They've got to be joking

o Sideshow Bob is now Sir Bob, apparently for services to “looking good on TV”. It certainly can’t be for services to Christchurch – he and his council did nearly as much damage to this city as the earthquakes themselves.  But of course it’s very much in the government’s interests to keep up the pretence that the disaster was handled well and recovery is racing ahead, so it makes sense that they’d want to hand our ex-mayor a knighthood for his wonderful job.  Still had me spitting when I read the news this morning though.  And even more so at the thought of how even more insufferable Jo Nicholls-Parker will be now that she can call herself “Lady Parker”.  Grrr.

The rest of the day was much more pleasant than that rude awakening.  Harvestbird and the two mini-Harvestbirds (Harvestchicks?  No, that doesn’t sound at all appropriate…) and I went on an outing to the playground in the gardens, where I happily sat and read in the sun for a while, while they were overwhelmed by the choices and the hundreds of other children, and declared it was time to go home much more quickly than we’d planned.  But all was not lost – we stopped off to pick up some lunch and some cake, and went back to Harvestbird’s to consume them in peace.  Well, mostly peace – the girls have suddenly decided I’m their new best friend, after being wary of me up until now, so I spent the afternoon reading them books (or at least, providing a running commentary as the smaller mini-Harvestbird sat on my knee and turned pages at random) and being educated in the mysteries of Blue’s Clues (well, sort of – all I managed to gather was that invisible paw prints are involved somehow, and it was very important that I had a notebook on me).  Oh, and apparently my name is now “Jenga” – close enough, I suppose.
It was a lovely afternoon though, and Harvestbird and I did manage to snatch some adult conversation in between the storytimes.

I still haven’t managed to decide on which way to sew those blocks together for the quilt.  A fat lot of help you lot were, too – so far between here, LJ, and Flickr I think opinion was pretty equally divided between four of the possibilities.  Looks like I’ll just have to bite the bullet and make a decision myself.  Maybe tomorrow…

And now, suddenly, it’s the end of the year.  I have no exciting plans for tonight (I was invited to a New Year’s party, but as it’s out at Little River it would have involved staying the night out there, and the whole concept of the typical Kiwi drunken New Year’s Eve has never appealed to me greatly as it is, and even less so when I’d be trapped with no way of leaving early).  I may not even bother staying up to see the New Year in unless my book proves particularly gripping.  Don’t I sound old and boring? 😉