Writers
Susan Grimsdell
After retiring from audiology some years ago, Susan’s finding life’s pretty good with lots of time to do what she likes. That includes walking, reading, having coffee with friends, and a bit of activism thrown in. Also, day by day doing her best not to worry too much over the many threats to our gorgeous planet.
Read Susan’s Blog
Trevor Plumbly
Meet Trevor. He’s had quite a colourful career, from his early days as a pub manager in Tunbridge Wells he went on to become Dunedin’s leading auctioneer. Trevor is a published author and was something of a TV personality in the 1980s as a regular panellist on a show about antiques.
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Emily Smart
Emily is very loud, and has really bad taste in cheesy pop music. When not at work flogging goods to the public via advertising and marketing campaigns, she can be found hiding from her partner and children at the local pub. If you’re easily offended or don’t appreciate the constant use of profanities, then you probably shouldn’t read Emily’s posts. You have been warned!
Read Emily’s Blog
Angela Caldin
Angela has had many roles in her life including: schoolgirl, student, daughter, friend, civil servant, wife, lover, mother, manager, magistrate, landlady, teacher, grandmother, blogger, editor and proofreader.
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The latest
Acts of kindness by Susan Grimsdell
A couple of weeks ago two police officers from Hastings showed all of us how to help make society a better place in every way. Shoplifting to feed family They were called to a supermarket where a mother, with three small children in tow, had been caught stealing $50 worth of meat. She at once admitted taking it, and began to cry. She said she’d never done anything like that before, and she only did it because she just didn’t know any other way to get food for the family. The officers… Read More
Way to go! By Trevor Plumbly
I know I bang on about it a bit, but this age thing is starting to get to me. Lots of old fogies tranquilise themselves with verbal crap like ‘You’re only as old as you feel’ in an attempt to ignore the inevitable. Apart from a few odd-bods, for most of us ‘dead is dead’ and I’m OK with that; what’s fascinating to me is how it gets handled these days as opposed to the ‘gently drawn sable curtain’ approach. Dying was a big deal in Victorian times: regardless of your achievements… Read More
Words sometimes confused: continuous and continual by Angela Caldin
I know that there is a difference between continuous and continual and I remember being taught about it at school. But sometimes I forget what the difference is. So I’m explaining it for my benefit and for the benefit of anyone else who might like to know that they are not synonyms. Continuous indicates that something goes on without interruption, whereas continual indicates that something goes on over a period of time, but with intervals of interruption. The continuous noise of machinery from the next door factory began to affect her health…. Read More
Coronavirus by Susan Grimsdell
There’s a new scourge invading the earth. Coronavirus or Covid-19 to give it its new name. Many thousands of people have got it, and hundreds have died. It’s brand new, so none of us has any immunity to it. It’s causing havoc everywhere. People are stuck in China, prevented from flying home, shipments of products to and from China are grinding to a halt threatening whole economies, stockmarkets are falling. People are afraid, very afraid. Masking the problem Chinese authorities’ response has been to make the wearing of facemasks compulsory. People elsewhere… Read More
From squo to woe by Trevor Plumbly
The older I get the less polite I’m inclined to be about things that really piss me off. Bad language I dislike it when people tinker with things that are working OK, like words. We’re losing the battle against geek-speak every day and these bright sparks are continually cooking up acronyms and verbal obscurities which we swallow without question, not wanting to look dumb. Though not well educated in the full sense of the term, I do have a regard for clarity. Computer programmers however, loathe simplicity and neither do they fight… Read More
The Writers
We’re four Brits who made the big move from the UK to the other side of the world. We love New Zealand, the English language having a good laugh and the occasional moan. Ah, just read our posts and you’ll get the gist.
