Family Lunch

I wonder how many people fear having a big lunch party with their family. In my case, it is a duty rather than a pleasure as I have very little in common with my immediate family apart from blood parentage.That's just how it is and nothing will change it. So I invite a lovely lady to be there and she will always leaven the atmosphere with a bit of fun and wine and the lunch becomes much more bearable.

The fish meal bro prepares is quite good and healthy. My dessert is a little rich and unhealthy, but we all eat everything and pay the piper afterwards. Mission is however, accomplished.

Tomorrow I think I will spend with other people, non-family,  as family duty has been satisfied. I look forward to lunch with an old friend, then a movie and supper with another very old friend. This should prove a very satisfactory end to my Sydney recovery time and then I'll be ready on Friday to sink back into my hectic schedule in Wellington.

Toasting the chef

Helping with the singing....

...the post-prandial stroll to the beach.

Beautiful cloud formations above..

..relaxing later on verandah.

Morning at the Junction

After a really good night's sleep I feel refreshed and as though I haven't done a fifteen hour flight at all. I have decided it is the direction that makes the difference. Flying East to West, losing a day, is the way to go. There is no doubt my next rip to Canada will be via Europe, one way or another, perhaps even via Moscow!

At the bus stop on Bronte  Road, a hub of All Nations.

Waiting...

Not for long.

Excellent coffee and ham'n cheese croissant at Bondi Junction for only $6.50!

I have come half way back abound the world to get a good coffee and it is in Bondi Jn. Glad to see there is a good coffee culture here. Am still on my travels although slowly but surely the delightful Wellington is creeping upon me and I am so much looking forward to being home and doing all the things I have got used to doing, including swimming and learning Maori, in which I am sure to have fallen greatly behind. 

Today is happening a family lunch, M. cooking fish again, with brother Peter and friend Annie whom I am now collecting at Bondi Jn. She has just lost her beloved pussy cat and is in a sad state of bereavement. I wonder how she'll be? I am supplying dessert, a French patisserie from a local cake shop and later it is a big family Skype to Perth to talk to sister who loves the family to 'get together', something which I am well aware of and which needs to be facilitated occasionally to keep her happy. I am scheduled to fly to Perth for a pilgrimage later this year to fulfil those family duties.

My thoughts about my two weeks in America have not yet fully jelled, but I knew there would be changes afoot and I have been given a big green light for a possible extended stay in Canada, Vancouver to be exact. It is close to the hub of Seattle, has so much to offer, and I already have planted some seeds for staying there. Possibly after one or two more visits it will be time, in about 2017 I would surmise, when I will have my seventy-second birthday, still not too old for change! I now have lots to plan for, but still much to achieve in Wellington before leaving that wonderful country.

A very busy bus stop on Bronte Rd, a place where one day I could see myself 'retired', if that is at all possible.

Relaxing with electronics at David Jones' Food Mall

Sydney Stopover

Well Sydney certainly knows how to turn on a beautiful April Autumn day. It is a cool twenty four degrees celsius, and for Sydney that is cool. I have made a smooth transition after a great overnight flight from Vancouver - losing a day in transit of course. It is now Tuesday and Monday has disappeared!

My window seat proved a good idea as my neighbours stayed put nearly the whole flight and I didn't need to move either. Touchdown early at 7.45 am, but twenty five minutes before disembarkation with all the hoo-hah of disinfecting the aircraft. I think Australia must be the only country in the world to put this upon their visitors, and a perfunctory spray onto the upper luggage racks serves what purpose I don't really know. Anyway with my electronic passport I whizz through customs and am at the bus stop at eight forty five, only twently minutes to pass through with no sent baggage....but the 400 bus doesn't come. A nice employee who has battled the traffic for an hour to cross the airport tells the waiting crowd that an accident has held up traffic for at least an hour so I decide to take the train to Central, sure and fast route, and then take a bus to Malabar. 

So I am sitting at a fast food cafe in Chalmers St just outside Sydney Central Station with a wonderful cool breeze and no humidity - Sydney is glistening. Come to Sydney in April or May I say, as this is the best climate Sydney can offer. The coffee I have, after much discussion with the boy who is replacing the barista while the latter goes to buy milk, is satisfying, but only after much negotiation to get the right strength. Always ask for a 'double-shot small flat white' and I won't be disappointed...I hope.

Suffice to say, Wellington is still the best place in the world for a good coffee without any need for negotiation at all!

Outside Central Station in sunny Sydney

Unshaven and in need of a good coffee after fifteen hours flying...

Driving to Vancouver Airport last night

Grand Tour of greater Vancouver

Duncan is indeed an unbeatable host, something which I had already suspected would be the case. He has had numerous guests and makes them feel very welcome with a tour in his big Hyundai car taking them all around the scenic spots, including, for me, the wonderful Simon Fraser University with spectacular views over the Fraser River. He also took me to the border-crossing to the USA just a ten minute drive from Surrey where they live. Giving a lively commentary everywhere we went I was given a good insight  into the way Vancouverians enjoy their great lifestyle.  I am all the more tempted to try out living in this great city some time in the future but only when Wellington has blown me off the map, and that won't be for a few years yet.

The more I see of it, Vancouver is very beautiful indeed, and with a lifestyle to be envied. Apparently it rains a lot which some say spoils things, but coming from gale-blown Wellington, anything is small cheese for me. Surrey is a very up-market region and the people living here are in the more wealthy bracket. The McKenzies next week are having a mere twenty-two guests for a luncheon welcoming the visiting three Scottish Musicians coming over for a week's gigs, also organised by Duncan! He is really the 'force majeur' in Vancouver Scottish Country.

Here an early edition of Oliver Twist, with illustrations by an early ancestor of Margaret McKenzie...

At dance at Gleneagles

View from SFU

Terry Fox who inspired a nation, and who died in his marathon attempt, a bronze at Simon Fraser University

The last day I spend in Surrey is quiet, but just as interesting as I decide to go with Margaret, Duncan's wife, to her Toast Master's Meeting at the White Rock Library. This left Duncan to do his newsletter and me to see another side of Canadian life in Surrey. The library in White Rock was very well appointed and the small group, about ten, with three visitors, half filled the room. It was Margaret's turn to be Toast Master, and of course I was invited to participate, twice getting up to speak.

The afternoon was routine but still stimulating, with a very nice and bright bunch including a few Taiwanese who managed quite well to deliver their speeches - very impressive. Afterwards we were invited to join everyone for a coffee at a nearby cafe, so we all got together and had more chats without the pressure of giving speeches. Brenda, one of the group who gave an excellent talk on 'Integrity', had Parkinsons' Disease, and was truly remarkable. I had some more in-depth discussion when the leader, Beverly, asked me what my HU badge was on my jacket. All in all it was a very profitable meeting and later Margaret and I picked up some salad at a local excellent green grocers' to take home for dinner as I had suggested I would make an omelette before I left for the airport at 8 pm. 

Home after a quick nap, and all packed, the hastily prepared omelette went down well, and Duncan, in superb humour, drove me the three quarter of an hour drive to the airport, with an ultra-smooth entry as I wanted to be extra early. Am now here sitting at Gate 52 waiting to board at 11pm with a window seat waiting for me. 

It has been a very interesting and life-changing holiday as I am now not quite sure how much longer I will live in New Zealand? Amazing what a two week break can do, especially when you are ready for changes.

Toast Masters at White Rock

Selfie in apron with Margaret

Last supper at Surrey

On my way home, with two Polar Bears!

The Ceilidh...and Surrey

The Scottish Cultural Centre was the great venue for the monthly Ceilidh organised by my soon-to- be host Duncan Mc Kenzie. I arrived right on time and Duncan was at the door welcoming people. The first hour was an amazing performance by Duncan teaching the absolute beginners the rudiments of Country Dancing. With much fun and merriment we then moved onto the larger hall with a live band for the Ceilidh with many others attending who already knew  how to dance. So it was a big mix,  beginners, medium skilled, and advanced, a team of whom later gave an exhibition of lovely dancing (in below photo)

Exhibition Dance at the Ceilidh

Inside photo at Scottish centre, kilts are cool!

At Rod's Oyster Bar with two young Canadians (one Kiwi) Earlier that day I met up with my flatmate's son Dylan and his lovely girlfriend Rachel. They invited my to Rodney's Oyster Bar in Yaletown, just at the top of Davie where I was staying. The ambiance was terrific, and the company excellent. Dylan seems well established in  Vancouver and his girlfriend has him well looked after. It will be a goer I am sure. The oysters were not quite up to my expectations as the Sydney Rock Oyster has spoiled anyone when it comes to oysters, but it was a great meal and I would go there again.

Stanley Park

The last day in Vancouver before my jaunt to the country in Surrey is warm and sunny but with a chilly breeze  so it is perfect weather to take in the fresh air of beautiful Stanley Park which is only five minutes away at the bottom of Davie Street. The park itself is huge, needing quite a few hours to walk through  but as I am dancing tonight I will save some energy for that. All the same the entry and taster to this famous park is very tempting, more to do in next visit perhaps.

I stop for a cappuccino at the kiosk and the many families around are tranquil. It is typical of a trouble free Vancouver, at least on the outside. The coffee is OK, and the hamburger I snack with, is passable. Tonight I am eating oysters with Dylan and girlfriend at Rodney's Oyster Bar so I will look forward to that. My few days in the city have been very pleasant, no dramas with some nice things happening - it is certainly a city worth coming back to, if only as a kick-off for the more esoteric locations on Vancouver Island which I couldn't make this time. I'm sure they are marvellous, especially the small southern  islands where the whale watching happens.

Stanley Park Kiosk

Street vendors

Close to Davie Street

Being embraced by a laughing man, below...

Lots of them!

The Pub and the Movie

After my great yoga class I make it in good time to the Aussie Pub on West Pender for the Anzac Day footy match between Essendon and Collingwood. I actually arrive early and the buzz is not yet there, but that's fine as I've decided just to eat and then take in the movie, after all, I couldn't keep pace with a table of youngsters drinking beer.

The Anzac Menu at Moose's

Aussie Rory in specs, German Richard with cap, and Irish Dugal, in hoodie, discussing the merits of Aussie Rules

The Pub/Restaurant is below ground, 'Down Under', geddit?I eat an 'Aussie' Caesar Salad, wanting to be safe, and it is, but boring as well. It's obviously not there for its cuisine, this Aussie establishment.

The table is soon filled with a German and Irish friend of young Rory, who is the waiter who told me about the pub. They are very nice boys, and Rory is very keen and proud to educate them about Anzac Day and its significance which is very patriotic of him. As the footy game is not starting till nine o'clock I'm afraid as  much as I would  have enjoyed it, my stamina is not up to it. I take my leave with Rory keen that I return after the movie to catch the second half. I'll have to disappoint him unfortunately.

Well the movie, 'Spider' at the Cinematheque! I knew it would be dark, but not as black as it was. Redeemed by Miranda Richardson's triple excellent performance (she plays three roles) and superb young Bradley Moore as the young Spider, with Ralph Fiennes as the older mentally disturbed Spider, the movie is full of allegories and is quite depressing sometimes. From a Gothic English novel, Cronenberg  translates it to film well, but it's often unclear as to what he is aiming for. It's an interesting example of Cronenberg's adventurous work, but it's often hard work. 

Anzac Day in Vancouver

It is April 24, but actually April 25 in OZ where there are much celebrations and memorials of Anzac Day, so I am doing it here today at the Mooose's Pub Down Under later tonight.

Finally a designer coffee, called a traditional cappuccino, very nice, with a savoury bun, and just down the road in Davie street. 

It's raining but not cold or windy, so quite manageable...

And my neighbour is industriously creative

Earnest conversation...

It is time for a bit of shopping and to perhaps catch a movie at the Cinematheque in Howe Street.

One of the big attractions about Vancouver is the excellent public transport, the buses are small but regular and quite reasonable cost. It is $1.75 for unlimited travel in one and a half hours.

This morning after my coffee/pastry breakfast, not too fortifying, I checked out the Oyster Bar where I am meeting D and girlfriend tomorrow. It looks excellent, is close by, and I look in to see if I can cloak my bags there while we eat.  A young waiter comes up with a smile, wearing a rather confronting black T-shirt with large lettering - 'Suck me off'. They don't mince words in Vancouver, but the oysters looked succulent!

On to visit the close-by Positive Living Centre which is offering a yoga class tonight at six. It is very friendly, and I am shown around and am duly impressed with all they have to offer their clients. Free medication, lots of free services, and a friendly volunteer staff, one of whom offered me a chocolate brownie to take away with me. I have just eaten it at the Starbucks cafe with my Chai Latte,very mediocre, but I have no expectations at Starbucks, just a convenient and nostalgic memory of meeting  Burcu in Taksim Square in Istanbul two  years ago. I take some  information away from the Centre, and hear they have to relocate in November as the building is being demolished and rebuilt, during three years. I feel for them as many will be dislocated.

Next stop is a shoe shop, to buy perhaps some nice pumps for my big speech at Te Papa. Have to be well-dressed and all my shoes are old so I will be throwing some out on my return. I look in at one shop, too expensive, find another and am served by a charming Polish sales woman and we have a nice chat. The ones on sale are too small, but the Florsheims on the shelf are very comfy and I decide to buy them, if only because of her excellent service. The other saleswomen overhear our conversation and come over and I do an impromptu Scottish dance with one of them who says she loves to dance but is too old.  I leave with a 'See you when you come back' and the Polish lady kindly gives me a complimentary shoehorn to take with me! 

I next go to find the Aussie pub, the Moose Downunder, and immediately see it at my feet, below ground and looking quite enticing. I leave my name with the very Aussie speaking girl and say I am with Rory who has booked for eight people. It may be a roaring night but the footy game is the attraction for me. It's so long since I've seen a game of Aussie rules.

Check out the Cinematheque but it is closed till six o'clock so I take a break at Starbucks until my yoga at six. My week has fast disappeared but I have still a weekend in the country in Surrey, with Duncan, which is sure to be interesting.  Some Swiss chocolates for Margaret and the local Scottish Dance Magazine for Duncan is my offering there. I feel they will be super hospitable. Did I mention Duncan is the doppelgänger of my French friend Jean-Louis? I could not believe the resemblance when I first saw him at the class on Tuesday night.  An eerie one, that! I hope his wife is as nice as he is.

Vancouver Theatre

I'm on East Cordova and Carrall Sts after having been to some excellent theatre at the Firehall Arts Centre.

It was a locally written four hander, called 'Proud', a political satire about the 2011 federal elections. Some in-humour didn't detract from the fantastic acting, great sets and impeccable direction. 

It is surely a hit and played to a full house at the matinee I went to at 1pm. It is after the style of 'Yes Minister', but more a biting satire of what the Canadian Liberal government doesn't do, with a bit of sexual politics thrown in as well. Another good point is that at this matinee the tickets were anything you can afford, a special offer each Wednesday matinee, so logically it was a sell-out, with mainly the older retired or unemployed set.

It is my second day in Vancouver and I feel like I've been here a lot lot longer. Last night at the Scottish Dance it was a great welcome, and now the weather has turned a bit bad I may curtail my plans of travelling to Victoria on Vancouver Island - not enough time, inclement weather and too much to do in this vibrant city.

At this cafe called Rainiers, I am served by a nice young man with an accent, an Aussie accent, from Melbourne and a Collingwood supporter. I discover that there is an big Anzac Celebration at the 'Moose Down Under' on Pender St. tomorrow night, so my week is shaping up to be very full indeed. I have a vegetarian Moroccan chickpea dish which is quite satisfying and he makes me a real cup of flat white coffee. Tastes finally like real coffee and it takes an Aussie who does not touch it to make me the best coffee I have had yet!

At Rainiers with Aussie Rory at the espresso

An ecologically aware cafe...

On the corner...

Serving a good Moroccan stew

After a rekkie bus trip to the Scottish Cultural Centre, a good forty five minute bus ride, I stop at the Fifth Avenue Cinema on my way back to catch the obligatory movie. It is an Indian one, called 'The Lunch Box', looks good. But before I am having a lovely relaxing rooibos tea in the lovely cafe next door and notice the cinematheque magazine. There is a David Cronenberg retrospective on this month and the last one called 'Spider', which I haven't seen, is on tomorrow at eight thirty. I may skip the boozy Anzac Day bash and settle for a crazy Cronenberg movie. The Pub night may be a little too much for this old man, although it was a good idea at the time!

Well just home after the great movie which I must tell M about...it may be a very effective movie for him. It was the story of a lonely man retiring and rejecting love...say no more.

Beautiful, wonderful Vancouver

 I am in love, totally in love....with Springtime in Vancouver!

The blossoms are out, real coffee smell in the air, friendly people and great food... It all looks like Wellington  multiplied by ten. Can't wait to get out and see what's going on.

Tomorrow, breakfast at Artigiano's, below, Patrik says one of the best in Vancouver.

This is Davie Street where I'm staying at Patrik and Kathleen's - lovely hosts!

Being welcomed in my room on Davie Street.

At BelCafe opp. Vancouver Art Gallery

...white linen serviettes a nice touch.

Three men speaking an indecipherable language, 

perhaps it is Quebecois a la Vancouver!

I walk outside on Davie Street, see a bus and decide to take it. The bus driver doesn't charge me and says I can buy a fare-savers pack at London Drug Store, then proceeds to take me ten blocks and drop me  downtown just near the Art Gallery which was to be my first visit anyway. I buy my book of ten tickets and find a Post Office in the same building and get stamps for my cards. Amazingly smooth and stress-free start to my stay. I already feel strangely at home. Find a nice cafe in Hotel Georgia and decide to have some yoghurt and muesli, just right, and a flat white, still not as good as in Wellington. The baristas haven't learnt the same skills as the Kiwis, who I have heard, are the best baristas in the world. 

Also walking along Georgia Street I am offered a free organic coffee sample which I accept. My arrival in Vancouver and I am already offered a gift, and an organic coffee pack to boot!

Sitting in the hotel cafe I notice all the men in very smart suits, some resembling the young Kiwi fashionistas I see on Courtenay Place. There is a good sense of fashion pervading the streets, perhaps the invasive French influence, but it's certainly not American. Next stop the Vancouver Art Gallery, a great stone building formerly the Law Courts and transformed in only 1993 into the gallery. What better way to begin a visit than to see the nation's Artworks.

Well dressed people...

Cafe Faubourg, decor Renoir

A bit peckish after three hours at the Art Gallery discovering amongst others the pre-eminent Canadian visionary artist Lawren Harris, the first of the Canadian abstract artists in the early to mid -twentieth century.  Also the very talented and interesting Emily Carr who was his compatriot. 

Now I am in Cafe Faubourg, 'tres francais', as you will see from the Renoir murals, and the food - good baguette and coffee not too bad, but still not up to NZ standard. This time I tried a cappuccino on a recommendation from the last cafe, but it's still not right. However enough caffeine for the day, the sun is shining, it must be about twenty degrees celsius, and the weather makes for walking. If it stays this way I will bicycle in Stanley Park tomorrow. The people are out on the streets in droves as it is lunchtime. It's colourful and Continental in the European sense, but the hum of conversation around me is all Asian, Japanese to be exact. There is a big Asian population here especially from Japan, possibly because it is about the same latitude as Tokyo, and an easy way to emigrate to America?

I sounded picky about the coffee but it is mainly because of their size...no-one in North America seems to know what a normal coffee size is, my 'small' cappuccino is in a very, very  large cup! Peu importe, I am now on to the sunny streets to savour the sweet air of cosmopolitan Vancouver. I take another electric powered trolley downtown bus, they are regular and everywhere. This onevtakes right to Denman where I am meeting Duncan McKenzie, my Scottish Country Dancing host for the weekend. I am attending his class tonight at the West End Community Centre.

Notice RUMI Opticals opposite...

At the local library, below, in Denman Street, in the Community Centre where I am Scottish dancing tonight. 

Later that night (I can't sleep!)... the Scottish class went exceedingly well and the dancers welcomed me one and all.  Duncan turned out to be a very sprightly seventy-five year old who doesn't look a day over sixty. Such are the benefits of Scottish Dance. It's going to be an exhausting weekend, but I'm sure, very enjoyable.