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.
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
Happy Holiday by Trevor Plumbly
As I’ve said before, it’s an odd time for me, between the gathering, the going and the silence that follows. Since I don’t travel well, the going away only affects me at one remove. This I regard as something of a blessing as I find the chorus cataloguing the essentials along with the main verse of ‘have I packed???’ is best left to one person if sanity and matrimonial harmony are to be preserved. After the departure, with a few ‘don’t forget to’s’ still rattling around the old brain, I knuckle down to organising… Read More
That’s the Spirit by Trevor Plumbly
Tis the season It’s that time again, according to our religious leaders, and of course shopkeepers, a time of celebration and giving. Due to family circumstances I’ve never really been a Christmas person. Children naturally parade their possessions like a thermometer of their parents regard especially at this time, and it’s equally natural for those at the bottom of the social scale to feel envy and resentful. Looking back I certainly did. I don’t dwell on those early years to any great effect but they do cause me to reflect on… Read More
There’s Something Wrong With Me! By Trevor Plumbly
It’s not that I think life is passing me by, more a sense of personal detachment from trivial stuff that others seem to regard as important. The biggest offender in this is still the print media. As I’ve mentioned before, the flood of internet news gathering has made sub-editors and a huge number of working reporters redundant, and this has led to gaps in column space being packed with an increasing amount of mail order, asinine trivia rather than news of any informative value. This week for instance I learned that… Read More
More Than Words Can Say by Angela Caldin
I’ve just found out, admittedly a bit late in the day, that the Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year is an emoji, the ‘face with tears of joy’ emoji to be precise. Can this be right I wonder; is an emoji a word or is it a pictorial representation of an emotion? Where would you put it in the dictionary? What constitutes a word anyway? Word or Emoji? The Oxford Dictionaries define an emoji as ‘A small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion in electronic communication.’ They… Read More
Helpless by Trevor Plumbly
Helpless, Helpless (Neil Young) There’s more than tragedy and anger to consider after the events in Paris. A horrifying door’s been opened and as in the past the zealots, the misguided and those that feel disenfranchised will pour through it. This new breed of war doesn’t need army casualties or land occupation to measure progress, it operates on the basis that whilst terror itself doesn’t actually kill, it destroys communities and the fabric of that binds them. Terrorism isn’t a modern concept, consider the Spanish Inquisition, the Nazi purification measures during the… 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.
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