Yours truly in the roof of King’s College Chapel: there is almost standing room there

Cambridge/Kings College Monday 8 February 2010

Note from Thursday June 29, 2023: when we travelled overseas in February 2010 I kept commentary on our travels on a Netbook running Windows XP. This was wonderful, and I took it everywhere, but sadly, on our return, I lost most of the records. Now JD has found a memory stick with documents and photos, so here goes!

JD and I had a wonderful trip to England and Europe (France, Italy and Sicily) in February 2010. We travelled to Heathrow Airport via Hong Kong with Air New Zealand, and stayed in Camden in an apartment. Our eldest son was due to arrive in London a few days after us.

On the due day, our eldest son’s flight arrived shortly after 7 am.  After some texting and phoning we agreed to meet him at Kings Cross/St Pancras. The Underground is very busy, trains are crowded. We wait for the second train to Kings Cross later realizing that we could have walked there. We are to travel to Cambridge with him, hence we have our luggage, and his.

When we meet JF we broach the idea of going to the Royal Academy to see the Van Gogh exhibition. And this we do. When we get there, JF suggests we go to the cloakroom to drop off our bags before queuing for tickets.  Then there is a near melt-down. The cloak room refuses to take our bags, they are “oversize”.  John suggests that he mind the bags while JD and I see the exhibition. JD is very angry but eventually agrees. Near melt-down #2 eventuates when an official tries to move son JF on. We explain the situation, and the official transforms. “I can see you have a problem, with your disability. Let me get your tickets and we’ll speed things up”, he says. £20 later, we have our tickets, JF is ensconced under two back packs and three suitcases and JD and I join the throngs seeing the exhibition.

Which is truly marvelous. Paintings by Vincent Van Gogh have been sourced from far and wide, several of which we recognize:  the MOMA, the Guggenheim, the Phillips Collection (Washington), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The exhibition has been well laid out with sketches and samples of the master’s letters, clearly written in a neat hand (rather like my late mother’s).

There are several highlights here: a Pieta, a copy of Delacroix; the postie and his wife (holding the cord to the cradle); a still life; a very ferocious cypress, but without the energy and aggression of the sky and fields that so moved me in New York in 2006; a painting from the Phillips collection, the entrance to some public gardens (greeny-blue leaves on palm trees); the frontispiece is Vincent’s own self-portrait.

We buy a catalogue for JF and exit, buying macaroons from the French shop in Piccadilly Arcade (pistachio – with almond; bitter chocolate, and caramel).

Then it’s back to Kings Cross for the train to Cambridge.

We arrive, seeing snow on the way, and get a taxi to King’s College. We go through the gate, and take our baggage to our eldest son’s draughty office (he is a Junior Research Fellow at King’s College). Then it’s back to the dining hall for lunch. We are served from the canteen: beef casserole with rice, mashed potato, red cabbage (yum – with licorice?) and mixed vegetables, including broad beans. There is hot pudding but we opt for fruit salad. There are salads, cold cuts, fresh bread rolls and soup. We are introduced to everyone at the table, including the art professor and Ken Moodie, who has been to New Zealand. He is off to Catania (Catanīa) in March.

After lunch we help ourselves to coffee from the machine, and take it through to the SCR. This room is dominated by portraits of Keynes and Rupert Brooke; there was a photo of Alan Turing on the way to the cloakrooms. The SCR has a range of magazines and newspapers, including the New Yorker, with an article about Salinger. It is insightful and beautifully written, but strangely no one mentions the Sappho epithalamion quotation used in one of his books (“Raise high the roof beam, Carpenters!”).

After a relaxed chat in the SCR we go to the porter’s office for the key. We are in room K206A, with a key to the gate!  Cost is £56. We climb various rabbit-warren stairs to reach our room, which has an en suite bathroom with shower. We also turn the heater on. By now it is snowing outside. Snowflakes fall, in random shapes and sizes, just like the paper-weight ornaments we shook as children to watch the white stuff settle. I’m reminded of Benoit Mandelbrot and the beginning of fractal theory, and that every snowflake, like every human being, is unique.

Our room is simple and comfortable, with towels and soap, and a tray for making tea or coffee. There is a window onto a roofed area below, a desk and two armchairs, and some bookshelves.

The only disconcerting thing was the smell from the common room/kitchen/bar areas – a mixture of stale food and perhaps disinfectant, which would be off-putting if this were a hotel. But it isn’t. It resembles an expensive boarding school, or perhaps a private hospital.

Shall we have a look at the chapel now? On the basis of never putting off till tomorrow what you can do today (and again tomorrow, if necessary), we go to the chapel.

How beautiful it is. There is no transept. The ceiling is vaulted, stretching high above us. The stained-glass windows have some extraordinarily vivid reds. I notice, whereas the windows glimpsed at the far end or strongly blue. There is seating, and then you go through a wooden section to reach the choir stalls. The organ is above the wooden separation, although it’s not possible to see where the organist reaches the keyboard.

The choir stalls are a very intimate space, with individual candles, being lit as we pass through. At the far end is the altar. The space is “plain”, the altar simple, with a painting of the Adoration of the Magi behind it. It is as though one is squeezed through into this space of simplicity and sincerity.

Then we view the exhibition, which explains Henry VI, his Christianity, and his inspiration and dedication in founding King’s and Eton. We see the Charter of King’s College and a copy of the King’s Will.

His piety and devotion are well expressed in this space.

Our son is a Fellow, and thus he can take us up the stairs to the roof of King’s College. There is a funny moment when an older lady tells him that only Fellows can get a key to the stairs to the roof; he, of course, exclaims “But I am a Fellow!” Consequently he is given a key to the stairs to the roof, and up we climb. Eventually we reach the roof, and there is almost enough space there to stand up; there is also a wonderful view of Cambridge, and of the river am, although there’s very little protection for anyone brave enough to climb up there. What a treat!

We return to our room, to read and sleep, and await John’s call.

Dinner is at The Alimentum. This has been set up by a sidekick of the two-star Michelin restaurant in Cambridge. It is very good. I have salmon with lentils and beetroot, bream with kohlrabi, and a coffee dessert with chicory, marsala and dates, followed by very good coffee. JF has risotto, although his portion is smaller than my fish. There were delicious bread rolls and butter, as well. We have a bottle of NZ sauvignon blanc – Tin Hut(!). And petit fours with coffee (apple jelly cubes, white chocolate).

We have a lovely time with JF over dinner. It is so good to see him. As it is just after my birthday, this celebration dinner is extra special.

We alight from the taxi and go in through the gate. Wow! We’re inside, and what a contrast. Unfortunately the porter cannot help us with internet access. That will have to wait until tomorrow.

Tomorrow:

• The Fitzwilliam
• Barton Rd
• Chapel (again)
• Evensong
• Dinner in Hall
• Plan for Wednesday.

It is very cold here, but we have a beautiful breakfast at King’s College.  I must admit, that although it’s enjoyable, as a New Zealander I would find the formality irritating after a while.

JD insists on doing some laundry (it’s complicated!), and we visit the university book store. I always like to visit university book stores.

We visit our son’s apartment in Barton Road, Cambridge. JD’s grandmother used to live in Barton Road, Heretaunga!  Then we go to visit the village of  Grantchester (scene of the lovely series starring James Norton as an Anglican minister, and his sidekick who’s a police detective). We have tea and scones for afternoon tea, and visit the Rupert Brooke museum. Then it’s back to Cambridge to the wonderful Fitzwilliam Gallery. As it’s about to close, and we want to go to Evensong, it’s a rushed visit. Never mind, we get to see it on our next trip in 2016.

Before dinner in Hall we went to Evensong at King’s College Chapel. What a wonderful experience!  Stephen (now Sir Stephen) Cleobury conducts the choir.  When we’re introduced to him afterwards, I tell him that our eldest two sons were members of the New Zealand National Youth Choir. He didn’t know that JF was a singer, and told us about a Christchurch mother who dared to criticize his conducting! Actually, I much prefer the new conductor, but it was quite an experience to go to Evensong there.

Afterwards we had dinner, and then went through to a room where we sat at another long beautiful table and passed the decanter tray with port wine, a Bordeaux, and a third (which I forget); the Fellows drank and ate Stilton cheese and walnuts.  Unfortunately I felt quite faint, and managed to get to the cloakroom to put my head down. These fellows certainly eat and drink superbly well.

The next day we were off again, to Paris. JD was very upset that we weren’t catching the Eurostar train (it had been closed several days lately for extreme weather); I had booked us a Round-the World trip, and a flight from Heathrow to Paris was part of that journey. Not taking the flight would have invalidated our return journey from Rome via Hong Kong.

JF had booked train tickets for us to London using a discount card granted him by Cambridge University, I think.  But on the train a guard got very upset that we were travelling on price-reduced tickets when we shouldn’t be. When we reached London, we should present ourselves to some kind of railway officialdom. Suffice to say we did not, and instead got a train to Heathrow Airport. Once there, you have to know which terminal you’re heading for, and once you get there, the lift has a mind of its own, not allowing you to select a level. It seemed very Orwellian.  The airport at Paris was closed, but a wonderful British Airways person managed to get us on a flight later that afternoon.  And so we bade farewell to England, and travelled to France.

That’s it for now!  Ngā mihi nui.

Classified documents in boxes at the Mar-a-Lago ballroom.

It’s now Saturday June 10^th, 2023. Kia ora! Post indictment.

Boom boom boom!

So much is happening: Donald Trump’s indictment on federal charges; Boris Johnson’s resignation as a Member of Parliament in the UK; and Prince Harry’s next half-day in court. The latter falls off the radar:  while I was scouting round this morning for hearing wise heads pontificate about Trump’s (and his aide Walt Nauta’s) indictments, I learnt that Boris Johnson had resigned as a Member of Parliament. Accordingly, Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart rushed into action with an Emergency podcast: credit to them for their fast reaction. Lawfare has also done an emergency podcast: I’ve listened to part of it.

I am initially shocked to see just what Trump’s exposure may be: his extreme casualness in terms in handling the documents he held on to – for example, stacks of boxes on the ball room stage at Mar-a-Lago, then moved to a bathroom;  it just doesn’t get any better.  James O’Brien, an anchor on LBC Radio, claimed he wasn’t as shocked as he expected to be at Johnson’s resignation: he struggled to remember all the times when he’d been shocked by Johnson’s actions. It’s worth noting that Trump and Johnson’s speeches of justification sounded very similar; both were rambling; with both, whatever had happened was everyone else’s fault, certainly not theirs. Neither takes any responsibility for their actions. We still don’t know who Trump may have shown documents to, or even which documents are still missing.  As usual, he reinforces his own guilt by whatever he says. With both of them, countless careers have been destroyed as anyone who selflessly did things for them has suffered indignity, even serving prison time, (viz. the case of Michael Cohen).

It’s now Sunday June 11^th.

I am further shocked as republican leaders rush to support Trump. Certainly, it’s a shame to indict someone who has been president, however unfortunately; then again, former presidents didn’t do crimes!  There was no need to indict them, however much one may have disagreed with their policies.  Goodness knows, America took a very long time to indict Trump; now he faces two court cases, Alvin Bragg’s one in New York as well as the Mar-a-Lago documents case; he’s also been found liable for sexual assault on E. Jean Carroll. He’s known to be in considerable legal peril, and it’s very questionable whether any more people will be prepared to go to jail for him.  The Georgia D.A. of Fulton County, Fani Willis, has still to make her rulings. Evidently the word “imminent” can mean different things!

Meanwhile, in the UK, another Tory ally of Johnson’s has resigned, Nigel Adams, as well as Nadine Dorries.  This is damaging for Prime Minister Sunak, if one cares about UK politics.

It’s very cold today. There was a frost this morning- I could see the frost on the fields outside my bedroom window, and the haze that arises sometimes as the sun gradually warms things up. It is fine and sunny today, but it remains very cold.  I got out one of my thermal tops this morning, to wear under a warmer jersey; I wore a woollen jacket over this and got out some leather gloves.  I went to church, which was lovely – but the coldest I have experienced it. I normally don’t find it really cold there.

It’s Monday June 12^th.

This morning it’s cold again, although not frosty. Last night was very cold; I threw an extra duvet on my bed before retiring, but then woke up too hot during the night!  But it was pretty cold again this morning.  I didn’t go to my exercise class in Ngaio; it’s been really full lately, and it’s quite hard to get there and back too.

But I did visit a friend for lunch.  I really enjoyed that. I really miss my old Tai Chi class, and I would like to find a similar one.

The weekly Covid 19 report is out again: it reads as follows: there were 9883 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Aotearoa in the week to Sunday and a further 37 deaths attributed to the virus. A total of 4722 were reinfections. The seven-day rolling average of cases was down, to 1408.

There were 228 people in hospital at midnight Sunday, with seven cases in intensive care.

Last week, 12,028 new cases were reported and a further 59 deaths attributed to the virus. We’re not told the ages of the people who lost their lives.

This afternoon I listened to a new episode of The Rest is History podcast. To celebrate Pride Week, this episode is about the Roman emperor Hadrian and his favourite young man Antinous.  Next episode will be about Oscar Wilde, whose relationship with “Bosie” (Lord Alfred Douglass) and other gay men is being covered by the British Scandal podcast. As I did a paper about sexuality as part of my BA Honours in Latin degree, I find this episode extremely interesting, focussing as it does on Greek sexuality in particular.  This reminds me of the awful labels in the remodelled Ashmolean Museum in Oxford when we visited in February 2010, such as “Paedophile and victim”. Really, it’s so much more nuanced than that:  the sexual relationship between an older man and a young man would be regarded as a crime today, but it certainly wasn’t back in ancient times.  Older men were certainly not regarded as paedophiles at that time.

It’s now Tuesday June 13^th.

This morning I went to a Bible Study.  Then I caught a bus into town, and had lunch at Smith the Grocer Café: a smoked salmon bagel, and an oat latté.  Then I went to the lovely Wallace Cotton shop, and bought a hot dish handler (oven mitt?), the existing one having worn through. After that I went to Unity Books and had a lovely browse, before catching a bus home. Actually the No 1 bus to Johnsonville West arrived at Johnsonville Library/ Waitohi just before the No. 19 bus departed – the first time they have coordinated, in my experience.  The No. 19 bus had its screen working, showing and announcing each bus stop, and the one after it. Well done, Metlink!  Very helpful.

There’s still lots of news. The Ukrainian counter-offensive is underway, and of course most people and most media expect instant results. It’s been compared to the D-Day landings of allied troops in Normandy in a huge and risky operation, and I guess it is just that – a huge and risky and probably a lengthy operation.

In the US, Trump is due to be arraigned tomorrow in Miami on 37 counts of mishandling classified documents; few Republicans have dared to come out against him, but his former Attorney General, Bill Barr, has surprisingly to the US Department of Justice’s defence saying “If even half of it’s true, then he’s (Trump)’s toast”, and claiming Trump’s not a victim here.  The indictment is truly damning, and those who excuse Trump seem to have no sense of the national security danger to the US, and to individual spies and their networks, to say nothing of the Five Eyes network which includes New Zealand. Can the US be trusted? Indeed, one may well ask.

The indictment in full is now recited on several networks: the Bulwark, and MSNBC, free for anyone to listen to. It is alarming to hear just how casual Trump (and his staff) was/were about these precious documents – they were kind of like “his precious” thing(s).   Ben Wittes of Lawfare encouraged us to “Read with me”, but only the preview was free!  Bad luck, Ben! Trump’s staff compared his approach to the schizophrenic mathematician John Nash as portrayed in the film A Beautiful Mind.

In other news, it seems that Erik Prince, a co-founder of Blackwater, and brother of Betsy DeVos, Trump’s Education Secretary, and a very dodgy character, is being pursued by the DOJ in the US and by Austrian authorities. We await the outcome of that. 

And then Chris Luxon has made another foot-in-mouth stupid comment. After saying people i.e. women should have more babies (he was only joking, apparently), has said New Zealand is a “negative, wet, whiny, self-obsessed nation”; well that may be his opinion, but he’s extremely unwise to share it. Also, the weather is the weather no matter which party is in charge of government. In addition, he now wants to annul the law he formerly supported allowing greater building density in large properties. He certainly has a conflict of interest here, seeing that he owns several properties.  Former Prime Minister Ardern was recently honoured with title of Dame in the King’s Birthday Honours List: she was very gracious about accepting this, but really it’s standard procedure for anyone who was Prime Minister to be granted a title in this way. The media seem to be treating this with great surprise.

It’s now Friday June 16^th.

Well, it’s been a busy few days, with the counter-offensive by Ukrainian troops against Russian forces; reading in detail the indictment of charges against Donald Trump: this involves understanding how serious the charges against him are; wondering what happens next; measuring Republican reactions to how serious these are; and assessing the implications of Judge Aileen Cannon being assigned to this case, while we wait for other charges to drop. And then there’s Boris Johnson, who resigned as a Member of Parliament before the Covid Enquiry reported that he had deliberately misled Parliament. This is a really serious business, and is being taken as such. People whose loved ones died during the Covid 19 pandemic had to beg for this enquiry to be held, and now their grief is renewed, and is even worse since the cynicism of the then prime minister is revealed.  I guess we all remember the photo of Her Majesty the Queen sitting alone, all in black, at Prince Philip’s funeral; evidently there was a party at 10 Downing St the night before.

Although we all knew Boris was a perpetual liar, it’s tough to have it confirmed, and then to have some Tories supporting him!  People are shocked too to learn how un-serious those in charge were when hundreds pf people were dying from Covid 19, and most of the world in some kind of lock down to reduce contact between human beings while they sought to keep medical staff safe by tracking down PPE and trying to trace contacts. 

I guess the media are now choosing less flattering photos, but the site of Boris in shorts is not attractive, and one wonders just what Carrie sees in him.  Evidently she’s expecting their third child. Then again, I don’t find Trump attractive either. I listened to a podcast (The Bugle) which noted that Boris put the “lie” in liability.

In the US, Trump faces very grave charges over his handling of government documents, many of them classified.  While people like Mike Pence are legitimately concerned about their children in the military, no one seems to care about countries like New Zealand who as part of the Five Eyes network may well have been directly involved.  And what of Trump’s Bedminster golf course in New Jersey?  And who did he show documents to?  They could easily have been photographed. Either the extent of possible exposure is enormous, or the precious intelligence, nuclear secrets, and war plans are worthless.

Here are links to two articles about Boris Johnson from the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/16/donald-trump-boris-johnson-law-silvio-berlusconi

and

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/16/tory-mps-boris-johnson-partygate-report

There is a lot of discussion about the similarities between Silvio Berlusconi, who featured hugely in Italian politics, but who died recently, and Trump and Johnson: all corrupt, and each using aspects of their so-called democratic governments to maintain their dodgy if not outright criminal behaviours.  Now Berlusconi has died, and Trump and Johnson are being called to account, at last; how effective will this be?  Who knows. I guess time will tell.

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

The Nova Kahkovka dam in Ukraine is breached, causing massive flooding and devastation

It’s now Friday June 2^nd, 2023. Kia ora!

On Wednesday morning I got up early to go to hymn singing. It was lovely, of course, and afterwards I did some shopping at New World in Khandallah.  After that, I was really tired, and JD came to pick me up.

The next day I got up to go to my other singing session at Khandallah, and spent some time with a friend afterwards at the local pub – a great venue. We both had poached eggs, and I had a latté with oat milk (my new favourite from Taiwan).  Afterwards I caught a train and bus home.

This morning I had a haircut, and then we went shopping at New World in Thorndon. Sadly, many things were missing: potato-topped pies (there were no pies), I got coffee beans but there were no raspberries; still, it was nice to go there again.

It’s now Monday June 5^th, the (now) King’s Birthday public holiday.

On Saturday it was fine and sunny. We had an appointment in Titahi Bay, and had lunch at The Peppermill Café afterwards: scrambled eggs again, for me. I would have liked an oat milk latté, but alas, JD had already ordered a long black for me.  I really enjoy the lattés:  the oat milk softens the sometimes bitter coffee, in a way that is less dangerous health-wise than putting cream in a long black (which I love to do).  Afterwards I returned my two guide books on Taiwan to the library. I had taken one of them to Taiwan; I would have happily bought one if I could have found a copy at any bookshop I looked at.

Yesterday I went to church, but there weren’t many physically there, although there were many on zoom – probably many away for the long weekend, although the minister has just had Covid again, and I think his isolation period finished that day, or the day before.  There was a replacement organist, who was very good – the usual organist was away, and I suspect, the usual pianist too.  At the beginning she played the beautiful Mendelsohn “O for the wings of a dove” which I recognized. She kept playing it after the entrance! The organist was Judy Dumbleton. It was Trinity Sunday, and the minister had a nice representation of the Trinity to the tamariki there with coffee beans (God the Father), ground coffee beans, representing Jesus, Son of God, who suffered on the Cross, and a cup of coffee with crema, representing the Holy Spirit.

Afterwards I messaged JD to pick me up from the supermarket, but, sadly, they didn’t have any more raspberries; they didn’t have either of our usual soaps, and they didn’t have cheese scones or chocolate snails! 

In the evening we visited our other son in Wellington and gave his family their presents, which I think went down rather well, although I wished we’d shopped more. There weren’t many gift shops in the area where we stayed, and I felt that the JD’s rushed me past any other stores where I might have been tempted to look and buy things. Of course, you always think there’ll be plenty of time to go back and buy things, and then, of course, there isn’t. We had bought the children t-shirts and other nick-nacks from a gift shop at the airport. It was lovely to see them, but already pretty cold and wet.

Today is a Public Holiday, and it’s very cold and rather wet, although my phone tells me that it’s 10°C but feels like 6°C.  It’s also quite windy. I had plans to go to a movie this afternoon, but JD suggests tomorrow.

I have been documenting each day we spent in Taiwan, using photos and messenger to do so. You think you’ll always remember these times, but of course you don’t, and I think it’s important to document each day as far as I can do so.

I watched an interview with Nicholas Braun, who plays Cousin Greg in the popular television streaming series Succession, and consequently I am getting almost only Succession-related items on my Youtube feed. How annoying is that! I am not obsessed with the show, but much of the media is. It was fun to watch, if one could stomach the swearing; and feel, of course, grateful that one doesn’t face such issues. 

I am also reading a New York reporter’s story about the D-Day landings, re-reported in the New Yorker – which the magazine is graciously letting me read.

I also get daily newsletters by email from Benjamin Wittes, who has been banned from Twitter and writes on sub stack, as do many liberal writers. He’s responsible for the Sunflower Ukrainian support initiative (I apologize for not getting the name right), and somehow finds time to write a lot of interesting stuff. Has his wife divorced him, I wonder?  I have a lot of time for Ben and agree with him on many things, but it’s rather sad not to hear him talk about his family, as most American podcasters do.

It’s now Tuesday June 6, the Anniversary of the D-Day Landings.

The weekly Covid report is out today, seeing that yesterday was a public holiday. It is as follows: there were 12,028 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Aotearoa in the week to midnight on Sunday, and a further 59 deaths attributed to the virus. The total number of deaths from the disease is now 3001. In addition, there were 278 cases in hospital at midnight on Sunday, with nine in intensive care.

The seven-day rolling average of cases was 1713.

Last week 14,371 new cases were reported and a further 43 deaths were attributed to the virus. So it still goes on, but mask-wearing is very rare: I had to put one on to go into a chemist shop today.

Today it is cold and wet, and very windy. Today we’d planned to go to a movie at 1:15 pm, and have lunch first, but JD was late with getting ready so we decided to just have lunch instead. I wanted to go to Elements in Kilbirnie; we drove there, but it was closed. I encouraged JD to find Spruce Goose, which he duly did:  it’s right beside Wellington Airport. It was extremely windy there – I was almost blown over getting inside. The café was quite busy: we were seated on high stools to start with, but soon our waitress arranged for us to sit at a table with a chair on one side and a bench on the other.  I had a wonderful view of Lyall Bay, and the strong surf, until waves washed against the window, spoiling the view.

JD had a glass of wine but I stuck with water. We had a really nice lunch: JD had mushrooms on toast, and I had waffles – delicious, I was quite hungry by this time.  Afterwards, we discussed what coffee we would have – I wanted a coffee latté made with oat milk, but another waitress, clearing the large table next to us, studiously ignored us. Our waitress was on a break.  Eventually we decided to go, although we weren’t in a rush and I would have liked to have coffee.

We thought we were leaving before the 3 pm school closing rush, but the traffic was quite busy. I needed to stop at Khandallah to pick up Te Reo Māori handouts for the meetings I’d missed, since there’s to be a meeting tomorrow morning.

It’s now Wednesday June 7^th.

Last night we watched more of the series streaming on Neon, The White House Plumbers. We got to the point where (spoiler alert) Howard Hunt’s wife allis killed in a plane crash.  I know the details, of course, but it’s kind of fun to watch it again.

This morning hymn singing was cancelled, since the organist is away at the organists’ annual conference. But there was a Te Reo Māori class at 10 am. The previous day I picked up the handouts I had missed, and the one about the natural world made a lot of sense: whenua, maunga, moana, puke, awa, and so on. Many of Aotearoa’s place names make a lot more sense now. There was a good turnout this morning, and the teacher helpfully went over some of what had been presented last year. I enjoyed the class. I do feel more heartened now- it is getting in, although most of us find it really hard. Afterwards I caught a train and a bus home. It’s still cold today, but at least it’s fine and sunny and not raining.

This afternoon I watch a video presentation with Ben Wittes, Quinta Jurecic, Scott R. Anderson and Roger Parloff.  Although I have seen Wittes and Parloff live recently, I haven’t seen the other two, I’ve only listened to them. Suffice to say, they look completely different from how I imagined them!  They discuss the Trump Special Counsel investigation. Wittes seems to be sitting in a hammock. Anderson looks older than I expected (and he has a slight lisp); Jurecic looks younger. But I respect all their views, all the same.

It’s now Thursday June 8^th.

It’s fine today, but still quite cold; I went to my other singing this morning, and it was lovely, but I had a really croaky voice, making it very hard to sing. I am getting rather worried about my voice: it’s hard to talk, anyway; and further losing my voice seems unusually cruel.  It’s totally unpredictable, too. The “frog” in my throat comes and goes, regardless of inhalers and Strepcils.

In Ukraine, the Russians have blown up a large dam in Russian occupied territory near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, causing massive flooding and devastation; it’s thought the Russians may have panicked ahead of the Ukraine counter-offensive. Whatever the Russians’ reason, this is being viewed as a major war crime. It’s caused a great amount of damage.

In other news, Chris Licht is out as the CEO of CNN; Trump is on the verge of being indicted (still/again/whatever), and Prince Harry is having his day(s) in court as he seeks to sue the Mirror Group of Newspapers.  So all of that is mildly interesting, but the main topic of interest is the devastation in Ukraine caused by the attack on the dam.

It’s now Friday June 9^th.

Of great interest is the air pollution in the Eastern seaboard of the US, affecting New York city and Washington DC. This is caused by bushfires in Canada, which is severely polluting the air for many.  Who knew they had such severe bushfires in Canada?  Who still dares to deny the ravages of climate change?  Who would have expected flooding in California, after drought and massive bush fires there? People are being advised to “mask up”, again.

But the biggest news today has to be the latest indictment of Donald Trump on seven felony federal charges, relating to the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago club/retirement home in Florida, brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith.  So – at last – he’s been indicted on what are regarded as his most serious legal offences to date.  I know exactly where I was when this news broke – I was at the Village Patisserie café in Khandallah, waiting for our Art session to start. I received an alert from the Guardian, saying Donald Trump had been indicted.  Initially three charges were reported, one of them being conspiracy, which would involve more than one person. We don’t yet know if he’s being charged under the Espionage Act.  Other news outlets followed suit: NBC News, the New York Times and the Washington Post. Accordingly, the Bulwark’s Thursday night livestream, normally for Bulwark Plus (i.e. paid) members only, has been opened up for everyone.  As many pods want me to become a paid member, and I’m not prepared to go to those lengths, I welcome this opportunity. I suspect MSNBC will have a special show as well.

As this news has only just “broken”, the hosts are rushing to assemble their reactions. Their words of wisdom are perhaps not as inspiring as sometimes.

I watched Glenn Kirschner’s Justice Matters video where Glenn was positively salivating.  Well, it is exciting, too. As Glenn notes, the trial is sometime away. Still and all, it is significant.

The Bulwark podcast focuses mainly on whether some prominent republicans are prepared to come out publicly against Trump:  Mike Pence, or Chris Christie, for example. These guys, in my view, are republican at heart, and are just waiting for the republican party to revert to what they call “traditional” conservative values, whatever they are. Good luck with that, then.

The Art Group was lovely, as always, but there were only four of us there. Several are unwell, and are wisely staying away. It was a fine sunny afternoon, but that probably means the temperature will drop severely around 4 pm and it’ll be a cold night. I enjoyed talking to the group’s convenor about our trip to Taiwan, and the wonderful art we saw there – so different from the beautiful art we have here, which tends to focus on Māori themes, or birds, or flowers.

Afterwards JD picked me up but we got caught in after-school traffic so we crawled home.

That’s it for now.  I’m sure there’ll be more to say about the indicted former president. Slava Ukraini!  Ngā mihi nui.

Kia ora! Welcome to New Zild. Walkway between terminals.

It’s now Tuesday May 30^th, 2023. Kia ora!

What adventures we have had. We flew back from Taipei to Auckland overnight on Thursday 25 May, leaving Taipei at around 6:30 pm.

We caught a taxi with our eldest son to the restaurant for lunch. The taxi-driver was very chatty = he had an extensive conversation with our eldest son in Chinese during the journey. JD found that he could use Google Translate on his mobile phone to decipher part of the conversation! When I caught up with Succession after we got home, cousin Greg’s use of Google translate seemed totally authentic. We wished we’d used in earlier!

Before leaving we had lunch at a Herbivore restaurant again, where we had been before. This time I had a roasted vegetable salad. JD had the pasta dish photographed below. Afterwards we had coffee at a Moonshine Café where we had been before.  Then we said our last goodbyes, retrieved our luggage, and caught a pre-ordered taxi to the airport.

Photos of dumplings and pasta with pesto, pine nuts and avocado:

A Moonshine Café where one could buy a Long Black (and lots of other lovely drinks)

We got very confused at the airport. We got a taxi from our hotel at 3 pm, and checked in, and went through security. Then we were free to go to the Eva Lounge, but first we wanted to buy presents for the grandchildren in Wellington, something we’d not done so far.

There were masses of shops selling very expensive designer bags, cosmetics, perfume and alcohol, but none selling things we could buy our grandchildren such as toys or souvenirs. One wonders just who buys these luxury goods – certainly not us, and many of the shops seemed almost empty. We ended up walking a very long way away, eventually finding what we were after.  

Then we had to make our way back. We walked for ages again, then realized we were seeing things we hadn’t seen previously. So we turned around, and made our way back, and finally found the EVA lounge.  Once settled in comfy armchairs, we needed something to drink but I found the tonic water really sweet.

There weren’t flight announcements in the lounge; after relaxing for a bit, JD thought we should make our way to our departure gate. But first, I needed to use the restroom.  Then we set off again, but it was a really long way to Gate C2. Several travelators and lots of walking later, our boarding passes were checked. Then it was downstairs to another lounge. Soon after we got there, we were invited to board our plane.

It was different, this time, of course; there were no nice scuffs! And no one trying to serve drinks before take off. However an officious air hostess had issues with where I’d stored my handbag behind my seat; she also had a problem with my storing it under the squab.  We compromised, with my ensuring the strap was behind the handbag.  Then soon after take off, it was dinner time. Someone brought me the mineral water with ice and lemon that I’d ordered, but the amuse-bouche came before the table-cloth was laid!  The it was laid, and dinner served.  The starter was a “tasting plate” of various items, and then the main course was chicken breast with potato gratin, and some asparagus and peas.  It was delicious, but quite a shock to the system to eat so much meat again! Afterwards I had a yummy oolong mousse dessert.

This time the personal entertainment system worked, flight map and all.

Then we settled down to sleep. My bed was made up, and I was quite comfortable for a time, and then I got cramp in my legs. I took off my pressure socks, figuring that they were causing problems, and eventually found my anti-cramp medication. I took two tablets, but I couldn’t really get comfortable again, although I was mighty glad to be able to “lie flat”. There was quite a bit of turbulence and the Fasten Seat Belt sign was on, so I couldn’t stand up and walk around either. I didn’t get much sleep, but I must have slept some, since I woke up dreaming when they turned the lights up – at 3 am Taiwan time! Time for breakfast!

Breakfast was fruit juice, a small croissant, some fruit toast, marmalade, and a cup of black coffee. I didn’t want a hot meal, although JD ordered French toast. We both watched the flight map as the plane crossed near to Brisbane, and drew near to Auckland.

We had a very smooth landing. At Auckland, it was fine and sunny and not too cold.  JD declared the wooden tray we had bought with two tea cups, and I went with him, but we were waved through Biosecurity. The sniffer dogs seemed frisky!  Ours was the only flight to land at this time, so there was little queuing. Having got a luggage trolley, we decided to walk the walk between airports at Auckland. It was fine, and the air seemed thinner, crisper, and colder.  The walk seems to have been improved since we last did it two weeks ago! However I’m not used to seeing so many obese people!

We got to Auckland Domestic Airport and checked in, after rearranging our luggage; I retained my overnight small case. Then we went through security, and eventually found the Air NZ lounge. It was busy, but we managed to find the showers. There were no towels, but we were given towels.  Showering was a bit complicated, since the floor was very wet, and there weren’t many places to put things. Also, I wanted to change my clothes completely.  Still, I succeeded, despite frequent banging on the locked door.  Eventually, I exited, barefoot, and found a quiet place to put my shoes on.  Then I joined JD and we had a cup of coffee; he had something to eat.  Then we boarded our flight to Wellington, again walking a long way!  We were seated in the emergency exit row, which I usually avoid, but there was much more legroom, and I was sure JD would know what to do in an emergency.

Back in Wellington, we caught a taxi home.  Then there was a quick turnaround before we headed north. JD put a load of washing on; I repacked, trying to retain many things while adding what I might need for Hawkes Bay, and in some cases, trying to find things!  Meanwhile, I tried to have a rest, and I had more coffee. JD wrote a report, and, of course, he wanted me to read it.

By 5:45 pm we were on our way again, in the car, to Palmerston North. It was already dark, and I had such trouble finding things in the dark. Fortunately we’d taken some biscuits with us.  We were thankful for the Expressway, but everything looks different in the dark! And we don’t usually go to Palmy. But we did, turning off between Levin and Shannon, and then we were on Fitzherbert Avenue, and our motel, the Distinction Coachman, was coming up on our left. It was just before 7:30 pm.  The receptionist confirmed that I had paid, and that he would upgrade our room.  We could park in the basement, and there was a lift to our room on the 3^rd floor.  The room was just great: a king size bed, a sofa, and a lovely bathroom with shower over spa bath and lovely toiletries, and a robe!

We went down to the dining room where JD had a burger and I had vegetable soup. Then we went upstairs where I had a lovely spa bath. I set the alarm on my phone for 6:30 am the next day, aiming for a 7 am start to get to Taradale.  I checked for cafés, but many did not open till well after 7 am. I used Google maps to direct us to the Saddle Road to Woodville. In the event, we stopped at Maccas in Dannevirke to get something to eat. JD wanted to get gas, but the petrol station next door was still closed!  We each had something to eat and some coffee, and went on our way.  Eventually we got to Hōhepa School, at Poraiti, where the Hōhepa Family Day was to be held. We had missed the first session; they were just having morning tea. We were so grateful to get there that we didn’t have morning tea!  Back in the Hall (I hadn’t been there for years!) the Family Association had its AGM, and JD spoke about the Hōhepa Foundation. He was the only trustee there representing the Foundation. There were lovely plaudits for JD for his financial acumen and his efforts to get climate change and the vulnerability of the beautiful Clive site taken seriously (which it now is!). Then we had lunch, and after that we toured the building site at Poraiti, where facilities for elder-care are being built.  After that, there was to be more viewing at Taradale, and afternoon tea at the Hōhepa Taradale Shop.  JD and I asked our motel in Havelock North whether we could check in early, and accordingly, we did. What a lovely place! We had stayed at Te Mata Lodge before, but this was different: a big spa bath, a quiet heat pump, a bathroom with a wet shower, and lots of lovely toiletries. 

We had a rest, and then went to have an early dinner at Breakers in Taradale (new to Taradale, I think) with our daughter and her flatmates and some carers.  The meals are huge there – but we didn’t feel too guilty here about leaving food behind. 

There was to be a party at the Napier War Memorial Hall. We returned to the motel to have showers and get changed.  We managed to used lots of towels, but we eventually got to the party – it was hard to find the right place! There was a rugby league game on at MacLean Park, so there was lots of excitement! In the event, we saw friends at the party, but our daughter’s team had left by the time we got there.

That night we slept really well. The supermarkets closed at 9 pm, so we’d missed buying any food. We went to a local café for breakfast, where I had scrambled eggs and JD had Eggs Benedict. We went back to our room, and the friendly housekeeping lady changed the towels, replenished the biscuits, and left us alone. We’d arranged to pick up our daughter after lunch, and went shopping.

We had afternoon tea outside one of the cafés in brilliant sunshine.  That night JD and I dined at Divo in Havelock North: he had steak and I had a salmon salad. It is nice to eat familiar food again, and feel that we’ve adjusted to being back in some respects.

Sunday night wasn’t so good, but we went into Napier and had coffee and a mini-donut at Adoro, after buying a copy of the Post.  We went back to Havelock North, and I had more scrambled eggs at a different local café. It seemed they’d been busy, since there was hardly any cabinet food left! After this I looked at some lovely dress shops in Havelock North. The one that was for sale in the Annah Stretton shop was now sold (probably just as well!) but I did buy a skirt with price reduced at another shop, and it matches a blouse I have that I like very much.

The weekly Covid report was published. It reads as follows: there were 14,371 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Aotearoa in the week to midnight on Sunday, and a further 49 deaths attributed to the virus. The total number of deaths from the disease is now 2942. In addition, there were 248 cases in hospital at midnight Sunday, with eight in intensive care.

The seven-day rolling average of cases was 1982. Last week 14,657 new cases were reported and further 43 deaths attributed to the virus. It’s still very much with us, with people that had avoided it until now catching the virus, and others getting it again.

That evening we took our daughter to dinner at Lone Star in Napier (her choice!) We haven’t braved Lone Star since the Before Times (as in Before Covid); they were a tad disorganised, but the food was very good: our daughter chose the venison dish – we wondered about her choice, since she usually has fish there, but she ate it all and seemed to enjoy it. I enjoyed my “mocktail”, and some of my lamb shoulder with mashed potato and vegetables.  Afterwards she had some cheesecake, and then we took her to her home.

Last night we both slept well. I woke at 3:36 am, but went back to sleep till 7:30 am, a good night for me. We packed up, and checked out before 10 am. 

The weather was all right, not really raining till just north of Otaki.  We stopped for lunch at the Wind Farm Café in Woodville; I had never been there before,; it looked a bit gloomy but there is a nicer seating area inside, not visible from the road. We had – again – scrambled eggs!

Now we are at home, back in the “wooden tent”, where it is rather colder than Hawkes Bay; I rang my bank, who allowed online banking again (I had been closed out in Taiwan, and even back here last Friday); I left a message for Access (they haven’t rung back yet); and I did some hand washing.

It’s the Memorial Day holiday in the US, so there’ve been none of the usual Tuesday (their Monday) shows: Rachel Maddow, Charlie Sykes, or Chris Hayes.

I eventually got hold of Access, who told me that my contract has ended; I have to see my GP to have my needs assessed again.  I can’t see her until mid June! That is just so frustrating. I would like some help now. In fact I was counting on this. 

Next Monday is a Public Holiday – for King’s Birthday (formerly Queen’s Birthday Weekend). We are gradually getting back to normal again. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

The shop outside Taipei where we experienced tea tasting

It’s now Thursday May 28, 2023. Kia ora!

On Tuesday we went on a tea-tasting tour, which I have not written about yet. We took a van out of Taipei, driving over the river and through East Taipei, on spectacular freeways into the hills. After a time we turned off and the roads became steeper, the hills more mountainous, and any habitations a bit run down, although there were shrines from time to time. The area seemed mostly uninhabited, and semi-tropical, as we climbed higher and higher. The driver was very good, I didn’t feel unsafe at all.  After about an hour we stopped at a lookout about 1000 metres above sea level, and got out of the van. We could see tea plantations on the steep hillsides, and we could also see a reservoir that serves Taipei, although it was considerably reduced. The guide explained you usually couldn’t see the brown banks, although there was still lots of water there. The lookout had an eight-sided figure, obviously well-tended, with different tea plants in it.

The eight-sided figure

The diminished reservoir, above and below

A tea farm: the banks where tea is planted are extremely steep, which the photo doesn’t convey

The road was spectacular – well engineered, well fenced, and with a double yellow line for the most part. Banks were well secured with concrete or netting.

Soon after, we stopped at a pretty run-down place to have another look at the view: we walked over some quite rough terrain this time, but there was another shrine there, too, and some stuff for sale, although no one bought anything.

A roadside shrine, at another lookout point

Then we drove on to a very picturesque town (Pinglin), and over a bridge to a tea museum.  We climbed up some steps, and spent an hour there. It was quite interesting, although most descriptions were in Chinese. It was quite philosophical, with quotations from Albert Einstein, and some very climate-focussed displays. You could smell various types of tea (mostly varieties of Oolong tea), and there was, of course, a shop. I couldn’t buy any tea to take home, I’m not a great tea drinker anyway, but we bought a comic book for our grandson.  It came in a beautiful carry bag, as does every purchase. I am saving these beautiful bags.

Over the bridge to the tea museum

Back in the town for tea tasting; this was a very narrow street, our van could barely fit driving in it.

Then we drove back across the river (noisy, with its small waterfall), into the town, up a very narrow street, reminding me of parts of France and Italy. We drove along a very narrow street and stopped at a tea house, where we were evidently expected. We sat around a table, and sampled three types of tea. There was some ceremony to all this, which involves using two teapots, and not letting the tea brew for long. There was also a ceremony in which you invert two tea containers, and then rub the hot one that previously contained tea around your cheeks and the back of your neck. I managed to spill mine the first time, the tea was so hot, but I managed it the second time. 

The two tea containers: the hot tea is poured into the tube-like container; you hold the saucer-like container over the top, and invert them quickly, leaving the hot tea in the cup, and the warm thimble-like container to rub on your face and the back of your neck.

The first tea was quite weak; the second was a honey-flavoured Oolong tea. Evidently the leaves are bitten by a small cicada-like insect, which gives the tea its special flavour. 

An image of the insect biting the tea leaves

After the ceremonial tea tasting (you’re supposed to hold the tea in your mouth for a few seconds before swallowing), we were each given a crunchy peanut candy to munch with the tea (and warned about peanut allergy). This family earn prizes for their tea, which is tasted and then spat out much as wine is tasted. It was all quite weak to me, but very good.  There was no mention whatsoever of the caffeine content!  The idea was that in times of trouble, Covid 19, or whatever, just enjoy drinking tea to calm yourself down.

At the tea museum

Then we were free to buy teas, or little tea sets, with the charming little tea pots and tiny saucer-like cups, so different from Western mugs! We bought some of the honey-flavoured tea for our daughter-in-law, and a set of wee cups to take home. These purchases, again, came in a beautiful carry bag, and I was glad JD had decided to bring his backpack, since it could hold everything.

Some of the tea sets for sale

The trip back to Taipei was much faster, since we took free ways and tunnels rather than winding back the way we’d come. Of course, we ran into traffic, so it was slow though once we reached the city.  We were due for our grandson’s birthday party at 6 pm (birthday song and birthday cake), and in the event got back a few minutes after 6 pm.

On our way back we passed Taipei 101, the very tall building with a lookout.

The wee boy, who turns 6 in July, was very energetic, but we enjoyed his cake, and some Taiwanese whisky (which tastes like Laphroiag).  Then another friend and her daughter joined the group.

JD and I walked back to the hotel, buying more cheese slices on the way. We feasted on cheese and crackers, fruit, and a beautiful chocolate bread filled with chocolate cake that our eldest son had given us.

Today we must leave this beautiful place. Last night I didn’t sleep too well; this was not helped by JD turning the lights on at 5:40 am!  I was awake, but trying to go back to sleep. He went back to sleep himself, of course. Never mind, it’s overcast and wet here, just like when we arrived.

We went down to breakfast (fruit and coffee – although they had our delicious meatballs on the buffet). After that, I showered and then I could pack my spongebag. I am trying to be organised for coming back to a colder climate, and then going to Hawkes Bay again.  I will have to pick up something to wear to the Hōhepa party on Saturday night, and our breakfast bag. Back to reality, then!

We are to check out of the hotel by 11 am (we can leave our bags here), and meet our eldest son in the hotel lobby. He really has been wonderful giving up so much time to look after us so well. Our other two sons are due to leave on a train at 10 am this morning to spend two days in Taiwan’s next biggest city. So yesterday was a time for goodbyes.

Yesterday morning my son from the UK offered to meet me at Da’an Park. However I’d slept a bit later than usual, and was quite disoriented. Accordingly we met at 8:15 am (he was a bit sweaty after a run), and went for coffee at the Dancing Goat café.  This was next level coffee, however – he offered to shout me drip coffee (his latest rave), instead of the espresso(egg cup)/Americano (mug sized) usual offering for a black coffee. The host recognised me (there was hardly anyone there), and brought over coffee grounds for us to sniff: from Ethiopian or Hawaiian beans. Both smelt wonderful; he brought over two trays of coffee made from each. I chose Ethiopian, although I meant to choose Hawaiian. It was wonderful – a cup of black coffee, and a glass tube of coffee in a cup of iced water. He’s already brought glasses of water to our table.

Next level coffee at The Dancing Goat café near our hotel

A map of the world at the Dancing Goat Café, showing Aotearoa/New Zealand.

We had a lovely chat, and then our other son from Wellington joined us. I tried to raise JD, but couldn’t get any reply. I returned to the hotel for breakfast at 9:45 am, and ended up having some fruit and juice on my own – they were keen to close the breakfast buffet by 10 am.

Then we met our eldest son and his wife to go to our granddaughter’s school. She had a half-day that day. On the way, we passed a street market, with many stalls and food offerings, cooked and uncooked, Western and Taiwanese. Our eldest son bought some treats there. It’s not sophisticated, but you can see the food being cooked, and everyone wants to preserve their reputation. Apparently closer to midday there are queues there!  Then we met our granddaughter and walked to another quite modern vegan restaurant. Our other two sons joined us there. I ordered a salad with boysenberry yoghurt dressing: the dressing was separate from the salad, but actually it just tasted like boysenberry yoghurt. I had a rose vinegar drink, which had tapioca in it!  I realised later that bubble tea is actually beautiful tea with bubbles in it, the bubbles being tapioca!  This restaurant had lots of vegan things that purported to be different kinds of meat or fish: there was one slimy yellow dish that one son said tasted like squid, but apparently represented tripe!  There were also some delicious chocolate balls. Very chocolatey, but very nice to eat.

After that, we went to a bubble tea place, and JD and I agreed to share one, but although the black tea was delicious, we found the bubbles a bit much.

Then we got a bus back to Heping Street. We visited the used books store, which was now open, but although I recognised several titles, I didn’t see anything I wanted to buy. JD did, though.  Then we had a rest before going back to Heping Street to watch our grandchildren doing Taekwondo again.

We also looked at the Boutique next door, which was also open; I asked the price of a couple of items, and it was $4,500 Taiwan dollars.  There wasn’t really anything I had to have, and they didn’t seem too eager to sell us anything either.

After the grandchildren’s Taekwondo lesson, we walked them home, and said goodbye. We were to meet our other two sons for dinner at a Plants restaurant, booked for 6 pm. We couldn’t raise them on Messenger. JD wanted to walk there, but it was quite a long way on the other side of Da’an Park. It was also drizzling with rain. He also suggested catching a bus, but which one? We caught a taxi, but had trouble convincing the driver where we wanted to go. JD used google maps (and got rather cross), but the driver was wonderful and took us to a church opposite. We got there before our sons, but went in and sat down.

Well, we had another beautiful meal. I had a salad again, which had dressing on the side, diced apple, raisins, quinoa, tomato and probably a few other things, on some beautiful lettuce that I’d not seen before; there were delicious sweet potato chips, and we shared a bottle of sparkling rosé wine.  Afterwards, we shared delicious cheese-cake type desserts – blueberry, caramel and chocolate. The servings here are quite small, and don’t come with the lashings of cream and ice cream that you tend to get in New Zealand restaurants. Their “cheesecakes” are probably less calorific than traditional cheesecakes, with their sugar, cream cheese and cream perhaps.

After that we took a taxi back to our hotel, and said good bye to our sons from the UK and from Wellington. The local one will return in a few days’ time. It’s good to have time to pack in an orderly fashion!

Till next time, Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

A view in Taipei, with a large tree growing amongst the buildings. some of which are quite run down.

Amazing trees on the outside of a building, near where we joined our tour

The lovely park where we met our wonderful English-speaking tour guide.

At the same park looking at the busy street opposite – another oasis of calm and beauty

One of the Herbivore Vegan Restaurants in Taipei

It’s now Sunday May 21^st, 2023. Kia ora!

It’s cloudy and drizzly again, but quite warm, although it’s predicted to be quite hot today. A bit like Wellington, really, although hotter!

What a day it has been! I zoomed into my Wellington church service, and then showered and dressed. Then we went down to breakfast, where I just had fruit and coffee. Actually, that worked just fine.

I decided to go to the local Presbyterian church this morning, which was a few minutes’ walk away.  I wanted to see what it was like, although I had not taken into account that we could not easily slip in and out again.  Everyone was very welcoming, and an Elder who spoke English showed us to our seats, and sat beside me.  The church hall was upstairs several floors. There was no altar, but there was an organ, a grand piano, and an upright piano. Of course we didn’t understand the sermon, which was all in Chinese, but we enjoyed the choir, who sang beautifully, twice; the pastor also sang – he had a beautiful voice. And there were three hymns sung by the congregation, to the accompaniment of the organ.  Two of them I knew!  So I was able to join in, to some extent.  Afterwards we sang Amen three times, just as we do for hymn singing in Wellington. But the church in Wellington would be ashamed at the size of this congregation (there were three services this morning!). The singing was just beautiful, all of it.  Afterwards our daughter in law and our grandson were already at our hotel to meet us, so we hurried back there.

One of the beautiful bookmarks we were given at the Presbyterian Church we went to. The test is from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-5.

Then we joined the rest of the family (our eldest son, and his daughter, and two of his brothers who had arrived last night) at another Herbivore restaurant. The food was wonderful, and I think I’m getting better at ordering. JD ordered a bottle of sparkling wine, which some of us enjoyed; I had a delicious drink flavoured with kiwi fruit and lemon juice. It’s a joy to have drinks that aren’t too sweet. I had a salad with caramelised pecan nuts, pieces of cooked beetroot, sone quinoa, something like crumbled feta cheese, and lots of lettuce greens. One of my sons had ordered a side dish of brussels sprouts with miso sauce, and I enjoyed some of them too. My granddaughter had ordered pancakes, which I sampled too – just delicious.  We did not need dessert afterwards!

My delicious beetroot salad

More delicious food at Herbivore

Delicious Brussels sprouts with miso dressing: in the past this was not a favourite vegetable!

Another yummy salad with avocado, corn and edamame beans…

We made our way through the huge shopping complex using escalators and walk ways to a Lego shop – truly amazing!  Our grandson was to choose a birthday present (he chose Space lego), and his sister chose a floral arrangement. They also had Eiffel Tower models, the Coliseum, and even a grand piano!  Choosing took a very long time, so three of us retreated to another Moonshine Café where we had coffee and some intense discussions. The other eventually joined us, and then I queued to use a restroom. Never mind, it was very clean, and there always seems to be warm water to wash your hands, liquid soap, and paper towels, with bins that are regularly emptied.

Floral arrangement Lego – for 18+; our granddaughter is only 11.

Then we made our way through the Taipei 101 building (the tower) to use public transport to get back to the Da’an district. Our other two sons are staying at the other end of Da’an Park, so they’re quite handy.  It is just so enjoyable to see them all again, and not be trying to entertain everybody!

It’s Monday May 22^nd now. Time to think about going soon.

Last night we snacked on cheese and crackers, and fruit in our room.

This morning I went to find the shops I wanted to go to in Heping St, but the bookshop doesn’t open until 12 noon; the boutique was closed, too, with a corrugated iron door (like a garage door), but I don’t know when it opens.  Many places are closed on Mondays, but it still seems busy.

After breakfast I had a shower and then went for a walk in Da’an Park. It is very hot and sticky today, but it’s cooler under the trees.  There were many people there, some exercising, quite unselfconsciously; I watched a group doing Tai Chi. They’re far more accomplished than I am; I think they’re doing a different style of tai chi.  I found a secluded spot, and did the Lotus Qigong twice, but found I could not remember the form we had learnt. I had messaged my son from the UK, who was going to meet me there, but he had slept in!  It’s very hot and sticky outside, I changed to a cooler top when we got back to the hotel.

A group practising Tai Chi (a different style) at Da’an Park

A beautiful spot where I practised some Tai Chi

A huge fig tree at Da’an Park

We were to meet our eldest son at 11:30, which we duly did, and caught a taxi to the nearest subway station, and then a train into town. We ate at a large buffet restaurant on the top of a large building – we had to go up in a glass cage lift to reach it.  There were so many people there!  You chose your food from an extensive buffet, where there was soup, cooked dishes, a salad bar (I did not discover this until later), a fruit bar, an ice cream/gelato bar, a dessert bar, and a place where you could make coffee.  Twice I got up to get more food, and couldn’t find my way back to our table!  Thankfully JD found me, as I’d left my bag at the table, with my phone etc inside.  This really was a marvellous place, although it did remind me of Pizza Hut restaurants back in the day. This was far more up-market, though.  The food was beautiful, and I think vegetarian. I had a small piece of a Mexican omelette, but unlike Taiwanese food, it didn’t have much flavour. 

Afterwards we made our way back to the hotel, using subway train and bus.  The trains are very sophisticated, with barriers so that you can’t enter till the train is there, and is stopped and opens its doors. With quite a crush of people, though, it can be tricky for a group to stay together.  All the technical stuff seems to work pretty well most of the time, although sometimes the card readers cannot read my pre-loaded card.

This afternoon JD picked up our grandson from his pre-school, and we looked at old photos on the computer – when he was a baby, and we travelled to Atlanta to see him and his family – almost six years ago.

In New Zealand, the weekly Covid 19 report was published today. It’s still not great – numbers remain stubbornly high. It reads as follows: there were 12,277 new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand in the week to midnight on Sunday and a further 30 deaths. The 30 people added to the Covid-19 death tally brings the total number of deaths from the disease to 2792.

The number of people with the virus in hospital was 249 with 12 in intensive care.

Last week 11,063 new cases of Covid-19 were reported and a further 26 deaths were attributed to the virus. The World Health Organisation has declared that Covid-19 no longer represents a “global health emergency”. The organisation said the virus was now an established and ongoing health issue that no longer constituted a public health emergency of international concern.

An American doctor believes that more than 800.000 Americans would still be alive today if the US had taken New Zealand’s approach to Covid 19, with many health professionals giving bad advice.

It’s now Tuesday May 23^rd.

It’s overcast and raining again.

Last night we had quite an adventure. We were to meet our other two sons, one from Wellington and one from the UK, for dinner. We were to take a taxi to the restaurant from our hotel. We went downstairs, but seeing that it was pouring with rain, I went back up for my raincoat and to put on some proper shoes. Getting a taxi in the poring rain, after 7 pm, was not easy; and then after hailing one, telling the taxi driver where to take us was another challenge. My sons showed him the destination on their phones; that’s tricky, though – does google do Chinese or English? Most taxi drivers have little English, but he got it, eventually, and took us to a lovely, quite modern, vegetarian restaurant.  Our table was set with cutlery!  Sometimes it’s set with chopsticks and little porcelain ladles, but the Taiwanese don’t seem fussed which one uses. I try to start with chopsticks, and go to a fork and spoon if it gets too difficult.

Ordering is always a challenge; this restaurant wasn’t vegan, but the menu helpfully showed a pint milk bottle beside an item if it contained dairy products.  I ordered a fruit salad on lettuce leaves with yoghurt dressing; we ordered a side of vegetables, which was delicious. You could have pizza, but JD had mushroom risotto.  We ordered dessert, too – some kind of cheesecake. Thankfully the servings are small.

Then we set about getting back to the Da’an district, We had just left the restaurant when there was a torrential downpour, that did not let up. We crossed the road, and managed to stand under some shelter while waiting for a taxi to come. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait long, and one son had brought a card from the hotel, telling the cab driver where to go. It rained all the way; one feels sorry for anyone driving in these conditions. When we got back, our sons came up to our room, and we shared a bottle of wine together, before they returned to their Airbnb.

In the night it thundered some; today it is still raining, and overcast. But JD an I are to go on a tour, arranged by our daughter in law.  It’s a bus tour with an English-speaking guide, and it goes outside Taipei to visit a tea-growing district. Our son dropped off instructions this morning on where to meet the tour, at a local station, where we have been before. I feel that I’m getting to know this city a little, but the traffic, wide roads, and overpasses are confusing! It’s not as though you can say meet me on Via Veneto, or Fleet Street, or even Cuba Street!

It’s now Wednesday May 24^th, D-Day -1.

Yesterday we were to go on a tea-tasting tour at 1 pm. Accordingly we had breakfast at our hotel and walked to the nearby Presbyterian Church to leave a letter for the lovely elder Mei-Ling who had looked after us. After that we had an early lunch at The Dancing Goat café.  It seems Americans really like this place – black coffee seemed limited to Americano or Espresso; I had an espresso, and JD had Earl Grey tea in a mug. We wanted to order waffles, but the friendly host said it was too early for waffles, and directed us to a breakfast combo.  We ordered two of those, and it was amazingly good: not too large, with a small serving of scrambled eggs, some delicious hot bread (baked there), some sweet potato mashed, sliced banana, and some salad, with lettuce and tomato. There was a container of butter, and a small jug of something like cider vinegar. Somehow it all worked, and tasted delicious.

Then we headed back to our hotel, before catching a taxi to a nearby station, since we were to meet the English speaking guide and the others on our tour at the No 2 entrance. Our eldest son had printed off all the instructions, and brought them over that morning.  The No 2 entrance seemed a long way from where the taxi driver had dropped us off, but JD was correct; there was a Park, a Mos burger outlet and a 7/11 store, and we were in the right place, if far too early! But it was cooler today, and there was a mild breeze – ideal for a couple of Wellingtonians.  There were two other couples on this tour – one from the US (American guy, Korean partner); the other couple were from Austria, English speaking, but they didn’t turn up until 1:30 pm! We travelled in a van, which was very comfortable, but not very easy to get in or out of.

I just looked at my word count, so I figure I’d better stop now and describe our wonderful tour in my next blog.  Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

An exhibit from the Taipei Fine Arts Museum – a bit like us, on earlier trips!

It’s now Thursday May 18^th, 2023. Kia ora!

I am somewhat horrified to realise that it is now Thursday, and our stay in this lovely place is half-way through.

So what happened yesterday? I did some Tai Chi in my hotel room, although I had intended to go to the park and do it. But we went down to breakfast after 8 am, on JD’s recommendation, and it was extremely busy. We had to share a table, and queue up to get food!  Also it was very hot, and a bit late for exercising, I thought. And there are no beards here! And very few pets. Hardly any tattoos. There are advertising screens. And curtains, in some taxis. The ads are annoying, and although one can’t understand what’s being said, it’s pretty obvious what’s being sold: a vitamin supplement, or pain relief medication.

The breakfast buffet works really well, and it’s obvious that all the guests know how it works. At the dining room entrance, you show your room key/card, and you’re given a blue place-holder plastic-covered label. That’s so you can find a place to sit, and leave your blue card there while you go to get fruit, juice, cutlery, napkins, cooked food, toast or coffee. Dirty dishes are frequently cleared away, but I guess you can go to the buffet as often as you please.  There is steamed rice in a covered container, watery oatmeal, and things one would normally eat for dinner such as a cooked meat dish, noodles, rice, vegetables, and various pickles. Once you get over the fact that the only Western food is white bread for toasting, butter, sweetened peanut butter and jam, and orange drink and coffee, you’re good to go. After realising that we usually eat large lunches, I’m happy to eat fruit and toast for breakfast. Everyone is polite, unhurried, efficient, and neat. The recorded music is – eclectic, perhaps?

I’ve seen one nail salon here, and no hair salons!  I’ve seen various clinics for animals, but there are very few animals around. And I’ve seen very few dress shops!  Not much chance for shopping, then!

We went to a vegan restaurant called Herbivore, a spacious and newer one. They had an extensive menu, and colour pictures of all the dishes, which all looked amazing. We had chive dumplings to share, with a spicy dipping sauce, and then our mains came (called entrees here, in American fashion).  I had pasta with pesto and avocado.  This was the first time I’d seen avocado here. The food isn’t especially spicy, unless you want it to be.  My food was delicious, and although I tried manfully I wasn’t able to finish it. JD and I had smoothie type drinks made with oat milk; mine also had banana, mint and kiwifruit. It was delicious, and not too filling.  Note: in almost all restaurants they bring you a glass of water at the beginning. The tap water seems fine to drink. If you buy a drink, you’re asked whether you’d like it hot or cold, and, if cold, whether you’d like ice. The smoothie type drink seemed to cut through the heat of the spicy sauce.

My delicious lunch with chive dumplings, then noodles with pesto, pine nuts, and avocado.

After this we walked to Moonshine Café, where I could order a Long Black coffee!  It was a bit bigger than I expected, but it was very good. JD ordered affogato again, something they do really well here, serving a dish of ice cream and an espresso in a small jug.

Then we walked some more, and caught two buses back to near our hotel. I was not feeling very well, having worn a skirt with elasticated band that seemed far too tight, and a clingy top that seemed far too hot. On the bus, a voice over announces each stop in four languages: Mandarin, Taiwanese (a version of Mandarin), Hakka (another Taiwanese/Chinese language), and English.  Our grandchildren were having another Taekwondo lesson, so our son was going to join them there; in the meantime, we went back to our hotel for a rest before visiting our loved ones in their apartment at 7 pm.

We duly did so, and played cards, built a marble ramp, and did sudoku, before leaving at around 8:45 pm. We hadn’t had dinner, but all the restaurants seemed closed, But we found a Carrefour supermarket nearby, where we bought Anchor cheese slices (from New Zealand!), some crackers, and some more pineapple. That was ideal! We had a wee feast in our hotel room, and then went to bed.

This morning we went down to breakfast at 7 am, and although there were already lots of people in the restaurant, we were able to find a table.  The background music included Silent Night!  I had intended to go to Da’an Park after breakfast and practice Tai Chi/Qigong, but in the event I needed to go back upstairs and use the bathroom. Later on in the morning we went to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. On this day there was free entry. There was lots of space in this modern building.

What a strange place this is! It’s very spacious, and very odd. We visited an exhibition without a nudity warning – in New Zealand it would have had one!

One of a series of exhibits made from paper at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum

There was a couple huddled together, perhaps homeless, having a dialogue – in English!  This was asking fairly existential questions: what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done? Why is the sky blue? What’s the meaning of life?

All the exhibitions we saw are very different, and I found them quite confronting; an interesting mixture of ancient and modern.

We also saw an exhibition of photographs, and found them really interesting, trying to figure out just where they were from. 

Then we went to have lunch at the Acme Café, where there was Western-style food, at exorbitant prices. There was a QR code containing the menu; and there was a buzzer on our table, which beeped when our order was ready. It was very modern, with wooden seats without backs at Formica topped tables. I ordered a baguette with prosciutto and cream cheese; JD ordered a toasted cheese sandwich with avocado; we ordered waffles with strawberries and chocolate sauce to share; I ordered an espresso and JD a English Breakfast tea! It came in a mug, with a tea bag.  This is unusual in Taipei, where tea would often be served quite formally, on a tray, with a teapot and small cup and another pot of hot water, My baguette turned out to be a bagel, but tasted good, none the less; the waffles were a bit over cooked. We each were served some salad leaves with dressing and tiny tomatoes as well.  It did feel like back home, paying rather too much for not great but familiar food! 

This must have been quite close to the airport, because there were planes flying overhead every few minutes.

Afterwards, we caught a taxi back to our hotel. Our bedroom had still not been made up, although a fresh banana and orange had been left. JD found Housekeeping, and used Google translate to indicate that the room had not been serviced yet. Really, we just needed clean towels, hand towels and bathmat. Accordingly, it was done a few minutes later. Someone from housekeeping had come while JD was in the shower; I asked them to come back later but she had no English so I may have been misunderstood.

In the early evening we intended to go to The Dancing Goat Café for something to eat; it was due to close at 7 pm, and we went along about 6 pm, but the chef, who spoke some English, apologised profusely, explaining that it was closed because they’d run out of food!  Then we went to another café nearby, Café Prague, which looked quite luxurious, with a grand piano and beautiful furniture, but the woman there explained that they served beautiful coffee, but no food. It was a bit late in the day for drinking their beautiful coffee, so we went back to the hotel and ordered one meal, to share, and two yummy cold drinks. That worked really well.

It’s now Friday May 19^th.

It’s overcast and raining today, and much cooler (24° – 26° C); there was a thunderstorm early this morning. Although I woke early, and wad quite hungry, JD’s theory was that we shouldn’t go down to breakfast until after 8 am.  So we shared a delicious banana in the meantime. Each week, it seems, a guest room gets an orange, and a banana, and I have to say the Taiwanese pineapples and bananas are far better than the ones we get in New Zealand.

We had no trouble getting a table for breakfast, although there was no peanut butter, and the jam had been replaced by – marmalade. It looked like pineapple jelly, but it was quite tart, and tasted like marmalade, although it had no tell-tale “bits” of citrus peel. It had no pips, either.

We are due to meet our son for lunch.

In the event it was raining when we met our son and daughter-in-law, and we took a taxi to another vegan restaurant – this one perhaps the best yet. It was more modern, and had packages of foodstuffs for sale. Almost every restaurant we’ve been to involves stepping up from the kerb, and wrenching a heavy door open. In New Zealand we’re used to automatic doors, perhaps, and an Open banner outside.   

This time I ordered more wisely. I asked for a skewer, and a Thai salad. Both were delicious, and I was glad I’d ordered less food. I had a drink of fizzy vinegar with ice – a bit like cider vinegar, and not too sweet. JD had a submarine – a subway-type sandwich made with wholemeal bread, and potato chips!  Afterwards, we shared two desserts: a blueberry mousse (actually it was more like a frozen pie), and a delicious creamy pie with papaya – a bit like apricot.  Totally yummy. Afterwards we visited a gallery across the road, with paintings based on street art, and then went to Moonshine Café for coffee, a long black for me and an affogato for JD again.  After that we got a bus back to our hotel, a few minutes before JD was due to pick up our grandson from his pre-school.

Below: paintings from the Art Gallery: street art

That evening we watched our grandchildren at Taekwondo again; next to the premises, there is a second-hand book shop, and a clothes boutique. I must go there again!

Back in our hotel room, we had more fruit and more cheese and crackers. We had been given some jelly, but to be honest we couldn’t distinguish the flavour, and found it quite bland.

It’s now Saturday May 20^th.

This afternoon we are to attend a concert in which our granddaughter takes part. Again, it is cloudy and raining, off and on; my forecast tells me it’s cooler today, but it was very hot last night, and I had trouble sleeping. I had gone to sleep and was dreaming when JD came to use the bathroom. How did you get here, I asked him, being somewhat disoriented. I was always here, he replied, as, of course, he was. After that I had great trouble getting back to sleep.

In other news, there’s been dreadful flooding in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, which includes Ravenna, where I indeed want to go. I do feel for those poor folk: a current pattern seems to be drought, followed by intense downpours of rain, so that the dried out ground cannot absorb the rainfall as it normally would. Although there’s a lot of drizzle about too, where you get a bit wet, but it’s too warm to wear a winter jacket. Ah, ponchos are the answer!

Interesting artwork at the Japanese Gluten Free restaurant we went to

We went to a restaurant that advertised itself as being Gluten Free.  It was upstairs in a building. The lovely waitress made a huge fuss of our grandson.  Waitpersons here are determined that you’ll have a good time.

This was a Japanese restaurant, and not all dishes were vegan. Some included eggs. The waitresses wore charming shirts, brown, with white stand up collars and cuffs, over black trousers. Our waitress sprayed our hands with sanitiser before we entered. We ordered some light beer to share, as well as the water we’d been brought. Then began the lengthy scrutiny of the menus on offer, which had photographs of the food – very helpful, rather than being off-putting, as they sometimes are. I ordered a bowl of soup with noodles and vegetables. It seemed to be a good choice. I ate it all apart from a vegetable segment which looked like parsnip, but was in fact a kind of mushroom. Anyway, it was too tough for me to eat.

Pudding was good too: a kind of cranberry-topped cheese cake, a chocolate tart, and a purple-topped dessert chosen by our grandson.

While we were there, an anxious young man, obviously from the US, came in. He was concerned about what kind of gluten-free flour was used: he couldn’t tolerate almond flour, apparently.  My gluten-free friends generally use a combination of gluten-free flours for their very successful baking. Anyway, he was anxious, in the way only Americans can be. Our son spoke to him. He asked where he was from: America and New Zealand, our son replied. He’d been to Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin.  The waitress was very sorry not to be able to help him, as he sadly went on his way. Actually, in Taipei, it would be very easy to eat well without eating anything glutinous, but if you don’t have Chinese, it might be difficult.

This restaurant was in a more upmarket area, with shops selling clothes, handbags, and shoes; a spray of fresh flowers was bought for our granddaughter, who was going to sing at the concert. She could not join us for lunch, because she had to be at the concert venue early.

We made our way to the concert venue – a large auditorium, perhaps slightly smaller than Wellington’s MFC, but the seats were better spaced and more comfortable.  We ended up going from 3 to 5 tickets, so we were all able to stay and watch.  There was an MC, who did a good job, I think, but being unable to understand Chinese, I found it rather boring. The concert seemed to take a long time to get started, but it included several musical groups, who performed very professionally.  My grandson behaved amazingly well, for a 5-year-old; the appreciative audience was very well-behaved too. There was no talking, or going in and out, or rustling of sweet papers, as there might be in New Zealand.

The school choir sang at the beginning of the second half, they sang three songs, and then returned towards the end to sing Singin’ in the Rain and other items with the very accomplished orchestra. What a performance!

The auditorium where the concert was performed. This show the choir singing.

A striking building near the concert venue

After the choir’s first performance JD and our eldest son left to meet two other sons who were to arrive late that afternoon, one from the UK, and the other from Auckland, New Zealand.  They were due at separate terminals, but thanks to Messenger, we were all able to communicate. The other two are staying in an Air B’n’B near Da’an Park. We are due to meet for lunch on Sunday.

My daughter in law and the children and I got a taxi back to my hotel.

That night JD and I ate in the hotel restaurant again, sharing a meal. We were both quite hungry, and sharing a meal works well for us.

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

Our dessert and tea at the National Palace Museum, Taipei. I am reluctant to include pictures of food, but this was so beautifully presented that I couldn’t resist!

It’s now Sunday May 14^th, 2023. Kia ora!

This morning we went to the Taipei Palace Museum.  Although we could have taken public transport, it seemed much easier to take a taxi, and accordingly we asked at the lobby for one to be ordered. Although I had printouts for this museum, I didn’t have the name in Chinese characters, so I asked the man at the lobby to write it down for us. I wondered if we were going the wrong way, as we seemed to head towards the hills after driving through the city, but then we were there.

On the way, we drove through some really interesting areas – a few new buildings, but many old ones all with air-conditioning units on the outside. We passed a small group of private houses near the museum, but they didn’t seem to have large gardens. There were several parks along the way, however, and lots of green trees.

The Palace Museum is en enormous complex, and it made me think pf other large museums I had been in before. On entry, we purchased tickets at a vending machine, and JD paid with a credit card.  We certainly didn’t cover all there was to offer; we marvelled at the intricacy of the artifacts we saw. Sandalwood is prevalent.  The objects are well curated, with labels in front of them and often demonstrations of the actual tiny writing or drawing therein.

We went through the jade exhibitions, and also some seriously old stuff in the antiquities section. We both found it all very interesting.

There was a restaurant upstairs, where we went to have lunch. They did have a European option of quiche and salad; on this occasion, it seemed much easier to opt for that. JD had tea to drink (it came with a tiny tea bowl), and I ordered a coffee latte, which came in a mug-sized cup!  I haven’t really figured out how to drink enough here, but the tap water seems fine.

Afterwards, I used the ladies’ rest room: tiny cubicles. But touch-free soap and warm water, with paper towels for drying ones’ hands. Then, of course, we went to one of the shops, where we bought book marks and a tote bag.

Then we made our way downstairs, and caught a taxi back to the hotel. There were lots of people at the museum, and many of them were wearing masks. There’s no stigma here to wearing a mask.  At lunch we sat next to a very annoying, entitled American young woman. Dick Cheney asked, Why do other people dislike us so? Well, apart from the accent, and leaving food uneaten – a grave sin where there may be food anxiety – the sense of entitlement and exceptionalism are just plain annoying.

We went to dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant nearby.  JD ordered a beef stew with French bread; I ordered a fried noodle dish, but they didn’t have it tonight, so we both had the beef stew with French bread. It was advertised as Banh Mi, but it wasn’t Banh Mi as I’d understand it. It was quite nice, though, and we navigated using chopsticks to eat it. I did miss having a napkin, though, although I appreciated a wrapped wet wipe to use before eating. To be honest, there wasn’t a great deal on the menu. I ordered guava juice to drink; JD wanted wine, but they only had red wine; the Californian pinot noir looked acceptable, but cost about $NZD40, and you couldn’t buy it by the glass, so we shared a large bottle of Sunkist orange drink (not juice), bringing the rest back to our hotel.  After we had eaten we went for a walk, and found a convenience store where we bought a can of beer for JD (our hotel does not have a bar!), two Haagen Das ice creams, and some mango pieces.  We did pass a bar, but it was closed. Well, it’s no harm to me, but it might cause some visitors some difficulty!

Last night our eldest son called in to see us. He had just flown back from the US, doing the long haul flight across the Pacific Ocean. It’s a very big ocean, and can be quite turbulent.  It seemed that he’d been flying all day, while we’d been doing other things. He looks well, though!  After that, some friends of our son and his wife sent more packages to us, after dropping them off at hotel reception.  There is some fruit, a selection of cakes (the pineapple cake is delicious), and two perhaps savoury baked goods – a bit like small pies. Our eldest son will have to translate.  As if we need to eat any more!  We won’t require dinners! 

I have found that I can get Netflix on my computer here, but not Neon, so I won’t be able to watch Succession, I fear – they’re dropping a new episode each Monday night in New Zealand, perhaps Sunday evening in other places. It’s weird: New Zealand sees the sun first, but we’re often the last to get new things released.  I can also log into TVNZ On Demand, but when I tried to watch the last episode of a series, I couldn’t do so.  Of course, it seems silly to have enough time to watch something on television, but there is a surprising amount of down time when one is on holiday. On the television set in our room we can only get BBC News, or local sports programmes.

I have reset my FB password, so now I can log into Messenger and hence get my photos transferred. There was probably an easier way to do this!

It’s now Monday May 15^th.

This morning it is still overcast, but we can see the hills surrounding Taipai! It is drizzling, and warm.

The weekly Covid 19 report has been released in New Zealand. It is as follows: there were 11,739​ cases of Covid-19 reported across the country in the past week. The Ministry of Health released its latest weekly update – covering the period from Monday, May 8 to Sunday, May 14.

The number of reported cases was down slightly compared to 12,277​​ the week prior.

As of midnight on Sunday, 247​ people were in hospital with Covid-19, compared to 249 at the same time last week. Six​ were in an intensive care or high dependency care unit.

The seven-day rolling average of new daily cases was 1672​, down from 1746​ last week.

The Ministry of Health reported 66​ deaths in the past seven days. Of the 66 deaths, one was aged in their 20s, two were in their 50s, eight in their 60s, 20 in their 70s, 21 were in their 80s, and 14 were aged over 90. Of these people, 40 were women and 26 were men.

The number of deaths attributed to Covid-19 increased by 58​ in the past week: 40​ where the virus was the underlying cause of death, and 18​ where Covid-19 was a contributory factor. So it’s still very much around, as it is here in Taipei. There are a great many people wearing masks here.

It’s now Tuesday May 16^th.

Yesterday our son took us to another vegan restaurant, what he called a “Mom and Pop” operation. Small and cramped it may have been, but the food was delicious! I had noodles with mushroom sauce (which I ate with a fork, thankfully!), which came on a tray with some soup, and three small dishes of vegetables: some greens, a mixture of mushrooms, carrots, and something like turnip, with a slice of ginger; there was another small dish containing edamame beans, corn, and something pink which my son told me was tofu. There was a napkin, but no drinks were offered!

Afterwards we caught a bus back to a main road near our hotel.  It was very like the Metlink system back in Wellington: you tag on and off with a pre-loaded card; there are frequent Stop buttons, and there’s a sign to indicate that the bus is due to stop at the next stop.  On our way back, our son pointed out Da’an Park, which is near our hotel, but in an area we hadn’t explored yet. He also took us to a supermarket, where we went downstairs, and bought some lovely soap – a thing I had meant to bring more of but had forgotten. JD had not brought soap.

Afterwards, I needed to have a cup of coffee. We chose the café at the hotel. We ordered two espressos, and they were perfect. Small, but not too small. We shared a slice of delicious cake from the cabinet – a mocha flavoured cake.

Later on our grandson came back to our hotel for a bit after his pre-school finished, and he ate lots of fruit – only vegan food!  Our son had translated the lovely foods his friends had sent us, but most of them weren’t vegan. The ones that were, he’d taken with him!

In the late afternoon we walked our grandson back to his apartment. It seems that there are main roads here, criss-crossed with narrow lanes, many of them one-way. There aren’t raised footpaths, but areas marked for walking, and plenty of pedestrian crossings. After that we went to the Grand Courtyard – presumably at one time a private dwelling, now a picture gallery. One artist’s paintings were displayed there, and they were truly amazing. In another building nearby, there was a restaurant. There was already a group there. JD wanted to eat there, but there was no English menu, and no translation – there was no way of knowing what the food was, and I was reluctant to eat unknown food. Also, I needed to use the restroom!

We walked back to the hotel, and ended up eating there. I thought there would be a Western menu, but no; but the menu we were given had English translations of the Chinese dishes. JD ordered Beef Fried Rice, and I ordered Pork Meat Balls with Vegetables. Both were absolutely delicious, and far too much: we could have shared either dish and had some left over. I combined his fried rice with my yummy meatballs, but I was given my own serving of rice as well. I had an orange drink and JD a Taiwan beer (they didn’t have Heineken).

This morning we had our usual breakfast of fruit, toast and coffee, and then went for a walk in Da’an Park before it got too hot. It’s fine and sunny today, and already very warm!  I saw one pet, a medium-sized dog on a leash!  There is absolutely no smoking here. Everything is very clean, and cleaned, although buildings tend to be grimy. In the Park, we saw a woman sweeping up leaves – no annoying leaf-blowers here! The plants are watered regularly. The hotel outside areas are cleaned regularly. Everyone is very well behaved. I’ve seen one police car, but I have yet to see a policeman.

The park is a lovely flat, restful area with lots of seats, lots of birds, and a running track. We made our way to a stream where you could ride exercise bikes to power the water wheels. There were beautiful lilies in the water. Later we came across the Pond, where several well-fed fish swim in the rather murky waters.  While you can hear the traffic noise all around, it is peaceful and there’s no litter!  Taipei is very environmentally conscious, with rubbish and recycling bins around, also helpful signs and maps. What a lovely place!

At Da’an Park – exercycles that turn the water wheels

We met our son and his wife for lunch, and went to a different, more modern, busy vegan restaurant.  I ordered ramen noodles with black garlic; what came was a kind of soup with noodles in it and some strange vegetables. I also had plum juice to drink, with ice. It was all delicious. The menu had English translations, and you could have Italian pasta with sauce.

After that we caught a metro train to a huge department store, which had an amazing supermarket underneath.  Then we caught another train, and went to another café where I had an espresso and JD had a glass of chardonnay and affogato. Then we went to a fruit market, and caught a bus back to our hotel. JD picked up our grandson from his pre-school nearby, and they came back to the hotel room for a bit. After a rest, we went for a walk and watched our grandchildren roller-blading – very impressive!

On the way back to our hotel, we bought some more fruit, not really fancying dinner.

Taipei seems to me to be a very egalitarian place. People are tidily dressed, usually in long trousers and t-shirts; they don’t wear bling or makeup. There are very few overweight people; and people seem uniformly pleasant, polite and unselfconscious. They’re not obsessed with their appearance, which I find very refreshing.  It seems to be a pretty egalitarian society; I guess there are seriously rich people, and according to my son there are dispossessed and homeless people, but I haven’t seem anyone begging.  I don’t know what kind of social welfare network there is, or what agencies and church organisations help poor people, but there seems to be serious awareness of disabled people, with lift controls at armchair level in some lifts; some ramps around; although I don’t know how a disabled person would use a tiny toilet cubicle!  Still, we feel very comfortable here, and I can see why my son likes it here. It’s very handy to have a Chinese speaker around, too!  Many signs and menus are not in English. I have no idea what provisions there may be for people with special needs.

That’s it for now.  It’s nice to be away from everyday concerns, although there’s been a dreadful fire in a hostel in Newtown, one of the older suburbs in Wellington; six deaths have been confirmed, so far.  By the way, NZ Herald, it’s Newtown, not Newton, which is in Auckland. The war in Ukraine grinds on, sadly; Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

The Pond at Da’an Park

A photo of the hotel where we are staying. (Note: I’d love to load more photos, but haven’t yet figured how to get them from my phone to my PC).

It’s now Saturday, May 13^th, 2023. Kia ora! It’s my eldest granddaughter’s birthday today.

I finished my last blog with our boarding call to board our direct flight from Auckland to Taipei. The last time I had flown business class was with Emirates back in 2016, in pre-Covid times. This was very different!

Our take-off was a bit bumpy; soon after that we were asked what we would like for lunch. This was quite a production: we had printed menus, and there was an amuse-bouche, appetiser, main course, dessert, drinks, and of course the bakery – garlic bread with olive oil. It sounds like a great deal of food, but of course the portions are very small. An individual table is unfolded and a linen cloth put on it; we had proper cutlery too.  What fun!  As our first choice of main courses was gone by the time the attendant got to us, I had the salmon and JD had chicken.  I had sparkling water to drink; it was all delicious. With the garlic bread, I got a wee bottle of olive oil.  Afterwards there was delicious coffee.

JD and I were each in a kind of capsule. There was a comfortable seat with a footrest, or dumpty, as I think we used to call them. On this were a pair of scuffs (adjustable, wrapped) – thanks Air NZ, and a pouch containing some goodies – lip balm, a toothbrush, socks and hand lotion. There was a pillow on the seat, and a bottle of water. There wasn’t much room, of course, and I had some trouble getting myself organised, and getting what I wanted out of my bag that I wanted to stow. There was room to put things almost behind my seat; I was a newbie at this, and I felt that everyone else knew what they were doing. Meanwhile a staff member was offering sparkling wine or orange juice. There was a ledge for the glass, although this had to be stowed for take off and landing. Eventually I got to sit down, and overcome the challenge of finding my seatbelt! A flight attendant came around with those lovely hot wet facecloths, that are so refreshing.

I wanted to read during take-off, so I asked the lovely Taiwanese flight attendant to show me how to turn on my reading lamp. This was part of the individual entertainment system, but alas, it didn’t work, for myself or JD. The attendant told her manager, who announced that the system would have to be rebooted during take-off, and this would take about 10 minutes. During take-off, we both wondered?  It seemed like a dangerous time. But it was duly rebooted. Sadly, the reboot did not improve its performance. Not only was there no reading light, but there was no inflight map – you know, the annoying one that tells your altitude, the temperature outside, the speed, and the time at your points of embarkation and destination, and the time to go. I try not to look at it for ages and ages, and it still tells me there are hours to go. Well, you kind of miss it when it’s not there. Of course there was no in-flight Wi-fi, either.

There wasn’t much in the way of entertainment. There was the film Aftersun, which I had seen but watched again, thinking what a lovely Dad Paul Mescal played, and how like my just-turned 8 granddaughter 11 year old Sophie was.  But it was later that I watched it.

Although this was a daytime flight, it was expected that we’d all go to sleep for most of the rest of the trip.  To achieve this, each business class seat had to be converted, The seat was rolled back and turned into a lie-flat bed, complete with mattress, two pillows, and a cover. 

I tried to sleep after lunch, lying back, thinking this is living the dream, but I became rather bored with that after a while. There were bouts of quite severe turbulence; but thankfully I don’t worry anymore; I did miss not being able to read; I listened to José  Carreras for a while (he does sing arias from Tosca beautifully); I got up to use the toilet, and I have to report that it was just fine: very clean, and not quite as cramped as the toilets in cattle class.  I returned to my cocoon, but it was just that – a cocoon where I couldn’t easily sit up, or read the magazines I’d brought with me, or use the limited functions available in the on-board entertainment system. I couldn’t even see the time on my watch.

Eventually, when there were only 4 hours to go in this 11 ½ hour flight, I asked for my bed to be returned to sitting position.  Then I watched Aftersun again, and most of Women Talking. Eventually dinner was served, but it wasn’t quite such a production as lunch had been. I chose schnapper for my main course, but didn’t really enjoy it. Note to self: never order fish again. It was really fresh, but seemed barely cooked. Of course, I wasn’t really hungry, but it’s amazing what a distraction food can be on a plane, and how one can work up an appetite after several hours in the sky doing nothing.

Eventually we descended and landed in Taipei. It was cloudy and almost dark outside, and there wasn’t much to see at all, although I did see some lights and buildings through the passenger opposite’s window. The plane taxied past hundreds of aircraft before stopping. Entry was no problem, we were waved through, without having to queue for long; everything was in Chinese, but I established which carousel our luggage would be on. We went through to baggage claim, grabbed a trolley, and waited. It helpfully said this was the right carousel for Air NZ flight 77; there seemed to be no separate queue for priority baggage. I was so pleased that I’d used the toilet on the plane before our descent, rather than waiting to use a restroom at the airport. There was nowhere to sit down, of course.

I marvelled at the enormous suitcases people had, many of them secured by a band around the large suitcase. I felt quite unashamed in comparison, with a large suitcase and a small overnight one; JD had a small suitcase and a backpack.  Finally our luggage arrived. This was a big relief, as I couldn’t see an Air NZ office anywhere, and almost all notices were in Chinese. As we had nothing to declare, we walked through Customs and out to another public area. We went out and crossed the road to a taxi stand (as our son had advised), and caught a taxi into our hotel. Our taxi driver had no English; he drove to my printed directions, but that was to our son’s apartment building!  I found some instructions in Chinese, and he sighed with relief and took us to our hotel.  The helpful people on the desk did speak English, so we were checked in, and given keys to our room. Our daughter-in-law had helpfully prepared a welcome pack, with some fruit and snacks in it and a beautiful note. Although we’d had plenty to eat on the plane, it was nice to have some delicious pineapple to tuck into and celebrate the fact that we’d safely arrived. Taiwanese pineapple is much nicer than Australasian!

First impressions? Taipei is a busy, thriving city. It took about 50 minutes to get from the airport to our hotel; there were lots of concrete flyovers, there was lots of traffic, and it all kept flowing smoothly. Pretty much everything is in Chinese, and the characters are quite complex! It was dark and raining when we arrived, so there wasn’t much to see. We did see Ucks Coffee, which of course was a Starbucks, but it was a relief not to see any McDonalds or KFC outlets.

Our hotel room is just fine, with a sitting room, compete with sofa, armchair, desk and lamps, a small fridge and tea making facilities. And there’s a bedroom with two single beds, a reading lamp, a wardrobe and a bathroom with shower.  It’s all very elegant and gracious, without being over-the-top. In Taiwan there’s evident concern about the environment. I have yet to see a plastic bag.

Yesterday (Friday) I woke up very early; I showered and we went down to breakfast at 7 am.  It was buffet style, and already there were lots of people there. It was very quiet as people concentrated on eating.  The food was unfamiliar; I had some fruit and toast, juice and cona coffee.  JD had some noodles, I think.

Afterwards we went for a walk to explore the area. It’s very busy – there’s an elevated major highway outside our room on the tenth floor, but if you go down to the lobby on the opposite side there’s another road on street level. While there’s lots of traffic, cars, motorbikes, and pushbikes, there are crossings which give you plenty of time to cross the sometimes very wide (10 lane) streets.  You don’t press a button for crossing; instead you wait for the Red Man (Stop!) to change to the Green Man (walking). It’s a strange mixture of beautiful green trees and shrubs (which are regularly watered) and older slightly run-down buildings, a lot of concrete, and to be honest, some ugliness interspersed with beautiful decorations.

We stopped outside the Elementary School our grandson attends (actually he attends pre-school there at present), but we couldn’t see him, and the young woman in charge had no knowledge of him.  The building itself looked quite dowdy, but then most do, and there seemed to be quite a nice play area outside. Then we made our way to the large Sports Complex where we thought our grandchildren would be practicing taekwondo that evening. There were white flowers there, which looked as though a red poppy had been sliced in half, and coloured white. Having found a large sports complex, we then found Galette Café, one recommended by our son. It didn’t open until 10 am, so we sat down outside the Elementary School and waited.

Eventually we made our way back to the Café, and then began the torturous business of ordering coffee.  It seems you can get an Americano (I didn’t want that), or an Expresso, which is tiny. Eventually they brought a double Espresso in a small jug, and a cup of hot water. I added the Espresso to the hot water, and almost got what we would call a “long black”. It was delicious. There were lots of puzzles there, and you could actually do a jigsaw there, yourself; there were lots of lovely impressionist puzzles as well as other ones. We bought one about space for our grandson, and one of Renoir’s lovely Boating Party for our granddaughter. I bought a small one for our daughter in Hawkes Bay.

Then we made our way back to the hotel. We decided to have lunch there, on the grounds that we were to see our grandchildren practising Taekwondo at 6 pm, and we wouldn’t need dinner that evening.

Lunch was complicated! It was Chinese, of course, and we were advised to choose from a set menu – you could choose one of three mains (we chose chicken because it seemed the most familiar).  There were chopsticks, of course, but we managed them. There was a starter – pickled egg, I think, with some kind of meat; then soup came, with a jug of a spicy red condiment to be added to taste; it was delicious, but it was frustrating not to know just what was in it. Then the mains came, with rice; just how do you navigate eating that? Then some fruit, something to drink, and finally, a dessert, which seemed like cream caramel, with some kind of custardy mixture and a caramel sauce. All of it was delicious, and somehow far too much. There were groups of older men having lunch, and they excused themselves to us for making too much noise!  There are no overweight people in Taipei, or not that I’ve seen, anyway.

We set off in good time to the Sports Complex, thinking we were following our son’s instructions, but no, when we got there, there was no sign of our daughter in law or our grandchildren.  Thank goodness for mobile phones, because, alas, we’d gone to the wrong place. She asked us to meet her back at our hotel, which we duly did; then she took us to the right place (I don’t think we would have found it by ourselves). We went upstairs, took off our shoes, and went in – and there they were!  Obviously looking out for us!  Just like their photos! This was a small class, and we agreed to stay and watch and then walk back to their apartment with them. 

It was very Chinese! I don’t mean that pejoratively, at all. It’s quite refreshing to see something that’s a bit down to earth. The class was extremely energetic! We watched, but there was also a television screen running pictures of the children in action, including some lovely shots of our grandchildren.

I guess the street outside reminded me of Newtown, perhaps; the street/lane where our loved ones have their apartment is a very narrow one.  They live not at all far away from where they train for Taekwondo, and there seemed to be no fear about walking home in the dark, it is a martial art, after all!

We had some chamomile tea there, and then they walked us back to our hotel and we gave the children the puzzles we’d bought that morning.  I was amazed at all the greenery outside the small apartment buildings we passed on our way back.

Although I’ve heard emergency vehicles (not nearly as many as in Paris), I have yet to see a policeman. This seems a very peaceful, polite place.

There is an ATM in the lobby of our hotel. It has a voice over, and at the end it asks you to store your money “properly”. That’s nice, I think. The exchange rate is much better than at Auckland Airport.

We’re gradually adjusting to life here:  it’s hot, muggy, rainy and it gets dark early! And the food and drink is all very different! For example, do you want your tea or coffee hot or cold? And organic soy milk with fruit juice? That’s new to me. The food isn’t especially spicy, though.

On Saturday morning I woke up really early again. This morning breakfast was in a different restaurant. There was lots of cooked food – more of the kind I would tend to eat for lunch or dinner, like chicken and mashed potatoes!  JD had cornflakes and I stuck to fruit and toast, some orange juice and beautiful coffee.  The fruit is watermelon (very prevalent), custard apple, and oranges.  We don’t have beautiful Taiwanese pineapple in the breakfast buffet. I have yet to see any cheese!  And gluten free doesn’t seem to be a thing here. Nor does wholemeal bread.

The restaurant where we had the birthday lunch

Looking down the street from our restaurant.

Looking up the street from our restaurant, where we sat outside.

We were to meet our daughter in law and grandchildren for lunch. They were to walk to our hotel, and then we would get a taxi to the vegan restaurant that had been booked. We went to Soul Café, and had a beautiful lunch, although there was far too much food and the service was quite slow! Still, we sat outside. There was a 7/11 convenience store nearby, where JD bought some more toys for the children. There was a Mother’s Day set menu, and we were advised to have that. Well, I thought that with eating mainly vegan meals I would lose weight, but it is not so: the food is delicious and plentiful. One feels ashamed not to eat it all, although there is no microwave oven in our room, so we can’t take leftovers away with us.

We had water with a slice of lemon and a slice of orange in it; there was delicious soup to start with – like minestrone, without Parmesan cheese. Apparently our son knows where to buy vegan cheese.

Then there were potato wedges, a vegan crumbed steak that was delicious, and some kind of vegetables – broccoli, zucchini in a tomato sauce; there was delicious salad with cranberries in it, although I found it hard to eat it tidily.

Then a mushroom risotto came out for me – again, delicious, although I was full by now, and there was a noodle dish for JD.  After that, there was along wait, and then our desserts arrived – tiramisu and crѐme brulée.  After that we all crowded in a taxi to go back to our son’s apartment for yet more food – a birthday cake! I was amazed by how grimy many buildings looked – a bit like the buildings of Paris as you come into the Gare du Nord Railway Station. The apartment is very nice, though.

We sang the birthday song, and enjoyed the beautiful vegan birthday cake. It was amazingly good, with some kind of cherry filling.

Then we excused ourselves, and our grandchildren walked us back to our hotel.  After that we were properly tired, and slept through until nearly breakfast time the next morning.

I had planned to go to a Presbyterian Church here, but realised the service would be in Chinese, and so took the easy way out and zoomed into the service back in New Zealand. Then we went down to breakfast. We were properly hungry by this time, and the restaurant was very busy, although it was Sunday morning and soon after 7 am.

I had two cups of coffee, and some cooked food as well as fruit and toast. If we give our evening meal a miss, perhaps I should eat more cooked food at breakfast time. Today we plan to go to the Palace Museum.

Well, that’s it for now! It’s quite a challenge being here, but a treat, as well.  We look forward to seeing more of our loved ones, and the sights here, and, of course, doing some more shopping!  I did see a McDonalds yesterday on our way to the Soul Café, but they’re certainly not ubiquitous here. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

J W M Turner, Sun Setting over a Lake (seen at the Light from Tate exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery)

It’s now Monday May 8^th, 2023. Kia ora!

I am reviewing coronation coverage, and noticing details that I had missed earlier.  I think it was such a relief that it all went so well, and that nothing except rain drizzled on the King’s parade, and of course it was very late here. While I felt immensely for King Charles III having waited 70 years for this occasion, I felt for him too being well over 70, and that this would be a physical ordeal as well as a significant occasion.  Public affection for Charles is increasing, and perhaps earlier there wouldn’t have been so much of that. Despite the disgrace of Prince Andrew and the betrayal of the Sussexes, the late Queen’s platinum jubilee, and her funeral demonstrated affection for the monarchy, and the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children have been quite superb. I watched Prince William giving a speech at the Coronation Concert, and again, I was very impressed by him.  King Charles III has been an odd cove, to be sure, but he’s older now, and seems happier and more settled. He’s been an advocate for taking better care of our environment for many years, since before it became fashionable and acceptable to do so. Of course his good qualities are being highlighted, while his quirkiness is being downplayed. But all credit to him; as one commentator noted, the British are wonderful at all this pageantry; it’s a shame they aren’t better at governing themselves.

And I have to put in a credit for Penny Mordaunt holding a the ceremonial sword of state weighing 3.6 kg for 51 minutes! And wearing high heels too!

I was impressed by the music at the coronation service: especially much of it (there was so much!)  I was also impressed by the diversity displayed by people of many different faiths and colours, all respected. There was a wonderful gospel choir which sang a Capella – three black men and three black women, all dressed in white, and dancing to their beautiful singing.  I know from experience it’s really hard for me to do more than one thing at a time: if I’m singing, it’s hard to clap, or stamp a foot, or play an instrument.

Meanwhile, in the US, there’s more carnage. In Texas, where there was a mass shooting at an outlet mall, a car has been driven into a shelter looking after migrants in Brownsville, killing 7, and injuring 10 more. 

I should admit here that I’ve listened to three podcasts on The Rest is History series about British coronations. The Rest is Politics is yet to devote an episode to this event, although they did mention it last week. I think Alistair Campbell is an avowed anti-Monarchist. 

The weekly Covid 19 report came out today. The number of new infections is even higher than last week. People are still getting ill enough to go to hospital, and to be in intensive care; people are still dying.

There were 12,277 new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand in the week to midnight on Sunday and a further 30 deaths.

The 30 people added to the Covid-19 death tally brings the total number of deaths from the disease to 2792.

The number of people with the virus in hospital was 249 with 12 in intensive care.

Last week 11,063 new cases of Covid-19 were reported and a further 26 deaths were attributed to the virus.

Tuesday was to be q quiet day.  A friend called by to give me a present; one of our sons came by to do a recording of his Dad (I listened in and learnt some new things); we had lunch and then JD did some shopping. Oh, and he had dome work done on the car, early.

On Wednesday morning our next travel adventure began. I had carefully worked out what to wear, and what to pack, but it rained heavily overnight in Wellington, and there was such heavy rain in Auckland that a State of Emergency was declared. The Mayor, Wayne Brown, was of course not there but so as not to be accused of letting things get worse, he allowed a state of emergency to be declared.  It rained very heavily on the Tuesday, but neither of Auckland’s main airports was flooded.  Thus, although I had expected to wear sneaker-like shoes (with holes, and cooler than regular lace ups), and my puffer jacket, I ended up wearing stronger shoes, packing my jacket and wearing my raincoat. This made my overnight bag weigh more than 7 kg, so I checked it in. In the event I was very glad I’d worn stronger shoes – there were several puddles and lots of groundwater to be negotiated.

On Wednesday morning we got up early and one of our sons drove us to Wellington Airport. There was heavy traffic out our way, on the northern motorway and surrounding roads, but we got there in plenty of time. Although I had checked us both in online, and printed our boarding passes, we were happy to go to the premium desk and hand over our bags. Then we went through security, and up to the Air NZ Lounge.  There were a few people there, but it was pretty quiet.  We had coffee and juice and some fruit and JD had a cooked breakfast. Then we sat in comfortable chairs to await our boarding call.

Ironically, when I checked us in online I was invited to pay more for seating, so instead I chose seats that cost nothing in Row 18.  I wondered how Air NZ could charge us Business Class fares (partially refundable, whereas there was no refund for Premium Economy), and not allocate seats for the domestic flight. Someone queried our getting into the Lounge.

On the flight to Auckland, there was so much turbulence that they couldn’t serve any refreshments, so I was very glad I’d had coffee in the Lounge.

Coming off the plane, we retrieved our luggage, thankfully, and since there was only light drizzle, decided to walk to the Novotel Hotel, next to the International Airport, where we hoped to leave our luggage, if we couldn’t have access to our room. Welcome to New Zild! Kia ora!  Overseas visitors must be so amazed at this hike, which entails several road crossings, is not covered for much of the way, and involves walking through industrial areas. You can see the Novotel, but as in a tunnel, you keep seeing it without seeming to get much closer to it, and you wonder for a while whether it’s closer to go backwards or forwards.  Apparently the Airport shuttle is supposed to run every 15 minutes, but we did not see one. Anyway, to catch the bus, we would have had to lug the baggage on somehow, so it seemed better to walk with a baggage trolley while it was not raining heavily.

At the Novotel they were able to give us our room straightaway – it was by now almost 12 noon, so that was a relief. JD had a shower before our next adventure.

Then we did go into the city, to the Auckland Art Gallery. We had lunch there, and then bought tickets to an amazing exhibition: Light from Tate.  There were several paintings by J M W Turner, one of my favourite artists, and two paintings by Monet and some by Alfred Sisley.  I was so pleased to see this exhibition!  It seemed a marvellous start to our next adventure.  We also looked at some other art works in the galley too, before returning to the Novotel. By now it had stopped raining and it was sunny.

We had dinner at the Hotel. They have a big dining area, but it was very busy, so we were glad we’d booked, although I must admit I found the repeated  emails from Accor very annoying. Would I like to check in online? No, I’m actually quite busy, but then I did so in order that the room wouldn’t be a given to someone else. Would I like to upgrade? No, I would not.  This necessitated another printout, three pages odd; then another message comes noticing I haven’t booked for dinner or breakfast. No, I’m keeping my options open, although there’s really nowhere else to eat except the Airport, where it’s probably very expensive and not very nice.

Actually the restaurant was very good; it’s á la carte now, rather than buffet; I had something vegetarian and JD had very nice chicken schnitzel.  Afterwards we both had dessert: I had a delicious pear poached in Syrah with passionfruit curd, vanilla ice cream and a piece of shortbread. JD had chocolate tart with hokey pokey ice cream. The menu listed ingredients in Māori as well as English, making each item rather long and complicated. But the food we had was delicious. There was a thunderstorm outside, and we hoped it wouldn’t affect our flight the next morning.

The next morning we were due to be at the International Airport by 7:20 am. I had set the alarm for 6:10 am, but we were both awake at 5:30, and consequently had plenty of time.

We checked out of the Novotel. Their computer system was down, so they promised to send our invoice by email. As we hadn’t paid for dinner, but they’d put a $100 hold on JD’s credit card, we had to trust them over that. It was really cold and wet! Forget sunny, hot Auckland – it’s been cold and wet on my two recent visits.

Auckland International Airport was extremely busy, with many people checking in for overseas flights.  There was a premium check in for our flight, but it just meant joining another queue; we queued up to use a kiosk, but our boarding couldn’t be completed: we did get baggage tags, but no boarding passes.  There seemed to be some kerfuffle about entry to Taiwan. So I pulled out records of our online visa exempt entries, while we queued up to speak to a Live Human Being, who couldn’t see anything wrong with our documentation. She printed our boarding passes, and we handed our luggage to a baggage hand-off point. It all seemed very make-shift, and then we read a notice that Air NZ were doing repairs after some recent flood damage, and please would we bear with them; or look forward to next time.

We got though security all right, but I was really hungry by this time, and desperate to get to the Air NZ lounge. But there was a Travel Ex bureau, and JD wanted to get some foreign cash. There was a queue for that of course, and nowhere to sit down. Every transaction seemed to take an inordinate amount of time. I wandered through the One Loop Duty Free store, but there was really nothing I wanted to buy; things I might have bought were not much cheaper there, anyway. Eventually JD got his cash, and we made our way through this Duty Free store to the lounge. You had to go upstairs – there was an escalator, and a warning that the lounge was very full. There was a couple in front of us taking ages. Eventually, we scanned our boarding passes, and went in.  It was indeed it was very busy. It was huge lounge, but although some seats were unoccupied, there were no two seats together. By this time I was really losing my rag; we ended up sitting at a table on stools, not my favourite seating arrangement by any means, but at least they weren’t high stools.  Many people were eating a cooked breakfast with those revolting small sausages (revolting to me, anyway). JD went off to get  fruit, toast and coffee. My Air NZ app on my phone has asked me if I wanted to order coffee – I could now see why!  We had to wait ages for the coffee, which is a long way away from the food: why, I wonder?  JD came back with some toast, fruit and fruit juice, and one knife. He then proceeded to butter his toast with the one knife before going to see if the coffee was ready yet. I proceeded to butter my toast, and enjoy it with peanut butter, marmalade and jam. What a relief, to have something to eat at last. I took my meds, and eventually the coffee arrived. By then the lounge had emptied out a bit with some boarding calls being made.  We were able to sit at a proper table to enjoy our coffee, and then we moved to armchairs, although there wasn’t a newspaper in sight (I really wanted one).

Our boarding call was supposed to come at 9:55 am; we were asked to stay in this lounge until it was made; and it didn’t come.  Meanwhile, a very friendly couple sat down beside us and engaged in conversation. I then got texts from Air NZ to say that our flight had been delayed until 10:30 am.  Eventually we got the call, and took the down escalator to join the hoi polloi in making our way to Gate 6. On the way, we passed a Relay store, and I bought a copy of the NZ Herald, after having some trouble locating it. It didn’t have a target, by the way!

Then there wasn’t long to wait before we got our boarding call and our next adventure truly began.

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