The Long Grass

Every family, to a greater or lesser extent, has “sayings” peculiar to their group, with origins frequently associated with a happy, sad, humorous, or strange event. Our extended family is no different, especially as there are three different generations involved.

For instance 10-year-old Brynn is quite comfortable and accustomed to tapping the side of her nose with a sly Monty Python “nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more, say no more” even though its origin pre-dates her by many decades. Young Tyler, at the rapid development stage, is full of organically-generated expressions, in addition to his “Chemistry” jokes.

A couple of months ago, Tyler arrived home with the bad news that he could not find his smartphone. He’d searched “everywhere”, but, alas, it was missing. He immediately contacted the bus company lost property – same status. He searched high and low, but to not avail. It was ‘gone’ forever.

“No matter, Tyler, we’ll get you a new one, and the full cost can come out of your chores allowance. It will take almost the full allowance for a year or a bit more, but you must learn to look after your stuff. Money doesn’t grow on trees…”

Tyler, knowing full well that he’d really done it this time, was not at all happy.

The next day after school, a simply radiant teenager arrived, all smiles and laughter. In his hand high above his head he waved his smartphone.

“I looked all over the place, and the last place I looked was at the bus stop where I got off yesterday! It lay there a full day and night without anyone seeing it. I’m so happy!”

“That’s marvellous, darling. Where exactly was it?”

“There at the bus stop on the verge. In the long grass.”

Sine that day, whenever anyone is looking for something, or something is misplaced, the stock comment is automatically, “It’s probably in the long grass!”

A few days after this incident, Jeanette misplaced a library DVD Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Jokingly, she was teased for dropping the DVD in the long grass. She retraced her steps and travel route to the school and library, but, alas, there was no happy ending and she ended up paying the Public Library the replacement cost of the item. Macbeth become the property of The Long Grass.

Yesterday, we went for a drive to Waikanae Beach (see next blog post) in the Toyota. This morning, when Clayton prepared for work, his Ford keys were nowhere to be found, and he made alternative transport arrangements. The keys were lost.

I have subsequently searched high and low, followed by an intensive vehicle search of his car, without success. Then I scanned to the Toyota, but without luck. Sadly, it seems as if Clayton’s keys may be in The Long Grass.

On the upside, while searching under the front passenger compartment of the Toyota, I discovered a “secret drawer” under the seat, probably for out-dated roadmaps. Imagine my surprise – the drawer is, in fact, so-called Long Grass!

In the drawer lay the long-missing Macbeth!

G-Men B&B

If you were to meet our G-Man Team face-to-face, I am certain your comments would be nothing but very favourable. They are two of the friendliest creatures around. Really they are.

When I called on them between showers this morning, Jacko (above left) was still in bed, dozing a bit, while Beebs (above right) ventured out to the fence to greet me. He gave a couple cute little bleats, as if in conversation about his late-sleeping friend.

“Today is the day that I go to Mr Palmer to get your scoff, Beebs,” I mentioned to him quietly, as if in confidence.

Beebs nodded knowingly, as if he understood. Who am I to query whether he understands or not?

Around 1:00pm I met Mr Palmer in the parking lot at Kapiti Signs in Waikanae – our meeting might have looked a bit like a drug deal going down, I suppose. Our consignment was one of weed, on the back of his ute (pick-up), covered with a grey waterproof tarpaulin, which made it even more suspicious…

(Above): A short while later I arrived home with the G-Men’s supplies: Bed and Breakfast – perhaps more accuratel0y “S & H” instead of “B & B”: Straw and Hay. Our Toyota Wish is described as a seven-seater wagon by the manufacturers. However, in livestock farming parlance, I guess a 4-baler would be more accurate… It is a tight squeeze, but the 4 bales fit quite comfortably when the back seats are down.

(Above): Straw is … well… As light as straw…. not very heavy. A full bale is considerably heavier than one might think – similar situation when handling a bale of wool, I’d guess.

(Above): From the car outside, I shifted the food and bedding out of reach of the adverse elements into the garden shed by trundler, straw (comfy) bedding at the back and hay (yummy) breakfast in the front. Although Jacko has a habit of chewing fresh straw as well.

Its a bit like your monthly shop, I suppose: clean sheets from the laundry and Weet-Bix from the supermarket…

A Japanese Wish

It’s not every day that I buy a car, so please indulge me a bit on this second time in 14 years that I have managed to drive a used second-hand pre-owned car. Last time it was a Toyota Camry, which lasted for 14 years. Today, another Toyota has joined the family – a wagon called the Wish.

Introducing the Toyota Wish…

As can be seen in the picture above, there are three rows of seats, enough to cater for the whole family without any arguments. In fact, with average sized passengers, one can easily fit a seventh.

 
Alternatively, a whole bunch of seats can be folded flat, giving what is tantamount to an indoor LDV with a flat load deck and convenient loading height.

The interior is spacious, with plenty of leg-room and true to the Toyota reputation which we’ve become accustomed to, a reasonably simple instrument lay-out. At 52,000 k’s this 2006 model is in excellent condition and runs well.