Day Nineteen - Gannets, Zoom and Chocolate
A quiet and rather uneventful Easter Monday morning, doing a bit of housework, washing etc.
I nipped down to the beach around 2pm. It was very windy. Sand stinging your calves windy. Spray flying off the wave-tops windy. But quite pleasant all the same. Air was warm, and water was warm too. Warm as a bath.
Every day you're on this beach, it's different. Being there today was not remotely like any of the other 19 days during lockdown. Small waves unfurled in orderly fashion, spray unleashed by the wind. The light changed often. Sometimes it was flat as a pancake.
Some large gannets were soaring overhead, dive-bombing into the ocean for fish. I waded into the water to get closer, in the hope of some video footage. Of course, like watching the pot boil, they didn't dive while I watched and waited, they just swooped around promisingly overhead. Impressive all the same. A very large bird was bobbing on the water the whole time, he'd obviously caught his lunch.
Of course, the moment I decided to head back up the beach and abandon my bird-dive watching ... a bird dive-bombed right in front of me - but I didn't have my camera at the ready.
Hopefully after Covid the fish will be plentiful and cheap for us humans. Why fish is so expensive here in this island nation surrounded by water is beyond me.
As I didn't manage to capture diving gannets, here's a link to some spectacular footage I found on YouTube of masses of them bombing like little rockets. Amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8vaFl6J87s
Zoom
Reflected on the nature of Zoom meetings today. It was only about a month ago that I first used Zoom (for meetings, just before lockdown) and now I seem to be using it every other day (for meetings and pleasure). And I like it!
There are other similar platforms of course, and the technology has been around for some time, but the concept of having lots of people on screen conversing productively together is great. Whether for work or pleasure, it creates a different dynamic to that of being in the same room together. People engage somewhat differently. And I think it's largely positive.
Focussing on social Zooming ... rather than drifting off into little cohorts to chat, or being distracted by this and that, everyone is in on the whole conversation.
Repartee needs to step up a notch and be purposeful. Jokes need to be really funny. Undoing a faux pas is harder. Engagement is easier. If a topic doesn't grab attention, conversation will swiftly move on. There's less opportunity for waffle. Less point in making trite comments. More opportunity to ask a direct question and get an answer - after all, everyone's watching and waiting. Less wriggle room.
The fact that everyone is staring at each other the whole time and can see all expressions at once - not usually the case when you're seated on couches and chairs haphazardly placed in a living room having segmented conversations - means there's more opportunity to hold people's attention, more opportunity to listen. There's a measure of focus and "pass the talking stick" about it all. And that's a good thing.
If something obviously funny is said, each individual will laugh of their own accord, rather than being spurred on by a vibe in a room,, the person next to them or the need to laugh a little to indulge the joke-teller, even if it wasn't funny.
Nothing like a huge hearty Zoom laugh session! With wine!
Overall, strange as it may seem, I think there's a higher level of authenticity when you're all on screen together. It's great!
Brunch: poached eggs, creamy mushrooms, tomato
Dinner: mac'n cheese - several different cheeses, mushrooms, red/green capsicum, red onion & jalapenos for a hint of bite - with parmesan and balsamic glaze on top
SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Chocolate ...
I'm a self-confessed chocoholic, and have been known to eat an entire block in one sitting, although I rarely do so these days. I can also go for weeks when I don't touch the stuff; unusual, but sometimes I just don't feel like eating it.
I'm a big fan of Whittakers "Coconut Block" - just the right amount of softness, texture and taste all bundled together. I've also acquired a taste for Cadbury Caramilk.
I'm therefore very happy about a joke competition being held amongst the Auckland Racehorse Owners committee members - devised in line with racing protocol (draw, handicap, judiciary), we each need to submit the best joke or cartoon we've come across (not a video). Voting will take place after nominations close in a couple of days. A bit of fun! And the prize - a bar of Whittakers put up by the sponsor!
On the matter of chocolate, I watched Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory tonight - for the umpteenth time. I'm a huge Roald Dahl fan - and love his adult stories even more than the children's ones. Dark and twisted, they are masterful from concept to delivery. Taunting and haunting, macabre and often satisfying in the strangest of ways, he does story-telling with commentary on life second-to-none. Bring back "Tales of the Unexpected" ...
Back to Willy Wonka ... the themes, dialogue, visuals, music ... this Charlie Bucket story has it all.
Tim Brooke-Taylor, from The Goodies, has a small role near the beginning of the film, as an exasperated computer operator. I found out just an hour or so earlier that he died today, from Covid, aged 79. Although I had no idea it was coming, I took extra notice of that little clip. Very timely. Although it was kinda silly, I used to quite like The Goodies.
I didn't like the later 2005 remake of this movie with Johnny Depp.
Gene Wilder is genius.
Roald Dahl is off-the-scale genius. Do read "The Way Up To Heaven" ... and all his other adult stories!
I nipped down to the beach around 2pm. It was very windy. Sand stinging your calves windy. Spray flying off the wave-tops windy. But quite pleasant all the same. Air was warm, and water was warm too. Warm as a bath.
Every day you're on this beach, it's different. Being there today was not remotely like any of the other 19 days during lockdown. Small waves unfurled in orderly fashion, spray unleashed by the wind. The light changed often. Sometimes it was flat as a pancake.
 |
| Omaha Beach photo of the day - stretching to the horizon |
Waves unfurl
Some large gannets were soaring overhead, dive-bombing into the ocean for fish. I waded into the water to get closer, in the hope of some video footage. Of course, like watching the pot boil, they didn't dive while I watched and waited, they just swooped around promisingly overhead. Impressive all the same. A very large bird was bobbing on the water the whole time, he'd obviously caught his lunch.
Of course, the moment I decided to head back up the beach and abandon my bird-dive watching ... a bird dive-bombed right in front of me - but I didn't have my camera at the ready.
Hopefully after Covid the fish will be plentiful and cheap for us humans. Why fish is so expensive here in this island nation surrounded by water is beyond me.
As I didn't manage to capture diving gannets, here's a link to some spectacular footage I found on YouTube of masses of them bombing like little rockets. Amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8vaFl6J87s
Zoom
Reflected on the nature of Zoom meetings today. It was only about a month ago that I first used Zoom (for meetings, just before lockdown) and now I seem to be using it every other day (for meetings and pleasure). And I like it!
There are other similar platforms of course, and the technology has been around for some time, but the concept of having lots of people on screen conversing productively together is great. Whether for work or pleasure, it creates a different dynamic to that of being in the same room together. People engage somewhat differently. And I think it's largely positive.
Focussing on social Zooming ... rather than drifting off into little cohorts to chat, or being distracted by this and that, everyone is in on the whole conversation.
Repartee needs to step up a notch and be purposeful. Jokes need to be really funny. Undoing a faux pas is harder. Engagement is easier. If a topic doesn't grab attention, conversation will swiftly move on. There's less opportunity for waffle. Less point in making trite comments. More opportunity to ask a direct question and get an answer - after all, everyone's watching and waiting. Less wriggle room.
The fact that everyone is staring at each other the whole time and can see all expressions at once - not usually the case when you're seated on couches and chairs haphazardly placed in a living room having segmented conversations - means there's more opportunity to hold people's attention, more opportunity to listen. There's a measure of focus and "pass the talking stick" about it all. And that's a good thing.
If something obviously funny is said, each individual will laugh of their own accord, rather than being spurred on by a vibe in a room,, the person next to them or the need to laugh a little to indulge the joke-teller, even if it wasn't funny.
Nothing like a huge hearty Zoom laugh session! With wine!
Overall, strange as it may seem, I think there's a higher level of authenticity when you're all on screen together. It's great!
Brunch: poached eggs, creamy mushrooms, tomato
Dinner: mac'n cheese - several different cheeses, mushrooms, red/green capsicum, red onion & jalapenos for a hint of bite - with parmesan and balsamic glaze on top
SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Chocolate ...
I'm a self-confessed chocoholic, and have been known to eat an entire block in one sitting, although I rarely do so these days. I can also go for weeks when I don't touch the stuff; unusual, but sometimes I just don't feel like eating it.
I'm a big fan of Whittakers "Coconut Block" - just the right amount of softness, texture and taste all bundled together. I've also acquired a taste for Cadbury Caramilk.
I'm therefore very happy about a joke competition being held amongst the Auckland Racehorse Owners committee members - devised in line with racing protocol (draw, handicap, judiciary), we each need to submit the best joke or cartoon we've come across (not a video). Voting will take place after nominations close in a couple of days. A bit of fun! And the prize - a bar of Whittakers put up by the sponsor!
On the matter of chocolate, I watched Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory tonight - for the umpteenth time. I'm a huge Roald Dahl fan - and love his adult stories even more than the children's ones. Dark and twisted, they are masterful from concept to delivery. Taunting and haunting, macabre and often satisfying in the strangest of ways, he does story-telling with commentary on life second-to-none. Bring back "Tales of the Unexpected" ...
Back to Willy Wonka ... the themes, dialogue, visuals, music ... this Charlie Bucket story has it all.
Tim Brooke-Taylor, from The Goodies, has a small role near the beginning of the film, as an exasperated computer operator. I found out just an hour or so earlier that he died today, from Covid, aged 79. Although I had no idea it was coming, I took extra notice of that little clip. Very timely. Although it was kinda silly, I used to quite like The Goodies.
I didn't like the later 2005 remake of this movie with Johnny Depp.
Gene Wilder is genius.
Roald Dahl is off-the-scale genius. Do read "The Way Up To Heaven" ... and all his other adult stories!
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