Birthday Season


Yes today is Sara’s birthday. The subsequent activities have been running since Saturday and will continue until next weekend.
Saturday consisted of fun and action packed time with the husband.
First up was a trip to the Wellington City gallery to see an exhibition by a Japanese artist of apparent note: Yayio Kasama. Her noteworthy method is of mirrors and other reflective surfaces and a marked preference of dots. Some of the work I appreciated but some left me cold, and likewise for the birthday girl.
Then after a couple of beers in the world renowned Coutney Place it was off to the flicks. This time it was “An Education”, a film that has had good reviews, partly because of the evocation of an era-the sixiies before the real sixties, a hangover of the tired 50s apparently. I did not let the NIck hornby comnection put me off. I thought it was a good film, an intersting insight into the attitudes of the time, and the attitudes of parents of a vulnerable sixteen year old. The acceptance of the older man who, in the same situation, would not past me on the door. So well worth the trouble to go and see, and interesting that it is based on the memoir of Lynn Barber.

Sunday continued the fun. After Joe and Dad enjoyed the first game of the season on the cricket fields of Wellington College, it was time for lunch. The family was there to celebrate the latest recurence of sweet 21 as well as Joe’s fist wicket of the season; a well taken stumping. He could have had another but the catch was dropped, but as it was off a full toss, not too many complaints. The team won-always enjoyable to have a win over WC.

We were at Scopa-so quality pizza and fine puddings all round-nearly. My body is a temple.

I just hope I have the energy to keep going for the next instalment next Saturday.

PS. If you see the film, you can spot the areas of Ealing where it was filmed, including Mattock Lane, west Ealing.

Momentous Times


This weekend has been a success. It has been a holiday weekend, and remarkably, it has been sunny all three days. So no surprise, today has included the first sunburn so far this spring.
Importantly, today we managed to go to the Pencarrow lighthouse. It was the first functioning lighthouse in New Zealand. It is situated on the far side of the harbour from us,and requires a 8-9Km walk or cycle to get there along the coastal path. Today we finally made it-our third attempt.
Of note you will see from the photos that I was using a new bike. A nice blue one. Of considerable note is that I bought it last weekend, and it is the first new bike I have ever had: I have had to wait all these years for such a life defining moment. It is a classy mountain bike, though it will mainly be used for the commute to work. It will allow some trips on the rough stuff. It has an alloy frame but does not contain kryptonite! How technology has moved on-it has hydraulic disk brakes. No longer will I be able to enjoy adjusting the cable brakes and brake blocks with a pair of pliers and a spanner.

Beware the Heat

Yesterday was International day of Climate Action, part of the politics and issue awareness to attempt to impact upon the discussions planned in Copenhagen. How relevant that it was set in the shadow of the NZ stock exchange?

So, the international event was promoted by 35o.org with events organised by here by the NZ branch. Of course the clan attended.The afternoon was filled with a number of events, some music of variable quality and interest and a few groups attended who would fit into the “knit your own yogurt” camp. A number of groups present were pro-cycling-so can’t all be bad!


We all signed up to the petition to have the NZ govenment commit to a 40% reduction in emissions-which can be done electronically-Sign On

Joe is pictured in action.

Join the fun, spread the word!

Holiday Breather

Joe has already written his piece on our time away, but here is mine-late. We are all back at work and school now, and our short break up te coast was two weeks ago.

We did not go far, just an hour up the coast to Otaki Beach, in a holiday home. It was a good spot, rifght by the beach. The house was comfortable, with sun room so that the warmth ontinued despite the variable weather.
The boys enjoyed the sea and surf, though of course their wetsuits were a necessity. Everyone enjoyed lying around and reading.
The motage shows board games in action, Isaac writing in the sand, and taking photos of the sunset.
A good holiday being away from he grind, and somewhere away from home.
Posted by Picasa

The inability to shut a door.

An interesting social observation.

I have noted on numerous occasions that in NZ there appears to be a major difficulty with closing doors, and I think is a marker for the societal level of selfishness.

The observation has been made on numerous occasions at the chip shop. This is the case even on a Friday evening in winter, when the place is at its most busy. Despite the global recession, the place is still popular on a Friday. Kiwis will leave the shop and not shut the door, and so leave the rest of the customers to freeze. They walk around oblivious to the world, so much so, that when they walk in and leave the door open, and someone else closes it behind them, they still leave it open on the way out.

Recent evidence from last Friday was 70% left the door open.

ALL Black Redemption

Last weekend was notable for the amount of sporting activity. Currently we are in the midst of “finals football” for the National Rugby League, which is providing lots of quality action, from relatively evenly matched teams. Three members of the household have been glued to the screen, and the Parramata Eels have become favourites, along with the rest of the league fraternity. The Bulldogs, my original team, remain in the competition.

Of greater interest to the wider nation and Wellington specifically, there was an All Blacks international on Saturday which Joe and I attended. They were playing Australia, the first time I have seen them play the lads from across the ditch. Going to the game was recognition of Joe’s hard work at school and his good school report.

The stadium was full, and we were seated by a whole block of Ozzies, which was good as they generated some noise for a while, and we were entertained at the end when some of them left early, and they were being waved “goodbye” by the Kiwis.

The noise was louder than usual, but most noticeably for the anthems. After that, it was only slightly louder than usual, and of course, the dorks pulled out the Mexican wave after about 20 minutes.

We were seated behind an end, and so had a good view of the running lines of both teams. Though the ABs won convincingly, their running and handing looked lacklustre. A little more of the “running straight” and “let the ball beat the man” stuff of days gone by would have helped. The Aussie backs looked better with ball in hand, though they had little of it, the forwards being soundly beaten.

For the nation a win is a win. The heat is back off the team and coaches, but there is obviously still plenty to deal with.

And the best parts of the evening?

The choir from Joe’s school leading the singing of the national anthem and rushing home and being in time to watch the Broncos play the Dragons in the NRL!

World Cup Glory

Of course, with the successful qualification during the week I am a die-hard football fan.It is almost miraculous that England have qualified with games to spare.
I feel some degree of optimism, so I dare to think what the feeling is in England at the moment. The World Cup is already won I suppose.

It could be a double interest for us here, as NZ are still in the running to reach the finals. They are in a play-off against Bahrain, well known football powerhouse, for a place. The home leg is second and will be played in Wellington. It could be a big one.

Will success and its oxygen of publicity be a further dent to the place of rugby in the national psyche?

It’s a shocker

Sir Terry to leave breakfast show

Sir Terry Wogan

Sir Terry Wogan has announced he is to step down as presenter of BBC Radio 2’s breakfast show.

The 71-year-old told his listeners shortly after Monday’s 0800 news bulletin, calling his decision to go “the hardest thing I have ever done”.

We heard listening live yesterday. We have just bought a new radio in part so we could listen to Tel in the kitchen via the ‘tinternet. We had better make the most on the next few months.

I will not be so keen to listen to Chris Evans. Not sure how well the TOGs will take to him either.