Lambton Quay with just enough time for a coffee and friand at Kirkcaldies next door.
I am offering some moral support for David whose big dream is now on to its next stage. The Studio has been a great success but it's time to move on. Let's hope there is a buyer today so he is free to do his next big step whatever that may be.
Afterwards I am off to the Australian High Commission to check about my passport and driver's licence, both of which need attention. Such is life when you are an 'ex-pat'!
..situated next to stationery and sheets. Everything is close by here, like the city of Wellington!
An excellent coffee now to the auction....
Well in spite of an excellent auctioneer the sale was not on today. Three sites were for sale and the first finally did go to a nervous young man. He got a large industrial site at Petone for $610k and seemed relieved but very anxious. It sort of set the tone for David's great studio but which unfortunately did not even raise a bid. After much talk the auctioneer finally said other interested parties would now be consulted. He had tried to start the bid at $600k. Obviously David will be extremely disappointed but it really needs a bull-market to sell such a great space, however there was no-one ready to take the plunge. The Earthquake-prone property might also be a problem here as it will need strengthening I believe and people are always nervous of that. I wonder how David will react, perhaps he will stay on.
On to the High Commission. I did not wait to commiserate with David as there was nothing really to say. To get there was a mere ten minute walk up to Hobson Steet, Thornden, right next to where I bought Bella. Nice memories of that flooded back. But the building was like Fort Knox with an enormous steel fence barricading anyone from entry. To me it seemed absolutely ridiculous. The French Embassy just down the road was a beautiful historic house in a lovely garden setting, very welcoming. Whereas this was an imposing, gigantic modern design, not at all beautiful, with no-one seeming to be in it, except, I soon discovered, the ever vigilant security man inside the electronic gate. Once inside, I had to give up all my 'electronics' to go through the security zone. Inside the cavernous emptiness, after much waiting with no-one in evidence, eventually I met a nice Island woman who gave me no joy at all about either licence or passport. 'Do it all in Oz', she suggested, which I will do. Such is this waste of space in Thornden, it seems purely a symbolic effort to show the wealth and power of Australia to the Kiwis. What an enormous waste of Aussie tax-payers' money. It looked like very few people ever visited it, so unwelcoming it was, and the staff was bored out of their wits. I felt quite embarrassed to be an Aussie. The staff, btw, seemed mostly Kiwi!
Just to salvage something from this unfortunate day I popped in to a nice looking 'Cafe Classic' in the area, and had a nice omelette, tres bonne, and noticed opposite a charming French restaurant called Le Canard, may go there one day.
The Cafe Classic where I quaffed a French omelette.
Opposite was a nice French restaurant with no-one in it, called Le Canard. Wonder what's wrong?
My nice omelette with salad.
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