Hang on a minute. Did I touch that door handle? Must have, but just to be sure I’ll wash my hands, the way the specialists in hand-washing told us. But now that I’ve slid my other hand down the banister should I do it again with an antiseptic wipe? And the car! What if the steering and handbrake were contaminated after I touched them? Up the stairs again to get some wipes to remove any possibility of COVID-19. We remember what the doctor said, but can’t rely on memories of what you’ve just infected in that most familiar place – home. Time to surrender, time to remember the days when you touched all things without a second thought.Who’s Afraid of Jeremy Corbyn?
What is it about Jeremy Corbyn that sends shivers up the collective spine of his fellow MPs? An alternative to Maggie Thatcher’s, Tina (There is No Alternative) embrace of the Market, that’s what.
All you need is love…
‘Humanity washed ashore’ wrote a cartoonist as his brush strokes re-created the heart-stopping photo of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi.
Never go back?
They say you should never go back or try to recapture the wonder of places and experiences of your youth. But, while not replicating the original, sometimes the passage of time can make the outcome rewarding and interesting.
Renewal – Christchurch in Spring
Much has changed between my occasional visits to Christchurch in the last four and a half years.
On my first post-earthquakes visit I was awed by wrecked buildings, broken roads, tell-tale see pages that told of cracked water-pipes, portable toilets in the streets, tangles of steel reinforcing on what looked like bomb-sites, barricades, soldiers, and silence in a city echoing sorrow.
Spokes in the wheel…
In Nelson, the City Council has appeared hell-bent on introducing shared pathways – where walkers vie with bikes.
Hell-bent? In February 2015 the editor of Nelson Mail in Don’t get carried away over cycle ways appealed for common sense.
When robber bees invade a hive
I should begin by saying I am but a beginner beekeeper, so these are just my observations. I don’t keep them for honey, but for pollination, though my kids would tell me the joy of sticking their heads under a giant honey tap in harvest season is a hard reason to beat.
Selling Godzone in Secret
Tens of thousands of Kiwis out in the rain over the weekend to protest against the TPP which many thought had been killed off in the last, failed round of talks. But no. In the collective race from commonsense and responsibility to their peoples and institutions, governments are expecting the deal to be finalised later this month. Meanwhile some Ministers have already dismissed the protests.
Kalimera Corfu!
Funny… it just didn’t seem like Greece. We’d been dazzled by the blue and white on Santorini, subdued by the mainland Greek’s grey and shades of olive and now Corfu looked like Greece’s bohemian cousin, in her green, orange and pink. But then maybe it was Corfu Town’s shabbiness, its charm and its palette of ochre that gave it the taste of Italy.
Balmoral – Gateway to the East
I grew up in a village called Balmoral where we wished, without a hint of masochism, that the dentist’s drill would shriek; where we knew we were half-way to Hollywood when the cinema doorman took our tickets – dressed in a tuxedo.