the road to work

A year ago I posted a photo of The Greeting Tree . . .

The Greeting Tree

The Greeting Tree

I pass this tree every morning on the way to work and imagined this great verdant creature waving out to all the passing traffic. It always made me smile.

Last winter there was some damage and it doesn’t quite have the same effect now that it has been decapitated.  I’ve tried to create another image in my mind but somehow it isn’t quite as benign.  It looks a bit like a big-nosed head, perhaps with a horn, emerging from the ground.  Maybe I can train myself to imagine an arm extending up, waving, but it looks more like it’s ready to lurch forward and grab some hapless motorist then disappear back into the underworld.

Greeting Tree

The Greeting Tree – decapitated

Is it time for me to stop working?

a pandemic

It’s a strain of influenza and I even know what type it is . . . Type O

The symptoms of this pandemic are dependent of where you live.  Here in New Zealand they are dry, scratchy eyes, particularly in the morning but increasing as the day progresses; an inexpicable longing to become nocturnal; in extreme cases, narcolepsy.  In Australia they might appear as an urge to rush home early from work, feelings of disappointment and extreme tiredness in the morning while in the USA, the compulsion to go to bed early and rise early will be difficult to resist and become more pronounced moving across the country from east to west.

Type-O flu has struck both of my grand-daughters particularly hard and they are now often be seen cavorting on the balustrade around the deck or having giggly conversations while upside-down.

Yes of course, it’s the London Olympics 2012, and with a 12-hour time difference, unless I stay up all night I have to content myself with replays although it is pretty cool to wake up and find that through the night, there have been 2 more gold medals and a bronze added to our tally!

So now we have 6 medals, we’re 2nd in the per capita rankings and we’ve done it all sitting down!    I almost forgot one sypmton common to all sufferers – an outpouring of national pride. 🙂