Cold feet where the family outing is concerned
Cold feet where the family outing is concerned
Discipline is sacrosanct in parenting.
Dazed and Confused
US ads clean-bowl Fleming
US ads clean-bowl Fleming
An inner-city cafe gathering last Wednesday - the usual cabal: three university emeritus professors, a hairdresser, two surgeons, a lawyer with an Aberfanian social conscience and a window cleaner of very long standing - all made the same point to me at precisely the same moment: why don't we see the American TV ads shown during major sports contests?
Rare chronicle of the lovelorn unearthed
Rare chronicle of the lovelorn unearthed
The basement clean-up finally ended last week, by which stage I could well have gone underground by a metre.
Nothing goes according to plan
Nothing goes according to plan
Easter, for reasons that have never ever been clear, has always been the one time of the year when I work really hard. Physically.
The unbridled joy of owning (part of) a racehorse
The unbridled joy of owning (part of) a racehorse
This is a story about greed, corruption, insanity and the immaturity of youth. It is almost pointless to add that a story with these features could only involve horse racing.
Rugby, life and 5-year-old logic
Rugby, life and 5-year-old logic
I was watching the rugby. The Highlanders. Spellbinding. But my attention was being eaten into by a faraway voice, seriously affecting my ability to understand how the Highlanders were winning when the Chiefs were playing so much better.
I am blind, but now I see . . .
I am blind, but now I see . . .
It was extremely pleasurable for me last Friday to coffee with a man as blind as I.
Celebrating the Lotto of life on Big Saturday
Celebrating the Lotto of life on Big Saturday
Last Saturday was a Big Saturday. There is no other word for it. So many things, all bearing down on me like big bearing-down things, I barely knew where to turn.
Dunedin's own sound a classic worldwide
Dunedin's own sound a classic worldwide
On the eve of Saturday night's classical-meets-the-Dunedin-Sound Tally Ho! Concert in the town hall, two names have flickered down through the foggy ruins of time, Warren Green and Christopher Norton.
At last, a desire held from birth satisfied
At last, a desire held from birth satisfied
Most rational thinkers agree that 3 years old is as far back as a human can remember.
Original lyrics jolt after a lifetime of misinterpretation
Original lyrics jolt after a lifetime of misinterpretation
While the city was being roasted alive over the closing days of January, confirming for the cynics and curmudgeons of the north that Dunedin is in fact the sunniest and warmest city in all of New Zealand, I was slaving over a computer keyboard indoors transcribing, copying and pasting the lyrics of the 23 songs to be performed in the upcoming ''Tally Ho!'' town hall concert.
At one with the literati
At one with the literati
I don't think anyone would disagree for a single second that lying your head off at a social function is a tremendously under-appreciated skill.
Unpredictability of life a joy
Unpredictability of life a joy
Most rational thinkers would agree that a life lived without meeting an exceptionally intelligent human is simply a life not lived.
Colour, it can be matter of perception
Colour, it can be matter of perception
If I have been asked the question in Trivial Pursuit where the word kitchen comes from once, I have been asked it a thousand times.
Only slender hope of success in my aspirations to be a pumpkin
Only slender hope of success in my aspirations to be a pumpkin
Most rational thinkers would agree Joe Bennett is the finest columnist in the world today.
Idyllic qualities in the eye of beholder
Idyllic qualities in the eye of beholder
Anyone with half a brain will tell you the Ida Valley is idyllic.
Turning back the clock puts my identity in doubt
Turning back the clock puts my identity in doubt
In last week's column I described digging out a 1961 class photo in the basement, but this search unearthed something even scarier, a box filled to overflowing of all thing primary school.
The girls were way ahead of me in form 2
The girls were way ahead of me in form 2
Long-time Rolling Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys died at the start of this month after battling a suitably debilitating rock'n'roll disease, cirrhosis of the liver.
In honour of finest viewers
In honour of finest viewers
In all workplaces, there is a hierarchy.
Matching gift to intellect the challenge at Christmas
Matching gift to intellect the challenge at Christmas
Most rational thinkers would agree there are two types of Christmas presents: smart presents bought both for and by people with big brains and an extremely sound idea of what is good and proper in this wretched life we are currently reeling from, and cretinously simple moronic presents, fads, destined to flood the charity stores of the city by as early as Boxing Day.