Greg Bond
@docgregb.bsky.social
Squeaky wheel.
Older, but still not right.
🩺 🚲 ☕️ 🚉 🏙️
📍Pōneke, Aotearoa NZ
Older, but still not right.
🩺 🚲 ☕️ 🚉 🏙️
📍Pōneke, Aotearoa NZ
Wellington’s new IKEA *sucks*.
Too smøll.
Too smøll.
December 4, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Wellington’s new IKEA *sucks*.
Too smøll.
Too smøll.
We can hope that they read to the bottom of the Police press release, & understand it too.
Whether or not a journalist or talk-back host chooses to distinguish, or in bad faith doesn’t, is another matter entirely.
Whether or not a journalist or talk-back host chooses to distinguish, or in bad faith doesn’t, is another matter entirely.
December 2, 2025 at 10:00 PM
We can hope that they read to the bottom of the Police press release, & understand it too.
Whether or not a journalist or talk-back host chooses to distinguish, or in bad faith doesn’t, is another matter entirely.
Whether or not a journalist or talk-back host chooses to distinguish, or in bad faith doesn’t, is another matter entirely.
Fascinating RNZ Pacific article about the ruinous ripple effects of privatising PNG’s govt-run roads department.
Reads like a parable for our times, and for our motu as well.
How a World Bank funding condition in 1995 helped break Papua New Guinea's roads system www.rnz.co.nz/internationa...
Reads like a parable for our times, and for our motu as well.
How a World Bank funding condition in 1995 helped break Papua New Guinea's roads system www.rnz.co.nz/internationa...
December 1, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Fascinating RNZ Pacific article about the ruinous ripple effects of privatising PNG’s govt-run roads department.
Reads like a parable for our times, and for our motu as well.
How a World Bank funding condition in 1995 helped break Papua New Guinea's roads system www.rnz.co.nz/internationa...
Reads like a parable for our times, and for our motu as well.
How a World Bank funding condition in 1995 helped break Papua New Guinea's roads system www.rnz.co.nz/internationa...
I’m confused by Watts’ assertion that the “the broader taxpayer [is] better off”, as if taxpayers are not also ratepayers too.
It’s just deflecting blame onto local councils for the govt’s fiscal choices.
Guess which assets will be considered ripe for privatisation when councils are impoverished?
It’s just deflecting blame onto local councils for the govt’s fiscal choices.
Guess which assets will be considered ripe for privatisation when councils are impoverished?
November 30, 2025 at 8:13 PM
I’m confused by Watts’ assertion that the “the broader taxpayer [is] better off”, as if taxpayers are not also ratepayers too.
It’s just deflecting blame onto local councils for the govt’s fiscal choices.
Guess which assets will be considered ripe for privatisation when councils are impoverished?
It’s just deflecting blame onto local councils for the govt’s fiscal choices.
Guess which assets will be considered ripe for privatisation when councils are impoverished?
Can’t beat Wellington…
November 24, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Can’t beat Wellington…
So, for here’s how Black Friday works:
1). Kids water bottle: $14.99
2). Get a black sharpie and cross that price out.
3). Re-price at $20.99 (+40%)
4.) Sell in the Black Friday week “sale” as half-price ($10.50)*
*Only if another item is purchased. Either way you have to spend more than $14.99.
1). Kids water bottle: $14.99
2). Get a black sharpie and cross that price out.
3). Re-price at $20.99 (+40%)
4.) Sell in the Black Friday week “sale” as half-price ($10.50)*
*Only if another item is purchased. Either way you have to spend more than $14.99.
November 24, 2025 at 5:59 AM
So, for here’s how Black Friday works:
1). Kids water bottle: $14.99
2). Get a black sharpie and cross that price out.
3). Re-price at $20.99 (+40%)
4.) Sell in the Black Friday week “sale” as half-price ($10.50)*
*Only if another item is purchased. Either way you have to spend more than $14.99.
1). Kids water bottle: $14.99
2). Get a black sharpie and cross that price out.
3). Re-price at $20.99 (+40%)
4.) Sell in the Black Friday week “sale” as half-price ($10.50)*
*Only if another item is purchased. Either way you have to spend more than $14.99.
Once again begging that small cohort of people who struggle with it to figure out what a 1.5m gap looks like between the left side of their vehicle and a bike.
And if there’s not enough room to pass, then wait like 5 seconds until there is.
Please.
www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/gen...
And if there’s not enough room to pass, then wait like 5 seconds until there is.
Please.
www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/gen...
November 23, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Once again begging that small cohort of people who struggle with it to figure out what a 1.5m gap looks like between the left side of their vehicle and a bike.
And if there’s not enough room to pass, then wait like 5 seconds until there is.
Please.
www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/gen...
And if there’s not enough room to pass, then wait like 5 seconds until there is.
Please.
www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/gen...
Good work Kiwirail / Great Journeys of NZ: I’d love to make more climate-friendly travel choices!
Shame that rail services between cities here are so darned infrequent (every second day Wellington to Auckland?!), slow, and incredibly expensive.
So close to getting it.
Shame that rail services between cities here are so darned infrequent (every second day Wellington to Auckland?!), slow, and incredibly expensive.
So close to getting it.
November 20, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Good work Kiwirail / Great Journeys of NZ: I’d love to make more climate-friendly travel choices!
Shame that rail services between cities here are so darned infrequent (every second day Wellington to Auckland?!), slow, and incredibly expensive.
So close to getting it.
Shame that rail services between cities here are so darned infrequent (every second day Wellington to Auckland?!), slow, and incredibly expensive.
So close to getting it.
Apropos of discussions about @andrewlittlenz.bsky.social and WCC reviewing the Golden Mile upgrades.
I’m in Waitohi Johnsonville Library - it’s a fantastic, public, space to be in.
Lambton Quay & Courtney Place can also be made into fantastic (or at least better than now) spaces for people to be.
I’m in Waitohi Johnsonville Library - it’s a fantastic, public, space to be in.
Lambton Quay & Courtney Place can also be made into fantastic (or at least better than now) spaces for people to be.
November 18, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Apropos of discussions about @andrewlittlenz.bsky.social and WCC reviewing the Golden Mile upgrades.
I’m in Waitohi Johnsonville Library - it’s a fantastic, public, space to be in.
Lambton Quay & Courtney Place can also be made into fantastic (or at least better than now) spaces for people to be.
I’m in Waitohi Johnsonville Library - it’s a fantastic, public, space to be in.
Lambton Quay & Courtney Place can also be made into fantastic (or at least better than now) spaces for people to be.
Looking forward to all our pro-parking councillors wholesale rejecting this proposal to turn Vivian Street into a motorway.
After the business apocalypse apparently caused on Thorndon Quay for a cycle way, there can be no way they’d let this happen.
Right?
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
After the business apocalypse apparently caused on Thorndon Quay for a cycle way, there can be no way they’d let this happen.
Right?
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
November 17, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Looking forward to all our pro-parking councillors wholesale rejecting this proposal to turn Vivian Street into a motorway.
After the business apocalypse apparently caused on Thorndon Quay for a cycle way, there can be no way they’d let this happen.
Right?
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
After the business apocalypse apparently caused on Thorndon Quay for a cycle way, there can be no way they’d let this happen.
Right?
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Simplistic ideological fixes from Simeon again.
All to avoid fixing underlying issues that create the demand.
How do they think an arbitrary target will be met when there’s not the workforce capacity?
And what do they think will happen to GPs not meeting targets & getting their funding cut?
All to avoid fixing underlying issues that create the demand.
How do they think an arbitrary target will be met when there’s not the workforce capacity?
And what do they think will happen to GPs not meeting targets & getting their funding cut?
November 15, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Simplistic ideological fixes from Simeon again.
All to avoid fixing underlying issues that create the demand.
How do they think an arbitrary target will be met when there’s not the workforce capacity?
And what do they think will happen to GPs not meeting targets & getting their funding cut?
All to avoid fixing underlying issues that create the demand.
How do they think an arbitrary target will be met when there’s not the workforce capacity?
And what do they think will happen to GPs not meeting targets & getting their funding cut?
It’d sure be good if you did have to,* even if it was only a single digit % rate.
And you should be proud to pay tax: it’s what stands between having a functioning country with services available for all and a corporate, user-pays, dystopia.
*Being NZ, the answer is “no, but”, or ‘nahyeah’.
And you should be proud to pay tax: it’s what stands between having a functioning country with services available for all and a corporate, user-pays, dystopia.
*Being NZ, the answer is “no, but”, or ‘nahyeah’.
November 15, 2025 at 3:36 AM
It’d sure be good if you did have to,* even if it was only a single digit % rate.
And you should be proud to pay tax: it’s what stands between having a functioning country with services available for all and a corporate, user-pays, dystopia.
*Being NZ, the answer is “no, but”, or ‘nahyeah’.
And you should be proud to pay tax: it’s what stands between having a functioning country with services available for all and a corporate, user-pays, dystopia.
*Being NZ, the answer is “no, but”, or ‘nahyeah’.
On the one hand, yes - upgrade the crossings: it’s A Good Thing.
But AIUI, there’s no proposal to raise the line speed. And, per Metlink’s website, there’s only going to be an additional 4, maybe 6 trains a day going to & from Palmy.
I’m clearly an idiot, but I really don’t see the issue?
But AIUI, there’s no proposal to raise the line speed. And, per Metlink’s website, there’s only going to be an additional 4, maybe 6 trains a day going to & from Palmy.
I’m clearly an idiot, but I really don’t see the issue?
November 13, 2025 at 9:17 PM
On the one hand, yes - upgrade the crossings: it’s A Good Thing.
But AIUI, there’s no proposal to raise the line speed. And, per Metlink’s website, there’s only going to be an additional 4, maybe 6 trains a day going to & from Palmy.
I’m clearly an idiot, but I really don’t see the issue?
But AIUI, there’s no proposal to raise the line speed. And, per Metlink’s website, there’s only going to be an additional 4, maybe 6 trains a day going to & from Palmy.
I’m clearly an idiot, but I really don’t see the issue?
For an article already festooned with advertising & cookies about unseemly business practices: demanding I sign in - apparently so your company can “engage with [me] more deeply” - feels icky.
Give me an option to pay a sub, with no tracking cookies, & minimal ads, then I’ll sign up.
Give me an option to pay a sub, with no tracking cookies, & minimal ads, then I’ll sign up.
November 8, 2025 at 8:31 PM
For an article already festooned with advertising & cookies about unseemly business practices: demanding I sign in - apparently so your company can “engage with [me] more deeply” - feels icky.
Give me an option to pay a sub, with no tracking cookies, & minimal ads, then I’ll sign up.
Give me an option to pay a sub, with no tracking cookies, & minimal ads, then I’ll sign up.
Been back (for the first time since moving back to NZ) to ki Paekākā Wellington Botanic Garden.
It did not disappoint.
It did not disappoint.
November 8, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Been back (for the first time since moving back to NZ) to ki Paekākā Wellington Botanic Garden.
It did not disappoint.
It did not disappoint.
AI hallucinating yet more garbage aside, I could get on board with these new “rules”, especially having proper penalties for shit driving.
Though the curfew for Boomers does seem a wee bit harsh
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Though the curfew for Boomers does seem a wee bit harsh
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
November 5, 2025 at 7:18 AM
AI hallucinating yet more garbage aside, I could get on board with these new “rules”, especially having proper penalties for shit driving.
Though the curfew for Boomers does seem a wee bit harsh
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Though the curfew for Boomers does seem a wee bit harsh
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Planning a trip out to the Hutt from Welly for a course this week.
So dismal that our public transport (electric trains in the case of this journey) fares have been hiked so much that it’s now nearly double the cost of driving a diesel or petrol SUV there.
Rotten government with rotten priorities.
So dismal that our public transport (electric trains in the case of this journey) fares have been hiked so much that it’s now nearly double the cost of driving a diesel or petrol SUV there.
Rotten government with rotten priorities.
November 5, 2025 at 5:35 AM
Planning a trip out to the Hutt from Welly for a course this week.
So dismal that our public transport (electric trains in the case of this journey) fares have been hiked so much that it’s now nearly double the cost of driving a diesel or petrol SUV there.
Rotten government with rotten priorities.
So dismal that our public transport (electric trains in the case of this journey) fares have been hiked so much that it’s now nearly double the cost of driving a diesel or petrol SUV there.
Rotten government with rotten priorities.
Pūkaha (Mt Bruce) wildlife centre is always a great place to visit with / without the kids, even when it tries to rain.
October 26, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Pūkaha (Mt Bruce) wildlife centre is always a great place to visit with / without the kids, even when it tries to rain.
There’s still time to vote Pōneke!
October 10, 2025 at 8:42 PM
There’s still time to vote Pōneke!
It’s so good getting back to having a garden to look out at (even on a miserable Wellington spring day). Even better to see these characters (kererū and tūī) devouring our kōwhai tree.
Hoping one day to get good enough with my ancient SLR to snap a kākā in its nanosecond of staying still.
Hoping one day to get good enough with my ancient SLR to snap a kākā in its nanosecond of staying still.
October 2, 2025 at 10:30 AM
It’s so good getting back to having a garden to look out at (even on a miserable Wellington spring day). Even better to see these characters (kererū and tūī) devouring our kōwhai tree.
Hoping one day to get good enough with my ancient SLR to snap a kākā in its nanosecond of staying still.
Hoping one day to get good enough with my ancient SLR to snap a kākā in its nanosecond of staying still.
Everything about this article is heartbreaking, and breathtakingly bleak.
I’m aghast at the arrogance of Meta’s “guidelines” (screenshot from article) and the warped worldview they have which seeks to impose this malware upon us with so few guardrails.
www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/5...
I’m aghast at the arrogance of Meta’s “guidelines” (screenshot from article) and the warped worldview they have which seeks to impose this malware upon us with so few guardrails.
www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/5...
August 15, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Everything about this article is heartbreaking, and breathtakingly bleak.
I’m aghast at the arrogance of Meta’s “guidelines” (screenshot from article) and the warped worldview they have which seeks to impose this malware upon us with so few guardrails.
www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/5...
I’m aghast at the arrogance of Meta’s “guidelines” (screenshot from article) and the warped worldview they have which seeks to impose this malware upon us with so few guardrails.
www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/5...
But have you considered the *humanity* that Mr. Luxon and his band of merry misanthropes are displaying?
subslack.substack.com/p/how-many-c...
subslack.substack.com/p/how-many-c...
August 3, 2025 at 5:55 AM
But have you considered the *humanity* that Mr. Luxon and his band of merry misanthropes are displaying?
subslack.substack.com/p/how-many-c...
subslack.substack.com/p/how-many-c...
Lead arsonist of the gang begging for the fire they started to be put out by the same people who’ve been burnt by it.
Perhaps stop burning everything down to pass a few bucks on to your mates, and begin providing decent services, affordable housing, and good stable jobs for people instead.
Perhaps stop burning everything down to pass a few bucks on to your mates, and begin providing decent services, affordable housing, and good stable jobs for people instead.
August 2, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Lead arsonist of the gang begging for the fire they started to be put out by the same people who’ve been burnt by it.
Perhaps stop burning everything down to pass a few bucks on to your mates, and begin providing decent services, affordable housing, and good stable jobs for people instead.
Perhaps stop burning everything down to pass a few bucks on to your mates, and begin providing decent services, affordable housing, and good stable jobs for people instead.
Lucky timing for a walk between the winter showers.
St. Kilda pier, looking towards Melbourne city.
St. Kilda pier, looking towards Melbourne city.
June 8, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Lucky timing for a walk between the winter showers.
St. Kilda pier, looking towards Melbourne city.
St. Kilda pier, looking towards Melbourne city.