A flood in Auckland on October 28, 1961, was front page news: “Torrential rain coupled with a 10 and a 1/4-inch spring tide which prevented runwater escaping caused widespread flooding and tens of thousands of dollars in damage.” Bullets points include other flood details: “Built up so much pressure thatmanhole covers were blown 10ft high by water spouts; stalled hundreds of cars which had to be abandoned; caused a slip on Mt Hobson which partially blocked Remuera Rd; was accompanied by what appeared to be a small tornado which snapped a power line in Northboro Rd, Takapuna, lifted a roof slightly, then disappeared”.
Post-pandemic memory
Have you noticed that many people have trouble recalling what they did during the pandemic? It’s not widespread amnesia, but individual, day-to-day things like who came to Christmas dinner last year or whether you took your books back to the library. Brain researchers tell us that two factors will do this: monotony and stress. Many people went home and stayed there, working online, studying or looking after kids 24/7 (or all three). Long-term memories are formed by the outlines of how different an event is from life around it. When every day is the same, it’s difficult to form new memories. Then there was the stress of lifestyle changes, new safety protocols, social upheavals, and fear of the disease.
Artist Siren Elise Wilhelmsen designed a clock that knits while it tells time - the clock makes one 2m-long scarf every 365 days. “Time is an ever forward-moving force and I wanted to make a clock based on time’s true nature, more than the numbers we have attached to it.”
Blueberry blues
“Sometimes when I’m sad I buy myself a punnet of blueberries as a treat,” tweets @EmmaVitz. “And I’m pleased to say I can afford to have an emotional breakdown every day in Australia.” Maybe so across the ditch where a punnet costs A$2.50 but not so much in New Zealand, where it is around $5 (*note the exchange rate is A$1 equals NZ$1.09).
