Culture!

The NZSO – we’re quite proud of it!

Today is Thursday 28 August, 2025. Kia ora!

It has been quite a tough winter, with some really cold wet windy weather interspersed with some beautifully still fine days. Of course, we still have really cold evenings and mornings, but the days are getting longer, a huge relief for some reason.

At the Khandallah community centre they’ve put on two lovely sessions, the first with soup for lunch (tomato or leek and potato), and then again with a chicken and vegetable curry. It was very nice to attend both, and see some familiar faces there and get to know others better. There was really bad weather each time, so it was nice to get out and see others and get lunch too.

We have switched to doing our main weekly shopping on Tuesdays, seeing as New World in Thorndon now offers a 5% gold card discount, providing you spend more than $40, which is not hard to do.  We used to do it on Saturdays, usually. It’s taken me a while to get used to Tuesday shopping!

We went to two lovely concerts, an NZSO concert at the MFC on the evening of Friday 8 August. The weather was truly terrible, and we got very wet walking from the car. They played Mussorgasky’s Night on the Bald Mountain, Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and Stravinsky’s Petrushka, conducted by André de Ridder. What a wonderful concert!  There weren’t as many people there as at concerts I’d been to previously, and many empty seats, with no queue for the ladies’ restroom during the interval. I was really pleased that we’d been. It’s quite wonderful that they send you an email beforehand telling you how long each item will be, and program notes on the musical works to be played.

On the afternoon of Sunday 10 August we went to Verdi’s Masked Ball opera, at the State Opera House, rather than the St James. This was produced by Wellington Opera, but it was a fabulous production, with wonderful music beautifully played, an innovative set, and remarkably good singing. What a treat! JD wanted me to take one of our grandchildren, but they were unwell with RSV.  The State Opera House brought back many memories for us.  JD came late: he was going to enter during the first interval, but the staff insisted on his entering during Act 1 of the performance! The Opera House actually has more room between the seats than the Michael Fowler Centre, although there is no lift. We were fortunate to have spare seats either side of us.

So what else has been happening? One Saturday we went to see the Art Exhibition at Takina.  We used to go regularly to the Fine Arts Gallery on the waterfront, and buy something at the lovely shop there, but now you have to go to Takina, and it cost $11 each. Of course, we had to pay for parking as well. We had lunch at Zephyr café beforehand.

The art exhibition was huge, and we ended up buying a painting – of the Wahine. It has remarkable lighting effects, and, of course, the sinking of the Wahine is memorable for us both. We were in our final years at school; some pupils had come to Wellington Girls’ College, but it was decided to send everyone home by late morning. As a prefect, I had to escort some students down to the Wellington Railway Station! Thorndon often endures terrible weather, but this was next level, with sheets of corrugated iron and other large debris being blown around. Somehow I escorted them, and got back unharmed and caught the bus home to Wadestown, where my parents’ home was quite sheltered, and they were unaware of the extent of the disaster.

The New Zealand International Film Festival has been in town. I managed to get a copy of the program from the Lighthouse Cinema in Wigan St, but unlike the French program it’s very challenging to deal with.  The films don’t all appeal, of course, but many of them were screened at night, or were already booked out, with only two or three viewings of most films being shown. Some are now featured for later release in cinemas, so all is not lost, however many of these films don’t have the appeal of the more light-hearted French films. You seldom see anything really unpleasant in a French film, although there can be lots of swearing.  It’s all in French, of course, so it doesn’t have quite the same impact.

I did go to “Two Prosecutors” on Monday 18 August.  It was in black and white, and was set during Stalin’s Great Terror in 1937.  It was well worth seeing, although it was a difficult watch at times, with an unpleasant twist at the end.

Afterwards I wanted to have a cup of coffee and a scone, and perhaps see another movie at the Wigan St cinema, but the timing was tight for this. The film I did see had such an impact on me that I was quite relieved to forgo seeing the other one. But I found Courtenay Place was really depressing! Places like Myrtle and Pandoro have closed, sadly, but it being a Monday some places where I might have gone were closed too. It was a beautiful day, but I ended up walking to Cuba St, as anywhere I passed on the way was full of people. Here’s looking at you, Sixes and Sevens! They had masses of very attractive-looking food, but very few seats.  At Kaffee Eis in Cuba St it was crowded too, and I had to sit on a high stool for a time, but eventually I got a seat at a table, albeit a draughty one. I have always found the food good there.

Then a friend of mine offered me NZIFF film tickets for the following Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Although they were offered to others as well as me, I said yes to either or both, and ended up going to both.  This made for a busy weekend, but both films were really worth seeing.

Saturday’s film was called The President’s Cake, and was about a girl who was chosen to contribute a cake for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s birthday – everyone must celebrate his birthday. The girl and her grandmother were very poor, and it was incredibly difficult to obtain the necessary ingredients. Meanwhile, the Americans are bombing Iraq.  Afterwards we had coffee at Café Deluxe next to the Embassy theatre. It is really a “student” café, with Formica-topped tables, but had really good coffee (and Portuguese tarts) and it was nice to debrief after the quite intense movie. The propaganda in Saddam’s Iraq was quite terrifying, and people were afraid to speak out, or say anything that might be considered political.  We also spoke about the upcoming Wellington City Council election, and the importance of these choices.

The next day (Sunday) turned out to be quite complicated. JD dropped me at church in the morning; too late I remembered that I’d agreed to buy two containers of soup as part of a fund-raising exercise. Thankfully I was able to pick them up from the fridge in the church and send them home with JD, as after church I would have to get a bus into town to see Sunday’s movie. It would be really difficult to pick up the soup at any other time. It was also my eldest grandson’s birthday, and we needed to visit later that afternoon and drop off his present. JD had an appointment in Kingston, and I hoped that he would pick me up, from town, although I got the times a bit mixed up. Anyway, I saw the movie (in French), which was wonderful, and although there were many people in town on this fine day, JD picked me up outside the Tasting Room restaurant, and we went to have afternoon tea and birthday cake with my eldest grandson.  Thankfully the presents were well received (his and his sister’s!), and we weren’t too late. My other son who lives locally and his family were there too so it was lovely to see them. When we got home, we were thankful to have soup for tea (from the fundraiser).

The next day a dear friend visited; it was lovely to see her again. On Tuesday I went to Bible Study, and then a friend gave me a lift into town where I met another friend whom I hadn’t seen for months at Smith the Grocer’s Café. We had a great time catching up, and then Wednesday was busy as well.

There was hymn singing in the morning, and another friend bought me coffee afterwards. Then I caught the bus home; unfortunately I missed the shuttle bus that goes along our street, so I ended up at the Churton Park Shops. We were to visit a dear friend who had recently moved to the Charles Fleming Retirement Village at Waikanae in the afternoon. There were hold ups, of course; we were supposed to leave by 12:30 pm and although I was ready JD was not.

It was wonderful to see another very old friend again, and see his “hotel”. The retirement village is like a hotel. Our friend is in the main building, not in one of the many villas there. He’s on the third floor (I think) and has a view of Kapiti Island. In the public areas there is a fountain, and many paintings.  Our friend has a unit with a living room, bedroom and ensuite bathroom.  There is a kitchenette – like in a motel unit. He gets a main meal each day, and his unit is serviced, with clean towels and dish washing.  There are many activities, including Catholic and Anglican services, and they’re all free to residents.  He can have friends or family to eat meals with him providing he gives the kitchen 24 hours’ notice. There seemed to be meeting rooms where perhaps you could have a birthday party, as long as it wasn’t too noisy!

Our friend also showed us through the main building with its manicured gardens, pétanque lawn and croquet lawn. There is a Te Reo Māori class, but it’s virtual, which I assume means it’s online using zoom. Perhaps he should teach Te Reo!  He plays the grand piano in the lounge. 

It’s all very nice and very civilized, with medical assistance on call, and a pool, of course, and a gym; but we saw no children or young people while we were there, although it was reasonably early in the afternoon when we went there. Apparently there’s a hospital and a dementia unit.

I wondered, again, about going outside: if you have your own home, or villa, you can put on a bathrobe and go outside and sit on a deck or under a tree;  our friend has to walk to the lift, and then go downstairs to go outside. I’m sure you’d want to be properly dressed for that.

It’s now Friday 29 August.

Someone from Access is due to come this afternoon to do some housework.  Access is now using a new ap to communicate, which does not work on my Android cell phone.  The good news is that I get an email each week advising me who will be coming and when (very welcome), but the bad news is that I cannot see the schedule.  Still, it’s always been difficult to communicate with Access, so on the whole it’s an improvement, but I wish I could see the schedule.

It seems very quiet today after all our activity (I had my Thursday singing session yesterday), and I’m really tired, but missing exciting things to do. Housework is not exciting! 

But there was a thrill: I had a phone call from my grandson in Taipei on Messenger! I spoke to him and his sister.  They start school again next Monday, on 1 September. Meanwhile we have been watching our granddaughter’s dancing videos – K-pop, I think! It’s very energetic, and JD casts it to the television set. They don’t seem at all traumatized by their visit to New Zealand, despite the cold!

Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.