(For Cushla: Valentine’s Day 2009) You are there Of course you are there Where else would you be (would be your answer) Where else but here Heart knows Head Not so assured It is an endless fascination Skin like shot silk Then Light through yonder window breaks Breaks up Cracks up There you are I […]
Tag: writing
Lockdown Flashback – Rāhui Day 10
Rāhui Day 10 (12): Body clock chimed all day. Saturday is Youth Archery & club shoot day but not today. A good smattering of nostalgia between the funny Facebook quizzes, some long overdue cleaning, and all that Twitter hate. I give as good as I get on Twitter and I’m actually much funnier than most. […]
Earworms at Midnight
Thinking about Billy Bragg and the sad, youthful illusion of hope. Thanks for that ear worm at 11.30 at night, Billy. ‘I saw two shooting stars last night I wished on them but they were only satellites It’s wrong to wish on space hardware I wish, I wish, I wish you’d care.’ A New England […]
Being a survivor – The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care
Kāti rā, ā te tākiritanga mai o te ata, ā te huanga ake o te awatea, kia tau he māramatanga, kia ū ko te pai, kia mau ko te tika. Koinei ko te tangi a te ngākau e Rongo, tūturu ōwhiti whakamaua kia tina, tina! Hui e, tāiki e! (And so, as dawn rises, and […]
My Wonderful Life
The older I get the more inclined I am to see the past in a new light. It’s rather like seeing all the things that have happened to me so far as being happenings on a long, bright summer’s day with no night. Well, perhaps just a little night. It’s fair to say that I […]
The Theatre
2024 was a good year for the theatre, the theatre in me and even me in the theatre. Just a tiny wee bit of me in the theatre It’s a garbage misquote (by me) from the wonderful Raymond Hawthorne (‘love the theatre in you, not you in the theatre) who had most probably borrowed it […]
Surgery
In 2024, I had my standard bout of surgery, in this case, a new left hip. I already have an artificial right hip, a metal left knee, and a ‘piano wire’ joined Achilles tendon. This new surgery was scheduled for six months ago but, being sick of taking pills, I’d made the unilateral decision to […]
University of Auckland IDEA Brain Study
We had a couple of young wāhine come to our door and ask whether there were any ancient people, antiquaries almost, geriatrics, in the whare. Cushla said yes, as apparently, I qualify. The two young wāhine were academics from the University of Auckland who introduced me to a major study that was being undertaken through the University […]
Medical Scans or ‘How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Health System’
I’ve spoken briefly about my health and the health system, but I haven’t spoken about being made redundant by AUT. Redundancy is always a shitty process, but AUT still managed to make it about as bad as it could possibly have been. Not just for me but for all of those made redundant at the […]
RymanHealth ‘Senior New Zealander of the Year’
In early December, I was contacted by the people who run the New Zealander of the Year Awards and informed that I was, once again, a semi-finalist (top 10) for Senior New Zealander of the Year yet again. I must admit I was really chuffed as it’s a nice acknowledgement of the work I do […]
dykiegirl 