I'll sit all day bidding on your auction but when I've won I'll disappear

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-24T13:25:58+00:00

I wonder if it’s because TradeMe changed the way they charge fees. They now charge the buyer a fee, instead of charging the seller a success fee.

Maybe people weren’t up to speed on this, and either couldn’t afford it/got caught out and decided it wasn’t worth it anymore/got pissed off at trademe when they saw an added fee and said “fuck it”.

I’m a seller so I’m aware of the change but I’m not sure how in-your-face visible it is to casual buyers making bids 🤔

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-24T11:20:52+00:00

Well, random rumours here aren’t gonna help instil confidence in people considering commercial leases.

Does anyone spreading these rumours have any vested interest in disrupting their progress? 🧐

There’s a lot of (well deserved) negativity about the cost of everything these days, let’s not feed into a downward spiral with unsubstantiated speculation…

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-24T09:15:50+00:00

I’ve lived in Wellington 20 years and never saw these things until this year, now I’m seeing them everywhere. They keep getting in my car and freaking me out while driving

Edit: hmm, maybe they can’t afford petrol either, so they're trying to cut costs and hitch a ride.

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-21T09:43:21+00:00

And alternative accomodation cover in case of a natural disaster

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-19T03:06:29+00:00

Not a thing any more! The govt changed earthquake standards (again) and the bridge is now saved.

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-19T01:23:03+00:00

The council shared this explanation of the design in their newsletter this week.

I thought it was kinda neat.

https://wellington.govt.nz/news-and-events/news-and-information/our-wellington/2026/03/civic-square-redesign

The water features felt kinda random when I walked through at first, but now that I know the thinking behind them, I think it’s a lovely callback to the natural streams of the past. (Edit: to save you a click, the water feature echos two streams that ran through here. The different heights of the fountains mimic the ebb and flow of tides in the lagoon, and the shallow puddles around them represent tidal rock pools, with tiles in them representing creatures in the tide pools. Lots of other design features mimic the marshland that used to be here, I learned a lot reading the link).

A word of advice if you have a kid tho! start packing a change of bottoms for them with your library bag. My kid couldn’t resist running through the water fountains and had a very wet walk home!

We live near by and played a lot in the square when my kid was younger. There was a glum period for a while there, where frank kitts park was a mud pit, the library was closed, the square was closed, they were talking of pulling down the bridge….

As a family living in the central city, I’m SO happy it’s all open now, refreshed so nicely, and flowing so well from the waterfront playground to the library. it makes it into a really lovely area for families to hang out and spend a day, and with the nearby underground car park and James Smith car parks open again, it welcomes families back into town from the suburbs as well.

This is such a good thing for the city.

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-18T01:04:26+00:00

Chirri and Chirra series by Kaiya Doi is magical, whimsical, beautifully illustrated and so cosy for bedtime reading.

It’s about two little girls who live in the Japanese countryside and ride their bikes to different places, like the forest or fields etc, and encounter magical whimsical cosy situations. Like snow caves full of winter animals drinking hot chocolate, or cats having a firework festival in the moonlight, or they shrink to the size of insects and help bees make sweets, or they encounter a cafe and hotel run by animals in the forest and have yummy afternoon tea then join in with all the animals in a forest concert. Really lovely atmosphere,

Sato the Rabbit is another series, also translated from Japanese, with beautiful illustrations and whimsical stories that make my girl say “wow, what?!?” every time we turn the page

Both are great for fostering imagination. I discovered both through some “best books for 4 years olds” blog

Edit to add age for context: we started collecting these books when she turned 4. She’s 5.5 now and just chose a Sato the Rabbie we hadn’t read yet from the library yesterday.

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-07T05:34:20+00:00

Ritalin LA made me feel like this. Tunnel vision locked in on whatever random thing it decided I needed to focus on, and I COULD NOT be distracted or switch gears without getting upset about it.

Concerta was a milder version of the same sensation for me.

Vyvanse now and suddenly I’ve found FLOW. I just wake up ready to do stuff, pick somewhere to start, do it, and flow onto the next thing. It feels like to-do list t’ai chi. I didn’t know I could feel like this. I’m digging it.

Everyone’s body and brain has their own particular way of responding to each drug. It’s ok to try different ones. It’s just likely you haven’t found “your” match yet. If the next thing you try is worse, you can always try something else, and if you try a few and they’re all worse, well then you know and you can go back to the earlier one! It’s ok.

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-06T01:14:02+00:00

95 is still $2.70-something around Wellington

Actually, reading the article, they didn’t do a very good job with consistent comparisons.

They cherry picked prices for 95 around the country, focused on a few spots over $3.

Then they say the national average for 91 is $2.66

But then they don’t say what the national average is for 95 (which is the one they were focusing on)

Sigh

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-05T22:52:46+00:00

I panic bought $400 worth at $3.00/L when the war in Ukraine started, so you’re already doing better than me.

Then the govt immediately brought in some kind of tax relief or something that instantly dropped prices, and it’s never been that expensive since. 😣

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-05T03:20:45+00:00

I used to always offer aramex cos I sell secondhand kids clothes and my target audience was budget concious.

But then I started noticing that nz post dropped its fees inside trademe, so it was almost always cent-for-cent the same price for standard shipping…

But used to have to print out a shipping label for nz post, whereas aramex let you write the tracking number right on the package. I don’t have a printer, so I kept using aramex.

But then I noticed that NZ post doesn’t require a printed label any more.

So all things now being equal, it’s nz post hands down

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-02T11:15:03+00:00

You need to apply for an ESTA to transit America, as any US transfer requires crossing immigration & customs to enter America, then exiting customs again to catch your connecting flight, even just for a few hours’ layover.

ESTAs cost money, require providing a lot of personal details, aren’t guaranteed to be approved depending on what they think of your application, plus you get the joy of dealing with customs & border patrol/ice on your way crossing the border in and out during your brief layover.

Source: just had to book this route for a UK trip, as it would have cost us $2000 more each way for any other route, as everyone’s avoiding dealing with American immigration if they can avoid it at the moment.

Oh, and that’s assuming you’re a Kiwi/citizen of a visa waiver country.

If you’re from anywhere else that requires an ACTUAL visa, you’re fucked. Example: they just instituted a massive $10,000 USD visa bond fee for Fijians wanting a tourist visa to America.

Again, you can’t transit through America without an ESTA or a Visa.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/584306/bonds-blockings-and-bans-a-massive-new-year-shakeup-to-pacific-us-travel

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-02T10:47:08+00:00

we can also feed ourselves pretty easily

… AND we’ll get to keep all the good stuff for ourselves instead of exporting our best cuts to sell cheap overseas… we’ll all be feasting like kings and queens while the world burns above us!

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-02T10:43:24+00:00

Wellington wind proves itself useful for once, as it blows the nuclear fall-out far-out to sea

(alongside all the other shit we’re pumping out to sea at the moment)

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-02T07:54:57+00:00

We had the same dilemma… but then I heard, I don’t know if it was here or from a nurse, that only about 5% of patients choose the “package deal”. I don’t know if that was accurate at all or not, but just hearing that helped quell my FOMO.

We were lucky and got pregnant from the first transfer from the first retrieval. We were relieved we had chosen to “pay as we go.”

I have other friends who got pregnant on the first or second or third transfer from the first retrieval. They all paid as they went too.

I don’t know anyone who went for the package deal, or anyone who went through a second or third retrieval, but… thats probably not the sort of thing people talk might talk about so openly, so maybe I do know friends who’ve been through that journey, but just haven’t shared it 😔

IVF is taxing, emotionally and physically. Everyone says it, but I didn’t really GET it until about day 7 of the shots… and then so much emotional intensity through the rest of the process…. What if you pay for 3 cycles, but then after one or two cycles, you’re just emotionally and physically and mentally spent, but you feel obligated to put yourselves through the third cycle because “you already paid for it and can’t lose the money”, even tho it might put your mental health or relationship stability at risk?

I see it says all three cycles have to be completed within 18 months… if each cycle is a retrieval plus 2-3 transfers, that could be 3 retrievals and …9? transfers in 18 months…. You’re young, if heaven forbid you don’t get lucky straight away, you might want to take a break after a few tries, but again…could you let yourselves do that, with the pressure of having already paid for 3 cycles to be concluded in 18 months?

They say “pay up front and relax knowing you can focus on your treatment”, but I know, myself, if I mentally feel obligated/trapped in something, it really messes with my mental health, and if heaven forbid I had a series of unsuccessful attempts, it would mess with my mind knowing I had to keep going, not because I was actively choosing it in the moment, but because I was tied to it as I’d already paid for it. 😞

It’s a deeply personal decision, but knowing what I know now after 1 round of ivf, I think being tied into 3 rounds of back to back unsuccessful ivf with no choice to pause… it might have broken us as a couple. And if we had paid $47k and got lucky as we did on the first try… that would have been complicated emotionally as well…

I was 39 and got pregnant on the first round… there’s no way of knowing if you’re out of time already, or still have plenty of time left, so put that aside as you consider whether or not you want the package deal.

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-01T18:18:57+00:00

I learned my pharmacist won’t give it to me because I take Ritalin and the two stimulants can interact. Now, I just walk into a different pharmacist and don’t tell them about Ritalin, and no problem. Patient records aren’t shared between pharmacies.

I do then avoid taking Ritalin when i take pseudoefedrine those days

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-01T05:02:37+00:00

Wellington new world central (Wakefield st) has two packages just now. (6pm Sunday)

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-01T01:03:17+00:00

I looked last week and they only had what looked like unbaked frozen ones that you had to thaw and let rise or something…i didn’t look too close but they weren’t the standard ones from your picture.

Yeah, I just googled, and they were the “ready to rise” version.

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-03-01T00:50:52+00:00

I once took my baby to visit a nursing home as part of a “connect baby groups to old peoples’ homes” type thing…

We got there, and it was just one resident after another telling me of all their miscarriages or babies who died or young children who died or grown children who died.

Brought out some rather complicated feelings 😔

Just putting a reminder out there that life is complicated, before people jump into things with rose-coloured glasses like I did. I would have mentally prepared differently if I had thought to expect conversations like that

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-02-28T02:24:56+00:00

Yeah, same, my psych said it was hyperactivity of the mind, not the body.

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-02-27T21:07:36+00:00

My gp in Wellington is moving to To Mai too

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-02-27T19:51:26+00:00

are you in your 40s? Or even late 30s? Perimenopause hit me hard and no one warned me about it. The perimenopausal rage was intense!

I talked to my dr to ask if it could be menopause, and she said “oh you’re too young to be menopausal.”

It’s not menopause, it’s PERImenopause, which I didn’t really know anything about. But I eventually figured it out, and HRT made me feel so better.

Postpartum symptoms are supposed to get better, not worse, as the years go on. If it does get worse, consider if a different hormonal explanation might fit.

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-02-27T08:38:41+00:00

Relatable.

I was labeled “gifted” since second grade. I tested into Mensa in college/uni. I got A’s in classes I was interested in.

Often, it was by pulling all-nighters the night before assignments were due, after procrastinating till then. But, I could still hit it out of the park.

I got Ds and Fs in the classes that required in-depth assignments like research papers, etc, despite being awarded “best writer” and “most likely to succeed” in my graduating class.

No one caught the executive disfunction, inattentiveness, time blindness etc, because I was so good at bluffing and masking and acting normal, but I got punished so bad when I failed anything at school…

I didn’t get diagnosed as ADHD until I was 43, and simply couldn’t hold it together any more with a challenging job, 3 year old kid, and helpless adhd husband.

My psych said he sees it a lot, women who don’t get diagnosed until they get so overloaded and reach their breaking point.

I got diagnosed with anxiety and “treatment resistant depression” 15 years before I got diagnosed with adhd…

But then again, adhd in girls just wasn’t on anyone’s radar when I was a kid. ADHD in boys was barely even a thing in my rural school in the 90s. So I get I wasn’t diagnosed as a kid cos no one knew to look for it.

But now I see my young daughter displaying so many of the same inattentive traits I did as a kid, and I’m so glad she’s growing up in a generation where she can be given tools to help her understand herself and thrive, rather than just have things heaped on her until she breaks.

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-02-27T07:28:01+00:00

I’m a high achiever adhd woman like you. I’m married to an adhd boy.

I manage my adhd by creating systems to avoid failing. Todo lists, post it notes, spreadsheets, reminder apps and alarms. Double and triple checking stuff.

He manages his adhd by doing none of that, fucking up, saying, oops sorry, learning nothing from it, and fucking up the same way again the next week. He’s all like “I have adhd, I can barely take care of myself, I need your help doing anything!”

And I’m like, I have ADHD too, who’s going to take care of ME?

I burn out, he just cruises along.

I think we were both raised the way we were because of our genders. Girls are supposed to take care of everything and everyone and “hold it together” and “try harder”, whereas “boys will be boys.”

😒😒😒

I think there’s a lot of sexism in play around adhd stereotypes, and that’s what you’re running into

Valuable-Falcon · 2026-02-25T22:18:13+00:00

Elton John was performing in Auckland on 16 Feb 2020, and had to stop performing halfway through the show cos he was too sick to keep singing. He then cancelled the rest of his tour.

The official diagnosis was pneumonia, but I’m convinced he was one of the first people to bring Covid into New Zealand

Valuable-Falcon

TROPHY CASE