Music's in my heart, I can't deny; I wake up every day to hear the high (L.A.B)

Wie geht's?

Music soothes me like nothing else.

I ordered a few records last week because it was a cabbage week at work and I needed something to look forward to.

I have a lot of music at home but I noticed a couple of albums on a Vinyl Countdown Facebook page. They often highlight new second hand additions to the store.

One was a pretty obscure Jerry Garcia album called Reflections. It was on my list, so I sent off an order. Being Vinyl Countdown it arrived the next working day.

I put it on last night while JFP watched the news.

Arrrrrr. Nice. I immediately felt my shoulders relax and feet started a-tapping and my heart started a-singing.

Thank you Jerry and thank you Vinyl Countdown and thank you TV One news and thank you OneSchool Global for providing me with a job/wage so that I can indulge my need for music.

Love and peace - Wozza

Do you know what's going on? Take me by the hand singing, "Yes, I do" (L.A.B)

Wie geht's?

Have I done my annual celebration of autumn post yet? 

It's a long held tradition so I thought I'd link to a few of my past efforts celebrating my favourite season.

Here you go:

One from 2015, one from 2018, one from 2020, and one from 2021.

Love and peace - Wozza

In the fire, the king will come; thunder rolls, piper and drum (Wishbone Ash)

The stars of the future

Wie geht's?

The coronation of King Charles III was something Jacky and I needed to be a part of, so we stayed up well past our usual bedtime and watched history being made.

Some random thoughts as I watched:

• Poor Charles - he looked like a man who has been waiting an eternity for the moment to be crowned King, and when the moment finally arrives he realizes that it's not all that it's cracked up to be.
• William and Kate's family looks perfect. Is it a case of too good to be true? I bet they have some barneys like everyone else.
• Poor Harry - I bet he thought he'd escaped but no. As George Costanza would say - just when you think you're out, they pull you back in (or the Eagles - you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave)
• I missed Queen Elizabeth's coronation by 4 years but watching film of it - at a very young age she looks way more comfortable, controlled and in command than Charles.
• All the costume puffery of Lord Mayor this and Lord Mayor that looks absolutely ridiculous in 2023
• The attempted modernisation of the coronation fell flat for me - it's an ancient, arcane, convoluted, complicated, antiquated, mysterious, enigmatic event - that's the point!!
• Welsh males can sing like no one else on Earth.
• We're still not Camilla fans. Just felt wrong.
• Echoes of the opening scenes of The Godfather played in my head as liege men paid tribute (William as Michael, Charles as Don Corleone).
• I remain a royalist, despite it all.

Love and peace - Wozza

Close your eyes and hear the call you know so well (Crowded House)

Wie geht's?

Asher's big fourth birthday this week. He may struggle to remember back to when he was four when he's an adult but the words 'whoopee cushion' may trigger some thoughts.

For the uninitiated, a whoopee cushion recreates a noise resembling human flatulence when you sit on it.

So, this gift from Fanfa was the hit of the day when we visited on the weekend. Funny how bodily function gags resonate with children of all ages (Jacky loves them too!). 

Love and peace - Wozza 

Take the world in a love embrace, fire all of your guns at once, and explode into space (Steppenwolf)

April 21 1984 L-R Margo, Chris, Clay

Wie geht's?

While discussing Diana Wichtel in the previous post, I mentioned Margo Buchanan-Oliver and how she deserves a post.

Margo was an exceptional person, and a huge influence on me as a person. Exceptional, as in extraordinary, unequalled.

When I look around our house I see reminders of her (and her partner Clay)  and indications of her influence on our aesthetics are everywhere; including pictures, vases, books, furniture. Even our lack of clutter aesthetic. My memories are chock a block with Margo moments.

I can trace many things back to Margo. I owe her a lot and I can never repay her.

Margo took her own life five years ago, on the 25th of April 2018.

I met her at a crucial, impressionable, time.

In 1979, my friends at Auckland University, who included buddies from school and the rec centre crew, all left at the end of their degrees, and while I stayed in touch as best I could, they were no longer day to day contacts as I started my Masters' degree in English.

So, in 1980, my friendship group expanded. I can't quite remember how I found Margo or how she found me. We must have crossed paths in a lecture or a tutorial. Maybe it was mutual friend Chris Loud who introduced us? 

I was doing my first year of my MA and my choice of courses was quite schizophrenic, being split between interests in 15th century drama, Chaucer, Shakespeare and 20th century poetry, drama and novels.

I do know that I quickly became close friends with her and her partner Clay Bodvin. 

Margo is, was, a fiercely brilliant, perceptive, intellectually curious, imposing genius, but she also had a huge heart. She cared deeply about her family and her friends. She was all class. 

She adopted me and I was extremely happy to be considered worthy of her time. She also cut through bullshit like nobody I've ever seen before or since.

Anyway, they were living in Blockhouse Bay and I was still at home in Mt Roskill South, so it wasn't a big deal to get in the mini and head over and hang out for discussions, meals, record sessions (I was also a huge fan of both rock music and medieval music - another bonding point).

After finishing our MAs I headed to New Plymouth and met Jacky (love at first sight on my part), while Margo continued with her PhD studies. 

We remained in touch from then on throughout the eighties: Margo was  MC at our wedding, Clay was my best man; they are Godparents to Keegan. From the nineties onwards it was a case of intermittent contact as either they or we moved around NZ and the world for various reasons.

Throughout all the years, her letters or cards would reach us wherever we were (she always began them with 'Wie geht's?' How are you?), or else we would make a point of visiting them at Huia Road or the university, where she was a leading light in the business faculty.

Yes, I miss her, as I really really miss all those who have passed from my life, but the continual reminders of her help and advice and her piercing questioning about my purpose in life will never fade.

Thank you Margo.

Warren

At daybreak the wind began to blow hard again, and the heavens seemed to predict a gale (Jules Verne)

Wie geht's?

I don't often read three books concurrently, but I have this past week (second and last week of my term break).

Not simultaneously yunnerstand - I read a chapter or two at a time and rotate them until I'm done.

Usually I find that difficult but somehow these three books have worked well in rotation.

The three: Martin Chuzzlewit (it's a biggie -800 pages long so it's taking a while - I'm a bit over halfway); Around The World In 80 Days (Jules Verne's classic); and Diana Wichtel's Driving To Treblinka.

The Jules Verne because we watched the TV show on demand recently - it was okay, and the film version with Steve Coogan and Jackie Chan (rubbish! And I love Jackie Chan). I am keen to rewatch the Michael Palin documentary from 1988, as I have good memories of it, and have had to buy the DVD set on TradeMe. It's not available via streaming, YouTube or to buy new so TradeMe it is.

It's Driving To Treblinka that was finished first.

I knew Diana briefly when our lives intersected in the early 1980s when we were both studying for our masters degrees in English at Auckland University. She was Diana Alpers then as she was married to Philip Alpers. During that time she left Philip, started up with her new partner, Chris, and changed back to her maiden name.

Driving To Treblinka is about her search for information on her father, but it doubles as her autobiography.

As I knew her, albeit briefly, I was keen to read it and see if she mentioned me. Ha ha.  

She doesn't btw. Smiley face.

It was still fun reading her story leading up to the years I knew her. I had no idea what her life had been like up to that point. How much do we ever really know about anyone?

In truth, she was more of an acquaintance, rather than a close friend, because she shared a work space in the English Department offices with Margo. At that time I think she'd started a PhD - hence the office space.

I knew she was Canadian because she spoke with a Canadian accent (without the Canadian 'eh') but that was about it. We attended some mutual parties, I'd say hi when visiting Margo, which I did that a lot - Margo was an amazingly brilliant person and deserves a book of her own, and then we all left University. Margo went into advertising, I went to New Plymouth and Diana started writing a TV column for The Listener.

We haven't seen each other since and she hasn't returned my Facebook friend request (yet).

Her book is excellent by the way - really engrossing despite all of the Polish names and the unfathomable horror of the Treblinka death camp (which her father miraculously escapes but the rest of his immediate family does not).

As with Passepartout, Mr Pinch, and Mr Fogg, I cheered her on as she negotiated the search and the fallout from her dedicated pursuit.

She's a hell of a writer! 

Love and peace - WNP

We can't chase after time but we can see clearly the value of life from it (Hsing Yun)

Love birds

Wie geht's?

April again. That means all those anniversaries pop up with startling regularity. Long standing readers will remember a variety of posts over the years in April that celebrate our family weddings. Here's last year's version frinstance.

I think I've used a great passage from 266 Days With Wisdom for the 21st of April before - that date happens to be our 39th wedding anniversary.

It bears repeating:

Anything of value should not be temporary; it should last into the future. Anything of value should not depend on superficial factors; it should be realized from the depth of the heart.

Love and peace and happy anniversary baby - Woz