Friday 12 March 2021

Life goes on


Cemeteries are such peaceful places, it's easy to forget that they hide so much drama. Not everybody has been fortunate to drift out of this world while lying comfortably their beds at the end of a long life - some poor souls were violently wrenched from theirs far too early. Like the Bain family, for instance - nationally famous and, the murders not solved, still in our collective conscious, getting on for thirty years later.


It's a bit the same, flying over the countryside, looking down and vaguely admiring the scenery without thinking about all those lives being busily lived on the ground, all of them involving a mix of good and bad, to different degrees. Mt Taranaki is a symbol of that: pleasingly symmetrical, peaceful, lovely, but only there because of a huge eruption - which, as it's officially dormant, could happen again, any time (as we know to our cost, with Whakaari White Island).


You can't live your life thinking such deep thoughts, though - or I can't, anyway - so it was a pure pleasure to get back to Auckland and find myself surrounded by people having simple (if rather expensive) fun. The day's America's Cup racing was over, and the big flotilla of spectator boats was moseying back to the city while the ferry crept along through them in the opposite direction at just 5 knots. It meant the journey took almost twice as long as normal, but nobody was bothered: it was Friday evening, we'd won the race, there was lots to look at and enjoy out on the water - and then we got the final gift of an excellent sunset. Welcome home, indeed.

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