peterverstappen.blogspot.com
peterverstappen: February 2011
http://peterverstappen.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html
Hi, welcome to my blog! The stories posted here are published fortnightly in the Ashburton Guardian, New Zealand. New stories will appear as I write them, plus you can read a selection of favourites going back to 2002. Monday, February 21, 2011. Are we the Lucky Country? The solo mother from Ashburton who makes her living driving a dump truck in a West Australia coal mine could have talked as eloquently as Julia Gillard this week about the special relationship between Australia and New Zealand. An Aussie...
peterverstappen.blogspot.com
peterverstappen: March 2010
http://peterverstappen.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html
Hi, welcome to my blog! The stories posted here are published fortnightly in the Ashburton Guardian, New Zealand. New stories will appear as I write them, plus you can read a selection of favourites going back to 2002. Monday, March 22, 2010. A bridge not far enough. As a Carter’s Terrace resident myself I can report that the announcement has been met with howls of dismay at the leafy end of Tinwald. Querulous mutterings of “why us? How can I remain so philosophical as a resident of the afflicted zone?
peterverstappen.blogspot.com
peterverstappen: January 2011
http://peterverstappen.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html
Hi, welcome to my blog! The stories posted here are published fortnightly in the Ashburton Guardian, New Zealand. New stories will appear as I write them, plus you can read a selection of favourites going back to 2002. Tuesday, January 25, 2011. Toylets flushed with success. No, we’re not taking the piss). Sega has installed the games in gents’ conveniences in a small range of bars and subway stations across Japan (where else? Does this all sound horribly like little boys and toilets? But there is a cold...
peterverstappen.blogspot.com
peterverstappen
http://peterverstappen.blogspot.com/2011/06/foals-day-and-night-11th-june-2011.html
Hi, welcome to my blog! The stories posted here are published fortnightly in the Ashburton Guardian, New Zealand. New stories will appear as I write them, plus you can read a selection of favourites going back to 2002. Thursday, June 23, 2011. Foals Day and Night. The signs appeared on the lanes shortly after we moved to the New Forest - Foals Day and Night. It was one of several mysteries, like the words 'New' and 'Forest'. Ponies and cars compete for the roads and driving is a test of patience. Thi...
peterverstappen.blogspot.com
peterverstappen
http://peterverstappen.blogspot.com/2011/06/stonehenge-rocks-at-summer-solstice.html
Hi, welcome to my blog! The stories posted here are published fortnightly in the Ashburton Guardian, New Zealand. New stories will appear as I write them, plus you can read a selection of favourites going back to 2002. Thursday, June 23, 2011. Stonehenge rocks at summer solstice. We force our way to one of the stones. Nick finds an opening and eases himself to the ground, sitting with his back to the rock. I squeeze in beside him while Sylvia and Jeanie move further away across the grass. Instead we find...
peterverstappen.blogspot.com
peterverstappen: May 2011
http://peterverstappen.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html
Hi, welcome to my blog! The stories posted here are published fortnightly in the Ashburton Guardian, New Zealand. New stories will appear as I write them, plus you can read a selection of favourites going back to 2002. Sunday, May 01, 2011. Qatar lives the dream. At the top of the dune we fishtail to a halt, Fa'ad stabbing a chubby finger to the horizon. His commentary is brief but eloquent: “there Saudi Arabia, you make photo.”. The achievement is all the more remarkable considering Qatar has been a cou...
peterverstappen.blogspot.com
peterverstappen: November 2010
http://peterverstappen.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html
Hi, welcome to my blog! The stories posted here are published fortnightly in the Ashburton Guardian, New Zealand. New stories will appear as I write them, plus you can read a selection of favourites going back to 2002. Monday, November 15, 2010. Alcohol reforms miss the point. Driving through Ashburton on a hot Thursday evening I notice two young women sitting cross-legged on the grass of the Borough school’s playing field, sharing a bottle of Bernadino. They are a picture of summer. Public health advoca...
peterverstappen.blogspot.com
peterverstappen: February 2010
http://peterverstappen.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html
Hi, welcome to my blog! The stories posted here are published fortnightly in the Ashburton Guardian, New Zealand. New stories will appear as I write them, plus you can read a selection of favourites going back to 2002. Tuesday, February 23, 2010. Toyota takes a dive. What miniscule distortion of metal, what nano-slip of engineering mars a cable or lever or rod, biding its time, waiting to pitch me off the road? Will the cigarette lighter explode? In Japan Koito Industries has been placed under an officia...
peterverstappen.blogspot.com
peterverstappen: July 2010
http://peterverstappen.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html
Hi, welcome to my blog! The stories posted here are published fortnightly in the Ashburton Guardian, New Zealand. New stories will appear as I write them, plus you can read a selection of favourites going back to 2002. Monday, July 26, 2010. What would yiz be wanting? Our salvation is in our own hands. To illustrate let me take you back 25 years to the Greymouth Motor Lodge and one man’s culinary crusade. Cedric was not petty. He maintained we owed it to our burgeoning tourist industry to lift standa...