Gotham

Am in Gotham, that's right, Gotham City in Chew's Lane in downtown Wellington. Happily now restricted to walking everywhere I am felicitously discovering a few new haunts.  This caff is certainly not gothic but it does have extremely high ceilings and a wall picture somewhat resembling a New York skyscape. On the other hand, one of the bartenders wears a T-shirt with 'My awesomeness may be infectious'. He happens to be about 1.88m tall and a girth nearly as wide. And his smile matches his girth. I decide to try a chai latte which I had recently somewhere and it was nice. I forget to order it 'very hot', so the lukewarm result is quickly downed. So many baristas feel we oldies like our drinks cooler, perhaps so we won't burn our lips! Enough grumpy old man....

At lunch today at BP I felt like an elder as I decided to show the few who had come, the dvd of the Academy Award winning 'The Times of Harvey Milk'. It always touches me as it took the incredible double murder of a San Francisco Mayor and the gay Supervisor Harvey Milk to make some of the American public aware of their built-in prejudices. It was a wonderfully shot doco and richly deserved its award. I believe it is a must-see for any young person especially if they are struggling with their sexuality. It is inspirational and at times uplifting in spite of its rather tragic story.

I have a very busy weekend ahead and have just decided to add to it a Symphony Concert by NZSO at the Michael Fowler Centre. Unfortunately the Town Hall next to it, which houses reputedly the third best acoustics of a concert hall in 'the world', is closed with its four hundred organ pipes being refurbished and the building itself undergoing a further forty-three million dollar earthquake improvement. It should be worth waiting for so I will have to wait four years before I get the chance to hear the NZSO on its home ground.

The Gotham is obviously an evening wine bar as it is slowly filling with cool young people, winding down after a hard week's work in Wellington. And I am preparing for a big weekend. Perhaps more about that on Sunday. 

Having collected a programme for the New Zealand Festival 2014 which just came out, I am perusing a copy on the table. There is a great selection of artistic works and I look forward to sampling at least a few, if they are affordable. However one needs to be earning a good salary to really savour all that Wellington has to offer. I relax and notice the seventies anthem 'Hotel California' which is filtering out through the Gotham's muzak. Ironically it is a gentle reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Now on to the bus to get to Kilbirnie for the 7 o'clock Friday night HU chant, always a good way to finish the week.