Treats

The classic view of the beginning of Zealandia

It’s now Sunday 11 May, 2025. Kia ora!

In another eventful week, America won the Conclave!!! Well, there’s a new Pope, and he’s an American from Chicago, who went to Villa Nova University, although he spent a lot of time in Peru.  MAGA folk are a bit upset that he’s too woke (whatever that means), and a liberal squish.  Well, nonetheless, many Americans are over the moon. He was elected quite quickly, so the media will have to find something else to obsess over.  He initially spoke to the crowd assembled outside the Vatican in Spanish and Latin, but not English! After wishing them peace.

There’s conflict between India and Pakistan. I guess that’s not very exciting to us here; may it die down quickly and not blow up into something bigger.

On Thursday one of my granddaughters had her 10^th birthday. Last year we flew to Taipei on her birthday: this year we were here, and celebrated by having fish and chips and Nasi Goreng for dinner with her, and birthday cake and ice cream to follow. What a thrill.

We visited her room. What a lot of soft toys!  I understand better why people are upset by Donny “Two Dolls”: I was quite sympathetic to him; in my day, I had one precious doll!  Or not 30, at any rate. But seeing my granddaughter’s bedroom, I think my parents should have been quite ashamed (if they were still alive, that is).

Last Friday evening we went to another amazing concert. The weather wasn’t great, but thankfully we managed to get a parking space not too far from the Michael Fowler Centre. We’d decided to just have a snack beforehand- we’d eat afterwards.  It was drizzling with rain when we got into town, but we didn’t get very wet.

In the MFC it was another story. The seating is very cramped, so I ended up holding my raincoat as well as the jacket I’d worn: it was quite warm in there. In the first half the NZSO conducted by Masaaki Suzuki played Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3, featuring the beautiful Air on the G string as its second movement.  The starts were a little ragged: one felt that perhaps they should have had another rehearsal; and then they played Mozart’s Symphony 25, composed when he was just 17 years old.

Despite the intensely beautiful music, I was quite uncomfortable, being packed in so closely together:  the unpleasant smells of what everyone had eaten rather got to me. I found myself thinking that I wouldn’t be so keen to do this again.

During the 20 minute interval I left my jacket and raincoat with JD, and went to find the restroom. There was a very long queue: from the ground floor to halfway up the stairs to the first floor.  The next half of the concert was to be Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, and I didn’t want to be uncomfortable.  By the time I’d reached the ground floor, there was 10 minutes to go. That should have been plenty of time!  Eventually I got there – there’s a really narrow entrance to the rest room, which made it tricky to navigate. Despite repeated announcements (3 minutes to go), I achieved my objective, and hurried upstairs to find JD.  There were still many people who hadn’t taken their seats, and we hurried through them.

In the second half, I swapped seats with JD, and although my view was worse, the smells were far less and I was more comfortable. The playing of the Beethoven was superbly controlled, and I found myself hoping it would never stop.  The coughs between movements were a bit upsetting, but thankfully no one clapped until the end. What a treat!

Afterwards we made our way outside, where it was raining very heavily. We were glad it hadn’t rained like this before the concert. We made our way back to the car, and drove to New World in Thorndon. Thankfully they were still open – just for us, perhaps! Several shoppers came in after us. We bought a couple of quiches, and some ice cream, and hurried home to get changed out of our wet clothes, heat the quiches and eat them.

Like the week before, atrocious weather on Friday was followed by a beautiful Saturday, that was fine and sunny. In the afternoon, after football, we took our granddaughter and her brother to Zealandia. It was lovely there– we saw lots of birds, though we did not manage to see any tuatara. We walked up the Beech Track to the Suspension Bridge and then the Upper Dam lookout – I had not been up here before. So that was fun, and new. Then we made our way back to the Visitor Centre, just getting there by 4:30 pm, as required. On our way back we saw lots of birds – kea and suchlike, who were quite aggressive – it seemed to be near their dinnertime. There were notices asking us not to alarm the birds – actually, we found the ones swooping around quite scary to us!

Back at the shop our granddaughter chose some merino gloves to buy.

It’s now Tuesday 20 May.

Last week we drove to Hawkes Bay for the weekend. It was about six months since we’d last been there: our daughter was supposed to come to Wellington for a weekend, but for various reasons that did not happen. We had committed to be there by 4 pm, which meant being slightly more rushed than usual.

We stopped at the Hilltop shopping centre for lunch. We’ve been to the pub there for lunch a couple of times, but we did not have time to wait for something to be cooked. Instead we went to the café there. It was very busy, and none too clean, but we had club sandwiches and coffee and that was fine. Afterwards I used the restroom at the hotel, which had an unpleasant odour of cooking fat.

We got up to Poraiti just after 4 pm; after the meeting we drove back to Havelock North to check into our motel, and buy some ice cream and fizzy drink to have with dinner. Then we drove back to Poraiti, and went to dinner at a neighbouring house to where our daughter lives. We had a beautiful dinner!  And saw our daughter, of course.

We were very tired that night, and it was very cold in the Bay. The next day was beautifully fine and warm however. We took our daughter to a café for lunch, after visiting the antique shop in Tennyson Street. Then we went to the park at Pirimai for a swing. There was a lovely Dad there with his daughter and three little boys. That evening was to be the Hohepa Ball, so we dropped her back at her house and went back to our motel to shower and get dressed up.

The Ball was in Hastings, at a venue we haven’t been to before, but it was a good venue, with an outside area too. It was a cold night, and it was good to be warned about this. I was glad to have bought a warm sparkly jacket, which I’ve also worn to concerts. It was pretty loud there, but the Hohepa people enjoyed it, and it was great to meet up with old friends and staff members.

That night it wasn’t so cold, and we were better prepared for being cold at night, with warm clothes and jackets to hand.

Sunday dawned overcast, and not quite so warm and sunny. I went to the Presbyterian Church in Havelock North (St Columba’s) and received a warm welcome there.

Afterwards we picked our daughter up again, and had lunch at the lovely Adoro Café.  After that we went to the museum, where one of the ladies on the desk knew our daughter.  The earthquake section was closed, but the rest of it was really interesting.

That evening we retreated to Alessandro’s in Havelock North for dinner, where we shared a pizza, and tiramisu to follow. Then we spent a final night at our motel before driving back to Wellington. On Monday morning we went to the Hohepa Shop at Clive, where I bought Danbo cheese, and more deodorant and some apricot jam.  We drove safely back to Wellington, where it is noticeably colder. Fortunately we remembered to turn on the heat pump when we stopped in Shannon, so the house was slightly warmed when we got home.

It’s now Saturday 31 May

This morning we went shopping, and there were no raspberries! They’ve been rather good lately. Yesterday I saw a movie, The Salt Path, with a friend of mine. It’s a very well-acted and thought-provoking movie, with lead actors Gillian Anderson (not at all a usual role for her) and Jason Isaacs (who apparently was in The White Lotus in Season 3).  It’s based on a true story, and Ray was recently interviewed on RNZ National’s Saturday morning programme. You can listen to the podcast, it’s only about 20 minutes long. There’ve been rave reviews in the Guardian newspaper too.  Here’s a link: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/may/30/gillian-anderson-jason-isaacs-the-salt-path-raynor-winn

This true story seems really strange. Firstly, why didn’t Moth and Ray have friends who would take care of them? Why didn’t their children care more? Were their mobile phones on some kind of plan, or pre-loaded with a certain amount of cash? Did they store and keep any of their goods? Did they have a car? And if not, why not?  From the beginning Moth is clearly limping, dragging one leg as he goes.

As they hike, one is aware of the beautiful scenery wherever they go, and yet one marvels at the apparent lack of camping facilities such as convenience blocks, huts/shelters, and community kitchens. Perhaps they avoided them to save money. Living on £40 per week for food would be quite a challenge. And one wonders at the lack of green, or any, vegetables, or fruit. One aspect Ray said that wasn’t brought out in the film was their extreme hunger.

Then there are the physical privations. Did they carry toilet paper with them? How did they wash their clothes? Themselves? Ray looked as though a bit of shampoo or moisturiser wouldn’t go amiss.  Still, they’re very resourceful and are truly a team.  There are odd acts of kindness, but sadly, not far more. Even their so-called friend Polly seems unkind.

Ray and Moth are in their 50’s at this stage, so the need to pee during the night does not seem to afflict them.  Moth snores loudly, but doesn’t seem to need to pee. Anyway, full credit to them! He reads Beowulf, while Ray keeps a diary. And they continued to hike, free from commitments and bills.  There’s no rush, while one suspects that in July-August the weather is getting colder.

And what about dental care? Medical care?  Presumably they didn’t get sick during this adventure. Thankfully, this walk is the first of other such adventures, and presumably they’re better equipped for future hikes? It did look uncomfortable, and very steep and stony in places, but then the scenery is something else.

(Later note: doubts have been cast on the veracity of Ray’s memoir, and indeed of this story. Evidently there was stealing and fraud involved too. There are neurological questions about Moth’s disease, said to be CBD. My questions seem more relevant than ever. )

Lately we’ve been watching Funny Woman on Neon, Series 1 and 2, starring Gemma Arterton. I always admired Gemma Arterton, but this comedy show displays her acting skills at a new level. And what a reminder of 1960’s London, with this very attractive girl from Blackpool, and wonderful songs of the likes of Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, Petula Clark and others.

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