Of Air Plants & Brussel Sprouts.

It must be our weekend for meeting nice people. You see, thanks to a friend, who shall remain nameless, although I can probably THINK of a few names relating to a recent transaction involving peanut butter jars for storage, Herself has developed a fascination for Air Plants. I know why, its because she has run out of garden space & flat surfaces for pots & so is planning to nail these puppies to vertical surfaces where ever she can.

Anyway, I phoned through on our local radio's Sunday morning garage sale for her & got a response from a nice lady out at Ngatea, the upshot being this bloody great bag full of the damn things that can be split up & attached to all sorts of groovy surfaces. She didnt want payment for them either, which we found really nice. While we were there, we got to chatting, & it turns out that the gentleman of the house is a cabinet maker by trade who contents himself with a bit of restoration work these days but has built some pretty amazing pieces of furniture that he was happy to show us. He also used to collect gemstones & work them & has some pretty amazing mosaic pictures that he has made from various gemstones. Turns out we have a few acquaintances in that field from days gone as well. Also, herself works with their daughter in law up at our local hospital.

Turns out that he grew up on one of the Channel Islands between Britain & France, & was a lad during World War 2. Hence the Brussel Sprouts. You see, him & his friends used to fire them at the German fighter pilots with their catapults as they overflew the island on their way to attack the mainland. I don't believe that they actually managed to hit any, but they were that low that they could see the pilots in the cockpits. I can only imagine the amusement that this must have occasioned these young men on their way to kill or be killed. He also used to steal his Dad's cigarettes to swap with the German POW's for their badges. The island was also on the flight path for the V1 buzz bombs, with gun emplacements all over the island who used to try in vain to shoot them down.

Some older folks that reminisce can be quite tedious to listen to, but this particular gentleman was absolutely enthralling to listen to. We came away with a sense of regret that we couldn't stay longer, but we had to get home. I still had a boat to scrub down & put away & Herself had tea to cook. And a shitload of Airplant to sort out.

Next time we go out over Cooks Beach, if the weather is right, we will probably go out to the Great Mercury Islands. Yesterday's trip has shown me that they are well within safe range if we don't piss about sight seeing like we did yesterday. Thats if the weather is right of course. I'm looking forward to it.