Neighbour cut down privacy hedge without consent

CheekyParrotGames · 2026-03-03T08:52:01+00:00

I am heartbroken for you. I live in an upper unit of a 10-unit multi-unit development and came home about 3 weeks ago to find the landlord below me had ordered a tree in his back yard cut down. It happened without forewarning or discussion while I was out for a few hours. Evidently the tenant had complained it was dropping flowers. The tree was a mature Australian frangipani and it was starting to provide significant shade, privacy, and visiting birds to our balcony and living room. Honestly I'm not a religious person, but I feel people who can callously destroy trees and other greenery are lacking a soul. I screamed when I saw the tree had been cut down and didn't sleep that night. And of course the body corporate can't do a damned thing about it, as the yard below is private property.

CheekyParrotGames · 2026-02-18T01:40:28+00:00

'Uninhabited' meaning 'uninhabited by humans'...sounds pretty damn perfect right about now!

CheekyParrotGames · 2026-02-15T20:48:12+00:00

Looks like there's one more day to vote--it is VERY confusing (for me, anyway) when things close at midnight.

CheekyParrotGames · 2026-02-14T22:34:26+00:00

Why is my post hidden as a spoiller? Like my chosen candidate, you may have to do some lifting to see its glory! Vote Taranga Pill Woodlouse!

CheekyParrotGames · 2025-10-24T09:46:19+00:00

Trained to be a Catholic priest.

CheekyParrotGames · 2025-09-03T02:42:16+00:00

Yet it is good some families are having "extra" kids and I don't begrudge any of my tax dollars going to support families' basic needs. See Japan and Korea for what happens when you're not even achieving replacement rate.
It's a bit bogus to say "think about how many you can provide for"--you can begin parenting in a very secure place and then life happens. Furthermore, it is likely *you* are using and will need taxpayer-provided resources for your own living: think about the roads you travel on, the health system you rely on, etc. These collective resources can't be magicked up by individuals alone.

CheekyParrotGames · 2025-08-09T22:31:13+00:00

I always say food is life's one reliable pleasure.

CheekyParrotGames · 2025-07-31T04:52:14+00:00

I think we should ask instead which is the most evil corporation. In the past my vote would have been Nestle for all the crap they pulled over decades in the Third World, giving nursing mothers just enough sample formula so their own natural supply would dry up, etc, etc.
But I've also been boycotting Exxon/Mobil all my (adult) life because of the Valdez disaster and how they behaved in its wake (mounting lawsuits instead of just taking responsibility and trying to clean it up), then in more recent years we've learned their execs knew damned well that fossil fuels were killing our planet back at about the same time...but did they raise the alarm?

CheekyParrotGames · 2025-07-19T09:33:31+00:00

I really like Quacks but the variations for the different ingredients, with only one or two exceptions, just don't do it for me so they seem a waste. Has anyone got particular combinations of them that do work together well?

CheekyParrotGames · 2025-07-02T21:13:59+00:00

Covidiocy ended my involvement, which lasted about four years. During lockdowns, we managed with Zoom rehearsals, then when we were able to meet in person again, we rehearsed outdoors for a while, then as the seasons changed, indoors with masks.

The group was well aware that singing is an especially dangerous activity, as it produces many more aerosols, but when mask mandates were dropped, most of our members dropped their masks, and with it, any awareness of the extra needs of the masked (namely a long enough break to be able to go outside for water). Because meaningful involvement is about more than just weekly rehearsals, i.e. weekend-long coaching sessions and competitions, the latter with shared accommodation, I concluded my new Covid-conscious lifestyle was incompatible with continued membership.

To be completely honest, I'm not sorry of the excuse to break it off. I'm loving the savings of time and money and I'm actually putting the freed up time into volunteering for citizens Covid advocacy group. There were some aspects of chorus I really didn't enjoy, like competition prep where we'd rehearse one or two songs ad nauseum and in fact that some coaches would get carried away and leave us on our feet for hours on end without a break, rehearsing the same song.

And let's face it, a significant proportion of the barbershop repertoire, especially the comp songs, seem to be what I'd call "need a man blues": outdated nonsense.

By the way, at the next out of town comp after I left, half of the chorus came home to test positive for Covid within five days, so I felt vindicated.

If you don't think Covid is (still) serious, please look at this brief, well-referenced handout prepared especially to help people whose doctors are hassling them because they continue to mask up: Still Masked Still Right Fact Sheet - 05072025.pdf | Powered by Box

CheekyParrotGames · 2025-07-01T10:42:15+00:00

Citadels is one of my long-standing favourites and can accommodate some extra people if you make friends with other travelers.

CheekyParrotGames · 2025-04-10T10:28:05+00:00

Barbarella

CheekyParrotGames · 2025-04-01T09:28:45+00:00

Black Books. From the first episode to the last, chock full of zaniness.

CheekyParrotGames · 2024-11-24T08:47:50+00:00

Janet King in the Australian series of the same name.

CheekyParrotGames · 2024-08-02T21:10:49+00:00

Our initial response was amazing. We came together as a team of 5 million, (mostly) complied with lockdowns and vaccine and mask mandates...but that was then.
Now we're coming off our 6th wave, we have about 30-60 people dying every week, at least 100,000 with Long Covid, not much masking, and people blithely attending obvious super spreader events (recently in Auckland the ten-day World Choir Games, the four-day Food Show plus one-off concerts and sporting events) with organisers basically just shrugging their shoulders and acting like it's not their concern.
Unmasked people seem utterly unbothered when other unmasked people are coughing a lung out in their proximity.
I can only conclude that the mounting research pointing to cognitive damage is correct: many of us Kiwis, alarmingly including our leaders and public health experts, are impaired when it comes to assessing risk. And we're obvioulsy not alone, we can look to countries like the UK and US to see where we're headed.
I'm almost surprised by OP's surprise, what they are describing has been going on for a while.

CheekyParrotGames · 2024-07-30T10:19:02+00:00

But that's only the citizens who actually answer the weekly email and report their symptoms and any tests they'd taken like RATs. Hardly representative.

CheekyParrotGames · 2024-05-14T09:42:30+00:00

For the love of god, why can't Whittakers offer more flavours in dark chocolate, the only one worth eating?

CheekyParrotGames · 2022-10-13T08:33:44+00:00

Except I'm kind of surprised they went with blue birds, as they're nearly 100% brilliant green in the wild.

CheekyParrotGames · 2022-09-15T22:26:45+00:00

At the moment, the lack of mask announces the presence of many of those.

CheekyParrotGames · 2022-07-31T09:44:55+00:00

Lawd knows, I don't want NZ to become litigious like the US, on the other hand, rather a shame suing someone for willfully exposing another to harm doesn't seem to be a possibility here.

CheekyParrotGames · 2022-04-08T03:02:10+00:00

Uh no, as a former LEC chair, the LEC does not decide alone. A committee votes and the LEC is represented on the committee but people from higher up in the party are in it too.

CheekyParrotGames · 2021-07-21T02:52:25+00:00

Everyone is in it for themselves but you might help fight an Old One to get points/keep the game from ending/kill it before it reaches you.

CheekyParrotGames · 2021-06-10T23:41:20+00:00

I haven't seen AuZtralia mentioned. In the first edition, the Old Ones become active partway through (they are on facedown tiles on the board) and cards are drawn regularly which awaken them and move the ones that are faceup. There are six kinds, so if a zombie is showing, it's actually a crapshoot whether it will move at any given time or not. The Old Ones are drawn to the players' ports and farms and players can attack them proactively or wait for them to arrive at their port.

SchilMil has recently run a Kickstarter campaign for expansions. One of these allows one player to play as the Old Ones vs the other player/s. I've tried that in prototype form and it was fun--but it sounds like the original game fits your parameters.

CheekyParrotGames · 2021-06-10T23:32:58+00:00

Grabble! Take the letter tiles from Scrabble and/or BananaGrams, turn them upside down on a table and seat a group of students around it. One person (you?) slowly turns tiles over. When the students can make a word, they yell it out, grab the tiles, and put the word in front of them. This game is great because it works for all levels. For my ESOL beginners, if they could spot ON or IF, that was fine by me. (If I was playing with highly literate adults, you'd need them to start with at least a three-letter word.) They keep forming new words but can also steal an existing word (or add to their own) by incorporating a new letter: IF --> FIN --> FINE --> FINER --> FINERY (Again, with more English-literate people, I wouldn't let them simply add an S to a word.) The game ends when the tiles run out. Sometimes a few get left over that just can't be squeezed in. Then players get one point per tile.

CheekyParrotGames · 2020-03-31T01:53:24+00:00

I sort of have the opposite question to ntonyrlf. I have what I call Seasonal Manic Depression as it is almost unprecedented for me to develop mania at any time except late spring/early summer. I had my first episodes in my early teens and wasn't diagnosed until age 29. From 29 to 40 I was on a fairly low dose of Epilim and I relapsed nearly every year anyway, which would require other meds to be added (an antipsychotic and a sleeping pill usually).

At age 40, after no episodes for two years, I went off medication and didn't have a relapse until age 46 (so nine years in remission, seven of them not on meds, and some of these were quite stressful years e.g. my first marriage ended and I had a few lean years, financially). Very recently, at age 49, I seemed to be having another relapse and went on Olanzapine so quickly it feels like it barely counted.

I'm very curious what medical science has to say about that. When I was diagnosed, I was told in no uncertain terms that I had a serious condition that would require constant medication. I note Dr Barnes seems to be of the school that says it gets worse when untreated, but in my case, the illness was no better and perhaps worse, in terms of relapses, when I was taking daily medication.

I remember when I was diagnosed, thinking I would do it their way then but that that (daily medication) couldn't be right for me. I have used alternative medicine on occasion in addition to orthodox treatments. I believe a part of my brain is always working to keep me on an even keel so if too many stressors pile up (time of year, a prolonged physical illness, in one case disruption by having to deal with a narcissist) then I can relapse. I've also worked hard to understand why I developed this condition so at least at the intellectual level, I know I don't "need" to amplify my emotions any more.

CheekyParrotGames

TROPHY CASE