March 27 - NZ lockdown day 2 of N

I said yesterday that we've identified our home essentials - things such as food, fuel, booze, the web etc. - and stocked up accordingly, like any sensible family would do. Those are the thing we all need. Pretty obvious really and not particularly interesting.

But what about the things we don't need? What would we rather not have during this pandemic, or in general? 

While painstakingly giving my chisels a long-overdue regrind and manual sharpen in the man-shed, I came up with the following A-to-Z list. These are the things I can do without:
  • Accidents
  • Aches & pains
  • Alzheimer's
  • Armed forces
  • Authorities
  • Bad backs
  • Bad breath
  • Bad debts
  • Bad decisions
  • Bad design
  • Bad dreams
  • Bad engineering
  • Bad habits
  • Bad health
  • Bad memories
  • Badges & thumbs-up
  • Badness generally
  • Bias
  • Bramble
  • Breakages
  • Briscoes sales
  • Broken promises
  • Cancer
  • Cheating
  • Classrooms
  • Climate change
  • Coffins
  • Compliance enforcement
  • Concerts
  • Constraints
  • Crappy software & patching
  • Criminals
  • Crises
  • Crowds
  • Cruises
  • Deception
  • Depression
  • Dictators
  • Disappointments
  • Disasters
  • Disrespect
  • Dramatics
  • Drought
  • Earthquakes
  • Emergencies
  • Errors
  • Ex-es
  • Excuses
  • Extremism
  • Failed commitments
  • Failure
  • Fake news
  • False hope
  • Falsies
  • Fast food
  • Fees & charges
  • Festivals
  • Final demands
  • Getting old
  • Greenhouse gases
  • Half-truths
  • Handouts
  • Hangovers
  • Health & safety gestapo
  • Heart disease
  • Human diseases (including COVID-19)
  • Idiocy
  • Ignorance
  • Illicit drugs
  • Impacts
  • In-person seminars, courses etc.
  • Inadequacy
  • Inane DJs
  • Incidents
  • Inconsiderate & antisocial behaviour
  • Indecision
  • Inefficiency
  • Inflation
  • Injuries
  • Interruptions
  • Intrusive & annoying ads
  • Jails
  • Jobsworths
  • Karaoke
  • Laws, regulations, policies, rules & restrictions
  • Lawyers
  • Letdowns
  • Lies
  • Loan sharks
  • Loo rolls
  • Lou Rawls
  • Malware
  • Meals out
  • Metal fatigue
  • Monday mornings
  • Myopia
  • Myopic perspectives
  • Nationalism
  • Opera
  • Other -isms e.g. elitism, sexism, racism, Parkinsonism, short-termism
  • Overbearing bosses
  • Overdue anything
  • Overreaction
  • Pandemics
  • Parties
  • Party politics
  • Pen-pushers
  • Pessimism
  • Pettiness
  • Piracy
  • Plagiarism
  • Police
  • Political correctness
  • Politicians
  • Poverty
  • Prejudice
  • Quality failures
  • Queues
  • Rap music
  • Rationing
  • Reality TV
  • Religion
  • Rotten weather
  • Secularism
  • Selfishness
  • Slackers
  • Smoking & vaping
  • Social engineering
  • Sports events
  • Tax
  • Team building 
  • Team games
  • Tectonic motion
  • Theft
  • Threats
  • To-do lists
  • Tribalism
  • Tsunamis
  • Unsharp tools
  • Unwise shortcuts
  • Vandals
  • Vermin
  • Viruses
  • Volcanoes
  • Vulnerabilities
  • Waiting
  • War
  • Weeds
  • Xploitation ... and the letter X in fact
  • Yesterday
  • Zealots
    They are all personal: you probably disagree with me here and there. Some are contentious or obscure. Some are distinctly Kiwi and many are tongue-in-cheek. 

    Coming up with the list was an entertaining way to pass the time, quite cathartic. Perhaps I should generate one of my A-to-Z awareness documents, systematically explaining each of my choices. If I can bear to get it all out, here's already more than enough angst there for at least a dozen pages. 

    Meanwhile, feel free to comment on my list or by all means come up with your own. Chisel sharpening optional.

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