The wharf at Days Bay, Wellington
It’s now Sunday September 10th, 2023. Kia ora!
Yesterday some consequential things happened in the US. Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff when he was president, has lost his bid to have his trial moved to federal court. A judge made this ruling, which was unsurprising. Another thing that happened is that it was revealed that the Georgia grand jury had voted to indict Senator Lindsay Graham and several others, whom Fani Willis has not charged, as yet.
It’s now Wednesday September 13th.
This morning I had my hair done, i.e. had some highlights and a hair cut. This is the first time I have really been out for several weeks, apart from going shopping and to the local café. After this success, we went out to Days’ Bay for lunch, where I had a whitebait omelette, and JD had a burger. Afterwards, we enjoyed oat milk lattés. I am hoping to go to my Thursday singing tomorrow morning. I am feeling a little better now, but I still forget lots of things.
We have been watching I, Claudius again on television; admittedly, a hard watch. Last night we watched an amazing performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti. The music, and the performance, are extraordinary. It is a real puzzle to agree what to watch at the moment.
It’s now Thursday September 14th.
I did go to my Thursday morning singing in Khandallah. Nearby streets are still blocked off, so it’s a challenge to get there. Afterwards, I had coffee and a sandwich with a friend, before JD came to pick me up. I was very tired afterwards, but the voice behaved quite well – until afterwards when I tried to speak!
We have a General Election coming up on 14 October. So, in addition to the annoying stories in the media, there are daily polls, for some reason. Labour’s support is “plummeting” (how often can that exaggeration be used, I wonder?); but on a closer look I find that the two Chris’s are neck and neck in the preferred prime minister stakes. You’d have to look beyond the screaming headlines to find that information. Another poll places Winston Peters as king maker, again. I guess the media love this kind of stuff.
I looked on the RNZ website, and the weekly covid 19 stats are being published, as in the number of new cases, and the number of deaths. The numbers are going down, at last, thankfully, but covid 19 is still out there. People are still getting it, some again and again, although you see very few masks, and the isolation requirements have gone, it seems. But it also seems that our immunity is reduced by having had Covid 19. That does not surprise me, somehow.
At the hairdresser’s yesterday, I read a Mindfood magazine, which extolled the virtues of cruising. It sounds very appealing, and, again, I have to remind myself of the disadvantages, aided by the news that a cruise ship with New Zealanders on board has run aground in Greenland; it also has passengers on board with Covid 19. Then there is the fact that I have a very small appetite these days; I’m sure I would not take advantage of all the food on offer. Then there is the massive waste question, which no one seems to address – where does it all go? Then there is the fact that sometimes the rivers are too low for cruise ships; the sea can be rough; the tours don’t benefit the locals; and they’re a harbour for disease. Granted you only unpack once, and many travellers from New Zealand take in a cruise for part of their trip to the Northern Hemisphere. I imagine that small cruises would be the most enjoyable for me, but when I go to Greece I want to see the cities, rather than the islands. Perhaps.
In Wellington, there are serious water woes. The leak in our street was fixed in April (after being notified in January of this year), and a large pipe was replaced in Middleton Road. But I suspect a great amount of water is still being wasted. Recently the Johnsonville Shopping Centre was closed because of a water problem; this morning there’s a water outage in central Wellington; that’s not good – cafés and restrooms can’t operate, and I guess shops and offices have to close. The newspaper notice reads as follows:
Wellington office workers are being sent to work from home as water outages hit Wellington’s centre. Wellington Water said in a Facebook post that water was currently out in Central Wellington, between Waring Taylor St, Customhouse Quay, Grey St, and Featherston St. Buildings off Lady Elizabeth lane near Queens Wharf had also been affected by the outage. Evidently the cause is a burst water pipe in Customhouse Quay.
Serious water restrictions are suggested for the summer, including two minute showers, one load of washing a week, and no private watering of gardens. What? That is alarming stuff. Perhaps it’s scaremongering? There are only two of us here, but we do a load of washing a couple of times a week, and then there are the sheets and towels. As for two minute showers – how can this be policed, I wonder? Still, we’re fortunate to have temperate weather here: it’s beautifully warm, and we’re not plagued by fires or floods or strong winds, at present.
In the US, Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis has indicated she prefers to try all the indictees together. Although many legal eagles doubt the physical possibility of this, I say to them, what about the maxi-trials in Palermo of mafia criminals? This can be done. The process was brave, open and honourable.
It’s now Friday September 15th.
It started out really warm today, but then clouded over and cooled down. I opened some windows to air the place, but had to close them because it was so cold and draughty. A lady from Access came to do some cleaning; before she came, I changed the towels and sheets. I wasn’t fussy about sheets, but I had put on the bed some good sheets we got from the Sheridan Outlet store that used to be in Johnsonville. Then we got some lovely sheets from Farmers in the Riccarton Mall a year ago when we were in Christchurch, and they are so much lighter and better! I wouldn’t have believed there would be such a difference.
In the US, several states have instituted what amounts to an abortion ban, and some of those (Texas, I think), wants to monitor any female person travelling to another state that allows abortion. In another state, authorities can access your medical records. The Democrats want to reinstate what they call Dobbs, i.e. the Supreme Court ruling that permits abortion and was revoked during 2022. Some call this approach “pro choice”, and claim the decision whether to terminate or not should be between a woman and her doctor. Others are “pro life”, and some think that should be “pro baby”. However, surely a man has something to do with this pregnancy, and its implications and its results are surely his responsibility as well? On the other hand, despite republicans and some others being pro life or pro baby, the US remains a dreadful place for reproductive care! I’ve heard many harrowing stories of wanted pregnancies and the dire difficulties of getting good outcomes for mother and baby, and thus for the father too. Oh, the irony; you’d think that with such a premium being placed on carrying a child to term, there would be a huge effort to ensure good health care for mother and child at birth, never mind the incongruities of gun legislation, once you’re alive. Sadly, this is not so.
In the US, it seems that Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro will go to trial in October, having been severed from Trump and his other co-defendants. They will be tried together, however, although this is not what they wanted, to be tried together, that is.
It’s now Monday September 18th.
Last night it was really windy in Wellington. We are quite sheltered where we live, but last night there were strong wind gusts. JD had put our rubbish out to be collected, as he usually does on a Sunday evening, but he brought it down the driveway again. Someone’s rubbish had blown over the road. This morning, however, it was calm and fine! Although more wind is forecast. Last night it was so windy that flights couldn’t land at Wellington Airport. Well, I’ve experienced that too.
Last night we watched the movie Living starring Bill Nighy on one of the streaming channels. The movie is set in 1953, and it was quite moving, although I thought it took a long time to build up steam. Everyone wears a hat, men included! After that it was still quite early, so we watched another episode of Lewis. Sadly, watching Lewis is not conducive to sleeping well.
This morning a friend called around for a while, It was lovely to see her. After that, JD and I called briefly at the Johnsonville Shopping Centre.
Today the Covid 19 report was published. It reads as follows: There have been 3095 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the past week, and 20 further deaths attributed to the virus. Of the new cases, 1351 were reinfections.
At midnight Sunday 17 September there were 186 cases in hospital with two in intensive care. The seven-day rolling average of new cases was 426.
Last week Te Whatu Ora reported 3458 new cases and 15 further deaths.
On Wednesday we are due to travel north to Auckland, where JD has a meeting on Friday morning. We are full of trepidation, but since we are driving, I can take summer clothes and warmer ones too. At the last minute, I grab some sturdy shoes. I will be really thankful for them in the rain that is to follow!
That’s it for now. Hopefully I will be well enough for this trip, which I was really looking forward to before I became unwell. JD wants to go, so we’ll go!
Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.
Classic Barbarian 