I love summer

Hi there

I got back from Nelson two weeks ago.  Unllike my holiday up North earlier in the month, my Nelson holiday was planned way in advance.  I stayed at Tahunanui (Tahuna) Beach.  There was only a park between me and the sea, so I was in my swimming element.

Nelson, at the top of the South Island,  is close to the Abel Tasman National Park.  I went day return to Kaiteriteri by Abel Tasman Shuttle bus, and then caught the boat to Anchorage, my fave beach in the Park.  I sunbathed and swam.   I have hiked the park before in its entirety. But over last ten years or so I have mainly section hiked.  This time I just lazed around at Anchorage. It's a nice boat ride to and from Anchorage and other bays.

Here's a pic taken from Anchorage Beach.

above:  taken from the boat in the Abel Tasman National Park, on my way to Anchorage.

Merry Christmas, Happy 2019

Hi there

It's Christmas Eve.  What a rush around the shops today.  So many cars and people.  I went down to Kilbirnie and it was just so crowded.  Then I went to town - more crowds.  I also fitted in a swim - oh, naughty me, I was told by the hospital nurse last week that I shouldn't swim for a month.  She did relent and so I could swim in a week or two, provided I wore goggles..  Well, I wore big-framed sunglasses instead and I swam on my back, very very slowly so as I wouldn't get any splashes in my eyes.  Thank goodness, the water was calm.

Anyway, have a wonderful day tomorrow, wherever you are around the world....

I bought the above Christmas ornament, thinking it was a penguin.  When I got home and looked at it closely, I thought, "Uh oh..."   It's a snowman.

Do I need a granite counter top?

Hi there

A few years ago there was a programme where house hunters looked at prospective buys.  Every time a would-be buyer mentioned "shabby chic" in reference to decor, there would be an off-camera chorus of "Hoo-ray!!"  I loved this, I even joined in.

I so wanted to do it again.  But not with "shabby chic".  That fashion style came and went.   I watch loads of house-buying and renovation programmes, so I would just have to search for a new phrase.

I hit on "granite counter".  I decided I  would shout "Hoo-rayyy!" whenever a buyer, all but swooning in the kitchen or bathroom, shouted ecstatically, "Oh, wow, there's a granite counter" or on the other hand exclaimed in horror,  "Formica?  That will have to be ripped out and I'll have to replace it with a granite counter."

And with each "Hoo-rayyyy!",  I would  bottoms-up a shot glass of Pepsi -

One wet Sunday afternoon, I watched HGTV for over four hours.  I swigged down almost two  bottles of Pepsi.  I happily shouted  "Hoo-rayyyyy!" so many times that I lost count  (36 times).

I so enjoyed myself..

###
Next time,  I may go for "vaulted ceilings", or "French doors", or perhaps even "fire pit".  Fashions seem to change daily.

Wellington Hospital Christmas Grotto

Hi there

On Friday, I got back from a week in Nelson which is at the top of the South Island, and more about that holiday in a later blog.

On Saturday morning I had an appointment with the eye unit at Wellington Hospital.  I had to have another  eye laser-y something or other done to reduce the pressure in both eyes.

Anyway, while I was at Wellington Hospital, I was thrilled to see that on the ground floor, just as one enters the building, there's a Santa's Grotto.  Santa will be there all next week between noon and 1pm.  For sick kids and walk-ins.  What a wonderful thing!

Not a brilliant photo, but there were too many lights on to get a really good photo.

Dumping goods outside charity shops

Hi there

When I was in Taupo a couple of weeks ago, I visited the Salvation Army Charity Shop.  I adore rummaging around in charity shops.

When  I left the shop at about 2 pm on the Saturday, there was no rubbish outside the doors.  But when I passed the shop at 6 pm on the  Sunday night, I was absolutely amazed at how much stuff people had dumped there.  Why on earth, they couldnt take their donations in when the shop is open I just can't fathom -

Bad sight, eh?

But here's a lovely sight, also in Taupo (no, I don't mean the scenery, even though the scenery is mind-blowing) - There are lots of those small awful-looking electrical boxes or telecommunications boxes out and about around the country.  In Taupo, the Council have engaged artists to paint pictures on them.  Taupo is close to Mt Ruapehu (Mt Doom in THE movie trilogy) ski-ing area, and here's the most adorable ski bunny, painted on a "box" outside Farmers Department Store -

Unicorn Milkshake

Hi there

I took a snap-sudden holiday.  I adore making up my mind to go up North and by the following day I'm there!

I was in Mt Maunganui one day and I wandered in to the Hide-Away Cafe in a little arcade.  They had a Strawberry Unicorn Milkshake on the menu.  I decided to try one (except I had a lime Unicorn Milkshake).

New Zealand, a South Pacific Paradise?

Hi there

I've often thought about what overseas tourists expect of New Zealand, with regards to the weather?

Eternally sunny skies, year-long  really really warm weather, lovely swimmable seas that are similar in temperature to places like Greece or Fiji? 

Oh dear, we may be officially in the South Pacific but, yeah, we are the closest country to the South Pole.   The NZ sea temps are quite cold, compared to, well, the Mediterranean.     Our summer is 1 December to end of February -

Cafe Serving Staff

Hi there

I truly applaud waiters and behind the counter staff in cafes.  However.. 

 This week I went to a very popular  cafe.  As I waited for my meal to arrive I idly watched the staff.  The young lady who had taken my order at the counter was continually wiping her nose with her hand.

Ugh...  I grabbed a serviette and frantically scrubbed down my cutlery, glass, and drink bottle.

A couple of years ago, I saw a cafe worker wipe down an outside blackboard menu.  With her apron.  She went back inside to  commence serving customers, wringing her hands on that same  apron.

Aren't cafe workers trained in the basics of hygiene any more?  How sad.

Kids Standing on Public Transport?

Hi there

When I was a kid, my friends and I stood up for older people on the buses and trams  We didn't mind one bit.  We clung onto the back of Mum's seat or stood on tippy-toe to try and reach the leather strap-holds dangling from the overhead rail - "Nearly there - Uh, maybe another year and I'll be tall enough to reach the strap!"

Standing up in the tram or bus made us proudly feel grown-up.

I was in a bus this morning.  There were loads of kids in the bus with me (the teachers' strke  in town had families galore pouring into the city to take part in a protest march to support teachers and their lack of staff and pay).  About ten kids were sitting down while adults were standing.

When did things change?  When did it stop being children standing up for adults?  Now it was adults standing up for children?  Guardian grans plonked their grand-kids in seats and stood furiously guarding them.  Parents sat surounded by seated kids.  Young teens sat in groups, heads down looking at their phones.

In my secondary school days, Transport Prefects boarded buses and trams, eyes peeled searching out uniformed  transgressors who dared to sit while an adult was standing.  No Transport Prefect on board?  Then the driver ordered every school kid in the bus to stand up for adults.  And, sheepishly, we did.

So ...  understandably it was a shock for me today to discover so many children sitting in buses while adults were standing.  What a turn-around since I was young.

Olivia Newton-John

Hi there

Olivia Newton-John was never A Big Thing in my life.  She was 'just there', you know?  Way in the background behind Elvis, and Cliff, and dozens of other stars from my rock'n'roll youth.

I did have one intense dislike period and that was when Olivia dumped Bruce Welch of my fave guitar group, The Shadows.  She left him for better fields (namely the USA), and my young heart wept over Bruce's sadness!

A couple of years ago, I went to her show in Las Vegas.  My goodness, she was fantastic!  I hadn't realised she'd had so many hit songs.  She was in great singing mode, so  beautiful and vibrant, and still wonderfully Australian.   I mentally congratulated her clothes stylist; I wanted those clothes.  I craved to strut down Lambton Quay, here in Wellington, in her boots, and that sassy going-out-on-the-town outfit. 

It's sad that Olivia's health issues have resurfaced.  She's so brave as, of course, are many ladies in the same position facing the future with grit, determination, and fortitude ...

Thanksgiving USA

Hi there

When I was in the United States an American lady said to me, "And what do you do for Thanksgiving?"

"We don't have Thanksgiving," I said.

"You don't believe in it?"

"It's your Thanksgiving," I said.  "It's nothing to do with New Zealand."

The American lady was confused.  I had to explain to her that Thanksgiving Day was an American-only holiday, and that if I remembered rightly from school history lessons, the occasion was to celebrate the first pilgrims and indiginous people of that country gathering together for a meal.   No other country in the whole wide world, I said, celebrated Thanksgiving because - heaven's to Betsy! - other countries had their own special anniversaries.

I felt like asking the woman, "How do you celebrate Waitangi Day?" - but I didn't.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

Hi there
At the last minute I trotted down to Maranui Cafe on the seafront at Lyall Bay and waited to see if I could get a glance at the Duchess of Sussex.  She was going there for coffee and a talk with benevolent organisations.

All I saw as the car went by was a hand waving because the car's windows were darkened.  When she went into the cafe I only saw her back.  I switched sides of the road and I got a nice - though distant view - of the Duchess:

 

She was too far away for my cheap little camera phone to photograph but thanks to Fliss (who was standing beside me) for the above photos.  Oops, I never even thought about looking at Harry.

PS:  31 October ... there was an earthquake yesterday over much of New Zealand but it hardly touched Auckland where the royal couple were visiting;  they didn't feel it.  However, I was scared and ducked under the table clutching the legs as we've been instructed to do, only to suddenly realise that my 80 year old dining room table was on casters.  Yeah, casters will really keep the table steady in a bad earthquake!

Phantom seed thrower

Hi there

Some months ago, a neighbour said to me, "Have you heard about the Phantom Seed Thrower?"

"Huh?"  What the heck was my neighbour rabbiting on about?  Her statement sounded slightly ... naughty?

"Someone's going around the streets of Miramar at night-time, and throwing seeds into people's front gardens."

"Oh.   I wish someone would throw seeds into my garden ..." (its so darn hard not to sound ... naughty,  but I will continue writing with a stiff upper lip).

And you know what?  Someone did throw seeds into the weed-filled garden at the front of my house.

At the start of Spring my garden suddenly became a riot of lovely little spring flowers peeping in and out of the knee-high weeds.  How adorable.  I wish I could name the flowers, but being the non-gardener that I am, I haven't a clue about florals and fauna (I'll have to run to the Yates Garden book that's been gathering dust on my  bookshelf for twenty years and see what the word 'fauna' actually means).  

Thank you Phantom Seed Thrower, much appreciated...

What Oprah Told Me!

Hi there

Years ago, when Oprah was on television here in New Zealand I garnered two important pieces of information -

1.    When putting on a bra, always lean forward to manoeuvre yourself into place.

2.    Before handing over money for that beautiful new jacket you spotted on your lunch break, work out how many hours you had to work to pay for it.

Thanks, Oprah.  Best advice ever.

Adventure Day, Paraparaumu

Hi there

I decided last week to have an Adventure Day.  I hopped in my car and went up Highway No 1, from Wellington.

First I went to the mall in Porirua for a couple  of hours.  Then I drove to Fisherman's Table, a casual buffet restaurant that's right on the highway.   I had a table by the window, and a great meal.  Kapiti Island looked fantastic from the restaurant.

I carried on driving, past the Paraparaumu mall, round the next corner, and down to Paraparaumu Beach.   I had a long walk on the sands.  Kapiti Island was directly across from me.

Visitors never used to be able to visit Kapiti.  It was tapu (taboo).  But now if a visitor books through - I think - DOC (Department of Conservation), they can get a boat ride aross the water from Paraparaumu.  It's especially lovely over the summer months.

A few years' ago, I hiked to the top of the island, but a visitor doesn't have to do this in the few hours that they're there.  There are song-birds,  swimming, wandering along different tracks, and just picnic-ing.

Kapiti Island, from Paraparaumu Beach.

Hataitai Beach today

Hi there

Saturday

The weather has been so beautiful today.  Really good spring sunshine.  There was a hive of activity around Hataitai Beach. Sunbathers (including my friend, J, and me), a few swimmers (J and me!), lots of walkers, many people who didn't realise the toilets had been moved from inside the changing sheds to the front of  the structure.  Women would automatically. tear into the changing sheds for the toilet , then come sheepishly out, looking puzzled.   Okay, everyone, note well that men's, women's, and disabled toilets are now at the front of the building ...

above: the new toilets at the front of the building.



above:  the changing shed entrance.

above: Hataitai Beach and sunbathing deck.  Taken from across the road because I couldnt be bothered to get out of my car!   Oops...

Daylight Saving

Hi there

30 September

Well, it's daylight savings time today.  Summer is around the corner (well, 1st December).

Clocks have been put forward.  I thought I was such a smartie-pants remembering to change the clocks and watches.  However I forgot the car clock with the consequence that I was an hour behind all day.


Ten swims at the beach this month.

Quest ... book by A.J.Ponder

Hi there

A friend, A.J. Ponder, has a new book out.  It's a fantasy quest novel about a raggle-taggle group going on a (wait for it)... quest!   Sylvalla is a princess in search of adventure.  She finds it, and more.

AJ tells me that "the book has everything, heroes, monsters, chases, escapes and a complete lack of true love ...  It's written in the tradition of The Princess Bride."

If anyone is interested in ordering it at the library, purchasing it via Kindle, or buying it in a shop,  the book is published by Phantom Feather Press.   Age of reader, probably from early teens right on up to oldies-no-no-I-mean-mature people.

You may remember AJ's children's book, "A Wizard's Guide to Wellington", also published by Phantom Feather.

I feel pretty...... Yeah, right

Hi there

The other morning I suddenly realised I hadn't put out my rubbish bin.

No time to waste.  I stumbled out of bed, hastily flung my grungy Sylvester Cat bathrobe over equally-as-grungy matching  pyjamas, stuffed my feet into panda slippers, and rushed outside to lug my bin to the footpath edge.   It was 8.30 a.m.  There wouldn't be anyone around to see me, surely?

The two kids from the house over the road scooter-ed and skate-boarded out of their front gate. They couldn't take their eyes off me.

A neighbour, putting out her washing, coo-eed across the fence.  Another neighbour waved at me from behind her front window.

The bin men rolled up before I could rush back inside the house.  I tried to get out of my horrendous morning fashion mistake by channelling Dame Maggie Smith.  I held my head high,  raised myself up to my full height of just over 5ft, and grandly accepted my bin back from the rubbish man (really, did the guy have to wink at me?).

Back in the house, I glanced into the hall mirror.  OMG, I had bed-head!

Dame Maggie would be appalled -

Romantic Book Endings

Hi there
.
Yes, okay, it's easy to guess the ending of most romance books.  The heroine meets the hero in chapter 1 and by the epilogue, the pair are married and probably have a couple of kiddies splashing around in a swimming pool whilst the lovebirds watch the scene indulgently from patio loungers while sipping cocktails.

But if a plot is slightly unusual, I am a whizz at guessing who's going to marry who.  My friends marvel at my romantic insight.

After the fourth Harry Potter book - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -  I was conducting a Harry Potter quiz at a national science fiction and fantasy convention.  I confided to the room that even though we were only up to book four with three more books to go,  I thought that Harry would end up marrying Ron's kid sister, Ginny. ( I didn't like to reveal that I'd decided on this by the end of  book 1)

"No, No!" shouted the horrified quiz winner.  "Harry loves Cho Chang-"

There were nods of agreement from the others in the room-

So, a pat on the back for me because Harry did marry Ginny.   I guess romance fans know just what signs to look for ...

Pssst, it's all Secret Squirrel and please don't tell anybody,  but for the first time in several years I really had trouble thinking up a subject for this week's blog.   Shhhhhh....

Pellets vs Pallets

Hi there

I was power walking along Tahi Street, past the back gates of Palmers Garden Centre in Miramar.  There was a load of pallets there with a notice saying they were free for the taking.  Only one problem:  the notice called them 'Pellets'.  Whoops.

Reading in Bed

Hi there

I love to read in bed.  For hours.  It's essential that I have a light that shines down on my book, pamphlet, newspaper, crossword, or Kindle.

It's surprising how few hotels or motels allow me to do this.  Hotels in Las Vegas, in particular, are horrendous for a reader.

All of the seven Strip hotels I've stayed at in Vegas have big lamps on side tables (see above photo from an LV holiday).  The lampshades force the bulb to shine directly downward.  Reading is hopeless because there aren't any ceiling lights either.  I can't even move the lamps closer toward the bed because most are glued onto the tables ...

But I guess in Vegas I should be out kicking up my heels, dancing the night away,drinking out of golden slippers, and gambling to infinity and beyond.  Oh dear, I am such a waste in Sin City.
 

Spring, Spring, Spring

Hi there

1 September.  First day of Spring, here in New Zealand.  Whenever the 1st of September comes around, I always want to start warbling "Spring, Spring, Spring" the song from the musical "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". 

It's a beautiful day today here in Wellington.  The birds are chirping, my daffodils have been flowering for several weeks, and  every centimetre of my washing that's billowing on the clothes line has the sun completely on it.

I'm happy.

Booking theatre tickets for Harry Potter, 2019

Hi there

I'd been breathlessly hanging on by the very tips of my fingernails over the last half-dozen months,  waiting for Melbourne bookings to open for the play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child".   The hanging on by my fingernails was  hard, especially when, with impatience, I'd all but chewed those fingernails down to the quicks.

For the information of those folk living in the jungles of Borneo or perhaps pig-hunting in the Tararuas, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is a play in two showings.  It's been called Harry Potter Book 8.  It centres around Harry and Ginny's child, and Draco's child, both children attending Hogwarts School for Witches and Wizards.  The play was written with the approval of J.K.Rowling.  In both London and New York, ticket sales for the play have gone through the roof, with shows selling out sometimes a year in advance.

I sat hovered over my computer on the opening day of Melboune ticket sales. At one minute past 2 pm, I was number 3,034th in line to buy.  It turned out that, within a few hours, there were 40,000 ticket-buyers behind me.

And I'm not very good on buying things on the computer.  I usually take too long and the website leaves me behind, or I press the wrong button and lose everything, or I go forward when I should go back, or I forget something important and .... well, you get the idea?

But, whoopee, I got my tickets.  I had to take pot-luck where I sat but, hey, that doesn't matter.  I'm going to Part 1 on one night and part 2, the following night.  I could have chosen to go to two sessions in the one day but thought that might be a bit much.

Harry ....  here I come.  Australia, stand by, I've already packed my wand!


##
2 September :  the cast has just been announced for Melbourne.  I see kiwi actor George Henare is in the show.
And... within the first week of bookings opening, 200,000 tickets had been sold.

   

Cute messages on artsy crafty purchases

Hi there

I love wandering around art and craft shops and country markets, and reading the little tags attached to some of the products.

At the Martinborough Country Fair I picked up some colourful leggings.  The tag read "To be worn at midnight when dancing beside a sparkling stream".

I bought a woolly hat in Queenstown.  A label told me the hat had been "knitted beside a warm fire on a cold Queenstown evening".

If I'm dithering over whether to purchase or not, a cute message on an attached label could swing the buy for me.

###

above photo: Queenstown from buffet restaurant at top of gondola.

Daffodil Day - ATM Machine

Hi there

I love the ANZ Bank ATM machine in Willis Street, CBD Wellington.  They jazz up the look of the machine depending on what special day, week, occasion, or  happening is going on in Wellington or around the country.

Spring is here in two weeks and it will be daffodil time.  There is a special train going to Masterton, a couple of hours away.  People can board from Wellington and come home with armfuls of daffodils that they have picked themselves.  .The daffodil is the flower emblem for the folk involved with cancer patients and cures.  On the Friday, there are loads of collectors around Wellington.  Daffodils, either real, fake or a paper sticker are handed out to well-wishers who give a donation.

xxx

PS:  such lovely weather when we went swimming today, about 14c.  We got out of the water, looked happily across at each other, then went back into the sea for another dip!   The changing sheds might be, should be, perhaps will be ready for habitation by the end of August.

Swimming in winter

Hi there

It's difficult swimming between storms, no changing shed, lunches with friends, appointments, etc. But I have managed seven swims this month.  The last three swims have been soooooo cold.  For several hours after my swim, my fingers were soooooo freezing and stiff.  I felt that if I bent them, they'd break.

I'm beginning to think I'm too old for this winter swimming lark. I arrive at the beach in my bathiing suit and a bathrobe.  But it's so difficult to dress myself when there's no operable changing shed at Hataitai Beach.  After a swim,  I now wrap a towel around my bathing suit, a bathrobe on top, slip into my psuedo crocs (with fleecy insides - yay, I found them at No 1 Shoes), all of this done with fingers that won't work and a body so cold I think I'm standing in a fridge.   Then it's into the car and off home.   Freezing.  All I can hope is that my car never breaks down and I have to hike somewhere in my Sylvester Cat-patterned bathrobe.

The Wellington City Council changing shed/toilets at Hataitai Beach were supposed to be revamped by end of June.  The council have just now told us it will be end of August. 

A visit to the doctor

Hi there

I went to a doctor a couple of months back.  I hadn't been for a year or so.  And I had a list.

There were four things on my list, four symptoms/illnesses/what-have-you with nothing at all to do with each other and in no particular order.

The doctor saw me pull out my list -

"Just tell me the most important thing," said the doctor.  "Come back other times with the other things on your list.  We've only got fifteen minutes."

What?  W-h-a-a-a-t!!!"  I was flabbergasted.  Flustered, I opted for the symptom at the top of the list .

Doctors study for - what? - maybe seven years?  Yet this doctor expected me, the patient, to know the order of importance of  the symptoms of four illnesses, even though I'd never had one iota of medical training?

Is it just the money the surgery could make from seeing me four separate times?  Who knows?

I did go back to a doctor a few weeks ago about a completely unrelated matter to my original list (it was when I almost fell in the fridge at Countdown, pulling a side muscle in the process).  This time, I was too scared to bring out my list.

So that's three medical worries I still have...

I am so miffed.

Visitors

Hi there

What!  I've got visitors coming this afternoon?  Oh dear.

I love my friends to bits but having them visit in one big swag is frightening.  If I was one if those women who shout, "Whoopee, visitors!  I can hardly wait to clean up the house for them," I would be ecstatic.  But I hate cleaning and that is why I almost live hermit status.  Who would choose to let visitors visit their  place to see dusty skirting boards, carpets that should have been vacuumed three weeks ago, non-essential papers strewn about, dull Venetian blinds, basins and sinks that could look more shiny,  a ring around the bath, a soapy shower-box, fingerprints on the fridge, and dust bunnies under the beds (everyone knows that Unwritten Rule No 2 When Visiting is to peer under the beds).

Well, I certainly wouldn't want visitors to visit if I had a place like that.  Oh, wait I do have a place like that!  Again, oh dear...

 In my bathroom vanity, in all three drawers, reaching about four layers high, and in no particular shoved-in order, there are explosions of jars, combs, emery boards, pegs, soaps, cotton wool, bandages, plasters, safety pins, brushes,  perfumes, powders and lipsticks.   Unwritten Rule No 1 When Visiting is to always, without exception, open every drawer and cupboard in a bathroom.  Have I said "Oh dear" before?  If not, I'll scream it now.

This morning, I am going to be busy.  Obviously, for hours.  With bucket, mop and duster.  And vacuum cleaner.  And empty rubbish bags.  And coughing and sneezing and wearing one of those masks that builders wear.  I got tested by an allergy company a few years' back and I have an allergy to cleaning - yes,yes, I know a lot of us feel allergic to cleaning in a completely emotional way but I am actually allergic to household cleaning products, as well as dust.  The gods are so cruel -

++++

PS:  two hours before my visitors were due to arrive,  my vacuum cleaner finally gave up the ghost.  I had to run out and buy a new one.  The afternoon went as, well as could be expected.

Walkies!!

Hi there

 The pulled muscle in my side is gradually getting better.  I went to the gym last week vowing not to twist my body.  The instructor gave us some twisting stretches and I automatically twisted.   I felt my side pull sore again.  Darn.

Anyway I went for a stroll around the bays to Oriental Bay.  Usually I walk over the Hataitai hill to get there, but the wind was in the right direction, the sun was out, I was in a happy mood ...

In between NIWA (the reseach station for all things aqua) and Balaena Bay I passed a short path close to the water's edge that has been blessed as an official dog walk.  There's always been a 'Woof woof ruff ruff' notice on the fence but now there is another sign that reads "Dogs are like potato crisps.  It's hard to have just one".  Obviously a dog lover set the sign there -

Supermarket Shopping, it's a reach

Hi there

Two weeks ago, I was looking for a certain something in Countdown Supermarket, Kilbirnie.  Everyone, of course, knows that when you're on a diet, oven wedges are essential to a healthy way of living!

The bag of wedges were in one of those long low-down lean-across fridges. The wedges were at the very back.  There were only two bags left which would necessitate me not only reaching across the fridge, but I would have to reach down as well.

"Uhhhh-!"  Nope, I was too short to do the deed.

I tried again.  My fingers were tantalisingly close to the prize.   I tried one last time, but still couldn't reach the wedges.  There was no-one around to help me.

So, I gave up and walked away.  I got as far as the processed cheeses and turned back.  I wasn't going to be beaten.  This challenge  was there to be won.

With a huge effort - my feet actually lifted off the ground for a second or two - I pushed myself across that fridge and with a gigantic Olympic-type-gold-medal reach, I grabbed at the bag of  wedges.

There was a sudden explosion in my left side.  It was as if all my innards were being rammed in different directions.

I fell back in pain, clawing at my side, and silently screaming a very naughty word.  I can only hope that Countdown staff don't accumulate all their unusual customer videos in a compilation and show them at their staff Christmas party to the accompaniment of  jaunty circus music??

The outcome?  I had to go to the doctor, was given a truckload of pills, and told not to do the twist for a few weeks.  Cold sea swimming was good, providing I did breast-stroke.

A note of warning to height-challenged shoppers:  beware of tantalising wedges in supermarket fridges ....

Government House tour, Wellington, New Zealand

https://gg.govt.nz/government-house/government-house-wellington/government-house-tours

Hi there

On one day a year, Government House, the home of the Governor-General of New Zealand (the officially non-political  representative of the Queen) is open to the public.  People queue for hours, like a long snake weaving down the driveway, almost to the main street.

What I didn't know until a couple of weeks ago was that anyone can go on a guided tour of the building.  You only have to book in advance (see link above; it might work!).  I went with a group from my gym class - about a dozen of us.  Solo snoopers can enjoy the tour too!   All are security-checked in advance.

The stories told by our guide about the history of the house, the previous governors-general, the china, furniture, paintings were so interesting, and some stories were quite funny. Many of the paintings are rotated from Te Papa Museum or other galleries;  a GG often picks the paintings she/he would temporarily like for the house. The Governor-General has her private rooms upstairs but, naturally we didn't go up there.

I did find out that if New Zealanders have, say, a 50th wedding anniversary or a one hundredth birthday coming up then they should just fill in a form to get official recognition.

below:  back view of Government House. After going through security and iron gates we entered via  this way into the house.  Tradesmen's entrance?

below: the 'throne" room.  Investitures, balls ,cocktail parties take place in here.  They've tried to keep the decor as it was from the beginning.

below: part of a reception room

 below:  a painted screen.  I think, but I'm not sure, it was painted by war artist Peter McIntyre.  A past Governor-General was sad he couldn't see Wellington Harbour from Goverment House so he asked for a screen to be painted.  One side is a day view of the harbour and the other side, a night view.  The screen would be turned around depending on whether it was daytime or nighttme.

below: a very small section of the grounds

Shortest Day Swim at Hataitai Beach

Hi there

Today, in New Zealand, it is Thursday 21 June, The Shortest Day. 

The Young One, J, and I managed to rope in about ten other mad-cough-cough-I--mean-'brave' swimmers to accompany us on the shortest day winter swim.  The air temperature was 8c when we got in the water.

It was cold, and the water was choppy.  There was a magnificent rainbow over the beach, some sirens (celebrating our  shortest day victory, naturally!), and as a fire engine driver passed the beach he gave us a couple of toots.

Below:  a pic of some of the mid-winter  swimmers entering the water at Hataitai Beach, Wellington, New Zealand, 21 June 2018.

Photo taken by J's personal paparazzi.

Tui in my Kowhai Tree

Hi there

When I bought my native kowhai from the gardening place about twenty years ago I was assured that it was a dwarf plant.  This hasn't really been the case.  The branches are up to my guttering and overhanging into my neightbours' property.

Now, for my two overseas readers, I must explain that the kowhai has the most beautiful yellow tubular-like flowers ever, and the New Zealand tui bird absolutely lives for gathering its nectar.  For the past week or so a tui has flitted backwards and forwards between a tv aerial on the house across the road and my kowhai bush.  The bird has been singing its little heart out with joy. Tuis   only come to my kowhai during flowering times, about once a year.

But, I had decided to chop some branches.  I didn't think I could wait until the tree stopped flowering in another week or two because the falling flowers were leaving a mess.

So I put on my hiking boots, rolled up the legs of my fleecy trouser pants, donned my thickest sweater, slipped on gardening gloves and, armed with two tree loppers, a rusty saw and some pruning shears, I marched across my muddy front lawn.  The tui was sitting on its usual aerial, singing away.

I was halfway through sawing my first branch when that darned bird dive-bombed me!

I guess I know what it's like.  If someone tried to block me from eating Bluff oysters in April and May, the only time of the year such oysters can be got, I would feel like dive-bombing someone too.

So it's one point to the tui, nil for Lorraine-who-doesn't-have-the-heart-to deprive an antsy little bird of his once a year treat.

above:  my kowhai tree, plus the aerial.  below, my tui

I'm in love

Hi there

I never thought I'd fall so deeply in love at first sight.  Whooossh!  Love hit like a sledge-hammer. I marched straight up to the girl, all set to declare my adoration -

"I want this shoulder bag," I said.  I passed the bag, lovingly, across the counter at Strandbags, and pulled out my credit card.

Normally, when buying accessories I will dither over price, colour, size.  I might even go home and think about a would-be purchase, but this day I didn't hesitate.  My eyes landed on the shoulder-bag and my heart lurched. Black leather and satin, and splashes of green and pink; I was trembling as I picked the bag up from its shelf.  I had to have it whatever the price.

The bag was $50.  Who says you can't buy true love?

Queen 's Birthday Weekend

Hi there

This is Queen 's Birthday Weekend here in New Zealand and it's a public holiday on Monday.  A lot of adverts on tv or radio are somehow managing to incorporate the queen, corgis, tiaras, or palaces into their sales pitches.

I was listening to NewstalkZB radio and a young man asked if when Charles made it to the throne would the date be moved to fit in with his birthday and, surely, it wouldn't turn into King 's Birthday Weekend, which, to this caller, sounded so weird?

 I remember as a kid, under the reign of George the 6th, we did have King's Birthday Weekend.  When Elzabeth took over, the title of Queen 's Birthday Weekend sounded so unusual to me for a time.  We'll quickly get used to a new monarch.

It is the official date to celebrate the monarch's birthday regardless of the real date.

Lots will change when Charles takes the throne.  The English National Anthem will become "God Save the King", our coins will be minted showing his profile, and instead of ER on commemorative stuff,  it will read CR.  One of the Queen 's official titles is "Queen of New Zealand" which I suppose means that Charles will get a makeover title when it's his turn to reign.

That Royal Wedding

Hi there

I have two friends in different parts of England and both of them were rather so-so about the royal wedding.

Yet friends in Canada and Australia are dyed in the wool royal wedding fans.  The same goes for a fantastically high number of people in other countries, even if they aren't in the Commonwealth.

I watched every second of the wedding. It started here, in New Zealand at 11 pm on the Saturday night. The day before, there'd been a royal high tea at my gym.  Everybody had to wear hats.  The room was decorated with bunting.

During the actual wedding there were raucous house parties everywhere up and down the country.  Lots of gentlemen called into radio talkback to complain about the hoo-ha.  But I compare it all to the long build-up to a test rugby match which can go on for weeks, culminating in just two hours of play.  So pot, kettle, gentlemen?

Lord of the Rings Plane

Hi there

It's a long time since "The Lord of the Rings" movies put New Zealand on the map.  I remember when publicity came out for the movies, I was ambling through The Cutting (the entrance way to Miramar, just beyond the Miramar Wharf).   I looked up at an Air New Zealand plane appoaching the airport runway, and flying low.

On the side of the plane, from top to toe, were pictures from the Lord of the Rings movie.  There was Legolas and Frodo, and many great scenes.

I was at Queenstown Airport recently and in a glass case beside the cafe was a replica of The Hobbit plane.  It brought back memories.

It's a crumby photo and I took it into the light, but if ever you're at Queenstown Airport, you'll know to hunt for it.

outdoor markets

Hi there

Whilst I was ambling around the Queen Victoria night and day markets in Melbourne, it got me thinking about other markets I'd been to.  Great successes and abject failures.

Some New Zealand markets consist of only half a dozen stalls selling limp fruit and $2 shop products.  Other markets, like the Martinborough February and March country fairs, have hundreds of stalls selling everything short of escorts and elephants.  When I'm driving around the North Island on a Saturday or Sunday, I often chance across small markets.

The town of Taupo is beside Lake Taupo in the middle of the North Island and has quite a vibrant Saturday market;  knick-knacks, vegetables and fruit, hot food, cup cakes (yum), soaps, garden stuff, and, you know, the usual sort of market sales. They've added a trash 'n' treasure area, which is sort of a car boot fair.  And every year, on one Saturday per month except winter, there is an artists market on a lawn between the lake and the town's main restaurant area.

Here's a pic of the sit-down area at Taupo market.  They obviously have a stylist.

Hataitai Beach, winter approaching

Hi there

The last three days swimming at Hataitai Beach in Wellington has been quite bracing.  Cold.  Three days ago it was raining and choppy, but the water wasnt that bad.  But afterwards, when I got home, I really felt the cold in my bones.  We tell ourselves every year that no matter how much we're enjoying our swim in the cold weather we must not stay in the water for too long because we pay for it later for the rest of the day when we're huddling over heaters and  wearing layer upon layer of winter woollies.  And a further word of warning for winter swimmers, never ever ever go shopping in Countdown after a swim.  Brrrrrhhhh!!

Hataitai Beach changing shed, toilets, deck are being renovated.  It is going to take about 6-8 weeks starting in a few days.  Huh?  What will J, myself, and The Young One do for changing after our swim.  We will have to think up a new strategy during the time involved.  Driving home in wet bathing suits?  Changing beaches?  Pitching  tents?  Becoming "wild" swimmers and going naked? - nah, don't think so.

Those CBD malls in Melbourne

Hi there

There are three big malls in Melbourne CBD and lots of alleyways and lanes that house quaint little shops and cafes.

I could walk from one mall to the other quite easily.

Quite easily?  Well, I'm not too sure about that.

I was lost in one of them.  I think it was Emporium.  But where was the exit/entrance?  Had I escalated up?  Down?  Was I on the same floor I arrived on?  I hiked around the floor.  And around again.  I went down a floor, then up a floor.  All the shops were posh, the products expensive.  I was too scared to look in a window in case I got charged a look fee.

Ah, here was a concierge!  If I've spelt this right (or even wrong), I know the word is French.  In a  normal average mall, the counter would read 'information'.

"Hello. (darn, perhaps I should have said 'bonjour'?).  Could you tell me where the exit is please?"

"It's behind you."

Of course it was.  The same thing happens to me in supermarkets.  After I've been searching for the product for what seems like hours, I finally ask an assistant and I'm told the product is behind me.  It's a talent I have of miraculously being able to stand in front of the exact thing I want but not realising it's there.

above:  Inside a tiny section of the Emporium (I hope!) Mall.

Commonwealth Games Gold

Hi there

I was in a mall in Melbourne.  I looked up to a giant tv screen.  And there were the ladies of the New Zealand hockey team joyfully jumping, laughing, hugging each other, screaming and crying in excitement .  They had just won a gold medal.

In huge type running along the screen were the words "Congratulations, Australia!"  And in smaller type,  "silver medal winners."

Give us a break, Aussie ....

Things I dislike

Hi there

In life, there are two things that I have always hated with a passion:  soup and scarves!

On my last day in Melbourne when the temperature dropped down to 12c from 30c, and the wind was worse than in Wellington, and the rain was non-stop thundering down, and I was plodding through the Queen Victoria Market with sore feet and cold bones,  I gave in to both of my dislikes.

I bought a scarf.  I got myself a bowl of soup.

Ooohhhh, yes, the scarf was so so so cuddly, and the soup gave my insides a deliciously warm feeling .  Suddenly my world was better in a nice rainbows and roses sort of way.

Have I been converted?  Who knows? It's hard to break a 50 decade aversion.  Tune in on the next really cold Wellington day.  The story continues ...

##

below: another pic of Queen Victoria Night Market:

Wellington taxis

Hi there

My plane from Melbourne was running late and it got me home to Wellington about 1 am.

I had to go through the usual stress and worry over getting a taxi.  Drivers hate me because I live about a four minute drive away from the airport.

During those four minutes, last weekend,  my taxi driver told me that he'd been waiting in line an hour and a half for my lone plane to come in and that he could have been getting a bigger taxi fare from people who lived in the outer suburbs -

"But I'm not complaining," he said.

Well, dear reader, he not-complained five times on that short journey.  Even as I paid him, he was still telling me, parrot-like, that he was not complaining.

I was so ashamed that I had taken up so little of his time that I gave the driver a $5 tip.  But  I'm not complaining.  Much.

###

More Melbourne pics:

below: my dessert plate at Observatory buffet restaurant

below:  walking along South Bank, I came across these structures

below: at the Viking exhibit, Melbourne Museum.  Weapons.

Melbourne Australia

Hi there

I've just returned from 5 days in Melbourne.  Five of the hottest April days ever in Melbourne.  Here's a quick take on my holiday:

.     Was lost a lot.  About five hours a day walking in the heat.   Stiff painful legs and feet.  Groan...
.     Saw "Beautiful" : the Carole King musical.  "Let's write a new song," says Carole - the audience claps, sings along, and yells uproariously.  Then we're on to new scene which starts off with "let's write a new song" and audience claps, sings, and yells, etc, etc. And so on and so on.
.     Went to wrong theatre for the Carole King musical, and without map or knowledge I ran panicked for 45 minutes through the streets of the city, finally located the theatre within one minute of curtain-up.  It would have been a three minute walk from first theatre.
.     Visited Victoria Market.  Very tacky but somehow hypnotising.  Bought a small backpack.  Plus a fruit tart, a meat pie, and a vanilla slice.  Whoopee, I'm on holiday, no dieting.
.     Went to the zoo.  Last time I visited there I had been covered in lemurs when I was in their enclosure.  This time, not a sign of one.  Didnt see one otter, one hippo, one chimp.  I spotted the rear of a tiger, and the hide of an elephant.  Last time there'd been a herd of elephants, including babies.  I was hot and grumpy after being lost getting to the zoo, and so I stomped (plodded?)  away from the zoo after 40 minutes. (temper, temper...)
.     Went to the Vikings exhibition at the museum.  Great, but not spectacular.  Why isn't each item labelled how old it is?
.     Walked my feet off through the main CBD mall buildings.  Especially on my last day when the heavens opened and I couldn't get outside.  It's fortunate all the malls and arcades sort of bleed into each other.
.     Stayed at the Causeway Inn on the Mall which was in the Bourke Street Mall.  Couldn't be more central.  Hotel so-so.
.     Had buffet lunch at the Conservatory Restaurant at the Crown Casino.  Ate 15 oysters on the shell.  Yum.
.     Wasted $10 and 45 minutes on 1 cent pokie machine at casino.  Got back $10.80.

above:  the river

below: Queen Victoria Night Market.  It was huuuuuge.

Above: a daytime cafe in one of many lanes.

below: view from Conservatory Restaurant

above: a daytime lane full of cafes.