Once upon a time a great big government wanted to produce great big chunks of power so they built a great big power station.
Which was all well and good ... except that it eventually ended up being used instead as a film set.
I guess you can't win 'em all.
It's kind of like that great white block of a building which went up in Hastings St where the Farmers department store now stands.
It went up all right ... but not all the way up as it stopped at the second level (if my memory serves me well) and for years the great shards of reinforcing steel poked up from the big concrete slab corners of the roof.
Poking up in preparation for the next floor and the one after that.
But those floors never turned up and in the end of course that great slab of construction came down.
A small, but prime, example of abandoned engineering which is something I understand very well having demonstrated to my third form metalwork teacher that I had no really practical engineering skills which would have set me up for some sort of trade in that employment arena.
Ditto for my woodwork skills.
I managed to build a sort of wall-mounted cabinet which had two sliding doors at the bottom with a covered shelf above them.
While it did not possess a single right angle, it did possess pretty much the last of the plaster-stopping stuff the woodwork teacher would begrudgingly hand over as a very clear last resort to give it a gap-free final finish.
But hey, mum and dad were proud as punch and it went up on the old kitchen wall.
I must have got something right though as it is now in my garage and being used as a storage spot for paint pots, brushes, stray cans of VB, tools which I have no idea how to use, tins of nails and screws and rolls and rolls of gaffer tape (which is essential as it repairs the things I stuff up while attempting to build).
That cabinet, built with my own slightly below average hands back in 1968, is a survivor.
Unlike some remarkable feats of engineering carried out throughout the world.
I recall many years back seeing a documentary about a giant bridge which was built in some remote part of the eastern bloc.
But its spans stayed silent as the project was called off a couple of months out from the planned completion date.
Abandoned.
I guess the same could be said for eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes who designed and saw built a giant eight-engined flying boat aircraft dubbed the Spruce Goose (its fuselage was made of timber as metal was in short supply during WWII).
It was the biggest aircraft of its day and was an engineering triumph.
But oh dearie me ... it eventually only made one flight back then in 1947 and that flight lasted just one minute and it only climbed to about 20m.
It's now a major aviation museum piece.
Such things are called white elephants.
White elephants with big trunks which suck up enormous amounts of money ... for nothing.
The Sunday night TV1 series appropriately titled Abandoned Engineering has been a fascinating glimpse at the equally fascinating species known as the white elephant.
And this coming Sunday's episode is a stark example of how governments around the world began to get very excited about the production of electricity in the early 1900s.
They poured the money in, lots of it, to get electricity up and running and widely spread. And yep, there were recipes for disaster written up along with the construction cheques.
Do we, as a biological species capable of often complex design and construction, learn from the construction mistakes we make?
I have my doubts.
● Abandoned Engineering, TV1 at 9.35pm Sunday: Great ideas, great plans, great deal of construction ... for no result.
A series which has made me feel a little better about my terrible engineering skills. I am not alone it seems.
ON THE BOX
● Police Ten 7, TV2 at 7.30pm Thursday: This is part one of what I would describe as the demon drink duo.
Two police outings one after the other which on this occasion centres on drinking - the aftermath of it.
It can do strange things.
The blue team come across a chap who is more concerned about the welfare of his dog than the fact he is drunk and behind the wheel. Maybe he should have got the dog to drive.
● Motorway Patrol, TV2 at 8pm Thursday: And here we have part two of the demon drink duo.
Another eye-opening look at the effect far too much alcohol can have on the human being.
This one is quite extreme as the patrol crew who latch onto this bloke discover that he is so tanked he can't even remember his address.
Crazy.
The motorway team are also confronted (an understatement) by a runaway vehicle which heads straight at them. If you've had a bad day at work then consider what these folks go through to earn a wage.
● O Brother Where Art Thou?, Maori TV at 8.40pm Saturday: The Coen brothers made some exceptional films and I reckon this one heads the impressive list.
It is a ripper about three colourful convicts on the run as much as they on the search for a stash of hidden treasure.
Jaunty music and equally jaunty performances ... it's as close to a "must watch" film as it gets.