Entries from April 2005 ↓

Had a tour of the paper mill today – check out the lovely safety gear – goggles, ear muffs and fluoro vest!

Might be able to claim my tour as a work expense – I did see some certification from work and I was out there ‘interacting’ with industry and seeing the user’s experience of our rules!!

This time I’m listening to a book, not reading it. After my solo car trips listening to National Radio I thought perhaps a talking book would be a good way to pass the time for 7 hours. And it’s brilliant! The guy just reads on and on for 5 CDs. The time does fly by. The story (by John Grisham) is essentially about a lawyer/broker who the CIA believes has military secrets, and is also in jail on fraud and suspected murder charges, so they have conned an unpopular outgoing president into pardoning the guy and hiding him in Italy. Under the secret watchful eye of the CIA of course. The guy is trying to become Italian, learning the culture, food, language. The narrator doesn’t do a whole lot to put on different voices but he puts on a slight Italian accent and uses a softer voice to represent female characters. His Italian pronunciation seems pretty good too. I’m actually only 4.5 CDs through and it’s terribly tempting to go and sit in the car and listen to it until it’s finished – although I’m sure my family wants to see as much as they can of their honoured guest! I’ve missed a couple of character connections because I’m one of those drivers who’s main focus is on driving despite what’s going on in the car – I’d say that others more easily distracted would overtake with less care, miss turn-offs and speed restrictions etc.

Another great read from Sarah-Late Lynch. A main theme of this book, as with the other one I read (By Bread Alone) was food. This time a very successful food critic had her world turned upside down when she suffered and brain trauma, and woke up after being in a coma for 3 weeks not remembering the past 3 years. And worst of all, not being able to taste anything. Descriptions of restaurants and dishes in both Venice and New York including a directory of the restaurants Sarah-Kate visited during her time writing the book with a small review of each which was interesting.

Long time no blog. I’m currently in Whakatane – the second trip in 2 weeks so have gotten out of the blog habit a bit.

A few observations from my time on the road:

• Travelling alone has meant that I’ve found myself turning to spoken word as the preferred form of entertainment rather than trying to sing (more like croon) along to Moby. I never listen to National Radio (I don’t feel like I’m grown up enough) but have done on both trips up. And I admit – there are some interesting interviews. However, I’ve heard 3 people being interviewed about things they’ve done in their lives – the head of the Media Studies school at Auckland University, Frankie Stevens and Grace Bumbry (American opera singer). What struck me was when talking about their lives and achievements the focus all seems to be on the 60’s and 70’s which I found intruiging. Is this because these people were all in their 20’s/30’s at that stage and these were the defining times in their lives, the time when they really solidified who they were and the time of most impact/achievement? Or generally were the 60’s and 70’s the time when it all happened? Nothing particularly recent was talked about as though perhaps these people are doing nothing now. Which is clearly not the case – Frankie Stevens is still alive and kicking and performing, but perhaps just not doing great things like he did 30 years ago.
  
  
  
• Chooks – there is a whole flock/school/gaggle/barnyard (?) of chooks in a rest area on State Highway 1 just out of Foxton. Doesn’t seem to be a farm nearby – they seem to be wild and colourful creatures. Obviously smart though because on this last trip up I brought some crusts with me for them and as I pulled into the rest area they were running up to the car before I’d even stopped! And not just running, but positively tearing along, legs splayed and circling like rotor blades as only running chooks can do! They seemed to have very furry legwarmers on – later I learned there are probably Bantam hens. They loved the bread anyway

• Brown Sugar – as in the cafe. Always humming. Strange way of taking and filling orders given that it’s not unusual for them to have a queue out the door. You’d think they were surprised each time to have more than 3 customers. They have Supreme coffee but are not that great at making it despite overhearing people in the 15 minute queue telling their companions that ‘no, were are not going somewhere else. These guys have the best coffee in the country.’ Ummmm.

I almost need to start up another category about odd things I see when I’m walking the route between home-work and work-coffee – the last 3 days have turned up 3 odd sightings.

Tuesday I saw a dead weta, right there on the footpath in the sun – absolutely not the weta’s habitat so I assumed it was dead – no way I was going to poke it. Plus the ripple effect of me stopping on the footpath to have a look was bad enough let alone beginning to poke around with it.

Wednesday I saw a load of potatoes on a drain grill (or is that grille?) You just don’t expect to see loose potatoes anywhere except the supermarket, market, garden, potato bin in the bottom of the pantry … but in the gutter? They looked like new potatoes – again, without poking I couldn’t ascertain whether they were cooked or raw. You have to ask yourself – how did they get there? Someone was rearranging their shopping in the boot and they fell out? The cleaners of the adjacent building had dropped their bag of rubbish the night before after cleaning up from a catered event involving potatoes? A scavenging animal or person spilled rubbish from Leuven bags left out the night before and the early morning street sweeper pushed them into the gutter? Interesting

Today I saw on the footpath a piece of a man’s belt. Looks like the belt had become so worn at the notch by the buckle that it had finally given way. Some poor bloke was probably on his way to work this morning and hitched up his pants and tightened his belt and it came right off in his hand.

Wonder what I’ll see later when I go out for coffee …

Yep – but perhaps not as many as Emma in Sophie Kinsella’s Can You Keep a Secret? which I just finished – read it in 5 days – and held down a 40+ hour/week job as well! Great read, very funny and not entirely predictable. I know it’s all fictional but interesting to compare you own secrets (if you’re a girl) to hers – she had things like: she hates the g-string her partner bought her but still wears it, tells everyone she’s a size 12, broke her boss’s coffee mug, photocopied her bum and pinned it (anonymously) on the board at work, has a Barbie bed cover, loves sweet sherry … I know, I know – utter trash but I enjoyed it!

On to New Zealand’s very own Sarah-Kate Lynch again now.

When walking through town yesterday morning I saw a couple of older chaps sitting on a park bench in Cuba Mall, with their shopping, just chatting. I noticed they were proudly displaying their crucifixes on the outside of their jerseys and were wearing black arm bands. I assumed that this was a sign of mourning for the Pope. The Pope means nothing to me, I only kind of understand what he is, but have no idea of what he does or in fact the whole Catholic system. However, I felt a jolt of sadness when I saw these guys in their arm bands because I did all of a sudden feel loss on some level for these guys, because I do acknowledge the importance of such a figure in their lives.

After enjoying the first David Baldacci novel I’d read (Hour Game) I thought I would try another – Saving Faith. It took me ages to get into it, struggling through the three threads that were being brought together – CIA hired hitmen, lobbyists and the FBI – I couldn’t figure out who were the bad guys and who were the good. About two thirds of the way in it became clear and just took off. I really loved the first one I read and it was a shame this one didn’t fly for me.

Now I’m back onto girlie trash - Sophie Kinsella’s Can You Keep A Secret? – not part of the shopaholic series but just as good.