Black Coffee in Newtown

Monday, it comes so quickly. My life in Kiwi-land is just disappearing so fast, but yet it is so full. This morning I took K into town on my way to get car looked at. K had just very kindly cleanedmy plastic   headlights with his toothpaste! Says it needs another go tonight. Such is the boy! Cannot believe I have waited so long and it seems I finally have the perfect home environment and they even pay the rent. Fir flew off today on her much-needed holiday to Keri Keri. She has worked like a slave in her restaurant but such is the life of a professional cook. She has also decided, wisely I think, to buy another car very soon as her old one is about to die. The new one will be quite upmarket and it  will bring her some great job-satisfaction too. She has earned it, she deserves it, besides, she is an avid camper/traveller and needs a trusty vehicle. 

In town, Bho my mechanic at the garage, told me that he knew about my leaky water tank and will look at it on Wednesday. Thank goodness for that. My only other problem now is to find the right iPhone which I am about to look for on the internet. It will be a big step ahead as I have been steadfastly refusing this entry into the twenty-first century for quite a while now.

I look at my life and it seems to be going perfectly well. Each day is a new adventure and I am having wonderful experiences while achieving some long term goals. My astrology reading came through and it was as I expected. Lots of changes ahead, lots of possibilities, overseas mentioned quite often, living in faraway countries etc etc. Nothing I didn't already know but it was interesting to see confirmation of what I had thought.  I look  forward to seeing if H. wants to play a part in my next exciting chapter. If not, someone else will I am sure of that. 

Now I am about to check  fares to London for next August, just to get an idea of what I will be paying as it is peak season. But I have decided to go to Birmingham in August for the European ECK seminar and this is my big trip for next year. My finances will then be sorely depleted so I will have to make the plans for my next stage with some reality in mind. But it is exciting thinking about it.

 I found today a lovely and perfect gift for Maisie which I will post tomorrow. She has been so patient listening to all my ravings weekly as I phone her in Melbourne. But she is the only one who really understands what I am doing here, and in the world today. The gift is a book to be her Dream Diary and I am sure she will love it. Blue leather-bound, handmade and stitched, it is a delight to touch. I am so happy to have found it in  a 'pop-up' shop in downtown Wellington.

Also, after a conversation with Terry C. in Moss Vale this morning I have decided to advertise FREE French lessons for my neighbours in Roseneath, which is also to be part of my Neighbourhood Leader program. Another thing to do asap!

New Cafe in Newtown, great coffee!

...with Wall Art...

My latest bed companion, lent by Lesley, a real, and true, thriller!

Maisie's  book

Korois' nook, with guitar...

Cafe Zaida on Sunday

I just had to see the sun again and I let the new boy out to discover Wellington alone. I am sure with his smile and bubbly perspnality he will not be lonely. 

Am still coming to grips with a broken camera - sometimes it works but most times it doesn't. I think it is at the end of the road somehow. Looking for an i-phone on ebay or Trademe is the next adventure. Should be interesting. Also tomorrow am off to see the mechanic Vijay or Bho about my perennially empty water tank (a leak??), something needs to be done there if I am to drive up north in November. Needs to be shipshape or not at all I'm afraid.

In the meantime I am spending a sunny Sunday being a cafe rat, as normal! But I as well eventually got to visit friends Lesley and Woi Woi in their Island Bay home - delightful!

Nice bakery at Zaida's

Sunny outside...

Hell in the newspapers, as always..

Spring daffodils on tables...

Zaida's family in the fifties

New arrival - Koroi from the Solomons

Finally after much waiting for my front room to be filled, including a good dose of patience on my behalf, Koroi arrives by taxi this morning with his two large bags and a few smaller ones, plus an electric guitar. You never know what a new housemate has till he or she arrives. But at least he comes up in just two ascents, which is pretty good, given the 69 steps to our house.

He settles in well with Sonny who is busy in the kitchen preparing his hot Indian breakfast as normal. They seem to get on very well and soon I hear someone strumming the guitar, softly, and look out to see it is Sonny! They are like a pair of brothers so it augurs well. I will leave them alone and now go shopping to the Newtown markets as is my wont on a Saturday morn. 

But first a nice coffee at the Bordeaux, which is one of a big Kiwi cafe chain and I am agreeably surpised, my coffee is very good! I then take out my camera to do a shot and something is wrong. The lens is not automatically extending! I then examine it and see there is a slight bump in it. I am totally gobsmacked as I took as shot earlier at home of Sonny and Koroi and it went OK. Something has mysteriously gone wrong, it is out of insurance I am sure and anyway it would not be covered by external damage. It is hard to lose a trusty camera which I constantly use everyday. I really don't know what I'll do so I'll wait till Monday and see what I feel. I can't live without a camera and my old Nikon is sitting also broken on my shelf. What a strange mishap, I wonder what karma I am satisfying there?

Am I getting down to the acceptance of buying an I-phone/camera and being like everyone else?  I-phones do take great photos anyway, but heck, I'll be like all the other trendy nerds!

I'll just think about it later, first have to buy some fruit and veggies.

Smiling chef Sonny..

teaching happy Koroi!

More awful news on page one...

..but great coffee at Bordeaux!

Wet street in Newtown..

..but sells good jeans!

Short visit to Island Bay to see Woi Woi

...dear Lesley at their home with great mountain views.

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.

Spring weather - delerious!

I just had to get out of the house early and leave the young ones to themselves. It is so delightful to have the sun shining and the bay sparkling like Elizabeth Taylor's diamonds!

I repair to Cuba street after my hair-cut with Danny is aborted. He is in Melbourne visiting his daughter so I'll  have to wait till next week for a cut.

So it is a coffee and bagel for seven dollars on the Mall - a treat I haven't given myself before.

Blissful Oriental Bay

More of bliss....

 ...and a BMW vintage model.

These are secenes fro Oriental Pde while waiting for my bus

Now on to Cuba Mall...

Cream cheese bagel and coffee

The 'scene' in Cuba...

The cake I'm droolong over, one day I will bake it..Tamarillo Cream cake!

Have had the best of the day as itu's now getting a bit cool, but young Wellington is out and enjoying themselves on Cuba Mall. The air of optimism, confidence and just enjoyment of life is clearly palpable listening to the young at play. A swallow comes and gets fed crumbs from my fingers. He is not afraid either. All is sweet in this Spring day in Wellington so I had better enjoy it while I am here. 

The low melodious voice of a guitar-playing busker is in the background. Unobtrusive and tuneful, he sits not expecting much, but loving his instrument. He is a Maori, or mix, as so many here are. There are not many, if any, of pure Maori blood these days. I will discover more of this when I go to my first Takatapui Hui near Hamilton in November. Should be very interesting indeed and I am already getting my psyche ready for it. I have decided to say 'yes' to everything now my time here is limited. I may even drive Bella up for her first excursion!

Ticket to Sydney from Gotham City

It is the second day of Spring, but there is still a nip in the air as I take the bus into town to collect my altered P-jacket and decide to have another coffee at Gotham, in Chew's Lane. It is one example of quintessential Wellington, this lane, and as I sit and photograph the passers by I see just why Wellington is as it is, a vibrant creative energy centre of this part of the world, and indeed of THE world. 

So much creativity stems from these windy islands that it is hard to quantify, but in today's Dominion Post, apart from the double murder by a deranged pensioner in a welfare office, there is a telling article by the Vice Chancellor of Massey University. He envisages Wellington in the near future - a new airport for Dreamliners to land at, driverless taxis taking one from the airport to the city in ten minutes; State of the Art technology everywhere and young people making waves in the world in every medium. Well it's nearly like that now, but there are still the everyday side-lines, arson, drug overdose by accident, death from a rail-crossing, ordeal in broken down bus, and more methamphetamines being imported. Well drugs are everywhere, it's just that here we don't need them, we are stimulated on every point. Then why am I about to consider leaving this fabulous city?  

It is hard to admit, but really, it's just that I am too old for it. And it is too young for me. It is a city for the young, created by the young, and next year I turn seventy, and I just gotta realise it. It's time for me to go home. So today I booked (a return) flight to Sydney in June next year to celebrate my my seventieth, over seven days of meetings and dinners and the announcing of my decision to come back, probably in August /September 2105, to live. Where, I am not too sure, but the Central Coast and Newcastle are the two obvious choices. I am making the decision now as I plan to make the next twelve months as fulfilling and as exciting as possible. 

Soon I will make a bucket-list of things to do in the next year which I must achieve before quitting these lovely islands. But I will be back, for sure, for holidays, because Wellington already has a secure place in my heart. It was just at the wrong time of my life for more than a two-year stay.  A bit like Paris really, where I had two fabulous years from 1969 to 1971 and I will never forget them. I will never foget these years either, here in windy Wellington.

Last night at Freyberg Pool where I was swimming with my DSW mates, there was a scene of young Wellington testosterone at play. There were about ten young men, late teens or early twenties, obviously bonding after a workout, who were unselfconsciously playing in the pool. Their beauty and simplicity was something to behold, and their skills no doubt matched their looks. What a nursery of amazing talent this country has and this is but a small example.

Now having unwisely had a second coffee at Gotham I am on my way to have another very fulfilling day. Such is this buzzy cool capital called Wellington. It really is a mini-Manhattan - a city constantly on the move!

At Gotham for good coffee...

Murders in mayhem..

Chew's Lane

Am having an excellent coffee at of all places, the Coffee Club, a franchise not known for its caffeine quality, but today a young French girl makes me a great and hot coffee. All good. I am in town onthe first day of Spring, sunny and mild, and am celebrating it with the purchase of a  P-Jacket which  was on sale on the weekend.  It is locally designed,  Meccano the brand name, but made of course in China. However on sale for a good price and it fits. Means I can now pass on some other coats in my wardrobe. Still having problems transferring money from Paypal to y ANZ account so have to do that later.  Sonny is moving out tonight into his new room so time to renovate the front room again, in expectation of Koroi's Saturday arrival. This young Islander will make a decided impression on the household, although he is a hard worker and I believe and we won't see much of him. Reduced Sonny's  Bond by $100 so he has some cash and now I will juggle my accounts to pay three hundred for my Car rego for twelve mobths, due this week. All is manageable however and I feel the new move may be a good one for at least twlve months which is when I may even be contemplating a move myself.

Springtime in Wellington is divine, at least in evidence of the last few days, and the city is alive and full of Election Fever, with not one, but two Musical satires playng the local stages. I just must get to one of them, either at Bats or the Circa Theatre.

Yesterday the ECK radio program went went and later the dance class was quite excting as we went a notch further in my skills with the waltz, reverse double chassee or something like that.

Make every day a winner as I am now sadly counting them. Fir is off for a week north to get some sun soon as she desperately needs a holiday. Also good to allow the new arrival some time to get established in his new house. Funny how all things seem to fit in as they should, without too much intervention on anyone's behalf?

My trip to Sydney in October is now next month and it will come in a flash. I am really looking forward to it as I will visit Newcastle for the first time in many years and it will confirm, or not, my possible plans for next year or later. Who know? There are just so may nice things about his city and at present the house is paying for itself, virtually. But I am not a Kiwi, and will never be one, as there are great differences as I continually am being made aware of. However there are certain things to be done in the next twelve months and I have to get them done, and properly.

Excellent coffee in Chew's Lane, below.

Around corner from the City Library