Those Supermarket Shopping Baskets

Hi there

You'd think that a supermarket basket would hold nothing compared to those immense trolleys that dot the aisles and run into the backs of  your ankles?  You won't overspend when you fill such a small basket, surely?  You won't have much stuff to carry home?

Ah-ha, it's a trick for the eye.  There's nothing small about supermarket baskets.   At checkout, you discover the basket is not only equivalent to Dr Who's phone box where the inside is bigger than the outside, but Mary Poppins' handbag also comes in to play.  You seem to be forever pulling things out of the basket and setting them on the conveyor belt.

"How on earth will I carry all this home," I wail to the checkout operator.  Honestly I trot away from that store like a pack-mule.

I've come to the conclusion that supermarkets spray us with some invisible hypnotising marketing vapour as we cross their threshhold.  Before we hit that threshhold, our mind says, "I'm only going to buy a tin of tuna".  But then we come out of the store with three heavy bags of goods that somehow we've suddenly miraculously decided we need.  Oh, and minus the tuna which we've forgotten to buy.

Once I couldn't find what I was looking for and left with no purchase.

"I escaped," I said dramatically to the checkout operator.

"Good for you,"  she said.  "But we'll get you next time."

***



I feel for the poor folk in the Ukraine.  We watch footage on tv and it is all so sad what you are going through..  I'm hurting for you.

Mary Poppins, Auckland and my foot!

Well, I'm back from four days in Auckland.  I went up there to see "Mary Poppins - the musical".  What a magnificent theatre the Civic in Queen Street is.  I can't think why they don't charge a few dollars (when shows aren't on) for sightseers to pop in and ooh and ahh over the wonderful decor.   It's a heritage building and has a sort of Arabian Nights theme, with a bit of exotic India thrown in.  I guess it's how the architects of the day visualised Arabia and India!  The theatre was built in 1929 and if you wikiopedia it, you will see some pictures that don't do the theatre justice.  When it used to show movies, I remember sitting there to see Elvis in "Love Me Tender".  I can still recall the moment waiting for the movie to start and the stars in the night-sky-ceiling came gradually on and twinkled down on me.

As usual, the tallest bloke in the theatre was sat in front of me (happens every show I go to).  But  I still thought the special effects in "Mary Poppins" were wonderful.   Most of the songs from the movie were there but some had been switched around and came in different places,.  New songs were added that didn't seem to have the pep of the originals but this was probably because I was unfamiliar with them.  Some songs were missed out, eg the that lovely votes-for-women song that Glynis Johns sings in the original.  Dancing, singing statues were in place of the 'penguins'.

A few days before I left for Auckland, out of nowhere, I got a sore foot.  I had to wear trainers the whole time in Auckland and this meant that all the wonderful female-type floaty summer confections I was going to wear had to go out the window and I had to dress down to match my shoes.  Oh, well, there'll be another day to be all feminine..

I figured my sore foot would only last a few days but several people (a stranger at the airport, plus a friend - are you reading this, J?) have gleefully announced that they had the same symptoms and I'll have my sore foot for a year!  All I could do in Auckland was sit in cafes.  I could hardly hobble across my hotel room.  I was so embarrassed when the Jetstar flight attendants ushered me and my hiking stick (vanity wouldnt allow me to use a walking stick) onto the plane first.

I swam at Mission Bay watched by, oh, about a hundred people.  I was the only one in the water, then I had to trudge up the beach to the changing sheds with every eye upon my big fat thighs.  It was my own personal hobble of shame.  The water was lovely.  Everybody in the city were in shorts and three-quarter pants, and t-shirts.  Come on, Wellington weather, don't show me up.  When are we getting summer?

Musical stage shows

I love going to stage musicals.  I've shot up to Auckland more times than I can remember for shows.  For years my favourite all-time show used to be "42nd Street".  I've seen the movie, of course.  I've seen the stage show in Wellington (two different productions and something like 25 years' apart), Auckland (again: twice and years apart) , Palmerston North, and New York.  The best production was ...... Palmerston North!  The New York production starred Shirley Jones who we oldies all remember from "Oklaholma!"  and other wonderful film musicals. 
Nowadays my favourite musical of all time that I've seen has to be "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - the Musical" that I saw at the Civic in Auckland a couple of years' back.  It was spectacular!!!  And the Civic has such a breathtakingly beautiful auditorium. 
Believe it or not, another favourite has to be "High School Musical" which I've also seen twice and the best production of this was in Palmerston North.  I think it's because the actors in Palmerston put their all into their one week or so of performances.  
I quite like The Rocky Horror Show as well.  I've seen three different productions.  The best one was the Tina Cross/Mark Hadlow version.   The Michael Hurst one at Skycity was a bit vulgar (oh goodness, when did I turn into a prude, especially over Rocky Horror!)
I missed the musical "Mary Poppins" by a couple of weeks in both Melbourne and Sydney and I was furious.  But now, it's coming to Auckland in October.  I am so excited!  Bookings open on Thursday.