The NZSO – we’re quite proud of it!

Today is Thursday 28 August, 2025. Kia ora!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s now Friday 29 August.

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

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

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

Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

Outside Weta Workshop

Today is Sunday 27 July, 2025. Kia ora!

Our loved ones from Taiwan visited for a few days at the beginning of July.  JD and I worked very hard to make them feel welcome, but unfortunately it was really, really cold while they were here.  For two days there was a heavy frost, although beautiful days afterwards; the rest of the time it rained heavily, and was still very cold, of course.

I did warn them it would be cold here!  It’s very hot in Taiwan – our son returned to 36C, but I think it was down to 3C here. The air is different, too. Everything’s different. For some reason our heating, which usually works well for us, was totally inadequate, although there is a strong heat pump downstairs and heaters in all the bedrooms. 

Our daughter-in-law and two children were due to arrive early on a Sunday afternoon, flying from Hong Kong to Auckland and then on to Wellington. But their flight from Hong Kong was delayed, and so they missed their connecting flight to Wellington. All day we were on tenterhooks as to when they would arrive.  An aunt of mine also died that day; I wasn’t particularly close to her, and they had a private family service (I and my cousins evidently didn’t qualify   as “close family”).  So it was telephone tag all day, with some confusion between New Zealand and Taiwanese time zones (they are 4 hours behind us here).

Our visitors are vegan, which makes it challenging to find good food. In Taiwan,  there are many vegan restaurants, serving beautiful food; there are very few here, although there are quite a few vegans, including another son of mine who was away at that time. He was very helpful, giving us a list of possible restaurants, some vegan cheese, and telling us about a dairy-free Tip Top ice cream – chocolate and honey comb. Yum!

The first night I had prepared a lentil dish with potatoes, peas and spinach and garlic and chillis, and a salad and some bread rolls.  There was plenty, so we had the leftovers the next night, along with roast kumara and pumpkin and corn on the cob. The first night we had fruit salad with ice cream; after that we served vegan trumpets and dairy-free miniature ice creams.

The next day, a Monday, my daughter in law was flying to Dunedin, while our son (her husband) was arriving soon afterwards. Meanwhile our other grandchildren came to visit, seeing that it was school holidays.

We walked up to the local park, which our Taiwanese grandchildren enjoyed; but it was really cold there, although it was sunny. I had to warn the children about crossing the busy road we live in, while remembering their safe and narrow streets around their home in Taipei.

The next day we took things quietly. In the afternoon we drove out to Ohiro Bay – our son wanted to walk to Red Rocks and see the seals.  We parked in the parking lot nearby, but it wasn’t easy to cross the stream: I think a recent storm had made crossing far more difficult than I remembered on our previous visit.  It looked rather dangerous to me, since there wasn’t even an obvious stepping stone arrangement, so JD and I stayed in the carpark, watching the sea and other visitors. JD bought coffee from a coffee cart nearby – much appreciated.

Then we drove to Miramar and to the Weta workshop. We were too late to join a guided visit, but we did have a good look at the shop.  Our relatives were keen to take gifts back to Taipei, so visiting gift shops was de rigueur. The children bought some modelling clay, which they later fashioned into shapes which had to be baked.

The next day we planned to go to the Southward Car Museum at Otaihanga.  We found a park (at Raumati, perhaps?) and a café that served vegan food, It was very popular, and we sat outside in the sunshine. JD and I shared a roll with pickle and haloumi cheese. There was soup too, and a variety of cakes. Afterwards we walked to the beach nearby.

The car museum was a great success – our grandson was very interested in the cars, as we were too. I showed them my parents’ first cars: a Morris 8 and a Ford Prefect.  I can still remember the smell inside. I was so ashamed until they bought a smarter Ford. We browsed the gift shop too. Then we called at the Waikanae New World – we kept running out of food!  Next we visited cousins who have a life-style block in Te Horo for afternoon tea.

That night my son fixed food for his children, while I think JD and I had organic baked bean toasted sandwiches.  The organic baked beans from Chantals are much nicer than other tinned baked beans!

The next day (Thursday) the weather was terrible. My daughter-in-law was due back from Dunedin, but there was a car problem – we couldn’t fit six of us in the car, and JD was the only legal driver. JD dropped my eldest son, my grandson and me off in Cuba St on his way to Wellington Airport. We visited a design shop, a graphic novel shop (not my usual haunt!) and Whitcoulls, before going back up Cuba St to meet the others and have lunch at Nolito. 

We were well looked after at Nolito, but I have to admit that I didn’t really enjoy the food there.   After that we met them at the Lego store in Willis St: I think JD drove me there while the others walked. We bought our grandson a birthday present for his eighth birthday! Afterwards, I caught a bus home, leaving the others to travel by car.  The bus was fine. I should have bought Snapper cards for our visitors, but I hadn’t done so.

That evening we had my lentil dish again, which I had prepared earlier – a spicy version and a non-spicy one. I also made another salad, although this time they didn’t seem interested in salads.

The next day the weather was awful again. We were to celebrate my grandson’s birthday, since his father was leaving the next day. I made the vegan fruit cake (I hadn’t made it for years, and I’d never cooked a cake in my new oven).  Again we had a transport problem. JD was going to drop me in Johnsonville, where I could get a bus into town – they go every 10 minutes. In his wisdom, he insisted on taking me to the Railway Station and dropping me off there. Although it’s a transport hub, it was a long way to the buses from where he dropped me off, so I set out to walk to The Old Quarter where we were to have lunch.

After walking in the rain for a while I gave in and took a bus to Manners Street, where I bought some cupcakes from the Sweet Release Café in case the cake I’d cooked didn’t turn out well. Then I met the others at The Old Quarter for lunch. It was really full there, and despite the awful weather, people kept coming in.

The food there was amazingly good – I really enjoyed it. They had vegan options as well as non-vegan food. I remember some delicious zucchini and corn fritters, a spicy sauce for dipping, and some yummy sticky rice.  There was some nice salad, too. It reminded me of Taipei, where a meal is often served on a tray with different items in wee dishes.

Then we walked along Courtenay Place to the Embassy Theatre, where we were to meet another nephew, and see the F1 movie.  It was not raining so heavily now, so our walk wasn’t too difficult. There was hardly anyone at the theatre!  It was nice to see the movie in a big family group. My grandson insisted on sitting between his grandfather (JD), and his cousin, although he is four years’ older. There was so much advertising, and popcorn, of course, but it was fun to see the lengthy movie.

I think we had takeaway pizzas from Hell Pizza that night. The ones with vegan cheese taste really nice, better in my view than their usual pizzas! One evening we had Indian takeaways: there’s an Indian takeaway in Newlands that serves lots of vegan food.

That was the Friday. On the Saturday our son was due to fly back to Taipei, catching a 6 am flight to Auckland to join his international flight there. He wanted to leave home by 4 am to check in before 5 am, so I set my alarm for 3:15 am!  We got to the Airport in good time; nothing much was open there, and although JD and I could have gone to the Air NZ Lounge, you had to go through Airport Security to get there. We did manage to get coffee and some fruit while we waited for his flight to take off.

That day our daughter in law and her children went to my son’s place in Newlands to visit: then they went to a dance class in town in the afternoon (they’d found it online). 

On Sunday morning I went to church; when JD picked me up afterwards, we all went into town to Te Papa, where we met the other cousins. We had lunch there – we were going to go to Sweet Release, but the weather was terrible, as usual, and one did not really feel like going there.  The café had vegan options. Afterwards we went for a walk outside down to the Wellington Museum. Sadly, the first floor with the Wahine exhibition was closed, but the hologram with Joanna Paul is still there upstairs!

The next day was the last day for our daughter in law and our two grandchildren.  We met their cousins at Porirua, going first to the North City shopping centre, and then to Kai Tahi for lunch – a wonderful food hall where there were hardly any people. Although they didn’t have vegan restaurants, it was quite possible to get vegan food there. I had a Banh Mi – a favourite of mine.

Afterwards we went to Aotea Lagoon and walked to the play area there. The children had a wonderful time. Our eldest granddaughter and her ten-year old cousin held hands. That evening our daughter in law cooked a beautiful pasta dish for dinner, and we went to bed early as they were to catch the 6 am flight to Auckland, as their father had done three days earlier.  Along the way, JD read stories to his grandson, as requested; I talked to my granddaughter about English Literature, although sadly my voice wasn’t great, I was so tired. But I will have attached some of my favourite extracts in a future blog.

I talked to her mainly about the works I had studied for my Masters degree in English Literature, where most writing was done in “blank verse” or iambic pentameter, with great knowledge of the classical myths. Shakespeare used blank verse to great effect in his plays. 

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

Today is Tuesday 24 June, 2025. Kia ora!

I have been to several French Film Festival films recently, although the lineup hasn’t been as good as in recent years. Still, some of those I’ve seen have been very diverting and enjoyable, and I’m glad to have seen them. I’ve tried to fit them into my schedule by catching the #25 bus from Khandallah, and either walking to the Lighthouse Cinema in Wigan Street or switching to a #83 bus at Wellington Station to go to the Lighthouse Cinema in Petone.

It’s now Thursday 10 July.

We had a lovely visit from our family in Taiwan. It was very cold here, and very different from the atmosphere in Taiwan!  Suffice to say, lots of things happened, and I will write about them later.

Back to the French Film Festival.  This took place during June, and I tried to fit in as many movies as possible that I wanted to see.  I hope that some that I missed will come on general release in the cinemas.

The first one I saw was Loveboat, starring Daniel Auteuil.  I always like to see him in films, although he was being a bit of a villain here. Anyway, the film was very amusing and light hearted and, unusually for French movies, featured the heroine trying not to have sex with Auteuil.

After this I stayed at the Wigan St cinema to see The French Job.  This latter film I did not enjoy: there was lots of foul language.

Then I saw The Stolen Painting, being very interested in art and art thefts. Again, I was disappointed. I had ideas about seeing movies with JD at the weekend, but alarmingly they were mostly booked out. I saw Riviera Revenge, recommended by one of my cousins: again, I wasn’t really impressed. I saw The Thread, again with Auteuil: this time a legal drama, with a surprising twist, but not Auteuil at his best.  To see that film, I booked almost the last seat at the Wigan St cinema. I was told Bolero was good, but I had written it off, having seen so much of Ravel’s Bolero in Divertimento last year.

I did quite enjoy Three Friends, although someone had warned me off it. But I found it diverting, although frustrating at times. One of the women is really beautiful. I also saw Saint-Ex, a film which took me right back to his Vol de Nuit and my French 1 classes.  I can’t think of his night-flying without remembering Beethoven’s 7^th Symphony.  The film was quite remarkable, if it seemed a little unreal at times. Those tiny planes look so hazardous!

And that’s all I got to see. I did see Tarrac, which wasn’t part of the film festival, but was all in Irish Gaelic.  

In amongst all this we had the Matariki celebration. I am happy to say this means more to me each year. This time our Te Reo Māori group were following an official Matariki celebration booklet put out by the New Zealand Government, and I was to say the karakia for Waitā, the water of the ocean. There was a community morning tea which was delicious and was very well attended, with several more people coming than was expected, and some new attendees to the fortnightly Te Reo classes.

Yesterday afternoon I went to see the movie The Great Lillian Hall, about an aging actress who develops dementia, and somehow the cast and her longtime companion get her through a live performance of Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard. This was American, of course, but it reminded me of the remake of The Dresser with Antony Hopkins, and Sir Ian McKellen as his dresser. They’re trying to get him though a performance of Shakespeare’s King Lear, and I remember him saying “Have I done ‘Oh reason not the need’?  The film about Lillian Hall  was well reviewed, of course, but great reviews don’t necessarily make for great movies, in my book.

This morning JD and I went to see a film about Michelangelo at the Lighthouse Theatre in Pauatahanui.  It’s a lovely place to go to, and with the Transmission Gully highway we can get there really quickly.  Well, that was a very good movie, and covered most of Michelangelo’s great works.  I am very happy to say I have seen many of them, some more than once:  the Piéta in St Peter’s Basilica in Roma, and in Florence, and in Milan (the Rondanini Piéta); the statues in the Louvre, and his Bacchus (with the weird eyes).  What is his greatest achievement? The David, now in the Accademia, perhaps, or one of the Piétas?  Then again there is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and his painting of The Last Judgment.  All sources of amazement. Once home I got out my book about Michelangelo, which I got as part of a prize for being the top student in Renaissance studies for my Master of Arts degree in English.

After the movie we went to the café up the road to share a pizza and a chocolate éclair.

Last Saturday (19 July) we went to a performance of Fauré’s Requiem (and the Vierne Requiem) at St Mary’s Cathedral in Boulcott St, sung by the Bach Choir, with Douglas Mews at the organ.  At the same time there was a performance of Handel’s Messiah at St James Anglican Church in Lower Hutt, sung by the Festival Singers and the choir of St Mary’s with Jonathan Berkahn playing the organ. Needless to say, I would love to have gone to both concerts. I knew several people singing in the Messiah, but JD had a hankering to go to St Mary’s again. Unfortunately we forgot to take cushions! The pews there are rather uncomfortable, although the footrests (kneelers?) are appreciated. Anyway, it was a beautiful concert, although JD found the organ playing in the Vierne uncomfortably loud. But the Bach choir sang the Fauré beautifully, even better than the Brahms Requiem in the last concert we went to there. Sadly I managed to cough during the Pié Jesu solo – I think I swallowed some saliva in a rather strange way. Thankfully I’d brought some cough pastilles with me and I had one left.

We had great trouble finding somewhere to park. JD had suggested having lunch in town beforehand, but we were too late for that. We drove down Boulcott St hoping to park there, but ended up driving around and around as the minutes ticked by. Finally we found a parking space up on the Terrace, and walked down to St Mary’s, arriving just in time.

The next day (Sunday) I went to a discussion at the church of the movie Conclave. JD and I had both seen the film and read Robert Harris’ excellent book, as well as watching the Pope Francis’ recent funeral. There were about a dozen people at this discussion, including several non-parishioners. I compared this ceremony to King Charles III’s coronation, where both men and women (and the Royal children) were all part of the centuries-old ceremony. Who can forget Penny Mordaunt holding the sword? Or a Scottish churchman giving King Charles the most precious possession, a Bible. Unlike the very secretive Conclave ritual, that of the Coronation, while scripted, was a very public ceremony. I did feel when I saw the movie that it was stripped of the book’s spirituality, and another parishioner agreed with this view.

It’s now Sunday 27 July.

Our church is meeting in the Hall rather than the Church at present (it’s supposedly warmer there and easier to heat), and we’re supposed to enjoy a hot drink and something to eat while we worship.  It’s a bit frustrating to be expected to bring a plate of food to share!  As it’s only 10 am, one feels one should bring savoury food. Anyway, I’ve not long had breakfast, and my first cup of coffee, and I still feel strange about combining food and drink with worship. Nevertheless, I do as I’m told and dutifully bring a plate (with food on it).

Last week was quite busy. On Tuesday morning we looked at Luke 11 where Jesus teaches his disciples the Lord’s Prayer.  This comes up in Matthew 6 too, where it is very similar.  For a long time the injunction ”Lead us not into temptation” was part of it, then it became “Save us from the time of trial” or something similar. I remember a dear friend of mine explaining that a God who loves us cannot lead us into temptation.  I looked up the actual Greek text, and it is far more nuanced.  The verb is aorist and subjunctive, which is missing in translation which renders it as a command. The subjunctive expresses something that might happen; perhaps would that it may not happen. I think the sense is for the Lord to protect us from being put to the test (and perhaps be tempted to deny Him?) What a wonderful mood the subjunctive is, in both Latin and Greek.

On Wednesday morning there was hymn singing followed by Te Reo Māori, where we began to learn about the poi. It’s hard to swing it correctly, although it looks so easy. Many of us managed to hit ourselves.

On Thursday morning it was singing in the Khandallah Town Hall, where there was a great turnout.  It’s been really cold the past week with severe frosts in the morning followed by fine sunny days, before the temperature drops again. It’s lovely to have fine days, but they come with very cold evenings, nights and mornings.

On Friday morning there was a funeral service for the daughter of a friend of mine, who died from the return of her cancer a few days ago.  I went to that, and although I was 20 minutes early, there were already a great many people there. The service did not finish till well after 12 noon, and I slipped away to get home as I had someone from Access coming at 12:30.  Usually she comes around 3 pm, but today for some reason she was scheduled to come at 12:30. I did manage to get home before she came, but I missed having refreshments in the church hall after the service. It was nice to go to a Christian funeral.

The sermon this morning was about prayer, as was the Tamariki time. We are reminded that if don’t know how to pray, we can say the Lord’s prayer, which covers all bases. The woman who did Prayers for Others also spoke beautifully. I guess we’re all thinking of the dreadful pictures of emaciated children in Gaza. We also remember how special children are to the Lord.

That’s it for now. I’m looking forward to going to another concert on Friday week with the NZSO playing music by Stravinsky, Dukas and Mussorgsky; also to Verdi’s Masked Ball. What a treat! 

The wars in Ukraine and Gaza drag on, seemingly with President Putin of Russia and Prime Minister Netanyahu being prepared to sacrifice hundreds of lives, including children and other civilians, to wars with seemingly impossible endings. What tragedies. Meanwhile, we can pray. Slava Ukraini!

I will write about the visit of some of our loved ones in my next blog. Ngā mihi nui.

..

The classic view of the beginning of Zealandia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s now Tuesday 20 May.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s now Saturday 31 May

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s now Sunday 27 April, 2025. Kia ora!

“Who am I to judge?”

Last night we watched the BBC version of the Pope’s funeral.  It was very moving, but less hushedly reverential than American versions. How impressive it was!  The coffin was a plain wooden box, with no flowers, no adornment, not even handles. The pallbearers (14) carried it on some sort of float, not a trolley (after the service). It must have been quite heavy.  It’s reported that there were 400,000 people attending the Mass. It was a beautifully fine day with a slight breeze. I wondered how the cardinals kept their “skullcaps” on, since they mostly had very little hair and so could not use hatpins.  Actually they’re called zucchetto.  Perhaps they used glue to keep them on.

This funeral really reflected the humility of Pope Francis in many ways. One of them was that the trésor of the Catholic church was not evident and not used. I remember visits to churches in 2010 when one would pay extra € to go downstairs and see the treasure: richly jewelled emblems of church insignia. Instead there was an icon of the Mary and child – an eastern relic, not a famous Renaissance painting (of which there are many).  On our 2010 visit I tried to catalogue the different styles of Madonna and Child paintings.

The only drawback was the comments rolling throughout the broadcast. I tried not to look at them – some were very disrespectful. Come on, people! 

There were many senior Catholic clerics, many of them very finely adorned, but not all wore splendid robes. I have to say there were very few women, and not many nuns even, there. I do find the bishops’ tall white hats (mitres) slightly ridiculous. Never mind. Most people like to dress up.

Later in the Basilica there were children and even a baby in a pram.

The concelebrated Requiem Mass was held outside. Everyone was impeccably well behaved. I thought of the well-managed British celebrations – the late Queen’s platinum jubilee, her funeral, and her son’s coronation, which had horses sometimes (rarely) behaving badly, but this was superb too.  

The music was amazingly good and the sound recording excellent. The mass was mostly sung apart from the homily, which was spoken in Italian, a beautiful language to listen to.  It voiced many of Pope Francis’ beliefs, including one that no one wins in a war – build bridges, not walls, he would say.

It was interesting to see world leaders (not Netanyahu) relegated to not being the centre of attention.  There was a loud clap as President Zelensky arrived. During the sign of peace, Trump did his strange handshake on President Macron, almost ripping his arm off. But even he was well-behaved, although mercifully we didn’t see much of him. Apparently he was really looking forward to the Pope’s funeral (as you don’t). Apparently he slept through parts of it, and had to be prompted to offer the sign of peace. That shows how often he goes to church!

Afterwards we were shown a photo of Trump and Zelensky talking in St Peter’s Basilica. Apparently this took place before the Pope’s funeral.  Evidently Trump now believes that Putin has been stringing him along, and shouldn’t have dropped missiles on Kiev. Actually it’s not Zelensky’s fault! Fancy that!

The distribution of the Eucharist was very efficient, for such a large crowd. Unusually, anyone was invited to take part – you didn’t have to be a Catholic.

After the funeral mass there were representatives from the Orthodox Church who gave a blessing.  They have a different liturgy, but Francis was their pope, too. They were included in the service. Some of them were even more ornate!

After the Requiem Mass, the funeral was taken inside the Basilica where close family went in for a few minutes.  I am so glad that I’ve been there – twice!  It is huge, and magnificent. 

All these events seem very significant, seeing as I’ve just finished reading Conclave by Robert Harris (a very fine book), and we’ve just had Easter. It seemed so appropriate that the Pope held on despite severe illness to just after Easter Sunday; or, alternatively, that God didn’t take him until after Easter. It’s also significant that we were in Rome at the end of November last year, and we visited the Sistine chapel, where the next Conclave will be held.

Next the coffin was driven through Rome, in what they call the Pope-mobile, to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore: past the Colosseum, to quite near the Termini Railway Station. Crowds of people lined the route all the way there. I am ashamed to say that we haven’t visited this church. But there are many famous churches in Rome, and we have visited several of them: one of the most famous is the Pantheon, but we’ve also been to Santa Maria Victoria, with the famous Bernini sculpture of St Teresa’s Ecstasy, and the church of St Ignatius Loyola; also the famous church in the Piazza del Populo with the Caravaggio frescoes. Actually there are two famous churches there. Really all of Rome is a monument, and whatever you choose to see, you’ll inevitably be missing out on some other things.

In this magnificent Basilica there were flowers: children laid them at the base of the altar.  This burial was a much more humble occasion, from what we could see of it.

Last Friday was Anzac Day.  I must admit there seemed to be less fuss than usual, coming as it did right after Easter. We went to New World in Thorndon on the Saturday afterwards, and although we saw posters for the RSA’s Cranzac (Anzac biscuits with cranberries) biscuits, we did not see the biscuits themselves. In my opinion, why would you add anything to an already delicious Anzac biscuit?  Although I have to admit that JD buys them with chocolate icing, and that’s delicious too.

On Friday afternoon my cleaning lady from Access came, back from her trip home to Columbia!  How lovely it was to see her again. She’s an efficient cleaner, and always mops the wooden entrance area to our house, which I appreciate. How glad I am to have her back. She remembers where everything is and what to do here.

It’s now Saturday 3 May.

It’s been quite an eventful week, with lots of changes. I went to Tai Chi on Monday, and Bible Study on Tuesday. Then I caught a bus into town and walked to Takina, the new conference centre, to go to Ticketek and get tickets for a concert next Friday evening. I have wrestled with Ticketmaster online, but it’s nicer, and cheaper, if way more trouble, to buy the tickets in person. The concert we’re going to is the NZSO conducted by Susuki, playing Bach, Mozart and Beethoven – my favourite composers!

After that I walked to Kaffee Eis in Cuba St to have lunch, and then to the Lighthouse Cinema in Wigan Street to see the Cillian Murphy movie, Small Things Like These. It’s a slow-moving movie, but a touching story, beautifully acted by Murphy, with not too much about the Catholic nuns being unkind to pregnant girls. That, of course, forms the back drop, but it didn’t dominate. It was a fine day, so good to do lots of walking.

The next day the weather was dreadful – the beginning of the big storm. Hymn singing was cancelled but the Te Reo class was still on.  I talked to someone afterwards and thus missed a bus, and asked JD to pick me up, since it was cold and raining. On our way we saw several trees blown down.

On Thursday morning my singing session restarted. Although the weather was atrocious, there was a good turnout with three new people!  I had gone out to get the newspaper early in the morning, and while it was calm in the master bedroom, it was pretty wild outside. It was very windy indeed in Ganges Road.

My cousin had booked to fly up from Christchurch for a Floral Art Conference to be held at Takina.  The plan was to meet her at the airport, take her to her hotel to check in, and chill out somewhere (where, exactly?) before having dinner at Ortega Fish Shack in Majoribanks Street. None of us had been there, but we’d had good reports from one of my sons and from her granddaughter. But the storm, with severe winds, meant that her flight was cancelled. So there was great uncertainty over her re-booking, and what to do about the dinner reservation.  It meant my grandson could come over on Thursday afternoon after all – in the event he did not come. JD and I decided to move the dinner reservation to Friday evening – this meant it was for 7:30, not 6:30 pm.

It ended up that my cousin was to fly up early on Saturday morning; meanwhile, I confirmed the dinner reservation at Ortega for JD and myself for Friday evening, but sadly we could not come earlier.  So we went out on Friday night: it was dark, and the weather was awful, being cold and windy although the rain held off.  Parking was a dreadful problem!  All out usual haunts didn’t work: they were either bike lanes, closed off by cones, or Residents’ Parking Only or Coupon Parking. In desperation, we parked some way down Kent Terrace, and walked back to Majoribanks Street.  We shivered as we waited to cross roads at controlled crossings.

Ortega was lovely, although it’s quite small and pretty noisy. We were warmly welcomed, although I have to confess that it was very dark and I had trouble reading the menu. The drinks were delicious: I had a Bellini, and JD a glass of Prosecco, and a glass of Chardonnay.  I had smoked warehou rillettes, and JD a baguette with butter – we shared these, and they were delicious, too. Then I had schnapper and he had terakihi for our main courses.  For dessert we shared crêpes with an orange and caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. It was very rich, and we were glad we’d decided to share.  Afterwards it was surprisingly late, and we headed out into the cold back to the car. We should have left it in Johnsonville and caught a bus!

The next morning we were due to meet my cousin at the airport at 8:10 am!  I set the alarm on my phone for 6:10 am, figuring we should leave by 7:30 am. To my relief, JD was awake, and the newspaper was in the driveway. But my main surprise was that it was fine and much warmer! A beautiful day. We had a good run to the airport (25 minutes!) and were there in plenty of time to meet her. Then we drove to Takina, found a carpark nearby, and enjoyed morning tea together: oat lattés, cheese scones, and a delicious banana bread with hokey-pokey butter. We couldn’t eat it all, so brought some home afterwards. After a good chat, we delivered my cousin to her conference and came home and had a rest before going out again to do our weekly shop. This time JD did buy a packet of Cranzac biscuits: it’s $8 for a pack of 5!! We each had one after lunch, and they’re not even crisp!  How disappointing.

That’s it for now!  Many of us are looking forward to the French Film Festival, coming in June. Let’s hope there are some great movies! There’s been a dearth of good movies lately.  Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

Pope Francis dies at 88 years of age

It’s now Friday 16^th April, 2025. Kia ora!

It’s been quite a while since I last blogged. I’m unwilling to comment on US politics, or any politics much, so that doesn’t leave a great deal to write about! But I will say, with relief, that New Zealand’s infamous Treaty Principles Bill was voted down at its second reading. Hopefully that’s the end of it.

Last week turned out to be a busy one, as sometimes happens. I went to Tai chi on Monday and Bible Study on Tuesday morning, then saw a dear friend on Tuesday afternoon. It was so good, talking to her and her husband, to have a more “high brow” conversation.  I did enjoy it.

On Wednesday morning I went to hymn singing, but I didn’t go on to a movie after that – I didn’t really feel up to it, or enthused by the choice of movies on offer.

On Thursday it was the final Thursday singing session for Term 1. For some reason, they’ve gone away from having catered lunches and we were all asked to bring some food to share.  I agonized, of course, over what to bring – whether to buy something like a slice or mini-biscuits from the supermarket (they’re quite expensive), or enlist JD in making my go-to solution – asparagus rolls. In the end, the rolls won out: I figured I could take a small plate to singing, and keep a plate here for the grandchildren who were due to come that afternoon.  JD was dispatched to buy white sandwich bread, and he did, at least it was labelled as such, but seemed as though there’d been a healthy addition of whole meal flour, and it was not sliced very thinly.

Still, the asparagus rolls were a success, although I had a contretemps with the microwave when softening the butter. Fifteen seconds meant it was melted, not softened. So I tried ten seconds, and it was barely softened. Five seconds more, and it was still quite firm. I had though half an hour would be plenty of time, but was glad we’d started early, as it took longer than expected.  Still, the rolls were well received, being easy to eat, and not messy; they don’t need heating either. In the event, there was way too much food, and some obviously store-bought. In these situations it would be helpful to have an indication as to whether to bring sweet or savoury food, or even cheese, crackers and fruit.

On Friday someone whom I hadn’t met before was supposed to come and do some cleaning, and I was ready for them too, but Access rang and said they had so much sickness that they couldn’t send anyone.  A reprieve!  That seems sad, but I dislike having someone in the house whom I haven’t met before, and showing him or her where everything is.

On Saturday there was a singing workshop, For Singing’s Sake, at Queen Margaret College.  This was due to start at 10 am. I’d offered a friend in Khandallah a lift, forgetting JD had to be in Days Bay by 11 am. In the event it all worked out fine. I prepared a small flask of espresso coffee, as I’ve done before, and a sandwich and crackers.  We were supposed to wear green and white, and of course I agonized over what to wear: how cold would it be in the hall?  I wore dark green corduroy trousers, with a white linen short and a light green top (which I later removed). It was a beautifully fine, sunny day, but it can be cool out of the sun.

The workshop was very enjoyable, with seven choirs, about 200 singers, and three choir leaders: our Andrea Robinson, Susie Hardie, and of course the enthusiastic Lala Simpson.  We were seated in the hall –  quite close together.

We learnt three songs together, during the morning, and then after a lunch break practiced as individual choirs to sing two songs during the afternoon’s concert. There was a good turn out from the Khandallah folk, and I think we sang well.  It’s good to make a good sound, which I fear some groups did not. Afterwards my friend’s husband brought us both home.  That evening I had a slight sore throat, and I hoped nothing would come of it.

The next day, Sunday, I was to do the Palm Sunday reading, from Luke’s Gospel, chapter 19 verses 28 – 40. There is no mention of palms! Instead, the disciples throw their cloaks on the ground. I wore a purple velvet cloak that I had worn as part of my going-away outfit (yes, back in the day women wore going-away outfits!), but I didn’t really want anyone to walk on it! I checked and purple is an appropriate colour for Lent or Advent.

The minister highlighted the contrast between Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, and a Roman military parade where a successful general would be allowed a parade in Rome, to much acclamation. Jesus’ parade was a much more humble one.

Again it was a beautiful day, and I persuaded JD to have lunch at Days Bay, where we could watch the harbour in the glorious sunlight.  We were going to go to Sea Salt, a favourite of ours, but just eat off the children’s menu and not have cocktails, coffee or dessert.  But when we got there, and found somewhere to park, it was not open – it’s under New Management, with a New Menu. That’s a shame, I rather liked the old menu. So we had lunch at the Chocolate Dayz Café nearby, and although it was around 1:30 pm their kitchen was closed!  We had Turkish pies, which they reheated, with salad, and shared a mixed berry and custard tart – this was delicious, but I did not enjoy the pie, or the coffee.

Afterwards we went shopping at New World in Thorndon, and I started to feel very unwell.  And so my cold developed, and I apologized, one by one, for all the activities I was going to do during the week.

On Monday I was taking things quietly, between having a very runny nose, when suddenly the power went off. There had been no warning of this. Evidently a transformer not far away had caught on fire, and this caused an electricity outage for many hours.  Two of our grandchildren were to come over at 1: 30 pm, so I asked their father by text if he knew what was going on.  We had no internet connection, and no hot water – we have gas Infinity hot water, but the meters are powered by electricity. He said the fault was caused by a fire in Churton Park; at that stage 1146 houses were affected,  and the power was due to come on again at 2:40 pm. So we made sandwiches for lunch, and our grandchildren did some lovely drawing. This resulted in looking at some of our art books.  When our son came to pick up his children, we got another update: the fire – a transformer – was nearby, and our power was not to be restored until 11:30 that night!  Now 146 houses were affected.

Thankfully it was no cold.  JD and I drove to Khandallah to have hot coffee and hot cross buns, toasted, since we couldn’t do that at home.  It being a Monday, there were few cafés open, and it was dangerously close to their closing time –  4pm or earlier. We had already decided to have takeaways that evening – Johnsonville was not affected by the outage.

When we got home, I searched for candles and matches, while we still had daylight.  Then I continued to read my book, Conclave, while it was light enough to do so.  Thankfully I had my kindle, so I would be able to read from that in the dark. By 6 pm it was dark, and all the candles were let. They did not generate much light, and one would have to be careful not to knock one over. I was very cautious about making sure that each candle had somewhere for the molten wax to go.

We had takeaways for dinner, and some pudding: we shared an apple pie JD had bought in Khandallah, and had some melting ice cream with it. It was terribly dark, and still early!  I had managed to get our gas heater going, so we had some heating. I went to bed early, and did go to sleep, in spite of not having access to my podcasts or audio books. I woke up at 11:35, and the power was still not on, but it came on a few minutes later.  Thankfully I’d turned off the lights in the master bedroom. I looked at the local news – there was no talk of the outage!  But it was great to have Wi-Fi working again! I think I could handle a planned outage much better. This was quite challenging.

Although I’d felt better on Monday, Tuesday was not a good day.  I took things very quietly, but I finished reading Conclave. It’s a great novel, actually. Robert Harris makes Lomeli a very sympathetic character, in my view. I was glad I’d read the book. I enjoyed reading it.

On Wednesday, as indicated, I sent apologies for most activities. The fortnightly Te Reo class was cancelled too – the teacher had a cold!  That was disappointing – I was looking forward to reviewing Easter and Anzac Day, which mean so much in Māori.

It’s now Tuesday 22 April.

I missed most of the Holy Week activities because of my cold. Thankfully it has remained a head cold, but I don’t want to pass it on and I do want to recover.  I missed the Maundy Thursday service, and the Good Friday service and the Pilgrimage of the Cross. However I did take part in these activities last year. I’ve done a lot of listening to Bach’s St Matthew Passion – I’ve found a really good recording, and I know the work almost as well as I know Handel’s Messiah.  I did go to church on Easter Sunday.  However it’s been a rather gloomy and lonely time, with no movies that I really want to see.  The weather’s been weird here: it was really hot on Sunday, although raining off and on. It’s now cooler.

Yesterday we went up the road to our local supermarket. We set out to walk, but went back to get the car as it threatened to rain much harder.  The store was evidently trying to catch up after being closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday – there were large gaps in the shelves.

The big news that came through yesterday was the death of Pope Francis.  Evidently he’d seen Vice President J.D. Vance briefly beforehand. However we are mostly, if not all, moved by the death of this extraordinary Pope, who was a Jesuit and Argentinian.  He certainly made his mark with his advocating of kindness. As Tim Miller pointed out, he was always smiling.  Despite his recent severe illness, he took part in Easter celebrations at St Peter’s Basilica, and gave the Urbi et Orbe blessing. What a fine note to bow out on.

As it happens, I’ve just finished reading Conclave by Robert Harris, so I’m well briefed on (and slightly more sympathetic to) the procedure for the Conclave – the election of the new Pope.

Yesterday we had another power cut. JD and I returned home from the shops, and he couldn’t open the garage door (i.e. his garage door opener didn’t work). He told the workmen, who evidently didn’t realise the power was out. I came on again after about 30 minutes. Earlier that day I had walked with JD up the road where a generator grunts away giving us power, while workmen work to replace the transformer that caught on fire. Civilisation hangs by such a thread.

Easter Holy Week fell on the same date for the Catholic Church and the Orthodox church, which is evidently unusual.  On Palm Sunday there was a Russian drone strike on Sumy, a Ukrainian town, killing several civilians.  Putin declared a 48 hour cease fire over Easter weekend, but the Ukrainians advise that this was broken.  It seems that the US may give up Trump’s promise to end

the war right away on his election. Slava Ukraini! That’s it for now. Ngā mihi nui.

Apologies for a few typos in this blog.  For some reason WordPress will not let me fix them.

Sunrise, Claude Monet

Boulevard des Capucines, Claude Monet

Today is Sunday 16 March, 2025. Kia ora!

This morning I woke up to a beautiful photo of my latest granddaughter in the UK. She’s now 8 months old. What a lovely, happy baby she is. I’m sure she’ll be correcting her brainy parents as soon as she can speak!  Last night we spoke to our grandson in Taipei.  He’s beautiful, too, of course, and he enhanced his image with a lot of Tiktok filters (I assume).  What a blessing grandchildren are!

It’s been an interesting time, needless to say.  Much of it has been expected; but there’s been far more than was promised in the US.  Meanwhile, we’re glad not to be there, although Winston Peters has announced a war on woke, whatever that is.

On the home front, the weather’s been mixed. Some days have been warm and fine (up to 23C!) although it always gets cold at night. There’ve been some cold snaps too, when one gets a jersey out.

The season of Lent rolls on. There was a Shrove Tuesday celebration at my church, which I did not attend (the weather was awful!) but I went to my first Ash Wednesday service the following day. It was an ecumenical service at St Mary’s Cathedral in Boulcott Street. It was a lovely service, although I doubt it that’s the appropriate word to use as we recall death and its meaning.  The church was almost full! I lined up to get the ashes on my forehead, too, and caught a bus home afterwards. Being autumn, it was still daylight. I was pleased that I went.

Last Friday I went to see the movie Tinā with a friend of mine. I had watched the trailer, and although I knew it was sad I thought the sadness was just at the beginning. Silly me! It had many sad, as well as joyful moments. I was profoundly moved by it: I remembered a lovely Samoan lady in the Manners Street branch of the National Bank (years ago) who always had a flower in her hair, behind one ear; I was reminded of the dreadful big earthquake in Christchurch: we were in Invercargill at the time, and did feel some shaking: we had just been through Christchurch the night before!  We flew home from Dunedin, and so did not return to Christchurch at that time. We were shocked by the devastation, and the hundreds of deaths.  I was very relieved that my cousin and her whanau were all alright, although their homes had sustained some damage. There was significant disruption for years afterwards that was visible every time I visited.

This was another religious film (after Conclave): the heroine belonged to a Samoan Catholic Church, and taught at a Catholic secondary school – for supposedly privileged youngsters whose parents could afford the fees.  I was especially moved by the beautiful singing, from Dave Dobbyn’s Welcome Home, to Nearer my God, to Thee, to When Peace like a River || Attendeth my way. Fortunately in a dark movie theatre you can cry quite discreetly.

Watching television at home has been another challenge, now that we’ve finished watching Vera (again!) and The Spoils of War on You Tube. We watched an episode of Apple Cider Vinegar, and an episode of Zero Day (even Robert de Niro can’t rescue this series for me), and of course Season 3 of The White Lotus. I don’t like TWL, and I’m determined not to advocate for that kind of holiday, but one has to watch it to know what all the never-ending publicity’s about.

We’ve been watching the series on TVNZ about the Lockerbie bombing, The Search for Truth, starring Colin Firth as Jim Swire. Last night we watched two episodes of The Pitt on Neon TV. Although it’s a medical drama it’s not too gory, and I found it quite watchable despite the some of characters being “there for each other” in a frustrating way.  I was impressed that if someone dies the attending staff hold a moment’s (actually a few seconds) silence for the person who has passed.

It’s now Friday 29 March.

I’ve been watching Adolescence on Netflix. What a profoundly disturbing series! We and our children certainly faced challenges as teenagers, but not with the likes of Andrew Tate and Instagram. Wow!  What an interesting series. Every parent (and grandparent) of teenagers should watch it.

Last Monday JD and I went to see an art film, The Birth of Impressionism, at the Lighthouse theatre in Petone. It was a lovely movie – isn’t French culture wonderful?  This of course inspired much looking at art books after we got home.  This movie didn’t feature Delacroix or Turner, but much of Turner’s work is impressionistic.  Our favourite Monets are one of Sunrise (featured on a beautiful silk scarf I bought at the Orangerie Museum Shop in Paris), and one of people walking in Paris in the snow called Boulevard des Capucines. Note: this was the dawn of Impressionism (in France), as opposed to later beautiful  works of art.

A day or two later I asked about a beautiful sequined jacket in the window of Hamilton and Murray Boutique.  Often I walk past their lovely clothes, thinking that they would date quickly, but this really took my eye, to wear over a black skirt and top.  JD, bless him, took me back to try it on that afternoon.  Well, it fits beautifully, but JD persuaded me to get a sparkly black jacket instead, claiming quite rightly that I’d get much more wear out of it – its being suitable for day or night wear.  The lovely jacket I’d so admired would also snag very easily, so one would have to be very careful with it.  JD claimed it made me look like a Chinese grandmother. I retorted that in fact I am a Chinese grandmother – two of my grandchildren have a Chinese mother.

It’s been quite a busy week, in its way. On Thursday morning my singing group was to sing at the Bupa Retirement Home in Crofton Downs.  We were required to be there by 10:30 am, but we were much earlier than that.  I think the singing went all right – it was certainly well received, but I always find these events a bit confronting!  It’s upsetting, of course, to see so many infirm older people – not that many of us are much better!

Afterwards JD picked up my friend and me, but since he had a 1 pm appointment, we didn’t stay to have morning tea in Crofton Downs, at Bupa or the Mitre 10 store or the shopping centre. Instead, JD dropped us both off at Khandallah and we had morning tea there. Then I caught a bus home.

On Thursday evening we went to a concert with the NZSO and Gemma New conducting Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.  Neither of us felt very well, and JD claimed we could leave early if we wanted to.  We didn’t eat before the concert – it started at 6: 30 pm, which is quite early.

I wanted to wear my new jacket, with a black skirt and light black top underneath, and a silk scarf. The problem was we needed to attach a brooch, and time was running out.  I scanned existing clothes for brooches – they’re complicated, with attachments that need to be twisted around, and, in many cases, safety chains! In all cases they proved difficult to undo from their existing attachments.  The jacket buttons are gold: should we choose a gold or silver based brooch?  Problems, problems.  Eventually I grabbed one to put on in the car.

We set off and actually got a car park outside the police station in Harris Street, my first choice. The next challenge was to get to the MFC. The lovely pedestrian area is mostly blocked off!  But we got there, way too early, after all. I had downloaded and printed off the notes sent by Ticketmaster beforehand, so we could read those.

The concert was very well attended. There was an overture by Gareth Farr, and then a new piece by a French composer (I forget his name) with perhaps 6 movements. There was a wonderful flautist for this debut performance wearing a marvellous red velvet trouser suit.

After the interval we had the pièce de resistance, the Pictures at an Exhibition. This was very well performed, with great enthusiasm. It was very enjoyable, and I reminded him that this was what we’d gone to some trouble to get tickets for. We had found Takina, and waited to get tickets there – Ticketmaster was having some issues, both with them and with me. We were so pleased that we’d been.

Afterwards, it was still quite early, so we called at New World in Thorndon to get something to share and eat: a mini-quiche, a vegetarian (spinach and chick peas) “sausage” roll (ugh!), a small apple pie, and affogato ice cream. They did not have my favourite vanilla ice-creams from Lewis Road Creamery or Motueka Creamery.  What we did eat was delicious.

The Sermons have been quite wonderful recently, with the Minister combining lessons from the Old and New Testaments, as we travel through this time of Lent.

I’m a bit behind with podcasts at present: there are lots, and many interesting ones on Times Radio.  The videos on YouTube are easier to watch in many cases, as you can stop and restart.  But on many of them ones sees men scratching their heads! I’m sure they wouldn’t do this if they could see themselves doing it. Their mothers would not be best pleased.

It’s now Sunday 30 March

This morning I went to church and enjoyed it. The minister related the entry of the Children of Israel to the Promised Land, after spending forty years in the wilderness (as related in Joshua 5) to the Father’s reception of the prodigal son in Luke 15. An old friend of mine who now attends Johnsonville Uniting Church was there; it was lovely to speak to her.  Afterwards JD’s brother and his fiancée called in for a few minutes. Later we had lunch at Sea Salt in Days Bay; then we went to the Rona Gallery, which was having an exhibition and a closing down sale.  I suspect the best paintings had already gone; most of the rest were very expensive. But JD bought a small painting – one of the “Make an offer” ones.  Then we had the delicious challenge of wondering where to hang it!  I’m still getting to like it: I like to think that Our Art Collection will be worth seeing, of not actually worth very much in financial terms, in the future!

It’s an unsettling and unsettled time in many respects.  The ceasefires in Gaza and Ukraine seem very tentative, so much so that one wonders if they will ever happen. What a great deal has changed on the world stage in the last few weeks! And then there’s been a huge earthquake in Myanmar, which has affected Thailand as well. It’s not what you would think of as an earthquake area. The death toll in Myanmar keeps rising – it’s now over 1,600.

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

It’s now Friday 28 February, 2025. Kia ora!

I haven’t written lately, as the changes in the US are too overwhelming.  Where does one start?  Elon Musk’s trail of destruction is being well documented. While the new cabinet is distressing, it’s hard to believe that medical research has been halted and that vaccines have been discredited, and food inspection eliminated. It’s all very depressing, as is Trump’s vision for Gaza and ham-fisted attempts to end the war in Ukraine.  His allying with Putin rather than the US’s traditional allies is also very upsetting; then there’s the fact that in recent German elections the far-right AFD got 20% of the vote, mainly in East Germany. Even here in New Zealand some science research initiatives are no  longer being funded by the coalition government. Now they propose introducing a bill to enable four-year terms in future. This will probably pass, although I don’t know when it is expected to begin.

People are asking about Trump’s policies. I think that is giving him far too much credit. He is, and continues to be, unpredictable. There is little in the way of policy apart from what seems like deliberate cruelty.

Meanwhile, what a sad place Wellington is. JD was recently looking at a video of Chinese towns being in a sad state; I wondered aloud if he was looking at a photo of Johnsonville.  In the city and surrounding suburbs, bike lanes predominate, and I always say, with deep irony, “Just look at all the bikes!” I’ve yet to see a bike on a single bike lane.  Meanwhile, car parks have been removed. It’s proposed to make Courtenay Place, as well as Lambton Quay, free of vehicles. Why would you even go there? Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Nicola Willis calls for growth. In Indian restaurants, perhaps? For wealthy individuals to emigrate here.

It’s a sad and sorry situation, where there have been very few movies worth seeing.  The bus information has been lying recently, as buses either haven’t conformed with the information given, or the information is very different from what one remembers from the timetable. Sometimes buses just don’t arrive. The #25 bus from Khandallah is a good service, going through the CBD, but sometimes that doesn’t turn up, thus wrecking one’s personal timetable for whatever one planned to do.

We’ve been watching a British series called The Spoils on War on YouTube. It’s set mainly in England in 1945 after VE Day, when the war in Europe was over, and people faced decisions about their futures. The series centres on two families, one perhaps lower middle class and one high born, whose futures are entwined through marriage and politics. There are interesting wishes and political values, while people come to terms with being de-mobbed, seeing loved ones again, and the current state their in, and the ramifications of it all. Then there’s the war in the Pacific and use of the atom bomb, and great hopes are cut down to size. I found the early episodes very interesting.

Last week I managed to see the movie I’m Still Here at Brooklyn’s Penthouse. I caught a bus from Khandallah after hymn singing, and got there far too early for the 1 pm screening. Still, the Penthouse wasn’t busy, and I had lunch before resting on one of their very comfortable sofas.

The movie was in the Vogue suite, with a handful of viewers, but one lady’s phone went off reading the RNZ 1 pm news very loudly! That was upsetting. It took her ages to realise it was her phone, and then she didn’t seem to know how to turn the sound down.

Still, the movie was amazing and well worth seeing. It’s centered around a family in Rio de Janeiro who live close to the famous Copacabana beach during the 1970’s.  There is martial law, and a military dictatorship. They know this is a dangerous time, and send their eldest daughter to London with family friends. Some plain clothes heavies turn up, and take the husband/father away to make a deposition. He doesn’t return, and then the mother and next eldest daughter are taken away.  The mother and daughter are blindfolded and taken to a prison where they are held in separate cells. The sound effects are terrifying – we hear people screaming as they are being tortured, although we don’t see it. The daughter is held for one night, the mother for several nights, and then she is returned home. The house is watched.  The bank cannot release funds without the husband’s signature, so they have to let the cook go.  Eventually the mother and her children leave their family home to move to their grandparents’ apartment in Sao Paulo, a far cry from the family home. Meanwhile, Eunice is fighting for some acknowledgment that her husband has been arrested. This eventually arrives; years later she receives a death certificate, with no knowledge of how her husband died, or handing over of his body. There are several poignant moments in the film: the song Je t’aime played at the eldest daughter’s farewell party (with someone saying it’s just as well the children don’t understand the French lyrics); Eunice and her husband play backgammon before he is taken away; and they have five children. We were married in the 1970’s so it’s very real. The family leaving their home is desperately sad, as is the dawning realization that Eunice’s husband will not return. They don’t even know what happened to him.

It’s now Sunday 2 March

Yesterday morning the first video I looked at on You Tube was a Bulwark one, reacting to the Oval Office shake-down of President Zelensky by Trump and J.D. Vance. Well, that was just the beginning. I then watched several Times Radio podcasts, which had mainly British commentators, and some on London’s LBC. Then there were several emergency broadcasts: Shield of the Republic, a Bulwark weekly podcast, was especially interesting: Eric Edelman, one of the two anchors, is a very diplomatic person (actually he was a diplomat), but yesterday I heard him swearing using the F word.  It has been interesting listening to him and his co-host, Eliot Cohen, vent over the last few weeks. They used to discuss strategy. I guess that no longer applies.  There was an emergency podcast by The Rest is Politics, by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, and I even listened to The Rest is Politics US with Anthony Scaramucci and Katty Kay. I have avoided this one to date, mainly because I never want to listen to Anthony Scaramucci. I listened to James Carville’s War Room podcast. Today I’ve listened to the Telegraph’s Ukraine The Latest, Lawfare and Battleground emergency podcasts.  Suffice to say that everyone was shocked. The US commentators are mainly embarrassed, the English ones viscerally appalled.   Such a display of rudeness!  Zelensky was criticized for not wearing a suit; several commentators have pointed out that Elon Musk doesn’t wear a suit; he wears black and doesn’t even take his hat off in the Oval Office.

An extra point: the Shield of the Republic podcast spoke about Trump being deified, something I have feared. As JD says, you can’t spell “deified” without DEI!

This interchange reminded me of the first debate between Biden and Trump in 2019 before the presidential election, which Joe Biden won. A similar level of bullying went on there, and everyone was shocked by it.  It felt like a “Me Too” moment for men, as though they’d been attacked or improperly touched at an unexpected moment. How short some memories are.

So this was one of those moments where you look back and remember exactly where you were when you heard the interchange that took place, and just wanted to vomit afterwards.  Then one had to hear it replayed on virtually every program that criticized it. The profundity of these few minutes and their meaning should be clear to anyone: that the post World War Two Order has changed, and not only can the US not be relied on to support Ukraine, or indeed Europe, but its president is actively supporting President Putin of Russia. Of course, there have been many signs pointing to this, but surely it is plainly evident now: to prevent further encroachment by Putin, the European countries must unite to prevent this, and defend Ukraine.  I guess Brexit was a key to this, isolating the UK from Europe in every way, never mind the lies told to sell this decision and the disastrous effects of it. Oh dear, oh dear.  It is just so sad that this war continues, and the brave Ukrainians are amazingly innovative fighters, now in year three; they’re also doing it on our behalf.

Actually we used to speak about “perfidious Albion”, but one remembers some of the despicable acts by the US as it pursued whatever its then foreign policy was, and the dreadful effects of these sometimes covert actions. Still, they have maintained military bases in many places overseas since the second World War, and this has been effective. They can take credit for holding NATO together.  When we first went to Europe in the early 1970’s, the US was greatly loathed, for whatever reasons. We were at pains to point out that we weren’t American.

In many instances the Americans have such a simplistic view of any conflict: there are good guys and bad guys. The situation is usually far more nuanced.

This reminded me of two other key events of 2019: Trump getting Covid, and the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Both sparked emergency podcasts. The death of RBG was particularly significant, leading to the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

It seems that President Macron of France and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the UK had better success with their Oval Office meetings with Trump, flattering him, although both contradicted his lies (which he repeated); but then their nations aren’t at war. By the way, why do the British press give Starmer such a hard time? He does lack charisma, I’ll admit, but he’s intelligent and holds his own on the world stage (such a quaint phrase). And surely he’s a million miles better than Boris Johnson, Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak.  That’s got to be a relief.

On a brighter note, we had beautiful services at the church I go to on Sunday mornings both today and last Sunday morning. Last week we had the story of Joseph, and one from Luke’s Gospel about giving generously, and loving your enemies. This was about forgiveness. Today is Transfiguration Sunday, and we had the story from Exodus about Moses going up Mount Sinai to listen to the Lord God, and of course Luke’s version of the Transfiguration.  The minister spoke about the challenges of coming back to earth after a “shiny moment”, where faces are transformed by the glory of the Lord.  It’s good to have transcendent moments when you go to church. 

It’s now Monday 3 March.

The fallout continues from the disastrous Oval Office meeting with Zelensky, as people around the world contemplate the implications of this.  It seems that the US now sides with the “bad guys” i.e. Putin, and not with personal freedom, freedom of the press, and a proper sort of democracy. Republicans are again coalescing behind Trump. It’s all very sad. Apparently Luxon says that New Zealand stands behind Ukraine. And what of Gaza and Israel? Last week Trump released an AI generated video of his real estate success in Gaza. Poor Gaza!

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

Today is Tuesday 21 January, 2025. Kia ora!

Donald Trump was inaugurated as US President for the second time on Monday (in the US).  This occasion was memorable for several reasons: Trump did not take his oath of office on the Bible; the high-wealth “tech bros” were seated in prime position (not evangelicals, or proposed cabinet members), and the fact that Melania was dressed all in black, with a broad brimmed hat which covered her eyes and made it impossible for Donald Trump to kiss her. Was she dressed for a funeral? The death of democracy, perhaps? Dark forces vs. the Deep State?

I declared I was not going to watch this event, and I did not, but it has been pretty hard to avoid commentary on it.  The liberal commentators are deeply depressed, for the most part: they’re complaining about the next four years of Trump’s presidency, but who’s to say it will only be four years? Benjamin Wittes spoke about the first day of the Occupation, whereas Trump in a very low-energy speech spoke about Liberation. I doubt of anyone felt liberated, apart from the January 6 2021 rioters, who were uniformly pardoned or had their sentences commuted. It was assumed by Vice President J. D. Vance and senior republicans that violent offenders (some of whom had pled guilty) would not be pardoned, but they were, as Trump had promised. One man was going off to get some guns. Some were dobbed in by family members, who were scared of them. But there’s no parole, no supervision, and no limitation on their future actions.  So Trump will now have his own militia, political violence is acceptable, and the rule of law, imperfect as it is, counts for nothing.

The next day Trump went to a service at the Washington National Cathedral, where a female bishop (Mariann Budde) asked him to extend mercy to marginalised groups, as mercy had been shown to him (by a “loving God”) in a recent assassination attempt. He was not moved, and there are now calls for the bishop, who spoke well and bravely, to be deported herself. During this service Trump obviously did not know the Lord’s Prayer.  Immigration raids can be carried out anywhere, even in schools and churches. A church is no longer a place of refuge. I recently visited Canterbury Cathedral and Durham Cathedral, which were both places of refuge, as I was reminded while I was there. We were asked to be respectful of these places.

I admired what the Bishop said, although I take issue with one statement: she spoke about transgender children. I don’t think children have gender issues before puberty, although I could be wrong here, and puberty can begin as young as 10 years.

Many cruel things are being done. I have to admit that the Democrats seem bemused and confused at this stage, as I think many people are: weary and sad.

It’s now Tuesday 28 January.

Trump has done a number of things, as he said he would. I wonder why Americans are shocked and surprised! He warned people repeatedly of what he would do.  And he made some outlandish promises about lowering prices, later admitting this is hard to do. What is hard to take, and wasn’t forewarned, are his cabinet picks: Matt Gaetz (he later withdrew), Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, and RFK jnr, amongst others. Marco Rubio is seen as a “normal person” and has been confirmed as Secretary of State. Some, such as Kristi Noem, Pam Bondy, and Pete Hegseth have already been confirmed, as they probably will all be. Resistance from republican senators is futile, it seems. So these are shocking appointments.

On the world stage, I find myself hoping that Trump gets the Nobel Peace Prize, strange as that may seem.  Attacking Greenland/Denmark and Panama doesn’t seem at all peace-like. Peace in Ukraine has yet to be achieved. A ceasefire in Israel has been achieved, a complicated arrangement, which appears to be holding so far, and some hostages have been released, and a number of Palestinian prisoners, but Trump has claimed that Palestinians who lived in Gaza should go to Egypt or Jordan and Israel should raze Gaza!  This is ironic from the president who can’t abode migrants in the US. It’s all right for other countries to take them, then. Back in New Zealand, Shane Jones (a NZ First Party politician), said “Send the Mexicans home”.  Whatever prompted that?

It’s now Wednesday 5 February.

It was a busy morning: I went to hymn singing, which has just restarted for the year, and then to Te Reo Māori. Now that hymn singing starts later, I don’t have time for a wee break in between – to have a coffee at Parsons’ Café.  But it was all lovely.  Unfortunately I forgot to take my phone, but I rang from the Community Centre and JD came and picked me up. It was a beautifully warm sunny day, even in Ganges Road, and I was able to sit outside the library in the sunshine to wait for him.

Other things have restarted, such as Bible Study, yesterday morning. We spoke about the movie Conclave – I think I had a rather stoic impression of it!  I’ve been listening to the audiobook of the novel by Robert Harris which it’s based on, and as there is lots of prayer in the book, I rather felt the religious details had been stripped out in the film. Perhaps I should see it again, although my criticisms remain.

I also had a discussion with the minister about bringing political situations into the weekly service of worhip, with particular reference to the short film about the Holocaust that we watched at a recent service in Karori.  I feel more and more that this was inappropriate:  when Jesus was alive (the word made flesh) on earth, although he foretold his death he did not advocate overturning, or protesting against, Roman authority or how dreadful Herod was or even the Roman system of government.  Similarly the apostle Paul, although he foretold his death, and we’re told about some narrow escapes, did not defy governmental authority. The house of God is a house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”). Similarly, there are protocols when one enters a Māori marae, particularly the Wharenui: one is on sacred ground, as is one within a church. Jesus told his followers to “watch and pray”. When I go to church I wish for a break from the dreadful things that may be happening in the world, and somewhere to experience the peace of God, which passes human understanding (Philippians 4:7).

Still, it is tempting to discuss foreign affairs, as we watch the American system of government being dismantled, very quickly.  I’ve been listening to The Rest is History podcast where Tom Holland has recently completed a new translation of Suetonius’ The Lives of the Caesars.  There was a podcast about Tiberius, but last Monday he covered the life of the emperor Caligula.  I couldn’t help comparing this to the present situation in the US. Was Caligula mad, or just mad with power? He certainly did some very unpleasant things, even if some of the more lurid stories about him are perhaps untrue. The Roman Senate was an august body that men on completing a “cursus honorum” (military success) aspired to be elected to. However Caligula got them to vote supreme power to him! They were so subservient that they did so. Then he had his Praetorian Guard to protect him (although one of them eventually murdered him, thus bringing his reign of terror to an end).  Suetonius wrote about recording deeds of the Princeps, and then the monster (that he became).

I think it’s been about two weeks since Trump’s inauguration. In that time, many people have been fired, or their jobs are at risk; all the dreadful nominees to Trump’s cabinet look like being confirmed; Trump has toyed with applying tariffs to Canada, Mexico and China, but he’s held off on the Canada and Mexico ones (for now).  The FBI is being dismantled, despite the ongoing threats of terrorism. What’s he doing? Is there a plan? Meanwhile, the head of the FAA has been sacked, and there was a dreadful plane crash between an airline and an army helicopter in Washington, followed by an air ambulance small plane crash in Philadelphia, in which all six on the plane and one person on the ground were killed. Elon Musk’s minions have access to the US Treasury, which makes many payments to US citizens.  Meanwhile Trump has attempted to revoke birthright citizenship of the US, which is vested in the US Constitution; 17 Inspectors-General have been fired. There was a freeze on all government spending, causing absolute mayhem, not explained, although this was later rescinded. In addition, USAID has been stopped, although this involved aid and vaccines overseas and contracts signed with the US government, and funds approved by the US Congress.  Also, all mention and programs involving DEI have been stopped and any screen relating to climate change has been scrubbed. I’ve probably omitted some things.  Pete Hegseth has been confirmed as Defense Secretary, and Christi Noem as ICE Secretary. All this has been done against the backdrop of the terrible Democratic administration which endeavoured to prevent wars, famine and disease and fight climate change, which is increasingly making more areas of the world uninhabitable – too hot or too wet. Oh, and he’s threatening to abolish FEMA, and disaster relief agency. 

What is worst?  Trump turning America’s allies into enemies?

That’s it for now. It’s Waitangi Day tomorrow. At least there is a treaty, even if it’s not honoured the way many of us would like it to be.  Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

Today is Friday, 10 January 2025. Kia ora! Happy New Year!

We are gradually getting back into the swing of things. On Wednesday I met an old friend for coffee at our local café: judging by the number of people there, and the fact it was cold and wet, many others were relieved to get out of the house and meet at the local – café. We had a lovely catchup: it was good to talk about new granddaughters, studying, travelling and so on.

Yesterday JD and I went to see Conclave at the Lighthouse Cinema in Pauatahanui. While there we encountered an older relation, whom we hadn’t seen for years, and her son who was visiting from Ireland. There was another couple there who were distantly related too. They’re all Catholic, and JD was raised Catholic, so while I had many issues with the film I kept them to myself while we were there!

It’s a good film, I guess, and well acted; the costumes (of the men) are amazing. I probably want to read Robert Harris’ book on which it’s based. But the sound was far too loud; the sung music, while attractive, was not well presented (balance? timing? Integration? Sound?); it could have been wonderful, of course.  The Joseph Fiennes character spoke about the great sin of certainty, without putting it in any kind of context. I remember a conversation I had years ago with a Catholic friend who claimed that we don’t really know what happens after death. While that is true on some levels, I am quite certain about my faith and that the afterlife will be a happy, glorious experience, where there will be no more sorrow or weeping.

Another of the things that really frustrated me was the absence of Truth or Grace (Jesus was “full of grace and truth”, John 1: 14), or the Holy Spirit, although there were prayers apparently.  But it seemed to be a very human interaction, with no spiritually other than that shown by the Cardinal from Kabul (he had other secrets, too, of course!).  Spirituality was absent, it seemed. 

Another thing that so annoyed me was the artificiality of the situation. While the cardinals are following arcane rituals (like the English Queen’s death, or the coronation of King Charles III), this ritual (which purported to be in the Sistine Chapel, but was not – I was there recently!), represented elderly celibate men, no women or children. The cardinals wear ornate and colourful robes – the women are dressed all in black, as they serve the men. While this difference and lack of appreciation of what women do is a cause of severe frustration amongst Catholica women, the church seems loth to do anything about it.  The Conclave does not represent human family life at all. And there seemed to be no place given to leadership qualities, humility, or spirituality at all. Rather it seemed to be about what skeletons you may have in your past, and whether you hold liberal values or hark back to the past (which was better, or worse, depending on your point of view. Tommaso loses his temper when trying to open the plastic bag containing toiletries in the bathroom of his accommodation (private hotel? Former monastery?). Anger is one of the seven deadly sins. One wondered just where these guys had learnt these values, and what unnatural lives they live.  They did not look as though they have inner peace. Yet any television appearance by the Pope is held in such reverence. So, a film that was nice to look at, but frustrating on many levels. As to the late Pope’s funeral, there was nothing! But after his death I was surprised that there was not more reverence shown for his body.  It seemed to be rather roughly handled, to the background noise of what sounded like a heartbeat! But the dead Pope’s heart was no longer beating. Very strange.

This morning I went to a Memorial Service for an elderly woman that had been part of my Thursday morning singing group for several years, until Covid and age put an end to her coming. Only two of us from the Choir were there. She had passed away a few days before Christmas, and a private cremation had been held, so this was like a funeral service but with no coffin or body.  It was held in the Lychgate Chapel in Johnsonville.

Although this was a funeral service, there were no texts or hymns or prayers.  Someone quoted some verses from 1 Corinthians 11: 4-7; and there were songs played; it would have been nice if our Choir could have sung “Mull of Kintyre”), but that was not to be.  I enjoyed speaking to Ngaire at our singing sessions in Khandallah. We shared interests in our education, teaching, and our families, as well as sharing school-girl Latin, which has never left us. Ngaire was always cheerful and upbeat. I was more than 20 years younger than her, but we spoke as though there were no age difference, and we shared the same concerns and values. I thought about Tom Holland’s book Dominion, about Jesus’ crucifixion by the Romans, and how many things subsequently are seen in the context of Judaeo-Christian values.

JD and I need to go shopping again – at New World in Thorndon. There are now bike lanes on the streets where we enter and exit.  However I’ve yet to see a single bike using the bike lane. While I have sympathies for bikers, there is enormous frustration at the loss of carparks, and the general lack of safety for pedestrians. I wouldn’t mind so much if we saw these bike lanes in use, but no, it hasn’t happened yet.

In the US the crazy continues, as one wakes up each day to learn the latest online comment from President-elect Trump and Elon Musk. One tries to stay aloof, but really one cannot. Former President Jimmy Carter is being laid to rest – a huge contrast in decency and Christian goodness. But as Ngaire showed, anyone can be skeptical about Christianity, but be a good, cheerful person. You don’t have to be a Christian, but it helps! She was said to be a “sceptic”, but as one of her granddaughters said, she lived by the values of 1 Corinthians 11, and the Ten Commandments.

It’s now Sunday 12 January.

I’ve read two rave reviews of the film Conclave, in Saturday’s The Post and in the latest Listener.  Neither of them mentions any of my reservations!  But I’ve been listening to the audiobook on my phone, and it does tell a more human Christian story, I think. Perhaps I need to see the film again.

Discussions over the recent presidential election in the US continue. Most former Republicans, including most at the Bulwark, argue about what the Democrats did wrong. Of course, if Harris had won, they’d be crowing about their successful platform. The Dems are just too nice, they claim. Well, that’s the point, isn’t it?  On a Deadline Whitehouse report I watched on YouTube, after Trump’s sentencing on his 34 felony counts, Mark Elias claimed that the majority of Americans had voted against the rule of law.  While there are many flaws in the American legal system, it is a pretty useful rule of thumb that the law matters, that there are laws and procedures, the “mores” of any society, which, funnily enough, are based around the Ten Commandments. And yet Trump’s proposed heads of the law, Kash Patel and Pam Bondi, already are known to have “enemies lists” of people they intend to prosecute – people who have not broken the law.

Having said that, in his podcast yesterday Tim Miller quoted Ephesians 6:4-7 when talking to Amanda Carpenter, saying how Catholics tend not to quote the Bibel, but he did, in relation to Trump’s recent (non) sentencing. This text is about putting on the panoply of God to resist evil.  I’m reminded that this New York court case, there Trump was convicted of 34 felonies, was the trial least likely to succeed, or make any difference, to Trump’s lack of accountability. In Biden’s term as president, this was the only trial of Trump that went ahead. And in my mind it was very significant.  It’s unlikely that there will be future trials, since he’s already 78 years old, and the Supreme Court has granted him immunity for anything he does as president.  This morning I hear that Special Counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Justice Department.

In the meantime, fires continue to rage in Los Angeles. Although this large city is widely spread out, the devastation of suburban areas as well (Sunset Boulevard) is just mind-blowing. Now a few days on the devastation is more apparent, while new fires have started and a new evacuation order went out yesterday.  It must be heartbreaking to lose your home, no matter how much money you have.  Electric cars won’t solve the problem of wildfires out of control.

It’s now Sunday 19 January. Yesterday and Friday were quite fine and hot here; but today it’s a little cooler. This morning we were supposed to go to a service at St Ninian’s Uniting Parish church in Newcombe Crescent, Karori. Since it was fine I went, although I agonised over what to wear that would be warm enough. In the event there was a very good turnout, of mainly older people, and no children. St Ninian’s was joined by worshippers from St Anselm (Makara Road, Karori), Ngaio Union Church, Khandallah Presbyterian Church and Johnsonville Uniting. 

It was a very strange service. While I appreciate that every (Presbyterian/Uniting) church does things a bit differently, I was quite unprepared for this morning’s service. We watched a video clip about the Holocaust, and then about Jane Haining, who was a Scottish missionary who worked and stayed in Hungary, and was arrested with Hungarian Jews and died at Auschwitz right at the end of the war. After these we were encouraged to get into groups, turning our chairs around, and discuss the choices this person had made, and what we would have done. Then there was a text from the beginning of Exodus, about two Hebrew midwives being ordered by Pharaoh to kill the baby boys. We spoke about that too. I remembered that when Jesus was born, Herod ordered that the baby boys be killed. The there was a text from Mark’s Gospel about not hurting children, and about it being better to enter Heaven maimed than enduring the unending fire of Hell as a complete person. We were encouraged to discuss this, too. Then there was a short Reflection by the minister. 

The minister did not talk about the desperate situation in Gaza, although two people in my group did mention it. He spoke about Trump’s election and inauguration.  I felt a bit let down by all this: I hope to be uplifted when I go to church, and get relief from the dreadful things that have happened, and are happening, and probably going to happen, in the world.  It strikes me too that this was all rather backward looking (apart from Trump’s second term as US President); surely we should be forward looking, while acknowledging the past. I guess we would hope to choose to do good things, and help the least and the lost.

And that wasn’t all. The minister showed another clip – the trailer for the movie “One Life” starring Antony Hopkins. This movie is a true story about Nicholas Hinton’s (the character played by Hopkins as an old man) rescue of several hundred Jewish children from Czechoslovakia in 1938, before the Second World war broke out. I have seen this movie, and I found it very moving.

In America, liberals are nervously awaiting Trump’s inauguration on Monday (that will be Tuesday here).  It’s the Apocalypse, said Ben Wittes, one not usually given to exaggeration.

In Israel a ceasefire has been agreed, and ratified by the Israeli Parliament. Between Hamas and Israel, expected to include the release of the remaining hostages.  Will it hold?  Will the hostages still be alive?  What will happen next?

In Ukraine two North Koreans have been captured wearing Russian uniforms and pretending to be Russian. The brutality continues.

In the US, senate hearings have been underway for the last week for some of Trump’s picks to hold cabinet positions.  In the Pete Hegseth hearing, he was heard to say that he wanted to bring a warrior mentality to the troops. Amongst other things he said, that is so very alarming. NZ troops have been effectively employed as peace-keepers, in the Pacific Ocean.

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