Have a nice Saturday.

Diary of the last 18 hours

8.10pm last night

Before we fire up the Netflix for more of a completely over-the-top mass murder mystery with an uncomfortable degree of prurience to it, we try the Barack Obama speech. 

Man, he's good. He can take the names and ideas and stories that everyone knows, told so many times before, often as trope or cant; and make it all freshly compelling.

He creates a sense of possibility. That can mean not a lot, and it can mean everything. I’m hoping for the everything option.

Proceed to the grisly conclusion of season 2 of Marcella; a wild enthralling ride and completely over-the-top mass murder mystery with an uncomfortable degree of prurience to it.

5.30am

Reading the screen in the dark, waiting for the Tui.

Screenwriter Nate Ruegger writes: if you take an ad slogan, put it in the past tense, you now have a cryptic tagline for a new hit movie.

And he can prove it:

Flew The Friendly Skies

Because You Were Worth It

We Tried Harder

Cool eh. Let’s try it for local conditions:

Where Everyone Got A Bargain 

You Never Bought Better 

I Couldn’t Eat Your Ghost Chips

Gave That Man A DB

Was A Tidy Kiwi

Do by all means make your own suggestions, there might be another chocolate fish in it.

7.42 am, answering correspondence.

Chocolate fish? That would be a reference to yesterday's newsletter inviting readers to see if they could read my handwriting. Small drumroll please, the award goes to Rachel Barrowman who was the very first of a great number of New Zealand’s smartest readers to correctly decipher: smoked paprika. And a big thumbs up to all the rest of you, you magnificent discerning readership.

Paul Veltman:

it looks like a confession rather than a shopping requirement.

Dan Tohill:

Smoked dak. It’s a request from some never do well for munchie food. Obviously not your handwriting, a man of your literary talents would have written "back in a spliff".

Also, some inside running from Deborah Russell:

Worked out by the old trick of reading it upside down. I learned this trick while marking exams. Sometimes it helped.

Jan asked: is there a recipe to go with that, and what an excellent idea.

Here’s what the last two tablespoons of smoked paprika went into. Warning, contains chicken. Also kale. Also anchovies. You make this righteous sofrito and you toast some pasta and you end up with exactly what Bon Appetit promises: a crispy top hiding a layer of jammy, tomato-y noodles. 

Murray wrote: I like the photos best. He went on to explain: I hardly read about the borders and testing, just a glance. Most people I see don’t question what is being done and seem to think it’s the right course and is going well. I’m still caught up with reading about Trump. Can’t believe he has support still in the GOP hierarchy.

This echoes something Philip Matthews said yesterday. Would most people be happy for us to roll along as we are? There's a lot of noise coming from disgruntled people, but in absolute numbers, is it possibly altogether less than the volume might make you think?

8.42am picking out something for the people who like the photos best.

Ponsonby is really working its brand game this morning.  

And here's one it prepared earlier.

9.43am

Newsletter reader Karren asks, from our kitchen: did anyone work out it was smoked paprika? I tell her: everyone; she belongs to a group of very smart people.

The further this blog goes on, the more evident it will become - if it’s not already - that in our household Karren is the brains of the outfit. I say this by way of preface to this lament all over Twitter from mask makers:

Elastic is the new flour 

Karren has the solution. Pantihose, tights, stockings, whatever you want to call them. Cut ‘em up, you're in business, no worries. Very pleased to report we now have a large stock of masks in an attractive range of colours.

10.49am, cutting and pasting more feedback

I enthused yesterday about the AT Hop card being the little Covid card that could.

Yes, and maybe no. Jacqueline has a report from the front line.

As a bus driver doing a lot of the metro routes, including via St Lukes to New Lynn, Wynyard Quarter, City, I can tell you that Hop Cards are OK, but not everyone uses them. We get too many freeloaders on our buses and have done for months; people holding out $20, knowing full well we take no cash; people whose Hop Cards have no credit so don't register; people who walk on without a qualm because they know that we drivers have been told not to question them or argue; people who know Auckland Transport has no intention of policing buses for non-paying passengers, so don't hold your breath that we'll get a trace on that infected person.

1.20pm

Steve writes:

Just to say, am really enjoying this new phase of your career. Not sure how it’s paying though. Patreon??

And Nat says:

Hey David how can I financially support your writing? I am finding it a real comfort. Even though we are in the midst of such a shit storm. 

Thanks Steve and Nat and everyone who’s asked. Glad you’re enjoying these. I am.

Do have plans for a paid subscription option, but still thinking about what’ll be the best shape for that. Stay tuned.

And have a nice Saturday.