A good friend of mine currently living the United States drew to my attention the headline chosen by the New York Post this week to report on the Iranian election crisis: ‘Turban Warfare’.

Obviously some little misinformed spade at the Post came up with this irrelevant pap some months after 9/11 and has been waiting for a ’suitable’ time for its publication for the best part of eight years. When turmoil erupted in Iran recently, they presumably ignored the advice of several more-educated interns at the paper and ran the headline anyway.

It’s a real shame for them, getting it wrong on such a grand scale. All they had to do was open an ‘Atlas of the World’ and look up Iran’s main religion to see that this headline wasn’t actually appropriate in this case. This is the level of research readers’ hard-earned money is put towards at good newspapers.

My friend in the States saw the headline on a copy of the ‘paper’ in a cafe. He left, having remarked, in ink, on the front page: “Racial Propaganda”. I suggest you do the same.

My lack of posts throughout May was to simply due to the sheer expense and consequential stress the month managed to bring.

A puncture on the return journey from Matakana at the beginning of the month was to set the bad luck rolling, this alone resulting in the need for two new car tyres to get the car through its WOF (Warrant of Fitness, like an MOT, but spelt different). On returning home that night, we prepared some food to cook, only to see the little blue flame of the gas stove flicker out and not re-ignite until I refilled the gas cylinder next morning. We also opened a bill for our quarterly rates payment that evening. It was abundantly clear: May was not going to be cheap; The fifth month of 2009 was certainly not going to be a bargain; A humongous saving; A deal to bite one’s arm off for.

No! It was going to be f~@$ing* expensive! The car breaking down and costing $500 to fix the following weekend confirmed our fate.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever lived in the New Zealand rain forest at this time of year, but I can tell you: It can be cold and May was cold! Exceptionally cold apparently, with people stating it to be as cold as winter gets here (kind of good, as I’ve had a test run for winter now!). We became extremely grateful for our log burner during this time. We loved the log burner – it kept us warm. Until one night it started leaking smoke into the living room! So that was out of action for about six days until a sweep could come round and investigate. Yes, exactly: more expense! More notes prised from our cold little hands!

The sweep (sadly not a soot-faced little oik) explained that the cowl (no relation!) was broken and we needed a new one. The seemingly bargain price of $60 for a sweep took a $75 leap upwards.

Three weeks since the puncture and we tried to pour ourselves a glass of water. Nothing happened. Our home uses water collected from the rain, saved in a tank, so we went and checked the tank. Glumly, we discovered it was empty. We had not got round to clearing the gutters of all the rotten leaves and had therefore not got round to re-connecting the downpipes to the tank. Basically, we had not gotten round to collecting any water. A somewhat more deserved expense, this time, but still an expense!

Jen’s mother kindly offered to have us stay for the night, so we could shower in the morning, so we jumped in the second car to head over. Now that car wouldn’t start! By now we had had enough and just left it sitting there on the drive for a few days, until, nearing the end of the mother of all disastrous months, I went and gave it a good long try. Finally getting it started, it felt like things were starting to wear off.

Thankfully, the remaining costs of the month were kept to a relative low. They truly were a mean and nasty four weeks and I’m glad they are over. I know they are over because the 31st (exactly four weeks since the puncture!) brought me some kind fortune: I was called and offered a new job. A great job. A job I can’t wait to start…

*_flipping

Come 9th July, a very good friend of mine is off to Borneo to work as a Project Manager with Raleigh. Like all sensible people, Sarah has been blogging her build up to the trip, including the fund raising, thoughts, feelings and preparation required for such a trip.

Do waddle over and check out her blog here. And continue to check it regularly too!