This morning I noticed that I have become quite nosey. I want to know what people I don’t know are doing. I want to know where they are going.  Maybe I always was nosey but I think it is getting worse... There’s an intersection on my way to work, where I have time notice who is sitting in the car in front, who is sitting in the car behind and who is sitting in the cars beside me. I take in their details. It passes the time. Yesterday I noticed someone was driving the same car a very close friend drives. The driver looked exactly the same from behind and I wondered if it was him. I know his car has other details which this car doesn’t have and for one who usually remembers number plates… I need to digress. I have this secret fascination with number plates. It goes back to when I was a child. I remember the number on our family car when I was a child. I also remember phone numbers. I have a vast number of digits stored in my head and when I need to call someone, I am not too bad at remembering…I say not too bad, because this morning I did get a combination wrong. I dialled 7177 instead of 7717. An easy mistake. I am not getting old.

Back to my friend’s car- I realised I’d never taken much interest in his number plate. Is that significant? Don’t read too much into it. This age thing. I just need to assume it wasn’t him because he would have no reason at all to be driving in my town anyway. 

Yesterday morning a woman was driving a bright green, very clean car. I noticed the green because it was markedly contrasted by her very white hair. I noticed her at first, because she didn’t seem to be wanting to drive faster than 25. It was a funny time of day to have someone like her driving around town and even funnier when up popped a little head. It was her pet dog who she clearly loved very much. He leapt into the front seat and sat looking lovingly up at her and her hand gently reached across… I still wonder where she might have been going.

How long since I have blogged?

How long since I have stayed sufficiently long in one place? How long since I slept in my own bed? How long since I have actually been able to write more than one sentence without being distracted?

So the business sets in..."busy-ness"...the busy-ness of being a full time worker who travels far and wide. One night in one town, another in another. Long hot days in in a car that needs the radio turned up above the roar of the air conditioning fan. Travelling with a suitcase that is familiar with the contents. Cleaned sooned becomes soiled, the garment knows the order of appearance day by day.

And how long since I started this blog? Time wasted in the afternoon heat. About an hour with constant duties and interruptions.

 Do boys grow up and behave like their fathers? Do girls grow up to look like their mothers? One always thinks to themselves..."I'm not, surely...but..."

I met an elderly gentleman the other day who was totally devoted to his "son" (his dog). He'd never had children of his own and he'd spent most of his life single. His dog looked like him. Round face, slightly pushed in, turned up nose. There are websites about this phenomenon, if you want to check one out: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20040301230043da ta_trunc_sys.shtml" title="http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20040301230043da ta_trunc_sys.shtml" target="_blank"http://www.scienceagogo.com/n...

When the gentleman took his dog for a walk, he carried him from about half way as he was worried the boy would get short of breath. I was sceptical about this as I thought it was he who was more worried about his own physical fitness (at 79). I tested it out and sure enough, as soon as he was out of sight the dog regained his energy. This was especially noticible when another dog walked by!

Perhaps the Italians have thought of a way around the childhood fear of turning into your parents by making pets a priority rather than offspring.http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0" title="http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0" target="_blank"http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11965-3967071,00.html I wonder if animals worry about turning out like their humans?

There's something to be said about doing it yourself. It's hard work.

My intention last summer was to complete a stripping, sanding and painting job which only, in the end, was half done. The reason for this was two fold. The job is hard work. My walls have history: Paint over wallpaper over paint over wallpaper over paint over wallpaper....it takes hours! The second reason is to do with water.If you have ever stripped wallpaper, you'd realise that you need a lot of water. Well in February last year, when I was in full swing, there were floods in our town and the water supply was cut. (Yes, floods=no water). Everyone for two weeks was living out of bottled water which had to be collected from about 300 meters down the road. There just wasn't enough water to strip wallpaper and even if there was, I'd lost the urge.

So it's a year on and I have decided the job really needs my attention. It's still a slow job but I am winning...slowly. Perhaps by February I will have the walls I have wanted for ages. I might even start on stripping the woodwork!

I was thinking that this summer staying home (more or less) was a fairly wise option, considering the weather. http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0" title="http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0" target="_blank"http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/...,2106,3150284a11,00.html

I remember great summers here when I was small. Those that seemed to drag on for days and days and the only cool place to be was the local pool, the beach, or a local river. Today the rivers are muddy brown from too much rain. Friends of friends were off to a wedding which was to be held in a marquee. The ground is so damp, they have had to order a floor to go with it! We are dressed in sweatshirts and jeans and looking for warm spots around the house to sit because sitting outside it iswindy and miserable. A friend's tree blew down today.

If anyone is considering a summer holiday in New Zealand, there is one area where the weather HAS been kind. Sunny Hawke's Bay and the East Coast...and we are all considering moving there!

It's 1.44am on 1.1.2005... I had a great night. How many of us??? 12, I think. Only 5 of us are regular aerobics people- the rest??? Spouses, waifs and strays. We were all extremely civilized for most of the night...eating, drinking and making polite converstion. At around 11.30 we all began to plot what would happen at midnight. "Is this a tradition?" asks the Fijian member of our dozen. "Well, actually we don't have a tradition...it just is..." replies the host.

The host produces a suitcase filled with masks and hats. We each decide what best suits each member of the group. My pick was the man who wore the old fashined policeman's helmet- an Englishman anyway, but he also slipped into role with ease. I wore a mask with coloured feathers. People told me it suited me...but how was I to know?

We stood around an open fire outside,  beneath an old overhanging tree. Beneath one branch, hung a very large gong. Because I suggested it, I became chief gong hitter. Someone presented me with a superb knocker with a rubber skin. I clung the gong 12 times. "Wasn't that for 2012?" someone asked. I don't know...12 for 12 O'Clock, 12 for a dozen, 12 days of Christmas, but 2012??.... As soon as I started, someone lit the two fireworks they had. Perfect. Another person started strumming their guitar. ...

Under a night sky that had, before midnight, produced thunder and heavy rain, we were blessed with stillness and just the odd crackle of fire. Such is life in paradise. And such is New Years Eve in Godzone.

I haven't kissed anyone yet.

Happy New Year!!! xxx

Oh dear. ..Blog one HAS been overwritten but I think I've got it now. Strangely a new menu appeared and I was able to add a blog...

..but I can't think of what to add. New Year? What am I doing? I am going to join my aerobics friends for a barbecue. No stepping, and crunching limited to chewing. 

I have spent the last 5 minutes trying to work it out. I think this is my second entry or...am I overwriting the first? I guess all will be revealed when I click...what?

What I really wanted to write about was a conversation I had in the car yesterday evening on the way home home from aerobics. The scene was thick cloud and lots of drizzle. My friend in the car said, "well, visitors to this town on days like today must wonder what we see in the place..."

I agreed at the time, but later have thought- is there anywhere in the world where thick cloud and drizzle is a haven for tourists? I suspect not, but I stand corrected, if you dare.