Ombra Coffee

Well what a weekend!

I have decided to forget it and start all over again. The gale winds were stronger than any I have experienced before, and that's saying something.  They were so strong I was blown back off Evans Bay parade and had to return home, it was impossible to make it around Pt. Jermynstan on foot. I therefore had to miss the Glamaphones Concert which I wanted very much to hear. Oh well, things are tough when you have to miss a concert and I'll have to decide now what to do now.

A busy cafe Ombra...

So I am licking my wounds in Cafe Ombra, the last of the 'chic cafes' I haven't yet visited in Cuba St. And yes it is good, very good, even classy. Different to Scopa, but the same cool vibe, excellent service, and beautifully warm in this very chilly Wellington day. I just have a coffee and croissant, although it's three in the afternoon and I will probably regret it tonight.

Anyway, as well as the weather this weekend, my scooter was stolen, yet again. Abandoned a few metres up the road on Sunday morning. I was woken again by a policeman, this time a Maori, who alerted me of the position of my scooter on the road. So we descended to see what had happened and of course, the thief had tried to start it, couldn't get it going, so left it on the road, with the ignition broken. Again somewhat disappointed, but finally recognisant of the fact that I don't have the mentality of a scooter-owner in Wellington, or more to  the point, I am living in the wrong place to have a scooter left overnight on the road (I didn't have the chain on it of course!) So I have decided to get it back on the road and sell it. Jamie will no doubt sympathise with me, but my scooter days are over, and I am now looking for a four wheeler, a small car to satisfy those days when it is impossible to walk along Evans Bay parade. It will also be a lot warmer, and safer during the impending very cool winter months.

I have already located a lovely Suzuki Swift, a good choice I think, in Porirua, and I am going tomorrow to look at it, hopefully to bargain a little and get a reasonable price. The BMW sports car on offer was very attractive, and at similar price, but not so practical my friends tell me, with upkeep and petrol expenses being the paradigm for a sensible Japanese purchase. I have also never had a Suzuki so it will be a first, and possibly my last, but who knows, never say never!

Now after a warm coffee and lovely croissant I am off to to Te Reo which I have not studied at all, unfortunately.  But such is life, sometimes we are just taken over by circumstances and we go with the flow, the seventies mantra, ay? All will be OK and I am rather looking forward to being in a car again, I have been depriving myself of the pleasure for too long perhaps.

Another view of Ombra...

...its cute salt and pepper.

Our lovely teachers at Te Reo (left)

Planning Meeting for ECK

Today I participated in our Wellington ECK Planning for the rest of this year. Luckily because the weather was as  dirty as hell, flatmate F drove me to the venue on her way to the synagogue, or Temple, as she prefers to say. We then met later for lunch at Pranah in Newtown,  which was nice.

P.R. conducting the meeting

The ECK meeting went well and the lovely P.R., our Maori chief, conducted it with his usual decorum, tact, and even style, I may say, although he is such a modest man he would never accept that compliment.

We are planning a big launch launch of Ann Archer's popular book, and it will be a two day affair, some of it at the CQ Hotel. It is a bit pricy, but that's Wellington. As well I suggested the possibility of a Worship Service so Peter is going to do a survey of all the  ECKists to see how many would be interested. It would be great to get a regular WS going in Wellington as we desperately need one, so that is my aim for the coming year, to establish a WS and conduct them every two months.

After lunch at Pranah we collected my excellent wool rug from the Sallies at Newtown, also the chair which I bought for a steal. Now I'm quite ready for any new flatmate who needs a furnished room. 

On my return I discover an email from the Croatian. He has cold feet it appears, from too much Googling of NZ which has told him he can't afford it here. Well so be it, at least he has moved me to buy a lovely rug, now to decorate my French Salon. Which reminds me, I must start teaching French!

An artist at work at Pranah...

..and a typical lady who lunches alone in Newtown.

Saxaphones and Kilts

Today was a typical Wellington day, very busy, and very satisfying. A free concert appeared at St Andrews of eight young saxophonists who were quite excellent and a worthy offering at the altar of Art in a not so traditional church. Most enjoyable.

NZ School of Music  Saxophone Quartet

Standing for final Ovation in St Andrew's on The Terrace 

Then a vsit to BP to have more post-mortems, all good, and home to prepare supper for the Scottish dance on tonight. It was the 40th birthday bash so a few extras turned up and we had a good, if exhausting, dance. Always good fun. Will give me a good sleep tonight. A possible new housemate from Croatia emailed me a letter of interest. I am  hoping he comes good, an architect would just fine in our house. I must write to him again and let him know how special this house is. He would solve all my problems and I am  feeling very optimistic. 

Cutting the 40th Birthday Cake for Island Bay

Our humble supper

Hot Chocolate at Scopa

Tonight I am indulging in a sinful treat, as the Catholics amongst us who believe in sin would doubtless say, but for me it is a well earned warm beverage the like of which is unique in Cuba Street I am quite sure. The steaming cup is full of shiny dark milk chocolate, so thick it has to be spooned, and that is what I do. Its taste is not too sweet, nor is it too bitter, it is just right. Caffe Scopa is famous for it apparently, and now this is my second time sipping its delights, and certainly not my last. It may even become my Tuesday ritual before I go to Ti Whanawhana which is just up around the corner. A nice way to prepare myself for the fun of trying to keep up my Maori.  

After last night's debacle with my Te Reo course, I nearly decided, seriously, to give up on trying to learn to speak this crazy, difficult language. But I would feel as though I have failed the teachers, as they are SO nice, but they really have no idea how to teach a language, let alone their own, which is just anyone's guess. Perhaps I'll just coast along and see what happens. I would say ten students already have dropped out, but they were prepared for that. Another assessment next week, ugh!

This morning was an interesting one at home, tea with freshly baked orange cake for a new visitor, S. It turned out to be such a beautiful day that for the very first time I entertained a guest on the balcony in the warm sun which made the water shimmer on Evans Bay. It was quite spectacular and a good place for an in-depth chat, which believe me, needed the space of the outside. S is a very nice guy, a returned Kiwi  like so many, after an long and fruitful stint in the UK, back with a lot of mixed results but positive feelings about his return home. He left at 19 and returned at 38, spending half his life, effectively all his adult years to date, in the vibrant setting of artistic London, where he completed a Master's degree in Fine Arts. He is now working in a good position in a top Wellington Art Gallery. But what about the high life he left in London -  how does he readjust to the much quieter life of Wellington which is a village compared with London? That was the question we discussed, amongst many other things. As well he has returned to live with his ageing Mum, in of all places, Hutt. 

For those of you who don't know about Hutt, there is a certain onomatopoeic resonance which will give you an idea of its rather less than exciting nature. But of course, it is home, and that's where you go to lick your wounds, in this case, quite severe ones it seems. However living in what I consider to be the 'healthiest city in the world', I am sure he will come back to his full potential, and even achieve more that he ever dreamed he could have in the big UK. I look forward to watching his progress.

Waiter on fast return to get my steaming chocolate...

which arrives in a flash...

As fast as these cars going up Ghuznee Street

The Candlelight AIDS Memorial at Te Papa

Perhaps some will say it was a great success, and some will say it was too long, but either way, it wasn't my fault, even if my speech was longer than scheduled. The un-scheduled speeches made by the  Maori  local chief who obviously wanted to establish his superiority lasted a lot longer and were in  the Maori tongue which very few understood anyway. We went half an hour over time because of that.

However you will see from these pics that the beautiful Marae was full and the people were happy although it certainly could have been better in my humble opinion. 

In reality I think I may have made my first and only appearance at Te Papa, but it was worth it as many people came up to me later to say how much they had enjoyed my speech, including my Boston house-mate Fir.

So I think I can conclude that it was  a success, but only time will tell in the long term.

The crowd gathers...

A few supporters...

Two congratulated me..

With the Honourable Lady Mayor...

The WOSOSI choir..

Friday night in town...

I rushed into the city to post an airmail card to my friend A in Sydney, hoping for a six pm collection, but no luck, mail picked up at 4.30 so now it looks like A will receive her birthday card quite late as the mail here is abysmally slow, like five days airmail to arrive in Sydney, can you believe it, from one capital to another! FIVE days? It's only a three and a half hour flight! Anyway so be it, she will enjoy it when it eventually does arrive.

Today has been more of the same, final preps for learning my speech and having the regular  Friday Pot Luck lunch at BP. The Kaumatua from Auckland arrived today and was in fine spirits. It is he who leads the spiritual kick-off for the Candlelight Memorial on Sunday. Today he seemed extremely un-spiritual, I must say,  but hey, who am I to say!

Did some interesting shopping at my favourite Sallies and am continuing to prepare for the changing home state in a few weeks. The ad on Easyroommate is still not finalised but I hope when it is, it will work fast. A is rarely at home and I am more than happy about that as she has left a very bad taste in my mouth which I prefer to forget. There are more important things to think about than her insecurities.

After the HU song tonight I may even catch a movie at the Cuba Lighthouse, it seems like aeons since I was there. The only one on at the right time is a comedy with Robert Downey Jr called 'Chef', it may be a fizzer but it has a good cast. Woody Allen's 'Gigolo' movie does not appeal to me at all, in spite of its rave reviews. I have had enough of his comedy for a while, and he's always the same.

Am having a hot chocolate at the Film Archives where I am coming tomorrow for a final look at an AIDS movie about a famous Kiwi's demise with the lurghy. There is an enormous crowd of young people lining up for some movie and I should probably go to it, but it's the wrong time. There is certainly a strong film culture here with the younger generation, fuelled of course by the enormous success of the Hobbit series, and the local heroes Peter Jackson and Russell Crowe.

But I am off to Cuba Lighthouse for  'Chef'.

It was a small cameo by R.D. Jr, but the movie was a treatise on 'twitter'...amusing and the time went quite fast so it was worth it. John Favreau directed and starred, what a big talent there.

The Film Archives on Friday night.

..keen young women film makers?

The queue to Film Archives showing...

Counting down...

Am at the CQ Coffee shop on Cuba where I discover that in June there is a four day Jazz Festival with the likes of Chick Corea coming to this buzzing city. Prices are large but they do offer quite a few free sessions to which I will go, perhaps even late at night.

In the meantime I am hunkering down learning my new Maori lines I got at last night's Ti Whanawhana. Thank goodness I was asked to give them a hearing as I was then coached by the best of the best to deliver in authentic Maori-style what could have been a great Pakeha debacle. Now I have to practise to get my words off by heart. 

'Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou, Katua!'

This I must say with mesmerising solemnity and to raise the skin of all who have the sensitivity to hear the words and their meaning. Ha ha ha! I am, I think, calling on the Maori Tribes from the four directions and then asking them to be present and bless the occasion of our gathering at Te Marae.

I am getting a little nervous especially as my housemate A has just announced, with some drama, that she is quitting our lovely home in a month's time. In a way I am relieved as I knew she was going in November, but I wasn't surprised as we were never very compatible. Hopefully by June 13, my Mum's birthday, I will have found someone new to enjoy our beautiful home on Evans Bay. I am now negotiating a new ad. at easyroomate.nz to find that person, also putting a hard copy ad. on the wall at the big local supermarket New World. The more exposure the better. 

I have quickly started to make plans for the new arrival, and last week with some premonition it seems, I replaced A's tiny TV screen with a new large Panasonic screen  bought on sale for a reasonable  price. It is now not embarrassing to call my 'salon de francais,' also a 'Movie Room' as well.

So tonight back to Scottish Dancing after many weeks away.  Hope I can still do it all. Then on to practise my story, not 'speech', to be delivered to each and every person who attends the Candlelight Memorial on Sunday at 3 pm. It should be a great occasion and I hope to help it be that.

Pain au chocolat on top of Joe Hockey...

The Aussies reeling from Treasurer Hockey's tight first Budget...

The excellent barista at CQ...

...serving me a perfect Pain au Chocolat