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Thursday last, Balfour Meditations
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
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Had to get out of Nelson, this town gets claustrophobic. So I grab the bus out to Balfour, an hour on the beach scouring, nothing found, not even a flake, water’s still too high, I need rain, the lake level to drop, no further trips until November. Waiting for the bus back I revisit the old restaurant, new restaurant, they’ve about a dozen tables, still sticking to mostly reduced hours, 5 servers, a bartender to pull beer and serve wine, I ask what’s up, there’s no good explanation, they’re closed holiday Monday….all these staff and for a moment I feel a twinge of envy, one server assures me that despite the number of staff they’re all making great money, she quotes an improbable sum, I look around, do the mathemagic, it’s seems damned unlikely they’re coming close to those numbers, how are they even paying them all? But the vibe is good, everyone relaxed, I've never seen it like that, and given the stress my job’s been the last few weeks (every night, slammed, run off your feet,) it's seems like a chill change of pace. Too late in the season to consider the change in scenery, another few weeks and this place will be empty, they’ll be overstaffed with one server, it’s a little bit bougie for Balfour, the prices, atmosphere, so I'll be curious to pop in again in November and where they're at...
The Meat Dealer
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
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This, the latest in "get your deal on", first it was the Cigarette guy, discounted native cigarettes, inferior in every way but it's a filthy habit no matter what and so I'm just going to use them as an excuse to smoke less and save up some money.
Then there's the meat dealer, apparently choice cuts for a fraction of the cost you'd pay at the grocery...He's been paid, but has yet to deliver.
It’s like I’m living in Mother Russia where all of your needs are met on the Black Market and everyone lives in a completely different economy...
Chilis, Tomatoes & Basil
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
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The cherry tomatoes has been giving a handful of red ripeness every few days, the basil grows profusely, and - what I am most interested in - the chili peppers have been flowering for weeks but I have yet to see a single pepper.
The tenant downstairs, I've checked on his chili plants, half the height of mine, and he had (rather boring) chilis a month ago.
My plants, double the size, clearly superior, and the tiny flowers just hang there, change, up the fertilizer, maybe - at most - 3 weeks left of summer, and I'd better damn well see some results for this 6 or 7 months gardening...
Foundation
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 278
This, upon being unfavourably impressed with "House", a little too predictable, the recommendation of my brother.
There's really very little science in it, and quite a bit of fiction a space opera without the intriguing aliens, based on outdated ideas abut human nature and ideology, all these cable networks, reality TV, Disneyfication of DEI, everyone in the world is an actor now, the characters ridiculous, the steam-punk “huntress” with her bow, the ridiculous languages with Russian Accents (how do you portray a villain? Bad accent...). That said it's visually stunning, with stellar computer graphics - first rate CGI, and it's hard to imagine acting all this against a green screen, but given the inane dialogue and ridiculous plots they're not acting too hard.
Anyways, Season 1 down and it's not grabbed me in the least. I completely disagree with Asimov's vision of the future, space-ship-go-hyperspace is not science and if we're to cross the interstellar abysses and colonize the entire Galaxy I think we'll be finding a lot more miracles than are here portrayed and our nature will need to evolve substantially to allow these wonders in...
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