Am I just dumb or does this happen for other people?

Catching the bus is my main way to get into the city centre, though on rare occasions I drive or e-scooter. I found that catching the bus is sometimes useful on short trips, such as going to the bakery (if the bus is every 10 minutes). Really great for me since I don't have a job right now, but if I get a job again I'll need a car, because employers insist.

I don't like owning a car because other tenants can suddenly move in and block me off with their car, which they expect to park on the driveway too. All the nearby streets have problems with parking. An e-scooter would suit me most of the time. I could sell my car, buy an e-scooter, motorcycle helmet, rain-repelling pants and gumboots. ** Just a couple of problems:**

1. safety - a guy I know recently had an accident in the Opawa/Sydenham area and broke his shoulder + other bones. I was told that he wasn't hit by a car, apparently he lost traction and fell off. Maybe he was going 30 km/ph if not 40 km/ph, but I don't know. Based on the injuries he wouldn't have been going under 20 km/ph.

2. winter - traction problems and visibility at their worst, potentially for months. So far, this winter has been mild. Most times 11am - 5pm are good temperature for an e-scooter, without too much moisture on the road. Next winter might be colder and less suitable for an e-scooter.

I could use the bus in winter, borrow a car from family, or rent a Zilch vehicle for 4 hours every 1-2 weeks. Everything else should be possible on a scooter, most days. Part of the trick is to buy a large enough backpack from the Army & Outdoors store!

Transport in Christchurch is troublesome, because of the city's one storey high design. Employers expect me to pay for fuel and then drive several kilometres to get to work, because there's no way I can find a rental that's near a job, or which has a suitable bus route for getting to a job. With the increases to rent, fuel and food, I think I'll give up driving before I give up anything else. To hell with what employers expect.

So I guess the reason I made this thread is to speculate that I'll be one of the test subjects for e-scooter ownership in Christchurch. I'm not a competitive, angry person who tries to flex on other road users. I used to speed constantly in a Mazda mx5 without giving a damn but now I drive a more modest vehicle, and I notice how many people overtake me even when I'm driving slightly above the limit. Sometimes I like to drive 30 or 40 km/ph on narrow streets because I don't want to kill a cat or someone's child. It may be legal to drive at 50km/ph but that's not always safe. Luckily, motorists are surprisingly courteous on narrow roads when they are forced to yield or get through a small gap.

Affordable apartments (complete with bikesheds) are still 5 or 10 years away, so I expect that public transport won't get more routes or become much more popular. E-scooters may be the fix we require. I'd rather ride my bike but I can't store that in my bedroom. Most boarding houses are just a bedroom and nothing else, so I think an e-scooter is the way to go.

If it makes me unemployable to some employers that's just too bad. In the current situation I doubt I'll save up enough money to buy a car again (cue for someone to suggest I buy a piece of shit for $1,000)

We have to move with the times and accept that not everybody can own a car and afford a place to park it, where it won't be blocked off by new tenants moving in, who also wish to use the driveway. We've been warned since last year that 91 fuel could reach $3 a litre and we're only a few months away from that. If I give up my car this spring-summer-autumn it will save me at least $1,000 on insurance and fuel. Not even that much, but I think the lifestyle change will be the selling point. I just hope I don't get killed lol

Back in 1935 the first Labour government came to power and faced a severe housing crisis. It didn’t fiddle and tinker – it rolled its sleeves up. By the late 1930s it was building 3500 state houses per year for a population of around 1.5 million.

Sounds good to me Nelson, can we please get this in Christchurch as well?

When

Monday, the 28th of August, 6pm onward

Where

Christchurch WEA, 59 Gloucester Street (near the Art Gallery)

https://www.cwea.org.nz/

What to expect

Since this is 3 weeks away I haven't confirmed any speakers yet.

If the meeting receives enough interest, then it will grow. There are other groups such as Save Passenger Rail and a Living Wage group, the overlapping interests can help to boost this new group.

I've been looking for some old films to watch online and I'm looking at

• On The Beach (1959)
• Patton (1970)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• The Guns of Navarone (1961)

Those last two inspired parts of the video game series, Metal Gear Solid. In Metal Gear Solid 3, a lot of films get mentioned by characters throughout the game.

On The Beach is one I heard about because Alex Jones was talking about nuclear war earlier this year, and he showed a scene from that particular film. There's a newer version of On The Beach but I'd always go for the original, or better, read the novel it's based on.

Recently I watched 2 old Soviet films

• Amphibian Man (1961)
• Only 'Old Men' Are Going To Battle (1973)

Some links

Patton

The Guns Of Navarone (this one costs $ on YouTube)

Amphibian Man

Only 'Old Men' Are Going To Battle, black and white version

Only 'Old Men' Are Going To Battle, colourised in 2009

It's disappointing that many films are 48 hour DRM'd and cost $4 or $6 despite not being restored

but...

https://www.aliceinvideoland.co.nz/

w00t!

Got to get me some novels too.

Hey everyone, I registered a domain name and installed phpBB forum software, but I will also be:

• hosting meetings at Spagalimi's Pizzeria in Christchurch
• hosting meetings at the WEA (59 Gloucester)
• advertising through the Christchurch Progressive Network mail list
• knocking on doors to promote the forum
• setting up a table and chairs in town for some real life promo

The website is www.rentingcrisis.nz and that's where I'll be organising events in the near future.

I had some trouble with password resets on Lemmy so I just created a new account. I want to reply to https://lemmy.nz/u/kiwikruizer regarding this thread: https://lemmy.nz/post/26847

I complained about the crowded boarding house where I live and kiwikruizer replied: "Theres a few places around that have ensuites in the ~$230 range". This isn't the response that I expected. I pay slightly more than $230 a week (going up to $300 a week soon) and the problem isn't the lack of an ensuite bathroom. I didn't understand where kiwikruizer was coming from, because I never mentioned anything about an ensuite, I just said the place was crowded.

To clarify, a boarding house is not a house where you have 6 or 8 bedrooms and only 2 communal bathrooms. A boarding house will, in nearly all cases, be a modern building with 6 or 8 bedrooms that all have ensuites, but which share a kitchen (and optionally, a lounge, but it isn't required). I think most rentals are under a boarding house contract these days, unless for some reason it's a fixed contract (which I would recommend avoiding unless a person is well-off)

This confusion of terms is another reason why I want to host public meetings. People don't understand renting and have misconceptions about how it works, what it costs, and how convenient it is.

The $230 a week boarding houses that kiwikruizer mention generally have very thin walls and doors, so you can hear people coughing from down the hall, or singing in their bathroom in the morning. The median rent price is much higher than $230 a week, and even these $230 a week properties are more likely $245 or $250 by now. The prices will keep going up and up until we do something about it.

I'll keep you all updated on my progress. It will be a difficult road to build an active group but I'm determined to do this, because the alternative is doing nothing and having nothing change.