Day 19, Level 1: Dreams, summer, Tintoretto, quarantine islands and fish heads!

Oh another lovely lie-in! Why not!?

My dreams last night involved topsy turvy houses with stairs that were virtually inaccessible and unused nooks and crannies in weird places that were strangely hard to access. And then suddenly these people came and dumped all their "storage" items into this weird house (my home) and suddenly there were no nooks and crannies - and no space for us! The neighbours upstairs had a strange arrangement that was more like a mezzanine to our house so we could overlook each other, up or down. It was all crazy and bizarre.

I can't remember for the life of me the ins and outs of the previous night's dream where people were trying to sabotage me or whatever. And no doubt tomorrow I'll have forgotten the detail of last night's dream of house invasion!

I do have a recurring dream where I'm in a strange looking commercial airplane and it's flying all askew and going under bridges and goes off on weird tangents and is a bit like a roller coaster ride. It never actually lands. This dream occurs when I am in need of escape to far off places, to connect with friends etc. In the dream I never quite get to those places or friends. I'm surprised I haven't had this dream every night for the past 7 months!!!! 

Maybe I'm going a bit mad? Oh, I already am!

A spectacular day today that shouted "summer". I went for a beach walk with Lynn, it was pretty windy down there, but not unpleasant as the temperature was warm. It's the first day of the Surf Club being on duty - Labour Weekend. A few in swimming. And apparently the water is quite warm. But nowhere near warm enough for me yet!

Brett headed home around midday. I did some work on the computer and then went to the movie "Tintoretto: A Rebel in Venice" with friends Marie and Charles in Matakana. It was such a nice day that sitting in a movie theatre in the afternoon was a bit offputting. Plus I had heaps of work to do. But ... a doco movie about a Venetian artist ... yes! And in one of the lovely Matakana Cinemas ... yes! We were in the "Roxy" - the ceiling is draped with sumptuous fabrics in a criss-cross woven arrangement, the seats are ultra-comfy (some with cushions), plenty of leg room, and it's all just a little bit decadent.

The film was great - including superb footage of Venice, along with the intriguing story of this "rebellious" artist known asTintoretto. What he achieved was phenomenal and how he went about it was astounding. He survived the plague of 1576-1577 which killed 50,000 in Venice, almost a third of the population. He lived till he was 75yo. 

The film focussed on the quarantine facilities that we set up on the Venetian islands of Lazaretto - where people would be isolated for 40 days during the plague. (The word quarantine comes from the Italian for 40.)

How familiar that word - and, indeed, the concept - has become in 2020! Especially in NZ with our strict quarantine/border regime.

Auckland should actually have done something similar to what Venice did with our own Rotoroa Island in the Hauraki Gulf. In 1911 it was set up by the Salvation Island as a rehab facility for alcoholics, serving over 12,000 NZers at its addiction treatment centre. Far from the temptations of the city, but not far away at all. The island was largely self-sufficient with vege gardens, working farms and orchards which provided fresh food. 

It was disestablished in 2005 (I hadn't realised it was quite so recent). And it's now a wildlife sanctuary with a visitor centre and museum showcasing the fascinating history, including Maori and early European history, before it was a treatment centre. 

There is an accommodation block; it is isolated, and, with a spruce-up, it would have been ideal as a quarantine facility for Covid. Why did this not happen!?!? Would have been far more cost-effective and efficient than using umpteen hotels across the city. But, oh dear, it might have been awful for those heading for quarantine to be associated with alcoholics. They might feel like prisoners or something. It would have been the best answer. Too late now.

Anyway, Tintoretto is a classy informative doco movie for art and Venice enthusiasts.

I'd decided I'd leave Omaha late to avoid traffic woes - and also had to wait for Indi to return to base. It had taken Brett 1.5 hours to get home early afternoon. It took me almost 2 hours at 8pm!!!! Ridiculous! (Normally 1 hour). It was such a nice day that people obviously made the most of things and stayed away from the city as long as they could. And everyone thought leaving at 8pm would be a good call - which made it a bad one!! Which I was half expecting!

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Fish heads ...

While I was doing some work and waiting for Indi to return and traffic to abate, neighbours Annette and Peter brought over some fresh kingfish. Yum.

Also some fresh fish heads - for friend Marie who loves cooking them up - and even eating the eyes! No thanks! 

Marie's Chinese roots give her this desire to cook/eat such things. No thanks!

But the fresh fish flesh - yes please! Raw as in sashimi. Or ceviche/kokoda style "cooked" in lemon/lime juice. Or lightly pan-fried. Yum.

Lyn - look away now!

 

Kingfish head

A bucket of fish heads!