Writers
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.
Read Trevor’s Blog
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.
Read Angela’s Blog
The latest
Alt truth by Susan Grimsdell
Reading the news lately, you’d think ‘alt truth’ is a Trumpish invention. Of course it isn’t – lies and damned lies have been around since the beginning of time. The trouble with lies is that they quickly take on a life of their own and become truth. Jonathan Swift (born 1667), understood this power. He said, ‘If a lie is believed for only half an hour it hath done its work’. Housing falsehoods Once a lie is out there, a whole web is spun around it, until the original lie is buried… Read More
Square eyes and stress by Trevor Plumbly
Serial stupor Mother always insisted that television was an addictive force and, at the ripe age of 75, I’m beginning to believe the old girl was right. These days I can’t see a great deal on the screen, it’s more like having a big grey radio on the wall with lots of adverts, but, even for me, some TV programmes are a must, bringing back memories of the religious SHUSH for the Queen’s speech and Coronation Street. My current addiction is a quiz show called ‘The Chase’. Nightly, beer at hand, I… Read More
Prince Harry and a modern monarchy by Angela Caldin
Prince Harry has been in the news recently, giving a lengthy interview to Newsweek in which he talks about what it’s like for him being a member of the royal family. There’s no doubt that he’s achieved a great deal in his young life: serving in the army in Afghanistan; founding the charity Sentebale with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to help vulnerable children in the country which has the second highest HIV rate in the world; being patron of the anti-mines charity the HALO Trust which pursues his mother’s goal of ridding… Read More
Triumph of hope by Susan Grimsdell
Not long after the world realised that the unbelievable had happened and Donald Trump had become the President of the US, the level of objection was astounding. It included people in state governments; many government employees, governors and mayors; workers in many federal departments; immigrant rights groups; religious groups; as well as one of the biggest demonstrations in history with the Women’s March on 21 January 2017. Women all over the world took to the streets. I was one of them and later, a friend asked me why I had bothered. ‘They… Read More
A blind date by Trevor Plumbly
By the book? Tuesday was to be a busy day: coffee and world correction with the gang, then on to Book Club which is much like any other, except we listen rather than read. We start off in an orderly round robin critique, but the fun starts with the open discussion; thanks to the stamina of Chairperson Janice, this falls short of verbal warfare but lacks nothing in the way of diversity. After dissecting this month’s offering (boring to brilliant), we moved effortlessly on to parrot ownership (honestly!). Never having owned one,… Read More
The Writers
We’re three 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.
