[Annoy] What's something small that really annoys you?

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MikeAqua

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#3528701 18-Sep-2026 09:27

johno1234:

There’s a Ruru living in a tree next to our house and as soon as night falls it starts going how-how until the wee hours.

Actually pretty cool to have Ruru, Tūī, Kererū, Pīwakawaka and Tauhou living in a suburban setting.

It's interesting what you can get used to. I was fortunate to grow up hearing the sound of moreporks at night. 30 years after I moved out of home, I still love going to sleep with them in the background, on the rare occasions it happens.

Saw this little guy during the day, going up McKinnon pass in 2020. The photo doesn't show it but the rain was absolutely hammering down.

Mike

cddt

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#3528711 18-Sep-2026 10:43

There are plenty of morepork around Auckland. Often hear them at night from home, and then in more locations when I go for an early morning run. Even saw one in one of our trees last year. Pretty cool.

Rickles

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#3528713 18-Sep-2026 10:53

Birds .... we've always had Ruru on the Tinakori Hill opposite our house.

Around my daughter's Upper Hutt home there is currently an abundance of rather large Kereru (wood pigeons).

Great to see and hear.

freitasm

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#3528714 18-Sep-2026 10:55

We have a couple of rurus around the bushes near Johnsonville school. We live higher up the road (about 200m uphill), and some nights we can hear them looking for each other. Very cute birds too.

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Stu

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#3528721 18-Sep-2026 11:36

This is the things that annoy thread, and there's far too much talk about birds that generate smiles! Should be in the smiles thread 😁

As you were... 😁

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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Handsomedan

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#3528790 18-Sep-2026 13:41

Stu:

This is the things that annoy thread, and there's far too much talk about birds that generate smiles! Should be in the smiles thread 😁

As you were... 😁

I wasn't saying I enjoy those little buggers' screams at night! :D

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deepred

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#3528935 18-Sep-2026 16:51

pdh:

Rickles:

>So most likely a 900 NG which first came out in 1994.<

I vaguely remember their TV advert of a few years earlier where a jet plane flew low over their latest car.

Being an extreme car nerd - and a SAAB owner... I bought a new SAAB 99 Turbo in January of 1979 (1978 model - last of the 99's), I remember those ads well.

I had no experience with the later 900's. Introduced in 1979, that model was a lengthened 99 as SAAB recognised that the 99's engine bay was too cramped with a turbo fitted and they wanted to fit the turbo to more of their lineup.

I was very sad that I had to leave my 99T in Montreal when I came to NZ in '82 -it was one of the best cars that I've ever owned.
NZ had zero SAAB servicing capability - I would have needed to fly a tech in from Sydney.
It had quite a large computer under the passenger seat - to run the turbo sensors and the injection.
It _was_ one of the earlier road-going turbos.

It had quite amazing acceleration - if you were able to time the turbo lag - so a bit like flying a jet... things had to spool up and then you got an afterburner affect. It's the only car that I've done a really comfortable 1600 km (1000 mile+) day in... coming back from San Francisco to Montreal - also made exciting by surviving a State-wide 'Tornado warning... get-off-the-highways' alert crossing Kansas. Just tucked in behind a couple of semis and put the wipers on full speed.

Never needed the wipers usually - on the open road, rain just atomised and slid off the windscreen, again, like an aircraft.

So - the ads - SAAB boasted that you were getting a car designed by the only car company that made modern fighters.

The Italians (FIAT et al) took them to the European court - and were handed their head... the court determined that the Italian fighters weren't modern. Which then had the whole car word + the airforce world - laughing at them. It was a classic 'shoot yourself in the foot' move.

Was this before or after Saab and Fiat collaborated on the Type Four platform, which spawned the Saab 9000?

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pdh

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#3528964 18-Sep-2026 18:26

deepred:

Was this before or after Saab and Fiat collaborated on the Type Four platform, which spawned the Saab 9000?

My 1978 SAAB 99 was the last of the two digit 9x series - which were mostly 5 doors (big hatch, when that was still a bit new for proper car-size cars) and 3 door (like mine).

As i said, they moved to the 900 designation when they stretched the cars - as they needed more room in the engine bay and (probably) more for 'crush' space.

After that, they went to the 9000 series - but I felt that they were increasingly 'mainstreaming' and getting away from their quirky roots.

Quirky:
Having the starting key down where you'd expect the handbrake (next to the gearshift) - to lock the transmission instead of the steering column.
Having this monster hatchback and fold-down seats - made it superb for throwing two bikes in to take on holiday (as a young couple).
Having 15" wheels and front-wheel drive - superb snow car.
Having the turbo - when only one Porsche and a small run of Corvairs had ever put one on the road.
Having this monster aero windshield that the rain just slid off.
Having next-level ergonomic seats and cockpit design - before it was a thing...

and yes - it would sit at 200 kph for 10 minutes (late at night on the Eastern Townships Autoroute) - no sweat.

https://carbuzz.com/saab-99-turbo-was-the-first-mainstream-turbocharged-car/

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