Now Voyager: Chinese year of the Horse

Today, Wellington is celebrating Chinese New Year so I hasten downtown to witness the parade from the BP vantage point overlooking the main parade on Courtenay Place. But it's not meant to be, the red balloons are out but no-one is to be seen of Chinese extraction. Perhaps the small parade finished early as I feel I am a little late, having paused to do my market shopping beforehand.

However it is a wonderful sunny day so I duck in to see Kinto at Raglan's cafe at the base of Chaffer's right on Wellington foreshore. Kinto is there but so is his boss, an Italian who makes me feel I have returned to Napoli, his soft regional dialect falling like raindrops on dry turf. I discover later he hails from Puglia, the eastern coast which I am told is a delight, however he has escaped the small-town society which he can no longer cope with. He loves Wellington and both he and K are wearing black baseball caps on reverse style, but it works, they are allowed to.

Browsing through the Sunday's papers I see the French Film Festival has already opened at The Embassy last Wednesday and it is said to be the biggest one outside France. To be honest I am not surprised. The amount of francophilia here in Wellington is astounding. I went recently into the Alliance francaise thinking to join finally, and it seems to be bigger than ever. I did get locked out however in its antiquarian fire escape trying to find the loo. I am considering offering my skills to them in teaching, that is if they permit a non-French person into their jealously guarded realm. Anyway I will catch some movies at the festival which is on for the next ten days, there are sure to be some good ones.

There is also a lot of news about the NZ dollar now nearly reaching parity with the Aussie dollar. Why are goods still being sold at 30% more than their Aussie prices, it is asked? Quite right. I posed the same question when I found my Vital Green Health Powder which I bought for $99 Aust. was costing here $179 NZ, really! The retailers no longer have the excuse for this gigantic markup but they rationalise it somehow, while laughing all the way to the bank. Solution, only buy when in Oz!

It seems time to make a stand. At least buying fruit and veggies at the Sunday market is one way saving a few dollars, as the supermarkets are also super dear. Have just been told my Melbourne friends are now arriving Tuesday so I will be interested to hear their opinions on the NZ dollar, as R is notoriously careful, whereas T is the opposite. We plan to have lunch at my new favourite restaurant Ti Kouka, hope it is the best.