Weather turning for the good (for just a few days?)

 Hi there

above: Lyall Bay.  Eastern end.  If you're standing in middle of bay looking out to sea, this area is on your left. It was a calm-ish day today so no high waves.  I was sitting on a seat exactly between the surfers to the front of me and the airport runway behind me.

Here, in Wellington, we've had such an awful run of bad weather.  But as of yesterday, it's all changed.  We're a week away from Spring, I've swam, my daffodil flowers are out, I've promenaded and picnic-ed around Lyall Bay for two days now, everyone has a spring (spring?) in their steps, and some of us - the more adventurous ones - have dipped into their summer wardrobe.

I know the temperature high is only 15c today, but it has been all sun and no wind.  And I will repeat that:  there has been no wind.  You can't call us Windy Wellington today.  And what's more the weather forecast has said that the temperature actually feels like 16c - wow

Family myth has it that my mother saved a child in the sea at Lyall Bay, way back in the early 20th century.  It's said that she got her name entered onto a life-saving board hanging from the wall in the old surf club, which is now Maranui Cafe.  I never did get around to checking this story out.  And Maranui Cafe had a fire a few years' back.  The fire was some time after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Harry and Megan) visited Maranui Cafe.  See photos on earlier blog.

Super-hero Let-down ... wandering thoughts

Superman - 2025

Thor - Avengers Endgame - 2019

 Hi there 

As I type this, I am slouching on the couch, Diet Coke (Diet Coke?) beside me.  I am feeling all full and happy after eating an entire family pizza.  Oops ... oh, well, my true diet can start tomorrow ...

Feeling all full and happy makes me think about that old vintage song, "It's Illegal, It's Immoral, or It Makes You Fat".  Too true, eh?  But I don't want to think about that for too long, so my brain switches over to the super-hero genre. And there is a connection.  I promise.

I've been bored for quite a time with super-hero movies.  The last half-hour of any such movie is full of mayhem and destruction. Every film tries to out-do the previous super-hero film in the just-watch-how-much-I-can-destroy-a-city stakes.  Yawn....

It reminds me of a book by Megan Derr called "Trick of the Light' where the (non-super) hero specialises in super-hero destruction insurance.  Your shop-windows crashed into by a super-hero? - yep, this insurance guy can see to the repair. Your roof tiles blasted into smithereens (goodness, those villain rayguns can certainly pack a punch)?  Ditto.  Your house disappears into a kilometre-deep hole because the current super-hero and the current super-villain got into a hand-to-hand brawl? Well, this insurance rep can fix it.  The Empire State Building?  The Brooklyn Bridge?  The Statue of Liberty? - you pay your insurance, everything will be hunky-dory re-built.

But I'm having trouble with two super-heroes:  Thor.  Superman.

My super-heroes should be masculine.  And gorgeous.  And fighting-fit for every tangle they have with a super-villain.   I don't want wishy-washy heroes.  Ones who get slovenly, obese, and drunk  (Thor).  Or lose fights, get bloodied up, and a dog has to save them (Superman).

I got embarrassed for the weakling Superman when I saw him lying on the snow, bleeding out. And I was appalled by Thor slobbing on the couch, playing around on his computer (oh dear, just like me). I wanted to buy both Thor and Superman gym memberships to get back in shape.

I don't want my super-heroes to become me, lolling about, eating pizza.  I wouldn't be able to punch my way out of a paper bag, but I want Superman to beat every single baddie, except, of course, for the traditional ones carrying Kryptonite in their swag bag; no blood involved in those types of confrontations, so I wouldn't get embarrassed for him over that kind of take-down...

Come on, Hollywood, it's time to put our super-heroes back on their pedestals.

The Iconic Australian Lamington sponge cake

 Hi there

Aussies and kiwis have a wee bit of a rivalry (okay, maybe more than 'a wee bit') over some (lots?) of things, people, and objects.  For instance, Aussies like to lay claim over that mighty racehorse Phar Lap, whereas we, here in NZ, definitely know that he's ours.  

And how about the pavlova? - we invented that recipe a few years before the Aussies jumped on the band-wagon. The groups Split Enz and Flight of the Conchords are New Zealanders, not Australians.  So, too, is actor Sam Neill.  Oh, yes, and we were the first country in the world to come up with the flat  white (Sorry, Australia, but it was us, not you).  Granted, our claim over actor Russell Crowe is tenuous, but we do like to think of him as ours. 

And then, there is the lamington.  Darn, but the lamington cake is definitely Australian.  Traditionally, it's a sponge cake, cut into cubes, each cube coated in chocolate, and then in coconut.  I really like the lamington.

However, when I had the Sunday lunch buffet at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne last week, the lamington had been updated.  Gasp - 

It was way more than delicious. 

Aussie, I'd like to swap Phar Lap's remains for an outright kiwi claim to this new version of the lamington.  How about it, mate?

Melbourne, Winter 2025

Hi there

It's Tuesday, as I type this, I am back from 6 days in Melbourne, and still very tired.  My sprained knee did play up a bit.  I took a collapsable walking stick with me, but I never used it.  The stick took up much-needed space in my bag when I was only allowed 7kg as cabin baggage.  Grrrhhhh...

I went across to Melbourne to see "Beetlejuice - the musical" which had spectacular special effects.  The story differed slightly from the movie but I think it made the plotline much better. The character of Beetlejuice was acted by the guy who wrote the show's music and Lyrics: Australian Eddie Perfect.  It must be wonderful for him to see his show put on all around the world and now in his home country.

 above:  you know by now, of course, that I am the world's worst mobile phone photographer.  Here is the curtain call for "Beetlejuice - the musical".  That's Beetlejuice in the black and white-striped suit.

But ... I couldn't go to Melbourne and just see one musical.  I went along to the box office to book for the matinee show "Annie", about the little orphan girl.  There were only two seats left in the whole theatre for the following day's matinee.

I'd seen "Annie" many, many years before.  This time there were digital effects used for some backgrounds, eg, streets of New York.  It worked really well.

above:  "Annie". I promise I did take better photos but none of them had the actual young lady playing Annie in them.  Here she is, walking down the stairs. ... You are not allowed to take photos while a show is in progress, but I checked at each theatre and was told I could photograph during the curtain call.

I also went to a third musical, "Kimberly Akimbo".  A Tony-nominated show.  About a 16 year old youngster who aged faster than other people.  She looked about fifty compared to her school mates.  Not a bad musical, even though most of the songs sounded just like most of the other songs. Very crisp stage sets.

above: me, in the Playhouse foyer

Unfortunately, I had booked to see "Kimberly Akimbo" way before I sprained my knee.  The steps from the foyer led me down terrifically tight stairs to get to the dress circle.  Weird, Weird (as "Snow White" musical actress Rachel Zegler would say).

On my holiday I managed to fit in going to the Victoria Market's weekly winter night market.  It's all food stalls, yummy.

above:  the photo was taken at about 5.15, just as the night market started.  Within another 15 minutes it got so crowded, I could hardly move, and certainly not find a seat at a table.

And.... I went to St Kilda to walk along the beach, which I love to do. St Kilda is crammed full of really nice cake shops, all side-by-side, and trying to outdo each other with fancy cakes and pastries.  I went for a pavlova, just to see if they were better than those from New Zealand.  It was awful, all rubbery and dense marshmallow-like.  Oh, for those people who don't know about the pavlova wars - both New Zealand and Australia reckon they invented pavlova.  NZ did, of course.....

above: me, at St Kilda Beach

above:  St Kilda cake-shopping area where the trams finish (you can see two trams at back of picture).  You can hop on a tram from/to Bourke Street Mall, like I did.  Or from/to the casino.

Last but not least I went to two buffet lunches:  Conservatory at the casino (I had 10 oysters on the shell) and Grand Hyatt Sunday buffet (12 oysters on the shell)....

Next holiday?  Well, that's going to be Sydney to see "Back to the Future - the musical"

Melbourne

 Hi there

I have just this minute  (12.20 am, 4 August NZ_time) returned from six days in Melbourne, Australia.  I went over to see "Beetlejuice -  the Musical".  Superb special effects.  But you know me, I can't just see one musical if there are others to visit.  So I also saw "Annie". Lots of kids in it.  And I got my seat half-price because I wandered into the box office to book the day before the show.  And they like to get rid of those empty seats.  ...  I also saw "Kimberly Akimbo - the Musical".

Will tell you more tomorrow.  Or sometime.  Goodness I'm tired...  Yawn.