Arctic Circle Cartoon - Electric Car Charging is Easy in New Zealand Now

Arctic Circle comic strip on electric vehicle charging.

I'm just back from a trip to Timaru in the shared electric car. It turns out that Timaru is about as far as you can get from Lyttelton on a single charge. I hadn't realised that even having the air blower on does reduce the range (I knew not to use the AC), so I drove into the campground with only 10% battery. I'd also forgotten that campgrounds require you to have those weird blue plug things but luckily the owner lent me one for free. He also let me charge for free which was very generous. I left the car parked up for most of the weekend as we were able to walk to a dog friendly park and a very dog friendly beach (where we launched the paddleboard).

Timaru dog beach

Timaru’s dog beach looking very inviting in the morning

Heading towards the old abattoir and meatworks - the jewels in Timaru’s crown

On the way back Molly and I stopped in Rakaia for a fast charger and a coffee. It was so efficient I charged it up more than I expected to. When I got home I made the most of the extra charge by heading over the hill for a surf. A nice way to end a holiday weekend.

Molly chills as the car charges fast in Rakaia

PS. The electric car cost $139 for a Friday 5pm pick up, returning Sunday evening. It only cost me $6 to top up at Rakaia, 10.32kWh. And I put on about 25% battery charge in less than 15 minutes as it was the rapid DC charger.

Arctic Circle - Oscar the Penguin Christmas Ornament

If you live in the US and fancy a new ornament for your Christmas tree, you might like this. I haven't seen them offline myself as it would cost way too much to send them to New Zealand.

Arctic Circle Cartoons - In Celebration of Charles Schulz and Peanuts

I appreciate them more now but the strips of Schroeder and Lucy were my least favourite when I was a kid.

Cartoonists celebrated what would've been Charles Schulz's 100 birthday last Saturday. He was a huge influence on me and I'm sure I would not have become the cartoonist I am if I hadn't discovered Charlie Brown, Snoopy and all the Peanuts gang as a kid.

I loved Linus. Still do.

I guess Peppermint Patty was a tomboy, as was I, even though some people say you can't say tomboy anymore.

We had a kite eating tree in the valley where I grew up.

I wonder whether the kite is still in that oak tree.

Was Snoopy everyone's favourite?

Being dirty is sometimes a good thing.

Arctic Circle Cartoon - More Wishful Thinking About Social Media

Will there be historians who look back at what went wrong who hold Facebook responsible as a major mouthpiece for misinformation put out by the fossil fuel industry? Will there be any historians?

And yes, putting these in a blog post gets less eyeballs than Facebook, but…

My mum doesn’t, but I know people whose mums do.

If we lose all computer records and historians dig down, what will they think of all the selfie sticks?