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.

Coincidences?

 I've never thought much about coincidences.  But something happened to me a couple of years ago that truly spells out Coincidence with a capital C.  I may have told the story before -

it was early morning, I was still in bed and in my pyjamas when I suddenly decided to go to Taupo for a few days.  Within thirty minutes, I'd booked my stay, quickly thrown a cluster of clothes into a small bag, and taken off.  Yes! - I still possessed the super power of being able to pack perfectly in only a few minutes.

On reaching Taupo, I happened to glance down at my shoes, my trainers.  Oops, I was in one light blue shoe, and one white one!  And they were the only shoes I'd brought with me.  I was devastated, ashamed, embarrassed.

I'd have to buy some new shoes?  

But then, wait  - !

A street collector shook a collection box at me.  What was the charity?  And what was its theme?

What?

It was Wear Odd Shoes Day!!!!??

No?  Yes!  I did a soft shoe shuffle in front of the collector, showing off my trainers.  I dumped a huge handful of change into the collection box.

I was ecstatic ...

United States Covid-19

 Hi there

it's so sad that Covid-19 in the United States is at such a high infection rate - 16,563 cases for every million Americans.  Here, in New Zealand, we have 269 cases per one million people.  

This terrible illness is around the world and who knows when our world will be 'normal' again.  The Black Death plague in England wore itself out.  As, I think,  did The Spanish Flu.  Let's hope the same goes for Covid-19.

Oh, nooooooo...

 Hi there

Our country made it to 100 days without Covid-19 community transmission, and now ... a family of four in Auckland have the illness.  So, Auckland shuts down to level 3 lockdown until Friday as authorities try to contact-trace.  The rest of NZ will drop back to level 2.  Panic buying, everyone?

And, well, yes, I panic-bought.  A new fridge.  Throughout three lockdown levels, the freezer part of my old fridge just wasn't big enough to hold everything I wanted to store there.  So, immediately we got down to level 1, I rushed out and got my fridge.  

Purr -Purr -Purr...  Oh, I love my new fridge.  it's a work of art, a lovely thing.  I can't stop myself staring at it's magnificence.  I w ould take it to bed with me if I could lift it.