Ageism and us…
I’m a baby-boomer – and proud of it. So why is our generation, the first crop of boomers (born 1946), being attacked for simply reaching our age. After all we protested against Nuclear testing at Mururoa – and eventually won.
Category archive: Health
Superstitions – Baldness
In spite of extensive advertising claims to the contrary, most men afflicted by baldness find the condition irreversible. An American superstition claims that baldness can be delayed by cutting the existing hair very short then singeing the cut ends. Another superstition claims that when a man starts to go bald, he can slow the process by stuffing cyclamen leaves up his nose. And sprinkling parsley seeds on the head three times a year is also believed to help.
New societies Post Covid-19 ?
Mt Eden Rd, Three Kings, Auckland
This was the day people had been waiting for, the day that might end the boredom, anxieties, the frustrations and loneliness of life lived under lockdown. When Monday finally dawned, a mild sunlight filtered through the trees in a leafy suburb devoid of cars, but full of birdsong. It really seemed as if something new lay ahead…
Pandemic poem
This poem was written in March, 2020 by Kitty O’Meara a former teacher and chaplain from Wisconsin.
Be kind she said…
At first they nodded and smiled as usual on our daily walks. Nothing unusual there, it’s our neighbourhood.
But then the pandemic arrived and didn’t leave. For a few days we were confused and offered the same greetings, though we all knew nothing would ever be the same.
Ghosts…
Outside it’s sunny, a hot, muggy Auckland day. A plump Tui swings on the untidy flax bush by the bedroom’s open window; slothful clouds drift past in a china-blue sky. But inside the bedroom it’s cold, chilly enough to raise goose-pimples. Despite the golden light outside, the room is shadowy, its corners dim and blurry.
A 21st century pain in the neck…
You see them everywhere now – people and their techno offspring – cellphones, iPads and earpieces. It’s an addiction and like all other addictions brings physical and social conditions.
Memorial
Last November I went to a memorial service for those whose relations or friends had died during the previous 12 months. It was organised by the funeral directors with whom my mother had arranged her prepaid funeral and who had efficiently, calmly and professionally helped us organise her obsequies in early December, 2018.
A Christmas beer with a beard
Credit: BBC
Had a beer with a beard the other day to celebrate the relentless commercial onset of Christmas. The beard was my old friend’s familiar trademark and I told him once more how much it suited him.