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I lay down on my bed to watch a nice classic episode of Star Trek (The Next Generation) and it happened: with a sickening crunch and a thud, the back-left bed post finally disengaged itself from the rest of the bed and the bed landed hard on the junk that I had stuffed under it.

Now, to answer the question everyone seems to ask when I tell this story: no it wasn’t in the throes of passion, this bed hasn’t seen much in the way of passion (at least not since I have used it). It’s also not because I’ve gained weight. The bed had been threatening to give out ever since I moved in and the second-rate rental property furniture (not mine, I should point out) finally gave way when I sat my suitably trim behind onto it to indulge in a movie.

So, in true kiwi style, I propped my bed up with the jack from my car and continued with my movie (click on the image for more detail). New Zealanders have a concept called “number 8 wire” which refers to a common gauge of fencing wire used here.

The notion is that New Zealanders have a “can-do” MacGyver attitude when it comes to problem solving and can generally solve a problem with simple, everyday resources at their disposal.

In South Africa, we would say “‘n boer maak ‘n plan” or “a farmer makes a plan” to describe a similar concept.

MacGyver image from Rienk Jan Schurer.

On Tuesday last week I dragged myself into work at 11am and stared blankly at the screen for a few hours, producing very little of any value. No, that’s not a usual day for me, quite the contrary. It turns out I had contracted the flu and simply couldn’t concentrate.

So, I dutifully went back home, took some bed rest and water and waited for it to subside.

It didn’t.

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You may recall from some of my earlier posts that I have been doing some work for the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). Along with looking super cool on your resume, this means I get to work with some very interesting people on some very interesting work. A part of this work was a so-called “team building” exercise I participated in last Friday. It started as a normal team briefing which required security clearance and everything (all very cloak & dagger).

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