Miracles Abound

June 18, 2020

Day 1,649

 

There is a cat in town who spends her days in Pinky’s, a bargain store where almost everything is on sale for two dollars, or more, or less, depending. Her name is unknown. Cats don’t tell us their names. They will tell you that you may serve them and that they enjoy your company so long as no demands are placed on them and the food keeps coming.  They do this by returning, purring, rubbing up against whatever is handy in your vicinity and presenting themselves to be scratched. The people who work at Pinky’s call her Alley Cat and she has been a fixture there for eight years, patrolling the aisles or holding court on the counter between the cash registers. When the weekend comes one of the ladies takes her home and on Monday morning back they come together. Alley Cat is set down outside the store and roams at will the local environs until she decides it is time for her to be inside. She will then plant herself at the closed doors and wait patiently for someone to go in or out, at which time she will walk in, jump up on the counter or disappear in the back. She is friendly and likes to be stroked or have her head rubbed. She lives her life receiving love and giving love.

Smart cat. Lucky people.

There is a dog who spends his days at an auto repair shop on the edge of the industrial area just outside of Whitianga. Going into town you round a sweeping turn on the highway and look way up the road on the right. If he’s there, he’ll be standing close to the verge, holding a sturdy black radiator hose in his mouth, watching oncoming traffic for a special vehicle only he knows. When he sees it he lunges or prances and shakes the hose and runs back and forth with obvious and contagious joy. If he’s not by the road and it’s summer he can sometimes be seen in the shade of a two-sided sign arranged like an A-frame under a nearby tree. The grass is un-mown there, long and soft and cool. Sometimes he can be seen supervising an important job taking place inside the garage but most of the time he on duty by the road. Leaving town he’s on the left, a hundred metres past the turn to the refuse centre. Lately when I see him I’ve taken to lightly tapping my horn as we approach and to my delight, Horace (our name for him, not his), tail wagging happily, grabs the hose off the ground at his feet and jumps and shakes it vigorously. I swear you can see him smiling as we pass.

He’s made a friend, said hello, invited us to play and lives in a state of sheer joy that he passes on to all who see him.

Two creatures, both conscious and aware, happy with their place in the world, full of joy, spreading love. Never saying a word.

 

Miracles abound.

Patience or Patient

May 2,  2020

Day 42

I spent the day in the workshop shipping container experimenting with faux grout (white silicone caulk) for my faux tile job (tiles not bedded with cement) in my faux laundry room (one side of one end of a twenty foot shipping container). Several methods tried. Refining the process. Stay tuned and I’ll let you know which one worked.

Which seems to be exactly what the response to Covid-19 is by all and sundry governments, cities, municipalities, islands, mountaintop towns, shires, villages, hamlets and countries around the world. The initial lockdown to flatten the curve to reduce stress on health care system and workers seems to be the method of choice but there are outliers like Sweden, Latvia, Iceland and Hungary that have chosen to let things ride without shutting down their economies. This strategy has its proponents and its critics, depending on who you ask and represents the will of the people in their respective countries. In between the lockdown and luck of the draw school of thought there are partial lockdowns, localised recommendations, suggested practices, fatwas, ordinances, billboards and brochures. Which method will be successful for what location is up in the air until the jury deliberating the matter comes out of isolation and delivers the verdict of history.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52103747

During my research for this post a famous friend I know told me, “People don’t get it. The virus hasn’t gone anywhere. Releasing lockdown is a nod to the economy not a sign of victory. I’m expecting an ebb and flow of restrictions, but I see so many people saying once they release us, they will be holding parties and never going back to this again. Better lock in for a couple of years then.”

That observation holds true for New Zealand as the numbers below clearly show.

6 New cases. 11 Recovered cases. Ratio of recovered cases to active cases is 85%. 222 people still have it. Zero Zeroes on the board.

 

Patience is a virtue few have….

 

 

……and even fewer learn.