Deciding to be positive after the Covid gloom
Sandi Toksvig was on the radio last Saturday morning, a voice of warmth and cheerfulness in the house as she talked to Radio New Zealand host Kim Hill on an otherwise bleak and wintery day.
The multi-talented Toksvig is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster known – among many things – for hosting the BBC television quiz show QI, and as a former co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off. She also fronts The Great Tiny Design Challenge, now screening on TVNZ 1 and is politically active in Britain as the co-founder of the Women’s Equality Party. In December she will tour New Zealand in a play she’s written called Next Slide Please.
The show will apparently explore reasons to be cheerful after months of Covid pandemic gloom.
Toksvig and Hill trawled various topics on Saturday including Toksvig’s recovery from a recent bout of Covid, the vileness of misogyny, the disarray at No 10 Downing St, the US calamity of Roe v Wade being overturned, Britain’s reprehensible treatment of asylum seekers, and the merits of knitting with dog hair. Hill confessed that she’d always wanted to knit her dog into a cardigan.
The highlight – dog hair knitting revelations aside – was Toksvig’s upbeat view of this currently beleaguered world. She said briskly that she remained an optimist.
‘‘You have to decide to be positive,’’ she said. ‘‘I believe that there are wonderful people and the next generation is amazing and full of fabulous activists. We just have to go with that, we have to be positive.’’
I liked her tolerance and good humour and on the back of this I made an inventory of things I’ve liked this month.
A not unexpected exercise, I guess, for someone frequently labelled as relentlessly optimistic but it is always a worthwhile thing to do.
First up was a social media post from Hayes Common Eatery co-owner Lisa Quarrie, who had put out an SOS for help in her Hamilton restaurant kitchen as Covid and other illnesses continue to bite into staff rosters. Quarrie’s post praised the power of community connections. She said that just when they didn’t know how they were going to get through, some former staff jumped on board, everyone worked massive hours, some pulling extra shifts on top of their day jobs.
‘‘You build great relationships in the hospo community,’’ she said, ‘‘these guys are superstars and this support lifts everyone’s spirits. We are so grateful.’’
Big acts of kindness are important, and small acts as well.
The other day I found a bag of fragrant, juicy limes on my front doorstep. It took me a while to track down who’d left them there, and they’re now brightening plenty of meals.
There is currently a treat on my back doorstep as well, the Hamilton East version of Warbirds of Wanaka as squadrons of tū ī stage showy aerial displays among the kahikatea, rata and kauri.
Credit here to the Hamilton Halo project, launched in 2007 by Waikato Regional Council, which aims to make the city a more attractive and hospitable place for native birds to stay, feed and breed.
From where I’m sitting, it’s working brilliantly.
July is an important birthday time in our family and the two notables have been a 99th (uncle) and a 21st (greatniece).
The uncle, who lives independently, was in fine form for a lunch with four generations and he is now looking ahead to a message from Queen Elizabeth for his 100th. The 21st was a larger event, with gorgeous young women and men, and speeches and gifts and a few stories and tears. And family at the heart of both celebrations.
I drove home from Cambridge after the 21st on the new Hamilton section of the Waikato Expressway and it was an adventure to decide which of the new city corridors to take. Same on the trip to Auckland for the 99th. The expressway is another big thing to like this month.
Similarly, the team of builders at our family’s beach bach, which has suffered a mini-flood and internal haemorrhaging. With these builders, I’ve not experienced the ‘‘invisible older woman’’ phenomenon of having them look over my shoulder when they talk to me, as though they’re waiting for the man of the house to miraculously appear and take over.
I’ve had quite a bit of this in recent years. The bach builders look me in the eye and seamlessly solve problems. I like them.
Staying at the bach at present is like sleeping in a fridge. The best advice I had on this was to buy a hot water bottle ($12) from Countdown, and it sits high on the positive index. For 12 bucks, you even get a fluffy cover thrown in. I’d forgotten how effective this low-tech device can be; and warmly recommend hunkering down with a HWB.
And a good book: Sandi Toksvig talked in her interview with Kim Hill about the comfort of books.
She said that when in doubt about things, ‘‘sit down with a book and you’ll feel better’’.
So I’m passing on a couple of titles, the poignant and powerful After Story by Australian writer Lisa Behrendt, and the revenge comedy, Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus. Both guaranteed to take you to a different time and place.
By my count, that’s eight things to like: the hospitality shout-out, limes, tū ī, family birthdays, the new section of the expressway, non-ageist builders, hot water bottles, and a decent book.
Let’s make that nine, with Toksvig and Hill’s delightful interview (available online). I’m sure I’ll think of a 10th.