Three weeks....


Finals coming up and pleasant visitors are my excuse. Karen flew in for a ten day visit and we got out of Dodge for a bit of a wander. Many pics coming once I have a chance to process them. In the meantime, know that the time was good. 13 years on, and a three month absence made us both into teenagers again. I do love that girl.

Meantime has the cycle of departures firing up as this semester's crew of Abbey denizens starts to splinter. Last night it was time to toast off our own Gallic prodigy, Raphaelle. Long gathering at Robot Face with a 2:30 AM quest for a cab....things don't change much, the backdrop just keeps switching out.

So while I work through the photos for our travel blog, here are some significantly less scenic shots. I have mentioned a bit about the local culture, religious presence, politics, ETOH consumption, and sheep fetish. Have I mentioned that Kiwis are pretty clever due to, or perhaps in spite of, all the above? Forgive the lack of insight here, but three hours sleep and a day of Zotero research leaves me with little to share. Rather than pontificate may I offer a few nuggets of Kiwi wisdom?

The Heat Pump.

Basically a refrigerator in reverse, or so it has been explained to me. Super-efficient heater, relatively low energy use per BTU. Developed in NZ, though mostly made in Japan these days. Quite fancy, in truth. Though I don't give them full props on this one because NONE OF THE BLOODY HOUSES HERE ARE INSULATED. Really. At least none older than ten years. Double paned windows? Nope. Attics full of blown pink? Nope. Dunedin is staying relatively close to freezing these days, and the locals in many homes actually put food in the fridge to keep it from freezing overnight on the counter. The homes are colder inside than out.

New housing rules include insulation and double panes, but the stock is only being replaced slowly. So the heat pump was developed because the houses were uninhabitable, away from the fireplace. Still a neat tool, but having clever ideas forced by your own strange choices is a toss-up in my book.

Outlets:

Every outlet in the country (near as I can tell) looks something like this. Little switch at the top that you can turn off to cut the flow. Eliminates the draw of things like many TV sets which pull 80% as much power off but plugged in as they do on. Damn clever idea, and should be legally required in the States. Yesterday.

Toilets:

Yeah, I'm blogging about toilets rather than working on my PhD. My parents will be so proud.

Kiwi toilets have two buttons. One for a full flush, one for half, I think. No one ever explained them to me, and it didn't seem like the thing to ask. Like where you are supposed to stand when using the local urinals, which are a steel wall covering a corner with a grating over a drained area in the floor. No pics, sorry. How the hell are you supposed to know where to stand? On the step, on the grating? You can't really stand in the bathroom and ask random guys. At least not twice, and not outside of the Minneapolis Airport.

But back to the point. Saves a lot of water. Clever, and good for the soul.

Other innovations? A traffic rule regarding right vs. left turns that ruthlessly weeds out the tourist crowd. A country run off of Hydro power. Pavlova, the local dessert (which would make a hell of an insulator. Six inches of pavlova in the walls, floor, and ceiling of all new Kiwi homes would be a godsend. You read it here first). Lever-action 12 gauges. The elimination of all coins smaller than 10c. The beat goes on.

This place is growing on me.