It is such a balmy autumn day in Wellington I have chosen to sit with the smokers, the elite, outside on the pavement at Memphis. The city seems quiet in preparation for the biggest Anzac March ever, with Sir Peter Jackson being one of the organisers who provided real-life replicas from the First World War. Apparently he is a real aficionado of this War, as an historian also. I will certainly be there to witness it and also tomorrow with a plethora of a services happening. The Dawn one will doubtless be the most evocative.
Sunny Wellie morn...
Opposite the Opera House
The victim of the PM's hair fetish
...today the famous mouth of Maori politician Winston Peters expressed exactly what I had thought about the weirdness of the PMs' pulling the hair, consistently, of the young waitress. He certainly does have a hair fetish, which has been shown in many earlier photos and reports from earlier 'hair touching times'. OK, it may be harmless, but it is still a harassment, bordering on the sexual and certainly I hope it comes to court as he needs to to be properly censured. In his position he has to learn he is not God, just as Tony Abbott, his silly Aussie counterpart, needs to be shown that he is a twit as well.
...today the famous mouth of Maori politician Winston Peters expressed exactly what I had thought about the weirdness of the PMs' pulling the hair, consistently, of the young waitress. He certainly does have a hair fetish, which has been shown in many earlier photos and reports from earlier 'hair touching times'. OK, it may be harmless, but it is still a harassment, bordering on the sexual and certainly I hope it comes to court as he needs to to be properly censured. In his position he has to learn he is not God, just as Tony Abbott, his silly Aussie counterpart, needs to be shown that he is a twit as well.
This photos of the diggers in the trenches was in the drawer of the desk where my coffee sits. It shows exactly the ugly and extremely difficult close encounters that the WW1 soldiers experienced. Smoking, it seems, was their only release from the awful reality of killing other men, especially in the case of the Turks, who were just defending their country from invasion after all.Getting ready for the Last Post
...and St Kilda is coming, albeit Shane Savage from Auckland!
The real thing (with extras!)
Rousing Scots Band
The march, much smaller than I had expected, was really a tribute to the entrepreneurial skills of Peter Jackson, who appeared, as per Alfred Hitchcock I surmised, in the rear of one of his very authentic army trucks. However apparently earlier in the parade, the original vintage army vehicle in which he was travelling had irrevocably broken down. How real was that! But next stop is the War Museum exhibition he has created.
However what this parade lacked in numbers, it made up for in flair and originality with its director the Academy Award Winner Jackson. Perhaps tomorrow's events, on the real day, April 25, will have bigger numbers as it is nearly a holiday too. However I happen to think that all events, ceremonies, march and services, should be on the day itself, and it to be declared the Public Holiday, thus facilitating and ensuring maximum presence. But I must remember, there are not the numbers in NZ, nor, naturally, any Returned Servicemen as they are too old or no longer with us. However, in OZ, the march normally includes the families of old soldiers, and present, acting servicemen. They may be there tomorrow.
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