Photos i wish I'd taken

 Hi there

There are times I wished I'd had my camera on me.  I must have missed out on dozens of  great happenings.

Like those three cruise ships that were leaving Mt Maunganui on a beautiful blue sky day, with paddle-boarders, kayakers, and swimmers in the foreground, and ship passengers hanging over the railings, shouting their goodbyes.

And what about the time I all but crashed into William Shatner in Las Vegas?  By the time I had fumbled my mobile phone camera out of my bag, switched it on, and turned on the photo app, Shatner had beamed himself away, probably to Caesar's Casino behind me.

I was walking along Cobham Drive one day, beside the sea.  There was a family a short distance in front of me.  Mum, Dad, a boy of about six, and a girl eight.  And a black and white border collie sheep dog.

The children were obviously bored, straying separately to opposite  sides of the track, lagging behind, walking backwards, attempting to skip stones into the water.  The parents weren't even watching the kids.  

But the dog was.  He snuck on his belly over to one side of the track to herd in the girl, then dashed to the opposite side for the other sheep-whoops-sorry-I-mean-child to steer him, too, back toward the parents.  The dog hovered around the two kids for the whole of Cobham Drive, manoeuvring them back when they went off-point.

That would have made a hilarious picture.  I guess urban sheep dogs never lose the thrill of the round-up.

But ...  the ultimate photo would have been the day the plumber came to fix my kitchen water pipes.  He opened the cupboard under the sink and attempted to squeeze his heavy bulk into the narrow crawl-space.  His top-half disappeared into the depths of my pots and pans storage area. 

Gulp, I got an embarrassing view of  plumbers crack!  But, no, that wasn't the photo I would've taken.

I hastened outside for a minute or two, just to allow the man some alone time but when I returned there were two rear ends poking out from that cupboard:  one belonging to the jean-clad plumber, the other was furry and with a tail - my nosey Siamese cat, StarGirl.  

There couldn't have been a finger's-width of space between the pair.  Siamese cats just have to take part in everything that's going on.

The plumber later told me that StarGirl was a bossy plumber's mate, crying out orders to him.  Well, what did he expect, she was a Siamese cat, and they're never willing to take a back seat.

But, oh my goodness, didn't I miss an hilarious photo opportunity that day? 

Above:  guess who?