Dear reader, first off I apologise profusely for falling off the edge of the map this last while. Not only did I move to a small country town waaay down the island where I knew all of one person, I’ve had trouble with my wrist, so for months it has often been difficult to type and even to hold a pen. Things are looking brighter though, so here I am.
It has certainly been an eye-opener moving to a small town. I’d been here a few months and was walking to the supermarket at pace, as it looked as though it was going to rain. Two mature men were chatting over their shared garden fence. We said ‘hi’, had a bit of a chat about how it seemed rain was likely, and one of them observed that since I carried a bag he presumed I headed for the supermarket. About to start off again I was floored when one of them said, ‘You can take my car if you like, then you won’t get wet. Just drop it back when you’re finished.’ I didn’t know him from a bar of soap! Perhaps I have a trustworthy type of face.
On Facebook over this last Easter the same local supermarket posted they had left packets of hot cross buns outside for people to help themselves. The accompanying photo showed a trolley full to the brim. I can’t imagine they lay unclaimed for long.
And, as is common in smaller towns the fire engines here are staffed by volunteers. I have been in town when the siren has gone off to summon them, interested to watch various cars/trucks/tradie vans pull into the station over the next few minutes. The other afternoon I was in the (same, featured) supermarket which is situated opposite the station. The siren blew, and the next thing a guy was racing for the door. Of course, every minute counts.
As an avid reader, and user of the local library, I love that this is a thing opposite the Carterton library building.
Did you know . . .
- Tingtang: the sound of two different bells, particularly one that chimes on the quarter hour, one on the half. Kind of sounds made up to me.
- Stymie: a term originally used in golf when one player’s ball blocked another’s.
- When processed into glycerol, the main ingredient of nitroglycerine (which happens to be the liquid used as the explosive component in dynamite) peanut oil can be used in said dynamite.
Take care, and happy reading,
Andrea
On my bedside table at the moment is TOM LAKE, by Ann Patchett.
Lara Nelson’s three grown daughters are staying and working with their parents on the family cherry orchard. When Lara’s husband lets slip Lara once dated a famous movie star (before he was famous) she is encouraged to tell her daughters the story of the relationship that evolved during a summer many years before.
Since my reading is predominately mystery/detective books, I kept expecting someone to be found dead. Instead, I enjoyed this gentle, beautifully written story of relationships, familial and otherwise, and love in all its guises.
“Writers aren’t exactly people . . . They’re a whole bunch of people trying to be one person.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald
