A celebration of Matariki at the Khandallah Town Hall
Today is Monday July 3rd, 2023. Kia ora!
This morning we had an electrician coming at 8 am. It was very cold. And I got up at 7:30 am to turn more heaters on. He came, and installed a new, more effective heater in the ensuite bathroom, and moved the not-very-effective heater down stairs to the spare bathroom (it’s not so cold down there, and not many people come to stay). He also installed a power point in the downstairs bathroom; for some strange reason, there was a power point for some electric shavers, but not modern shavers. There wasn’t a power point for a hair dryer, for example, which caused problems when our daughter and a carer came to stay for our youngest son’s wedding. It’s silly not to have a power point there! We also had new lighting installed in the main living room, which was very poorly lit. We had bought a new lighting board on Saturday, which we collected from Lighting Direct (now L.D.), in Lyall Bay. There’s quite a shopping complex out there now: it’s annoying, though, not to have clothes or bookshops or shops I might want to look at in these industrial shopping complexes. It took a long time to get there, since the traffic was heavy; we had lunch at Elements Café in Kilbirnie, which thankfully wasn’t too busy. I had scrambled eggs again – very plain, but delicious. I’m building up a record of places that serve good scrambled eggs. They served an oat latté, too, another tick. Actually most cafés serve oat lattés, and some don’t even charge extra for oat milk.
On Saturday evening we went out to a friend’s 70th birthday party. It was very cold, but we had a lovely time. It was nice and warm at the venue, parking nearby was easy, and the food was delicious. We met some lovely new people as well as seeing some again that we hadn’t seen for ages.
This morning I went to town with three objectives: getting a toilet roll holder for the guest bathroom (the existing one needs to be unscrewed to hold a new roll, and it’s very annoying). I also wanted to get a part for a lamp; we had tried on Saturday, but L.D. didn’t have one in stock. The third objective was to go to the Annah Stretton store where they were having a sale. Accordingly I caught a No. 19 bus to Johnsonville, and then a No.1 to the Wellington Railway Station. I then caught a No. 7 bus, getting off at Abel Smith Street. Metlink has a new app on the screens on most buses showing which stop is next, which is very helpful. They also have a new app on my phone, showing the passage of the bus (like Uber), and where the bus stops are – wonderful!
When I got off at the intersection of Victoria St and Abel Smith St, there was a Mico Plumbing Store right beside the bus stop. There I was able to buy a toilet roll holder for $19. Then I set off on foot for a hardware store in the industrial complex at the top of Tory Street – quite a hike, but I was still in Abel Smith Street when it started raining really heavily. Accordingly I changed my mind and instead headed down Cuba Street. I was going to go to Kaffée Eis, one of my favourites, but there was quite a queue, and very few places to sit, so instead I walked down to the bus stop in Manners St and caught a bus to Willis St. It was wet, and so quite slippery. Once there, I went to Smith the Grocer Café, another of my favourite haunts. After that, I had a look at the lovely things at the Annah Stretton store, but did not buy anything.
The Covid 19 report was published today, and at last the numbers seem to be coming down. There are 6578 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the past week, and 21 further deaths. Of the new cases, 3173 were reinfections. The total number of deaths attributed to the virus in New Zealand is now 3138.
In addition, there were 182 cases in hospital at midnight on Sunday with five in intensive care. The seven-day rolling average of cases was 933.
Last week, 7702 new Covid-19 cases were reported and a further 40 deaths were attributed to the virus.
It’s now Wednesday July 5th.
This morning I got up early to go to hymn singing. It was lovely, of course, and it being school holidays, there was very little traffic. Afterwards there was a Matariki celebration in place of our usual Te Reo Māori lesson at the Khandallah Town Hall. It was very enjoyable as we learnt more about Matariki, and even sang the Matariki song. We all have great intentions of getting up early for Matariki and going to a place to observe the stars. We enjoyed a delicious chocolate cake baked by one supporter, and yummy kumara chips, and practised saying Manawatia a Matariki.
In the afternoon JD and I looked at carpet samples. Man, it’s confusing! The time has finally come to get some new carpet, and now it’s a bit overwhelming, as is the thought of moving many things so the carpet layers and furniture movers can get around.
I am rather missing the French Film Festival films. In the past, many would come on general release; I hope that they still will. We tried watching Emily in Paris on Netflix, but found it too annoying, and switched to something else.
It’s now Friday July 7th.
Yesterday morning I went to a dear friend’s house for morning tea; after that JD and I shared a pizza for lunch at the local café, and I enjoyed another oat milk latté. They do them rather well. Later on in the afternoon we went out to a carpet showroom, and chose another sample to bring home. The one I really wanted is much more expensive, and would add about $5,000 to the cost, so I really can’t justify that. After all this I was “properly” tired, and we had minestrone soup and cheese on toast for tea. I am rather enjoying a series we found on Neon called Everyone Else Burns. It’s a British comedy series about a family of what I call “Doomsday Preppers”, actually a strict religious group, expecting the end of the world; they are annoying but funny as well. In a stereotypical way, the women are brainy and beautiful, but the men – authoritative and not kind.
It’s Friday but there’s no one coming from Access today to do some cleaning; I try and reach ACC but I cannot log in to Myacc, even using my Realme login and the verification code they’ve sent me. There is some synchronisation problem; the 0800 number is equally annoying, so I email them – again; I haven’t heard from them since June 26, which is several days ago now.
Again, it’s a beautiful fine day, after a very cold and frosty start. We had lunch at Caffiend, one of my favourite cafés: a regular oat milk latté, and smashed avocado on toast with haloumi cheese and a delicious onion relish and salad and sliced tomato. Then we went to the Roger Pointon sale, which was also in Petone. I had seen this advertised, and noted it mentally, but JD expressed interest and so we went there, and fortunately were able to find a carpark nearby. There were no small rugs left, but several larger ones and longer runners. They’re all beautiful, of course; older couples kept coming in and admiring the rugs, most of them buying one or two. We settled on one we liked, but apparently it had been placed on hold for someone else, although there was nothing to indicate this. I settled on another possibility, Plan B, but decided I’d prefer my first choice. It took quite a long time to establish for whom it was on hold, and that they did wish for it to be still on hold. Several rugs had Sold signs, but thankfully we settled on Plan C, a slightly more expensive but more beautiful runner, this one being from Afghanistan, rather than India. Accordingly we bought it’. When JD is in the mood to spend money, I try to ensure that he chooses wisely; I’ll be blamed for the choice, of course! We brought it home, and it goes really well, in the hall downstairs, where we aren’t replacing the existing carpet. I would have liked to buy a smaller rug, but they’d all gone, and at these reduced prices, I’m, not surprised.
JD had an appointment in Titahi Bay in the afternoon; he did not drop off our carpet sample, but he did go to Bunnings and buy a part I needed for a rather nice lamp (that he broke). Next Saturday I plan to take it to the Repair Café at the Ngaio Union Church. I have been carting this broken lamp around for days, but it’s quite a mission to go to a hardware/lighting store if you don’t drive.
It’s now Sunday July 9th.
Yesterday we went to New World in Thorndon to do some grocery shopping. We did buy a pie, but apparently they’re not making potato-topped pies any more! There were no raspberries, but there were strawberries – not a favourite of mine unless they’re super sweet and delicious. It was nice to go there, though. Last night we watched the final episodes of Ten Pound Poms and Maternal – a rather nice medical series that hasn’t been renewed.
This morning I went to the Johnsonville Uniting Church. It is raining, and it’s not an easy place to get to, but there were several familiar faces there. It was a lovely service: there is a new minister, Tony Wood, and we worshipped very much in the spirit of Matariki. Ngā Mata o te Ariki – the Eyes of God, is an extension of the word Matariki. The stars of Matariki represent the Eyes of God, which is a lovely thought that fits into the three aspects of Matariki: Giving thanks, Looking ahead, and Remembering those who have passed in the last year. So the reflection was about astronomy, and the relative tininess of us here on planet earth, whereas formerly it was thought that the earth, and then the sun, was the centre of the universe. The more we learn about the universe, the more insignificant man appears. The texts were representative of this: Psalm 8 , Isaiah 40: 18, 21-28, and Luke 18″ 18-26. Three texts!
Turning overseas, President Zelensky of Ukraine is now at Snake Island, a memorable scene from early in Russia’s invasion where a soldier famously told the Russian invaders to “f*** off!” How he has aged since the Russians invaded! Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare continues to annoy the Russian Embassy in Washington D.C. with his careful projections of the Ukrainian flag on the embassy and planting sunflowers, amongst other things.
That’s it for now! Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.
Classic Barbarian 