New Zealand Summer is putting on a good show of late. A bit too warm for us though. The kittens are putting a brave face on things by snoozing in the shade.








New Zealand Summer is putting on a good show of late. A bit too warm for us though. The kittens are putting a brave face on things by snoozing in the shade.








The children hope you have a festive season as relaxing as theirs.


















Hello, it’s been a while. John Lennon was claimed to have said that forgetting to make blog posts is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. Not sure I believe this but it’s still apt. Here are some cat pictures.




















Lovely pictures of the boy & the girl.


We moved house thirteen years ago this week, abandoning the noise & bustle of the Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn for a rural life. We’ve never regretted it. And how things have grown!

What an absolutely epic song.
Lord Viking and Princess Wandacakes are excellent kittens.
Look upon their excellence.














So there’s this song that has been stuck in my head since 1981.
Back in the 1980s I was busy (due to my date of birth) being a teenager. As such I was eagerly and sullenly looking for cultural tropes to which I could adhere. This particular song stuck in my head because it was sufficiently different from the standard pap (not a typo) of the time.
It’s a song that has always stayed with me as a touchstone for excellent 80s pop music, a little bit of fun, a little bit different, and some great talent banging on the pots and clanging the strings. It leaves me with a smile on my face every time I hear it.
I’ve revisited this song many times since the 80s, and it has always made me feel good, uplifted, joyous.
So it occurred to me the other day to go and see if The Look were still together, and I was delighted to find out that they have put out another couple of albums.
So I did what any reasonable human being would do – I investigated the back catalogue and bought it all.
And I tell you, if you want a big slab of excellent, intelligent 80s pop, you have to get Pop Yowlin’ and Tunes and Stories. Both great albums, so full of life, character, smarts and fun.
You can buy their albums on Bandcamp here: https://thelook1.bandcamp.com/
New Zealand is back in lockdown, due in no small part to the wishful thinking, denialism and piss-poor vaccine rollout by our masters in Wellington.
Thankfully we have the kittens to keep us entertained.






