ISOLATION: DAY TWELVE
Group blue four had been granted the first exercise slot of the morning at 6am! As I was wide awake I decided to avail myself of the facilities: about six of us were brave enough to walk around the exercise yard in the gloomy morning light. Fifteen minutes on the bike were rapidly followed by coffee! Aaaah! By seven I was starving and I had to settle for a leftover banana until the yoghurt and toast arrived at eight.
My second Saturday morning with Kim Hill included a protracted interview with Joanna Lumley waxing lyrical about the Queen. I loved how Kim managed the odd polite pause, following some of the more enthusiastic commentaries on the monarchy from Ms Lumley. I suspect Kim, like quite a few of us over here, is a republican? Have any of you listened to the interview with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield yet? In it he mentions a book by Stephen King, "On Writing" and says that every aspiring writer should read it. I'm not Mr King's greatest fan but I downloaded it last night, poured myself a glass of wine and started reading it. I'm more of a perspiring than aspiring writer, but its very good - so far.
At the entrance to the airport is a roundabout upon which several flags are flying. The NZ flag is of course on the tallest flagpole but with the help of my binoculars and a gentle Nor'Wester I have managed to identify the remainder. These are possibly the flags of NZ's favoured nations or the visitors they most want to impress? So Australia, UK and USA are fairly predictable but how many of you would have picked China and South Korea as the other two flags? (There may be more out of view - I'll let you know when I get out!)
After my rant about washing up liquid sachets the other day, I must introduce you to my other pet hate before I go - the milk carton! Each day a small carton of UHT milk arrives, equipped with a little straw. And every morning I try to open it without it spurting everywhere. Admittedly my manual dexterity at that time of the day, before the first coffee kicks in, is at its 24 hr nadir, but until this morning I had totally failed in this endeavour. I hate that it's UHT milk anyway but why are they so bloody difficult to open? If you stick the straw in and squeeze, the milk oozes out around the side of the straw hole. If you try to cut/tear or otherwise remove corner its even messier. But now I have sorted it! What one does is gently introduce the straw, without squeezing the carton; suck out about an inch of milk; then carefully cut the corner off using a sharp knife. You may have lost the will to live by then, but pouring is now possible!
After some initial confusion, I managed to activate my Sky TV account today, so that I could watch the Wales v All Blacks game on my laptop in the morning. Just to test the principle, I watched Southland vs Northland this afternoon in what I still call the NPC, the NZ regional competition. I have watched a lot of regional rugby in Wales over the last twelve months, and I had to remind myself that these were two middle ranking provincial teams - the step up in standard was that obvious. They would give any of the four "top" Welsh regional teams a bloody good game and would probably emerge victorious on most occasions - and barely an All Black in sight! Why is that? One name that stood out for Northland was 'Sam McNamara'! They get bloody everywhere those McNamaras!
So.....the Playlist! 14 Days/14 Artists/14 Songs. I've just been playing it again and I love it - which is all that really matters! These are not my favourite 14 tracks of all time - although one or two might make that list. These are just 14 tracks which I really like - some reflecting the quieter times of isolation, maybe bordering on the melancholic; others quite upbeat. And I did manage to steer clear of Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen (almost) when in the downer zone! Quite a range of release dates too, from the sixties to this year!
I think this link will work if you are into Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/nz/
but just in case it doesn't here is the actual list and you can create it yourself:
What I hear you say? No Kate Bush? Running up that Hill might well have been my fifteenth track but I have flogged that to death over the last twelve months, so she needed a rest!
If you play a playlist on Apple Music it doesn't shut up at the end with a resounding click like a decent record plater would. Instead Apple Music is so smart it chooses a song in similar vein to continue with. So when this list finished playing a few minutes ago, unprompted by me, it started playing Kate Bush (Man with the Child in his Eyes). Slightly uncanny??
As far as I can see only two artists break my criteria by featuring* twice above. So who are they? Answers by email over the next 24 hours - there's a real prize this time: a bottle of NZ wine the next time I see you! (Only one - I'll put the hundreds of correct answers into a brown paper bag (if I can find one!) to draw out the winner!) *Clue: featuring might include writing a song as well as performing it.
So not much more than 24 hours to go now. And believe me, I am ready to be released! These is a glorious Canterbury day the other side of the glass, as well as a couple of blobs of bird poo! Banks peninsula beckons in the distance, and I don't get an exercise break until 3.05pm today! I'm looking forward to my Home Alone Halloween Party Tonight!
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