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
On the Brighter Side by Trevor Plumbly
They’re Coming to Get Ya! I generally regard the off-beat and just plain cranky as adding a bit of spice to everyday life, but a couple of things lately have made that a bit more difficult to do. I was a 60s person and we weren’t short of the odd nutter in those days: some held the theory that whacking your brain with LSD led to great personal enlightenment, while others held the less harmful belief that carting around a crystal bead protected you from all sorts of nasties. My personal favourite… Read More
Is Fat Amy A Good Role Model? By Emily Smart
The part-time agitator I’ve never been very radical. This may surprise some people. Mouthy, opinionated, never one to avoid controversy, but not radical. I have been on less than a handful of marches in my time and for all the wrong reasons. When I was a student, a gang of us went to Glasgow to protest about Tory cuts. Me and my mates went because the student union had organised £8 tickets to Glasgow for the protest and we had never been to Scotland before. It seemed like a good idea at… Read More
On a Positive Note by Trevor Plumbly
The Piano Lady Looking back, I’ve decided that I’ve been a bit curmudgeonly lately and I feel it’s about time I strayed to the positive side. Being a grumpy old git suits me most of the time, but I like a bit of variety and, of course, I’ve got what I prefer to describe as my avid readers’ interests to consider as well. I’ve just finished watching a documentary on Pavarotti and it occurred to me how little thought I’ve given to the importance of music in my life. Mercifully for the… Read More
Whatever Happened to Outrage by Trevor Plumbly
Swings and Roundabouts New Zealand is a green and peasant land on the face of it, relatively crime free by most other standards and, if the tourist publicity image is to be believed, populated by easy-going folk with a love of the great outdoors, rugby and livestock. But, like everywhere else, we’ve got our dark spots and, just like everywhere else, we’re not quite sure what to do about them. We basically operate under the British system, which god knows has tried for centuries to get to grips with crime. Hanging, hard labour,… Read More
Wild About Harry! By Trevor Plumbly
Some Day My Prince Will Come Actually he’s just been and I can’t really say I’m wild about the event. He seems to be a decent enough bloke, a bit of a lad and all that, but I do get the impression that he owes his personality more to his mother rather than royal indoctrination. Judging by his schedule here, and in Australia, he’s definitely not work-shy. When it comes to NZ he’s done it all in seven days; sport, military, schools, wildlife, the pub quiz and of course the traditional cultural… 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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