Mike Riversdale

Vineyard art.

There's much wrong with this photo, the mad eyes, the barrell tummy, the weird right arm. However, look how happy I am!  Weird but happy.

Doctor Octopus' grinding tentacle reaches out and the crowd run screaming for their lives, Spiderman is their only hope ... but where is he?

Even when it's raining in summer there's beauty to be found.

Kate Winslet floats ever so slightly above the ground as she hands a cocktail to one of the war wounded. Of course.

Another Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre WWI vignette , this time it's all very confusing as the pilot has crash landed in a tree much to the bemusement of the German soldiers.

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On my mind today are all those that have helped me through 2021 which, tbh, is merely an extension of 2020 and I'm still thanking many from that year as well. Two men in my life, the closest two, had a 2021 that will always be etched upon my heart. None of it was awesome, none of it was full of laughter. To them I am who I am and changing because of it.

Strap in for a few days of Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre photos and the many amazing WWI and WWII air vignettes from Wingnut and Weta Workshop. I love this one for its simplicity. Air to air battle was apparently someone flying the plane and another guy taking pot shots with a rifle. All my Omaka photos ...

Classic neon signage.

An early visit to Te Papa and a meander through their shop was my first encounter with the amazing art of Rita Angus . It was an Otago landscape.  One look and I was hooked.  It's her ability to capture light, boldly use colours, not be afraid of hard edges, and above all capturing then unleashing the subject's spirit. I adore her craftwork, and her subject matter. Te Papa has an extensive and free exhibition,  Rita Angus: New Zealand Modernist / He Ringatoi Hou o Aotearoa  (18 Dec 2021 – 25 Apr 2022), covering her whole life and whilst I urge you to go it's entirely up to you. I have been once and already know I will / need to go back. See you there.

The mind boggles. On the one hand some people in my life would say, "Not everything is known and can be explained Mike", and on the other, "Science says what a load of bollocks". If it does no harm and even helps some people, all good I s'pose. But does it?

I totally support what the peeps at Save Shelly Bay ( https://www.mauwhenua.co.nz/ ) are doing and I hope the Council steps away from being obvious and basically colonialist with its behaviour.  I took a wee drive around the Peninsula today and stopped off to take some photos and have a chat with a few of those doing the hard yakka.

🎶 Born from an egg on a mountain top The punkiest monkey that ever popped If you are unaware of Monkey (late 1970s, early 1980s) then you'll know nothing of Pigsy and the tall fish fella with the staff with a crescent moon on top, what was his name????

M e r r y C h ri s tmas a n d H a p p y N e w Y e a r Keeping this blog's tradition going, this is my Yuletide posting about all that you should know for Christmas. But let's just take a moment in the busy day to remember what it's all about - the people you love. I'm thinking of the people you love right now ... are you thinking of mine? Of course, it's not just about family and friends (if that's who I was thinking of) but also presents, alcohol and oodles of sitting around in the sun (hardy har har Northern Hempishpereans!). If Jesus is your thing, I mean, if he's your bag, what you're into man then do the religious thing as well. Just don't get all "God" over Christmas and try to remember that it was  originally a pagan festival  around the longest day, certainly don't want you Christians foisting your ideas on people and trying to subvert the real message! Fun. that's the real message. Believe in Father Christmas (who shats al

Drinking men of the ages at the Marlborough Public House , Blenheim

I was trying to get the feel of those early photographs that would excite and amaze the local Geographical Society Monthly Meeting as a Professor, recently back from the South Seas, would show during their afternoon talk (with accompanying slideshow) "Travels Of A Gentleman With Particular Focus On Newly Discovered Butterflies And Worms". You know what I mean eh.

A painting (?) of the purported "Centre of New Zealand" on the outskirts of Nelson.

It's been a fuck of a week tbh, I'm sure you've all had such times. My week just ended with me not having the best news about a job and I am surprised and saddened about it. It wasn't all bad news, but has wobbled me. Due to 'circumstances' having me a tad ruffled in my immediate interview preparation I came across as too direct which, if anything, I'm the opposite within my work. This is not a criticism of those hosting the interview or the impression of me they received, that's understandable. I am  gutted the way it played out and, as I say, this week has left me ... a bit battered. So for me and everyone else that needs it, here's a lovely calming rocky beach scene.

"We have spent the last 200 years battling for our right to speak te reo. Keep in mind Europeans have also had 200 years to learn te reo," she [Mawera Karetai] said. [source: RNZ: Councillor disgusted by comments over reo Māori karakia at Grey Power meeting ] Seems fair enough eh, the law backs it up: Although English is currently the most widely spoken language in New Zealand, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language both formally have special status under the law as official languages of New Zealand. People have the right to speak Māori and New Zealand Sign Language in any legal proceedings.  [source: Human Rights Commission: New Zealands official languages ] Do I speak te reo, no, I don't. Like most Kiwis I am learning , picking up words as they become more and more prevalent but I certainly can't speak it. Nor can I speak any other language excepting English. I have the odd word or phrase in Welsh, a smattering of French from the dim and distant past, and that's

"Duncan", I think not, that's Robert.

"So what part of England are you from Mike?" "Wales." "?!?!" A clarification, via image ...  ... or by video.

Over the years of this blog I have shared many a weird video, mostly humorous, with some leaving your mouth slightly ajar. This one from 1907 is, as the video title suggests, not just weird but disturbing. What is going on? PS: the music is best forgotten as it's been added and totally doesn't fit, watch it in silence ... if you dare. The original black and white version of the video from which the above was taken, stuffed through algorithms and made to look better (!) and coloured, says: Silent films owe a great deal to the vaudeville tradition; its short, unrelated stage acts were not only a nearly inexhaustible source for early film content, but also a programming model for nickelodeon theaters. The Dancing Pig was a mind-boggling music hall routine filmed several times for different companies – here, for Pathé Frères in 1907. "mind-boggling" ... indeed! 

Who and what has she do to with me? Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin (1900 – 1979) was a British-born American astronomer and astrophysicist who proposed in her 1925 doctoral thesis that stars were composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Her groundbreaking conclusion was initially rejected because it contradicted the scientific wisdom of the time, which held that there were no significant elemental differences between the Sun and Earth. Independent observations eventually proved she was correct. Her work on the nature of variable stars, carried out with her husband, Sergei Gaposchkin, were foundational to modern astrophysics. [source: Wikipedia ]  I hadn't heard of her, I have watched a LOT of astronomy and physicist videos on YouTube, I have read a lot of books about these spheres of human endeavour and yet ... nothing. It's all men, men, men ... white men ... which it turns out, time and relative time again, is absolute bollocks, and a lie still being told by white men. As 

Come on now everyone, "Ooooooh", and, "Aaaaaaah", when fireworks go woooosh up into the sky and explode with an umbrella of sparkles.

They also hoped the name might draw the attention of the real BBC and they might find themselves with a letter from the broadcasting company rebuking them for using its name. But that has not happened. [source: Nelson Mail, 24th May, 2011 ] Ha ha ha, good on 'em for trying. Mr Heward said he and Mr Dollimore initially were unsure what businesses would rent out rooms in the building so called it the BBC, or Buxton Business Club. ... coz it's on Buxton Square, Nelson .

I like that the Moutere Inn didn't just claim to be New Zealands oldest pub but detailed all those others out there that may dispute it. Those from the 'old country', don't get sniffy about the dates as time is relative to your frame of reference, so sit back down and enjoy the view. And those that no longer use the possessive dibbly ("apostrophe" for those that want scientific terms), you're all good, just enjoy the meaning and not the form.

A summer leap off the wharf, how Kiwi is that!

I'm not sure what it is about stained glass but I do love it, be it in a cathedral or a small part in hanging someone's home. The following are all from Nelson Cathedral, January 2019.

When I have a title and that's all that needs to be said should I repeat it here or just put the photo in? You're right, just put the photo in, everyone can find the title eh.

Celebrating the fact that the Nelson air makes people take their kit off at the slightest hint of the summer sun 😁 (they do look familiar 🤭)

Guitarists bookshop.

In Aotearoa New Zealand we have moved away from the 4 levels designed to protect us from COVD with a strategy of elimination and now into a traffic light system designed to protect us with a strategy of regionally changing states of 'lockdown'. This change in forms of COVID protection can only happen with the current vaccination efficacy* and levels of take up around the country. At each stage, red , orange , or green , constraints on what people can do flux, but none of them at a true "lockdown" state. I think it's been said that red is akin to the old Level 2-ish. For these traffic light states to work then people must be vaccinated, and we know that's not the case for a minority of people. And it is a minority, in some places a tiny minority. As I write we are nationally 93% vaccinated and Northland is the least vaccinated with 87% of those that live there vaccinated. The following table is automatically updated by the Ministry of Health once a week (sourc

Not every sailing can be a picture postcard travel shot, sometimes it is overcast and the water reflects the sky as dark and mysterious.

Like some quiet part of a hotel mezzanine floor the ferry bar has a lovely area for watching the world pass by.

My brother is a wee bit more, um, formal (?), a tad more smart in his presentation than I am. Whilst I'm all t-shirts or Hawaiian tops, he's much more button up shirts. So when the request for an iron and ironing board came out it was a complete and utter surprise to discover I had them.

From all corners of the globe the smiles meet up in Wellington.

Having a few mates around for a summer beer around the BBQ on the deck is as Kiwi as it comes. It is of course "as Aussie as it goes", and "as [insert country] as it goes".

When you visit a pub on the other side of the planet, look around and think, "Hang on, aren't some of the cards in that mine?" Yup, my brother is the unnamed donor of a few of the original Star Wars cards that make up the picture in Goldings Free Dive.

When the laughter is so much you have to hold your nose to stop snorting coming out. These are my favourite times.

I miss them both so much 😞

Full name Sapphire, and she still remembers me whenever I go visit the kids home, awwww.

He's a big fella in statue terms, must've been quite the sight when Lawrence Makoare wandered onto set for the first time.

"King Kong Toilet", and that's all there is to say about that.