1/02/2009

Some interesting things in the new year

I know I didn't do much travelling when I lived in the states, but I am convinced that there is a vast difference in the two countries when it comes to decorating gardens ['yards' in Yank].  
These are floats for large fishing nets that are hung in the tree.


On the gate to the driveway is this sign for a hospice house on the beach called 'A House for Karen'.  Some teen jerks stole the electric appliances before it got to be used.  We were all glad they were caught!


Most farms that extent to both sides of the road have put in underground paths for the cows, but this is one of the few places left where cows have to cross the road to get to the milking shed.

Tv programs are erratic in their starting times during holidays since there are no ads all day long.  I can live with that.   But the thing that really amuses me is that this country is very far from being politically correct about anything--especially the US!!-- but there are no ads on tv on Sundays before noon. This isn't a particularly 'religious' country, so that seems a bit odd.

Unless we win the lottery, I don't think I will ever be picking out a dishwasher any time soon--not a big deal, I promise.  But the ads on tv for them always show two dishwashers side by side under the cabinet. Do they advertise them in pairs in America?  Please let me know.  OK, I won't give up living if I don't find out, but it's a very bizarre feeling to wonder if what you see on tv is up to date or years behind the rest of the world.  

Kinda like tv...my first thought is that we get second hand programs from the US and England, even with some of the cable stations.  I know that the episodes of Dexter and NCIS and Bones we see are at least a few months behind their showing in the states.  And the Simpsons are everywhere!! [I must admit that I never watched them before I got here, but things change when there are kids in the house!]  We get Mythbusters on one of the four major stations and also on Discovery Channel, but they are all reruns---Discovery is reruns of reruns!

I see that 'Emergency 911' is coming back to NZ tv. Apparently, it causes quite a stir when it was here last time.  Since the emergency number here is '111' there had to be a 911 number set up to redirect emergency calls to the correct number! 

I used to be very content knowing that the US government was rolling along without my help and without me knowing much of what they did since there were so many government agencies doing so many governmenty things.  I was happy not knowing the details.  Not so here.  The country is so small that every little thing the government does is pretty much all over the news.  I think I prefer the 'ignorance is bliss' concept since I'm probably not going to like most of what goes on and who is doing it to whom anyway [that is, if I actually knew who the heck they were talking about and who all was involved!]

Now, there's one thing of late that I do understand.  It's about a rich guy here who owns a chain of stores. His comments about charity







THE retail king Gerry Harvey may have a personal fortune of about $1.6 billion but the Harvey Norman founder thinks donating to charity is "just wasted".
Asked in a new book about the role he and Harvey Norman play in the community, Mr Harvey said giving money to people who "are not putting anything back into the community" is like "helping a whole heap of no-hopers to survive for no good reason".

have lost him a lot of business, including ours.

Oh, well, I can't say life isn't interesting here. 


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