Fruitbowl - Fresh Ideas from Hawke's Bay

Traveling a lot I’m always looking out for new music.  There’s nothing better than finding a band you’ve never heard before that quickly becomes high rotation on the iPod. I may be the last person in the world, but last week I stumbled onto Broken Bells.  The whole album is great.  Here is a couple of live performances on Letterman and Kimmel to give you a taste. Anyone ...Read more

Just had this sent to me from a mate in New York … A GOOD REASON TO HEAD TO NEW ZEALAND The New Zealand government just announced something that I find rather surprising… but a step in the right direction. Concerned about debt levels, both public and private, they’ve announced changes to the tax code which encourage savings and investment, and discourage consumption. The article goes ...Read more

It’s true. Parking meters are coming to Taradale. November this year apparently. Where is the rancour? The howls of protest? After all the blood letting and angst in Havelock North, perhaps Taradale spotted their own goal and decided not to fall into that trap. Perhaps Taradalians are war-weary from the battles over Napier Hospital. Or maybe we are just practical, mature people who would like a ...Read more

Sunday 27 degrees at the beach and have to jump on a plane mid afternoon to speak at a conference in Canberra.  NPE-AKL-SYD-CBR. Checked into the hotel around 11pm Oz time. F1 on the tele but too tired to watch past the start. 2:30am – fire alarm. Interesting to see the number of people who pack big fluffy dressing gowns. At 4:00 awake again as some aussie sheila in car park ...Read more

Continuing the dork meme … ...Read more

With school starting last week we’re heading into our second year in the Bay. When we first thought about moving back here we did hear a few stereotypes.  It would be hard to meet people, Diva was overrun by cougars, and we’d get bored ‘up there’. As we have young kids a late night out is not arriving at Pipi’s for the 4:30 opening so I have no idea about the ...Read more

Thanks for everyone who has placed comments on my earlier post, What I did in the holidays. The comments so far indicate the emergence of some trends which may or may not set the tone for this new decade, which I don’t actually know what to call. Maybe it could be called one of these names… the teens the twenty-somethings the twenty-tens the twenty-teens the tweenties the decade ...Read more