Hello! How are you? Have you been alright through all those lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely lonely nights? That's what I'd say, I'd tell you everything if you'd pick up that telephone (Electric Light Orchestra)

Wie geht's?

Modern communication technology is great when it works, isn't it. When it doesn't? Moshkala (pronounced moosh/killer). It's Arabic for problem.

Recently, during Cyclone Gabrielle, power, internet and cell phones all went dead for a period of time.

For a while there, I couldn't contact anyone, and no one could contact me.

Power in Takapau came back after a few hours and so did internet and cell phone reception. But elsewhere on the East Coast, in Napier (Napier!!) and Gisborne, there was radio silence for days!

That was super frustrating, as it became extremely difficult to contact my workmates in the worst affected areas. That lead to anxiety about their safety. And so it went on, for days.

(this big gap is me thinking)

I'm sorry, but I don't have a solution for all that because we are so reliant on technology these days. Any ideas?

Love and peace - Wozza

And the rain rain rain came down down down

Wie geht's?

Having just had Cyclone Gabrielle pay a visit, we now have heavy rain warnings for the next few days. Sigh.

Made me instantly think about this scene:

Love and peace and kia kaha whanau - Wozza

I was mistaken, only reflections, of a shadow that I saw (David Crosby)

Wie geht's?

What a week! An 6.1 earthquake gave the house a shake to add a timely full stop to a week when Hawke's Bay was caught up in a National Emergency thanks to a tropical cyclone that swung by after visiting the north.

Cyclone Gabrielle did its best to wipe out a lot of stuff made by humans in Hawke's Bay, Gisborne, Auckland and Northland: crops destroyed; homes swept away; fatalities; water levels that ripped out bridges and roads; power out; cell phones useless...

It was a tough, challenging week but I kept these words from Ma in mind:

“Women can change better’n a man,” Ma said soothingly.

 “Woman got all her life in her arms. Man got it all in his head.”“Man, he lives in jerks-baby born an’ a man dies, an’ that’s a jerk-gets a farm and looses his farm, an’ that’s a jerk. Woman, its all one flow, like a stream, little eddies, little waterfalls, but the river, it goes right on. Woman looks at it like that. We ain’t gonna die out. People is goin’ on-changin’ a little, maybe, but goin’ right on.”

― John Steinbeck, quote from The Grapes of Wrath

Love and peace to the North East and kia kaha - WNP

We love The Arsenal, we do!

Arsenal v AC Milan in Dubai*

Wie geht's?

The crowd chanted 1 nil to The Arsenal after we went ahead against Brentford this morning (4.00am NZ kick off).

But I wasn't confident of a clean sheet, to be fair.

Sure enough - a professional foul by the Brentford (since when is clashing the defender behind his back allowed??) led to a scrappy goal and we finished up 1-1.

After the Everton loss this is another blow but football always keeps fans on their toes with a dodgy feeling in the collective pits of their stomachs.

Winning in sport is never guaranteed. We wouldn't be drawn to the drama if it was.

Manchester City in midweek - a real toughie. Come on Arsenal! 

Love and peace - Gooner Wozza

* The ticket above was from our recent trip to Dubai. I was lucky enough to see Arsenal play (and beat) AC Milan in the Premier League lull while the World Cup was on in Qatar. I had an alert on my phone that the Dubai Super Cup was happening and when I checked I realized I'd be in Dubai for it. Not only that, it was within walking distance from our hotel.

What a great privilege to see the boys in action!

Well, I've been up all night leanin' on the window sill (Bob Dylan)

Photo by Ante Samarzija on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

We've just returned from a trip to New Plymouth. After getting one of those dreaded 'you-need-to get-here-as-quick-as-you-can' phone calls, we made the late night, four and a half hour, stressful journey across the island.

We place a lot of trust in the medical fraternity, do we not? When they tell us something we tend to believe them. But they are human just like us and pilot error leading to medical misadventure is always possible.

In this case we were so relieved to find that the patient was making daily improvements, we were aggrieved but relieved.

The dosage of the medication had been the tipping point, and a doctor's misreading of the subsequent situation ended up in our late night mercy dash. That is worrying on a few levels.

Because we all trust the process and the medical profession generally, there is nothing we could have done to prevent either mistake happening.

We just have to trust that they get things right next time. What else can you do?

Love and peace - Wozza