What don't we know?

 Hi there

I often wonder if there's something I should know that I don't know -

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine told me about tying a double bow on shoelaces.

"I told the guy in the shoe store," she said, "that my laces were always coming undone and trailing on the ground.  He showed me how to tie a double bow.  Do you know how to tie a double bow?"

Of course I knew how to tie a double  bow.  I'd known how to do that, well, forever.  I'd often wondered how dozens of teen males managed with shoelaces dripping around their feet.  Did these guys not know how to tie a double bow?  Guess not.

Which leads me on to wondering what I don't know.  Is there some significant piece of information out there that could make my life more enjoyable?  Help me easily overcome some immense difficulty?  Get me around a problem that's been bugging me for years?

I wish I knew what I don't know...

Ohope Beach... Again

 Hi there.

All of last week, I was up north at Ohope Beach for a holiday.  Not a sign of anyone wearing masks. 

 I swam in the sea.  I went to the movies ("23 walks").  I went to cafes.  I bought two paintings (an indulgence, oh dear...).  I walked a lot.  I had fun finding little kiwi statues hidden away in Whakatane township (4 km away from Ohope Beach).  And I had a dozen fried oysters - yum, yum,  yum - from the Ohiwa Oyster Farm.  

above: Ohope Beach with White Island  in background.  With naked eye, I could see a huge plume of smoke coming from volcano. Scary.

above:  some years ago I had a photo of me in front of 'kiwi wandering" notice in Ohope.  Someone has since taken the 'k' off which now makes the sign 'iwi wandering' which I think is fantastic ("iwi" in Maori culture can mean tribe , or people, or nation. 

see above:  another little kiwi statue.  This one on the 

Whakatane foreshore.

Drawing a Cube

 Hi there

Most of my friends are learning to draw cubes.  The message has been relayed, via an older persons' secret network, that doctors are requiring patients to draw cubes to see how with-it these patients are.  Whether it's for an older person renewing a driving licence or for a medical assessment, it's the same thing : draw a cube.

I couldn't draw a cube to save myself, but now I think I've conquered it.  Okay, doctors. Bring it on!

THE HAT'S THE THING

In winter, I like to wear cosy woollen hats that lay close around the head.  Well-meaning knitting volunteers at charity shops must all work from the same pattern because I find such hats at OpShops all around the country.  I've bought half a dozen over the past couple of years.

It was a cold day a few weeks ago and wearing my latest little red number, I sailed into the SPCA charity shop in Petone. 

Success! -  I spotted a whole case full of the little woollen hats.  After I'd tried on most of the stock, and chosen one, I plonked my own hat back on my head and went up to the counter -

"I'll have this blue hat please."  I handed it over.

The guy put the hat in a recycled bag - good on him - and handed the bag to me.  "Don't forget to pay for the hat you're wearing" he said.

"What, no!  It's my own hat.  I wore it when I came in.  I bought it at the art-craft shop in Raumati.  I'm not a thief- "

I'm sure the guy didn't believe me.  I worried all the way home that he'd called the cops.  I visualised my face on wanted posters and all-points bulletins put out about me.  I would have to chase up a  statement from those arty crafty knitters in Raumati.

I'm innocent I tell you.  Innocent.