okay, so I've got a torn cartilage ... that don't upset me much (fibber)

Hi there

My ankle is ... better than it was three months ago when I tripped over the kerb in Te Papa's carpark.  But ... I still have trouble getting down steps.

I'm leaping up those steps like a demented mountain goat.  I would most definitely pass the hospital's criteria (loosely interpreted) of  "we probably won't give you an operation unless you can walk up 40 steps without collapsing".    But I come down steps with a slow sideways crab-like motion that hurts like hell.  And it so annoys me that I have to place both feet on every step before I can progress further.

 I crave to be that demented mountain goat as I leap down the steps, as well as going up them.  I'm practising on outside steps around the Miramar area.  So, if any of my four readers see a fixated senior working her way agonisingly  (and cursing with it - bugger!), up and down the same steps over and over, well, it's just me.  Have pity.

above:  by public vote the "Bugger!" tv advert has just been deemed the no 1 favourite advert over the past ten years.

Shortest Day Swim

Hi there

Yesterday, it was The Shortest Day in The Southern Hemisphere.  So, mid-winter swim at Hataitai Beach -

Light drizzle.  Air temperature, at the time, was 10c. Getting in, was half the fun.  Or not.

Love at First Sight

Hi there

I wonder if my four readers believe in love at first sight?  I don't know if I do?

But when I was 17 years old I brought a friend, Rose, along with me to my archery club. I explained about bows, arrows, quivers, goals, and I told her about safety measures and distances to stand.  I didn't tell her anything about the dark-haired handsome young man at the end of the line waiting for the start whistle, bow and arrow at the ready.

Rose saw him.  She turned to me.  "See that boy, at the end there?  I'm going to marry him."

 Huh?

She asked him how he'd hand-made the shoulder quiver that held the arrows...

and she did marry him.   I was bridesmaid.

I guess you could say the pair were all a quiver (boom boom!) over each other.

Who needed Cupid?

Just swimming in the rain...

Hi there

Yesterday was a sunshine day but I didn't bother to go swimming and I regretted it.  So, this morning, I was determined to swim.

When I got in my car, there was a light-ish sky over Miramar, and the air temp was 12c.  As I was chugging along Cobham Drive, spits of rain were on the car window.  On my arrival at Hataitai Beach, it was pouring down.

Still, I was there, so I got in the water.  I was so angry at the weather that I didn't register the coldness of the water, even though I was just in my bathing suit with not a wetsuit in sight.. But as I swam, people scurried past the beach in puffer coats and cowering under umbrellas.

I hated that rain...

Buying a Scratchie

Hi there

Last week I was in the Paraparaumu Mall and I decided to buy a scratchie.

I pointed out the one I wanted and moved toward the Eftpos machine.  The woman behind the counter muttered something.

Huh?  What was she calling me?

"Cash cow," the woman said.

"Um.  Pardon?"

"Cash cow.  Do you want the scratchie called Cash Cow?"

"Oh."  What a relief. " I thought you were calling me a cash cow,"  I said.

And we both giggled.

After all, it was only a $5 scratchie...

My week in Mt Maunganui

Hi  there
I've just returned from a week at Mt Maunganui.  Our Prime Minister asked us all to go on holiday and bring mountains of money in to local businesses because, with no overseas tourists, the resort towns are striking out.  Naturally, I had to obey Jacinda.  I mean, like, come on, it was almost a royal order.

What a surprise it was at Mt Maunganui?   On a Sunday, there were thousands upon thousands of people all walking beside Main Beach.  It was a shock.  I'd been closeted away for months and, suddenly, to be confronted by crowds was quite scary.  The shops were going for social distancing but nobody walking beside the water was even giving social distancing a thought..

Add caption

 above:  Much further along from Main Beach where the sands were quite deserted.  That's Mt Maunganui in background.

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Yesterday, I visited Wellington Zoo.  It's free until end of June (bookings through their website).  The otters were so adorable.  Here is a little puddle of otters (actually, I believe it's a raft of otters but I like 'a puddle' better) -

PPS:  In NZ, today is the Saturday of Queen's Birthday Weekend and everyone gets Monday off as a public holiday.  Of course, the queen's real birthday is 21 April but we can't keep changing dates to suit whoever happens to be the reigning monarch.  I guess in a few years it will become King's Birthday Weekend.

Hey there, Dr McCoy

Hi there

What's a Starfleet nurse to do when Dr "Bones" McCoy is nowwhere to be seen"  

Beam down instantly, Doc, the world needs you and your fancy-schmancy futuristic equipment.