Category Archives: Geriatric ramblings

Why the Headmaster’s assembly lectern grew a tablecloth

Posted on 6 August, 2012 by jb

I attended Westlake Boys High School in New Zealand in the early to mid 1960s, which makes a 50th Jubilee at around this time highly appropriate. Given that I was in the first intake (Third Form then – 3 Latin, … Continue reading →

Posted in Geriatric ramblings, True stories | 1 Comment

Tunes for a Tuesday – 7 February 2012

Posted on 7 February, 2012 by jb

Year of the Viking – Ah Holly Fam’ly – Reservoir [Listen] Tout & Bleu – Ame Strong – Café Del Mar – Volume 05 [Listen] Good Morning Britain – Aztec Camera – Stray [Listen] Sin City – Desert Rose Band … Continue reading →

Posted in Geriatric ramblings, Mixtape, Music, Tunes for a Tuesday | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Strrrrrodel is my name…….

Posted on 13 September, 2011 by jb

Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford in 2005 should be required reading for anyone in business. Or life, for that matter. “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust … Continue reading →

Posted in Geriatric ramblings, True stories | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Don’t tell me, don’t tell me….

Posted on 24 August, 2011 by jb

In the distant past, I used to work with a guy with the heroically unlikely name of Waldemar. (One of the dwarfs in the Nibelungen, I believe.) He surprised us all in the late 1970s by turning into an early … Continue reading →

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The modem story

Posted on 4 July, 2011 by jb

Digital natives won’t know what this is about. Back in the early/mid 1990s, a modem board for your PC would cost around $200. You connected it to your phone line and dialed up your ISP,  listening all the time to … Continue reading →

Posted in Geriatric ramblings, Music, Too good to miss | 1 Comment

>Whatever happened to MTV?

Posted on 11 January, 2011 by jb

> MTV Europe kicked off in 1987 with Dire Straits’s “Money for nothing”. It was quite phenomenal. It had smart and witty VJs from all over Europe, live acts in the studio and a sense of humour. And it had … Continue reading →

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>RunKeeper gets it wrong

Posted on 10 August, 2010 by jb

> RunKeeper is a nifty little App for the iPhone that lets you keep track of your fitness activities. Ideally suited for the 100 meters, marginal for the 400 meters and useless for anything over 3 hours. Which is how … Continue reading →

Posted in Geriatric ramblings | 1 Comment

Baby sitting

Posted on 10 December, 2009 by jb

  Or… “How to piss off a v. young-looking 49 year old” I’ve known Robby since she was 3. Her folks moved into our road in the early 1960s and they became Mrs jb and my best friends. No-one else … Continue reading →

Posted in Geriatric ramblings, Music | 2 Comments

>Can’t say I didn’t warn her…

Posted on 8 September, 2009 by jb

> Cousin Dave’s oldest boy got married the other year. I wrote to the bride-to-be Dear Rebecca, thank you for your invitation to the wedding It would, however, perhaps be advisable to meet at some stage before
 you undertake a … Continue reading →

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This I need

Posted on 19 August, 2009 by jb

  Well, my mate Houghton actually. But if only they’d had this stuff when I was a kid. And especially for wallets. We were up in the Bay of Islands and bumped into Charlie Barnes and his family (His boy, … Continue reading →

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