I'M BAAAACK!

I'M BACK (AGAIN)

Yeah, yeah - I've used that before but I'M BACK BABY, I'M BACK!

I went to Auckland on Sunday morning to meet up with The Old Girl who came up from Wellington. We went to see THE BOOK OF MORMON at The Civic. Now I'm not much of a show watcher - give me a good stage play or an opera any day but The Old Girl likes them so it was 'collecting brownie points' for me kind of like when Richard goes to see a chick flick with Shelley (The Old Girl and I have an understanding on this. If she watches one on TV I'm banished from the room and if she wants to see one at the cinema we find a suitable film for me playing at the same cinema complex at about the same time and we meet up afterwards for a glass of wine and or a meal).

The musical was OK. It started off strong with some great Mel Brookes-style song and dance routines but faded a bit with a lot of corny jokes and a silly plot. I did like the send up of The Church of The Latter Day Saints though. It'd be great if the creators of this gave the same treatment to the Catholic Church since both are based on fantasy and a few people telling big lies that got taken up by millions of people. The ending is great with one of the central characters creating his own take on religion based on Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings etc and calling his religion The Book of Arnold (his name). Funny, and I can see how other forms of Christianity especially The Catholic Church could have the piss taken out of them along these lines. The Jesus character in the musical is like a laid-back surfer dude who reminded me of Owen Wilson's character in the 'Fockers' series of films: HERE

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This morning we signed off with a letting agency to rent out our apartment for a couple of months until the settlement day of the sale of it in June. This means that instead of it staying empty with me in Whangarei and The Old Girl in Wellington it can be used and bring in a bit of needed cash for us. We need cash for: new spectacles for me; some dentistry for me; a new iPhone for me. Yes, I know, it sounds like it's all about me but The Old Girl is going to London on Wednesday and no doubt she'll pack in a shopping expedition into her itinerary. She'll be away until just before Easter.

I headed back to Whangarei on the bus and she flew back to Wellington.

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The bus tip was Ok except for sick people and my argument with an American.

OK? Oh, maybe an explanation is necessary.

The American

At the bus station for the Intercity bus, people assemble (rather than queue) waiting for the bus driver of the designated bus to turn up and open the doors. The first thing that the driver does is open the passenger door - I guess to air out the bus - and then open the cargo door. He calls out destinations so he can load passengers' baggage (furthest destinations first and closer destinations last) before letting passengers board. People tend to mill around a bit at the passenger door but, in good old Kiwi tradition most people are aware of their place in the 'queue'. This American dude, in his 40s with his wife had come to my notice earlier as he arrived later and stayed back watching and making snide remarks about the other passengers (translation: he was a cunt). Around the time that the driver was finishing with the bags of the last few passengers the American said to his wife: "Fuck this, let's just get this rolling" and started to push his way through the gathering at the passenger door. There were about eight people in front of me, mostly old dames. Kiwi protocol says to always let the old ladies and infirm go first. I put my arm out in front of this 'dude' and said "Mate! Wait a bit. The driver has to check everyone in on his hand-held device so he knows if everyone is loaded and if anyone is missing. Just wait a bit". He replied "I just want to know what's going on. Why can't they have a quick scanning system? I don't know what you guys do over here".

I replied (without a breath taken): "Yes, it's a shit system but we're all stuck with it so just show a bit of courtesy"

He avoided me at the Kaiwaka refreshment stop  2 hours later.

The sick

It was an uneventful trip north albeit a bit slower than usual due to rain from Kaiwaka to the other side of The Brynderwins. The bus was nearly full which surprised me having been in an empty Queen Street and Auckland Public Library earlier in the day - Covid-19 scare.

What annoyed me though was that on the level I was on (double decker bus where I always sit in the lower level because it's safer and doesn't induce motion sickness as much) there were three people coughing. One was a man in his late 20s, one a woman in her late 60s and the third a man in his 50s.

Ok, cough if you need to but none of these thought to cover their mouths with a handkerchief or even a sleeve. What inconsiderate bastards of a type that have always pissed me off! Now I'm a bit of a hygiene-crank I know but in light of the bloody pandemic scare that's disrupting our lives now you would have thought that these arseholes would show more care.

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Arriving in Whangarei and retrieving my car I went to Pak 'n' Save supermarket on the way home.

Pak 'n' Save, I guess like other supermarkets, is placing limits on the number of packages of toilet rolls and sanitary wipes that can be bought. The shelves that previously held hand sanitisers are permanently empty.

I did my shopping and, because I didn't have a shopping bag with me used one of the cartons that are available in the packing area. I put everything in the carton and then into my trolley but when shifting this from the trolley to my car the bottom of the carton gave way and everything fell onto the ground.

The eggs, which I had put at the top in the carton fortunately fell on top of some softer items but the garlic cloves at the bottom got munted by the milk and the wine. Pity that as garlic is bloody expensive. Other items scattered under and around the car and I had to fossick around before throwing onto the back seat. The wine - a Church Road McDonald Rose* which I'd never seen before, in addition to munting my garlic got itself an impact fracture and was slowly leaking. I dumped the tomatoes out of the plastic bag which I had fortunately used (normally don't) and wrapped and sealed  the bottle of rose in this and laid on the floor. Arriving home I decanted the rose wine first through a sieve and then through a tea-towel to get rid of any fine glass residue. I retrieved 500 ml out of a 750ml bottle which I've now drunk ( explaining this rant to some degree).

Anyway. I'M BACK and have some good ideas for more posts. Stay tuned.

* The Church Road wine was disappointing. Babich Marlborough Pinot Noir Rose is the best current wine I've tried.