Consolations and Comfort in Covid Times?

Feeling anxious? Not sleeping well? Fed up with the literal shit stirrers in Wellington? Worried about another war starting? Climate change? Heat pump for cooling stopped working?

Did you know the Wellington harbour is unswimmable because of sewage right now?Mmmm wonder where that came from. Well below are some tips for mitigating the gloom.

Tip #1 Read good news

First of all a good news story from http://www.ghostdivingnz.org and allow yourself the “freedom” to ignore the nonsense on the front lawn and focus on this fantastic volunteer organisation. They run the Wellington Annual Harbour Clean Up and have done since 2009. They brought out close to 4000 kgs of rubbish last weekend and had the best turnout of volunteers ever. Maybe people wanted to turn their backs on the lawn and do something good and clean. Go Rob and team. You can hear rob on RNZ from interviews today.

.Good news can come from a load of old rubbish.

Tip #2 Take a leaf out of Voltaire’s book and cultivate your own garden. I’m not sure that this isn’t a version of burying my head in the sand but I really like the sentiment.

My garden is badly in need of cultivation but the advice still fits.

Tip #3 Rearrange the deck chairs…

As you can see, I am still following the School of Life and below is possibly my favourite of all time. I’ve been rearranging like mad.

Tip#4 See a good movie like Parallel Mothers.

It stars the gorgeous Penelope Cruz, as per usual as she is often his muse, in Almodovar’s films. The story is of two mothers who meet when giving birth a the same time. There is the underlying important story of an archeological dig to find the remains of Cruz’s character’s family who were massacred during the Spanish Civil war.

It is both engrossing and a salutary reminder of what the word “freedom” and lack of freedom really means. How dare the morons compare our democracy with the holocaust or with the people who fought in wars! It makes me so mad! Anyway, breathing and watching good movies. parallels mothers

Tip #5 Read a good but diverting book. I recommend Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club and its sequel, The Man Who Died Twice. It reminds me a lot of Waiting for God for those of you old enough to remember the telly programme. Richard is the super tall bloke often on Would I Lie To You, dark hair, Joe 90 glasses.

Tip #7 Think of small things to look forward to.

Here are a few to get you started:

If in Auckland, sleeping in a temperature below 23 and not needing a fan (but still appreciating the summer while we have it)

Killing Eve final series back next week, yay

Hoping gorgeous Robert ‘s designs are chosen on Your House Made Perfect…

Eating the last of the Central Otago big fat cherries

Looking forward to real table grapes grown locally, like Albany Surprise after the cherries are finished

Watch both series of Starstruck by talented locals Rose Matafeo and Alice Sneddon

My big one for this week is flying to Whanganui even though the reason for going, the Whanganui Literary Festival, was cancelled last minute. As there were no refunds for accommodation or flights we decided to go anyway so if you know anything interesting to do (without a car) in Whanganui let me know please. We are hoping the paddle streamer is running.

Enjoy your week FG