Skip to main content

Off the top of my head

"Off the top of my head" is a bit of a strange expression. Rumour has it people used to be "talking through their hat" and once hats went, we then had to talk off the top of our head. Except those two phrases have distinctly different meanings, so I'm a tad suspicious.

I'm also a tad suspicious of the new Wellington Mayor. Celia Wade-Brown, an out of the closet Greenie (aren't they all?) I've looked at her headline policies for Wellington, and I am in agreement with them all. (I'll have to find the bigger list and check it twice). It could end up being a matter of the means used to justify the ends, which is often where Greenies and I part company, but she even wants to cut red tape for small and medium sized businesses. She could turn out to be a very interesting Mayor, and I wish her success, where it makes Wellington successful.

My week was another one of those intense weeks marked by little events that seemed to bear deep import. My son's pet mouse died yesterday, a sad event given this was a mouse that excelled at being a good pet. He was everything you could want in a mouse, was Ted. He died at a very ripe old age of 2yrs 5 months, which is a fairly good innings for a mouse. He died in my son's hand, looking relaxed and at peace. This event may seem somewhat trivial in the bigger scheme of things, but equally, what is trivial about death? It's something I think about as my sister fights the big C - and what a battle that is! An experience not easily put into words, so I'll talk instead about Ted. Ted was a great mouse.

I don't know them, but like the rest of the world, we all know of them. It has been said that deep down, miners are really nice people. Now that we've brought them back up, we can see they were also very brave and courageous people. I'm so glad they were rescued and the rescue operation, by all accounts was a triumph of human endeavour. On the other hand, if you really want to piss atheists off, I'd also have to say that they prayed, and their prayers were answered. Thank God for God.

And did you hear the one about the "out of work" artist that took a grant for $40,000 from Creative NZ (a tax payer funded grant) to create a beneficiaries office that promoted quitting one's job and going on the dole to avoid "slave labour". The real story with this one is that Creative NZ hands out 40K and didn't quite understand what the money was to be used for. That is a total disgrace, and Paul Henry should resign for their sins.

Paul Henry is an obvious choice, because he had to resign for assorted sins. So did Garrett so I expect both could step in on behalf of all the useless lefties unable to exercise the same measure of responsibility. And as the dust settles on those two affairs, I reflect that Chris Carter seems determined to keep the dust storm blowing, and I'm wondering if Henry meant a stereotypical New Zealander could have equally looked like a Maori. Ah well, there are just some things you can't say (if you aren't Maori) in this country. If someone could kindly send me the list, I'll post them on the blog so we can track them. Presuming I have sufficient disk space.

Have a good weekend, and leave a comment off the top of your head rather than keep it under your hat.

Comments

  1. I am sorry about Ted. Did you realise he was about to die? I ask because I have felt lifelong guilt for believing I suffocated my pet mouse by putting him in a box with breathing holes that were too small. I liked to have him near my pillow at night. Perhaps he just died of natural causes? I had no idea their life span was so short.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Lindsay, Ted was looking a little ill the day before, and that morning he looked nearly dead, so the process was fairly rapid. He hung on until late afternoon, and seemed visibly happier whenever in my son's hand (which also warmed him up).

    I had many mice when I was younger (started with three males, two of which weren't but by the time I finished with 26 or so I could certainly tell the sex by then).

    What I learned was that they could all die for different reasons, and a couple died unexpectedly and without visible reason, so that may have been the case with your mouse.

    I believe most domestic pet mice make it to about 2 years, and 3 years is exceptional.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Please be respectful. Foul language and personal attacks may get your comment deleted without warning. Contact us if your comment doesn't appear - the spam filter may have grabbed it.