Spotted in Ngatea: I’ll bet that orning looks absolutely orsome.
Earliest memories
1. “Sitting in one of those chairs where they feed you. I remember just being happy, and pure. My mum was feeding me, and my dad was sitting on a couch across fromme. I remember them smiling, and I remember being filled with love, no actual thoughts, just pure love for my parents. I think about that once in a while.”
2. “My mum was spoon-feeding my infant brother and she dropped the spoon in a bowl of soup. I thought it was gone forever in an infinite ocean of soup, and I was amazed when she got it back out. I think that was me learning object permanence.”
3. “I faked swallowing a rock when I was 5 to leave kindergarten, then I confessed when my mum and I were at the hospital about to get an x-ray.”
4. “I’m about 3½ years old, and my dad wakes me up in the absolute dead of night and tells me to come down and watch TV. My mum’s like “just let the kid sleep”, but my dad says “No, this is important”. Turns out, some guys have just landed on the moon and are about to go for a walk.”
It’s your last-chance checklist
A teacher’s life
Celia Weber writes: “As a new teacher in the 1960s, I asked [my students]: ‘Is there anything else you’d like me to go over?’ ‘Yes, Miss — the edge of a cliff,’ came the reply from a girl. Sorry, dear, but I’m still alive at 85.”
Still bitter after all this time
Sharing plates: A reader writes: “About 10 years ago, I went to a nice restaurant with a group of family and friends for lunch. We each ordered a dish with the intention of sharing. The dish I ordered was amazing and those pigs helped themselves to it all before I got a look in. The experience has left me with a fear of sharing meals ever since.”