Can it only happen in New Zealand?
Colours are the smiles of nature.
Why was the 77 year old driving her SUV in a sedate pace around the streets of Martinborough on a Friday morning at 08.55 with ear protectors on. Bob Marley wasn’t blaring out of her sub woofers, “every little things going to be alright”. Mick Jagger hadn’t just bought residency and was doing a spontaneous concert in the square and it was long past being snuggled up to a partner who snored like a seal stuck in a Swiss mountain horn. It was nothing more than her dog was barking and of course at that age protecting your ears from high volumes is essential. No one worries that she can’t hear traffic. I expect next time I see her she’ll have her eye shades on, snaffled from her last flight from Hawaii, because the sun has risen. Safety is more important than getting there.
Martinborough, our nearest ‘town’, well micro village, but I suppose it depends where you come from, population 1680, was a wash with excited people. A world famous in New Zealand almost kind of professional bike ride was going through town. Think Tour de France-ette. Some of these lads, I’ll have you know sometimes think about the Giro D'Italie. Actually a few compete in it. The ‘awash’ of 21 spectators were getting quite agitated with excitement. The 3 front riders came and were gone. 5 minutes later the peloton of about 77 came and were gone. The crowd lifted the roof with the deafening cheering of 20 people; where was she with her ear muffs? Luckily the bike ride was off to do a 8kms circuit and they’d be back and gone. The break gave us all a chance to calm down from the euphoria. It became a bit tedious after the 3rd circuit. It hardly had me on the edge of my seat, as did watching Wigan. I left.
I read in the Dominion Post, the local national paper, aka Dom Post, which if you put into spell checker, corrects it simply to ‘Compost’, which seems appropriate, that Megan Mcallister has broken the world record. I’m all interested. Considering NZ only has a population of 4 million it does pretty well with true world records and significant education, scientific, literary and sporting success. Ernest Rutherford was pretty bright (1871 - 1937), Archie McIndoe did some pioneering surgical work on burns and invented the McIndoe scissors (about 1944), Katherine Mansfield wrote a book or 2, Edmund HIllary climbed a mountain in 1953, the All Blacks successfully kicked an oval ball, NZ football in the South African World Cup practically won the cup, the Evers Swindell sisters rowed fast, the Americas cup sailors won and so on. So who is Megan and what has she done? Developed the quickest acting covid 19 vaccine? Saved johnson, a clown without a costume from death a second time (stupid woman)? Swam to Sydney? Written a version of War and Peace that someone has read? No, none of them. She sheared 673 lambs in 12 hours. That’s faster than anyone else, and we all know lots of people do it most days. A worthy world record.
What have we been up to since the last announcement of feeling a bit overwhelmed? It's too far to drive for a lovey dovey dating night out, so instead we have the same kind of event at breakfast, before Ali goes to work. It’s a long time since a latte and a date scone oozed so much love. Then we have the wine in the evening after she has got back from work which may even oooze a lot more love. Oozing love twice a day!
Here things are fine. I discovered our washing machine, left in the house for us, uses about 130 litres per wash, so that has seen its last wash. Off it goes, and off I go to the launderette. We've got about 17000 litres left and it has barely rained in 4 weeks. I think we use about 50 litres a day. The paddocks are looking very brown. I've taken the 'U' bend off the sink and put a bucket under the pipe so all the face wash water goes on the garden. Washing up water goes out there as well. Research for another tank has started. I expect our carrots will have a gentle taste of eco friendly washing powder. Hmmm nice.
As a part of the plan to get more water I’ll be putting up some guttering around the red sheds. That will then be piped from there to the house, omitting the rejected water consuming washing machine. There used to be a small hydro plant fed from a dam up in the jungle where we have not yet seen any orangutans. That has all been washed away with years of floods, so we have been dragging about 400 metres of black pythonesque piping up from the creek, through the jungle. The first indigenous python in NZ. But we'll be alright for a while. The other night it hosed and bucketted it down, both at the same time. 7.5mm in about 20 minutes.
I popped into the local wine maker yesterday and after a stunning glass of chardonnay I put my name on his list of people to call when grape picking starts; I also said to Christy (first name terms already) that if she ever had anyone phone in sick and needed someone to snuggle up to at the sink, she could give me a call and I would zip along to wash up the coffee cups in her cafe. The chat up line of ‘can I meet you for some washing up’ seemed to work first go.
The irony of the little logo of our local winery makes me smile:
"Siblings without Rival" (some of you will know why I see an irony and with hope I drink a lot)!! It's actually very nice wine but produced no useful results yet!!
It also looks as if I may get some casual work olive picking when the season is over at a grove in Martinborough whom we picked for 15 years ago.
Observations from here of you poor good people. It's got to be time to call in the masses of military medical corps. I'm pleased to read that the army have been called into Derby and Coventry. In my opinion it's about time. The military have a massive medical corps and should be used to the max. Certainly a better use of their resources than causing medical emergencies with their bombs and depleted uranium. I see that some mandatory hotel quarantine is to be introduced if you have come from 1 specific township in KwaZulu and 1 of the favellas in a little remote village up the Brazilian Amazon. That'll make all the difference. Here, I'm sorry to say the hotel isolation was supremely well organised with polite and kind strict rules monitored by amazing military, super security and happy hotel staff. Yes, it was strict, we weren't allowed out of our rooms for 23 hours and 20 minutes per day, so we had to find a way of entertaining ourselves. It was difficult for some - imagine having a 3 & 5 yr old and being a single parent. But believe me, it is a short time and a small price to pay.
My hec, I'll not be surprised if I'm back in the northern hemisphere soon ..... we've had some amazing winds recently (ah, that reminds me, ‘A Mighty Wind’, that was such a good film). I'm surprised we haven't been blown away, but luckily we are still standing. A wooden gate is now on the ground in 2 pieces, it got battered by the wind. My many visits to the operating theatre will all be worthwhile as I put some of my observations of surgery into practice. I’m planning on being a bit more gentle. The wind from the south and therefore Antarctica is, not surprisingly, cold, so I feel very fortunate that we have 203 sheep in the field. If the it persists some of their wool will be being used to keep me warm.
I won't tell you that apart from the wind the weather is nice summer stuff, but don't worry winter will be here soon and I'll be doing a daily trudge up to the woods to get wood and pine cones for our warmth and hot water!
We had a guy around the other day to advise us where to put all our various traps. (here I wont tell you something about a cat trap and cat). I sit here and watch the rabbits threatening to eat our seedlings.
I watch the little lambies sticking their heads through the fence, to prove that ‘the other man’s grass is always greener’ and it wasn’t just Petula Clark who thought that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMxXZ6a7XH4
It’s a funny old world. The weather is generally good enough for people to have pretty productive gardens. As you walk into the Dr’s surgery waiting room there are shelves and a fridge. No they don’t put their samples and specimens in the fridge and on the shelves, people go to the Drs and take excess produce for others to take if they fancy what's there. So you go to the Dr with a verruca and come away with grapefruit, spinach, a cauliflower and a bill for about $60. We also went to a ‘crop swap’ which was an event with the same principal. We took a bag of limes from our 42 lime trees and swapped them for some spinach and plums.
As the resident retiree I have made a batch of lime and grapefruit marmalade, plum and also apricot jam. I've planted beetroot, tomatoes, aubergine, beans, spinach, mooli, leeks, cabbages and carrots. I've been up and collected pine cones for our hot water and winter fires. Man, it's hard work. Limes sell for about $45 / kg (£25). I may not need to work, except for spreading a bit of fertiliser around the trees.
Whilst I'm doing all that Ali is hard at work at the Medical Centre, seeing patients in the luxury of 15 minute appointments. It'll be different, of course there will be most of the stuff of Willenhall, but being rural and about 40 minutes from the nearest hospital there will be the stabalising 'golden hour' stuff, minor operations, plasters, stitching, de-fibs and who knows maybe a helicopter ride.
Some of you may remember that we get our coffee from one of our guides we had in Ethiopia. The last kg took about 6 weeks to get here. I told him our new address. It’s so humbling, innit. Why should the nice guy even know what or where NZ is. So look at the address. A combination of both our UK & NZ address. Isn’t it great that it actually got here. Assumptions are such dodgy things. He did well, and I wasn’t precise enough. Anyway, when we have a grinder it’ll be great coffee that his Mum has roasted.
I have an inkling of what you good folks are going through up in the northern hemisphere, but only just. I find writing these pages of drivel quite difficult . Not that I struggle with drivel, but more because I don’t want to make it sound as if I am gloating. Suffice it to say that I keep in touch with the news. If it sounds rough, scary, worrying, a shambles and more - then I only assume that it is worse than that, but it feels kinda strange to be so detached from reality. I’ve mentioned before ‘survivor guilt’. As I’ve said before, I actually do think about you every day. I don’t think much about the not so good people in my life, but you good people .... yes, I do.
Folks, take care, keep safe, stay healthy, get healthy, be kind and ignore the rules but do the right thing.
Maybe!!
It hasn't stopped raining in UK since last November. I guess one man's meat is another man's poison..
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