mary's musings

“You don’t have to be intellectually bright to be a competent leader.”   So said Janet Frame – Not sure where or when but it is in the Heinman Dictionary of New Zealand Quotations so she must have said it somewhere – sometime. As one who has made a career of occupying leadership roles it would be easy to take offence at such an observation;  however with the advantage of long observation, and enough maturity to put my ego aside, I think Janet Frame is absolutely right. In my day job I get to hear what lots of people value about effective leadership.  They say: Understand who you are working with and communicate effectively by listening to people.  Seek and respect other’s points of view.  Maintain a sense of humour, and (my favourite) learn the ability to sit in silence. Hold the big picture in mind, find ways to change negative to positive, be adaptable and agile, and lead by example.  Respect diversity and recognise the value it can add to sound...

In my bubble all but two of us have four legs or feathers.   The lock-down was unsettling for the fauna around our place.   The donkeys honked, the cat became friendly, the humans less friendly, and the dog barked. So much so, that the recent discovery of a half-eaten sausage upon my deck struck fear into my heart.   How does a dead sausage appear on one’s deck in the middle of the night?   An unsympathetic friend suggested that it must have been alive before it was dead so it may have crawled up there. Sausages don’t have legs.   We have not had sausages in the house for weeks, and this was not a sausage that would ever be entertained in my kitchen – having artificial grill lines artistically etched into it – as if that might make it taste better… I tried to resist the thought that it was a poisoned sausage planted by somebody intending to put a stop to our dog’s ongoing garrulousness.   I carefully removed it from the deck and stored it on top...

With crowds coagulating outside Burger King, queues compounding from before breakfast at Maccas and public bins overflowing with fast food debris on day one of Level Three, I heard the odd derogatory comment about the people who would line up for this sort of fare. Interesting to note then, all the “others” who had been hanging out for a decent coffee – whatever that is.   Coffee snobbery is probably the purview of those with plenty of discretionary income.   I’m disappointed that as we emerged from Level Four, we saw a rapid reversion to pre-lock-down habits among the fast food junkies AND the coffee snobs, then there were the parties and other activities of debauchery. Bring back Level Four!    We clearly have not had enough time to consider the poignant poems, Facebook memes, and other evidence that the planet was enjoying a breather from our everyday throwaway habits. “We need to kick-start the economy again” is the plaintiff cry from those exper...