Wellington National Library - take two

Back home after a beautiful warm Spring day..September is shaping up to be the best month I have experienced in Wellington.

This morning I went to the National Library on Molesworth St near the RailwayStation. Always something to see at their gallery and the Cafe Home is excellent. I stay for a while reading the New York Review of books, Daniel Mendelsohn, a favourite writer, is always interesting. Literacy is a happy high point of Wellington life - good writing is just taken for granted. Of course their Vic Uni creative Writing degree is world renowned, just look at the last Booker Prize winner to see the results of that school.

In the bus coming to town I met an older gent, Jewish, wishing to convert me to the State of Israel, well at least to the belief that the Jews will prosper there, eventually. He gave me, with a smile, two Old Testament pamphlets to validate his knowledge. He was gentle and 82, no doubt will live to 100.

Having joined the long queue to get my long black, I notice the young man chatting in front of me. He is impeccably dressed, has an English accent, and looks like he has just stepped out of a London cab. Old School cuff links finish his crisp cotton shirt, smart black shoes under well tailored block suit trousers probably host some very colourful English hose. He is happy and lucky to be living and working in this southern paradise. He has the obligatory family signet ring on his pinkie, and a wedding ring to boot, and at an age of about twenty five - Wellington is perfect for him!

It is clear this is a young person's city, and that's one reason I love it so much, for its vibrant creative energy. But all of a sudden I see myself as a seventy year old who is retired and not up to the speed of this town. But how lucky am I to have discovered it and lived in it for a couple of years! And boy, am I going to enjoy these second twelve months here, doing all that I can, and staying healthy at the same time. Retirement can wait! Now back to Freyberg Pool for my bi-weekly swim.