Cool Find

You know how, when you're stuck for a bookmark, you reach for the first thing of a vaguely appropriate dimensions that's flat enough to stick in a book? Envelopes, bills, business cards, shopping lists... that kind of thing?

And you know how, when you find them, by sheer coincidence, years later, you kick yourself for using something so utterly inappropriate, or random, or important?

Funny thing: Years ago (2002, by my reckoning), I had a holiday in Auckland with my folks. To cut a long story short, up until a couple of weeks before flying out there, it wasn't just a holiday for me... I was going to be meeting up with an online acquaintance. Needless to say, she cancelled on me, so the whole thing started out as a rather depressing exercise, not least because we spent about 20 hours in the air, and our luggage got delayed in Singapore.

When we got there, we didn't really have any plans, so our first few days were spent basically bumbling about. My father also had a concussion due to smacking his head on the door frame of the van that took us from the airport to the hotel. That made life very interesting (who knew that reusing water bottles could lead to potentially disasterous microfractures in the plastic? Me neither).

Once we got our acts together, we started booking ourselves tours and walking excursions, and venturing to more interesting restaurants on the waterfront.

Being that sort of person, I snatched up business cards left, right and centre and, clearly, felt the need to use two of these cards as bookmarks in the book I was re-reading at the time... Because, today, when I grabbed the book from my shelves to read out a section to a visiting friend, I found them.

One is for an Italian restaurant called Milano, out in the Viaduct Harbour. I remember it had been recommended to me by a Kiwi nurse I'd been in contact with around that time (oh, I'm almost feeling nostalgic for my early forays into internet dating!). Turns out it doesn't have a particularly good reputation these days... and their website's URL redirects to a webshop selling handbags... Oh well.

The other was a proper business card, handed to me by one of our tour guides - a full day being driven around all over Auckland and its environs by a fellow named George. I'd link to the website listed on the card but that, too, seems to be gone... It's a real shame, because George was not just an excellent tour guide, but a real character, too. Coming from a farming background, he had a few choice words for the way business was conducted by that point (too many lawyers involved)... I'd like to think he's still going...