Sunday Reflections

This is David on a Sunday morning, taking some pleasure in the fact that Washington DC is in the grip of a blizzard, while here we have a gloriously sunny day--though the wind still whistles around our apartment. Yesterday we noted winds at 50 kph gusting to 80 kph. Impossible to open the car door on the driver's side for fear of getting a broken leg if a gust slammed the door shut.

I am planning a major essay, with pictures, of the public toilets here in New Zealand. Let me just say briefly that no country I have been in has greater quantity or better quality of public toilets than New Zealand-----STOP PRESS--Joan has just burst into the room carrying my GLASSES, which she found stuck in a hedge down by where we park the car. They are somewhat the worse for wear, but servicable. Joan had set off to run, and then thought--"why don't I just check that hedge for David's glasses," And she found them.
This was just going to be sundry reflections on things NZ.
First a headline: "Fight youth crime by crayfishing and art, says judge." Combine the two possibly--The New Zealand College of Crayfishing and Art.
Then a factoid--New Zealand is a huge producer of HOPS and exports all over the world. Last year's crop was over 800,000 kgs. And domestic beers number some 240.
Tourism has overtaken wool as a foreign exchange earner, and on our trip to the Soth Island we were struck by the many nationalities we were meeting on our hikes--lots of European backpackers--German, Dutch, Scandinavians, Italians. And there is a huge camper rental industry--not usually the huge motor homes you see in the US, but more the VW bus size and shape. And the campgrounds we saw seemed to be excellent, with all sorts of facilities.
Plastic bags in the supermarket come in a variety of forms and require considerable perseverance to open. In cafes, one is handed a knife and fork wrapped tightly in a paper napkin. It is impossible to find the end of the napkin in order to unwind it from the cutlery--you end up having to rip it apart.
Baristas serving coffee draw patterns on the surface of the liquid (what with and how, I know not)--yesterday we were handed 'flat whites' with little Christmas trees on the surface.
Joan back from her run--she ran into the Salvation Army band playing Xmas carols in the park by the harbour.
Breakfast is indicated...
I know you will all be waiting with BATED breath for the Public Toilet blog.