Hi there

Well, from Wednesday midnight, New Zealand will be in lockdown.  Isolation.  Especially for older people.  Four weeks minimum, maybe four months. 

And I only have a teeny deep freeze: stick in a couple of loaves of bread, a packet of fish fingers, a lamb roast, and that's about all the darn thing will take.  I can see that dieting is on the cards.

I wish everyone around the world pleasant thoughts, and the wish that we emerge unscathed.  Be kind to each other.

Melbourne and After

Hi there

I was so scared taking the plane to Melbourne because I still have this cough, left over from last November.  I had my doctor write me a letter saying it was an acute cough and nothing to do with the Corona Virus.  Luckily, I got through Melbourne Airport without coughing.

However, I was wearing this clumpy ankle brace (stupid sprained ankle).  The brace had the maker's logo in some sort of metal on the front of it and I got stopped in Melbourne as I went through the x-ray machine.  Staff came running.   My brace was swabbed for explosves, then I was taken to the side and swabbed twice more for drugs.  I was highly indignant.  I would have enjoyed it more if they had been filming for "Border Security".  Darn.

Melbourne, itself, wasnt that spectacular for me because I couldn't walk very well.  I went to three shows, two of which I had a seat in the dress circle.  And no lift to get up there.  I tell you, my four readers, that I took for.....ever to get up and down those stairs.

Tell you what, though -  thank you, Thin Lizzy concealer:  you saved my days, otherwise I would have been walking through Melbourne with two black eyes.

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This weekend is the first anniversary of the horrendous killings at the Mosque in Christchurch.  I cannot understand how some people can have no empathy for others.  My heart goes out to the community.

On dear..

Hi there

Remember when I said that I always seem to get injured or ill just before a holiday or while I'm on holiday? Well -

I was in Melbourne all last week, but four days before I left, I tripped over a little curb in the Te Papa Tongarewa (Museum of New Zealand ) carpark.  Flat on my face, terribly sprained my ankle (yes, yes, it was less than a month since I sprained the opposite knee!).

I didn't know right up till the day of travelling whether I could manage the trip.  So with a brace on my ankle, Thin Lizzy concealer covering two black eyes, and att-i-tude in my heart,  I hobbled onto the plane.

***
PS: the black eyes got worse than in the photo.

I love being near the sea

Hi there

Below:  Worser Bay, Wellington

Below: Oriental Bay

I love that there's so many swimming beaches around Wellington.

I can walk over the hill to Worser Bay or walk along Cobham Drive to Hataitai Beach.  In the car, it takes about five minutes to get to either of these beaches.   At weekends, I can catch the return East West Ferry from Seatoun Wharf to take me across the harbour to Days Bay.  Oriental Bay is a hop, skip, and a jump away from the CBD.

going to the gym

Hi there

I've now been 30 years going to gyms.  I used to go to Aerobics and I got very thirsty.  Thirty years ago, however, it was considered sissy and weak and not-right to want to take a drink during an intense aerobic class.

I didn't care one bit.  I momentarily slipped apart from my centre-of-the-room class to gulp down some water.  I got lots of snobby looking-down-their-noses looks from other aerobicisers/

Funny, isn't it, how now in gym classes we're encouraged to take drinks of water between or during exercise?   Oh, yeah, I am such an innovator...

Valentine's Day at Hataitai Beach

Hi there

I was happily swimming at Hataitai Beach.  I looked over the road to see which flag a nearby house-owner had flying today.  I love it that often I see other countries' flags as well as the New Zealand one.

But today -   Hey, what the - ?  Which country's flag was that  - ?

Oh of course.  Today is Valentine's Day, February 14!  And NZ is one day ahead of the rest of the world.  Yay.

I love this house-owner...

My latest holiday

Hi there

Okay, yes, another holiday.  I mentioned to a friend, some time back, that I always seemed to be sick or injured when I was on holiday.  He looked at me as if I was completely thick and said, "Because you're always on holiday!"

Oops...

I went to Nelson, at the top of the South Island, this past week.  Two days before I left, I sprained my knee.  Again.   The doctor put me on ACC, which means we get cheaper or free medical help when we're involved in any sort of accident from something as simple as a grazed knee, up to a road crash (and in NZ no one can sue).

My worst bad-knee moment?  Outside the door at Nelson Airport, attempting to get into a shuttle car.   I screamed blue murder as I stepped up into the SUV.  Birds squawked in fright,  passengers heads swivelled towards me.  Air crew gawked.  The shuttle driver and me were both so embarrassed.

I went to a physiotherpist.  She gave me a crutch which didn't really work for my jaunty hiking image.  I'd gone down to Nelson to daily section hike the nearby Abel Tasman National Park, from Kaiteriteri.   Well, that was out of the equation.  I did go down to Abel Tasman but could only sit on Anchorage Beach.  I tottered down to the sea like a fragile baby turtle negotiating hazards.

below Kaiteriteri Beach

below: Tides Restaurant at Trailways Hotel in Nelson City.  A lovely place for a meal.