19 February, 2009 in Home by Aonghas

A Cat & Mouse Affair

When we got home from Westcity tonight my mum found out cat Mao Mao playing with something in the back lawn. On closer inspection, it turned out it was a little mouse! Surprising the mouse was still alive, running around the back lawn. It didn’t look like our cat was interested in killing it, she just wanted to play games. Either she wasn’t hungry or perhaps it wasn’t her preferred flavour of mouse. Anyway, I whipped out the camera and snapped a few photos of their little play-date.

Can you spot the mouse?

The little mouse was happy running around in our lawn

They played together for quite some time

Mao Mao giving the little mouse a bit of encouragement

And then they got tired...

After I went inside I didn’t actually see what happened to the mouse. I hope Mao Mao didn’t bring it inside though!

19 February, 2009 in Home by Aonghas

Help Me, I’m Lost!

You know I never thought it would actually happen to me. People joke about it but I never took it that seriously. Until today. To cut a long story short, I got lost in some random-looking suburban area that I had never seen before and I felt stranded with no sense of direction whatsoever! How did I get to be there you ask? Well, what happened was…

I caught the slightly earlier bus home at 4:15pm and I was feeling a little dozy from the early morning start etc, so I fell into a half-conscious state of mind in the bus. I tried to stay awake enough to realise where the bus was so I could get off when I needed to, but obviously the sleep took control and before I knew it I was asleep on the bus. The next thing I remember was waking up as the bus was going down a hill on a street that I couldn’t recognise.

The first street signs I saw didn't really help

My initial gut feeling was that we were already in Swanson somewhere so I pushed the stop button on the bus in an attempt to get off the bus before I was taken too far away from home. The bus driver stopped and I got off. I only realised that I actually had no idea where I was, as the bus drove off into the distance. With no street signs around, I decided to make a start up the road to try and find out where I was. I was pleased to see a street sign up ahead, but when I got close enough to read the signs, the two streets Waari Ave (the street I had just walked from) and Awaroa Road made no sense to me. I still had no idea where I was!

By this stage, I was trying to keep my cool (though it was becoming increasing more difficult), knowing that I still had my cell phone if I needed to contact anyone. I sent Calum a text telling him about my situation and he said he would try to look for a map somewhere.

I figured that orange-looking building in the distance was Westcity

That’s when I realised I had Google Maps on my phone! Fortunately I still had some credit left of my phone so I connected to Google Maps and it told me where I was on the map (within a 900 metre radius). I zoomed out on the map and worked out that I was actually in the back of Sunnyvale somewhere, near the Waikumete Cemetery. I continued up the road I was walking and eventually I saw the back of the Kelston Community Centre and Great North Road emerging in the distance. “Finally, civilisation!” I thought to myself. It felt as if I could breathe clearly again. I walked all the way home and ended up reaching my house at nearly quarter to six. So much for the earlier bus, huh?

And just for the record, I’m not the only person in my family who has done this! My brother Hamish had to walk home from a bus stop near Waikumete Cemetery coming home one night from uni because he fell asleep on the bus and woke up thinking he had missed his stop. Also, my dad forgot to get off the bus one night coming home from work and ended up walking home from Lincoln Road! It must be Calum’s turn next!