I like Walking

Hi there

1 November NZ time

Yes, I do like walking around the eastern suburbs of Wellington.  I power walk like anything, with the consequence that I arrive home worn out.  Yesterday I trotted over the hill to Worser Bay.  What a lovely view from the top of the hill looking down to Worser Bay and Seatoun.

I'm thinking of doing the City to Sea walkway this summer.  I used to do it at least once a year when I was many years' younger.  Cross fingers I am still up to it.   I may have to break it up into several days though - the walk map can be obtained from Wellington City Council i-site office.

J and I swam today at Hataitai Beach, our first for November.  Once we hit a dozen swims for October we stopped counting for that month and, besides, we'd run out of fingers for when we did Hi-5-6-7-8-9-10-??

Nick Names

Hi there

I've often wondered about nick names and how they came into  being, especially when the nick name doesn't seem to have much to do with the actual name.

Take Harry.  If we're talking about the prince, yes, I'd definitely take him.  But his real name is Henry. Both names have the same number  of letters, so how on earth did Harry become a nick name for Henry?

If we think right back to King Henry the Eighth, he was also nick-named Harry,  So Henry/Harry has been around a long time.

The nick name for John is Jack.  Margaret is Peggy,  Dorothy is Dolly, and  Richard, Dick.  I think they, too, are probably Olde English.

Growing up, I had a cousin who, like me, was named Lorraine.  To differentiate between us, she was known as Lorrie.   I was Truck.

No Miramar Halloween House 2015

Hi there

FYI:  There has been no "Miramar Halloween House" for several years now.  Apparently, there got to be such a crowd outside the house that the street got blocked. Cars couldnt get through.  It was suggested that if the Halloween house occupants wanted to continue decorating their house and yard, they would have to get a permit to close off the street.  Sadly, the house owners decided to call quits on their Miramar Halloween hi-jinks.  They shifted house a while back


PS:  Happy Halloween Day/Birthday Peter Jackson.

Nothing to say

Hi there

Last week, I said to a friend, "I have nothing to say..."  I then wondered why she burst into such a laughing fit that tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"What?" I said.

I was informed by my friend, that I always had something to say.  If there was a contest for The Most Talkative Person On The Planet, I would be a winner.  Bookies would not allow bettors to partake because I would be such A Sure Thing.

"Yeah, yeah, okay, you're hilariously funny," I told my friend.  "But I can't think of anything to write about on my Blog."  It was the First Time Ever - I was mortified.  As I saw it, writing was completely different from talking.

Talking got me in trouble throughout my primary school life.  Not one day went by when I did not get The Strap, for talking.  Hey, I wonder if I could, nowadays, sue the Education Ministry? 

I could go even further back.  My mum used to repeatedly get her knuckles rapped with a ruler by her teacher for talking.   Gosh, I wonder if over-talking is somehow genetic?

Anyway, back to my blog block.  I sat in front of the computer, fingers hovering over the keys, with a completely blank mind.  Oh goodness, was this the first step towards Alzheimers? 

The hours seemingly ticked by.  I looked at my watch.  What, I'd only been sitting there for five minutes.

So, I went for a swim instead.

Then ... back to my laptop, looking at my watch again.

Eureka!-   I'd write about my watch. 

And I did write about it.  Last week.

The only trouble is, what the heck do I write about next week? 

Question?:  how long do writing blocks last?

Back to the Future Day

Hi there

21 October, NZ time

Today is, apparently, Back to the Future Day to commemorate the movie.  My local picture theatre - the Roxy - in Miramar, Wellington is having a Back to the Future night.  Upstairs, there are a few bits and bobs to do with the movie.  This evening there was a DeLorean car outside the building:

Watch Out!

Hi there

"Could you tell me the time, please?"

I sigh.  Here I go again.  I flick my wrist over, glance at my watch. "It's ten past eleven," I say.

"Thanks."  And the young guy is off, skate-boarding down Cuba Mall.

Now, I know this guy has a phone because I've seen him using it earlier when he was laughing with his mates, and texting happily away at the same time.  He could have pulled the thing out of his back pocket and looked at the time for himself..

And only this morning, i was watching a gadget guy on television telling me that my conventional  wrist watch was as dead as the dodo.  So, if this is the case why has my watch miraculously turned into a  flashing beacon enticing asking-the-time people to me like moths around a flame?  Surely it doesn't take that long to pull a mobile phone out of a back pocket, or a handbag, to check the time for one's self?

I can perhaps understand this situation when I'm at the beach because not many folk have watches they can wear in the water, like i have.  Mobile phones are not that swimproof.

I never thought it was that difficult to look at the time on a mobile phone.  I must be wrong.

My swimming watch.  It's a Maxum brand.

Chloride, Ghost Town, USA

Hi there

Well, no, I don't mean that the little western town of Chloride in Arizona has ghosts, though wouldn't that be neat?

Chloride is a ghost town in regards to it being virtually empty, the boom of it's gold-mining days are long gone, no-one really cares about it anymore.

Half a dozen of us were on a daytrip from Vegas and we called in on Chloride.   In wild west times, there was no highway nor highway signs to direct weary travellers to the nearest town.  So, the first letter of the name of the town was painted or hacked onto the rocky terrain high above a town, to let riders know there was a town nearby.   Chloride has a big letter "C" above it.

The weird thing is, I kept thinking I was in New Zealand.  Definitely Arrowtown.   It was the verandahs above the walkways that did it.  And the wooden-built structures.

It was in Chloride where I experienced bigotry and racism from an elderly pakeha male resident.  I was all by myself, noone anywhere around.  This guy shambled up to me and immediately proceeded to rant about how America was going downhill and all because of certain people getting certain things they shouldn't be getting.  These people were getting too big for their boots, he told me, in terrible descriptive language.  He said that he could hardly wait for another President to be elected.

I was absolutely stunned, and shaken.  I all but ran away from him back to the tour van.

Spring has definitely Sprung

Hi there

I do so love colours and nature.  Today (Sunday, NZ time), I walked up Park Road in my suburb of Miramar.  On the corner of Byron Street was the most wonderful pink blossom display.  Then further along the same road, was a native Kowhai tree, positively bursting out in yellow.  The birds were singing, the sun was out, I'd got in 7 swims for October....

below:  kowhai tree outside "r.d." building (next to Park Road Post)

below:  Park Road Post Production.  The hub of Wellington's movie empire.

Call to Arms???

Hi there

I had pulled up at the traffic lights the other day and in front of me was a work truck.  I idly read the sticker slogan on the back of the truck.  It said something about slaves.  There was also a Ban-the-Bomb symbol.

I peered closer.  It wasn't a ban-the-bomb symbol; it was a sniper sight.  Oh, and hang on, I finally managed to untangle that bit about slaves:

.     "The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave.."

.     "I heart explosives".

.     "This is my peace symbol" - it was alongside the sniper sight.

!!!!!!!!   I have never ever read anything before like this public display.  I truly was shocked.

I expect the truck belonged to a deer or pig shooter but, oh dear, surely not wise to flaunt the lifestyle in such a way?

Pohutakawa tree. And tui birds

Hi there

Yesterday, I was walking in front of the Miramar Christian School  (across the road from Weta Cave) when I heard a bird warble that sounded like a tui, one of our native birds.  I looked up into the branches of a pohutakawa tree (our national tree) and, sure enough, there was a beautiful tui bird.  They are a dark shiny blue/black colour with a white tuft at the throat.  At a quick glance, they could be mistaken for a common and garden blackbird.  You don't often see or hear them in the city.

 My cup runneth over because not only was I looking up at a tui but the pohutakawa tree was in bloom. 

In bloom?  At the beginning of October?

Legend has it that if the tree flowers before Christmas then New Zealand is going to have a great summer.  In Wellington, we sort of do cartwheels if the pohutakawa tree flowers in early December.  And here it was flowering already!  I was thrilled.

Sorry, the sun was shining through the tree, it didn't make for a very good picture.  I went back today to look at the tree, and two tuis were there.