new red accessories to go with my watch.

It’s been a while since I hit the deck while exercising, and while I don’t precisely remember how much it hurt last time, I think maybe I’m less elastic than in the old days.

The scrapes are not serious, and it’s not like I ended up tangled in barbed wire. But I’m headed to the doctor anyway to talk about physiotherapy… the exact motion of lowering a heavy mug onto the bar hurts quite a lot… and that’s a problem.

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The window of our discontent

Having the Labour Party in charge of government has been associated with some workers voicing their frustrations more openly… nurses and teachers and bus drivers have all staged strikes.

This ambulance is advertising its driver’s (or at least some driver’s) opinions as it rolls along. If they’re really not getting any night /weekend pay I have to agree that’s no good… seems like everybody in healthcare gets something extra for the off-hours work they do.

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Let there be light

Soothing pink light, that is.

We bought this Himalayan salt lamp, used but supposedly working, a few weeks ago. Alas, when we got it home, nothing. No mystical Pakistani ions, no allergy relief, no warm light. It did serve its actual purpose as a bookend, but we wanted more.

I finally got around to changing the bulb (a project made more difficult by an encrustation of salt…). Hey presto!

So far, we have to concur with this nice article about the actual value of having a salt lamp… it hasn’t cured any ailments yet but it’s a nice light in the early morning or late evening… and it totally keeps the books from falling over.

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The thrill of victory

Nothing says “big running race” like the massive lines at the porta-potties. And nothing says “Auckland is kind of a small town” like realizing how it has already become normal to encounter someone we recognize just about every time we leave the house (the guy in the black t-shirt goes to my same gym).

I ran my first organized race in a few years last Sunday, the annual Auckland Round the Bays. It’s the biggest running event in NZ, with over 25,000 participants. It passes near the house and goes along the beach, a road I know well. Pancake flat. Weather a little too warm, but windless and beautiful. All in all, near perfect conditions.

On the one hand, it was awesome to come in so close to the top… I ran exactly the race I wanted to, given my fitness level, and somehow beat even my stretch goal pace. But on the other, most of those participants were there as part of a corporate charity project and walked more than they ran.

(And for those of you who keep score, no, that’s not a 4:36 mile pace, it’s kilometers, and no, it isn’t a 10K, only 8.4.) (and no, it’s not lost on me that back in the day I completed a whole marathon at an identical pace)

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Netball

On Saturday we went to our first netball game, between the Northern Mystics and the Southern Steel. This marked a trifecta for me of sports I wouldn’t have likely seen in the States: rugby, cricket and now netball.

Rules-wise, it’s a lot like Ultimate Frisbee. Or it’s a lot like basketball with no dribbling.

Although the players are pros, it can’t be a very lucrative gig with only about 500-700 fans in the stands.

It was fun to watch… the passing and teamwork are beautiful. But the action is quite jerky… running the ball downcourt is great, but the action basically stops when it’s time to score.

But maybe the best part was Lee brought the Mystics sunglasses we fished out of the bay one night on a walk.

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Bowl me over

For our Friday drinks last week we deviated from the usual routine and went lawn bowling. I took the shot above because I thought the “Visitors Welcome” sign was too much like a Mormon church to pass up. It wasn’t until later that I noticed the defibrillator sign… but not surprising as the average age of a bowling club member must be in the high 130s.

It was a lot of fun and harder than it looks. Turns out the balls aren’t exactly round, so it’s all about making them hook in at the end. I enjoyed the conversation and the drinks more than the actual bowling. Which I think makes me an excellent candidate for membership… especially the drinks part.

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Cheaper Than Therapy

The sign might be true in the long run (sorry for that) but not in the moment when you’re shelling out for new kicks.

I signed up for a corporate team event at Auckland’s giant Around the Bays run next weekend, which meant I had to replace my aging shoes.

I’ve had chronic knee pain over the past few years, so I was primed to let the salesman talk me into the Brooks Bedlam… maybe the only shoe in the store more expensive than the ASICS Gel-Kayanos I’ve been running in for most of the last 15 years. We’ll see if a 4mm-shorter heel-toe drop makes a difference. Or if in fact I’m over 50 and heavier than I used to be.

I ran a few miles on that first day and they felt pretty good… so we’ll see how the weekend warrior does this weekend!

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Living Vi-car-iously

That, my friends, is a 1958 Mercedes 220S. It’s a nice-looking car, a model I didn’t know, and it happened to be parked up the street last weekend. We would look very fine, I said to Lee, driving down the road in a car like that.

Hmm, I continued, I wonder what something like that goes for. I mean, just for curiosity.

Well, it turns out there was one for sale by auction on TradeMe, and it further turned out the auction was ending in only a few hours.

When I first saw it, the bid was about $23,000. According to the listing, the for sale car is mostly rented out to bridal parties. The seller said it’s not especially original, not a show quality car at all, but clean and eminently drivable.

I spent the next few hours daydreaming. It was a lot of fun. But, as usual in these flights of automotive fancy, common sense prevailed.

I hope the new owner enjoys it in the years to come as much as I (and the 500+ others who followed this auction) did in those few hours.

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Lantern Festival 2019

Again this year we went to the Lantern Festival in the Auckland Domain. It seemed somehow less amazing than last time, and even more crowded. But still pretty neat…

The museum all lit up in Chinese colors

This pig has a lot of scary clown vibe

A scene from Madame White Snake, one of China’s four great folktales.

It’s not all folktales

I think that’s supposed to be net he’s casting upon the waters…

Dragons whose heads moved back and forth

Lanterns in the trees

After party

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