Bordeaux -encore

Saturday morning at Newtown market and a nice coffee at the French Cafe - I tried a strange looking biscuit, but it tasted  alright. 

With the World Cup Cricket phenomenon in Auckland, Aussie PM, the awful Tony Abbott, has come over for an annual tete-a-tete with John Key and neither one looks very happy. The Oz/Kiwi match this weekend will be an interesting battle with the Aussies being awful sledgers and the Kiwis don't like that at all. As well, the Kiwis are really on top at present and are tipped to overcome the reigning OZ team. We'll see. In the meantime for my two cricket tragics at home I have found a connection for the aerial. Let's hope they can make it work as it would be nice to have finally a working tellie.

Is it a flying saucer???

Abbott in Auckland - not happy!

Notice blue tie/grey suit ensemble, best buddies, or both losers?

Am planning to have a repeat look tonight at 'The Brave'. Live theatre is so unpredictable but this is a sure and special winner.

Roxy Miramar

Decide at last minute to sample Peter Jackson's cinema at Miramar to see the newly released Second Exotic Marigold Hotel. Should be good.

Great Art-deco cinema

Well, like all follow-up movies it is not as good as the original. The trailers were even better. Ah, well, at least I won't bore Willi and Robert with it next week when they come. Perhaps we shall see another movie, that is if there is time, as it will be a very busy few days.

Dentist visit at Newtown

Up early and a bit nervous I take two buses to Newtown.  The aim is to check to see if I need another root canal treatment on a back molar which is giving me some murmurs. Unfortunately my diagnosis is correct and I have to consider my options.

Though he would be quite happy to treat it with a filling, with a sixty per cent possible success rate, but then later also a root canal would be necessary, all up costing over fourteen hundred dollars. Or an extraction for about three hundred. I tell him I'll think about it. In the meantime I have a very quick dental hygiene check which is done in a whisk and only costs me $95, plus of course, the advice and X-rays, another $85, for telling me what I suspected.. Such is dentistry these days, but hey, they must make a living. I will wait till it gets too much and then have an extraction as it is not essential to my well being and I do not want to go through a third root canal torture.

Back to BP and see Ilua who is having his speech therapy. Next time I must have a chat with his therapist as I wonder just how much she is doing with him as he has much more potential than possibly she is aware of regarding his singing voice.

Back home for a nap and a cook-up for tomorrow and then swimming with DSW and a farewell to the lovely Paige, our coach, whose NZ visa soon is terminated and she must return to the US next week, and may not return. A big pity as she is such a great lady and a formidable coach on her day.

At Bordeaux for a coffee in Newtown

Across the road...

The great Celia Lashlie who began the 'look after our boys' movement many years ago, and who is really responsible for the The Massive Theatre Company being established. She died prematurely from pancreatic cancer and laments she didn't look after herself enough. Such is a carer's life, and it  nearly happened to me!

Coming down...

I say 'coming down' as it is the stituation after the amazing experience I had in the Hannah Playhouse last night. The raw talent, the honesty, the skill of the director and the production values, all were in the top degree of excellence.  This is what theatre is, and should always, be about.

Back into town to organise my flight for March retreat in Long Bay near Auckland. I was somewhat reluctant to do it this year but succumbed to peer pressure as it will be my last appearance in this capacity.

Ron was also keen to re-hang the exhibition in his centre to show off the photographic exhibition to visiting funding people who come in sometimes to see where their money is going.  We organised the pictures' placing, but later Noel from the Welsh Bar will be hanging them in his own inimitable way. They will look good.

Now off to visit the drapery shop for more fittings for curtains and then home to rest before my return to Scottish Country Dancing tonight. I have neen long enough away so it is time to return. May even get a bit fitter as it is good exercise. Tomorrow my long awaited visit to the dentist for two hours!

Memphis views

Super cool dude..

More Nazi war trials

Four of the faces in The Brave

Ti Whanawhana and 'The Brave'

After an excellent night with Ti Whanawhana at the Prostitutes' Collective, with some new people at the rehearsal, I am told about the current theatre must-see at the Hannah Playhouse. So very quickly I make plans to go with Ron and Ailua on Tuesday night.

I am sitting in the beer garden of the only Welsh Bar in New Zealand, or at least, in Wellington, waiting for Ron and Ailua to finish their hamburgers. The bar is filled with a plethora of Welsh Rugby memorabilia and is actually the premises of the former public loo on Cambridge Terrace which has been cunningly revitalised, revamped, and transformed into a very nostalgic pub. It is right opposite the Hannah Playhouse where I am going to see this much lauded production from the Auckland Massive Theatre Company. It is called  called 'The Brave', and has eight brave young men telling truthfully their life stories in a very strong theatrical context. 

Later after the show I decide to speak with the Director Sam Scott, a gutsy lady, whom I tell this show just must go to Sydney. It is on my agenda to see what I can do. It was an amazing world-class production of ninety minutes of self discovery done in a way which beggars description. Suffice to say, I was flabbergasted and moved to tears. The boys were not just talents, but the show was one of those rare theatrical experiences which demands to be seen again, which I will do, this Saturday.

My tips won the Oscars!

Rudi metaphorically dying onstage at 49, 

This fabulous show!

Outside in the Welsh beer garden

Monday in Chew's Lane

Well so much for Gotham City, a good ten minutes wait for a coffee when I arrived at ten am. Yes it is peak hour for coffee I suppose, but  still.. so I say no, and I go right next door to the Coffee Club and get an excellent long black and a ham and egg croissant to boot, so I feel better already. 

It makes me think how good the cafe scene is here in Wellington, even better than the enormous Auckland in comparison. Again it's the proximity. Everything is just around the corner, or next door in this case. In Chew's Lane which is all of thirty metres long, there are eight eateries and of them are five good coffee chops. So there Auckland, beat that.

Which brings me to make a list of what I will miss most when I leave this windy city, here it is:

1. The cafe scene, without a doubt the best I have ever experienced anywhere. Excellent coffee, friendly service and a great and colourful variety. Beats anywhere I have been in the world.

2. The friendliness which pervades the whole of Wellington. They are just so helpful the Wellingtonians, perhaps  because they unite to fight the awful weather which is very often the case in this very windy city, although this summer has been a fabulous exception.

3. The cinema and theatre scene is all you could want, and more. Film Festivals occur seemingly every month, and an enomous breadth of theatre and dance, all just great.

4. My swimming and dancing friends, so fit and such fun, I will miss them so much.

5. Learning the Maori Culture up close and personal. Although the language has been beyond my ken, the culture is one I have learned a lot from. Warm and unconditional and very giving, one can learn a lot from these loving people.

6. The nature: the skies, the bay, the walks which I never really made, but I know they are there. Sometimes it's just good to know if you were younger you would have been a tramper, like all the Kiwis.

So there's a list already and in my next blog I will make a list of what I am looking forward to when I return to OZ, and there will be hopefully six things which will enrich me enough to validate my decision which has been made in spite of many urges to reconsider. Then I will make a list of six things I have learned and will take with me from Kiwiland as I am an Aussie, after all.

The runners from yesterday

Cafe Club in Chews Lane

Wellie return

A grey cooler day and the big fun run on Evans Bay is in action so road closed till twelve. RV with Tom at Fidel's for coffee but is always too full so I am waiting on street at the Laundry Cafe next door. I like it better anyway.

With all the post-mortems from yesterday, I realise a big mistake in not booking my flight home on the Sunday to enable a good look at the Pride March which by all reports would have been marvellous, affirming and enjoyable. Plus I could have had lunch today with Norrma and brought home the juicer which she wanted me to have. But so be it, I missed the big parade but did catch up with Norma.

Sails on the bay

Cuba from The Laundry

Cuba Street walkers

The exhibition was indeed a big success and they are suggesting it could even travel?? Probably a bit too complicated at this stage but you never know.

An email from Ron has given the Day Out now to be on Cuba Street on March 29, the same day as Neighbourhood Day. More problems there to be solved. My activities are getting more and more complex, no wonder I am contemplating an escape! But will it be any different wherever I go, I seemto take the complications with me!

Auckland Pride

Somehow I seem to have lost a blog, perhaps last night in the plane when I was writing about the chattering teenagers next to me it was not meant to be recorded, as I no longer have that page.

Oh well, in the meantime I have flown to Auckland for the quarterly BP Board Meeting which happens to be on the same day as the Gay Pride March, much like Sydney's Mardi Gras.

Am breakfasting at the Alleluya Cafe in the fab arcade on Karangahape. Happily it is situated just above my hotel for the the night, the  Scotia. I was downgraded, so to speak, on my request, and the new hotel was quite adequate albeit the room was a quarter the size of the Amora. But the TV worked, the hot water eventually worked and even the instant coffee was OK. I managed to go for a walk in the balmy night in order to see exactly where I would be today, and of course, even here in BIg Auckland, nothing is far away.  It is certainly what you would say, a city with big city vibes, but because it is in Kiwiland, it's much more 'sympa', as the French would say, nice and friendly.

It is obvious that the major property wealth has been procured by the Indio-Asian power cliques, as the inner city density is just like it is in those countries. As it is Gay Pride weekend and this cafe  is owned by a Proud Gay, we have quite a smattering of gay couples having breakfast, either locals or having arrived, like me, for the Big Day, although at this stage I am not sure if I am even going to see the parade. I may go to Waiheke as prearranged with Norma.

But first the Board Meeting with Body Positive, and I see my report has been circulated by the secretary already, with photos perhaps, I don't know. I think they have never had someone on the board quite like me before, so I may as well make a good impression. They will have a float in the parade so I should really capture that. On va voir!

Alleluya Cafe

Dance in Auckland

The owner reading his paper

Well the Board Meeting is over and the BP float is bedecked with red garlands to be accompanied by near naked muscle men wearing little but long red inflated ballon snakes, the reference being obvious. I take a few snaps on my i-phone but that is as close as I'll get tonight, as the Parade starts at 7.30 and my plane leaves at 8pm, so it is back to plan A, being taking a casual ferry-ride to Waiheke Island and having a cuppa with Norma to catch up on her big news.

En route to Waiheke

Auckland Airport

After a brief hour visit to the ever fabulous Waiheke Island where Norma took me to see her new dream home, I am now waiting at the airport. It was worth the visit, Norma had lived through a traumatic buying spree where she bought the house for $1.4 million and was just recovering from the drama. But it is an amazing house, and wonderfully presented with fantastic views. Four bedrooms and three bathrooms with decking galore. It is an amazing home for just one single woman, and one day I am sure I will stay with her there as she will need validation for such an extravagant, but fabulous, purchase. She has already invited me, with a friend, to come and stay anytime and I will. The lifestyle at Waiheke has to be seen to be believed as they live such a privileged and wonderful life. I wonder sometimes how many of them are at all aware of their unbelievable luck to be living in such a paradise. 

Aah well, perhaps they've earned it in a past life!

Caffe Scopa and Movie at Nga Taonga

Wisely I have left home extremely early to get into town before the rush hour, saving me half an hour in gridlock on Oriental Parade. Wednesday to Friday is always gridlock both ways after work time, especially in sunny weather when everyone is looking for a park on the bayside to have a drink or a swim.

Today it's for a swim as it's hot and magical. They say it is only 21 but is seems more like 31 and I am careful in the sun. Am off now to see the return of Jean Watson's doco called  'Aunty and the Star People' and it may well be full, you never know, or it may be empty, but added value is a Q and A  by the producer Jo Coffey, no doubt a friend of Jennifer's whom I may be driving home.

Earlier today was a visit to Newtown to make finally a dental appointment for next week and also take a blood test at the local Pathology clinic, where all I had to so was write my name down and I was on their books, details having been sent in from Kopata. Very slick organising and obviously payments have been arranged, the bill is in the mail.

Home to a busy house with Sonny who is in World Cup Cricket fever and wants to get our telly going. I told him what it needs and he is going to look into it with Koroi on the weekend. In the meantime I have taken a few things out of the living room for more space and also to give to Ailua to enjoy. I see Ailua tomorrow at the Photo Exhibition at Thistle Hall.

Life in Wellington in this hot summer is nothing less than sublime. Not too humid, the temperature still feels hotter but actually isn't. There are obviously many visitors in town as will Willi and Robert be very soon. I hope the weather stays great for them. 

The tattooes, the fashion and the attitude, all on cutting edge original. News in today's paper that Sir Peter Jackson will indeed be establishing a Hobbitt Museum in downtown Wellington for all to come and see. He is certainly the Lord of the Rings.

I have dropped in at my old haunt Caffe Scopa to have a lemon and honey drink before the movie. The normally lovely drink is quite ordinary, they obviously want me to eat here as well and I am not about to, so be it. It is money in their pocket so they should be happy I am here as the place is near empty at the moment.

Cuba St in summer..

Skies are blue...

Recovery in the city library

Another beautiful day and although I was going to spend it recovering from a hectic three day weekend I decided I had to go into town. The city library beckoned as it is a quiet haven and a fabulous resource centre for books and magazines, some which I have never heard of, mainly imported ones of course, but some local Kiwi ones as well. I discover some great illustrating magazines from the US.

I sit and read and look at my co-readers, all of whom are immersed in their computers, books or whatever. Outside the sun is warm and the city and bay look wonderful. I know I will be leaving a fantastic lifestyle so I had better make the most of it now, and when I return to Gosford I must discover some new possibilities and re-create some of what I have experienced here. 

Yesterday the Photographic Opening went well although I didn't stay for long. The photos looked great and I heard eleven had already been sold. Amazing. Congrats to Steve who organised it all.

On to the Interfaith meeting, well, I can't say much but it happened, and we sat through some small chit-chat and complaints but all is well and there will be a Walk for Peace the same day as the our talk at Clyde School. Unfortunately it  is on the same day. There is too much happening here.

I give up on Tiwhanawhana as I am too tired so home I go to discover a disconsolate Fir who had been crying over awful work situation at the restaurant. We chatted and I commiserated with her for an hour and then had an early night. There is too much to resolve there but the talk at least did some good.

The weekend disjointed me a little. I love the country feel of Otako and Wanganui,  but am now back in the city. I think it was a taste of what I will have in Gosford, but my return will be a good thing, to a quieter town with less to distract me but with still lots for me to do, with even more in Eckankar which is what I want.

So all is well and I am back to the sense trip that is Wellington. Tomorrow I discover I can now attend the opening of 'Aunty and the Star People' as the HU is cancelled. Will be interesting as I may take Jennifer along  as she wants to go.

I felt yesteday I have undertaken too much, but I know I can do it, I just have to reduce slowly what I am doing so in the end it is becoming so little that no-one will miss me, I hope!

Whanganui

A break at Levin for a Macca's coffee and muffin, it is actually quite OK and the perfect place to have a rest on my three hour jaunt to Whanganui. Weather turned out to be great also, predicted rain never appeared, not did the winds. I hope the Day Out organisers aren't beating themselves up too much about their rather premature cancellation and now not until  March, who knows what the weather is like then? Nothing is ever certain in Wellington.

I am back from long day's drive from Wanganui where all went well with Graeme and friends. Only four others there but enough for a quorum and discussion. Graeme is an excellent person and of such high character I cannot say the most of him. After the Service we repaired to Graeme's home for a quick nap before going to a local pub called the Rutland Arms for a meal. It was a quintessentially English style pub and I had a quite good fettuccine and Graeme his favourite seafood basket. We spoke of his life as an ECKist and as an actor, both of which he fulfils very well. Home then for more chatting but a very early night which was welcome. Monday morning early rising and after a nice brekkie was on the road to Otaki where I was to meet up with ball-room dancer Ted and friends for morning tea. His friends were from London originally, and were interesting and we chatted a lot and I even told them a little about the  HU as they were inquisitive. Derek had recently lost his long term partner to a rare disease and he was still in mourning mode. On Ted's suggestion I took a detour on my way home to see the fabulous Otaki estuary which was impressive in its stillness and beauty. A really great place to live and many houses for sale. 

On the road home I picked up a nice hitch-hiker, Daniel, who was Maori and on his way to Porirua. He was interesting, generous and a nice companion. I left him somewhat precariously under the pass-over to Porirua as I couldn't find anything better. He said he'd be OK as I'm sure he will.

Now I am just in time for the Thistle Hall BP photographic show opening, then Interfaith meeting, and then Tiwhanawhana. It is  busy Monday to say the least.

Weather cancellation

Today has been windy, cold and unpleasant so the organisers have wisely cancelled the  Day Out in the Park. Instead, I have visited Ailua in his smal but nice Council flat, and discovered he has a lovely singing voice. He loves Ella Fitzgerald, as I indeed do too. But I can't sing like her, and Ailua can. In listening to her beautiful rendition of 'My Darling Valentine ' Ailua began to sing along and betrayed a sure pitch, a wonderful tone and great feeling. I wish I had remembered to switch on my i phone to record it. It was very, very, impressive and I aim to encourage him in the next few months I am in Wellington. 

I will also have the opportunity to pass on some furniture which I no longer need. It will improve his flat and he will learn to take pleasure in owning some nice things.

Another project  for me before I quit these windy shores.

Ed Snowden at Cuba Lighthouse

'Citizenfour', aka Edward Snowden, or Ed as he preferred to be called, certainly did not live up to its hype...'the must-see documentary of the year'. I think not, and so it appears, did two of the visitors who walked out half way through last night, and they were Gen Y! 

The film, the third in a trilogy about mass surveillance and US interference, is directed by Laura Poitras who is the daughter of millionnaire Boston philanthropists. Laura originally wanted to be a French Chef but becoming politically engaged later in NYC, she opted for filming docos.

However this doco I must say was slack, and had at the most thirty minutes of interesting footage and that was hardly new. They even used a few seconds of Julian Assange holed up in London, or was it Reykjavik. I forget now, it is so yesterday's news. The all-improtant critique of mass surveillance somehow gets lost in translation.

 One can have only so much of a pristine white-walled and white-sheeted Hong Kong five star hotel room, where most of the film was shot, with one scene of Snowden langorously putting gel into his hair! It was relieved only momentarily by a few minutes from Rio De Janeiro where the other whistle-blower Glenn Greenwald was living with his many lovely curled up pooches. Later in the film we see that he (Greenwald) has a handsome male Brazilian partner who suffered some collateral damage in the eventual 'outing' of Snowden and his 'shattering news'. This was the only tiny relief in a very boring film.

I agree it is important stuff, personal privacy, as as such, should be fought for. And nations like the US should be brought to account for lying, but all nations are spying it is common knowledge, so it's a bit rich to be calling oneself 'holier than thou' when the same things are being done by everyone, all in the name of national security. Oh, except for the Germans of course!

As for me, I probably would have walked out with the young couple but I was hemmed in and to be truthful, I was hoping something new might be revealed, but no, not a skerrick. I really don't know how it scooped a BAFTA award, something funny somewhere. I suppose it was for the serious weight of the subject matter.

And now for a cinematic rest until the FFF comes on in March. Allez les Bleus!

View of Waitangi Park from bus.. 

The blueish tinge is just right for this too cool doco.

American Sniper

Another day another movie. I am totally immersed in the film culture here in Wellington with the imminent arrival of the fabulous French Film Festival at the Embassy.

But last night I caught, against my  better judgement, the latest Clint Eastwood offering, a chauvinist American movie perhaps, but still one critical of the evil of war. Called 'American Sniper', it featured the excellent Bradley Cooper, a bulked up hero in real life, who was Iraq war veteran Chris Kyle the redoubtable top killer in this awful war of occupation. It is dubious honour to have bestowed on one, but then this is America a country which loves its heros, especially the Cowboy and Indian sort, like Hopalong Cassidy and Tom Mix were in their time.  

The movie was well made as Eastwood usually does, but there was still a lot of killing and ghastly scenes which don't make one feel good at all. The awful ending where is was  documented that Kyle was killed by one of his vet friends doing an action which was doubtless an act of charity, did not lose irony at the end of this rather bloody and sad movie.

America looking after the rest of the world, in the process nearly destroying an Iraqi city and murdering countless locals, in the name of protecting world peace - give me a break. It was certainly the Bush administration reaction to 9-11 which gave birth to this madness and also the righteousness of Daddy America. It was a disturbing movie, but possibly not as the disturbing as the film I plan to see tonight about the  Snowden whistle-blowing tapes called 'Citizen Four'.

In the meantime, the marvellous weather continues and Wellington is showing itself off, in a quiet, unpretentious way. People are out in droves enjoying themselves and there is lots to offer, especially for the queer population this weekend. It is without any doubt the free-est and most creative city I have ever experienced (apart from perhaps Brooklyn NY) and I can't begin to say how lucky I have been to have this two year experience. See, already I am counting down.

Now if only I could find out how to allow this i-pad to accept some more photos!

Honours Night - at Meow.

Last night at Cafe Meow, a cabaret cafe in downtown Wellington, there took place  a unique and historic event. A hundred or so people crammed into a reasonable space and there were no complaints as to closeness or lack of space as love was in the air. It was the inaugural celebration of Queer Culture and the recognition of Service given in the name of all things queer and different, and this in the all inclusive society that is Wellington.

It was certainly very inclusive and it was a privilege to be there, even when it wildly over-ran it's timed program. There were about forty awards to be given out, and forty, or more, accolades to be rendered by those who knew the recipients well. I was lucky enough to know about fourteen of these so it was of keen interest to me and I must say there was nary a dry eye in house during much of the proceedings. And when not wet with emotion, we were wet with laughter at the inimitable repartee of drag diva  Amanduh La Hore, who was in her best element, and btw, was also given a gong at the end of the evening at about 11.30 pm. It was indeed, quite a night Out in Wellington.

The Program..

The Weekend...

The Perfect Weather..

More about the Awards...

Awards were given for many lesbians who had fought for the Gay Law Reform, being enacted in 1986, and for some who created the first and only lesbian book store, Lilac, in the Southern Hemisphere.

A few very worthy awards went to young gay activists who have worked so hard to make schools gay friendly. Also one to a young woman who came out to the press when she had been sexually abused by a Malaysian Diplomat, making headlines all over the country. A very brave girl who has made a great difference because of her bravery. Also to sporting heros, organising the Out Games, and there were many others awarded for ventures which were notable for their truth and queer support. 

A great night of gay solidarity and equality.

Memphis in the Sun

Well the weather has stayed with us, remarkably, and I am celebrating another day at the Memphis Belle. News is awful from Oz that Abbott survived the leadership spill, for a while anyway. It is getting well covered over here, I think the Kiwis just like to laugh at the shennanagins of Oz politics.

The Russiam billionnaire yacht called 'Serene' is in dock on the Quay - an enormous black monster which is obscene when you think about it. It is rentable at a paltry 1.6 million euros a week if you are interested.

Back to Vodafone today to increase our I-net coverage to unlimited, these boys use a lot of cyber space with their games and movies, the bill was double this month. Better safe next month or it could be even bigger.

Tonight at Cafe Meow we have the inaugural Honours awards for the LGBTI community, I will be going to witness what may be interesting indeed. I feel it will be a part of Wellington Gay History, as it is in the middle of the Gay Week in Wellington, which culminates on Saturday with Out in the Park when I am singing for the first time with Tiwhanawhana.

 Also today my first visit, or really second, to BP to see Ron about the letter I sent this morning, then on to see Bho at BMW for a service appt for Bella. Always busy, but that's the way I like it I suppose.

Last night a nice long talk with good Melbourne friend Maisie about her ECK activities. She met Iranian friend Mehdi who was happy to see her and all went well there with the delivery of my little gift. I am so lucky to have Maisie as my sounding board as she is the only person who understands what I am doing here in New Zealand, and also my moving back to Oz. If it's OK with her, then I am doing the right thing.

At the Belle

Avoiding the cakes...

Lower Hutt and Fir's Return

Yesterday I had the pleasure of coming home to meet my lovely housemate who had just returned from   Oman. With many stories to tell, some good, some not so good, Fir is a most welcome return to our home.

Today I am having my ears cleansed, or the right ear to be precise, and it is not just that, but sun-spots burnt off and blood pressure taken etc all for $25! This is Lower Hutt, where the real Kiwis live. It is cheaper, of couse, still bloody windy however, but simpler and quite like Gosford I feel.  Wow, that's saying something!

So I have just been to see the RN at my doctor's surgery who kindly not just syringed my right ear very efficiently, but looked at my skin-spots and did those too with her nitrogen on a cotton bud, just to save me another visit. She also gave me a free syringe to keep my ear free of wax using bicarbsoda as she told me her husband does. Yes, we shared some intimate details, but that's what Kiwis are like, they share their lives and when I told her I was HIV Poz she warmed up even more as she then regaled me with stories of some of her friends who had died from AIDS. It is always a segue, being Positive, with someone who is chatty and interested, like most Kiwis btw.

So this is the ever lovin' Kiwiland that I'll be leaving in six months, soon to be five, it will go very fast I know that. I am stitting waiting for the Valley Flyer bus to take me the fifty minute ride back to the city, and I may even have a second coffee at the Library cafe where I am returning some old, and picking up some new, books. 

Having found 'Burr' by Gore Vidal, and falling for 'The Judgement of Paris', which I read eons ago, my helpful librarian tells me she has secured Joyce's 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' and it is waiting for me, no charge. How nice is she, I remember her from my last visit and perhaps she does me, too. Again the personal connection which is so important but often goes unnoticed here.

In the cafe I see two identically dressed young men, also identical in body shape and gait, walk by me in perfect unison of course, the only difference being the subtle hue of pink in which their shirts differ. They must be partners I think, but you never know. There are a lot of bromances going on in this exceptional city. 

This library cafe is a hive of intellectual pursuit, I think. Or perhaps they are just gossiping. Probably both. My second coffee, strong of course, was ill-advised, as my heart starts beating much faster than when I had the blood pressure taken at Lower Hutt. One coffee is enough for me I must remind myself. 

I am now off home to catch up on my promise to Ron to write him a letter of invitation to the dignitaries for this year's Candlelight Memorial. An important letter which I will have to think about before sending it to him.  I owe him this after last week's unhappy incident.

The more I see of this city, this country, the more I see it as a crucible of intellectual ferment which fuels the world, albeit unknown, with so many of its worthy and artistic personalities.

Brekkie at Lower Hutt

In Westfield Plaza

Still smiling...

Waiting for the Valley Flyer

Very nice coffee and cake at the Library Cafe

The Day After

It is Sunday, a quiet recovery day for most of Wellington.  The cleaners have been out and the streets are back to normal. New Zealand won the Rugby Sevens finals so national pride is restored. I am finishing my fascinating book on Frank Lloyd Wright and his long time mistress whom he was never able to marry.

Mistress is the wrong word although that's what the sensationalist tabloids  have called them. The puritanism in the US at the turn of the twentieth century was too great to imagine, but probably also existed in Australia. This woman he desperately loved was an early feminist, a suffragette, and a great literary scholar of many languages.

 Mamah Borthwick as she called herself after divorcing her husband whom she hardly loved at all, was certainly a forerunner of a Gloria Steinem and Germaine Greer, and more should have been written of her hadn't she been in the shadow of the very egotistical Frank Wright. It is a great read and I am very impressed with the style and research of the author, her first novel, as she called it, not a biography, and I would love to meet her one day. She lives in Puget Sound and I think would be a most interesting person to meet.

Reading from my room

This great book by Nancy Horan

Invitations...!

Saturday, it is Sevens Day, and the Aussies play the Kiwis in the Quarterfinals, and Lesley has offered me a free entry ticket....am I crazy or what? I should go, the weather is perfect, they are only half-full in the Stadium, and I say Sorry Lesley, can't make it! He will think I am mad and I may be, but the idea of a huge footy crowd, albeit my own country playing, is not a big turn-on. So I go to Newtown to have coffee and breakfast with Tom, and look at the passing very colourful crowd.

And to boot, there is an email from Ron inviting me to an Indian farewell dinner tonight for his friend Nobu. I had decided earlier to go to Nga Taonga to see the last showing of a Kiwi movie, so I decide against the dinner as well. I feel a bit of a non-eventer, but such is Wellington, there is too much to do.

Back on home base I see the house-mates are all out working and enjoying the holiday, as everyone else is doing. They have been blessed by great weather and are making the most of it. Perhaps tomorrow I am tempted to let Tom help me take off the hard top from Bella and give her a summer airing. I had better say yes to something.

Big in the news....

Quiet day in Newtown...

Hopefully the end of Abbott.

Top Rugby players to France..

Expert says 'talk to your roses'!

Well just back from another mind-blowing Kiwi movie shown at Nga Taonga, the Film Archives. There were about fifteen in the audience, more than usual, and it was a debut film called 'Fantail', by director Curtis Vowell and writer/lead actor Sophie Henderson. And what a talent she is. Of course it was dark, what Kiwi story isn't, but it was gut-wrenchingly sad with such a tragic end that one begins to wonder under what dark cloud this land hides. I came away wondering at their skills, but despairing at their sad stories, which of course are true and reflect society as it is, this time the troubled Maori society.

On my drive home I saw the preparations in place for the gigantic street party which will take place after the final Sevens match tonight. The parties go all night, the main street of Courtenay Place is closed off to traffic, and everyone dresses in fancy dress. The early ones I saw were all gothic, blood and gore, and there is lots to drink no doubt. I will hear about it all tomorrow in the newspapers.

Waitangi Day

I have found a new cafe on Abel Smith Street with an enormous mural depicting a prescient Albert Einstein covering one wall and a piano nestling underneath, obviously waiting for an afficionado to come and tinkle its keys. This is quintessential Kiwi, creative, laid-back, unpretentious but with so much thought and style behind it all.

It is a fabulous new cafe but with a familiar barista, Kinto, at the espresso machine. It is Wellington, don't forget, you always meet someone again. 

Today is a cool Waitangi Holiday, the Sevens are raging at Westpac Stadium, but with only half the seats sold they are wondering if it has a viable future. It does cost $150 a ticket for the two days of footy, plus food and drink, so most visitors would spend many hundreds of dollars over the weekend. This is a world event, and one of the most popular venues worldwide has always been Wellington as the people go crazy over these days and the Rugby world loves it. But it also needs the bums on seats to bring in the necessary dollars to make it a viable affair. The sports journos are posing questions...

A hoodie closing in on Einstein

More wall Art

Yesterday's party at ANZ

I didn't think my photo outside the ANZ bank on Willis street would make it the Dom Post, but it did, albeit taken by another photographer. The two men in frocks are both senior officials with the ANZ Bank, encouraging non discrimination of the GBLTI community, and even encouraging the trans-genders to express themselves. The now have specific Rainbow coloured ATMs - go ANZ, my bank too!

Food, what Kiwis do best!

There were 350 kilograms of strawberries, amongst other specialities, eaten at Government House to celebrate Waitang Day.. They do it well here, and many were invited by internet lottery - one for the masses!

Just like a Kiwi...? Saving money is a Kiwi trait..

Kiwis loving adventure...

Kiwis love going to faraway places to experience the thrall of Nature 'in extremis', like this cyclist in Otago. I have not been nurtured like a a Kiwi, and could never become one, they are an incredible race of hard living achievers and I am in the autumn of my years I know that, but I still am happy to have seen it up front and personal, this amazing ability to challenge nature and live life to the absolute full. There are no prizes for losers in NZ, and to be true, it seems that here there are none.

Waitangi Day is the subject of the editorial of the Dom Post. It is spoken of as a time to discuss vehemently the early land disputes and to relive the trials that the Maori peoples went through when this Treaty was hurriedly pushed through Parliament 175 years ago. They love an agument and it will go on forever as intrinsically the two languages do not understand each other. And nor do rhe races it seems. All the while the Maori people are slowly but surely regaining their pride in their Whanau and Iwi, which over nearly two centuries was tried to be buried or at least diminished by the Pakeha but without ever succeeding. 'Te Reo' is back on the agenda, and although from personal experience  it has some awful teachers, but they believe in it, and that is all that matters.

 I will take home this fervent love of country and family with me to Oz, a country where all this 'whanau' stuff is just not as important as, in Aussie talk, 'throwin' another prawn on the barbie..'.

Resting, waiting for a burger...

Two things have become evident on this all important Waitangi Day holiday...first I am not really able to identify with all the so-called queer people that present themseves as such. When I am with my queer brothers and sisters, they are all with me and I feel I am not with them. This became evident at the ANZ party where all the pollies and trannnies were together celebrating their differences, and interestingly I did not feel to be part of the scene.

And today I am having a hamburger at the coolest little hamburger stall in Cuba Street with all the young ones, and some who are older, but I feel I am intolerably old. This is a young person's paradise and I am not the person to be part of it, although I appreciate so much the opportunity to have experienced it. 

The sun is shining, the coolest music is playing, and I am waiting for 'Trevor', the name of my burger, to be called. It couldn't be cooler, and I am happy to be in it, but not of it.

Also I just emerged from 'The Theory of Everything', Stephen Hawking's  biopic, another Academy Award movie, this time for Eddie Redmayne. He gave a fantastic performance and it was a film totally of my era. It is hard to believe Hawking is still alive at age 72, in a wheel-chair with motor neurone disease, having been given just two years to live forty years ago.  Amazing story and amazing man, but a real scientist without belief in any supernatural experiences. Anyway, Quantum Physics lends itself to the reduction of everything to the Light and Sound, in reality, to nothing but vibrations, which we in ECK call the sound of Love. 

Effectively the basis of Physics is actually the same as we believe in Eckankar....

The cool hamburger van...