Motueka sandspit
The weather is cold and grey as the southerly continues to blow. My Christmas Day recovery for 2020 is digging up concrete washed into the garden I had planted along the south side. It needed tlc anyway but after the concreters laid the path along the house, it needs rescuing. They're hard men and if I had known their modus operandi I would have tried to protect the soil. On the day, they stormed through like a tornado over Kansas, washing aggregate and toxic sealer over my plants. On top of that, scuse the pun, the level of the walkway down the side became higher so I need to add soil to level the two. Another build issue I hadn't thought about.
But it's small change. A hail storm batters Motueka as thunderstorms descend on the Tasman at the top of the South Island. The storm causes millions of dollars damage as it destroys apple, hop and berry crops. Down south Nic is taking umbrage at snow on the hills. Meanwhile, there's Covid. The new strain, cases in North Sydney. But there's hope as vaccines are distributed. In New Zealand life carries on as nearly normal. Possibly the envy of the world as the Covid storm rages round the globe. In the words of Fred Dagg, "We don't know how lucky we are."
At the dawn of the day, in the great Southern Ocean
Where the world's greatest fish was being landed
And the boat they were pulling it into was sinking
And the sea was quite lumpy, and the weather was foul
And the bloke with the map was as pissed as an owl
And the boys called out "Maui, ya clown, let it go"
In the noise he reached down for his grandmother's jawbone
and he winked at his mates and he said
"Boys, we don't know how lucky we are"
"I have a feeling I have stumbled on something substantial."We don't know how lucky we are
We don't know how lucky we are
We don't know how lucky we are
We don't know how lucky we are I was speaking to a mate of mine,
just the other day
A bloke called Bruce Bayliss,
who lives up our way
He's been round the world on an 8th army do
for a year, more or less
I said "Describe the global position, Bruce"
He said "Fred, it's a mess.
We don't know how lucky we are in this country.
We don't know how lucky we are
To live in this joint mate"
We don't know how lucky we are, mate
We don't know how lucky we are, There's a guy I know who lives in town
I see him about once a year I suppose
He's had a coronary since Easter
He's got a haemorrhage in his ear
He went bankrupt a couple of weeks back
And now his wife's left him too
I said "You're looking hot mate,
You're looking clear, what are ya gonna do?"
He said "We don't know how lucky we are
To live in this joint mate"
We don't know how lucky we are, mate
We don't know how lucky we are, So when things are looking really bad
And you're thinking of giving it a way
Remember, New Zealand's a cracker
And I reckon come what may
If things get appallingly bad
And we're all under constant attack
Remember, we want to see good clean ball
And for god's sakes, feed your backs
We don't how fortunate we are to have this place
We don't know how propitious are the circumstances.
We don't know how lucky we are, mate
We don't know how lucky we are, We don't know how lucky we are, get it right
We just don't realise how fortunate we are
We have no idea, the luck, we possess, collectively
We just don't know how lucky we all are. Full stop. |
Source, Fred Dagg (Anthology) CD 2000
I dig up cement chips and pick out stones till I'm bored, And totally over it. Kahu's around somewhere. He's so unenthused in such mundane activities he makes himself invisible. When I can't take it anymore, I drive myself to the beach and throw my body into cold water. A southerly whistles round my ears but plunging into the waves warms me up and I emerge reset. I feel like I've achieved something, although I've barely scratched the surface. There's still a heap of outside work. In light of all that's going on around me, I count myself lucky. Landscaping may seem like a mountain, but in the big scheme of things, it's a good problem to have.
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