After one layer of silica sealant and two layers of car wax, I think I have the paint on my new car where I want it. It looks and feels better than when I first bought it (new) about a month ago.

I can literally smell smoke from fires 1000 km away. Crazy. www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/weat...

Cancel everything for a week of mourning and make it a state funeral. Rip Sam Neill, the guy who made us all want to dig up dinasour bones but not conservation land x

Auē! 💔 Aue! 💔 Te pouri hoki 😭 Kua hinga te tōtara o Te Waonui o Tāne! Sam Neil has left this world.

That's Monday done. Tonight we are drinking Melo Melo Kava 😎

It’s Sunday evening. The fire is lit. Time for some Dungeon Crawler Carl Bk III 🙂

Time for some muddy root water, or kava as I prefer to call it 🙂

Now I have a text message from the Jiangsu Coast Guard to report any illegal activity I might observe ☺️

Got a typhoon warning in China on my phone this morning. This is what happens when one of your active SIMS is your mainland Chinese mobile number 🙂

Tonight's main- a chickpea and spinach korma 🙂 Indian food is one of my vegan 🌱 staples, with recipes easily adapted to be vegan. #vegan

A fungus photo a day: (I almost forgot) Snowy inkcap/Coprinopsis nivea beginning to to curl up. Other angles below. Taken in 2024. #fungifriends #fungi #mycology #naturephotography

Finally got around to giving my new car a decent wash, and a silica spray sealant (CarPro). Then applied a wax coat for extra protection and shine (Dodo Juice Rainforest Rub). Next step will be the windows and interior.

It's been a cold winter day in Tāmaki Makaurau. Cat was peeved at mid afternoon when I hadn't lit the fire. 6pm and I've got both the fire lit, and one heat pump running. That's the first time using this combination. It must be cold!

"The Supreme Court has crowned the president a king. And that’s why Democrats’ number one goal must be reforming the court." www.signorile.com/p/marking-it...

Made a young Chinese family feel welcome this morning in Tāmaki Makaurau. Visited a scenic site, and the dad said "Hi". So I smiled and replied 早上好. I love the look of surprise and delight. And I got a 早上好 in return 🙂

After a hiatus, I've got time to take photos🇳🇿. Tried my luck with the local pīwakawaka (fantails) 🪶 Here one is chasing down a midge, which is clearer in the second shot. #birdphotography

love me some good old authentic grunge to make a city feel lived in. #urbangaze #alley #wellington #AoNZ #photography

The fire is on again tonight. We are not cold ☺️

It’s a sunny day in Tāmaki Makaurau so I’m charging my car with free sunlight (solar panels). This is nicer than paying for petrol/gas.

Exciting morning so far in Tāmaki Makaurau. 4 Tauhou break into the backyard Catio. I have to lock the cat inside. Caught 2 of them (with butterfly net) and persuaded the other 2 to exit via the catio doors. Cat is disgruntled she lost her chance to chase small birds.

The most frustrating thing is that so many of us just want a quiet life, free to just do our do, not hurt anyone, have a bit of fun, eat nice food, enjoy beauty all around us, be safe and sound. And yet, a tiny handful of self absorbed arseholes who wish to fuck the world for their own $$ benefit.

“Yes, this is climate change,” said Friederike Otto, a professor at Imperial College London and a co-author of the study. “Yes, it’s us, no, it’s not El Nino, yes, we have the solutions, no, we’re not implementing them fast enough.” 🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The heatwave in western Europe is the most severe and widespread ever, with almost half of Europe’s largest cities experiencing their worst ever heat stress, a combination of high temperatures and humidity. Unless we stop burning fossil fuels, future heat conditions will become even more extreme.

Hope all my friends in the lower North Island survived the storm during the night, and are coping today! it looks rough

Ah, new Melo Melo Kava. I'm happy. Very relaxed.

A Freedom To Fail Moment I must have been messing around that day June 23 2023

Today, my new whetstones and kava order are getting delivered. I'm looking forward to the kava after the last couple of weeks!

One of the challenges to the whole vegetarian/vegan diet, is I have to chip up or slice, a lot of vegetables. I've got good knives, but they do get blunter with repeated use. The knife sharpeners I've been gifted don't really do the job. Hence, I've now ordered whetstones. #vegan

A fungus photo a day: . Amanita pachycolea taken last November. Caps below ⬇️ #fungifriends #fungi #mycology #naturephotography

Mmm... drinking kava. I need this

2 weeks into owning my EV, and I've spent <$10 on fast chargers, and by my estimate, <$10 on grid electricity (most of supply has come from solar panels) By comparison, I was spending about $70 every 2 weeks on petrol with my other car.

I'm offended that the picture they use is of a gharial and not a crocodile. Also- WTF. This is a horrible act by a monster. www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/6...

It's a sunny morning in Tāmaki Makaurau. I'm working from home. The EV- an MG4- is being charged entirely with our solar panels at the moment. This seems so much more preferable to buying the smelly stuff from a petrol station. #EV

Why yes I have owned my MG since Tuesday afternoon and I have vacuumed it already.

So, it's recommended I charge my MG's LFP battery to 100% once a week. It's another sunny day in Tāmaki Makaurau so let's let the solar panels complete the job I started yesterday. #evcars

It's a good day in Tāmaki Makaurau to be charging my EV, with free solar power

Hasn’t really warmed up today, so I’ve lit the fire early. It’s a nice option to have, rapidly warming the house

I wrote this almost a year ago. theshovel.com.au/2025/06/24/i...

Day 3 and a bit, owning a new EV. Streaming FLAC music via BT isn't a good idea. USB stick works better. Having the main screen open to the music page is not as distracting as the multi-window, home page. The MG appears to have no way to activate a reversing, warning noise for others.

Well, the new EV is taking some getting used too. So many more things to manage. I think I'll be simplifying. Albeit, I do like that I can preheat the cabin before getting into it.

And today, I got my EV. You can see I spurred the white look...

Mōrena, it’s Tuesday morning in Tāmaki Makaurau and hopefully, today is the day I can collect my new EV.

EV update: After being unable to pick car up on Sunday, it's now confirmed for tomorrow afternoon. Roughly 5 days after it was originally scheduled. Also I have a big tax bill for this year, so buying a car is going to be more stressful than I planned.

Today’s obits were very disappointing. Very disappointing. RIP Anthony Head. Ka aroha ki te whānau pani.

It’s raining in Tāmaki Makaurau! Water-tank sustaining, heavy rain. I’m happy. Cat alas is not, it’s cutting into her outside time

Bad news- EV pick up is now Sunday morning

One more day to pick up my new EV. An MG4 Urban.

Election 2026: Climate change - “Currently it barely registers…Yet humanity has only one habitable home. And failing to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions urgently will impose immense long-term costs on every household. #nzpol #PartyVoteGreen #ForAFuture

It's concerning with the oil crisis in in the Strait of Hormuz, we're not promoting public transport and cycle ways more theconversation.com/as-global-fu...

NZTA have emailed me the registration details of my new EV. Looks like the dealer successfully registered it yesterday. Pick up will be this week.