Poor lambs

I went driving all the way to Kerikeri last week. Cruising down the highway, the sun shining, Rock'n'roll Jukebox Hits on the stereo (I raided my parents' tape collection), rollling green hills to either side, blue sky on the horizon and hundreds of animal eyes watching me from the side of the road. This country is packed full of animals! Everywhere I went, there were cows with calves, sheep with lambs, pigs, dogs, turkeys, quails, pukekoes, horses and ducks, frolicking merrily in the pastures. So cute, those little lambs, the way their tails wiggle-waggle as they get a feed from mum. The way they skip around with their adorable little woolly legs.
'They'll all end up on someone's dinner table in Europe within a couple of weeks,' remarked a friend with a shrug, when I told them about my trip.'That's the sad thing.'
Poor lambs. If only the carnivores in Europe could see their sweet little faces, they would swear off eating them for life. Wouldn't they? Maybe not. I mean, farmers eat their own animals all the time. That's no big deal to them. I heard New Zealand described as 'Europe's larder' once. At this time of year, the larder is well and truly stocked. Come summer, there will be a lot of lonely sheep mums out there.

Back on the caffeine wagon

I've become addicted to coffee, again. Flat whites are just so yum, how can I resist their creamy, swirly little faces? All my herbal tea-drinking aspirations have gone out the window. At $3 a coffee, there's no reason not to indulge, over and over again. Perhaps the government should start taxing each cup. Maybe that's what they were doing in Japan?

Hanami

The plum tree outside the kitchen window is full of white blossom. When the wind blows, it lifts the blossom off the branches and scatters it on the ground like snow. The tabby cat Sunday chases the falling petals. When it rains, which is often, the petals are wet and sodden and stick to your gumboots.
I've stopped beginning every sentence with 'In Japan (blah blah blah).' Now it's just every second sentence.

What goes around, comes around

Crikey. The newspapers and TV have been full of Steve 'I jump on animals' Irwin. All of us Down Under are apparently in shock about his death, but really, it comes as very little surprise. It was only a matter of time. How many dangerous animals could you piss off before one of them finally retaliated? Irwin always claimed to have a deep love for animals, but his bullying actions showed otherwise. Germaine Greer wrote a very good article about his death, no doubt for which she will be labelled as an unpatriotic harridan. 'Every creature he brandished at the camera was in distress,' she writes. 'The animal world has finally taken its revenge.'
Rest in peace, wildlife of the world.