GENETIC MEMORY 2

This evening I listened to Brian Crump interviewing Morna Young.

Morna Young is a playwright, actress and musician from a wee fishing village in the North East of Scotland. She's currently in New Zealand being hosted by BATS Theatre and Toi Poneke as part of the Playwright International Exchange which is a joint venture by Creative Scotland and Creative New Zealand.

Morna hails from the North-East of Scotland near Aberdeen (where The Old Girl was born). She talked of the area and its similarities to New Zealand and how she has an affinity to here.

Crump (born in New Zealand) recounted how years ago when he lived for a few years in England there was a particular place (Morecombe I think he said) where he really felt most at home. He later discovered that the Crump family originated from there may years ago before emigrating to New Zealand.

Genetic memory?

Yes, I believe in that and wrote a post on it a few years back.

See:  GENETIC MEMORY

BRAIN EXPLOSION

Exploding head syndrome (EHS), alternately termed episodic cranial sensory shock, is a benign condition in which a person experiences unreal noises that are loud and short, like a bomb exploding or a gunshot, when falling asleep or waking up. These noises are often jarring and frightening for the person. Neither the cause nor the mechanism is known. Though harmless in and of themselves, episodes have been known to create distress or impairment in the lives of individuals.

                                - Wikipedia

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I live in a big old house. Old wooden houses make lots of noises - creaks, cracks, groans and sighs*.
Sometimes at night when I'm in bed I hear a noise that seems a bit louder than usual and outside of the expected creaks and cracks. This can wake me up so that I have to get up and investigate.

We live in a safe area but it is a bit countrified and relatively isolated. There have been burglaries reported in other areas nearby so I am a bit security conscious.

A couple of nights ago, just as I was nodding off at about 1AM I heard a loud bang. Having read an article about Exploding Head Syndrome recently I felt my head to check for damage but it all seemed OK. In the dark I listened for a few moments but there were no more noises. I got up and, in the dark, checked all rooms in the house and outside before turning on lights and checking again. Nothing.
I went back to bed and eventually drifted off the sleep.

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Yesterday, while picking up some wind-blown garden debris and putting in the trailer I found, at the far side of the house a large Nikau palm frond that had fallen from the palm growing beside the house.

These fronds are huge and the husk like a pod at the end is solid and heavy.

The frond when falling, landed on the roof first which was the 'bang' I had heard the night before.

Mystery solved but I still don't know if I have Exploding Head Syndrome or not.

* I just made that up about sighs.

THINGS I DON'T UNDERSTAND - TWO

A while ago I wrote a post:


THINGS I DON'T UNDERSTAND


The list wasn't exhaustive so while I'm waiting around this morning for The Old Girl to FaceTime call from Canada before I go to the gym I thought that I'd wrack my brains to find some more.



1. RELIGION

Well this is really a given and the odd (really odd) posts from Robert in themselves prove the incomprehensibility of this subject so I'll leave that there.

2. SLEEPLESSNESS

We all need sleep so why can't some of us sleep properly at night?
Some nights I wake at about 1.30 and have to read for a couple of hours before being able to go to sleep again. when I wake, or the alarm or cat wakes me at about 7 I feel sleepy again and could easily sleep for another couple of hours. What's that about?

3. CAT'S EATING HABITS

My cat is admittedly old and getting cranky and fussy but it bewilders me why she will eat some foods and not others. It's not as if I'm giving her non-cat food that she hasn't had before but sometimes she just turns her nose up. I will buy some yummy looking treat - the sloppier the better and she will wolf it down so I buy more of this when I next go shopping. When I give it to her, after I've invested in about a dozen packets or cans of the stuff she'll no longer eat it. I then have to go through the whole routine again with several different variants.

4. THE PRIVACY SETTINGS FOR FACEBOOK, GOOGLE, TWITTER ... IN FACT ANY INTERNET SOCIAL PLATFORMS

Every time I set some kind of security on the Apps or platforms I use, somehow they seem to forget the settings and have to be done again. On Facebook no matter what kind of restrictions you set there is always a queue of idiotic strangers wanting to befriend you. On Youtube a whole lot of new and unwanted recommendations are waiting for you. On Google some nutter is posting about The Holy Ghost or guitar practice practise practice (bugger it).
Netflix, Lightbox and similar film viewing websites offer  a month or so free viewing but somehow haven't remembered to have a reminder set in to the 'subscription' when the free month is up and will immediately start charging for the service.

5. SHRINKAGE

In this case the shrinkage of consumer items available in supermarkets.
I bought some Quality Bakers English muffins the other day. I swear that they are way smaller than the ones I bought last time (a couple of years ago). I asked, on their website why this was so and haven't yet had an answer. It t seems that consumable items from Muesli bars to bars of soap are getting progressively smaller, what will be the final outcome? Food tablets like we've seen in Sci Fi movies?

6. HOUSE NOISES

Last night again I had to get up to check a noise ..... actually this is a big topic so I might dedicate a post to this later.

 FaceTime is calling - I've got to go.

WHEN YOU'RE ALONE AND LIFE IS MAKING YOU LONELY YOU CAN ALWAYS GO ..........

While Richard and Tony were hanging around Casa Fontana trying to look cool .....

..... I used to go to Downtown at the other end of town.

I guess Richard went to the Casa because of its reputation for jazz which I hadn't embraced at this stage only happily discovering the enjoyment of it later.

I started going to Downtown while still at school in the 6th form in 1969 feeling a little intimidated I must admit but enjoying the bands that played there like the great Quincy Conserve.

QUINCY CONSERVE - RIDE THE RAIN

I was too young to buy alcohol and 'wouldn't say boo to a goose', preferring to stand at the back in the shadows rather than be up front dancing. Like Tony and Richard I adopted the cool and indifferent slouch hoping that it made me 'interesting'.

It didn't work but the music was good.

PICKING UP CHICKS AT THE CASA

The 'Go' crowd at the Casa. Note the guy in the sheepskin coat hoping that his wife won't see this photo in the paper showing him with some beatnik girl.

Richard reminisced about Tony and him picking up girls at the Casa Fontana in Wellington in the early 1970s. Now unless the girls had fallen over there was zero chance of that happening.

In fact nothing happened except for some interested glances thrown their way by Trevor Rupe.
The staff at the Casa actually thought that Tony and Richard were a gay couple as they seemed not to be interested in the girls there.

Tony to Richard: "Just look cool and don't catch their eye"

Unfortunately for Richard Tony's pick up techniques at this stage of life were a bit limited. He convinced Ricard that girls would only be interested in them if they pretended to show no interest in the girls. Oh, also, he told Richard that it was best to get really pissed as well - "girls like that" he said.

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So where was Peter? If it was a Saturday night he was probably at home with his parents watching Morecambe and Wise on the telly.

They would have left Noel in the car parked outside in Victoria Street.

NEW POST - THE FOOD CURMUDGEON

I reminded the Food Curmudgeon that he'd been slacking around recently like the others in CURMUDGEONS INC.ⓒ and that I'd written a kind of food related post myself (see previous post).

This spurred him on to post see : HERE

SUZY'S COFFEE LOUNGE

Suzy's Coffee Lounge used to be in Willis Street just down from the Willis and Manners Streets corner. I remember this in the late 1960s through the mid 1970s although I believe it started up earlier in the 60s and lasted to the 80s.

The 'lounge' was classy in that it had been architecturally designed with a distinct modern European look quite different from the other tea shops and cafes of the day. It was on two levels with a mezzanine upper level. I remember that it was small with a long and narrow room that never really seemed cramped due no doubt to the design and the decor which was 'artsy' and minimalistic.

Suzy (Suzy van der Kwast) was Dutch and a lot older than me to the point that I found her a little intimidating. She was tall and strikingly good looking and had a sophisticated air different to most other restaurant and cafe proprietors (except for the scary harridan at a French-themed restaurant around the Thorndon area).

Old Bruce Campbell my boss at Murray Roberts and Co fancied Suzy and would fawn over her when she visited. He would usher his 'boys' into carrying Suzy's wine and spirit purchases to her car where we would line up to receive a 50 cent piece each for our troubles. Very Dickensian.

Another reason I liked Suzy's Coffee Lounge was that it offered much more interesting food than the others in the area. It had, I think, the first salad bar with more interesting fare than prawn cocktails and shredded lettuce salads. The Dutch and other European cakes and pastries seemed quite exotic.

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So why the Suzy's reminiscence?

Well one 'salad' that I would buy often was a cold beef dish like cubes of curried meat mixed through with rice and some julienned vegetable. It was stunning and I sometimes think of this and try to recreate the recipe but have never mastered it. Some things have to remain in the past I guess like the outstanding buttered toast that could be had at the Paramount tearooms in Courtenay Place. This was  toast made from huge slabs of bread - bigger than normally available from the shops and toasted under a big grill.

Yummy.

I think I'd better go and make some brunch. 

FRIDAY NIGHT WITH LENNY

Well dinner's a bit late tonight  as I was mucking around doing other things before I realised that I had to warm up the oven, peel, slice and par-boil the potatoes (Agria), make the coleslaw dressing and prepare the fish for frying (Terakahi) before putting the spuds in the oven for 40 minutes.

It's 7:12 and the chips aren't yet ready.

I've been filling in time drinking chardonnay (as you do), listening to the radio (National Programme) and trawling the internet.

I subscribe (for free) to a site named OPEN CULTURE and the current 'feature' is Bernstein:

LEONARD BERNSTEIN PRESENTS

Now I don't know a lot about music but ....."Ooo, I like a nice tune - you're forced to."

I learned a bit from this.

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Got to go to pan-fry the fish.

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ACTIVITY 2

For an account of my activity today just read the previous post ACTIVITY with the following minor changes:

• Instead of tennis this morning I played Pickleball which is a lot more fun than it sounds.

It's an American invention which explains why it has such a stupid name and it is chock a block full of silly rules and a complex scoring system which slows the game down. Anyone who's watched American Football will understand what I mean.

• I did go to the gym afterwards but didn't play any bowls as I had to go shopping for lightbulbs, food and a small crockpot for The Old Girl to use in the apartment. I discovered a brilliant Brabantia one in Briscoes for $49 on special down from the 'normal' price of $159.

I hope you liked my sharing. This post was written in the style of Robert (the whatever he is posing as now)'s blog. *

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* Without a whole lot of religious stuff.

ACTIVITY

Yesterday was my birthday and I turned 66.

Another 6 to that score and I could terrorise Robert and his imaginary friends.

Richard phoned me on my birthday - well, the day before actually as I think he was going to be working on Wednesday but it was good to chat .....UP TO A POINT!

The point was when the silly old bugger said something about a final countdown (he also turns 66 in a few days time). He said that our parents generally lived to about 80 give or take a few years and that for us, that was only 14 years away.

What a bundle of joy.

The problem is though that he's right.

We are all going to die and that's final.. kaput...finito ....gone ... regardless of what Robert and his silly religious beliefs say about 'everlasting life' and a time after we die ' living with our creator'.

Bollocks.

We will be gone ... finito ... kaput ... worm fodder or returned to the universe as smoke.

For me another 14 years is probably correct.

The key to this is having a good 14 years and not a fucking miserable 14 years being ill and infirm.

I enjoy my wine and the better the wine ... well, the better. I'm not going to eke out my last few years drinking crap plonk in cleanskin bottles.

I don't overeat (The Old Girl would disagree) and I don't get all crazy about food. I like to buy small amounts of high quality produce and cook it well (the less meat the better).

I'm lazy - have been all of my life but I was a reasonable athlete and even if I don't run marathons or jog I like to go walking and play a few sports commensurate with my age. At present (66 y.o) this is tennis, golf, bowls, badminton and tomorrow, trying out 'pickleball' at the local community centre.

I try to keep my mind active by community work (committees and projects), reading, crosswords and other word games and, believe it or not - blogging.

I'm still going to be wormfood in a few years but I'm damned if I'll go out like a wuss. An old wuss.
I'll keep doing the things that I enjoy as long as I enjoy doing them and I'll keep doing physical activity even after I stop enjoying it to keep my aged body in reasonable nick.


Today I played tennis for a couple of hours then went to the gym for some aerobic and anaerobic exercise before a light lunch and then outdoor bowls. It wasn't exactly an Olympic athletes's workout but it was enough to make me feel better than if I'd sat around all day.

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This afternoon I mixed up lamb mince, sausage meat and various vegetables, herbs and spices to make a meatloaf mix which I put in the freezer in 5 portions. I'm having salmon rissoles, mini roast potatoes and a rocket, pear and Parmesan salad for tea which is all very good but I'm spoiling all of that good exercise by imbibing a Squawking Magpie 2016 Chardonnay while writing this and before my meal.

Oh well ...... as Richard says ..... I'll be dead soon.