So the days float through my eyes but still the days seem the same (David Bowie)

Photo by Nick van den Berg on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

After my birthday posts to Keegan and Adam, Jacky casually remarked that I'd changed a lot.

"Huh? Really?" I said. "I don't think I've changed at all". To which she laughed. Almost hysterically.

I wanted to check so I commissioned her to retake the shot from 37 years ago.

Here they are together:

Hint - the one on the left was taken 37 years later, in case you were wondering.

Okay. Yeah. I've changed a bit on the outside - but same dude inside! And he's aged about 25.

Merry Christmas and hope you have a happy new year - Wozza

The future hides and the past just slides (Jackson Browne)

The Purdy men

Wie geht's?

Apologies to Adam Lennon Purdy (on the left) - I missed a birthday post last weekend. Mea culpa.

I guess I've established a tradition now and when there is a rip in the space-time continuum, a glitch in the matrix, a messing with the fabric of tradition, and I neglect my dad/blog duties I can expect to hear about it.

So - here it is - Adam's belated birthday post.

The origin story featured a few years ago and you can revisit it here.

Thirty-five years ago - on Dec 11. 1986, Adam joined the whanau. 

Life changed a little with a second child and there was suddenly a need to move from our two bed flat in Windmill Road, but basically two wasn't like double the work. We made the transition to two children and a bigger house pretty naturally.

He's now married and living in Melbourne and, as with Samantha and Keegan who also live outside of Nu Zild, we miss seeing him regularly. 

Merry Christmas to all of the whanau, spread as they are around the world. Jade, Jacky and I will have your share of the trifle, team, so don't worry - we have that covered!

Love and peace - dad  

You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today and then one day you find ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun (Pink Floyd)

Picture taken 37 years ago by Jacky

Wie geht's?

This is hardly an original thought, but doesn't life just speed away when you look backwards.

On the 18th of December 1984, our first born - Keegan Warren Purdy was safe and warm and quite comfortable where he was thank you. He was ten days late arriving and had to be encouraged to come out and face the world. 

Then - finally, on the 19th of December, he was born.

Thirty-seven years ago. 

I don't need to try very hard to remember 19/12/84 but some distinct flashbacks make me question how it can be that these things happened 37 years ago!

• New Plymouth Base Hospital's maternity wing.
• The epidural process.
• Jacky telling me to get something to eat because it was going to take a while.
• Eating a McDonalds' meal on the steps of the maternity wing. Getting back to the ward just as things started kicking off.
• The birth itself - and crying at the miracle I was witnessing.
• Jacky saying, "That wasn't too bad" about a minute after the all day labour.
• Holding Keegan in my hands as Jacky slept. Feeling about as content and proud and grateful as it's possible to feel.

All very vivid in my mind, 37 years after the fact.

Happy birthday Keegan.  

Love - dad

You move like water sweet baby (Lana Del Rey)

Wie geht's?

Apologies to all my fellow non-farmer Hawke's Bay-ites. It's my fault!

Roughly two months ago - in and around Labour weekend, I repaired all of the irrigation lines around Maple Grove (two years of summer droughts being my inspiration), put out the outdoor furniture and the two sails over the zen garden outside my music room.

And it's rained pretty much ever since.

Sorry.

Love and peace - Wozza

Headline news, headline news! Everybody say Extra, extra, read all about it (Edwin Starr)

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Welcome to the Maple Grove news broadcast. Here are your headlines:

• Television removed from music lounge in record time!
• Mystery continues as dead rat stinks up Wozza's music vault!
• Laney, the Cat, climbs Christmas tree!
• Contacts pose pupil problems for Mrs P!

Stay tuned hepcats - pictures at 11.00.

Love and peace - WNP 

(Christmas) Pretty lights on the tree (Christmas) I'm watching them shine (Darlene Love)

Wie geht's?

Funny ain't it, how one job can lead to another job.

Job 1: put up the Christmas Tree.

Sounds simple? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! Ha Ha!

The present Mrs. Purdy decided it needed to go where the television is placed in our lounge.

I've been married for nearly 40 years. I've learnt a few, okay - a couple. Right right. Sorry. I've learn one thing in those years.

Once she gets an idea in her head - there's no shifting it.

Now. Putting the tree in the corner where the television is usually situated meant Job 2: move the television.

Sounds simple? Mwahahahahahahaha!!! Ha ha!!

We (yes, we) decided it could go into the music lounge. There weren't too many other options to be fair.

Unfortunately when the previous owner left three years ago, he also took with him a device to split the satellite aerial cables between rooms. The cables are still there but the only one connected to the aerial is in the lounge. Up to now - no problem - one location for the TV was okay. Now - problem!

I now needed to solve that situation.

Job 3: after driving to Waipukarau and buying a splitter and three cable connectors, I had to put my knee pads on and crawl on my belly underneath the house with my torch, tools, and spider brush - it was like Indiana Jones' cave down there, and add a splitter to the cable from the lounge to the music lounge (three rooms away).

Unfortunately, when I crawled  back and checked the TV, it hadn't worked. Aarrgghhhhh!!

I rang the appliance store guy in Waipuk. After listening to me ask if it was a cable issue there was a silence on the phone, then he said, "I'm so sorry - I know the problem - I sold you the wrong splitter".

Back I go to Waipukarau. Back I go under the house with my torch, tools and spider brush to clear away the cobwebs.

This time: Fab - the right splitter works, but the cable comes through the floor at the opposite end to the room to where we (yes, we) now want it.

Job 4: I crawl back under the house with my torch, tools and spider brush and Jacky drills a hole in the right corner of the room. Sorted.

Slight distractions now with Job 5/6: hang a picture that Jacky has found in Waipukarau while I was getting the right splitter, move furniture around (various tables that were holding various things in the places we've moved the television from and to need to move - which in term means moving some garden furniture about).

Finally, we're back to Job 1: put up the Christmas tree. That means digging all the various decoration boxes and the tree out of storage. My traditional job is erecting the tree and putting on the lights. Jacky does the decoration. This separation of labour works well.

It looks great, too, I think you'll agree. Worth all the palaver.

Love and peace - Wozza

I've got a feeling, I think that everybody knows (The Beatles)

Happy 30th to DLG

Wie geht's?

Thanks to Peter Jackson and Jade Purdy the weekend was a super lovely one. 

We celebrated Jade's 30th birthday with her on Sunday. BTW I love that photo above - beautiful!

This means the Purdettes pictured below are all now in their thirties. As a mate said to me recently - who would have thought we'd have children in their thirties? Feels strange given I still feel 22 inside but there you go.  

And Peter Jackson? Well, there are no words of gratitude adequate enough.

I watched the three episodes of Get Back over three days with a permanent grin. The culmination of the rooftop concert makes even more sense as a climax now. Maybe even Macca will agree with that - at the time he was really unsure about the roof as a venue - he was aiming for a more conventional audience.

I loved it and I'll be watching it again.

That brings to an end, for now, celebrations of the original Let It Be album and film. Phew - records, book and the three Get Back episodes. 

Job done!

Love and peace - Warren Ono Purdy

The five colours blind the eye. The five tones deafen the ear. The five flavours cloy the palate. Racing and hunting madden the mind (Lao Tzu)

Photo by Arno Smit on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

There isn't much that you would call 'exciting' happening in Wozza's World right now. That's a good thing.

As Lao Tzu says, 'Racing and hunting madden the mind'.

Two weeks left of the school year, Nu Zild is in a holding pattern with containment efforts for the spread of covid-19 actually working so far (we're moving away from lockdowns and into a traffic light system that no one seems to understand), and spring is holding on - sharp coolish mornings in Central Hawke's Bay that eventually go sunny and warm.

It all feels like a kind of a lull and that's welcome - life can't be full bore, pedal to the meddle, 24-7.  

These are the crucial times of tranquil restoration that Wordsworth talks of in Tintern Abbey:

In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind,
With tranquil restoration.

In my case, rather than think of the area around Tintern Abbey, it's a daily recollection of my friendship with two chums and how our lives, our friendship and love of music are intertwined.  

Love and peace - Wozza

There you go, and baby, here am I (Buddy Holly)

Photo by Roberto Martinez on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

You find me alone again naturally in a Gisborne motel room. I wasn't intending to come back to Gisborne until Term 1 next year but needs must.

I always like it when I get here but it's such a mission - four hours drive with a stop off in Wairoa for a coffee and a few muffins for the crew at the Gisborne campus (today's carrot ones were amazing).

I'm not used to my own company these days and a day at the Gisborne campus after a long drive (thank goodness for Greg's WTWMC* Spotify playlist), with dinner alone followed by writing this in a motel room - is all a slight shock to my system.

I'm okay doing this a couple of times a term but neither Jacky nor I would cope with any more than that.

Love and peace - Wozza

* Stands for Wander To Wozza's Music Club - with exclusive membership limited to three amigos. The world can enjoy our superb taste in music though by checking it out here.

Life is a rollercoaster, just gotta ride it (Ronan Keating)

Wie geht's?

Is it just me or do you also see increasing numbers of glitches in the matrix?

We live in challenging times, do we not? I sometimes feel like I'm experiencing a really bad dream but I keep waking up and this seems to be my reality.

Gone are the 'be nice to each other' messages as Covid-19 retightens its grip - a half-nelson I feel.

There are protests, roadblocks, border checkpoints, patrols, inducements to get vaccinated and test test test and recriminations.

I see Kiss bassist Gene Simmons has called the unvaccinated 'the enemy'. 

I can't do that - some of the unvaccinated are my friends, but there is the argument posited about that the unvaxed pose a potential risk to themselves and others (so, me).

It seems that both sides of the argument around vaccination can't see the other side's point of view.

The Auckland borders (another glitch - I still find it hard to believe there is such a thing as a border in NZ) are about to open and the consequences of that are pretty plain and grim.

Already cases have crept to our Central Hawke's Bay doorstep as the weekend saw reports of cases in Woodville - a little town about 40 minutes away on our way to Palmerston North, on our side of the Ruahines.

So it won't be long before it's everywhere in Nu Zild. It's inevitable, as Smith says in The Matrix.

Me? I'm still going to attempt to play nice - even though I share some of my fellow Kiwi's frustrations. I really don't want to think of my fellow Kiwis as enemies. As Yoko Ono says - try not to be angry, it is not good for your health.

Life is very much a rollercoaster - especially in 2021 NZ.

Love and peace - Wozza

That was 'I Dig A Pygmy' by Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf-Aids! (John Lennon)

Wie geht's?

The Beatles Get Back book was supposed to be released back on Oct 15 but it was delayed, delayed, delayed.

I kept ringing Whitcoulls because I figured they'd get it the same time as the online providers and I'd rather buy local if I can. So, I kept bugging them. And bugging them.

Eventually, on Monday I figured enough was enough so I searched for it on The Book Dispository, Fishpond and Mighty Ape - all of which I've used successfully before. 

Mostly the price was $90, although the highest was $143 for some reason (on Mighty Ape I think). Okay - but the delivery times were all 15 plus days away - from around Nov 26 onwards.

So again, I looked for it on the Whitcoulls site. They had it for $90 and were promising a 3 to 10 day delivery.

This is stoopid I thought - so I rang them figuring if it was only 3 days, they should have a copy soon at the Hastings store.

I rang and the shop assistant said, "Just a sec, I look it up on the computer". A few minutes drift on by and she comes back all bright and breezy and says, "We actually have a copy! We'll hold it for you".

"I'll be right there", says I - a nano second later - I'm handing over my loyalty card and getting $5 off the purchase price!

Jolly hockey sticks! At last!! 

I exited the shop (masked of course) holding the book aloft with two hands, punching the air like Rocky Balboa. YEEEEES!!

Now I just need to hook up Disney Plus to my device for the 6 hour Peter Jackson extravaganza. Sheer bliss.

I hope it's easier to do than obtaining the book has been.

Love and peace - Wozza

Time goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life. You must never miss the opportunity to tell those people how much they mean to you (Karen Blixen)

 

Nita with dad in Queensland 1994.

Wie geht's?

Last Saturday, my stepmother, Nita Purdy, passed away.

Nita is, was, the last person on earth who knew me from birth to now. She was chosen as one of mum's bridesmaids in 1953 so was all class. 

When mum passed away in 1983 Nita got in touch with dad to offer condolences and eventually things became romantically entwined and she became dad's second wife in 1987.

I was best man and did a speech at their wedding. My mother was a great judge of character and so I had no problem welcoming her (genuinely) to the whanau.

The marriage didn't last though and by 2009, when dad passed away, they had been separated for some time.

But, for a while there, they were a happy couple, and Nita was a terrific grandmother to the Purdettes.

However, she was a real technophobe so there was no way I could email her or have a relationship via Facebook. Instead, Nita was old school - landlines and letters via NZ Post.

As things sometimes happen, we lost touch with each other over the last few years, which I regret. When her niece got in touch with the news this week I was rocked a little.

She was a very genuine person, with a great sense of humour and an infectious laugh. She was very empathetic and cared for people. Surprise surprise, my mum picked a good one to have as a friend.

We are all richer for having had Nita in our lives. May she rest in peace.

Love - Warren

There ain't nothing like a friend who can tell you you're just pissing in the wind (Neil Young)

Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Friends. No not the artificial ones on the TV sitcom. Real friends.

We all have them - companions to travel through life with.  

One school of thought is that there are four types of friend:

• Friends like flowers
• Friends like weighing scales
• Friends like mountains
• Friends like the earth.

The first two types are negative influences. A flower like friend is a fair weather friend. A weighing scale friend only is one when you are in a position of power. They drop you like a stone once you are no longer of use.

The other two types are the true friends - they go the distance, they support you no matter what.

It takes a while to figure out who they are - the mountain friends. Like the men in that old Mainland cheese advertisement - these things take time.

My friends who are still friends after 30 plus years are true friends. I've learned to appreciate them more and more as the years go by and I value their sincerity, honesty, helpfulness, and acceptance. 

Love and peace - Wozza

Orange crate art was a place to start. Orange crate art was a world apart (Van Dyke Parks)

Wie geht's?

Recently, Meg Gallagher asked her Facebook friends to reply to her post with something that brings them joy - could have been a quote, a line of verse, a photo - anything.

Without a second's reflection, I instantly posted the picture above. 

Not only does music bring me great joy, but records in particular bring me constant joy, and even more specifically this album by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks is just a joyful collection of sounds.

Brian is freed up - he was employed by Parks as a singer only - not a songwriter or a producer ( both of which he is phenomenally talented at, btw).

I've loved this album since I bought a CD of it when it was released back in 1995. Having just returned from Palmerston North and a visit to JB Hi-Fi, I'm delighted to now be the possessor of a vinyl copy (it's finally now been released in that format).

In his sleeve notes Van Dyke Parks calls it a 'paeon' (sic) to California. He means a paean - as in - enthusiastic praise for California. A mythical, or at best, a long lost California that is: Sun dappled orange groves,  gorgeous music like Lullaby filling the air, as beautiful ladies (some called Jeanine) in bonnets frolick amongst the wild flowers. He really does conjure up those sensual delights in this album.

It's a gorgeous collection of music.

A paean to California? Oh, yes!

Love and peace - Wozza

I'll find the constant flow of all the harmony. Everybody needs a helpin' hand (Santana)

Wie geht's?

Back in the bib and tucker this week, with two days in Gisborne and two in Hastings. Travelling early in the week tends to zap my brain cells a bit and my routines get all out of whack.

The blog regimes definitely get disrupted, and so I haven't found the space to eek out anything for a few days.

Oh me oh my.

The drive to Gisborne from Takapau takes me about 4 hours. I usually stop off in Wairoa but the cafe I like isn't open on Mondays so this time I drove straight through on both days. That means roughly three and a half hours of driving the testing up and down and twisting road to Wairoa and then onwards to Gisborne. Not a lot of fun.

Gisborne is lovely when you actually get there, but like many places in Nu Zild you need a compelling reason to go (I'm thinking of places like New Plymouth, northland, and the whole of the east coast of the North Island).

When you think about it, vast tracts of both islands are very isolated - makes covid-19 inoculations extremely challenging because the vaccination needs to go to the people, not the people to the vaccination for a large percentage of Kiwis.

Anyway. I'm back at Maple Grove. Ready for an extra long weekend (Hawke's Bay anniversary and Labour Day) and more vegetable garden planting. 

Keep it real (and please - get the jab).

Love and peace - Wozza

Baby will you call me the moment you get there, baby? (Aretha Franklin)

Wie geht's?

Time for a project update with the study break coming to a conclusion this weekend.

Window sills: not quite zero, we did buy a mouse sander to get into the little nooks and crannies around window frames but that's it - no, like, actual work, like.

Irrigation system: good news here, as I managed to repair broken lines to the vegetable patches and create three new lines through different parts of the Maple Grove gardens. That even includes a line to two new flower baskets on the western deck.

This took up most of the week as it meant multiple trips to Mitre 10 Waipukurau for various pieces of irrigation and having to project manage fiddly bits as I went. 

Mundane jobs like this are good for the soul. They certainly keep you humble.

Working with water is endlessly frustrating but paradoxically it creates a great calming experience within the stress. Water finds its way and when you add a pressured situation - then leaks are a fact of life. That's this post's very deep bit.

Still, the garden jobs are pretty much done. Just have to build a wire netting cover for one of the vegetable beds before I head off to Gisborne on Monday morning for what should be my last visit this year. 

Love and peace - Wozza

Look through any window, yeah. What do you see? (The Hollies)

Wie geht's?

Okay, so here we are in week two of my term break from school. I didn't have much ompf last week for anything major but this week I'm feeling the need for some projects.

The irrigation system to the various gardens has been in a state of disrepair since we moved into Maple Grove three years ago, so I've started on a proper rebuild. It's been interesting so far - all seems okay until I actually turn the tap on from the well and various leaks in the alkathene rear their ugly heads. But the warm sunny days mean it's okay to fool around with the watering.

The villa we live in at Maple Grove is 120 years old so there are always maintenance and repairs with which to occupy our time during breaks from school. This week Jacky and I plan to sand down and re-stain the various interior window sills that we noticed needing doing when we bought the property. That's why there are pictures of three of the rooms attached to this post - there are a few of them!

These projects have come to the top of the list because we are wary of travelling to other provinces and getting stuck there. We were planning on going across the island to Taranaki but the Delta variant is on the move north and south from Auckland - swallowing up Northland and Waikato provinces in the process.

The government reacts quickly to outbreaks and there is always the possibility of escalation to a higher alert level. 

On the family zoom, we were detailing the incidents that lead to the covid-19 virus affecting KatiKati (one person who moved there after 5 negative tests) and Northland (a sex worker it appears faked documents and spent 4 days touring around the province); Adam (living in Melbourne) expressed amazement that we knew details of individual cases.

That gave me some perspective. Nu Zild is a small town.

So- we have decided that discretion is the better part of valour and we will stay safe at Maple Grove. That means ordering more records from Vinyl Countdown, Real Groovy Records and Marbecks while listeing to album club selections Mild Orange and Sufjan Stevens as we sand the sills.

Stay safe, wear a mask, please get the jab (I know readers of Wozza's Place are a responsible, considerate bunch, but you never know - an undecided may stray onto this page by mistake).

Love and peace - Wozza

There's you, the time, the logic or the reasons we don't understand. Sad courage claimed the victims, standing still for all to see (Yes - Close To The Edge)

Photo by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

We have a dilly of a pickle brewing in Aotearoa (New Zealand) around our response to the pandemic and its Delta strain.

According to our leaders, to move away from lockdowns we need around 90% or more of the eligible population to be vaccinated.

So far we look to be around 50% fully vaccinated, with 80% having had at least one dose. Which, if we presume the 30% are willing to get the second dose, leaves at least 10% to go to get to the 90% target. That last bunch is tricky to get.

Source: Ministry of Health

Tricky because they put up what seems like a cogent set of arguments and reasons to remain unvaccinated [BTW - these folk should not be linked to the rabid conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers who are clearly both a very small minority and, let's face it, nuts].

The following points relate to the vast majority of vaccine-hesitant people who are not nuts. They do not have a political agenda and are not committed to an anti-scientific cause. They are just undecided.  

1) Some want proof that there aren't long term effects from the vaccine. That requires time. Time in this case would be measured in years and that's a luxury we don't have.  See point 3 and please get the jab!

2) The elimination strategy NZ has employed successfully to date has now reached its use by date. Living with the virus poses serious issues - just looking at the UK doesn't generate much confidence. Melbourne's bet each way is neither one thing or the other and isn't currently very successful. I don't want endless lockdown yo-yos. Do you? Please get the jab!

3) Trust issues that people had before the pandemic have continued and are spread by folk, often via social media. Basically if you don't trust the World Health Organisation when they say the vaccine is safe for adults and children, like I do, then you'll not take it. Trust is fragile. It doesn't help when misinformation is deliberately spread by influential, seemingly intelligent people. Please don't be fooled. Don't give in to your inner confirmation bias. We have to trust certain things to live our daily lives. I trust people will obey road rules so I need to trust that on-coming traffic obeys the white lines on the road and won't drive into me, I pay tax and trust that the money will be spent well. When I donate money to World Vision I trust they will use my money wisely. I trust my doctor when he prescribes an antibiotic drug - don't you? Please get the jab!

4) Some people still believe the flu jab gives you the flu. Some people don't want to get the covid jab because they think it's allowing something dodgy into their system. Doesn't appear to matter that, as many health practitioners have repeated, the risks of severe side effects from a vaccine are tiny in comparison to the risk of the disease itself. Please get the jab!

5) Fear of needles is real for many people. I didn't especially like them when I was a kid but as I grew older I realised the fear was in my head. The vaccine doesn't hurt. At all! Please get the jab!

6) Complacency is a factor for some. The healthy fit young people out there seem to think they can ward off the virus with Vitamin C and a trip to the gym. Now I'm a huge fan of Vitamin C but even I know that it's not a panacea against Delta. Please get the jab!

7) For some people COVID-19 became politicised as ‘government control over my life’ and an infringement on individual choice and rights, not as a health issue. It's a democracy in NZ. The people elected a Labour government in NZ. I believe they have led us well and have competently managed a response to covid-19 to date. Oh sure it's not a perfect response and some people are pissed off with MIQ but let's keep our perspective. Governments didn't create the pandemic. It's a health problem. Please get the jab!

We all face challenges in our daily lives. Covid-19 is just the latest.

To the ten per cent out there. You have the power to change all of our lives for the better in so many ways. 

Please. Get the jab.

Love and peace - Wozza

Yes my name it is written in the sand and it cannot escape your sweeping hand (Jack Bruce/ Pete Brown)

Wie geht's?

Venerable master Hsing Yun divides life into four different levels: material (basic requirements like work, food, shelter); spiritual (love, exercise, improvements to our knowledge and wisdom); cultural (such as literature, music, art); religious (based on having a belief).

A couple of those levels are the focus of my other weblogs. Which means...it's time for a cultural catch-up on Wozza's Place. 

Viewing wise we are chewing through a couple of series on Netflix - Blindspot and Chicago Med. Both are okay but if you are the type who struggles with suspension of disbelief then I suggest you pass. Plus, I spend minutes each episode of Chicago Med looking at the ceiling during the realistic medical procedures. Nurse Jacky enjoys it though. Blindspot is ridiculous in a B grade kind of way, so we are hanging in there. Adam and Jill from work has recommended Vigil and we'll try that one too.

Music is always around me. I now have a two week term break from school so plenty of time to indulge. Currently I'm undergoing a catch up on bands like The Kinks and Genesis who I've dipped into over the years but in a cherry picking way. It's great discovering a band's back catalogue without needing to be a completist in the case of those two bands.

Also in music news: Greg, Kevin and I have started our version of an album club (each week we take it in turns to select an album to listen to and comment on - harmless innocent fun during these lockdown times - you should try it!)

In terms of art, I am waiting for The Beatles' Get Back to come out on Roctober 15, it's a tie in to the 50th anniversary editions of Let It Be, and I have a couple of graphic novels to catch up on including Mike McCartney's Family Album and Max Ernst's surrealistic novel in collage Une semaine de bonté.

Books that are on the go at present are Ian McEwan's Solar (again - it's okay and captured me in sections - a case of I was too far in to give it up) and Mike Barnes' A New Day Yesterday (subtitled UK progressive rock and the 1970s - wooah - am I the demographic for that one or what!)

And in other news: 

Have I mentioned before what lousy luck we have with cats? I feel like I have.

This week we said farewell to Rolly and Stevie. Sadly, during the fortnight that we had them, we discovered they had a variety of diseases that we couldn't live with, so, after some hard decisions were made, Jacky delivered them back to the SPCA.

Generally, we just don't have great luck with cats. They are either run over on the road, disappear during the night, escape in transit, or develop sickness.

It doesn't seem to matter if it's a cat from the SPCA (although we've had bad experiences with that source twice now) or a pet shop. It's the same result.

It's tough because we immediately invest our love and care and bond with animals quickly. Then it becomes a wrench when something happens to them. With cats, it seems that inevitably happens.

The upshot being a wariness and a reluctance to get involved with cats. Sorry team.

Love and peace - Wozza

No, you can't stop the music, nobody can stop the music. Tell the sun don't shine, stop Old Father Time 'cause that's easier to do (Village People)

Wie geht's?

It's the last week of Term 3 - the winter term in New Zealand.

The week, our second with new brother and sister duo Roland and Stevie pictured above, got off to a flyer yesterday with Arsenal beating North London neighbours Tottenham Hotspur 3 goals to 1. After a dire start to the season this win was a real tonic.

Aside from that the records I ordered some weeks ago from Auckland stores during the level 4 lockdown have finally arrived!!

And, in other news: I've pre-ordered my copy of The Beatles Let It Be - 5oth anniversary deluxe 5 record boxed set. It's due out around October 15th so I have a few weeks to wait impatiently.

I'm really really looking forward to this and Peter Jackson's six hour Get Back documentary later in November.

Aside from that - we now have three days left before we head off for a two week break - hoping to get to New Plymouth to visit Vinyl Countdown and...something else...what is it? Oh yes, and the in-laws!!

Love and peace - Wozza

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

Wie geht's?

News and communication is pretty instantaneous these days.

I went for a walk around the adjacent sports park at lunchtime yesterday (it's a frequent thing on nice weather days and a great way to clear the head), came back and went to the staff room for lunch where they were talking about a big earthquake in Melbourne; sent a quick message to Adam on the family chat and got an instant reply that he and his wife were shaken up but otherwise fine.

Great feeling knowing that instantly. Otherwise Jacky and I would have worried until we heard some reassuring news.

I'm very thankful for that aspect of the phone and modern technology.

It also allows me to keep in touch with friends like Noel Forth.

My recent Goo Goo G'Joob blog post reminded me of a time when I was about 18 (still a schoolboy) and Noel asked me to pick up a record for him (he still lives in Adelaide): The Radha Krsna Temple London album on Apple Records (pictured above).

He gave me an address in Ponsonby and I drove there after school on a Friday afternoon. It was a fairly grungy student flat, bottom floor of an old house - this is around 1976 so Ponsonby was still a run down part of central Auckland at that time.

A bearded young guy wearing sandals, I presumed a drug crazed University student, answered the door, invited me in and went to a pile of records stacked in an old beer crate. I grabbed the record, and beat a quick retreat before he and his drug crazed friends abducted me, shaved my head, and forced me to smoke some illicit substance or pop a pill that would alter my consciousness for ever (I'd read about this sort of thing and Paul McCartney had indicated his reticence for drug taking in that he might end up in a state that he couldn't return from). Oh my!

I have an active imagination!

I guess that's why I remember this isolated incident from the late seventies so vividly.

I asked Noel for details around how he knew the record was there and he couldn't remember anything about it at all!! Laugh out loud!

Love and peace - Wozza

Come dance all around the world (Blerta)

B side to Get It On - T Rex. I bought this 50 years ago!

Wie geht's?

Seriously. How are you?

Lockdowns in Auckland, Melbourne, the UK and elsewhere have affected our mental health.

Last year, very early on in the global pandemic, the University of Michigan conducted a survey during which researchers asked the participants to choose three words that best described their attitudes towards the pandemic. “Anxious,” “nervous,” “scared,” “stressed,” and “uncertain” were those that came up most often.

The same survey found that 38% of people were feeling tired or lacked energy, 36% were having sleep disturbances, and 25% were feeling down, depressed, or hopeless. Around 24% also reported having difficulty concentrating, 43% felt nervous, anxious, or on edge, 36% reported not being able to stop worrying, and 35% said that they were finding it hard to relax.

A year on, according to the article I read on the Medical News Today site:

Scientists are starting to see a global “surge” in depression. According to a December 2020 survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, 42% of people in the country reported symptoms of anxiety or depression that month. This was a huge increase from the 11% they recorded in 2019.

Another study that MNT reported on found that cases of depression in the U.S. had tripled over the course of the pandemic.

The picture looks similar worldwide. One recently published Nature article notes an increase of 9%  in depression rates in June 2020, compared with pre-pandemic times, among U.K. adults.

Another study that looked at residents in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada found a 14% increase in anxiety as a result of the pandemic.

If I was to survey my work colleagues, friends and family I'm sure that I'd find roughly the same findings amongst them too. 

So, what to do to counter these feelings of anxiety, stress, depression, lack of concentration, lack of energy, difficulty sleeping, and unhealthy eating habits?

Ahem. 

I'm pretty sure I did a similar post to this last year during our first round of severe Level 4 lockdown. A case of deja vu all over again, and I'd be interested to see if the advice that follows is the same. Kinda, sorta think it will be. But hey ho!

Here goes, and remember this is just stuff that works for me - I'm sure many readers will have their own coping strategies:

Laughter. Two of my best mates while away zoom breaks by engaging in a flow of dad jokes. 

Top three recently:

The worst time to have a heart attack is during a game of charades.

I put up a massive net in my garden to try and catch the Grim Reaper. The council has told me to take it down. Apparently it's a death trap.

I just swallowed a feather..and now I'm feeling a little down in the mouth.

Music. It's the best mood altering ethereal thing I've ever found (it almost feels like a substantial thing I can touch taste etc). I'm currently listening to The Marshall Tucker Band's Greatest Hits album while I type this. Pure joy! For me, that is. If Kamal, Slayer, Abba, Barry Manilow, or Lorde are your thing - chuck it on! No judgements!

Sidebar - I've been collecting records for roughly 50 years. It's an itch that I need to scratch. I do it because A) I love the music and appreciate the beauty and creativity that has gone into its creation; B) I'm have a slightly obsessive side to my personality; C) I have an emotional connection to a band or piece of music; D) I am nostalgic for my youth; E) there is some prestige attached to owning a piece of history that is hard to find;  F) It relaxes me. 

Exercise. Whatever and however you can - get away from that screen from time to time and walk outside and breathe. WHO recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week, or a combination of both. But do what you can. 

Hobbies. We all have something we are passionate about, or highly skilled at, or would like to find out more about. For Jacky it's horses specifically but she's an animal magnet; for my brother it's highly skilled engineering of models; for Adam it's making music; for Keegan it's photography; for Samantha it's drawing; for Jade it's baking, walking and gardening (she's an old soul); for a work colleague it's arts and crafts of stunning beauty. Maybe for you it's collecting spoons, or drawing and painting, or stamp collecting. Don't care. If you find it therapeutic forget about the cynics, doubters, and haters. Just do it!

Good luck. Stay safe. Be kind (assume that your workmates are doing the best they can!) 

And get vaccinated (it's the only alternative to lockdowns).

Love and peace - Dr Wozza (no charge for this session btw).

 

 

We had no idea that it couldn't be done (Tim Finn)

Wie geht's?

Having just returned from a shopping expedition north with the lovely Mrs Purdy, I have to say that mask compliance is looking pretty good in the Central Hawke's Bay/Havelock North/Napier areas.

Not only that, people seem happy to it.

Made me feel good, actually.

I had to wait a spell for Jacky, so I finished off the latest Mojo Magazine.

While reading it, I came across this great quote from that diamond Primal Scream geezer, Bobby Gillespie:

It's so easy to get angry over the way a dishwasher is loaded, while outside there's a full moon. Life is such a beautiful thing, and it's so easy to lose sight of that.

He's right isn't he! Keep safe. Keep wearing your mask.

Love and peace - Wozza

P.S. What did we buy? Shock horror probe: JFP - cushions. Me - CDs, books, a record.

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work (Thomas Edison)

Wie geht's?

Some random thoughts as I've transitioned from working from home to working back on site at my campus:

Boy, I can relate to Mr Edison.

Sometimes teaching feels like that - a continual process of trial and error, and the same feeling that it's not working, so let's try this and the vague feeling that it could always be better.

Same with most things, I guess.

Musicians must feel like this too. I often read articles featuring musicians who are never satisfied with their product - who want to redo it endlessly to get to some mystical place that exits only in their head.

My students must feel that too - Mr Purdy is never satisfied with my work - he's always looking for me to improve it.

Okay - so all humans then.

I guess animals never feel this. Tango, Jerry and Rey appear to be very happy with their lot: love and attention; some grub at regular intervals, and a run around. Every day - the same thing. No thirsting for an improvement. Oh sure, Jerry is never satisfied with the amount of time he gets to chase a stick or a bubber ball, but that's not really the same thing, right?

Jacky and I have finished watching the third season of Wanted.

It ended at exactly the right time (I hope they don't mess around with it and make season 4 - t'would be a big mistake).

We've moved on to watch a documentary series on the 9/11 terrorist attacks in America.

It's been 20 years since that day. Twenty Years!

As we watch again those scenes, the whole thing still seems wildly unbelievable. 

I stood open mouthed in our Alpha St., living room, watching as this happened live on SkyNews.

Unbelievable.

Twenty years later it's a series of documentaries on TV. And my students in Year 10 research it to write a formal report.

As Jacky and I watched we couldn't help reflect on the example of the meddling in Afghanistan; from the Soviet invasion to the recent withdrawal of American troops, we're still adding to Edison's tally of ways that won't work.

Love and peace - WNP

I can give you the present, I don't know 'bout the future - that's all stuff and nonsense (Split Enz)

Wie geht's?

Those of you who aren't that predisposed to my rantings and ravings on topics related to music can look away now.

Come on! You know who you are!

Okay. For the rest of you who want to stick around: this one is going to be inspired by my thoughts while reading Mike Chunn's latest memoir - A Sharp Left Turn.

Let's get the Wozza review over with quickly - although he still has an idiosyncratic floral writing style at times, this is a much more rewarding read than Stranger Than Fiction - his previous attempt to chronicle his life with the Enz. 

Interested in life in Auckland in the second half of last century? Or NZ music? Or delving into the troubling world of panic attacks and agoraphobia? Or a Split Enz fan? Or a Citizen Band fan? Go buy a copy!

As I was reading it I had no trouble identifying with Mike Chunn. Like him - I grew up in 1960's Auckland, went to a traditional boys school in the seventies, then Auckland University, and I've experienced some debilitating panic attacks through my life.

Unlike him, I'm a couple of years younger, I was a day boy, I did an arts degree, I can't play any musical instrument, and my panic attacks weren't frequent enough for me to seek medicinal assistance.

While reading, it turns out that our lives also intersected in the audience at some seminal gigs during those Enz/CB years.

We were both at the After Hours/ Waves gig at the Maidment Arts Theatre (Auckland University), watching Geoffrey Chunn and Neil Finn play in After Hours before Waves performed. I was there with my mate - Greg Knowles.

Greg and I also went to the Auckland Town Hall on May 25th to see the Enz on their 1979 Give It A Whirl tour (ex Enzer Phil Judd's next band - The Swingers were the support and I remember complaining to Greg that they were too damn loud), then we were all at His Majesty's Theatre for a sublime Enz gig.

I watched the Enz and CB perform at Nambassa (truth to tell I remember watching the Enz but was too knackered to fully focus on the Citizen Band who followed them).

Finally, Greg, Kevin Simms and I watched the slicker Enz at the Logan Campbell Centre (I remember us discussing what song they'd start with as we waited).

While reading I dug out my Enz and CB recordings (including a bootleg concert CB Live at Mandrill Studios) and enjoyed reliving some amazing musical memories.

Thanks for that Mike. 

Love and peace - Wozza