Friday on my mind...

It has been a most interesting day, as Wellington can often offer. Today was special, my invitation for lunch for Y's birthday which took place yesterday, after a day of submitting J's will for probate to High Court.

So today he was bit more relaxed but suffering like I had been from a sore throat. He suggested I may have given it to him. Which is possible. We had a coffee at Memphis where I formally introduced him to all the staff, then on his suggestion we went for a lunch at Ombra, one of my Cuba Street favourites. I was delighted with his choice.

He chose four small plates to share which all were very good,  but a meat balls dish, which I correctly feared may not be interesting. He agreed and we didn't finish them. The waitress from Rome, was  a sweetie called Ciara, and we spoke a little Italian and lamented the second fall of Rome.

After lunch we separated on our different ways, as we both had driven in the rain. I felt it was a step forward as there was no madness today, but just nice conversation and equal exchange, although he said I spoke as much as J. 'Not true' I riposted loudly.

We'll see what will happen. I am already a step removed from it all now, and I see realistically he needs at least six months to process his situation, And he is still vulnerable but all will work out with no dramas I have decided.

But....on my way home I had a coffee with someone who had left a note on my car windscreen yesterday, and he turned out to be a young man from South London who was interested in my car. But what was amazing is that he turned out to be the schoolboy friend of the son of my Aussie friend in Oxford, whom I am about to visit in August. What a small world. So I may have someone to purchase my car after all as I am thinking it may not be such a good idea to leave it with Y. as I don't want to place any imposition on him. We will hopefully become, and stay, really good friends.

Beach Babylon where we had an afternoon coffee.

Wet Wellie

Had an early morning start today with an appt for car at Europe Motors at eight a.m. Am doing a couple of cosmetic touches to facilitate its sale in July, hey, that's next month!

A lot can happen in twelve hours and I think I am taking a reverse look at my 'new life'.. 

I may not just be ready for this new life and it is posing a few complications which I don't wish to have in any new life. I know nothing is simple, but when it involves another person it is doubly consequential and you cannot ignore the effect on the other person. So in this case I think discretion is the better outcome, rather than valour. Tomorrow's lunch will settle everything, and sadly, I fear it will end. So be it. It has been a mammoth ten days to say the least.

Perfect reproductions of Rembrandt on show in Wellington. It just goes to show  that the originals perhaps, don't have to be experienced after all, who knew?

This story is unbelievable... For a mere 'sign' outside a ministry buliding they spent $67 thousand dollars. See it below. Very nice of course but this is typical of the Wellington over-spending. Huge amounts go out for quality projects which should only have cost a fraction of what they spent. In OZ, for example, I would guesstimate that this stone edifice would doubtless have cost less than thirty thousand dollars, here, more than twice that amount. What can you say?

A white elephant...

Dunedin floodedyou can see how English, or Scottish, is this buliding. Dunedin is touted as the Edinburgh of the South and it certainly looks like it, but in this case is suffering fom flooding rains.

Classic Kiwi photo, can do, anything!

Return to Dentist

Well some things are the product of the imagination and mine certainly is a fertile one.

Back home after a return to Kelvin my charming Chinese dentist, I am relieved to say the filing had not  disappeared  as I had thought, it  just wasn't at all evident without the aid of a lighted mirror, which of course, I didn't have. So all is good, the filling is there for a little longer anyway.

News today is all about the hide and blatant corruption of FIFA. Sep Blatter will have to go to gaol but how crooked do you have to be before you get caught? A billion dollars swindled.

Tony Abott is losing his lesbian sister in his one eyed stance against gay marriage

Another Kiwi success story, in chocolate!

Just back from Scottish dancing and I have decided to go no further in my foolhardy notion of finding love at seventy. Oliver Sacks may do it, but I am not Oliver Sacks. Friday at lunch I will explain why to N and I know he will understand it is for the best. It has been a marvellous ten day romance.

New week, new life

OMG, it's June already in the Memphis Belle.

Tom just left after a post-mortem of the weekend party. R has bought an exceptionally good buy but it remains to be seen what use he makes of it. Tom is a good businessman whereas R is a former bankrupt so Tom's advice is valuable.

Yesterday at N's place I discovered just what a treasure he is and what a legacy he has to look after. He certainly needs time, and perhaps even eventually a helping hand, but whose?

Only six percent of foreigh students..are attending Wellington universities and they are missing out on an enormous foreign income, and talent of course. This city certainly needs to have a bigger infrastructure and as Linda Meade said in her column below, a direct International flight, meaning a runway extension at the airport, which would be not just desirable, but essential. It seems obvious to me that with such a valuable resource as excellent higher   education here, they do need to find a way to export it for the better of the country, and indeed, the rest of the world. Wellington education is in the top rank, is worth a lot, and is to be valued.

Euthanasia bill should come before Parliament..and so say all of us. This poor female lawyer, about to die ignominiously, needs the right to self terminate.

New Swedish super-long ship for the Straits...could be something I might take in the distant future....

Linda Meade writing good sense about the restricted airport, but realises in the long term it is an essential addition to Wellington's future. This columnist knows what she is talking about, being finance advisor at Deloitte.

Edward on the job, or not...a great example of multi cultural, inclusive, Wellington.

Queen's Birthday Holiday

It's a strange place this New Zealand and it doubtless takes a foreigner to look in and discover the weirdness and brilliance that exists in these cloudy and windy islands.

On one hand you have dentists like Calvin, who wasn't able to extract my tooth, then found another filling and did two, for the outrageous sum of nearly $500 only to have one of the fillings, a half tooth, fall out two days later. I am now awaiting the chance to tell him this and ask how it happened. No doubt he will have a plausible excuse but I am not paying him another $250 to replace the one that disappeared.

So there, you have the incredible inflated costs and prices, and then the excellence of their food and beverages, their drug free lambs (I hope) and cattle, and a superbly healthy, fit society which beats most other countries ten times their size in most competitive sports. 

Today is cool, but nice, the streets are quiet and I have been able to park, free, right outside Memphis Belle in the centre of town. There is  no other city in the world of this ilk where you could do that I am absolutely sure. And get a superb coffee in your own persona mug! (See pic)

Kiwi youth, unassuming, handsome

Relaxing in the cool, in shorts!

Capt. McCullum takes the Queen's Honours

Next year the Edinburgh Tattoo for Wellie...

My friend Dame Margaret in news..

 Margaret has fittingly now an exhibition honouring her pioneering work in contraception in New Zealand, a place which desperately needed her in the fifties and sixties, and this amazing lady is still dancing, Scottish Country, that is!

My pussy cat mug...and I am now off to another iconic part of old Wellie, Aro Valley, to see and have lunch with Y, or N as I am now calling him. Am sure it will be an interesting encounter, with this most interesting and attractive man.

Wet Sunday

Having done the market at Vic. Street I am having a coffee at the Raglan Roast in Abel Smith Street. Always nice tasting coffee, although not my own cup, it has some good magazines to look at especially the NZ 'Interior' mag, which is a great example of Kiwi excellence in design and has such forward-looking editors, it is, in itself, a reason for wanting to stay in this creative isle.

Raglan Roast lounge area

Always knew cannibis was addictive...

California drought for fifteen years is worst in a thousand years...what to do?

Great design mag...

It is a day of recollection and decision making as my meeting with Y has given me other options.

As we are both impulsive Geminis it is wise to take our time and gauge the future. I rang him this morning and we chatted. He is depressed about the loss of the man whom he was attentive to for forty years. I totally understand, and it will take time to emerge from his gigantic shadow. We decided to give ourselves the best space possible so I will return as planned, to Gosford, and he will visit me there so we can get to know each other on a foreign soil. He does not know Australia, and I know he will enjoy his time there. If we feel very together eventually I can rejoin him in NZ or we can make other plans. There is always a solution and we will make it as easy as possible for both of us. It is an exciting position to be in, and I feel very optimistic about the future.

I may even leave Bella with him as I know I will never sell her for the right price and I would prefer she stays with a friend.

Peter in Sydney sent me a beautiful email about accepting anything I choose to do to be right, and he finished by saying:

'May he love tomorrow who has never loved before,

And may he who has loved before,

Love again tomorrow'

Love that quote and I wonder where it comes from?

But other news is that my newly planted tooth filling has mysteriously disappeared. The dentist said he had problems getting it to stick and now it is totally gone, and my $500 with it. A phone call on Tuesday will see that  fixed, but it will mean yet another visit to not my favourite place in the world. In Gosford I may catch up with Rob my preferred dentist who can give me trusted advice. Teeth certainly are a drain on the finances, especially in New Zealand.

Tonight is Ron's house-warming and it will be an interesting event, he never is simple in his personal life although he is a loving and generous soul. I will go for a short while as tomorrow I have an important visit with Y. If it is meant to be it willl happen, and I have no worries about the future. 

Happiness is my only goal, and that is for everyone.

In the meantime back to the absorbing read of Oliver Sacks and his fantastic voyage into life and all its vicissitudes. He was such an adventurer, and came from an incredibly brilliant and achieving, progressive English Jewish family. He has done so much that his legacy in writing and the study of neurology will remain for a long time.

Saturday recovery

Have just had coffee with Tom and purchased a housewarming gift for Ron for tomorrow night. Practical as always, Tom bought at a 60% reduction at Briscoes a tasteful duvet cover. Then on to The Milk Crate for  a coffee and croissant, nicely served with butter and raspberry jam, an all-time favourite of mine. It is briskly cold and the people are all out in their winter Katmandu accessories. Wellingtonians certainly  know how to dress for the weather.

After sleeping last night only with the aid of four codeine pills and also finally a valium, it is no wonder I feel a little strange this morning, but Tom's early call got me out of bed and going. That is after an important although brief conversation with Y about my plans and what I will do now the goal posts have changed. He agreed with what I said, so I am feeling quite relaxed about it all, and the changes will present themselves little by little to arrive at the ultimate and desired conclusion, the best for everyone, and possibly not till the end of the year anyway. I will be patient and enjoy the journey.

My latest read, which may go on to P in Sydney.Oliver Sacks, now sadly suffering from terminal cancer, has all the same found his first big love, and at age seventy-seven, something encouraging for me at only seventy, or nearly...in three weeks. His big love in this photo was his BMW motorbike, and I must say it is one I had always wishe to have. But now, of course, I have Bella!

A 'New Yorker cover'..this lovely cover says it all about New Yorkers, they start young in their search for excellence, and many achieve it of course, but at what cost?

..are we ever!an interesting article in a cutting-edge magazine, but it told me nothing new, some how I have known for many years that the secret of my good healh is in eating natural, unprocessed foods, and probably no red meat.

At the Milk Crate..always interesting clientèle.

But I am thinking of Y all the time.