Day 2, Level 1: Matakana pub quiz, Jolly/Jester masks

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Back up to Omaha today.
I've done the Auckland-Omaha trip 4 times in 4 days now. Never done that before. 
But had to get up and down for various commitments, and it's do-able, although traffic horrid.

I've wondered whether I should keep blogging - or if I even have the capacity to do so, now life is getting back to normal and busy life beckons. 
But it's a great way to record these days and what I'm up to - and it's likely that post-Covid days will be as intriguing as pre and during.  So I'll keep on going - but it may not be every day. And it may be short.  I love to write and ramble and my typing speed is such that I can go to town and I don't generally spend time reviewing and editing. It is what it is.

The reality is that post-Covid is going to be as intriguing - albeit in a different way - to those Covid days. So I'll keep posting as and when I can.

After doing a bit of a house-clean and some work on computer back in Auckland, I headed back up to Omaha late afternoon - much later than intended (I got a bit too caught up in cleaning and working). Getting out of Auckland was horrible. Once I was beyond the city suburbs, all was fine. The journey took 1.5 hours (usually an hour). 

And then ... after settling in, and being Wednesday, I realised it was quiz night at Matakana Pub. I'd been at quiz last night in Auckland for the first time in person since lockdown. Loved it. Thought I'd try Matakana Village Pub. Rang up, said I was a solo, they said they'd slot me into a team. I was there in a jiffy. So ... there I was back in Matakana at the pub for quiz! I am dedicated if nothing else!

Met Kelvin and the team - called the Random Rogues, it's a mishmash of Kelvin and whoever turns up and isn't part of another team. Other newbies there tonight too. All good. The minute I mentioned I was a quizzer I had pad and pen thrust at me and was designated scribe and scorer. All good. I do know the ropes and it took the pressure off those who usually do it but don't really like doing it! 
Some people in the team tonight had never been to quiz before. 
Others like to drift off and have a cigarette or yarn with someone who comes in for a drink (not quiz). 

Gosh it was fun. Absolutely LOVED it. All locals from the area. Some knew each other, some didn't. By half way through the night we all knew each other very well indeed. There were 9 of us in the team and we worked jolly well together. We didn't win but we did very well. And we had such fun.
I am so glad I went along tonight, on a whim. It was utter fun, start to finish. 

During chat, I discovered Kelvin manages the pub. Hence the taking on of random rogues to create a team! Great contact to have, especially with my travel offering in the area. Learnt heaps about and from a bunch of lovely locals - in fact, it ended up being  kind of a business connection, which wasn't what I was expecting.  So good.

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Here are a couple of photos of my fave and more complex masks I've created. The female one is the Jolly, the male the Jester. Using techniques I learnt in Venice (in a very subtle way - the mask artisans there do NOT give away their secrets, but I managed to glean them from one lovely woman!)






This was the promo image for an art exhibition I did with Richard Leonard (who took the photo)




 



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