Sharing a Plate

 Hi there

About 20 years ago, I was at a cafe.  The nicely-dressed  man and woman at a table opposite me were acting strangely.

On a plate between them sat one individual-sized cream-filled lamington cake.  A fork was arranged elegantly to the side, upon a serviette.

The woman signalled to a waiter.  She quietly said, 'May I have a second fork please?  And another serviette? "

The couple shared that one small lamington, savouring it between them for the next fifteen minutes.

Oh.  I felt my face flushing with embarrassment for the couple, because I had suddenly realised the situation - 

They couldn't afford a second lamington.  

My heart went out to the pair.  They were maybe saving up for a house, or - horrors, perhaps both had lost their jobs!   Or their bank accounts had been embezzled?  Or...or with the last couple of dollars they possessed, before bankruptcy, they had decided to go out with a  last big-bang gesture of a shared lamington?

How heroic they were to sit in public in this cafe and brave stares from snobby others who loved to look down their noses at the poor.

I wanted to rush over and drop a dollar or two on their now empty plate...

.... A month or so later, I saw a couple with a plate of pasta between them.  Again, there were two forks, and two serviettes.. What?  Were they recreating that final scene from Disney's "Lady and the Tramp?  Was the country on the edge of a depression, just like the nineteen-twenties, and I knew nothing about it -?

Of course, as the years have gone by, I've realised the answer.

It's a thing.

It's (officially) a shared meal!  These couples aren't poor.  They're just not that hungry....

My day in Paraparaumu

 Hi there.

The Young One has left me alone at Hataitai Beach and moved to Paraparaumu, about an hour up the line.  The Kapiti Coast is a lovely area and usually a couple of degrees, or more, warmer than Wellington. The People on the Kapiti Coast wear shorts in October and November, wow...

It's a very relaxed area, with a nice walk path along many kms of beach -

My one grump about the sea area of The Kapiti Coast is the debris - all the twigs, feathers, bits of seashell, etc - that is in the water as you wade into the sea.  If you swim out a way, the water becomes cleaner.  A Kapiti resident told me all the debris is coming down from Wanganui, via the rivers.

The Young One, J, and myself were swimming buddies for many years, especially through the winters.  

It's my 13th year winter swimming.  But I don't know if I will continue with it next year, without my friends. Not to mention the fact - well, here, I am, mentioning it - that the cold, after a swim, gets into your bones for hours afterwards. 

Roman History

Hi there

I learnt Roman history, as a thirteen year old.  One day I was revising for a test, and my auntie came into the room -

 " What are you doing? " 

 "Reading about the death of Julius Caesar," I said.

 "When did he die?"

 I was horrified.  "You don't know when he died?" 

 Everyone - I mean, surely everyone - knew when Julius Caesar died?  

 

 "You wait till you're my age," said Auntie, smugly " You won't know it either. "

I highly doubted that.

But you know what?    I dont have a clue.....

Latest holiday

 Hi there

Summer is all but here.  It's still officially Spring but I've just returned from a week's holiday (yes, yes, another one, but you know me, you won't see me for dust once I hit the good weather). 

I went to Mount Maunganui, and Lake Taupo.  I walked a lot.  Along beaches.  On the track round the base of The Mount.  In Taupo, I hiked the track from Spa Park to Huka Falls - scenery great, but, oh, those hills!  

I was stunned how civilised the hot water spring in Spa Park, at the beginning of the Huka Falls track, had become since I was there, just a few years ago.  It all used to be pure nature. It was slippy-slidey over the rocks to get down the riverbank and into the water.  The scenery all around was bushland and there was a little old bridge over which people could peer down at those sitting in the warm water as it spurted out around the bathers from the natural rock formation.  The warm water flowed out to the cold river with its dangerous currents (don't swim out from spa cove, it's dangerous).

Nowadays, at the hot water spring, there are steps into the water, landscaped picnic areas, a viewing platform, toilets, and -what?! -  a cafe!??!  The area is one hundred percent gentrified.

I was so stunned at the area's transformation that I forgot to take photos.  And you can tell I'm not an influencer...

...

Yesterday morning, as I was leaving Taupo, aiming for Turangi, I got turned back from Highway No 1, and told to drive right around the lake instead.  I was so upset because I'm one of those people who always gets lost when travelling somewhere new.  Instead of my journey home taking five hours, it took seven, and  I also got lost around the Transmission Gully area, trying to not end up driving the Gully but ended up driving it anyway.

And it turned out that a long distance lorry had fallen into Lake Taupo, from one of the sharp corners of Highway No 1.  

photo: stuff.co.nz