James Hogan's Personal Blog
Some of you have noticed yesterday’s blog was slight of hand. I didn’t actually go that far…. in fact, according to the official record, I only did 28 kms before the flat tire struck. So today was about delivering to the hype. As my mother used to say, “Piss on…
Lunch at Ferneaux Lodge Lunch at Ferneaux Lodge made everything better. I got in there about 1:00pm and enjoyed their drink and food. and then… Disaster! Well.. it wasn’t that bad 🙂 Not like screwing up the distinction between a left and right peddle. I was trucking along quite nicely…
So one of my trip goals for this ride is to meet people, and talk to strangers. I’ve given myself the goal of chatting with three people each day, finding about what’s the haps in their world and what’s their background. Janet and Susanne Janet and Susanne are a couple…
What a morning! So my sailing at 2:00 am got cancelled and Rebecca and I rushed down to the terminal to rebook. The lovely Maddie rebooked me. And I turned up again at the terminal at 7:00 for a 7:15 check in. The terminal was madness! Lots of angry people….
I got this at 9:30 pm on Saturday. I’m so angry with bluebridge! Next steps: reschedule So I immediately got on the phone only to learn that “I had called them outside office hours”, meaning the only way I could reschedule was to actually pony-up at their terminal. So, at…
Looks like I’m going to get a wet arse in the morning at Ship’s Cove on Sunday, but sunny days with tail winds all the way to Christchurch!
Of course… I’ve been able to rebook on the next available sailing which is Sunday 2 April leaving at 2 am So I leave Wellington at 2 am, get into Picton at 5:45 (ish), and catch the ferry at 7:00 am and do the Queen Charlotte track. Vic suggested I…
Both John and Victoria have completed their Sounds to Sounds ride – John in 11 days, and Vic in 16. Both of them said was hard. Real hard. Harder than the Tour of Aotearoa.Much anticipation 😊 Here’s a bit of lowdown on what I’m taking and planning while I’m in…
Yes fellow bike-packers, its CYCLE TIME!!!This time, its the fabulous Sounds to Sounds cycle ride: https://sounds2sounds2023.maprogress.com/Please follow both Victoria Sefton, John Keene and myselfVic started today (3 March), John starts on the 8 March, and I will start on the 2 April.Vic has her own blog: https://vicseftons2s.wordpress.com/ which is awesomeAnd…
There’s a difference between analysis and telling a rollicking good yarn designed to move people.Good analysis draws from the scientific methodology of making falsifiable statements about the world, and testing whether they’re wrong. For example, economics sets up a logical mathematical model as a simplification of the world, and draws…
Addendum – 23 February 2023: Nobody say “super-normal profits”: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/484767/how-air-new-zealand-went-from-crash-landing-to-stratospheric And still nothing was said about monopoly pricing by the mainstream media. Let’s assume nothing in this world comes for free.If you want something – food / shelter / your hip fixed / your water drinkable – these things are…
More on my current fade of reading signs. Recently, I was working on my boat over at Evan’s Bay yacht club, and I came across this sign: In the early days of flight, landed airports were the exception instead of the rule when it came to flying. More often, planes…
I’m currently reading this book: I strongly recommend it. I’m up to Lee Kuan Yew. I wish New Zealand had this type of leadership. Let me quote the good Professor: In Lee’s perception, excellence meant much more than individual performance: the quest for it needed to permeate the entire society. Whether…
Thank you, I have just come back from a very lovely lunch with my H2R recruitment consultant, Sharyn Saxby.And on the way, I came across this sign about Edward Wakefield one of New Zealand’s “Founding Fathers”:Here’s a picture of Ed:The signs are located on a unassuming concrete wall, at 90…
From here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/474261/low-pass-rates-in-trial-of-ncea-literacy-and-numeracy-tests-alarm-principalsIn response to concerns that New Zealand school students are leaving school all NCEA qualified, but without having even basic literacy and numeracy skills, the Ministry of Education is rolling out a test.A recent trial of the test found: “some of the schools with poor results had good…
Sunday 4 September was a glorious day, for no other reason than the sun was out for the first time in what felt like months. But I had another: the day before I had just brought a brand new carbon fibre mountain bike. So, of course, I had to take…
ADDENDUM: PROGRESS ON WAITING LISTS – August 2022 As predicted back in May, the expert committee’s action proved ineffective. Former DHBs were told by the Expert Committee they need to book everyone in for surgery (stellar advice!) (https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/473303/hospitals-directed-to-book-surgical-slot-for-thousands-of-patients-by-month-s-end) And… Not much else happened: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/473204/south-auckland-s-elective-surgery-backlog-up-251-percent-in-year ORIGINAL POSTING FROM MAY: I can’t…
Always take the opportunity to read signs. Here’s one I found on my travels. It’s a very functional sign, devoid of hyperbola or ceremony. It speaks nothing of the time this road took to make, the amount of labour effort which went into it, nor the loss of whatever it…
Singapore really is, for me, the Land of the Free. It’s big news is they’re just about to repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code which criminalises homosexuality. All good. But the Singaporeans are concerned about the impact of the change on its society and its culture. It’s not worried…
Productivity – how much output is created from a given volume of inputs – is one of economic’s most important metrics. Productivity captures everything about economic development and economic ordinance. Technological change, process change, labour skills improvement and capital improvement are all get captured in a productivity metric. Countries rise…