Sad news today about the passing of actor Harry Morgan today.

Like actors such as Denholm Elliot and Brian Dennehy, Morgan never seemed to land that elusive starring role, but that didn't matter. His talents as a character actor were always impressive and he often stole the limelight.

I remember Harry Morgan best from shows such as Dragnet and made-for-tv movies such as Support your local sherrif.

But of course it was his role it was his fatherly role as Col. Sherman T Potter in M*A*S*H that won him critical acclaim and a serious fan base. He first appeared in a small, one-off role as nut-job Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele ("That's three e's, not all in a row!") in 1974 and then went on to replace McLean Stevenson the following year, after Stevenson left the show. Morgan won an Emmy award for his performance on M*A*S*H, in 1980.

Yet acting apparently wasn't his first choice of career.

Born in Detroit (1915), Morgan studied pre-law at the University of Chicago, when a series of public speaking classes sparked his interest in the stage.

He did stints with both small theatre groups and a 2-year engagement on Broadway, in the original production of Golden Boy, with Karl Malden. In 1942 he went to Hollywood and was signed by 20th Century Fox, after a scout spotted him in the one-act play.

Post-M*A*S*H saw Morgan took on a wide variety of roles, including a reprise of his role as Bill Gannon in a Parody version of Dragnet.

He died aged 96, at his Los Angeles home after contracting pneumonia.

RIP Harry...and thanks

Well, the general election is over.

It was pretty much like elections everywhere; largely a duel of wits between unarmed opponents. No answers, but lots of different names for the problems.

I therefore present a New Zealand political addendum to the fully encompassing "Religions of the world"

...all we REALLY want is a hung parliament.

For the second time in 24 years, New Zealand are the RWC champions, after a nail-biting final against France at Eden Park this evening.

Well done ABs! France is never a pushover and has a history of upsets. They've also been RWC silver-medal winners 3 times, so it's a mistake to underestimate them.

Fortunately, the ABs didn't make the mistake of complacency but it was still a damn close-run thing. Still, victory is victory and for the next 4 years at least, the cup is back where it belongs!

Yay!

I miss you

Su and I took a short break away to Auckland to see the much-publicised Walking with Dinosaurs show at the Vector Arena.

We checked in to the nearby Barry Court motel (a weirdly shaped room, but handy to the arena an great harbour views) and after a bit of a stroll around, we joined a steady stream of people with tickets in their hands and kids in tow.

As with all these sort of gigs, everything was ridiculously expensive, but it kept the masses busy while we slipped into our cheap seats in the Gods. The Vector Arena definitely won the daily "define irony" award...for selling hundreds of hand-held LED-covered windmill toys to kids on the way into the arena...and then announcing over the tannoy that for the comfort of all patrons, flash photography is strictly forbidden!

The show itself was excellent. Incredibly well done and a real delight to watch. Some excellent lighting effects and clever use of stage props captured the audiences' imagination in the first few minutes, captivating them with the story of another age and world.

We rounded off a great evening with a light supper at IMA Bistro - the Lebanese Lamb Shoulder and Middle Eastern dessert platter are both recommended

All in all - a pretty good day.

Last winter, I wrote a review of Flip Graters' latest album of the time, called: While I'm awake I'm at war. It was a fairly dark and story night, all electric flashes and distant rumbles. I had a good fire going, a whisky in my hand and my feet up in a comfortable chair, listening to a few of the album tracks, while the rain fell in squalls on the tin roof. It was bliss!

The last few days here have been almost the polar opposite; beautiful clear blue skies, warm with a gentle breeze. Real shorts-and-jandals weather. The warm afternoon sun is perfect for kicking back with a cold beer and a good book, or to play the guitar a little (in between beers ).

Music is always one of the first things to get sorted when you move into a new place, but this time it was a bit more by-the-numbers and it took me longer than expected to set up the stereo and unpack all my albums. Perhaps I should ask Santa for an iPod this year.

Anyway...

Today I was browsing for something a bit special, to complement the afternoon's golden glow and the amazing sunset and Flip Graters'album certainly fit the bill pretty well.

I don't think I've heard many artists whose work seems to fit two such different atmospheres.

Shame that "Careful" seems to have been co-opted by some housewares company in it's advertising...but it's still a smooth tune

Last night I had a dream.

More of a nightmare really; I dreamed that I answered my front door, only to find a bloke wearing a fake tan, a blue rossette and a plastic surgery smile that wouldn't look out of place on an american home shopping ad, standing on my front porch.

Being the suave urbane sophisticate that I am, I should have asked the canvasser if he liked sex and travel ("then f*ck off!"). But the subconscious being what it is, I was forced to endure a 10-minute national party infomercial, starring John Key, along with an assorted supporting cast of the usual players, muppets one and all.

Normally after such mental duress, I would suddenly snap awake, sweating noticably, with a pressing need to visit the bathroom and a firm resolve not to eat cheese after 10pm. But this time, some part of me (probably the same bit that the cheese upset) was determined to retort.

It's increasingly hard to ignore the fact that New Zealand seems to be turning into one big garage sale (as if we don't already get enough of that on the TV). We sell the high-quality coal mined in Huntly to China, and then buy back their cheaper, clinker-laden alteratives. We export un-milled logs all over the world, then buy back the milled timber at a premium. Our railways get sold off for peanuts to American outfits who squeeze every last drop of value out of the assets before flogging them back to the government for a song. Our dairy products are sold in supermarkets at export prices, despite the fact that we produce nearly 25% of the world's milk, butter and cheese.

In the last few days, the government has railroaded through the Marine and Coastal Area Bill, effectively removing New Zealand coastlines from crown ownership. This potentially hands control of large sections of our coastlines (along with all mineral rights) to any of the various Iwi who care to lodge a claim. They no longer even need to prove historical claim or title, as the burden of proof is largely lifted off the claimant.

And what has been gained in return? Maori party support for the National party coalition at the next election.

In between this and the well-publicised limosine fiasco the government has laid off 100s of public sector workers, while simultaneously appointing a new head of the new Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Agency (CERA) at a half-a-million dollar annual salary.

While outlining spending cuts and asset sales, the government is also planning to spend NZ$1.8million on a huge plastic waka (canoe) as a supposed showpiece for the 2011 Rugby world cup. Already dubbed "Tupperwaka" by the press, it seems to be just another cash bung to the local Iwi, who are only stumping up a token NZ$100,000 in exchange for ownership of the project.

Nice work if you can get it

The latest attempt to further disenfrachise the ordinaries is the Holidays Amendment Bill. Among it's more potty proposals is that employers can demand a doctors' note for even a single day of sickness. A provision that is for all practical purposes likely to cause more problems than it fixes; anyone coming down with a bug is simply going to continue working, rather than go through the hassle and cost of a doctors' appointment. Infection rates will likely skyrocket and the net result is likely to be an exponentially larger cost in terms of lost man-hours.

In short, it's legislation straight out of the pointy haired boss guide to management.

By now the smile had faded from the face of my dreamtime tormentor, who not only got the message that it would be a cold day in hell before any vote for the National party would be forthcoming from me, but also had to continue his canvassing with a noticable limp after I closed the door on his foot rather sharply.

I wonder is this is a premontition

After getting settled in New Zealand, Su and I decided to take a few days off to visit the Hawkes Bay. So, on a beautifully sunny Waitangi Day, we headed south to Lake Taupo, before we then headed east and about 5pm, we were driving down the marine parade in Napier.

Napier has an interesting history; in early February 1931, the town was largely levelled by a massive earthquake, which claimed the lives of over 200 people. When the city was rebuilt, the architectural style in vogue at the time was Art Deco and it was widely used in the reconstruction efforts. Today, Napier is considered to be one of the two best-preserved Art Deco towns in the world. Beginning in 2007, Napier was nominated as a World Heritage Site with UNESCO and became the first cultural site in New Zealand to be so nominated.

Sadly, like much of small-town New Zealand, Napier appears to be suffering a little from the effects of urban drift. Some of it's buildings lie empty and have "For Sale/Lease" signs hanging in the window. Even in high season, the town seemed noticeably devoid of the expected tourist throngs. That said, we may have arrived during a brief hiatus; just a few days before the renowned art deco festival and a live concert featuring Sting.

Most of the town still has a freshly-painted look to it and is, on the whole, well maintained. The marine parade flower gardens were beautiful and floral baskets decorated the eaves and lampposts throughout the town centre. The town centre has several coffee shops, bakeries and lunch bars in close proximity, loosely surrounding an open-air, café-culture arrangement of tables and chairs, under large colourful umbrellas. A great place to start the day!

Hawkes Bay is well-known as a great wine-producing region and no trip there is complete without a visit to a couple of them. We booked a visit to three wineries, with a touring firm called BayTours and visited a large (Sileni), medium (Crossroads) and small (Moana Park) local winery. They all offered something interesting, but my personal favourite was a 10-year old tawny, which is fantastic with cheese and crackers!

Napier and it's sister-city Hastings have a fairly active art & craft scene and we visited the Birdwoods Gallery in Havelock North, where we spent a pleasant hour, browsing the interesting collection of African art, craft and sculpture. Then we headed over to the Silky Oak Chocolate Company and Museum (yum!).

For me however, the highlight of the trip was a dive in the shark tank at the National Aquarium. The 30-minute snorkel was reasonably priced at $60 and included all kit (wetsuit, mask, fins and snorkel) and was supervised by a terrific bloke called Matt. After a short brief, I headed into the tank and found myself surrounded by a wide range of 7-gill and schooling sharks, the largest of which was about 2½ metres long. Cool!

The tank also contained other sea life including some pretty impressive Rays and after the swim was over, Su and I joined other visitors to watch Matt feed the tank residents. Matt's party piece is interesting; he removes his regulator, places a piece of fish between his teeth and then motions to a nearby ray, who glides slowly over his face, snatching the morsel from his mouth as it passes. Matt told me afterwards that he doesn't taste the fish when he's in the tank, but "it's pretty awful afterwards".

The following morning we headed home, stopping in Taupo to visit the spectacular Huka Falls. No matter how many times I visit them, they never fail to impress me (200,000 litres of water a second tends to do that!).

Hawkes Bay is definately one to add to any "must see" list, whether you live in New Zealand or are just visiting.

Photo gallery available

After a very busy few weeks, Su and I decided to take an afternoon off and head out to Waihi beach - about a 25 minute drive north of our new place.

It was a near-perfect afternoon; a balmy 29^oC with a cloudless sky. A little gusty on top of the dunes, but once Su and I dropped down onto the beach itself, it settled right down. The kids had all just gone back to school so the beach was nearly deserted except for a handful of holiday makers and locals.

We spent a blissful afternoon body surfing, collecting shells, taking a few photos and generally bumming around. It was excellent!

In the late afternoon, I watched groups of teens come down to swim and local residents run out kon tiki lines up to 100m from shore to catch snapper. Around 8pm, we watched the sun go down, beafore packing up and heading back home.

Some days are real smilers

Well, today we finished the first of three kiwifruit thinnings. It's taken about 2 weeks but it's all complete now, at least until early February, when the second of three thinnings is due to start. The first thinning is the worst though (or so I'm told ) and the second is said to be much easier.

Guess I'll find out soon enough!

Meanwhile, here's another video diary entry (I promise it will be the last about kiwifruit for a while)

Not a great start to the new year. First the news of Pete Postlethwaite, then the news today of the passing of Gerry Rafferty earlier today.

Both were extraordinary talents in their respective fields. Pete Postlethwaite was a cracking character actor, whose arguably most famous roles as the enigmatic lawyer, Mr. Kobayashi, in the cult classic The Usual Suspects, and the disillusioned-but-still-bloody-fighting yorkshire miner Danny in Mark Herman's Brit-classic Brassed Off set him on the road to success, with a string of classy and memorable roles in 50+ films and as many TV roles.

Conversely, Gerry Rafferty was someone whose hit list was somewhat shorter...at least on paper. But the classic tracks he penned, including the iconic Baker Street and of course the enormously successful Steelers Wheel classic Stuck in the Middle seem to be rediscovered by successive generations.

Farewell both. you will be missed.