Bernini’s Statue of St Teresa

David holding the head of Goliath by Caravaggio, in the Borghese Gallery

The Borghese Gallery in Rome

Michelangelo’s Pieta at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, completed when he was 22 years old

We arrived by train from Florence in late afternoon April 28. The train had come from Venice and was headed for Naples. As usual, the platform wasn’t shown until a few minutes before the train was due. We were in Coach 6, a long way to walk, seats 64 and 65, but it was evident that lots of people were boarding the train.

Again the phone  charging on the train didn’t work, but we were better prepared this time. I’d found the route to our hotel in Rome earlier and shared it with JD. We went through lots of tunnels, but outside of them the countryside looked incredibly clean, green, peaceful and wealthy.

We were nearly there when the train stopped for a few minutes, and I remembered that we had had a really slow arrival from Bologna last time we were here about 18 months ago. Eventually we arrived, and made our way to our hotel.

What luxury! Our room is large with a queen-sized bed and two singles. It’s really like a small apartment with a hallway, bathroom (shower and bidet), wardrobe and a separate luggage area. It has a bathroom with shower with 2 nozzles as in Milan, and two basins! It doesn’t have bathrobes, however! You could really use them seeing there is a bit of distance to get to the bathroom! There are lots of thick, white towels.

We went out to dinner at Trattoria Amadeo further down the same street. I got changed and panicked when I couldn’t find the cream top I was looking for. But it was in my overnight bag. Packing pods are wonderful, but you can’t always find what you’re looking for, especially if you combine skirts and tops!

Anyway, we are very well: beautiful bread, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar; we both had saltimbocca, something I haven’t seen on a menu in years. Veal escalopes came with ham and sage leaves in a beautiful sauce, served with green beans, stewed red peppers and another thinly sliced green vegetable: this tasted good but I couldn’t figure out what it was!  Perhaps another kind of green beans?

For dolci we shared a berry cheesecake. We had drunk a glass of Chardonnay and a glass of champagne with our dinner. The white wines here and prosecco is delicious, as is the sparkling (frizzante) mineral water. Our lovely waitress brings us each a small glass of limoncello on the house.

We walk back to our hotel but don’t sleep terribly well – we’ve drunk too much.

Next morning we go up to breakfast at the top of the hotel soon after 7 am, and already most tables are occupied. The breakfast buffet is very good, although the bacon and scrambled eggs don’t look great.  There is delicious kiwi fruit and pear juice; melon and pineapple cut up; lots of cereals, big prunes (not stewed), and a yoghurt dispenser.

You can make proper toast here (unlike in Florence); I pick a sachet of butter, and you can dispense jam and marmalade into wee dishes – very sanitary. There was coffee too, of course, but to me the Italian coffee doesn’t taste so good.

Afterwards I showered and washed my hair.  We were due to meet for our Skip the Lline entry to St Peter ‘s Basilica by 12:45 pm.

We walked to the Church of Santa Maria delle Vittoria, mainly to see the famous Bernini statue of St Teresa. What a beautiful church it is! So ornate! There were lots of people there, but you didn’t have to pay to get into the church. But as in our 2010 visit, you had to put coins in the slot to get the light to come onto the statue for a few seconds.

On our way there we passed some lovely shops, and I saw a handbag that I rather liked. It cost €79!  I’d seen a similar one when we first arrived in Florence, but sadly did not see one I really liked again. Not that I need another bag, of course; but you can’t go to Florence and not buy a bag, can you? Ah well, there’s always Venezia to come!

After that we visited the baths of Diocletian, but of course that’s all changed now. There was a very nice museum, with some Etruscan exhibits, and I have to say they were much better curated than those in Florence.

Then we went to the part of the baths that’s been turned into a church, but although wonderful, and very ornate, it seemed  different from what we remembered. Someone famous was married here. Who, I wonder?

Then we took a taxi to the Piazza Risorgimento, where our meeting place was for entry to St Peter ‘s Basilica. The place was in the middle of the piazza.

We had about 3/4 hour to have lunch, but most restaurants seemed full, some with queues.  We found a Cafe/bistrot and settled for that; we had panini filled with ham and cheese, but we should have shared. The fruit we shared was good, though, and the bottled water, frizzante, of course.  Then it was time to settle the bill and walk back to join our queue, as requested, but JD had gone to the bathroom, so we had a bit of a rush.

Well I had booked online a “skip the queue” visit, but here you just go in a different queue, several of them.  We stood in a queue for them to email us our entry tickets, tricky because I did not have internet access. Then we walked some way to a white tent to join another queue. People were weeded out here who did not have entry tickets for entry to St Peter’s Basilica, or had tickets to the Vatican Museums. We’ll do that next time.  There seemed to be endless checkpoints; eventually our bags were checked, and then, of course, we were only in the vast St Peter’s Square, we who had bought tickets online separated from the hundreds of people who waited in the Square.

Finally we were in, and we climbed some stairs to the immense basilica.  I kept remembering how well they’d done Pope Francis’ funeral here, and what a long way it was to the Basilica of St Mary Maggiore where he was buried, quite close to our hotel.

We saw the beautiful Pieta that Michelangelo had carved as a young man: it’s very well screened off now since an Australian tourist damaged it not long after we’d first seen it in 1974. I have now seen three Pieta by Michelangelo, but I think the Rondanini one in Milan remains my favourite and the one that moves me the most. It’s strange that that one and the one in Florence we saw almost on our own, but it’s really hard to see this one, and you can’t get very close.

It is a huge, very beautiful church. In one chapel a Mass is being said. We are happy to sit and reflect. Many here are young people, some children even, and many of the young women are beautifully dressed. There is a lot of cream. I feel a bit dowdy although I would not back in New Zealand.

After a time we leave, and go in search of a taxi stand. It has been wearying getting to St Peter’s in the hot sun. We are in the Vatican area, of course, so the taxi costs more, but he agrees to take us back to our hotel for €30 cash.

It’s still quite early in the afternoon; in St Peter’s we had contemplated going to the Pantheon, which now sadly you have to pay for! The earliest time slot was 5 pm, which would have meant a three hour wait. So we rested in our hotel room, feeling slightly guilty, but we had already seen several wonderful things that day.

In the evening we went to Ristorante Amadeo again. Again we had beautiful bead with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. JD ordered a breast of chicken dish while I had a fillet of sea bass with potatoes and julienne of vegetables. As the meal progressed, we spoke with the American couple at the next table.  They were very nice! We did the slightly dangerous dance around establishing that our political views are quite similar, and there are many things that we agree on. He is a Jewish doctor, she was a university teacher of English.  He offered to show us photos of her in protests! And he was pro-Palestinian. He’s in favour of Mamdani and Bernie Sanders!  They apologized for the political situation in the US, and we noted that in New Zealand things are far more nuanced, they’re not back and white as in the US. It was lovely to speak with them. We shared that we were booked to visit the Borghese Museum, which they had visited that day, and she commented how moved she was Caravaggio’s painting of the young David having killed Goliath.

Then it was back to our hotel. That night we both slept much better. In the morning the breakfast was a little different – the toast wasn’t nearly as good but I had two little croissants instead – not overcooked as they so often are here in Italy.

Then we showered and packed up for our 10 am checkout, and paid the city tax – €7.50 per person per night! We stowed our bags at the hotel, and set out to walk to the Borghese Museum.

On the way, we again called at the church with the famous Bernini sculpture of Saint Teresa. There weren’t nearly as many people there today. It was a treat to see it again.

Then we continued our walk. When we got to the Museum we were happy to visit the cafeteria there and have an early lunch. We shared ham and cheese toasted sandwiches (so original!), a beautiful fruit tart and fruit itself I had coffee and JD had tea.

At 11:45 we went to find our guide as requested. She gave us our tickets, and then we could enter the museum . I had downloaded a guide, as requested, but we could just “do our own thing” once in there. JD of course had not downloaded the guide or brought his headphones!

I thought we had bought a guided tour, but no. We had to climb many steps to get to the top floor. It was nice to wander around. There were plenty of others but it wasn’t too crowded there. And what treasures! Sculpture by Bernini and Canova, and six paintings by Caravaggio. Wow!  On leaving through the shop, JD bought books about Bernini and Caravaggio.  

Afterwards we had snacks in the cafeteria again: affogato, a dark chocolate cake with raspberry sauce, and more fruit salad. It was nice to talk about our experience.

We couldn’t go to the Pantheon – it was booked out, but we decided to walk to the Piazza del Populo – another 20 minute walk. Most of the way we could walk through the Borghese gardens, but although they are lovely and serene there are no flowers and there didn’t seem to be any children’s play areas. But we got to the Piazza, and it was just as we remembered it. But how frustrating! We couldn’t go inside the famous churches to see the Caravaggio wall paintings of the calling of St Matthew and Paul’s Damascene moment because they had a concert stating at 6 pm. So although it wasn’t far away, we took a taxi back to our hotel, where we are now, in the rooftop bar, reading our beautiful new art books and spending time on our phones before we catch the train to Civitavecchia at about 6:30 pm. We would love to have stayed three nights in Rome, but we could not. 

Tomorrow: embarkation day for our cruise!

The view of the Florence Duomo Dome, as from our hotel balcony

Michelangelo’s Bandini Pieta in Florence

Basilica of Santa Croce

The Boboli Gardens in Florence

                                                            Firenze!

The first evening in Florence we had an early dinner with our youngest son and his wife and daughter who is now 21 months old.  That was nice – I had veal meatballs with mashed potato and spinach; the meatballs were pink in the middle but they and the sauce they were on were delicious.  We had dolci, of course; a bowl of fruit (raspberries and blueberries with lemon sugar). Then we walked back to our hotel. In some parts of Florence there is no Internet, so it posed some challenges. The streets are mostly narrow and dark, with narrow footpaths. There is lots of traffic, and parking that would not be allowed here!

The breakfast buffet was all right; I’ve had better, but I’ve certainly had worse. The coffee doesn’t taste very good. Now that we are older, these things become really important: the breakfast buffet, the rest rooms, and how comfortable the beds are!!

We had booked with Get Your Guide to go to the Uffizi Gallery the next morning. Although we’d booked for 10:30 am, we needed to be there by 10:15 and meet our guide to get the actual tickets.  We walked there, but there were crowds of people, and when we reached the piazza, we didn’t know where to go. I realised, too late, that you have to meet your guide at the meeting place 15 minutes early, and in the crowds it can be difficult to find the meeting place, and the guide.

We found the guide, a bit late, and got our tickets; we assured her that we’d been before, and didn’t need an audio guide. But there’s no printed plan now, and some things have moved, so we were a bit flummoxed.

We got through the bag check and got the lift to the second floor. This has the Vasari corridor, with rooms of specialty paintings in rooms off this corridor. The crowds were immense: it’s really hard to see the famous Botticelli’s: the Birth of Venus and the Rite of Spring; I still marvel at how beautiful they are, and how happy the women look.  We also see the famous Michelangelo Tondo, and then make our way downstairs to see Caravaggio’s paintings – the Medusa, the Sacrifice of Isaac (which always makes me cry,) and the Fortune Teller. By the time we leave our allocated 2 hours is up.  It’s time for lunch, and we go to Trattoria Alfredo, where we order far too much food: I order Pasta Alfredo, which is fettuccine pasta in a very creamy sauce; JD has an escalope of chicken, and we order insalata – a large beautiful salad. There is a basket of bread, and olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum. JD has ordered white beans, but we don’t need them we have room for dolci, of course, and share a delicious strawberry tart with coffee.

Then we walk back to the hotel. Later we join our family for dinner at another Trattoria. What did I eat? I had Osso Buco with Risotto Milanaise. It was quite nice, I had to order it once to try it again. The nice mixture with lemon rind and parsley (gremolata) that you sprinkle on top was missing.

The next day I was trying to work out what to do next when we got a message from our family suggesting we meet them for coffee. We set off again, to a nice place with plenty of room for our granddaughter to run around. We shared a delicious pastry with berries and custard.

Then we set off for the Boboli Gardens, which we hadn’t been to before. We walked to a bus stop which was near their Airbnb apartment and the American Embassy. The building for the latter is strictly isolated, with streets around it barred to cars, and pedestrians avoiding it. This building is beside the Arno River.

Then we catch our bus. Our son has thoughtfully bought 4 bus tickets which he validates on the bus. Entry to the Gardens is free today (Liberation Day?)

The gardens are lovely but there are very few flowers. It reminds me of the vast garden area at the Palace of Versailles.  We walk up a long slope, supposedly to a café, but alas when we get to the top there is a grassed plateau (keep off the grass) and a beautiful view. We walk some more; everyone is looking for the café but it is closed. We keep walking through the exit to the Pitti Palace (I’ve been there before), and eventually came to a café for lunch, a part of the same chain where we’d had coffee earlier. 

What comfort! We were seated outside in the shade, my granddaughter went to sleep in her push chair; JD and I had omelettes with asparagus and toast. They were pretty good. Afterwards we had more coffee, and, of course, dolci which we shared – a delicious cheesecake and others. JD ordered hot chocolate, and it came in a large cup, and seemed to be very rich melted dark chocolate!

Then we set off walking again; we were going to catch a bus but ended up walking to their Airbnb apartment. It’s within a courtyard. They were up lots of stairs; thankfully there were handrails. On the way there JD’s niece had been in touch, and he’d agreed to meet them for dinner. She is coeliac, so that posed a bit of a challenge.

We walked back to our hotel. I was just totally exhausted, and there were just two hours before we needed to set out again, but of course I got changed and even put on some makeup.

It all worked out fine, although the food was disappointing. I’d hoped to have the nice wild boar pasta that I’d avoided earlier, but I ended up with a veal cheek pasta which wasn’t very nice. There was no dish of parmesan to go with it – unusual.

The next day (Sunday) we were trying to go to 11 am Mass at the Basilica of Santa Croce, about a 24 minute walk away according to my phone. But JD was late, and then couldn’t find his glasses. He’d put them in his sponge bag while showering; now they were padlocked in his main backpack, and furthermore, once retrieved, they needed cleaning. Of course.

I wanted to see the Giotto frescoes in the Bardi Chapel – that was my ulterior motive for visiting this beautiful church. But it didn’t open till 12:30. So we had lunch at a very busy restaurant nearby. I had Spaghetti carbonara and JD had crostini with pậté. On the house we were given were glasses of a fortified wine – like communion glasses. It was delicious and tasted like sherry, only much better than sherry usually does.  Then we got tickets to the Church; sadly the Bardi Chapel frescoes were “in restauro”, as is so often the case in Italy. But the visit was very worthwhile, and it’s a beautiful church, and there are many famous tombs there, although I had a bit of an upset tummy after our lunch.  We were so tired that we took a taxi back to the hotel.

That evening we were to meet our youngest son and his family at the Mercato Centrale, a kind of food court. We made our way there, but it was very crowded and a bit of a madhouse, so after looking for the exit we met them instead at Trattoria Zaza. What a find! Like many places, this was rambling with inside and outside areas, and a queue to get in, but it was wonderful. I had veal meatballs (fully cooked this time) in a delicious mushroom sauce with rosemary potatoes.  And some yummy dolci to follow.

The next day was Monday, so opening hours were strange. We went to the Archaeological Museum in the morning, taking a taxi from Santa Maria Novella Stazione. What a find! Of course the taxi dropped us at the wrong museum, but it wasn’t far away. There were several school groups there.  Some of it was In Restauro, of course, but much not and it was a great place to visit.

And what a delightful lunch we had afterwards!  I had risotto with saffron, shrimp and balsamic vinegar; JD chose lasagna, which I thought was very boring of him, but it was a chicken lasagna, without tomato sauce, and was delicious too. Afterwards we shared 3 Petit baba au rhum with our double espressos.

The museum closed at 2 pm. We had hoped to see Michelangelo’s David, but although nearby, the academy gallery closed early too. So we made our way back to the hotel. I must say this gorgeous fine weather with highs of 24° C is pretty tiring!

That evening would be our last with our son and his family. Instead of eating out we walked to their Airbnb apartment where we shared pizza, wine and cannoli.

The following day was our last in Florence, before catching a 16:28 train to Roma Termini.  After breakfast JD did the washing; he had found a laundrette near our hotel, and he’d been there before, so although there was a queue there, he was favoured ahead of others and did not have to wait! While he was gone I bathed, tried to figure out packing, and read my Kindle on the balcony outside. There were alarming coughs coming from the room next door, but I was the only one on the balcony.

After JD returned, we checked out of our hotel. They were happy to stow our bags, but there was no identification to separate our luggage from all the other bags there, except for labels on each bag.  Three of the four were padlocked. 

Then we set out to walk to the Duomo. We queued for ages, eluding beggars after JD had given his cash away. The queue actually moved quite quickly. You didn’t have to pay to enter the cathedral, but of course they did the bag checks. Actually it’s not that beautiful inside! I didn’t see the a Virgil/Dante memorial that I remembered from earlier visits. It was quite disappointing – I guess I remembered climbing the dome (twice) and seeing the famous Pieta.

So we went to the nearby Caffe Opera – another good experience. We each had a ham and cheese croissant – beautiful, and a fruit salad (mine had whipped cream too). Then JD had some chocolate gelato, and I had a double espresso.

Then we walked across the way as instructed to redeem our tickets for the Duomo Museum. The Santa Reparata meeting point was just across way from the café, so we walked and found the Duomo Museum. You used to be able to enter the Duomo and admire this Pieta! I had great trouble even finding it on the internet. I think it’s known as the Bandini Pieta, This museum contained it, and there weren’t crowds of people, so we could sit and look at it.  It’s very affecting, although I found the one in Milan affected me more. This museum was very good, actually.

After that our tickets included a visit to the Baptistry, where we hadn’t actually been before.  The famous ceiling is, of course, in restauro, but it is very well explained with an explanation of all the paintings.  So we were glad that we went.

Then we walked back to the hotel, to be ready to collect our bags and catch our train to Roma.

While in Florence we did some shopping. I had seen a handbag I wanted to buy on our first evening, but after that I couldn’t find one that I wanted to buy. But we did buy two beautiful wraps (for the cruise, of course!).  One is cream and made of lightweight wool, the other is blue and is a representation of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night.  They are both beautiful, and although it was very hot in Florence, we did use them on the cruise. We missed out on seeing Michelangelo’s David this time, and it’s a shame about the crowds, but Florence is still a wonderful place.

Next stop: Roma!

Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pieta

Caravaggio’s Still Life (in Pinacoteca Ambrosiana)

Raphael, The School of Athens                                                        

Milan 2026

We finally left Wellington on the afternoon of Sunday 19 April. We had paid a deposit on our cruise (1 – 11 May 2026) before 1 November 2025, in order to achieve certain savings; and had paid in full and bought plane tickets and insurance before 1 January 2026.

There were various reasons for the cruise, which I continued to have very mixed feelings about. One of my cousins and her husband recommended Oceania, as a cruise with smaller ships and better food; and one of JD’s sisters was having a birthday party at Easter in Australia. So we planned a trip overseas around those factors.

The world of cruising is vast, but narrowing it down to Oceania and Eastern Europe and archaeological sites helped. In the event the party in Australia did not go ahead, and we didn’t go to Australia, instead sticking to Star Alliance flights around the world, which does not include Australia. Thankfully we’d decided to book (and had paid) with the Star Alliance, not using Emirates or going through Dubai again. And this was before the Iran War started.

The cruise offered a generous allowance towards its daily excursions, or a drinks package. We chose the excursions, and they included many wonderful places with ancient ruins that I wanted to visit, including Italy, Sicily, Tunis, Turkey and Greece. If you choose the excursion package, they want you to choose day trips right away. Of course you pay a bit more for the excursions you want to go on, so that’s one way the cruise line gets more money before you’ve paid for the cruise itself.  This seemed a great way to visit many wonderful places while not having to arrange travel (and accommodation) to those actual places.

Our excursion consultant advised me to use Get Your Guide or Viator for some trips, but I was reluctant to do this, not really knowing how far the ship would dock from railway stations; also the Get Your Guide excursions were pretty expensive too. If we used the cruise ship ones, they would lay on tenders, buses and get us back to the cruise ship in time. I’d probably be more adventurous in the future, should the opportunity arise.

We also wanted to stay in hotels we’d enjoyed on our previous trip in November 2024, and I was amazed at how difficult and expensive it was to book these – before Christmas 2025!  There were hardly any rooms available, and these cost far more than I was expecting.  Where I could I reserved without paying, hoping the accommodation would not be sold to someone else.  But I couldn’t always do this, and I booked a hotel in Rome and was charged straight away. I could cancel these bookings, but in November and December 2025 it seemed very early to be making arrangements.

My initial joy at planning another trip turned to anxiety and fear about the costs involved. Would we be fit enough for the excursions I’d booked?  Was the whole thing too ambitious?  As it turned out, you spend a lot of time travelling, and that factor, and that many sites are closed on Mondays, affected my plan. Although I’d worked with my calendar in hand, I was anxious about all these bookings. Everything had to be really precise, and Copilot, which always rushed to tell me that I could get a train or a bus from this or that airport, was sometimes misleading. I had made a whole series of bookings until I couldn’t book the last train trip I wanted, despite what Copilot had told me.  Also, if you’re toting baggage (less than most people but rather more than we were comfortable lugging on and off crowded trains and along footpaths), it’s often easier to get a taxi (if you can!)

I was also alarmed at how many visits you had to book ahead, meaning there’s little spontaneity about one’s travel; on the other hand, it can be quite reassuring to have one’s day mapped out for one; when we didn’t book sights or excursions ahead of time, we were able to make “last minute” bookings, and at some sites we did not have to queue at all! I did have a plan for each place we visited.

We had arranged to meet our son who lives in England with his family in Florence from 23-28 April.  That would give us two days’ recovery in Milan, and then two days in Rome before boarding our cruise ship in Civitavecchia on 1 May.

So we flew to Auckland on the afternoon of Sunday 19 April and stayed that night at the Pullman Hotel (we’d previously stayed at the Novotel, the other airport hotel).  The path from domestic to international airports in Auckland is always different, and, I think, further than it used to be. We tend to favour walking, if it’s not raining, as if you get the free bus you still have to load and unload your luggage onto it.

The Pullman was different, although we had a bigger room; we couldn’t take the luggage trolley into the room. We did have a meal there, and it had a very limited menu. I think we shared an antipasto board and had dessert. We had a stop of about five hours in Hongkong, so I had an overnight bag containing all I would need, including a change of summer clothes, for a shower and change in Hongkong.

We flew to Hongkong Premium Economy on Monday.  It’s nice to roll across from your hotel to the International Airport, although the Pullman Hotel’s location and various International Airport “improvements” mean that it’s a longer walk than it used to be. We nervously checked our baggage through to Milan! At least we can shop for clothes in Milan, if our luggage doesn’t turn up!

At Auckland Airport I deemed that we were entitled to go to the Lounge, and although it was very busy, we were, and we had breakfast there. And what a good flight to Hongkong!  They took really good care of us, coming around to see if we were all right. They served lunch and dinner, both really nice; and came around with afternoon tea during the flight!  How can you get hungry when you’re sitting there doing nothing? Well amazingly you can, especially if the food is attractive.

Hongkong was a different story. We bought access to a lounge, but had to go through security again. When we reached the lounge, we had to wait to use the shower, and the armchairs allowed you to charge your phone but not put your feet up. We were due to fly Premium Economy with Cathay Pacific, but this was a really different experience. We were seated at the back of the PE section, and so couldn’t recline our seats. That didn’t stop the passengers in front from reclining theirs, of course. The plane finally took off at around 1:30 am (we’d been up for almost 24 hours by then), and then they served dinner! We declined, since we’d been served dinner on our flight from Auckland, but it was a very long time until breakfast on this 13-14 hour flight.  Nobody came near us to offer water, or anything. Fortunately there was an omelette for breakfast, and a very flaky overcooked croissant.

The wheelchair lady at Milan’s Malpensa airport was fantastic. After a bathroom break, she whisked us through passport control (no biometric checks!) and on to baggage carousel 6.  The luggage from several flights, including our own was being unloaded.  A suitcase like mine was going around and around, and we hoped the owner hadn’t taken mine by mistake.

 After an anxious few moments my suitcase and JD’s back pack turned up. Then the wheelchair lady took us to the station where the trains go from, and JD bought 2 tickets.  And then we were on our way to Milano Centrale station.

When we got there we went to our hotel nearby.  There was an altercation over payment; we insisted that they’d been paid, but in spite of that we couldn’t check into our room till 2 pm.  But although we couldn’t shower, they would hold our bags. It was Design Week in Milan, which was part of the reason for the ultra-high prices. However I did feel that not having stayed over in Hong Kong or Singapore, we were prepared to pay a bit extra to stay in a comfortable, convenient hotel.

We went back to the station, feeling very tired and frustrated; after some small purchases there, and use of a costly toilet (over €1, you had to have the exact change) we shared pizza for lunch at a nearby restaurant.

When it was 2 pm we checked in. Then a new challenge – making the electrics work! You had to put your card in a horizontal slot, not at all intuitive. Then JD found the shower extremely slippery. He got the staff to bring more bathmats. But it was a lovely shower, oblong shaped with an overhead nozzle and a handheld one. You could have them both on at the same time. Sadly the towel rail wasn’t heated, but there were windows that opened. That night we didn’t go out for dinner but waited for the breakfast buffet which opened at 7 am. I wasn’t sure if our exorbitant room rate included breakfast, but it seemed that it did.  Breakfast was very good, with the lovely golden queen-like peach halves and stewed prunes that had so charmed me 18 months ago when we were last there.  There were very nice bedroom scuffs, robes, shower caps, a small tube of body lotion and a very nice tote bag. 

That day we set out to do some sightseeing. We were reluctant to use the famed public transport system.

Instead we queued up at Milano Centrale for a taxi. Thankfully the queue moved quickly. We asked our driver to take us to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, but instead he took us to Pinacoteca di Brera, where many of the design exhibits were being held. The Pinacoteca di Brera was on my list: I had good memories of it, but although housed in a big courtyard, the gallery seemed completely different from what I had remembered.

But there were, among the painting, exhibits of clothing by Armani. These proved to be extremely fascinating. How can you make the colour grey so exciting?  We saw the famous painting by Andrea Mantagna of the dead Christ, but I don’t think there were any others that I recognized.  So that was a bit disappointing.

Andrea Mantegna’s The Dead Christ

JD decided we could walk to Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, and we decided to eat lunch along the way. There were crowds and crowds of people, many of them looking extremely elegant, in the way Italian people do. I realized that despite wearing good-ish clothes, in no way was I competing with any of them!

We shared a pizza and a bottle of sparkling water at a rather down market cafe, a Bistrot. It was one of those where there’s an array of food, and some people choose some and have it heated.  The pizza we shared was very good, although it was a bit big for us. When we went to go, there were several people waiting to pay, and frustrated that the waitress was extremely busy. 

As we walked, the crowds eventually lessened, and we got to Ambrosiana, the oldest art gallery in Milan! It was in an old brick building, and we didn’t have to queue for entry; we were almost the only people there!  What a treat.  We saw Caravaggio’s famous still life with the bowl of fruit and the worm hole in the apple; we saw a Botticelli painting and a Holy Family painting with a very cute baby Jesus looking admiringly at his pretty, young mother.

There was an interesting exhibition of Raphael ‘s famous School of Athens painting (we have a huge jigsaw of that!) and Titian’s Ecce Homo.  Then we made our way to the da Vinci room, and saw that too, although it wasn’t as exciting. We had seen his Cena Colo before, and we’re not minded to see it again.

Then we went to the very nice gift shop and bought a book for our youngest granddaughter.  Truly tired, we got a taxi back to the station, and had a rest before dinner.

I had a glass of very nice prosecco with dinner, but unfortunately I did not sleep well that night. I always have trouble adjusting to the time-change, but this is somewhat outweighed by excitement of having survived the journey, and seeing exciting new things. In the morning we had our delicious breakfast again, and checked out, again having another argument over the fee, which had been charged twice. Unlike many Italians our hosts were not very helpful, but the second payment was later reversed. We paid the local tax (€10 per person per night, but the water bottle was free), having taken their rather nice tote bag and a pair of scuffs. We stored our baggage and asked the hotel to call us a taxi.

Our train to Florence wasn’t till 2:40 later that afternoon, so we set out for the Castello Sforzando, to see Michelangelo’s famous Rondanini Pieta. We watched masses of cruise buses, and crowds of unhappy looking people, but the statue was all I really wanted to see.

The statue was wonderful. It’s now standing in a large room on its own, so you can walk all the way around it. There was a group there when we arrived, but after they left we were virtually the only ones there. It was very special to see it again, and on our own. I was deeply moved, again. And what about that arm? It’s very emotional for me, as his unfinished sculptures are.

Then we set out to walk to the famous Duomo. There were crowds of people, but we bought tickets without queuing and joined the fast-moving queue to get inside.  It’s a massive cathedral! Eventually we found the statue of St Jerome that we both remembered.

After a while we left and walked through the Victor Emanuel gallery (with hundreds of other people). We had decided to walk back to Milano Centrale, and get lunch along the way.

It was a very long walk, and soon we’d left the eating places behind. We eventually had lunch at a hotel – very strange.  The toilets opened right behind our table, and although there were three, you had to push a pedal with your foot to flush.

I had cod with asparagus and mashed potato; it was quite nice, and I was heartened by the fact that the two gentlemen at the next table had it too. JD had rice with cheese! It looked very bland, but the cheese was quite tasty and it was very filling. We decided to have coffee at the station.

We walked on, retrieved our bags, and after coffee waited anxiously for the platform for our train to be put up (ten minutes before it’s due to leave). The train was from Turin to Reggio Calabria, and it was very full. But we got to Florence without incident, although we hadn’t been able to charge our phones on the train, as expected – the power point wasn’t functioning. They both had very low batteries, and although our hotel was near the station, I had not printed out a map of how to get there. So we took a taxi, although it wasn’t far away. The driver was very nice about it.

The hotel is a three star; I’d felt very guilty after the high expenses of our hotels in Milan and Paris, and I hoped this one would be good enough. Well, there was no palaver over payment: JD paid exactly what Expedia had quoted us. And they’d upgraded us: we were on the top floor, with a balcony, and a bath! And we have a balcony – with a view of the Dome of the famous Duomo!

The hotel is quite basic but I at least am really quite comfortable.  Sadly there are no tea-making facilities in our room, or a fridge, but that really doesn’t matter. It is quite noisy here, since they’ve installed light rail outside the hotel since we were last here. I sit on the balcony after breakfast and enjoy the view!

It is lovely to be in Florence again, but the crowds are alarming!

That’s it for now. I am really excited that we were able to see what I wanted to see in Milan, despite our fatigue. Slava Ukraini! Nga mihi nui.

It’s now Sunday 22 February, 2026. Kia ora!

It’s been ages since I blogged.  January wasn’t a great month for me: the cold I’d been fighting off since before Christmas turned into a chest cold. Then I got  gastric enteritis, which unfortunately wasn’t a 24-hour tummy upset. Thankfully no one else in the family got it, but it hit me pretty hard. I determined that I had to see my GP as soon as I felt a bit better, but that was over a weekend and then I didn’t need any medical help.  It was interesting not to eat for a few days, but then I had become very weak, so I did need to start eating again.

The January period was very quiet too, like a lockdown really.  Not great weather; few, if any good movies; and usual activities had shut down. They’ve restarted now, and I’m feeling better, thank goodness.

JD and I both celebrated our birthdays in February. Both times we went out to lunch, and thankfully we did not have to do any more. February is not a great time for me. For JD’s birthday we had lunch at Loretta’s in Cuba Street. What a lovely place!  We have been there before, but not for lunch.  On a memorable occasion we had dinner there one Saturday night after seeing the movie Oppenheimer. That night we heard that although, according to Jake Sullivan, things had been quiet in the Middle East, there was a new attack, masterminded by Hamas. The war that then erupted in Gaza has been truly terrible, as the Israelis sought a kind of Old Testament retribution.  Much of world opinion has been divided on the side of the Israelis or the Palestinians.  This has had political repercussions as well. What a terribly sad situation. The American President takes credit for engineering a cease-fire, but this still seems very shaky, as does the rebuild.

Anyway, back to a much happier situation. For lunch on JD’s birthday we started with chicken liver pậté with pizza bread; then we shared a pizza with golden queen peaches, goat’s cheese and walnuts, amongst other things; we also shared a lamb skewer with skordalia. Then we followed with pudding: Eton Mess for me (deconstructed pavlova with strawberries, lemon curd and Chantilly cream) and a lime parfait with pineapple for JD.  It was all delicious, and the servings were not large.

But before this there was a big storm in the Wellington area, with some houses losing power, and many trees down. It was incredibly windy, and many services were cancelled. We survived that relatively unscathed, and even had some relations come to lunch from Te Horo; we enjoyed quiche, salad, chocolate caramel brownie, Afghan biscuits, and fresh fruit including cherries.  Everything was bought, I’m afraid, and I couldn’t buy what I’d planned, but it was all delicious.

Than last week we drove to Hawkes Bay for our daughter’s Taku Kaupapa.  This meeting was formerly known as an IDP meeting, but thankfully it has changed to include life at home as well as life at Rongo workshop at Hōhepa Clive.  We always try to come to Napier for this meeting, but during Covid it was held via Zoom sometimes. This was a really good meeting,

The weather was lovely and fine, but not too hot, thankfully. It still got cold at night. The first evening we ate at Alessandros in Havelock North; the second night we took our daughter to Portofino for dinner, where she and her father shared a pizza.   It was a lovely visit, and everything went well.

I went to church this morning.  It is now the beginning of Lent: I missed the Ash Wednesday service, but after Transfiguration Sunday last week we are into the season of Lent now. I thought the minister preached very well this morning, drawing a link between the serpent’s temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden if Eden, and Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, after he had fasted for 40 days.

It’s now Sunday 22 March.

Many things have happened; the main thing is that there is conflict in Iran and the Middle East, arising from strikes by the US and Israel.  I don’t want to say much about it, other than that the Straits of Hormuz are closed to some vessels, and the price of oil has risen; not only is it far more expensive, but it is also scarce, and countries are coping with shortages. Airlines are coping with increased fuel costs, and cancelling some flights; costs of airline flights are much more expensive, and most people are avoiding the Middle East countries, especially Dubai, which has a large airport and is a hub for one of the best airlines, Emirates.  Chaos has ensued, with countries seeking to reduce their use of oil, and, of course, there are ramifications of this crisis, affecting fertiliser, for example.

Of course many people, some known to me, have already booked flights with Emirates. It costs a great deal to change them. Thankfully we have not booked with Emirates for our upcoming trip, but there are still many aspects of our trip at risk.  My cousin and her husband have flown to Mumbai, with Singapore Airlines, and are now on a cruise around Africa: yesterday they were due to visit the lemur sanctuary in Nosy Be, an island off Madagascar.  Despite the fuel crisis, they are still able to carry out their trip, and my cousin continues to post wonderful photographs.

The first time we went overseas, in 1973/4, it was a time of great disruption – from terrorist events, and the first oil crisis. We flew to London, via Sydney and Hong Kong, with refueling stops along the way; JD’s uncle met us at Heathrow! In the UK there was a 3 -day week, the British Museum was closed, and this was before North Sea oil was discovered.  After a few days in London, we caught the hovercraft from Dover to Calais, and then the train to Paris Nord.  We had a Eurail pass which enabled us to catch any train anywhere within Europe.  What an amazing trip that was; we’ve often wished we could do it again with better clothes and better luggage!  Sadly it was many years before we visited Europe again – 2010, to be precise. Oddly, we still want to visit many of the same places:  Nôtre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Louvre, St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and anything in Florence or Venice. 

Last week we had an unexpected trip to Palmerston North. A friend and colleague died suddenly from a heart attack.  What a shock!  He was much younger than us, although he had a grown up family.  We stayed at the Coachman Hotel in Fitzherbert Avenue, where we’ve stayed before, on a rushed trip to Napier. On that trip, we’d just flown back from Taipei via Auckland, so it was quite an achievement to drive to Palmerston North, in the dark, stay overnight, and drive early to Napier the next morning for a Hōhepa Family Weekend.

The hotel had a carpark underneath, with an elevator to Reception, on the ground floor, and to our room on level 3.  We were very comfortable there, although we could not prepare breakfast in our room.  It was interesting to stay in Palmy – I had not been there for many years, but it was lovely and warm, and we walked everywhere.  It’s a strange place: on the Sunday when we arrived, most eating places, including the hotel’s restaurant, were closed. There seemed to be no cafés nearby where we could have breakfast. And then most places were closed on Monday! But we found a café called Verdict in the Square, where we ate several times, and they were happy not divide meals for us to share. I also found a shopping mall, the Plaza, which had, of course, a Whitcoulls, a Farmers, a Woolworths and a Food Hall, amongst other shops. So I was able to buy a newspaper and read it and do the puzzles while drinking my first cup of coffee for the day.

With the Transmission Gully highway, it only takes about 1 ½ hours each way, so it seems much closer to home than Hawkes Bay.

There is a lot of Covid about, so I had a booster vaccination a few days ago; I had quite a sore arm afterwards, but that was the only side effect, really.  The flu vaccine doesn’t arrive until April. Although I wore a mask for a while, no one seems too bothered by it.

Last weekend, before we went to Palmerston North, JD and I went to another art film: Turner and Constable. This was based on an exhibition at London’s Tate Gallery. It was a really good film, and interesting to see more paintings by Constable, as well as his famous Hay Wain.

Yesterday I attended a singing workshop, called For Singing’s Sake. It was held at St Oran’s College in Lower Hutt, and run by Lala Simpson, Susie Hardie and Andrea Robinson, who leads our Khandallah singing group.  There were six of us there from our Khandallah group – several people who would have liked to be there had other commitments. We did not sing on our own, although other choirs did in the afternoon concert.  The workshop ran from 10 am till 4 pm: they put on morning tea, but we brought our own lunch and ate it outside. We learnt three new songs, one from each song leader; then in the concert we sang them but also heard the other choirs. We from Khandallah joined one of the other choirs and tried to do as we were told!

We have had some beautiful Sundays recently. And JD and I have been going walking. We often walk along Oriental Bay; you can buy a smallish ice cream in a cone at the dairy there, and then sit down while you eat it, and admire the view, and the boats, before walking back to the car (which is parked beneath a tree to give shade, you hope!).  One Sunday we went for a walk in the Botanical Gardens. It was just lovely, and there were some people around, but not too many, Afterwards, we thought how nice it would be to sit somewhere nice and eat an ice cream while admiring the view. So we drove up to the top of the Cable Car, and paid to park in the carpark there. Well, the Cable Car Museum with its gift shop was open, but there was nowhere to buy an ice cream; it was warm and fine, there were at least half a dozen tour buses, at least one cruise ship docked in Wellington Harbour, and probably hundreds of tourists. But nothing was open – you couldn’t even buy something to drink!  What a crying shame, with all those people around.

I saw Midwinter Break a few days ago – what a charming film!  I can always watch Lesley Manville, and Ciaran Hinds as her husband does a good job too.  The film was well reviewed too, which I was happy to see. I’ve also been reading The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans; I tried a sample on my kindle, and then bought the entire book. Somehow when I do this the item gets queued. I’ve found the solution is to link my kindle to another Wi-Fi and then the item becomes un-queued!  What a relief. What a charming book to read.

That’s it for now.  We are in the season of Lent, and Easter is coming soon.  Slava Ukraini!  Ngā mihi nui.

The weather in Wellington seems to have been mostly cloudy and windy in January

It’s now Tuesday 23 December, and we are inching towards Christmas. Kia ora!

Last Friday my lady from Access did not come; there was no advice, either. I guess there was some confusion between approvals and requests and cancellations over Christmas. But we took the two older grandchildren in New Zealand to the golf driving range in Waiwhetu, where we had a lovely time. It was overcast, but not quite raining, but no matter as we were protected from the weather. Afterwards we had lunch at Caffiend, one of my favourite cafés in Petone, but not always good; this time it was a big success: Eggs Benedict. Scrambled Eggs, Chicken & Kumara Salad and a smoked salmon bagel, with a big bowl of chips.

The weekend was relatively quiet, but we saw the John Clark/Fred Dagg movie on Saturday afternoon. That was certainly a trip down memory lane!  It was very sad that John’s mother lost two fiancés in World War II; she married John’s father, but he, although still alive, was damaged by the war.  John explained that he could never do anything right for his father, but his mother perhaps over-compensated. We both remember him in the Victoria University’s Annual Revues; in those days there were no fees, so you could stay on and change courses.  John moved to Australia after having difficulties in New Zealand.

On Sunday morning I stayed for a special morning tea at the church.  The next day we were taking our older grandchildren to the third Avatar movie, at the Embassy Theatre: JD loves that cinema!  The movie is 3 hours and 20 minutes long!!! We started by parking outside the Welsh Dragon (formerly Taj Mahal, before that a men’s loo), a very convenient spot. But the maximum time there was two hours! So JD agreed to move the car, while I took the children to the theatre. Thankfully there weren’t many people there. Although JD belonged to Cinebuzz, the four tickets (2 seniors, 2 children), two bottles of Coke Zero, a packet of M&Ms, and a peanut slab came to $111!!! That was a surprise. Thankfully I’d taken four pairs of 3D glasses with me, so we didn’t need to buy any more.  We went into the cinema before JD could join us.  We were sitting in the middle of row P, which is very high up! I do wish they’d put a handrail in the middle of the aisles. 

Well, the movie was very long indeed. I had trouble following the story line – I had to read a review afterwards for it to make more sense.  I have to admit that I don’t really enjoy Avatar movies, but taking our grandchildren was fun.  I do wish the characters would speak more clearly! The sound was very loud, but I missed some of what was said.

Afterwards I was desperately hungry, but there aren’t that many places to eat in Courtenay Place, seeing that many kitchens close at 2 pm, and many cafés at 3 pm; it being Monday, Deluxe Café was closed as well! After walking to the car, some way along Kent Terrace, we drove back along Oriental Bay to the Beach Babylon café, an old if rather “rustic” favourite. Thankfully they were open, and would feed us: a bowl of curly fries (now a thing on many menus), and sausage rolls (which took ages to come).

It’s now Tuesday 5 January, 2026. Kia ora!

I’ll start with Christmas, or rather, Christmas Eve. We had the traditional Carols by Candlelight service at my church at 11:15 pm. This time it was hard to stay awake and attend, but I did, and it was lovely, of course.  It struck me that it’s too late for the very old, and much too late for young children.

The next day, Christmas Day, was a Thursday, and the service was at 9:30 am, rather than the usual 10 am. I doubt that there would be any children who haven’t opened their presents by 9:30 am!

I bought some flowers on the way home. The dairy in Khandallah was closed, so I got some from the dairy in Johnsonville. Sadly, they did not last two weeks, which is my usual ambition!

Early in the afternoon we went to one of my son’s homes for a family gathering (vegan) Christmas dinner.  JD and I took a fruit salad, for which we’d bought every kind of fruit, including blackberries. We took Christmas presents for the children, of course.

In the event we weren’t late, although I was really hungry by this time!  One family had brought a tray of pre-dinner nibbles: delicious. The Christmas dinner was very nice, of course: a lentil loaf, with an amazing sauce, roast vegetables, with another amazing sauce, grilled asparagus; and probably more things which I can’t remember. We had a Karakia mo te kai (a Grace, which I’d requested).

For pudding my son and his wife had made a Christmas Pudding! They’d come to me earlier in the week for a bowl and a steamer, and advice about what had worked well for me back in the day: how nice to be asked! Make it well in advance; well, it was too late for that. Wrap the pudding in a cloth: I’ve never done that; top with butter paper; they didn’t do that, of course; and I used breadcrumbs, not suet.  Still, the pudding they made tasted very good. The boys (i.e. my sons, and they’re all men now), tried to ignite brandy over the pudding, and it’s true there was a brief flare as the brandy ignited. This too is very tricky: you need to heat the brandy, but not so much that it evaporates;  t was quite hard to get the pudding out of the pudding bowl, so perhaps it wasn’t hot enough. Still and all, it was lovely to be asked for advice, and lovely to have a real Christmas pudding. (We still haven’t tackled our store-bought pudding that we usually microwave and serve with custard and ice cream).

There was custard, and vegan ice cream, of course, and a pavlova!  Evidently they eat eggs! The pavlova had fallen in in the middle, although it held around the edges; my daughter-in-law whipped lentil fluid, which turned into delicious whipped cream, to decorate it! I guess one could eat it without guilt.

Eventually we went home; we had croissants for our tea.

Since Christmas Day things have been really quiet. Our youngest son and his wife and daughter we due to fly out of Wellington on Christmas Eve. They wer staying at Rydges Hotel at the airport for their 6 am flight to Auckland; we had agreed to meet them and the other parents to have an early dinner at the restaurant there. On the night the weather was terrible, with driving rain and wind making even the crossing from the parking area to the airport really difficult.  And then the airport restaurant was closed until further notice! But we had a meal at Peloton, which has somehow been extended to take in the hotel and the airport.  We actually had a really good meal there, and it wasn’t overpriced.  I was able to hold my granddaughter as we said our last goodbyes.

Then it was home again, and making bookings for the remaining leg of a journey we’re planning for later in 2026.  This caused a great deal of anxiety, but I think it will all work out. I think, too, that I can’t do this again – it’s just too stressful!

After that, the cold I’d been fighting off developed into a chest infection, which was quite unpleasant for a few days. Other than that, it’s been a very quiet time, with not great weather (it seems to be mainly spitting with light rain and overcast), and no great films to see, certainly not any that I’d be prepared to persuade JD to accompany me to.

At some point I ventured out to see the film Sentimental Value in Petone, and there I met three other friends whom I know.

This film was directed by Joachim Trier; I think it was Lars von Trier who made the film Melancholia, with Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg; I recognise some similarities. But when I look him up, apparently Joachim is not related to Lars von Trier, another famous Nordic film maker with a similar name.

It’s said the film is about two sisters with “daddy issues”’; but I watched Trier interviewed by Jordan Klepper on The Daily Show last night, and he spoke about the complexity of family relationships, and the difficulty of escaping from one’s childhood.  It’s also about aging, the complexities of acting on stage, and in a film; the importance of place and belonging; and, of course, the effects of the past on one’s life. Having considered the film afterwards, I feel it’s a misnomer to call it “Daddy Issues”, as one review did:  surely Gustav has unresolved issues of his own, which he may be trying to come to terms with, however inappropriately, and however unfeeling he is of his daughter’s pain.

Having said that, there were many themes in the film: the sister’s childhood house as a living, breathing character; the family history, which gradually unfolds as the film goes on; the father-daughter issues, of course; and the father’s flirtation with other female characters in the film; the older daughter, Nora, is an established actress who is ”fucked up”, to use her terminology; she is having an affair with a married stage hand, and suffers from excruciating stage fright; she claims that therapy will be no use.  Her younger sister, Agnes, is married with a beautiful son and an understanding husband. Their film-director father returns when they are having a wake for their dead mother. Apparently the father left years ago, and the parents divorced, but although the mother and daughters continued to live in the house, technically it belongs to Gustav (the dad).  This time Agnes is very stressed about the catering; the film had screened very early on with an instance of Nora’s extreme stage fright, which threatened to derail her performance in Chekhov’s The Seagull.

The father wants to make a film about his mother’s life (she was arrested by Nazi police, tortured and held in prison for two years; she had taken her own life).  He offers Nora the lead part, but she refuses to even read the script, saying that she can’t work with him. The obvious follow up question would be for the father to ask “why not?”, but he does not. I get the feeling that he thought it was a great gift to give Nora this part.  He respects her acting ability, but detests the stage: he doesn’t even come to her opening night later in the film.  That is really odd, as both media require a form of artifice. But with acting on stage, audience feedback is really important, and almost becomes a character in the play, whether the dramatist is Shakespeare or Beckett.

The film is complex with many flashbacks, as the story is told, so it’s tricky to put it all together. But each scene is carefully chosen. I almost want to see it again!

Failing to get Nora, Gustav appoints an admiring younger American actress, Rachel Kemp (played by Elle Fanning) to play the role of his mother; this is a real stretch for her. Are they having an affair?  That’s not explicit, as I recall, but the possibility is definitely there.

There is very little actual spoken communication in the film. Towards the end, Agnes tells Nora that she was there for her, as they grew up; and when Gustav wants Agnes’ son to act in his film, she says no, but then she reads the script and thinks it would have been all right.

At one point Gustav visits an old friend whom he’d worked with, and is astonished at how frail the friend is now. The latter has issues with his son!  “When did he get to be so old?” asks Gustav. 

So  there is a feeling that the main three characters are trying to be reconciled to/with each other, but they probably cannot; even the sisters are separated at the end, and the future looks bleak. A wonderful, award-winning film? Perhaps so, but I feel a real sadness there.

We had more nice outings with two of our grandchildren, and then I came down with a severe bout of gastro-enteritis. Thankfully no one else has it. How is it that I always feel as though I’m dying when I get something like this? But it’s true, I did feel very weak indeed, and wondered about going to the doctor. Sadly, this wasn’t a 24 hour bug.  But I’m now up and about, and even went out today, although I did not dare go to church.  I tried to zoom in, but that didn’t seem to be working.  I’m still drinking ginger ale and eating white bread toasted with marmite, but I feel a lot more human. Sadly, the weight hasn’t peeled off, although most food still looks disgusting.

There are a whole lot of things happening that I’d love to write about, but that’s it for now. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

It’s now Thursday 20 November, 2025. Kia ora!

Initially I wanted to see lots of the BIFF films, but I found some of them disappointing.  I saw The North, which was about two friends walking a 665 kilometre track in the north of Scotland.  Like The Salt Path, the scenery was quite amazing, but the story line I found frustrating. Again and again I felt why not just let the facts tell the story? It was nice not to cope with rough sleeping and all the discomforts that may go with hiking, but I couldn’t help remembering that these guys have a camera crew in tow, so there won’t be any real hardships. And they have Wi Fi and Google Maps! It’s so “old school” to use a map.  When they reach Cape Wrath, I wondered what the large building was in the background. Then I realised it was a huge cruise ship!

Last Saturday afternoon I went to see The Choral, a BIFF film that had been very well reviewed in the UK Guardian. I had wanted to go the previous Saturday, when it was on at 2 pm, but that session was booked out. But last Saturday it started at 1:10 pm, (I thought it was 2 pm again, silly me) so I missed the first part of the film. I was allowed to go in late, but it was pitch black in the cinema, and I couldn’t see a thing. Then I realised the accessible seat I had booked had someone sitting in it; I groped my way to another row with two empty seats, and sat there, with apologies for disturbing those already sitting there.

I was glad to see the latter part of the film: it was very moving, but, again, the complicated story line was unnecessary.  The Choral Society are to perform Elgar’s oratorio The Dream of Gerontius. The music is (mostly) quite wonderful, and Fiennes is a very good actor. I may see it again if I get the opportunity.

On Monday morning JD and I had booked to see the latest art film Caravaggio at the Lighthouse Theatre in Wigan Street. Thankfully we could park close by, and a friend of mine sat next to us. It was a very good film, and showed most if not all of Caravaggio’s paintings. They are truly amazing, and we both enjoyed the film. We compared notes about which paintings we had actually seen.

Tuesday was another busy day.  JD had an early meeting, but I had offered a friend a lift to Bible Study. Thankfully he got back in time to take us there. So that was good, and we had coffee afterwards. Then JD and I went shopping at New World in Thorndon.  Although we were careful not to buy unnecessary luxuries, the bill was over $300, even with the Gold Card discount. 

The next day, after hymn singing, I went to town, and then to Brooklyn’s Penthouse Cinema to see another BIFF film, Words of War. But first I went to get a Strawberry Sundae at Midland Park – the annual Mary Potter Hospice fundraiser. I had never been before!  Although it had drizzled with rain earlier in the day, it was almost fine, and quite warm there. The many volunteers were very well organised. I had a delicious strawberry sundae with sliced strawberries, vanilla ice cream, and strawberry sauce. It cost me $7. You could get sundaes to take away, and you could pre-order them too. I hope they did well!

Then I went looking for somewhere to buy stamps. Sadly, the post office that used to be in Panama St is no longer there, so I walked to Manners St where I know there is a convenience store where you can buy stamps and post things. Well, it cost me $2.90 to post each of my handwritten notes to Waikanae!  No wonder no one wants to post anything, anymore, although sometimes I feel as though a handwritten note is far more acceptable than an email saying thank you.

I got to Brooklyn far too early for my 1:45 pm movie, but I was happy to sit down, drink coffee, and read the newspaper while I waited. The film Words of War was about Anna Politkovskaya, who is no longer alive, but who reported on the war in Chechnya.  The battle scenes were very noisy and scary; somehow it was a terribly sad film, with various threats in Anna’s life. But again, the family drama seemed a bit unnecessary. It would have been good to learn more about Anna’s reporting. Anna was played by Maxine Peake, an actress I have a lot of time for.

It’s now Tuesday 2 December.

It’s quite a busy time, of course; we were due to go to Hawkes Bay for my daughter’s birthday; as it turns out three of her four brothers and their wives and children will go up there too! Thankfully we were able to change the motel booking we’d made, and we are all staying at the same motel!  So that will be quite wonderful. Our youngest son and his wife and daughter have come from the UK.

Last Sunday we worshipped at Johnsonville Uniting Church.  The churches are all quite different, but I think that’s a strength. It was the beginning of a new liturgical year, so we were encouraged to look back at what we had achieved, and look forward to the future.  The first candle of Advent was lit: representing Hope.

The next day I went to Tai Chi, and quite enjoyed it! It was quite gentle! 

Today has been busy. I had a haircut (this was the only time they could take me before Christmas), and then I met JD at the North City shopping centre.  I find these shopping malls quite disconcerting, especially with the odd smells!  Firstly we posted our grandchildren’s Christmas presents to Taiwan – quite a mission, especially filling out the customs forms!  They seem to require more information every year. I waited in the queue: needless to say, I had done all the work of wrapping and packing and addressing the parcel. Eventually we sent it off.  We then went to w nearby café (not Starbucks!) to have morning tea. By now I was rather desperate for a cup of coffee and a break.

We still needed to courier a birthday pack for my daughter in Hawkes Bay, as we won’t be there for her actual birthday. JD had picked up a few things at Paper Plus there – they do have very wide selection of things to buy besides books!  So we found some space at a café, and wrapped the things we wanted to send right away, and not keep back for Christmas; then we went back to Paper Plus to courier the package.  While we were at North City, we bought two packages at Farmers (perfume, soap, hand cream and suchlike – they have lovely packages there) and a very nice handbag from the Strands store.

After all that, with a huge feeling of achievement, we went to do our weekly grocery shopping at New World in Thorndon.  This time it was less than $300, which I suppose is an achievement of sorts. I do feel for families with hungry children; after all, we don’t eat very much.

Last week was really busy, with several unexpected events. We had the final session for hymn singing, followed by coffee at a local café; there was a break-up for my Te Reo Māori class, at the same time, which I couldn’t go to. Then on the Thursday morning we had a concert. This went really well, and we had a good audience, although none of my family came!  They missed a treat!

It’s now Tuesday 16 December.

Last weekend we went to Hawkes Bay for the weekend. We saw my daughter, or course, but it was extra special because three of our sons and their families came too. What’s more, we all stayed in the same motel in the beautiful Havelock North. We all spent a lot of time at the Havelock North green, where there is a wonderful play area. Although it had been really hot the previous week, it wasn’t that hot while we were there.

We ate at Alessandros after we arrived: that was nice, of course.

The first night, the Friday night, it was really cold, but it turned into a lovely fine day. We had lunch at Birdwood Café again on the Saturday: that was really nice. In the afternoon I took our daughter shopping at the lovely Farmers store in Hastings Street in Napier. I bought her two lovely blue tops: one lacy, the other seersucker, with a frilly bottom.  She wore one of them the next day.

On Sunday morning we attended the 10 am service at All Saints Church in Taradale, with our daughter and one of her house mates. We had planned to have a picnic for lunch on Sunday, but although it was a beautiful day, and we’d bought sandwiches, and made our way to Marine Parade, it was really cold and windy. But – full credit: they had street wardens so that we could cross the road safely. How cool is that! They also had bagpipes playing there.

After that we enjoyed the birthday cake I’d brought from Wellington with my daughter, and many of her family. We all enjoyed singing the birthday song, and we had cherries too!

We visited Hohepa at Poraiti on Sunday afternoon. On Monday morning we visited my daughter at her workshop, and took the remains of the delicious vegan chocolate cake we’d enjoyed at our motel for my daughter’s birthday. I also visited the shop there where I bought deodorant, Danbo cheese, apricot jam and orange and lemon marmalade.  Then we drove back to Wellington. We had lunch in Woodville – delicious scrambled eggs. This time we were glad to get home.

Things are winding down, that is, activities; this week it’s been much cooler, and rained heavily. Yesterday I made my way to the Lighthouse Cinema in Wigan St where I was a French Film Festival film: My Brother’s Band. What a wonderful film! I really enjoyed it. Warning: it has wonderful music, including Ravel’s Bolero. To my mind this was the best film of the festival, and I’m so glad that I saw it. 

Today we had our final Thursday singing session, with a very nice catered lunch to follow. After that I caught a bus into town to meet a cousin of mine at The Lab. There was a nervous moment while I waited for the bus to turn up – it was a few minutes late. Then there was quite a walk to the Lab, but my cousin was there and it was lovely to see her. Later on her husband and 5 year old granddaughter arrived too. She reminds me so much of two of my granddaughters.

That’s it for now. Slava Ukraini! Nga mihi nui.

Mirek Smisek Pottery Kilns at Te Horo

It’s now Sunday 26 October, 2025. Kia ora!

What strange weather we are having for October. It’s still really windy, although fine and sunny betweentimes. But it’s not summery yet; while it is not as cold as winter has been, one wouldn’t go anywhere without a jacket and a cardigan. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were windy; we went shopping on Tuesday and were again amazed at the effect inflation has on prices. You think you’re being careful, and the bill is still far too high, even with 5% deducted for our Gold card.

On Wednesday I went into town after hymn singing; it was very windy, but nice to see it quite busy too. I went to the Annah Stretton store – a very windy spot – to see if they had the floral denim jacket I’d so admired in Havelock North, but they did not – they had no jackets, although they did have vests. The shop was really busy! 

I got home to find that Thursday’s singing session had been cancelled, for fear of an expected bad windstorm. That was not really a surprise, although it was a disappointment. Trains were replaced by buses, and many things shut down.  Our house was relatively calm, but I went out to collect the newspaper on Thursday morning, and it was really windy. Still, the wind has blown away the blossom that was all over our driveway. While spring blossoms are beautiful, they’re rather a nuisance when they get blown all over the drive, and then trodden inside.  There are still a few camellias blown off the bushes but not so many now.

We went up the road to the local café to have lunch. We drove in the car, rather than walking as we usually do.  I almost got blown into the café, but it was nice to get out.  The concert that evening was cancelled too: Dvorak’s Cello Concerto and Brahms’ 2^nd Symphony. I would like to have gone, but didn’t dare book tickets seeing we’d just come back from a few days away. In the event, I need not have felt guilty: it was cancelled. 

On Saturday afternoon I went to see the new New Zealand film Pike River. JD did not want to see it.  I was glad I did, however.  The West Coast of New Zealand is such a dark, brooding atmosphere, where it rains a lot.  Some great tragedies have happened there as well as Pike River: the Cave Creek disaster in 1995, when 14 (young) people were killed, and the Murchison earthquake of 1929 (I remember my mother speaking of that); some of us remember Keri Hulme’s Booker Prize winning novel The Bone People, which spoke of abuse, amongst other things. Then there’s Jane Campion’s film The Piano, which had its own elements of tragedy.  Sonya Rockhouse did not even know at first where the mine was!  Although it’s predictable, the retelling of the tragedy, (after the tragedy), it brings home again the greatness of the loss, and the frustration of not having anything to show (e.g. a body) of their loved ones. I was disappointed though that there was no Te Reo Māori, no lifting of the rahui; no spirituality at all, and no showing of the funeral. I do remember the televised funeral being a rather wonderful occasion, mixing some very kiwi bonhomie with more serious matters. It was held on a football field, with 29 coffins, and was very moving. I also remember Prince William visiting New Zealand, before his marriage, and speaking very well about this tragedy and the Christchurch earthquakes (I think 247 died there).

I note that there have been several other mining disasters on the West Coast.

It became apparent early on that there had been little or no money for safety measures; that the so-called escape room did not contain anything much, and that Peter Whittall, manager of the mine, had not even been there.

But the film certainly captured the atmosphere of the West Coast, which is certainly apart from the rest of New Zealand;  it had a dark, brooding quality like the recent drama Task on Neon, although it was easier to hear what the characters were saying!

This morning I went to church at St Mary’s in Boulcott Street. They had a sung mass at 11 am. Our usual minister is away, and I was supposed to go to Ngaio Union Church at 10, but I’d had a bad night, and the Ngaio church is a difficult place from which to get public transport home. The music was beautiful, and well sung. What a joy it is to hear Latin sung again. The church was almost full. When they exchanged the Kiss of Peace, they just nodded at each other, no hands involved, no namaste. An admirable habit.

It’s now Saturday 8 November.

Last week I had another adventure. It was complicated, but there was to be a gathering of mostly women in Waikanae for a few days.  My cousin from Christchurch was booked to attend, but the friend who was going to travel and stay with her could not come, so I was invited to deputise for her friend. Wow!  I did not know the other women, but it turned out we all had connections: some ladies had been at school with me; a friend of another cousin came for a day; and we knew people in common.  There were I think nine ladies, and two husbands.  Many of these were related to each other, sometimes by marriage.  Anyway, it was very pleasant, although initially I only knew my cousin. They made me feel very welcome.

The gathering was based around one couple’s home in Waikanae (a beautiful home and garden), but my cousin and I were staying in an Air BNB cottage near by, so that was very convenient. She and I were pretty comfortable with two bedrooms, a good shower, good Wi-Fi, a coffee machine, and plenty of room; the only things lacking were coffee cups (we had to use mugs), and a bedside light in the second bedroom.  The weather wasn’t great for spring, so we were glad to use the heaters. We were very grateful to a friend from the Wairarapa who ferried us in her car to the host venue or anywhere else we needed to go.

The ladies were all in their 70’s, some widowed, and thankfully there was little talk of our various ailments.

The first day JD and I went out to the airport to pick up my cousin and a lady from Nelson, and then he drove us to Plimmerton.  There we had morning tea, and then drove to Waikanae with another friend.  It was hard to pack our luggage into her small-ish car!  With the weather being so erratic, one didn’t travel as light as one might have done. Not knowing these ladies, I had no idea really about what to wear!

On the Tuesday, after settling into our cottage, we went to the hostess’s place for drinks and nibbles. We were sitting outside in their beautiful garden, but a cool breeze forced us inside. We also had dinner there that night.

The next day we had morning tea (bran muffins with blueberries and apple), and then looked at an online photographic display of previous gatherings. Someone prepared lunch (quiche and salad), followed by a beautiful chocolate cake for someone’s birthday in the next few days. That afternoon my cousin and I had a rest again, before the group joined us at our Air BNB for drinks and nibbles. I had brought some Danbo cheese and quince paste from our latest visit to Hōhepa, and some Mt Domett Brie cheese I had brought from Wellington.  After that we drove to Raumati Beach to the Waterfront Café there to have dinner. Although the building was being modified, we had a very good dinner there: fish (Gurnard), mashed potatoes and braised leeks, for me.

The next day was a busy day. We had morning tea at the garden centre at Pekapeka (I’ve been there before); my cousin and I shared a cheese scone. The we drove to Te Horo to see the potter Mirek Smisek’s kilns, which have been recreated when the new expressway went though. It was very peaceful and we were the only people there, although the traffic noise was quite loud. There were some  things for sale; others were not. I decided not to buy anything, but my cousin bought a pottery bowl. After that we drove a few more kilometres to see a lovely garden. By now it was raining steadily – it had started to drizzle when we were at the garden centre. So we explored the beautiful garden in the rain.  Afterwards (after taking off our wet shoes) we had lunch in the beautiful house – filled rolls and a sticky lemon slice, followed by bananas and mandarins.

After this we put on our thoroughly wet shoes again, and drove to where Ruth Pretty used to have her Cooking School. I had known Ruth, and known of her cookery and cookery school.

After that we had look at the Waikanae shopping centre in the village there. There’s not a lot to see, but there is the Mahara Gallery, which was lovely. I nearly bought something there: there was a beautiful vase for $135, but I decided not to buy it. But it was lovely to have a look around there.

That evening we were all going to a Tina Turner tribute concert at the auditorium at the Southward Car Museum. Beforehand my cousin and I had some toast with cheese on it, together with her nice chutney. I’m not really a fan of Tina Turner, but the concert was impressive in many ways. There were many people there, most of them being older people;  and the lighting and dancing were very impressive. But the lady playing Tina did not have a very good voice, in my opinion, and everyone found the sound system to be very loud and yet quite indistinct.  After the interval there was a rumbling noise that went on for several minutes. I wondered if this was part of the sound system, or perhaps a train going by – there’s a train track nearby. When we got back to our cottage, I heard from JD that there’d been an earthquake near Wellington – quite a large one, so that was probably the rumbling I heard.

The next morning my cousin and I packed up for our 10 am checkout. We did the dishes, dried them and put them away, and decided what to do with the remaining food. The JD picked us up, and we made our way back to Wellington and Wellington Airport. After that, JD wanted to go supermarket shopping – he hadn’t bought anything while I was away. So I was jolted back into a different reality, not actually knowing just what we needed. Never mind, we managed to spend up large, with no Gold Card discount this time.  While it’s nice to be back in my own bed, I am more tired than I expected!  But it was fun. I have many friends, but we don’t do “girls’ weekends”. Now I’ve done one!

Last night we watched the film A Room with a View. What a lovely film!  It was nice to see views of Florence (Firenze), and see a film with a happy ending.

That’s it for now. I am back trying to see more BIFF movies, but they seem to be booked up! I will have to book the remaining ones I want to see. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

Pākōwhai Regional Park in Hawkes Bay. I appreciate the macrons!

It’s now Monday 20 October, 2025. Kia ora!

We have just returned from a wee road trip. We went to Taupō, and then on to Hawkes Bay.  It was a treat to get away, although we left a messy driveway with wind-blown camellias and cheery blossoms.  We came back to lots of wind-blown camellias, but the blossoms are over and have blown away.

It was fun to drive north again, this time to Taupō; because it was later than we’d planned when we got away, we stopped for lunch at a café called Taper, which we hadn’t visited before. We had delicious scrambled eggs (JD had mushrooms too), and shared chocolate cake with butter cream icing afterwards. The drive to Taupō went well, although there were a great many big trucks on the road. It was good to drive over the Desert Road again, although it was colourful but not quite as beautiful as it sometimes is.

At Taupō we were staying at the Hilton (formerly Debrett’s Hotel) in Napier Road.  I had taken advantage of a special winter offer; fortunately they’d been able to move the booking to October (it was meant to be in August) and I think they upgraded our room. It was a bit of a rabbit warren getting there, but it was a lovely big room with a balcony, although it was too cold and windy to go out on the balcony.  Thankfully we could use a trolley for our luggage, and there was a lift to our room on level 3 of the new block; it was also covered walking there. We had brought lots of luggage to cater for our visit being between seasons: I’d been advised that Hawkes Bay was quite hot, but I felt we’d brought the Wellington weather, cool, windy and overcast, with us.I was glad of my cardigans and my puffer jacket.

As a welcoming touch, they’d left a plate of goodies for us, with a beautiful large chocolate slice, two madeleines one coffee flavoured, one raspberry), and a bunch of grapes. There was a coffee machine, and several coffee capsules which were replenished each day,

That evening we dined in the hotel. It was really too far to walk into the central area of Taupō. We had an entrée -king prawns, with a salad and JD ordered some fries. 

The next morning I had a bath in the beautiful bathroom. There was a nice long bath, but although it had handles, it was very difficult to get out of.  The towels were wonderful – very thick and absorbent, on a very effective heated towel rail. There were two hand basins!  It was beautifully equipped. There were very nice scuff-slippers as well.

On Thursday we had breakfast at the hotel. This was quite expensive, but delicious – I had the full breakfast, I’m afraid: I do like to have scrambled eggs if possible; plus juice, fruit, toast and coffee, of course.

We went and visited the cemetery there, and took the obligatory photo of JD’s parents’ headstones. They were in good order in this peaceful spot.  Then we visited the museum, which hasn’t changed much since our previous visit. It’s well worth visiting, though; this time we went inside the Māori meeting house, after taking our shoes off. We also saw a fine exhibition of craft work, including some paintings: I particularly liked some felt work.

We had lunch at Victoria’s Café Kitchen Bar. We’ve been there before, so we know it’s good. I had a salmon bagel, which was beautifully presented so that I could assemble it myself: a toasted bagel, a good-sized piece of salmon, a dish of cream cheese, and plenty of capers and pickled red onion. I had great fun putting this together and eating it.

Our friends who have recently built a new house in Acacia Bay were not there because he was having a cataract operation in Wellington the previous day. But to our surprise he rang JD, and he and his wife were on their way back to Taupō! So we went over there and saw their beautiful new house. It’s very private, and has a lovely view.

That evening we all had dinner at the Hilton Hotel.  My friend and I had schnapper; JD had fillet steak and our other friend had duck. There was salad and chips too, of course. The fish was beautiful.

The next morning we had to check out, but not until 11 am, so it was nice to have extra time. It was a beautiful day, with a glorious view of the mountains, now that the cloud had lifted. It seemed a shame to be leaving.  I had a shower that morning, rather than another bath!  We had breakfast at Victoria’s again – scrambled eggs, orange juice and coffee.

Then we drove to Hawkes Bay. There wasn’t a lot of heavy traffic on the road, but there were lots of stops for roadworks, so it seemed to take a long time.

We stopped in Napier, where JD bought a puffer jacket from Kathmandu.  It’s pretty nice, with a hood too – like his original blue one, which is now truly worn out.  With my membership there was a voucher meaning a reduced price. Then we went through to our motel in Havelock North. On the way there, we stopped at Hōhepa Hawkes Bay at Clive to visit our daughter at her workshop, but she wasn’t there – as she had a cold, they’d kept her at home. I visited the shop there and bought some more Danbo cheese, a deodorant, some more quince paste, and some candles.

We were to have dinner at our daughter’s house with other parents, staff and PWS (People We Support) that evening. As we hadn’t met many of them, we were a bit nervous. On the way we stopped to get juice and ice cream as promised.  Our daughter was very pleased to see us, and we met the new House Manager (whom we hadn’t met before). The parents of one of the residents were there, and they were also from wellington, and we’d recently met them, so it was good to talk.

The dinner was amazing: there was marinated baked chicken, garlic bread, coleslaw, asparagus, lettuce salad, lasagna, and a vegetarian curry with tofu and rice. For pudding there was fruit salad and several varieties of ice cream.

The next day it was a family session at Clive, thankfully with a much reduced program than previously. It was supposed to start at 9:30 am; of course, we were late, but we weren’t the only late ones. There were group activities with other parents, and then the AGM of the Parents’ Association. Sadly not much printed information was available.

The afternoon was given over to the Hōhepa Spring Market.  We’d been to many fairs (in March) and some Spring Markets; this was a little different, in that although there were plenty of seats, I had difficulty finding somewhere to sit, although JD kept finding people to talk to. There was lots of food available, although much of it had names that I didn’t recognize. But I bought three empanadas, which were easy to eat, and then my daughter joined us. We shared a delicious Filipino cake – a sponge cake covered with a kind of caramel custard. Amazing!

There didn’t seem to be much to buy, although I have already bought many things at Hōhepa Markets and their shops. There was a lovely cushion cover, but at $125 I thought it was too highly priced. I saw no jam, much less apricot jam, which I wanted to buy.

That evening JD and I walked to Alessandros in Havelock North for dinner. It seemed very busy outside, but they found us a table. We shared a pizza, and I had a mocktail, a peach bomb, while JD had a glass of chardonnay. For dessert he had tiramisu and I had affogato – vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce in a tall glass with wee glasses of espresso coffee and kahlua to pour over it. Yum!

The next day (Sunday) was another early start, with us aiming to be at All Saints Anglican Church in Taradale for the 10 am service. We expected to see our daughter there, and while she was not, several Hōhepa folk were, and another couple whom we knew.  We sang the Lord’s Prayer in Māori, to the tune that we’ve sung it to at my Wednesday morning hymn singing.

Afterwards we went up to our daughter’s house at Poraiti, and took her out for lunch. We went to Adoro Café, one of my favourites. Thankfully it wasn’t too busy. The food is delicious, and they have a convenient rest room. I bought some more of my Shiseido Foundation at Farmers there, and then we went to the antique shop in Tennyson Street. We also got our daughter some more nail polish at a chemist there. It’s complicated in Napier and Havelock North where some shops (but not all) are closed on Sundays. 

In Havelock North the Annah Stretton store was still open, although according to the internet it was only open from 10 am to 2 pm. So JD spent up, buying vests for my daughter and me, and a dress for me – chosen by JD!  I really wanted to get a floral denim jacket, although it was a little small, and there were no larger sizes in any of the AS stores.  When we got back to the motel, I put the dress on, and although I wouldn’t have chosen it, it looked great on me, and I am grateful.

We took our daughter back to her house for her dinner. JD and I retreated to Portofino, an Italian restaurant beside Clive Square in Napier. It was lovely there. We shared bruschetta, and both had veal for our main courses. It was delicious, real veal, thinly sliced, with vegetables.

This morning it was a lovely fine day in Havelock North, although it had been overcast and windy the day before.  It seemed a shame to leave, and of course the weather worsened on the way home. There was a wind warning, but it’s not too bad back in Wellington. We had lunch in Woodville (guest Wi Fi at Café 88 is much appreciated!), and we drove on the new road which replaces the Manawatu Gorge, the Pahiatua Track, and the Saddle Road, which we’ve had to use for the last few years. The new highway, Te Ahu a Turanga, is quite wonderful, and much appreciated: it seemed a long way round to travel on the Pahiatua Track (going north) and the  Saddle Road (going south), both of which are hilly and not great roads.

Now we’re back in Wellington, where, surprise! It is very windy. It is quite nice to be home again.  Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir with their conductor, Dr Karen Grylls – rather wonderful

It’s now Thursday 25 September, 2025. Kia ora!

Yesterday I went to see Gaylene Preston’s documentary about Dame Jacinda Ardern.  I thought it was not good judgment for her to be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, but she appeared on Jon Stewart’s TDS (The Daily Show) on Tuesday evening (our time), and I was very impressed by the interview – Jon Stewart can be very tough, so well done Dame Ardern (just call me Jacinda).

I was so pleased that I saw the documentary. The Lighthouse Cinema at Wigan St was full, although it hasn’t been screened a great deal. I was so moved that I cried several times. What a brave and impressive young woman, and how well we were looked after during Covid, especially during the first lock down. It was interesting to see her in Boston, and at Harvard University: I’ve been there! Photos of the graduation where she received an Honorary Degree reminded me of our eldest son’s graduation at Yale!  Being reminded of all the major events of Dame Jacinda’s terms as Prime Minster was distressing, especially the mosque terrorist event in Christchurch and the explosion at White Island. I was also horrified when public opinion turned against Dame Ardern during the huge protest in Parliament grounds, which seemed to go on and on – a shocking event for Wellington!

On Thursday it was windy, but we went out to The Spruce Goose for lunch. It must have been a northerly wind, because the sea at Lyall Bay was calm. Being so close to the airport, we watched several planes landing and taking off.

On Friday the weather wasn’t great. We drove out to the Charles Fleming Retirement Village at Waikanae to see our friend again. On the way, it rained very heavily, and we were glad to be on the Expressway. This time we had lunch with him:  it was very nice, and very generous: I had salmon with hollandaise sauce, coleslaw, and new potatoes, and cheesecake for pudding. Afterwards we had coffee in his unit.  By the time we drove home, it was fine and only drizzling occasionally.

There’s a Singing Workshop coming up with Lala Simpson and Jonathan Berkahn, at the Home of Compassion in Island Bay. I keep getting reminders of this on FB, but it seems others who might be interested don’t know about it! So it’s been a bit of a mission getting the information out to others.

It’s now Sunday 5^th October.

It’s been quite a busy week. On Monday I went to Tai Chi; on Tuesday I went to Bible Study where we had a nice discussion about 2 Timothy 1:1-12.  Afterwards I went to Dunshea’s Deli with a friend where we had beautiful coffee and cheese scones. JD picked me up from there and we went shopping. On Wednesday morning I went to hymn singing. That was lovely: we sang All Creatures of Our God and King, and Jesu, Lover of my Soul, amongst other lovely hymns. Afterwards I met a dear friend for coffee: another oat latté and another delicious cheese scone.  Although the day had started out to be quite fine, it was now raining heavily and quite cold. JD picked me up; the next day I met several of my Thursday singing friends at another café – we had lovely discussions there. Afterwards it was again cold and wet, so JD picked me up (again!) and on the way home we bought lunch from Dunshea’s Deli. We bought very nice pies: chicken and vegetable and steak and Guiness, which we shared. They were delicious, and large pies, but the food was quite expensive.

That evening we were do go to a concert: Rossini’s Stabat Mater, with the NZSO, four soloists and Karen Grylls’ Chamber Choir, Voices New Zealand. What a wonderful choir! Karen is standing down at the end of this year; I don’t know who’s leading the choir in future, but I hope they’ll continue to be wonderful singers. After this the orchestra and choir played the premiere of a local work, another Stabat Mater by Victoria Kelly. This was a much shorter work, but lovely to listen to.  It’s nice to have an early-evening concert, at 6:30 pm; we don’t try to eat beforehand, preferring to have a light snack afterwards. Sometimes we even go shopping on the way home, as New World in Thorndon is open till 10 pm every day.

On Friday it was complicated with several events occurring. I caught a bus to town to meet my cousin and her sister from Auckland for lunch.  It was lovely to see them, although the weather wasn’t great. They go to the WOW (World of Wearable Art) each year – I’m afraid we’ve bever been! We had lunch at The Lab on Customhouse Quay – a café new to me; I rarely go to that rather windy part of town.  My bus was a few minutes early so I had a look at dresses at Farmers first.

Lunch was delicious: I had a favourite, scrambled eggs, which was absolutely delicious; my only quibble was that it came on multigrain toast, together with a wee capsule of olivani olive oil spread (which I like), but the toast was really hard to cut!  And impossible to spread, since the eggs were on top of it! Still, the eggs were so good one didn’t really need toast to go with them.

Afterwards I went with them to the Blue Illusion store, in Woodward St. I hadn’t been there before, but they had a sale on, and I ended up buying a beautiful cream top with short sleeves. It looks like what we used to call bouclé, with a bit of warmth for windy Wellington.  Two good friends of mine have bought beautiful clothes from Blue Illusion. They had a good discount during the French Film Festival, but you had to spend $150 to qualify for it!

Saturday was a quiet recovery day. The weather was rubbish too – sadly my copy of The Post was delivered but very wet, so it had to be dried out (selectively).

On Sunday I went to church in the morning; afterwards JD picked me up and we went to see a movie together: The Man who Promised the Sea at 12:30 pm at the Penthouse Cinema and Café in Brooklyn. We had to park way up Todman St; despite its being school holidays, and the middle of the day, the café was pretty quiet.  I think the lovely theatre could do with a bit of TLC and general upkeep! Still, we had time for coffee and something to eat before the movie. I even had an ice cream, which I don’t usually do.

The film was in Spanish, with subtitles, and explored events around the Spanish Civil War before World War II. There were two plots: a granddaughter searching for her great grandfather’s remains, and a teacher in a village who taught using the Freinet method. He promised to take the children to the sea: they had never been! Of course he had trouble securing parental approval; but sadly he was arrested, tortured and later shot before the trip could take place.  No wonder no one wanted to speak about this incident. The teacher had a printing press, and the children produced several books, most of which were burnt after the teacher’s arrest. All the books had to be given up, although thankfully some were hidden. And there was a connection between the two stories, of course.  Book burning was something the Nazis did in Germany before World War 11; it’s also happening in the US now, and has been for some time.  I think most of us would be more than happy for young people to read, even works like Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which was banned for many years. I think Lady Chatterley’s main indiscretion was to have sex with her gardener, rather than another member of the British aristocracy.

The teacher was an avowed atheist, so he fell foul of the local Catholic priest; he was from Catalonia, a location of anti-fascist activity, and he used the Freinet method of teaching, which scared local parents, who mainly wanted their children to grow up to be just like them. It was a harrowing film to watch.

It’s a busy week coming up, with it being the start of Term 4, when Thursday morning singing restarts. Te Reo Māori starts up again on Wednesday morning; and there’s a Singing Workshop at the Home of Compassion in Island Bay next Saturday. This is a big day for me, but very enjoyable to sing with many other strong voices. A number of my friends are going, and we’re car-pooling, with some details yet to be determined.

A cousin of mine from Christchurch is part of a group coming to Waikanae in early November, with lots of exciting activities planned. I was going to join them on the Wednesday for lunch, but one of the party can’t come for health reasons, and so I’ve been invited to join my cousin instead of her friend. Wow!  That is so exciting.  I am looking forward to it.  I do enjoy stimulating activity, but I get terribly tired.

Speaking of tired, I’ve been invited to take part in a stroke-medical-care discussion that’s being run by an Auckland University team. Although it’s testing to go back to my own Sep/11 (September 2011), the questions look very pertinent, and I would like to think I can contribute something to the study.

It’s now Sunday 12 October.

Yesterday I went to the singing workshop at the Home of Compassion in Island Bay. Unlike the previous time when some of us went, it was foggy, overcast and drizzling with rain all day. JD took a friend and me to the Ngaio Town Hall by 9 am, where we met the friend who was giving us a lift to Island Bay. I thought it was a very early start, but we had to pick up another friend in Northland, so we ended up having a “Cooks’ Tour” through Wilton, Northland, Highbury, the Aro Valley and Brooklyn, Mornington and Berhampore, before ending up at Island Bay.  

We were almost the first ones there, but we were singing ina different room from previously, and it had not been set up. It turned out that there were only about 18 of us, and no men. I think with this workshop being at the start of Term 4 many people did not realise it was on.

We broke for morning tea, and several of us retreated to the Cloister Café there, which was open. Although we had 20 minutes, it took ages to have our order taken and coffee served. When it came, it was delicious – my oat latté and pain au raisin. It was just a shame there wasn’t more time to enjoy them!

 The singing was very enjoyable, although somewhat marred by the fact that someone brought her dog, which pooped on the carpet! Several kind people rushed to clear it up, but it certainly interrupted our singing.

Later we had an hour’s break for lunch: a delicious roast kumara, carrot and lentil soup, with bread that you could toast or eat fresh. They were delicious.

After lunch there was more singing, and then soon after 3:30 we went to the Chapel to sing the songs we’d learnt again. This was quite a different atmosphere! We weren’t in our natural groups any more, and it was more difficult to sing in the Chapel, for some reason. I found I was extremely weary, by this time, and found it hard to sing at all. Then we drove home, again in the drizzly fog. JD met my friend and me at Ngaio Town Hall again, and we went home with relief. What fun, though! I was pleased that I’d been.

Today (Sunday) is overcast again, drizzling with rain, and with low cloud all day. It is extremely windy. Every morning now I pick up camellias that have blown into the driveway, and there ae always more. There are lots of blossoms on the drive, although still lots on the cherry tree.

That’s it for now! Slava Ukraini! Nga mihi nui.

Cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches. Mine weren’t quite as elegant as these, but they were very neat and they did taste good!

It’s now Friday 12 September, 2025. Kia ora!

What a time to be alive. Charlie Kirk has been assassinated in Utah;  Israel has bombed Qatar, trying to kill the Hamas leaders who are there to negotiate a cease-fire; more Epstein information has been revealed, and none of it points to Jeffrey Epstein being a nice person; and Lord Mandelson has been fired by Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of Great Britain; one week after his deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, was fired for what seemed to be a tax dodge.  Mandelson was not only a great pal of Epstein but continued to defend him even after he was in prison. What to deal with first?

And I forgot to mention Russia’s drone strike on Poland, and then a threat to Rumania.

On Sunday morning I went to church. I was supposed to take a plate for a shared lunch: I took some buttered slices of a ginger loaf from the local New World supermarket. I have a “bring a plate” function later this week – I do not like such things! I’d be much happier to pay for a catered lunch, and I think it’s a retrograde step to go back to shared lunches. It was quite cold, and drizzling with rain. I was glad to wear a woollen jersey, a warm fluffy jacket, and a puffer raincoat! They had morning tea with scones with apricot jam and sweetened whipped cream, yum!

After morning tea the minister spoke about his recent study leave. This was very interesting, since I’d been to Scotland, although not the north of Scotland. This was followed by the AGM. I had to leave for another appointment with JD.  I hope my point about advertising on Meta (formerly Facebook) is taken up. After all, if it’s good enough for Westminster Abbey, I think my church should do it.

JD and I ended up having lunch at Floridita’s Café and Restaurant. It was nice there – warm and comfortable! I started with a Long Black Coffee, followed by a Peach Bellini. 

Here in Aotearoa fugitive Tom Phillips has been shot dead by police, after himself shooting a police officer; a child was with him; his two other children were recovered shortly afterwards. Phillips had been on the run with his three children for four years! Their mother appeared in court on drink-driving charge soon afterwards.  Those poor children! It seems their father was not a hero, rather a thief, with lots of alcohol and fire arms. He moved camp often. Meanwhile the children have had no medical or dental care or education, while supposedly camping in uncivilised conditions; camping in the rough can be charming for a day or two; but any longer than that and one would be longing for a shower or bath, a proper toilet, a hot meal and a warm comfortable bed, to say nothing of clean clothes. It seems that both parents have really let their children down, and now one of them is dead. The eldest child is now a teenager, with all the implications of adolescent body changes. Poor children!

It’s now Tuesday 16 September.

Yesterday I went to Tai Chi, and then JD picked me up and we had lunch at Picnic Café by the Lady Norwood Rose Garden, and the doomed Begonia House. Last time I visited it wasn’t as wonderful as it used to be. Lunch was nice – smoked salmon, hash browns, grilled tomato, and half an avocado with wasabi dressing. My long black coffee was enjoyable too. We ate outside, and it was rather windy, although fine and sunny, and I kept my jacket on. There were no roses out yet, and a sign warned us that spraying was in progress.

Afterwards we walked to the Bolton Street cemetery, which I am ashamed to say I hadn’t visited before, it’s been split by the Motorway, and although it’s a quiet and peaceful place, the traffic noise is disturbing. There are very informative pamphlets in waterproof containers at the entrance to the Cemetery. I would think there needs to be more upkeep of this lovely area.  We did not explore it all – there is quite unstable walking between the graves on uneven grass.  And, of course, it’s hilly, and whenever one walks down, one remembers that one will have to walk up again.

There are some names we recognise; there are graves and headstones there. I was quite moved by the youth of many of the dead: some made old bones to perhaps 82, but many died in their 20’s-30’s-40’s. Many children died – including 5 of diphtheria in one family! Another family lost three children. How incredibly sad, and I well remember what a huge thing it was when vaccines came in when I was a child, and parents no longer had to fear that their children would die early from common childhood diseases such as polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, or tuberculosis.  I as moved too by the Biblical texts on many of the headstones – such as “I am the resurrection and the life”, and sentiments like the deceased person being “Asleep with Jesus”.  No wonder Alzheimer’s was an unusual disease – very few people got old enough to “lose” their memory (using the terminology of my childhood).

On Tuesday Bible Study was cancelled. JD and I did our weekly shopping in Thorndon, and saved, as usual, just over $10. It was really hot!  And I felt really tired, as I tend to in springtime. But today (Wednesday) the weather is awful! It’s really windy, overcast and drizzly, although not too cold, but much cooler than yesterday. This morning I went to hymn singing, but unfortunately there were very few of us there, and my voice was quite croaky. I’m blaming spring allergies for this. After this there was a two-hour session for Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, together with a nice morning tea. It was a lovely session. We learnt (again) phrases of welcome. It’s so nice to go over things that one supposedly knows already!

Afterwards I caught a bus into town, and then another bus to get off at what they’re calling Courtenay Central, a bus stop outside the forlorn Reading Centre. Then I walked to Tākina in Wakefield Street. It was very windy but not dangerously so. At Tākina I had lunch first: delicious chicken sandwiches with stuffing and chutney (very tasty) served with some potato crisps (as in an English pub!), and a long black coffee.  It was very comfortable there, and you get free internet!  Afterwards I went to the World Press Photo Exhibition. I was able to leave my bag at the coat-drop. The exhibition was interesting, if confronting. I was glad I’d seen it. I also booked tickets for a concert coming up – Rossini’s Stabat Mater, performed by the NZSO and Voices New Zealand. It is good to be able to see just where you’re sitting. Afterwards I walked to the closest bus stop – opposite where James Smith’s used to be. It was incredibly windy walking back.

It’s now Friday 19 September, and I am waiting for my lovely lady from Access to come. Access is using a new ap, which sends me an informative email each week to say who’s coming and when. But I can’t load the ap on either my phone (it doesn’t do Android), or even on my PC.  So I can’t see the schedule. Still. It is now easier to communicate with Access. In the event someone different came; my usual lady is on leave for the school holidays, although Access had not warned me of this.

Yesterday (Thursday) was the final session for Term 3 for my Thursday singing group. I showered early and made cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, draining the cucumber slices on paper towels first. The white sandwich bread that we’d bought on Tuesday had not stayed as fresh as I’d hoped. Still, we cut the crusts off, and I made two dishes – one to keep at home. JD’s  brother was due to visit while I was out. We had a nice singing session, although I had to remind the leaders that it is Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. Accordingly, we sang Hine e Hine, but did not sing the lovely Pepeha which we’d sung last year. I did feel that I’d interrupted the program, though!

The lunch spread was delicious, with a good range of savoury food and some sweet food, and grapes and cheese, of course. There were lots of egg sandwiches and asparagus rolls, so I was glad I hadn’t made them, this time.

Sunday was quite a busy day. It was really windy, quite cold, and drizzling with rain off and on. I went to church, which was lovely, We are enjoined to pray for kings and rulers (I Timothy chapter 1), even if we don’t share their views. Afterwards I was going to catch a bus to Johnsonville at 11:12 am. I walked to the bus stop, where it was incredibly windy. I could have summoned a taxi, or an Uber, but I had got to the bus stop and the bus was due to come. It did arrive on time.  At the Johnsonville Library, the shuttle bus had reverted to its weekday timetable – not on the hour or half hour, as I had thought. Never mind, I got home just before 12 noon, when a grandson was due to come!  I did not have Wi-Fi on my Android phone, so I couldn’t communicate until I reached home. Anyway, the little boy came, and we had a very enjoyable time, doing a jigsaw puzzle, playing Monopoly Deal (with cards!), and a car racing game.

Today’s podcast on The Rest is History is about Hesiod’s Theogony. Wow! I have read this as part of a wonderful paper I did on The Trojan War, in terms of mythical background, Homer’s Iliad (of course), ancient literature about the Trojan War, and then (2006) modern archaeology at the Hissarlik site in Turkey, thought to represent the ancient city of Troy.  We studied the Hittites, too.  Tom Holland also talks about ancient language derivations. I had thought that the “family” of Romance or Indo-European languages, which includes ancient Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish and German as having a certain commonality – for example, if you’re looking at menu items in one of those languages, you can usually figure out what they are. Some of my friends are conversational in several of these languages. I enjoy trying to speak French whenever I go there (which is not nearly often enough).  But it now seems that this is too simplistic.  Here is a link to this episode:

What an amazing heritage the Classical world gives us, in paintings, sculpture, pottery relics, mosaics and literature. I think part of its appeal is that it’s just so beautiful, without all the violence, rape, sudden death, and divine scheming. It’s still fascinating. How nice, sometimes, to retreat into the past, while present events are of great concern, even if they don’t appeal.

That’s it for now!  It’s a tough spring, so far, with some beautiful fine days but treacherous winds. Wars and conflict grind on, in Ukraine and Gaza. Slava Ukraini! Nga mihi nui.