Once Works Well was pure technology. Now it seeks merely to divert.
Pansy subjects - Verse! Opera! Domestic trivia! - are now commonplace.
The 300-word limit for posts is retained. The ego is enlarged

Monday 22 December 2008

Switching off Coronation St ain't cute

Trawling Herhimnbryn’s blog about life in Perth, WA, I came upon a photo of possums sitting on a telly aerial. Of the commenters who referred to their cuteness it’s unlikely any came from New Zealand.

Here’s a baby possum from the Golden Bay area of NZ’s South Island. On three trips to NZ this is the only one we ever saw alive. The others had been reduced to poignant layers of fluff by car tyres and most Kiwis wouldn’t have it any other way. Possums were introduced into NZ as a solution to some vermin problem, long forgotten. It’s the possums who are now the problem.

Apart from the disruptions they cause in houses they like to climb up power-line poles and create a low-resistance path between the insulators. As a result electricity may be blotted out over very large rural areas. To prevent this metal collars are attached to thousands (millions?) of utility poles. NZ is not a rich country and providing these collars prevents expenditure on raising the efficiency of the All Black rugby team

FAUX-SMELLY LAV (see December 17). Sir Hugh wanted to know how we eradicated the carpet smell. I’d forgotten and had to check out the technology. An application of Spray ‘n’ Vac followed by a quick pass with the Dyson. Several times. Bit of an anti-climax really.

3 comments:

herhimnbryn said...

We now seem to very amourous possums.............I feel they are no longer cute and tend to swear at them every morning!

herhimnbryn said...

That would be, 'we now seem to HAVE very amourous possums'. Blame typos on the fact they woke me at 4.30am:)

Avus said...

When we were last in New Zealand I bought a sweater made from merino wool and possum fur. It is the warmest article of clothing I have ever owned and yet does not look bulky, but quite elegant with a neat coloured pattern. I find I can only wear it in England when the temperature dips below 3c, or when motorcycling in generally cold weather.
So I am all for possums (knitted into sweaters).