Something Old !!!
Carlaw Park !!! No, nothing to do with cars or with law, but NZ'ers at home and abroad, will remember the park at the bottom of Parnell Rise, which was the home of rugby league. Carlaw Park was orginally the site of of a flour mill in the late 1800's and later a Chinese market garden. Grandstands & terraces were built on the site in 1916. Auckland Rugby League, made the park its home in 1921. Between 1924 & 1995, it was the site of 59 out of 95 home tests for the Kiwis before maintenance issues and the lack of corporate & media facilities and parking sent the NZ Rugby League first to North Harbour Stadium in Albany.
#502. Something New !!!
Carlaw Park's historic No.1 Ground is set to become a retirement village, but I can't see the residents chasing "balls" around the place - well maybe not rugby balls !!! Earthworks are expected to start in September, while construction of the 180 unit development will begin early next year.The first stage will consist of 90 independent living apartments, is expected to be completed by 2008. It is been developed by Vision Senior Living although there is no mention of Carlaw Park Retirement Village on their website - yet !!!
Carlaw Park's historic No.2 Ground has already been sold to a property company who are going to develop a residential and commercial precinct.
I don't know why Carlaw Park wasn't used as the site for the new stadium that is been built on Quay St.
#503. Something Borrowed !!!
Nooooooo !!! I didn't borrow Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, but I did borrow her photo which was on this blog Don't ask me what they had to say about her because I couldn't understand the language. This blog is also listed under "Around The World In 80 Blogs" under Taiwan.
I have meet the PM once & even shook her hand when I was at a function in Mt.Albert, for a friend, who is a Chief of a village of 25,000 people in Africa, but that's another story for another day. The PM is a very lovely lady !!!
#504. Something Blue
A real Puss-In-Boots - unlike the fairy tale !!! Did someone do this to poor old puss, or was he born like this ???
It's not really a "something blue" post, as such but he would be a little bit "blue" (cold) come winter time without his fur. Poor old puss-in-boots !!!
#505. Currently Reading.
I am reading / looking at the photos of another of the "Then & Now" series of books of New Zealand. This one is the areas of Otago, Canterbury & Southland. It is approx. 93 pages of black & white photographs which are interesting to look at as it gives you a idea of what life was like for New Zealanders years & years ago, up until now.
Footnote: I have tried to give away books away based on "Then & Now" but it's like trying to get blood out of a stone, as no one has taken me up on my offer. This will be the last time, I will offer one of the books as it is the last in the series. If you are reading this and you want the above book, send me an email with your normal postal address and I will post the book out to you. It doesn't matter where in the world you live. Once someone sends me an email, I'll add a footnote to this post. I won't hold my breath, as I will no doubt turn "blue" !!!
#506. I'm Feeling Lucky !!!
An idea popped into my head to do a post, based on the Google search engine, where you enter whatever it is you are looking for, then click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Each week, I will pick a random subject............click on the button and see what pops up.
This week I thought I would enter the words "Auto Museum" !!! What popped up was a great museum called "Petersen Automotive Museum" based in the good olde USA. I clicked on the "Cars & Guitars of Rock & Rock ll" and had a look thru the car photos. Boy, o boy some of the cars - they would be worth mega bucks !!! It is well worth a look.
Footnote: Guess what comes up if you enter - Krazy Kelvin, into Google and click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button ? You don't know ? I do !!! It's meeeeeeee !!! (hehe) Krazy !!!
#507. Sodium Nitrite
An Auckland man was almost killed by a ball - a meatball - which he brought from his local butcher. No, the meatball didn't almost choke him to death - it was more a case of too much of a chemical, sodium nitrite that was in the meatball. It seems that a non-english speaking person was shown how to make meatballs of which the main ingredients were supposed to be minced meat and flavouring powder. But on the shelf alongside the bag of flavouring powder was another 500 gram bag containing sodium nitrite, which was marked "poison" , which he mixed into the meatballs ??? He did not know enough english, to read the word poison, so I doubt very much if the old skull & crossbones would of made any difference either. The mind boggles as why the bag was marked poison, when the chemical is allowed to be used as a meat preservative for cured meats (bacon, ham, smoked meats,etc) at a level of 125mg per 1 kilo of meat, under the Australia-New Zealand Food Standards code. The meatballs ended up containing 43,000mg of sodium nitrites per kilo.
The man had brought about 8 meatballs from the butcher and ate some for his dinner. He lost conscious and was rushed to hospital, where doctors diagnosed a potentially fatal condition in which the blood's oxygen-carrying capacity was reduced by the nitrites affecting the haemoglobin in the red blood cells. There are so many sites out there in the web-world about Sodium Nitrites that I didn't know which one to list here, but do your own search and see what you come up with.
#508.
A few bloggers have asked if they could borrow the idea of - Something Old, New, Blue & Borrowed !!! Hey, borrow away. The idea is as old as the hills, that surround you - maybe even older. Where it comes from I don't know, but from what I have heard & been told, it is mainly to do with been a bride and getting married.
It could provide a common link for bloggers all over the world as no matter what country you live in, there is always something old, new or blue to write about, As for something borrowed, well..........borrow something from someone elses blog, but tell them and provide a link from your blog to their blog.
#509. Down Memory Lane
Many moons ago (I won't say how many moons as I don't want to give away my age !!!) when I was younger, we lived on a property where the only toilet was a long-drop. As it was some distance from the house, there was no light in it. You don't know what a longdrop is ???
It is a outside toilet / outhouse, call it what you like where when you did #2's, it had a long-way to drop, hence the name - longdrop. (Thats my story of why they called it a longdrop and I am sticking to it) If I only wanted to do #1's, I just pissed up against the tree or anywhere outside !!! (Don't worry, no neighbours would of seen me as the nearest would of been at leats 10 - 15 minutes walk away and they would of been relations anyway) Hey I was a kid - a krazy kid even then, but nevertheless, a kid.
Anyway, back to the story in hand.............daytime it was okay to use, but come night time..........!!! (hehe) Despite there been 4 sets of bunks, in the room, we still had to top & tail on some of the bunks !!! (Sleep 2 to a bed, for those who don't know what top & tail is). There was nothing wrong with my hearing, so if anyone in our room got up at night to go outside, it was a sure bet they were going to use the long-drop. Big ears, waited till he heard the longdrop door bang shut and he slid out the window on to the ground and quietly made his way over to the longdrop, howling like a "werewolf" or a stuck pig !!! That longdrop door just about flew off the hinges as the person inside came "flying out" !!! (hehe) Have you even seen someone running with their pants around their ankles ??? Caught the person out all the time. The darker the night, the better. It was on full moon nights, I used to howl like a werewolf !!! Hey, as I said I was a kid - a krazy kid maybe but nevertheless a kid !!!
It's not the memories I have, it's the memories I leave behind !!!
