New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[intern]

Guys, who still thinks lockdowns are the way to combat the Rona?

Read this piece from Simon Thornley (his bio here, he is an epidemiologist) https://unidirectory.auckland.ac.nz/profile/s-thornley

And the piece in question:

https://www.covidplanb.co.nz/our-posts/is-new-zealands-covid-19-story-past-its-use-by-date/

 

Note the bits which point out how NON-LETHAL covid really is. If you're under 90, 80 or 70 years of age.

[intern]

An excerpt which I found noteworthy (emphasis on the last sentence mine):

 

It is also clear that around the world the average age of death of Covid-19 patients is near that of the average life expectancy of that country. This is also clear for New Zealand (figure 1), where the shape of the age distribution of Covid-19 deaths closely approximates the spread of deaths over the same period the year before. A formal test for differences in counts between these data sources shows no evidence of difference. It is very difficult to argue from this plot, that Covid-19 is shortening life spans.

[patham]

Not good, bad, ugly... but just different and a random small thing I noticed.

 

Bathroom light switches.

 

In SA they always seemed to be just outside the bathroom. In NZ they are nearly always inside the bathroom.

 

I forgot about this until 10min ago when some old instinct kicked in and flicked on the hallway light switch, which just happens to be outside the bathroom

 

But yeah, wonder if it's a building code thing in SA?!

 

 

 

I think so. I always understood SA building code was to avoid switches and plugs at 240 V within a bathroom. You could still run power to your shaver powerpoints, but with circuit breakers set at lower amperage.

 

On a similar note, when we first moved into a house here we looked high and low inside for the circuit breaker / DB board. Admitted defeat and phoned a fellow immigrant who had been here for some time. "It's where - on the the outside of the house ? No kidding?"

 

So if the power trips, its a walk in the elements braving the snakes and cane toads. Far more convenient having it inside as per SA. 

[patham]

Not good, bad, ugly... but just different and a random small thing I noticed.

 

Bathroom light switches.

 

 

 

Small little differences in everyday life. Neither good or bad. Just different.

 

Do you NZer's also have the little 20 to 30 mm high step into the bathrooms, caused by laying tiles onto the timber floor ?

 

At least that I can understand, But I have been in quite a few houses here with fully tiled floors on concrete slab, and there still is a raised level to the bathroom floor. The only other reason I can think of is to try and create drainage to central waste that is normally put in the bathroom floor.

 

It only takes a few toe stubs to learn how to enter !

[Wayne Potgieter]

Man, time to vent.

 

2020 is like the year of all work and no fun. I normally take a long weekend break at least every 2 months and 2 longer trips throughout the year to try and balance a heavy workload.

 

This year has all been about working hard to keep my job safe. Lots of university work to try and make use of more free time. Basically, all the mahi, none of the treats.

 

I am really tired of it all and feel a little punch drunk. I get that life is not always pleasant, but I used to be pretty good at balancing the good with the bad, lately it just seems to be bad on bad.

 

Rant over.

[davetapson]

Project looking great Dave! So you're sold on the impact driver then? Was thinking aboot this on the weekend,I also once wondered what the point of an ID was until I got one. And when you're building a deck or whatever with hundreds of 5mm hex bugle head 100mm coach screws, oh boy do you like that rattle!

 

I bought the dinky one as anything else would be overkill for what I do.  But now the decks are on, the boat is rigid and I can move it about with breaking anything so unscrewed some 4" screws I had through a brace made of 2x4's - it did have to think about what it was doing... my first thought being, hmm, I'll have to get a bigger one... 

[davetapson]

This year has all been about working hard to keep my job safe. Lots of university work to try and make use of more free time. Basically, all the mahi, none of the treats.

 

My missus is busy doing a medical diploma, two years in one as it is nothing she hasn't done before in SA. 

 

It is really hard going - chows up all your chill out time, one partner takes over more of the child care stuff, no one really gets much rest.  And when you have time to spare, you don't actually want to do anything with it.

 

I've managed to carve out time to do the boat only due to Corona virus taking away weekend stuff.  If no corona, there is no spare time.

 

How you feel is how it feels... hang in there, it will end, and the struggle will be worth it.

[patches]

Do you NZer's also have the little 20 to 30 mm high step into the bathrooms, caused by laying tiles onto the timber floor ?

 

At least that I can understand, But I have been in quite a few houses here with fully tiled floors on concrete slab, and there still is a raised level to the bathroom floor. The only other reason I can think of is to try and create drainage to central waste that is normally put in the bathroom floor.

 

It only takes a few toe stubs to learn how to enter !

 

Not that I've noticed, although I have no floor tile in the house and both bathrooms have hardwood floors. That said I also cannot recall a step in any other house I have lived in in NZ or my partner's parents' houses in Sydney & Bundanoon. Maybe it's a Queensland thing

 

As for the DB boards, mine was outside (1950's bungalow), but earlier this year I had a new DB installed and the electrician moved it inside and said that external ones were not up to current code, but fine if existing.

[intern]

Man, time to vent.

 

2020 is like the year of all work and no fun. I normally take a long weekend break at least every 2 months and 2 longer trips throughout the year to try and balance a heavy workload.

 

This year has all been about working hard to keep my job safe. Lots of university work to try and make use of more free time. Basically, all the mahi, none of the treats.

 

I am really tired of it all and feel a little punch drunk. I get that life is not always pleasant, but I used to be pretty good at balancing the good with the bad, lately it just seems to be bad on bad.

 

Rant over.

 

Hang in there boet. Bit of a *** year all round so far.

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

And now elections delayed.......

[davetapson]

Hang in there boet. Bit of a *** year all round so far.

 

Yeh.  Wondering what's next...

[davetapson]

A piece of completely unsolicited advise...

 

We got to NZ, realized that amongst all the upheaval and all else we needed to get our finances in order.  The missus brought a book home from one of her colleagues - Scott Pape's The Barefoot Investor.

 

Simple stuff, made the world of difference to us, we're facing Covid risks in pretty good shape because of it.

 

Basically open a set of accounts, stick the right amount into each, do with each what is supposed to be done, stop worrying.

 

https://www.barefootinvestor.com/books

 

Interestingly enough, our financial advisor who comes from a free state farming family was telling us the night before we got the book that his father told him to open an account for every single major thing that money gets spent on (including bikes) and funnel income into them accordingly.   

You decide how much is going into each account, and that's it.  If there is money in the account for bikes, you can spend it as you choose. 

I don't go that far, but did open a subset of the Barefoot accounts (Utilities/Cars/Insurance/etc) and bung a given amount in that.  Come WOF time in Jan (for both cars), there's the cash, sitting in the cars account. Come holiday time, there's the cash, sitting in the holiday ('Smile' in Barefoot terms) account.  

His weekly newsletter is also pretty entertaining - about the only one of the many that flood my inbox that I regularly open.

I just need to get the wife to agree to a boats account now...

[patham]

Not that I've noticed, although I have no floor tile in the house and both bathrooms have hardwood floors. That said I also cannot recall a step in any other house I have lived in in NZ or my partner's parents' houses in Sydney & Bundanoon. Maybe it's a Queensland thing

 

As for the DB boards, mine was outside (1950's bungalow), but earlier this year I had a new DB installed and the electrician moved it inside and said that external ones were not up to current code, but fine if existing.

 

Things are always different up here in QLD. 

 

But must be pretty good quality hardwood floors in the bathrooms then to avoid warping ? 

 

As NZ and AU share a lot of standards I wonder if we too are moving into a more enlightened era with indoor DB's.

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

A piece of completely unsolicited advise...

 

We got to NZ, realized that amongst all the upheaval and all else we needed to get our finances in order.  The missus brought a book home from one of her colleagues - Scott Pape's The Barefoot Investor.

 

Simple stuff, made the world of difference to us, we're facing Covid risks in pretty good shape because of it.

 

Basically open a set of accounts, stick the right amount into each, do with each what is supposed to be done, stop worrying.

 

https://www.barefootinvestor.com/books

 

Interestingly enough, our financial advisor who comes from a free state farming family was telling us the night before we got the book that his father told him to open an account for every single major thing that money gets spent on (including bikes) and funnel income into them accordingly.   

 

You decide how much is going into each account, and that's it.  If there is money in the account for bikes, you can spend it as you choose. 

 

I don't go that far, but did open a subset of the Barefoot accounts (Utilities/Cars/Insurance/etc) and bung a given amount in that.  Come WOF time in Jan (for both cars), there's the cash, sitting in the cars account. Come holiday time, there's the cash, sitting in the holiday ('Smile' in Barefoot terms) account.  

His weekly newsletter is also pretty entertaining - about the only one of the many that flood my inbox that I regularly open.

 

I just need to get the wife to agree to a boats account now...

 

Suppose you have to weigh up that approach with costs for the accounts. Banking costs quickly add up.

That being said, Nedbank has money pockets which can be added to your cheque account with no fee's. They are for saving for certain goals. Could work nicely.

Always found drawing cash helps. Swiping cards is so easy, you barely take note of item costs or how much you are actually spending. Various studies prove this, after swiping a card very few participants could tell what items cost or what the total spend was.

[Saag]

Suppose you have to weigh up that approach with costs for the accounts. Banking costs quickly add up.

That being said, Nedbank has money pockets which can be added to your cheque account with no fee's. They are for saving for certain goals. Could work nicely.

Always found drawing cash helps. Swiping cards is so easy, you barely take note of item costs or how much you are actually spending. Various studies prove this, after swiping a card very few participants could tell what items cost or what the total spend was.

 

It is easier to do here as there are virtually no fees in doing so:

Edited August 17, 2020 by Saag

[patches]

Things are always different up here in QLD. 

 

But must be pretty good quality hardwood floors in the bathrooms then to avoid warping ? 

 

As NZ and AU share a lot of standards I wonder if we too are moving into a more enlightened era with indoor DB's.

 

They seem to be pretty decent in most places. Rimu floors with PU coating.

 

Recently bought a dehumidifier though, as the ceiling and bath towels were almost never dry. Damn Auckland!