Prie Dieu

Picture of a Prie Dieu (prayer chair)

It’s now Thursday July 18, 2024. Kia ora!

I have not been writing regularly like I used to. It’s now school holidays, and some of my usual activities are taking a break.

But Tai Chi is not, so I’ve been to Tai Chi for Beginners (ha!) in Khandallah each Monday. Afterwards we have coffee together at Parsons’ Café, which is usually crowded since it’s the only café open in Khandallah on a Monday (duh?)

I tried to organize appointments to go to the dentist and get my hair cut, but of course the people doing this are having a few days off as well, so I have to wait until the first week of term 3.  Last Tuesday I met a dear friend for morning tea – what a treat. She happens to be a Tai Chi tutor, whom I got to know at my former Tai Chi class.

On Wednesday mornings we’ve had hymn singing, always a treat. We sang “Glorious things of thee are spoken…” to the beautiful tune Austria, by Haydn. I rescued the Prie Dieu that resided in the master bedroom with the old television set on it (which I never watch, by the way), and asked my friend who are in a craft group if she knows anyone who may be able to fix it. It is really rather beautiful, and the woodwork seems fine, but it’s a bit “rickety”, and the tapestry seat is sadly in need of repair.  I would love to have it repaired; in the meantime, it has been moved to our mezzanine are and the seat covered with a rug and a cushion.

Last Thursday I met a cousin for lunch at Legato Café; I had a Greek salad with lamb and tzatziki, but I had forgotten that it can be quite hard to eat salad! Getting to the rest room was challenging too! But it was lovely to see her.

The next day was really cold, but another cousin of mine visited whom I haven’t seen for ages, so it was lovely to see her again and catch up on our families.

On Saturday we went shopping. Even though there are few “treats”, it seems to cost more than I expect, although we bought light bulbs which are really expensive.

The weather in Wellington has changed: it’s not as cold as it was, but is mostly overcast and raining – off and on. On Tuesday we had nothing on so we went to Day’s Bay for lunch at Sea Salt Café.  It was lovely, as always, and although it was raining in Wellington, it was not quite raining at Day’s Bay.  It’s a treat to watch the water, and the changing patterns of the clouds.

On Wednesday I visited another dear friend, whom I had not seen for several weeks; today we took a couple out to visit Hohepa Otaihanga.    I had not been there for some time, so it was good to see the progress they’ve made.  After our visit we found our way to Harrison’s garden world just north of Waikanae, where we had lunch before returning to Wellington. It was quite a bit warmer north of Wellington, and it had stopped raining.

It’s now Monday 22 July.

This morning I expect to go to Tai Chi, and then the dentist this afternoon, hopefully just for a check up. 

Well, lots of things have been happening.  In the UK, the Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer has won the General Election with resounding success. Former Prime Minister Liz Truss even lost her seat (and was not gracious about it), Jacob Rees-Mogg also lost his seat; and Nigel Farage was elected to a seat in Clacton. So that is quite refreshing.

Last week the RNC held its convention in Milwaukee, just days after an assassination attempt on Trump (which grazed his ear). He was taken off a stage in Pennsylvania, but not before raising a clenched fist and shouting “Fight fight fight!” Fight against whom, I wonder?  There are all kinds of questions about how the 20 year old shooter was able to climb on a roof and shoot some people (one dead, and two critically injured), but no Republicans are calling for more gun control. The weapon of choice was an AR15, of course. It belonged to the shooter’s father, but he was able to buy ammunition.   Trump claimed subsequently that God was on his side – not giving thanks to God for sparing his life, or saying that God had saved him. And what about the firefighter who did die in the shooting, while sheltering his wife and daughters?

The RNC Convention was seriously weird.  J.D. Vance was chosen as Trump’s Vice President pick, apparently in a nod to Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump junior. J.D. has been senator for Ohio for a few months, and that is the only experience he’s had in government.  So that’s a very odd pick indeed, and critics are quick to remember that he was against Trump some time back, and even called him America’s Hitler.  Even Vance’s highly credited memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, is now being criticized.  Apparently after his grandmother died, nineteen loaded handguns were found at her property, so J.D. concluded that she was taking good care to protect herself. Against whom, one wonders? And what about the commandment that “Thou shalt not kill”. As Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark noted, Americans are into Self Harm. I don’t always agree with Sarah, but I do on this point.

And then there is the really scary thought that if anything happens to Trump (after all, he is 78 years old), Vance will be president, if Trump were to be elected.  I doubt if many people can stomach that outcome.

Then there was the Crowdstrike outage (providing security software for Microsoft, and causing many computer systems to fail, in airports, banks, supermarkets and other organisations.  Thankfully we weren’t affected personally, or not obviously, anyway; we went to see the French film Divertimento on Saturday and the computer systems at the Lighthouse cinema were fine; I logged into my online banking and it seemed unaffected too.  Yesterday was a beautiful fine day after a frosty misty start, and we had lunch at Floriditas:  I had a fish pie, with salad, which was delicious, and a Bellini; JD had Brioche French Toast and a glass of chardonnay. Afterwards we went grocery shopping, and thankfully spent much less than last week. The Brits joked that Liz Truss’s first week at Microsoft wasn’t going well!  Oh, the dry British sense of humour!

This morning I woke to the news that President Biden is no longer standing for President; he has endorsed Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee for President; Jim Clyburn has also endorsed her. So there is great hope, now: for weeks I have listened to competing views on whether Biden should stand down; I have great respect for him, but it has been increasingly painful to listen to him fumble and mix up names.  So now the announcement has been made, and it’s hoped that the Democratic Party can get its act together and win the coming election.  What a choice! That the world has come to this.

In Russia, a nuclear power plant has had a reactor shut down, A nearby city has been evacuated, So that too is very scary news, given what we know about it, which is very little.

It’s now Friday 26 July.

Well, what a lot has happened in the last week. Last Sunday (in the US, Monday here) I was informed that President Biden had decided to step down from the race to the Presidential Election to be held in November. I heard this news from the New York Times and the Washington Post, so it must be correct. He then endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to be the Democratic nominee instead of him.  Yesterday he made a very gracious speech confirming this fact. Well, what a spring this has put in every Never-Trump voter and commentator and political pundit! Some think he didn’t step down soon enough, but to me the timing was superb, coming after the very scary RNC convention and Trump’s nomination of J.D. Vance as his running mate.  What a turn around! Last week most of the pundits were saying that this election was “in the bag” for the Republicans, especially after Trump’s supposed assassination attempt (I say supposed because Chris Wray, FBI director, has said he may have been hit by shrapnel rather than by a bullet directly).

And the Americans, and most of the world, were really fortunate to have Joe Biden as President for the last few years. He has been quite wonderful, and its sad to see his obvious decline. It was an act of supreme unselfishness to step down from the Presidential race. Ove certainly can’t imagine Trump doing this, or any members of the Republican party encouraging him to do so. It seems we owe a lot to Nancy Pelosi in this regard.

VP Harris is doing really well. She’s speaking well, and has certainly raised enthusiasm, amongst younger and all voters, and raised a heap of money. The headlines write themselves: prosecutor vs. felon; she’s young and energetic and not unpleasant to look at; he’s turned 78 and is overweight and lazy, as well as being totally obnoxious to many of us.  The vitriol from the Right is coming, of course! it is what would you expect, but Harris has real, momentum behind her. It seems that Trump is quite disconcerted at this young, energetic opponent, rather than the elderly Biden, and now regrets appointing the very extreme and non-charismatic J.D. Vance as his running mate.

Vance made an unfortunate remark about the Democratic Party being run by child-less cat women; but apart from this being such an odious phrase, surely someone like Kimberley Guilfoyle is also childless, and she is really scary and very loud – she reminded me of Cruella de Vil when she appeared at the RNC convention. There are hazards ahead for Harris, to be sure, but she appears to have a much better chance of beating Trump in the coming election.

I have to say that I wavered over Joe Biden’s decision whether he should stay in the race; he’s been such an amazing president, that I don’t think Americans appreciate quite how wonderful he’s been, and how he’s finessed so many “deals” that he’s made. I don’t think the age matters, but sadly Biden has gone downhill in recent months, and his deterioration has become evident. Of course, there have been very few comments about Trump’s apparent deterioration, which was obvious at the end of his presidency, and is staringly obvious now: his obsession with looking back, with the “late, great Hannibal Lecter” (Sir Anthony Hopkins can only wonder in frustration), and with electricity and sharks, to mention a few.

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