Cars

Three year old cousin
sat with his Dad on the
living room couch, both
enthralled by the TV
show “Top Gear”. Wow !!
Cars sped crazily through
treacherous terrain, around
lengthy test tracks with
deafening engine noises in
clouds of dust and smoke.

Back at the studio a
beautiful glorious showpiece
of mechanical genius rolled
slowly on stage, a latest
model, magnificent mighty
……….. Lamborghini !!

Dad and son stared and
exclaimed at this amazing
apparition on the screen !!

Rushing to his bedroom the
three year old scrabbled
through dozens of tiny cars
carpeting his bedroom floor.

Back in the living room he
joyfully showed his father
a tiny model of that same
Lamborghini ………….. and
made his father proud !!


Previously posted March 2017.

Goldfinch

Along the front of my flat
flourishes a little garden
with prolific displays of
leaves and flowers on rose
bushes and a lone hebe.
At their feet alyssum and
lobelia cover bare soil with
their leaves and tiny flowers.

Tall straggling cornflower plants
were removed as they died off.
Only those that finished later
were left with their bright
blue flowers still lingering
on by the front door, gradually
dropping petals and seeds to
fill the garden with blue
flowers another day.

In the warm misty morning
rain a goldfinch perches
on withering stems drooping
down to the ground, pecking
out seeds from their faded
dead flower heads.

There go my blue cornflowers !


Previously posted March 2017.

The Doormat

The pristine back porch has
been hosed down along with
the flat’s outer walls. Cobwebs
and bird poo, dust flicked
up by rain, moss spreading up
from the path, all were removed
by the hose’s fierce blast. and
divots of mud and grass from
the teenager’s golf practice
on the back lawn next door.

The back door and its doorstep
and frame are all newly painted
after the hose washed away
Many flakes of their paint
along with all other debris.

On this pristine porch floor
with gleaming surface in the
early morning sun, all cleared
of leaves and cobwebs lies
the clean doormat … criss
crossed by shining snail trails !


Previously posted March 2017.

A Low Maintenance Home

Outside on the driveway hosing
murky windows, scrubbing them
with the yard broom I see
a flaw in my little flat chosen
for tis low maintenance exterior
for my retirement. I want no
more maintenance and renovation.

Inside all is well papered and
painted. Outside brick walls and
metal window frames meet my
needs for a relaxed old age.

I hose dirt off the front door, the
back door, their steps and frames.
Alas paint flakes flow off also.

My low maintenance home sees
me at the paint shop buying paint,
brush, sandpaper, making tape,
all for back and front doors.

I would watch out for this
pitfall when I next move house
but I am not moving house
again unless disaster strikes.


Previously posted March 2017.

February 29

On New Year’s Day
Mum brings out this
year’s new calendars.

We both go to school now
we know how calendars work
we look for birthdays on one
calendar. We find Claire’s on
birthday in January, Dad’s
and Auntie Maureen’s
birthdays in February.

Our little brother’s birthday
is not there ! He was born on
29 February last year, he will
be one on 29 February this year.
We can not find 29 on February
on the new 2017 calendar !

Mum and Dad say no, February
has 29 days every fourth year only,
and will do it next time in 2020.
Chloe is not to write “29” on
February on the kitchen calendar.

“That does not make sense !” insists
Chloe. Later she quietly writes
“29” in bright lime green felt tip
on February on our bedroom
calendar from school.

She also writes “29”
on February in Nana’s
calendar. Nana does
not seem to mind.


Previously posted March 2017.

Personal Stationery

On Christmas Day
the excited five year
old received her very
own personal stationery
with flowers and elves
on toadstools along the
bottom of the pages and
the back of the envelopes.

Her seven year old sister
writes on her own notepaper
and envelopes with fairies
on to Grandma and Grandad
living a few hours away, to
uncle and aunt in the big city.

Previously the five year old
wrote on Mum’s notepaper
to the fairies, to Grandma
and Grandad. She told Mum
what she wanted to say, then
copied the words Mum wrote.

Both sisters wrote to Santa
before Christmas with their
requests. They asked him too
to look out for the tabby hunter
who strolled off on Sunday
morning five months ago
and never returned. The
fairies have not seen her.

Still the five year old has
her own personal stationery
to write many more letters
to family and to fairies.


Previously posted January 2020.

Car Seats

Dad removed the girls’
car seats, laid them on the
driveway, fixed a frame
for a baby capsule behind
the front seats ready for
the new family member
due to arrive soon.

On the long back seat of
the seven seater van he
fixed the girls’ car seats
then they all climbed into
the van and drove off to
the vast mega hardware
store to buy hedge plants.

“You’re sucking your thumbs !”
called Dad. The girls aghast
stared at each other in shock !

When behind the front seats their
own seats faced backwards, out of
sight of their parents’ sharp eyes.

Now in the back of the van they
faced forwards ! The rear vision
mirror exposed thumb suckers to
their parents’ alert gaze !

Big school girls should only
suck their thumbs in bed at
night as they go to sleep.


Previously posted January 2001.

Pictures

For nine years in a block of flats
I hung a few pictures on my walls,
except for the cinder block wall.

In my new home the maintenance
man worked his way through my
lined up pictures fitting them all
neatly round bedroom and living
room walls within an hour.
Not gallery style but spread
out enough to enjoy.

As I talked with a friend
on the phone – she lived nearby –
the ground beneath us shook –
Earthquake ! she gasped. We were
glad when it stopped. Bad things
happen here when the ground
shakes on and on and on and on.

I straightened my smaller pictures
went about my daily life. Was
surprised when the smaller ones
went crooked again. though we
had no further earthquakes.
those pictures had stayed straight
in my old flat – why not now ?

A moving picture caught my eye
as a large truck rumbled past out
on our street – used as a bypass
for a nearby busy main street.

I am still straightening
my smaller pictures.

In A Digital World

We all access the internet in this
digital world, says the government.

Covid vaccination passports now
they say. Population must get them
in three weeks or be excluded
from society’s activities.

Half the eligible population find,
download vaccination passports.

– Not retirees with no photo ID
like passports or driving licences.
– Not retirees with no computers
smart phones or helpful relatives.
– Not rural people with little or no
internet access, no phone towers.
– Not low income families sharing
a computer or email access.
– Not low income families with no
smart phones or computers.

Not this retiree who applied online
while awaiting her renewed licence.
The website rejected her even
after long waits for help line to
answer her call and reset her account.

At last some pharmacies are allowed
to grant vaccination passports.

Our 2018 census gained only 80%
responses after going online.

They are very slow learners.