Look.
There. Did you see it twitch? Give it a prod. Yes, I think it's still
alive.
Just.
But it's not very well, is it?
For
the first time since this blog was born I have missed marking it's
birthday. Now all I can do is to say that yesterday this blog
was 14 years old. Perhaps it just wants to act like a surly teenager
and not say very much!
In
fact I had intended to post yesterday but jet lag took over. I
realise now that this is the first post here this year. There are
some mitigating circumstances. I can't explain its silence in
January, but Mrs Darce and I have just returned from a near five week
holiday in New Zealand, so that would account for the continued
silence here since early February. It seems we can count ourselves
lucky to have completed our holiday without disruption, and in
managing to slip back into the country a couple of days ago with no
travel hiccups. It looks like the whole world is shutting down now. I
say we slipped back into the country, but it actually took just shy
of 40 hours from the moment we left our last accommodation in NZ to
head for the airport to the point we arrived home and collapsed on
our own sofas. And, as I said, that was without hiccups or delays.
Time in the air on two flights (we travelled via Singapore) was over
23 hours. Right now we are saying never again.
The
holiday was basically a giant road trip from the top of NZ's North
Island to its southernmost point on south Island. With six friends.
In the end I think we did a bit too much moving around and driving.
We saw some stunning scenery along the way, but I have to say I was
left feeling a little underwhelmed. North Island and parts of South
Island are suffering drought at the moment so many parts are looking
brown rather than green which didn't help. But also I think we
underestimated the amount of travelling that is necessary to actually
take in all the best bits. We spent a lot of time driving from A to B
and maybe not enough time actually in any one place and getting a
sense of it. I know where I would like to spend more time now, but
the expense and sheer length of air time to get there means I
probably won't be going again.
This
blog, of course, shares a birthday with Candi Staton. It is now
generally documented that Candi was born in 1940, which means she
became 80 years young yesterday. I can only wish belated birthday
greetings to her this year. Candi has recently overcome breast cancer
and is touring again. She will be appearing at Glastonbury again this
year as it celebrates (all being well) its 50th year. A
real trooper.
This
is from her second 45 which would have been knocking around the US
Soul charts when the first festival at Worthy Farm happened in
September 1970...
