Posts by David Slack
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Craig, you're getting soft. I think. You were the very first person on the Internet to call me a creepy old bastard after I posted an innocent story about what I did in my holidays.
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medieval period mostly
The past is another country. I was thinking of NZ, this election. However, perhaps the same holds here and now, and I haven't registered its extent.
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What this post needs is a recipe
Ask Russell. Oh no, he's gone.
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That's what I'm looking for in a dust-jacket comment. Never mind "that rare thing - a rural writer with an urban sensibility", I want plaudits that give people a jolt. Plaudits that make you say to yourself as you're standing in Dymocks with a copy in your hand: "I will buy this book. Now."
Plaudits like:
my scalp began achingand:
My tattoo started to hurt -
Three warnings, my friend, three warnings.
You still haven't got over that Listener photo, either, have you?
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how long before that big one stopped moving?
It had plenty of wobble.
The most fascinating thing was that I could feel every cut of the scalpel
Same. He explained that nerves come in two sorts - tiny ones that rely the sense of pain, and big thick bunches that feel impact. The big ones keep transmitting under a local. I have a fair headache now, I have to say.
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That's a great idea. In fact, you could make a blog with just that name! And make it about really interesting things to do with language. I would totally read that.
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Developing that theme of 'strong signals' a little further, a friend emailed me this:
the gummint could consider taking a similar line to achieve a goal of more trips made by cyclists. I think the direction has to be to concentrate on making it harder to drive a car, and to add more consequence to the effect of a car vs cycle accident, as in Europe, rather than trying to push cycling. ..
Driving age from 18 years on, compulsory third party insurance, rigorous emmission testing, double the tariff on second-hand car imports, policed cell-phone ban, increased petrol tax, etc etc. And stuff the bleating opposition.In parts of western Europe there's a mandatory fine of some 1000s of Euro if a car knocks a bike down. It's hard to mount a successful defence. Rather like the person who hits another car from behind automatically being in the wrong, with few exceptions.
I've seen 3 or 4 friends struck by cars and suffer broken bones; there's little penalty, even those who lost their licence appealed to get it back so they could get to work. Thats because we're protected by ACC, and can't bring a civil suit. Which is why you need to increase the penalty.
This is incendiary, to be sure, but there's good sense in it. I understand there were howls of indignation when they did it in France , but it carried anyway.
And here's a quiz question: without looking at your Road Code, do you know how much leeway a driver is supposed to give to a cyclist? I didn't. Don't know if I ever did.
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Hey! Is that Daisy's daughter?
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Magnificent, George!
You could build a whole political party on that foundation.