Today is Sunday October 16^th, 2022. Kia ora!

Today is a beautiful fine day, after a cold start. I went to church this morning. Thankfully, the organist was recovered and played beautifully. There was talk about the power of prayer, and of persistence. The sign of peace has a new Māori phrase – it’s been moved up a notch, but it is quite beautiful: te Rangimarie o te Karaiti…and I can’t remember the rest, alas.

Afterwards, I saw that I had missed my bus to Johnsonville, and so would have time to have coffee before the next bus was due in an hour’s time. But JD picked me up, and we went into town to see the Spring watercolour exhibition at the Academy gallery.  We also had a good look at the lovely shop there, but we didn’t buy anything. Afterwards we had lunch at Arabica Café, where we each had an omelette.

Last night we had endured the annoying advertisements on Television One to watch the first episode of the final series of Doc Martin.  Suffice to say, the dialogue was really annoying. Martin and Louisa seem so unsuited, but, he, they’ve had a second child – a baby girl.

We also watched Sherwood on Television One. I had watched it online, but I was happy to see it again, with the lovely Lesley Manville.

I’ve also been listening to podcasts – about Ukraine. The nuclear question is being discussed and debated, again. There are some who think Putin should be given an off-ramp, a bridge to exit with some dignity;  well, I think, who started all this? Putin started this totally unprovoked conflict. He should just get right out of there. Goodness knows, he’s created an enormous mess: death and destruction, ruined buildings, damaged infrastructure, millions of refugees,  reduction in the gas supply, and enormous disruption of the world’s food supply; the world was just getting over the Covid 19 pandemic, and dealing with supply-chain issues, inflation, and rising prices – for everything.  Putin certainly didn’t need to make this situation worse; I guess one so-called benefit is the world’s military and retired military seeing and evaluating the weapons, drones, and military assault being used, in a detached fashion. There’s the climate crisis, too, of course, coming ready or not.

It’s now Monday October 17^th.

Last night we watched This Britain on television one, starring Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson.  He acted the part very well, but with rather too much Shakespeare (I honour the Bard, but it’s not so great in the mouths of these men), and his hair wasn’t nearly messy enough. We watched as the covid 19 pandemic spread, ominously, as officials at first couldn’t believe that it would ravage the world so quickly.

This morning I went to my exercise class, and really enjoyed it. It’s been fine and mild today. Afterwards we caught the train, back to Johnsonville. I had just missed by #19 shuttle bus, so JD picked me up and we went to Nada Bakery in Tawa to buy some lunch.

The weekly Covid 19 report is out today. I’ve finished my course of antibiotics, but my cold isn’t completely recovered yet. I think any infection in my chest has gone, but I still cough sometimes, and need to blow my nose.  I try not to cough in embarrassing situations.

The Ministry of Health is reporting 14,311 new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand in the past week. This is over 3000 more than what was reported in the previous week. The seven-day rolling average of community cases has increased to 2041. An additional 34 virus-related deaths have also been reported, and 185 people are in hospital – with two in ICU.

Of the deaths being reported today, nine were from the Auckland region, four were from Waikato, two were from Taranaki, one was from MidCentral, six were from Wellington region, one was from Nelson Marlborough, six were from Canterbury and five were from Southern.

One was in their 40s, three were in their 50s, two were in their 60s, nine were in their 70s, 12 were in their 80s and seven were aged over 90. Of these people, 16 were women and 18 were men.  At this point the total number of deaths is over 2,000 at 2,065. I got that figure from the Dom Post, but it stated there’d been a further 10 deaths, whereas Radio NZ was reporting a further 34 deaths.

It’s now Tuesday October 18^th.

It’s a beautiful day today, fine and warm and sunny. JD and I went out to his golf club.  We took the new Transmission Highway, now SH1, to Pauatahanui, and then the Haywards Road to Upper Hutt. I had not driven on the new road this way before. It seemed fast, and wonderful. We played the game of So where are we? He played some holes, and for the first two holes we didn’t see another human being.  I had forgotten just how beautiful it is out there, and how wonderful it is; on the other hand, there’s quite a lot of traffic noise from the River Road.  He played a few holes, and then we wended our way back to the clubhouse. It was a long way back! 

It turned out that there was a women’s tournament there, (they couldn’t have it last year because of Covid 19 rules), but we had lunch and got served quite quickly: I had a tuna and cucumber club sandwich and a hedgehog slice; JD had toasted sandwiches. It was lovely and peaceful there.

It’s now Wednesday October 19^th.

Today I went to see Mrs Harris Goes to Paris with a friend of mine. We navigated our way there on train and bus, and had time for a lovely cup of coffee when we got to the theatre. There were so many people there! I was relieved that I had booked online. What a charming movie! We both enjoyed it. Afterwards JD picked us up.

I’m waiting to see what happens to Liz Truss, still UK Prime Minister, presumably because senior Tories haven’t yet decided whom to replace her with. One almost feels sorry for her, and then I watched another interview where she comes across as totally useless.

Yesterday she didn’t come to PMQ’s, and was excused by a colleague, saying she had a very good reason for not being there. Then, however, she turned up. Labour Party politicians were concerned for her welfare. Jeremey Hunt, the new Chancellor, seems to be the one in charge. But when he put his name forward to be Prime Minister, he got only 18 votes and was soon eliminated. Nevertheless, he’s reversed many of her unfunded spending moves, even curbing the government’s household energy cap.

As again, Marina Hyde is very insightful:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/18/britannia-rechained-liz-truss-hostage-era-jeremy-hunt

It’s now Thursday October 20^th.

This morning I find that Suella Braverman has resigned as Home Secretary in the UK.  Liz Truss is still PM, but I presume that’s just until they can agree who should replace her. There is a move to bring back Boris Johnson; this would be truly terrible, but I suspect he would continue to support Ukraine, so that would be a good thing.  In the US, there is doubt as to whether Republicans would continue to support Ukraine, should they take control of the House of Representatives in the upcoming mid-term elections.  These get scarier and scarier, as support for democrats seems to have increased, then dropped; are the polls reliable?  Not so, if they don’t so what you want them to say; but great if they are the other way round.  I listened to Morning Joe this morning, and they were saying President Biden’s support was up to 48%, the highest it’s been. On the other hand, Kevin McCarthy gave journalist Jake Sherman an interview in which he outlines the things republicans would like to do, like cutting welfare and being tougher on immigrants.  In Ukraine, Putin seems to be carrying out revenge attacks for the damage to the Kerch Bridge; much of the power has been knocked out, and he’s declared martial law over the four regions illegally annexed.  It will be a very bad situation if the US ceases its support for Ukraine. Residents of the Ukrainian city of Kherson are being advised by the Russians to leave – why? Some do, some don’t.

This morning I met some friends for coffee at a café. It was lovely. Then I caught a bus into town with a friend of mine, and booked some airline tickets to Australia.

It’s now Friday October 21^st.

I am very tired after yesterday’s adventures.  We watched the new series Ridley on Eden starring Line of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar.  Well, it’s new to us, at any rate. This morning JD had a meeting he needed to zoom in for; needless to say, he needed my computer, and he had trouble firing it up.  I was expecting someone from Access to come and do some cleaning; first, of course, I tidied up, changing the sheets and towels, putting washing on, and emptying rubbish bins.

But today’s big news is that Liz Truss has resigned as British PM.  Thank goodness. There’s a feeling of here we go again, or rather, here members of the Tory party go again…to elect a new Prime Minister. Boris Johnson is said to have thrown his hat in the ring. Again.  I listened to The Rest is Politics question time, where they wondered, aloud, as many of us have done, about Liz Truss’s mental health; it seemed that the British parliament had some kind of brawl over voting for a motion to discuss fracking.  It was rumoured to be a confidence motion. Who knows, many people were disgusted by it.  One thing’s for sure: you can’t put  the genie back in the bottle; you can’t undo Brexit, Trump, Megxit, or the effects of Liz Truss and her erstwhile Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng. Unfortunately.

The Guardian’s John Crace put it very well again:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/20/at-peace-with-herself-librium-liz-re-embraces-her-own-mediocrity

Various media have opined about Truss’s very short six-week reign as British Prime Minister; that’s including the two weeks’ mourning period for the Queen.  It seems to me that once her friend Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget was released, and had caused enormous turmoil, she was a dead (wo)man walking, and had no credibility at all. Her wooden statements at an interview and at PMQ’s showed that she had neither the appetite, not the ability, to lead the country. Some would say that despite her appetite to be Margaret Thatcher 2.0, she had no mandate from the English people to be their prime minister. Some gravitas is surely required.  Sir Keir Starmer had another great line: “The lady’s not for turning…up”, echoing Mrs. Thatcher’s statement that The Lady’s not for turning (this was based on the title of a play by Christopher Fry, entitled The Lady’s not for Burning. The Lady was a name used for Mrs. Thatcher (by those who were being polite).  The British press were very cruel to Liz Truss, as is their wont, but despite the levity (no one does comedy quite like the British) there is genuine dismay and consternation at the economical situation in the UK; the situation in the US represents chaos of a different sort, as they head into their mid-term elections.

 In China, President Xi appears to be heading into a third term as president, making noises about Taiwan being included in China; meanwhile, they are still dealing with Covid 19 outbreaks in the capital Beijing; a teenage girl’s death in a quarantine facility in Ruzhou has been hushed up.

In Ukraine, in the city of Kherson, the Russians are threatening to blow up a dam, which would cause enormous destruction and death.  The Ukrainians are already rationing electricity. There continue to be reports of conscripted soldiers being very ill-equipped, lacking even working rifles, let alone being trained in how to use them.

I am rereading Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow. I did read it, very quickly, so, as usual, I am rereading it more slowly. What a joy it is! How cultured Count Rostov is!  It takes one into a dream world, where despite the events of the Russian Revolution, and consequent great privation, one can still enjoy fine food, good music, company, and great literature.

I have listened to several podcasts recently, but I tend to fall asleep during them, and so have to listen to them again.  It does mess with my dreams, but then they’re very informative. 

It’s now Saturday, October 22.

It’s a beautiful sunny day, after a cold start this morning. A friend visited and brought some beautiful flowers! How very kind of her.

This last week has been quite busy, for me. I booked tickets for JD and me to go to Adelaide and Melbourne. I hadn’t realised how expensive it would be, or how hard to get good tickets!  Silly me, I thought I had plenty of time.  Just as well that I got around to it.

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

Today is Thursday October 13^th, 2022. Kia ora!

This morning I met one of my sons and his two children. It was so good to see them again. We had coffee, and then I went to my Te Reo class at the Khandallah Town Hall. It was lovely, of course, but I found it very tiring. Everyone is tired at present, it seems. Learning a new language is quite hard work! It’s frustrating to get so tired!

Afterwards I rang JD and asked him to come and get me. It is raining, after all although not as cold as had been predicted; for some reason, I’m not feeling the cold. It’s been quite a mild winter, although we recently had a cold snap. I do find it annoying when the temperature keeps changing!  I would like some consistency – I don’t mind if it’s cold, but just stay the same for a few days!

It’s now Friday October 14^th.

Today we have our art group, and I’ve cancelled the cleaner.  I just hope that I won’t be too tired; yesterday afternoon wasn’t great, but today is another day.

We tried to watch the new series of Derry Girls, but found it really annoying. It used to be fun, but there’s a new Sister Michael (the former one was a star of the show), and there’s a lot of shouting and swearing.  I found the “girls’ dialogue” hard to hear.  On the other hand, I listened to the Telegraph podcast about Ukraine. It was nice to hear the journalists doing their best to express themselves without swearing. I found it really commendable. They were saying things like “Putin really lost his rag”, but I’m sure most other podcasters/reporters would have resorted to more colourful language. The message communicating their frustration came through loud and clear, though.

I listened to the latest episode of The Rest is History podcast about French cinema. One of the French film reviewer’s top ten films was one I’d actually seen: Les Enfants du Paradis.  They also talked about Jena-Luc Godard, and I’ve seen his Breathless, although they discussed another film directed by him. Still, it was diverting. They discussed another famous film, J’accuse, based on a book that I’d read about the Dreyfus affair.

In the US, election fever continues to build up. It looks to be very close; but how reliable are the polls? Who knows. Time will tell. Herschel Walker’s abortion drama seems to have not harmed him politically, although it has transpired that his girlfriend who had an abortion, at his insistence, had to hassle him to get around to paying for it. His crazy speech about cows seems not to have harmed him, either.  I guess I’ve almost given up on the US political system, seeing that so many really strange characters are standing for election, and being supported by the Republican Party.

On the other hand, I’ve been listening to a series of podcasts about Lenin, on the Real Dictators podcast series.  It was so hit-and-miss that Lenin actually got back to Russia from Switzerland, and became the person in charge – by lying, of course. The Russian revolution, which did so much to change the course of history, almost didn’t happen.

In the UK, politics under Truss and Kwarteng continue to be dogmatic, and ghastly. How long will Truss last as PM? There’s enormous opposition to her, according to The Rest is Politics podcast. On the other hand, Rory Stewart is critical of Nicola Sturgeon for saying she detests the Tories.  Well, it was probably an unfortunate thing to say, but I can see why she said it. 

It seems the date for King Charles III coronation is set for May 2023, and this happens to be his grandson Archie’s birthday. It’s reported that Harry and Meghan see this as a slur; personally, I would regard it as a huge honour, that the King, my Grandpa, was crowned King on my birthday!  

In the US, the January 6 committee is reporting today; apparently the Supreme Court won’t intervene in the case of the documents held at Mar-a-Lago. This is seen as a snub for Trump. E. Jean Carroll is suing him for rape, and he will now have to answer this case.

I was shocked to read in the Guardian that John Key claims he would have voted for Trump and Bolsonaro, had he been entitled to do so. Well, I thought he was better than that. They’re both despicable characters, in my view.

It’s now Saturday October 15^th.

Yesterday afternoon we went to our art group, which meets monthly. We had a wonderful demonstration of water-colour painting, just experimenting, really, and seeing how the different colours worked.  I felt it brought out my inner child! I’m not a painter, but I certainly had fun. There were a dedicated few of us – perhaps 10, not too many. Afterwards we had coffee and something to eat at the café across the road, which was almost deserted. It was a lovely way to spend the early afternoon.  I have coffee and crackers with cheese before these midday meetings: it’s too early to have lunch, but It’s good to have a snack first. I didn’t cough, either!

Last night wer watched Bridget Jones’ Baby on Bravo.  It was a surprisingly good movie, with Emma Thompson stealing the very good show as Bridget’s obstetrician.  Renée Zellweger has done something to her face, and Mr Darcy (Colin Firth, this time) looked too old for her, but it was quite a good film, if stretching credulity at times!

A lot of things happened overnight, and yesterday too – we had another January 6 Committee hearing.

I guess the most shocking, although not surprising thing for me was the resignation of Kwasi Kwarteng as British Chancellor of the Exchequer.  That wasn’t unexpected, of course; I just hated seeing his smirk – colonial revenge perhaps for tanking the British economy? He’s been replaced by Jeremy Hunt. He had to fly back from the US – and now, this. Liz Truss held a press conference at 10 Downing Street, where she was “savaged” by supposedly sympathetic reporters. What a sad occasion it was. Truss wore a black dress, perhaps dressing almost appropriately for once – her black dress had quite a low neckline. She was asked if she were resigning too, or if she would apologise to the British people.  Like hell she would!

Kamikwasi Kwarteng ticked all the boxes for being a senior Tory MP: he was born in London to immigrants from Ghana; he went to Eton, and Trinity College, Cambridge; he was a columnist and financial commentator for the Telegraph (otherwise known by some wit as the Tory-Graph).

John Crace has written about this in the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/14/kwasi-kwarteng-liz-truss-offer-consciously-uncouple-train-wreck

Marina Hyde has a go, too:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/14/kwasi-kwarteng-liz-truss-jeremy-hunt

And serious journalist Jonathan Freedland has a go too:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/14/kwasi-kwarteng-liz-truss-jeremy-hunt

He invokes the Suez crisis, as being the first major crisis when the rot set in; I remember this, and the Profumo scandal, too; the latter scandal was memorialised in the British Scandal podcast series, with I think six episodes.  The Brexit referendum, and consequent determination to leave the EU, he argues, was another key bad decision for Britain politically, economically, and in every way. I have to say that I agree with him.  Some wits are saying that Truss makes Boris look better, and even Priti Patel more humane than her successor. Where do these women get the idea (like Margaret Thatcher) that it’s good to be politically successful by being beastly and hurting people? 

There is talk of Penny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak replacing Liz Truss, with perhaps Mordaunt as Prime Minister and Sunak back in his old role as Chancellor, again.  There was a charming photo of Liz Truss curtseying to the new King Charles, as he is heard saying “Back again? Dear, oh dear”. 

We await more developments. 

The other big news is that of Robbie Coltrane’s death at the age of 72. I remember him from the television series Cracker, which dates back to years ago.  I admit I rather liked him, although he was “too much”!  Fun to watch, though, in a detached way. He came from Glasgow.

In China there are protests as President Xi seeks a third term; people have detested the covid zero policy, with compulsory testing and lock downs.  I must admit, it is better to be able to do stuff, while we would still prefer to have fewer Covid 19 cases. At least the hospitalisations and deaths are way down from what they were.  Some expert has warned of another wave sweeping New Zealand, concentrated in Wellington and the Hutt Valley; is he an alarmist? Let’s hope so.

In the US, the January 6 Committee reported yesterday, and I am still digesting the new evidence. Each time it’s as if we already know so many terrible things, only to learn more darkness, more evil, more danger that occurred on that terrible day.

My main impressions are as follows: Nancy Pelosi’s extraordinary conversations as she took charge of the situation, trying to get help, and insisting to Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and then Vice-President Pence that she wished to carry on the duties expected of her, and indeed, of the government. Nancy Pelosi was “really badass”, as a Lawfare podcast put it. Her daughter Alexandra Pelosi provided more dramatic footage of the scrum.  There were links between the Oath Keepers, a right-wing militia group and the Secret Service – this all looks extremely murky; the Secret Service are supposed to be politically neutral, but this quality is not always demonstrated. Their destruction of text messages sent on January 6 is most unfortunate.  There were warnings of violence to the FBI, which were evidently not passed on, or not acted on; there was Steve Bannon, warning well before the presidential election that Trump would just declare victory whether he won or lost; there was acknowledgment that he did in fact lose the election; there were Ginni Thomas’ texts, and the complicity of many republican politicians in an insurrection in which many people broke the law, many police sustained injuries, and some died.  What a dreadful thing to happen. And now a bunch of election-denying republican candidates are standing for election, with republican backing. The Democrats’ lead is not looking great now, but who knows? We’re hoping that the Democrats can retain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and continue to support Ukraine, as well as prosecuting Trump and others for their part in the January 6 insurrection. There’s lots to pray about! 

Amendment Sunday October 16: furthermore, the January 6 Committee, having a business meeting, resolved unanimously to subpoena Donald Trump. Everyone is very sceptical as to whether he will come and testify under oath, but it’s a gesture anyway. Also, Trump wanted to issue withdrawals of US troops from Afghanistan and other places. He talked about going to war with China, and Iran, this in the so-called “lame duck” period after Biden’s election. It also seems that the Secret Service was even more complicit than I had feared earlier. They actually expected the Trump would go to the Capitol.

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

Today is Monday October 10^th, 2022. Kia ora!

This morning I went to my exercise class in Ngaio. JD dropped me off, thankfully. There weren’t too many people there today. It was lovely, and I enjoyed it, but found it quite tiring. I coughed a lot yesterday, but convinced myself that I would be better today. And so I was. It was much warmer, too – I wore a cotton shirt under a light jersey, and cotton socks instead of woollen ones.  Many women were just wearing lovely blouses.  One kind woman helped me – there is a male instructor who can be rather hard to understand, especially with the stretchy bands.

Afterwards my friend and I caught the train from Ngaio, and I had lunch at her house – delicious soup, toast, coffee and cake. Afterwards JD came to pick me up – I was rather more tired than I was prepared to admit.

After getting home I needed to medicate myself again. I would like to see my doctor, but the Manage My Health application has changed.  I go to book an appointment, but there is a list of questions to answer. Do I have shortness of breath?  I do, but I continue.  Which doctor would I like to see? Only two figures are shown, and I don’t know either of them, so I try to get out of the application. Eventually I find that I’ve been signed out.  I guess I’ll have to book a phone or video consultation, but I really want a doctor to listen to my chest, and ask me if I need Prednisone, or an antibiotic, perhaps.  They have an advertisement for a Covid 19 medication on television – ask your doctor if ? is right for you! Fat chance, being able to even speak to a doctor! Honestly, I am so mad about this. It’s very frustrating to feel not great, to hope it doesn’t worsen, and not to be able to see someone that knows me!

Covid 19 is still with us; there are more subvariants of omicron circulating, and we’re warned that another wave is coming. Yeah, right, we are all so over it. I learnt yesterday that another close contact has diagnosed positive with Covid 19; a couple I know went overseas for a family occasion, and a family member has covid; another friend’s daughter is overseas, and diagnosed positive in London. Nobody cares anymore, but it’s still potentially a serious illness.

Weekly Covid 19 figures have been released today. In the past week, there have been 9,405 new community cases of Covid-19 in the country. Hospitals are caring for 134 people who are battling the virus, and four of them are receiving intensive care treatment.

In the last week, two deaths were linked to Covid-19. This must be a misprint, because the report goes on to talk about 25 deaths, not 2.

Of the 25 people whose deaths were reported today, six were from the Auckland region, five were from Waikato, two were from Bay of Plenty, one was from Tairawhiti, one was from Taranaki, two were from MidCentral, two were from Canterbury, two were from West Coast and four were from Southern.  Three were in their 60s, five were in their 70s, 11 were in their 80s and six were aged over 90. Of these people, nine were women and 16 were men.

In Ukraine, Putin has called the Kerch bridge attack an “Act of Terror” . retaliation so far has consisted of attacks on the city of Zaporizhia, killing at least 21 people.

It’s now Wednesday October 12^th.

I didn’t blog yesterday. I took another RAT test for Covid 19 yesterday morning, which was negative, again. My lovely sister-in-law visited from Perth. We had coffee, and then went out for lunch.  It was great to see her, but sadly, I faded and found it really hard to keep up. We went for a walk along the beach, but I had to go back to the car. When we got home, I rang the medical centre, hoping to make an appointment to see a doctor on Wednesday.  After waiting for someone to answer the phone, they wouldn’t let me book, but referred me to another team for a “treatment plan”. I then waited on the phone for ages, and eventually left a message. I was growing steadily crosser. I tried to ring back the medical centre, but ended up sending them a message by email. They replied that a nurse would ring me first thing in he morning.

Meanwhile, I emailed the organist to say that I would probably not be at hymn singing this morning. He emailed me back saying that he was going to cancel, seeing that he was really unwell.

I actually slept pretty well for me – a change from when I had covid 19.  As expected, a nurse rang me early this morning. She asked me to come and see a doctor at 11:45 this morning; she asked how I would get there, and asked me to wait in Cabin 3 in the parking lot, and ring the medical centre when I’d arrived.

I duly caught an Uber to the medical centre parking lot. The driver was very kind and helpful. I duly waited outside – the cabins that were formerly Covid 19 testing areas were not numbered, but I waited in the middle one, in the RED zone. I rang the medical centre, they signed me in, and told me to wait for the doctor to come. The cabin was equipped with masks, tissues, hand sanitiser, several chairs, a rather fierce heater, and a kind of examining bed.  I used my own sanitiser, and waited.

Eventually a doctor came and invited me into Cabin 1, where he was set up to  see patients. I did tell him that I missed my previous GP, who retired several years ago.  We both kept out masks on.  He listened to my chest, took my temperature (which was normal, although I feel a bit hot and sweaty); he prescribed an antibiotic, and more use of my inhaler.  He also took a swab for a PCR test for Covid 19, which he claimed would be more accurate than the RAT tests I’ve been using. I guess it may show which, if any, subvariant of the omicron variant of Covid 19 I may have, should I test positive. This does feel like Covid 19 did, although not so bad, and I haven’t had the sleeping difficulties it had exacerbated. He also said I’d be eligible for Paxlovid, should I test positive. I remarked to him how annoying the television advertisement is for coronavirus medicine – ask your doctor if x is right for you?  You’d be lucky to find a doctor to ask!

I saw the prescription on his screen, and told him which pharmacy to send it through to. He advised me that they’d be making it up as we were speaking!

I duly walked to the pharmacy. They hadn’t even received the prescription. I went to Whitcoulls, and then checked again. No joy, but I dd buy another large bottle of Prospan. By then, JD offered me a lift home. We bought some lunch at Nada Bakery in Tawa, and then I rang the pharmacy. Still no joy – perhaps I should try the medical centre again. To cut a long story short, the script had been sent to the wrong pharmacy. Eventually all was sorted, and JD picked up the script.  I am hoping that I’ll be up to going to at least one of my planned activities tomorrow – the main one is a Te Reo class at the community centre in Khandallah tomorrow. I’m looking forward to that! And I’m hoping to see some of my grandchildren beforehand. 

In Ukraine, the Russians are shelling many cities, targeting infrastructure and killing and wounding numbers of citizens. I heard though that some of these attacks would have been planned well in advance.  And so it goes on.

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

It’s now Friday October 7^th, 2022. Kia ora!

This morning someone was supposed to come from Access to do some housework. It wasn’t the usual person; the arrival time was put back to 12:45 pm, and then 3 pm. I cancelled – I was really tired, and didn’t feel like showing a complete stranger the way around our house. However I did change the sheets and towels, put the rubbish and recycling out, picked up the camellias in the drive, hung up JD’s clothes, folded his washing and put it away, and did some general tidying up. No wonder I was exhausted!

I checked my phone at some stage and found that Access was sending someone new to me at 3 pm.  I rang and cancelled, since I was very tired, and didn’t want a stranger in the house.  Nevertheless, someone turned up at 2:30  pm, and JD let her in!  Oh dear, I told her that I’d cancelled, since I really didn’t feel up to showing her where everything was. Apparently Access hadn’t told her that I’d cancelled. As I had settled into reading, writing and having a rest, I didn’t feel like having a cleaner here, although the house certainly needs cleaning.

I slept very well last night, and I don’t seem to be coughing so much today, although I still need to blow my nose heavily quite often. But I feel as though I’m improving.  Last night we watched another episode of Bite Club on Eden.  We missed last week’s episode. Sadly, the lovely Dan has been arrested and charged with his girlfriend’s murder. It seems that Zoe (Dan’s ex) and her new fiancé have had a big row, and he is on the point of moving out. Meanwhile, the creepy Stephen is creeping around, now dressed in a suit and tie, helping the homicide team. After that I went to bed. My cousin in Christchurch retires early, and I am glad to too – and avoid falling asleep in front of the television.

In the evening we watched two episodes of Rumpole of the Bailey.  It is very well written, and well acted, and even has some beautiful music and Rumpole quotes poetry, and even the Bard!  He criticises the judge, who does indeed seem very partial. We just heard that Peter Ellis’ conviction for child sexual abuse was overturned, on the grounds that the evidence was unsafe.

It’s now Saturday October 8^th.

Last night I slept well, although I’m still coughing quite a lot. 

After I woke up, I listened to several podcasts: The Lincoln Project podcast, where host Reed Galen was talking to Alexander Vindman; The Rest is Politics, with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, who have a great deal to say about Liz Truss and her Anti-Growth Coalition. It seems a bit like former president Nixon’s Enemies List:  Am I on it, and if not, why not?  Oh dear, Margaret Thatcher was a piece of work, but Liz Truss may be even worse, if that were possible; her giggling Chancellor isn’t much better, and he can’t seem to take that smirk off his face.  Then there’s Suella Braverman, the new Home Secretary, looking forward to the first flight of would-be refugees/asylum seekers to Rwanda. Where did these people learn to be so cruel, so inhumane?

Lastly, I listened to the second episode of a British Scandal podcast about Mary Whitehouse, who performed a kind of Patricia Bartlett role in trying to clean up the British media.  The climax of the second episode is when, on the point of retiring, she is invited to meet the newly elected Conservative leader, Margaret Thatcher.

Then I got up and got breakfast, did the Saturday morning puzzles, and tried to catch up with the telegraph’s Ukraine The Latest podcast.

Going back to the Herschel Walker story in Georgia:  he says he’s been forgiven for the incident that he says didn’t occur; he’s also said that abortion is murder, a position that he now holds; there are all kinds of anomalies here, but it seems the Republicans are willing to condone whatever he’s done, whatever his personal failings as a husband and father, whatever his mental health issues, and yet accept the views he now espouses. He claims to have been forgiven, yet expresses no regret, no remorse, for his actions. Nor do any of his supporters. One of them called the girl a “skank” – and that was a female, too.  Yet – yet – yet – there is no sympathy at all for women here! None, whatsoever.  The grief and shock and potential indecision over having a foetus take over one’s body for a time, and the consequent feelings of nausea, pain, regret, whatever, just don’t exist. Women who seek abortions – for whatever reason – just don’t deserve to be alive themselves!  The perilous state of maternal health care in many places in the US confirms that. And yet, everyone has or had a mother at some point. A woman gave birth to Greg Abbott, Ron de Santis, and even Trump himself, and probably did most if not all of the work involved in raising a child.  How is it possible that women aren’t held in higher regard?

During the week, as we were driving to see the opera, we listened to a news report about the protests in Iran, occasioned by the death of a woman in police custody, arrested for wearing her hijab incorrectly, i.e. having some hair showing. I thought then how far backwards we are going, when women are fighting to have some hair showing!  We are surely going backwards, when violence of any kind is increasingly seen as being all right, even justified; and women are feared and hated in many places, and still seen as someone’s property, whether that be a man, or the state itself.

People are endeavouring to see and say how they were wronged in the past, and seeking for anyone they can lay guilt on; apologies are not always accepted, and the fact that “things were different back then” doesn’t really cut it. Yet they’re prepared to do enormous hurt, even bullying, towards others.  Why can’t we just all be kind to one another? I sometimes feel guilty about car carrying conditions when my children were small not being as strict as they are today; I then remind myself, at least they had booster seats, and safety belts, whereas when I was a child we had no seat belts at all, and helmets were not routine the way they are nowadays. 

Today we went shopping at New World in Thorndon. It’s become a bit of a ritual now, We did get raspberries – two punnets, some asparagus and lettuce. We also got coffee beans, tonic water, yoghurt, some frozen vegetables, salads, and bread. Sadly there were no pies to buy. But we had a good trip. Quite a few people were wearing masks, along with me!

In the evening we set out to watch Capote (2005)  on Te Whakaata Māori, starring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, where he travels with Harper Lee (author of To Kill a Mockingbird) to interview two men charged with a grisly crime, the murder of four family members in a remote part of Kansas. I had watched the 2006 film starring Toby Jones called Infamous, which deals with similar material.  I found this too sickening, so we switched to watching more episodes of Rumpole of the Bailey.

During the afternoon we heard that Tory Whanau was to be the next mayor of Wellington.  Well, I know little about her, but at least it won’t be Andy Foster. In the early evening we heard about the blast on the Kerch bridge linking the Crimea to Russia. This would be the Crimea that was annexed by Putin after the war with Ukraine in 2014. This is a very long bridge over the Kerch Strait built by Vladimir Putin, with a rail and a road component. This bridge was opened to great acclaim – Putin even drove a truck over it, unlike Trump and Johnson, who only pretended to drive big trucks. As the evening wore on, more information and more video footage came to light.

It’s now Sunday October 9^th – White Sunday.

I was to go to church this morning in Johnsonville; JD was due to play golf, so he dropped me off early.  Of course, he was running late, so I ended up much too early for church, but with not quite enough time to have morning tea first, as had been my plan.  As it was, I got to church on time; there weren’t nearly as many people there as there had been on Fathers’ Day, when we had been there previously.  The Samoan service was taken primarily by children and families. Many wore white shirts or tops – I wished I had worn my Polynesian lei. Afterwards, I just missed a bus home, but a dear friend gave me a lift home.  It’s now fine and sunny after an overcast start to the day.

Turning back to Ukraine now, the Kerch bridge has been damaged by a blast – perhaps delivered by a missile?  A train crossing the bridge was seen to be on fire.  There was lots of dramatic video footage; apparently 3 people died, and a section of the 18 mile bridge has collapsed. This bridge was the main means for Russia to supply weapons to its troops in Crimea; this must be a heavy blow. The Ukrainians have not claimed responsibility, but dare I say it they’re not displeased. There’s talk about shoddy Russian construction. Part of the bridge has collapsed – evidently one road lane is still open. Others say it will be closed for at least two months. Some wit has added film of Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday, Mr President to the then president Kennedy; President Putin was 70 yesterday. A stamp has been produced in Kiev showing the burning bridge.

I have to opine some more about the Herschel Walker scandal in Georgia.  It transpires that the woman who had an abortion became pregnant again, and decided to keep the child, although Walker wanted her to have a second abortion; he has however kept up payments for child support, although he hasn’t been a part of this child’s life either. So Walker, who claims forgiveness for the thing he says he didn’t do, had a child with this woman, whom he doesn’t remember, and has continued to pay child support. Although he promised to sue The Daily Beast, which first reported these incidents, this has not yet happened either. But he now claims abortion is murder; so much for any human life, before, during or after pregnancy, huh?  The news keeps getting worse for the would-be senator. How can the mother’s life be worth less than that of an unborn child? Doesn’t motherhood matter? And fatherhood?  For the republicans, alas, it’s all about power, it seems.  Any election is fraudulent unless the republican candidate wins!  Character and integrity evidently don’t matter.

I have finally finished reading Stalingrad, by Vasily Grossman, translated from the Russian. It ends not with some dramatic surrender but with the following words: “…the German batteries were no longer firing. A well-coordinated salvo of Katyushas had silenced them once and for all. With eyes, ears, and joyful heart Krymov understood all that had just happened.”  The fighting is not quite over, but it is almost over. Krymov is about to visit Stalingrad and has just made the terrifying boat crossing of the Volga river. What a powerful book! It has been well worth while reading it again.

There is quite a long Afterword, which I really should read. In the meantime, last night I started reading Aftermath, an account of Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich 1945 – 1955. It is an account of the restoration of order out of chaos, and I am looking forward to reading more of it.

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

Today is Wednesday October 5^th, 2022. Kia ora!

I didn’t write yesterday. I had a bad night on Monday night, and yesterday I wasn’t very well, with a running nose and quite a bad cough.  I even got out the Prospan cough mixture again.  I tried to print off my tickets to the opera, but did not succeed. To see my tickets, I had to enter a password. For some reason, Ticketmaster did not recognise my old password; it wouldn’t accept variations on it either, so I had to think up a new password.  It’s all right for me to have our tickets on my phone, but I suspect for many older folk it would be really problematic. I certainly have had many email reminders of the fact that I have booked to see the opera.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I felt most unwell, but I slept well last night, and feel (a bit) better this morning. I’m coughing less, and my nose is much better.  I took another Covid 19 test, which was negative. A “polar bomb” is being forecast; strangely, it was sunny and quite mild this morning. Now, though, it’s raining and a bit cooler. Last time we went to an opera at the St James’ Theatre it was really warm inside.  I don’t want to be too hot.

There’s lots of news this morning. In Ukraine, their forces continue to make  inroads into territories supposedly (illegally) annexed by Russia.  There was a scary speech by Putin, a rock concert, and a supposed celebration, with other leaders holding hands with Putin – supposedly he’s dropped his strict isolation rule. It transpired that the Russians weren’t sure about the boundaries of the territories they’d annexed; I suspect Putin is declaring “victory”, although the evidence says otherwise. This is a demonstration of lying in action. Is Putin lying (again) about his threat to use nuclear weapons?

In the UK, Prime Minister Liz Truss has done a U-turn on one aspect of her economic policy – the bid to give the wealthy a tax break has been modified, despite her and her chancellor vowing to stick to their guns. This change was announced during the annual Tory party conference. Ironically, although I think Trump would support her policies, he’s certainly not “his type”; I don’t think he would find her attractive. And as for having a black Chancellor… I’m not prejudiced, but I just don’t see Kwasi Kwarteng (Kamikwase) as a “serious person”, to use the vernacular. I take it to mean that a person has a modicum of intelligence, decency, and respect for human life, (dead or alive). Kwartend said that he’d listened (to whom, I wonder? The Bank of England? Tory members of parliament? His constituency?). He didn’t apologise for what he and Truss had done to the (once proud) British economy.

It seems very sad and frustrating that Liz Truss has said that the new King Charles should not go to the next COP (Climate) summit, which will apparently take place in Egypt.  She, of course, is for fracking – removing regulations, and “opening up” the British economy that way. There are plenty of environmental authorities that deem fracking disastrous. Actually in my opinion, they could start by growing their own food. Who could forget the late Queen’s speech at the Glasgow COP conference, where she said how proud she was of (then) Prince Charles, and Prince William, for their environmental concerns.  Prince Charles has long made the environment and climate change one of his main concerns, long before it became “fashionable”. Charles is King, now, at last, and there’s very little he can obviously do about his government’s present direction.

In the US, there is upset about Trump’s “Coco Chow” jibe against his former transport secretary; he also accused Mitch McConnell of having a “death wish”. CPAC put up and then took down a message decrying US support for Ukraine (I think); also, Herschel Walker, senate candidate in Georgia, has denied paying for an abortion for a previous girlfriend  (she has the receipt, a record of his reimbursement, and a get-well card signed by him), and one of his sons Christian has done another rant accusing this person who preaches moral rectitude of being an absent father, who did not take care of his mother, or be part of his sons’ lives.  Still, he’s a republican; he’s like Trump, really; all this is “locker room talk”; of course, if the Democrat candidate, black minister Raphael Warnock, transgressed similarly the R’s would be all over him. With a republican candidate, what do you expect? They’re not renowned for living their family values, although of course they espouse them. It’s a case of Do as I say, not as I do.

Last night we watched some of Heartbreak High on Netflix; apart from the rather wonderful kiwi Rachel House starring as the principal, I don’t see much to recommend it. After that we watched The Dry, another Australian film starring Eric Bana. Although we’d both seen this at the cinema when it first came out, we didn’t remember all the plot twists.  I went to bed just before it finished – 11:30 pm is way past my bedtime.

I listened to The Telegraph’s podcast, Ukraine The Latest, which is supposed too come out each week day. It’s incredibly informative. 

Meantime, I’m rereading Vasily Grossman’s Stalingrad, his wonderful novel which I happened to have on loan from the library in 2020 when we first went into lockdown. In a very generous gesture, Wellington City Library allowed us to keep whatever loans we had until July; no fines would be charged. So I read this extraordinary book – a kind of companion to Tolstoy’s War and Peace. I determined to read it after reading a review in the Economist. It’s a very long book (about 1,000 pages), but Grossman has quite an extraordinary ability to create meaningful characters – on both sides.  It’s been very interesting to reread my paperback copy of this book while the Ukrainian war remains in force.  One cannot help equating the brave Ukrainians with the brave Russian forces who defended Stalingrad. There’s no question of heroism – on both sides. And yet hearing reports of the Russian army today – it’s hard to believe there’s any relation.  It’s true that defending something you value – whether it be poor Ukraine, or the city of Stalingrad, is significant, even if it entails enormous sacrifice in so doing.

I am now nearing the end of this book; we are in Stalingrad itself; and I’ve just read a scene in which German soldiers have made themselves comfortable in a bombed out building and are supremely confident that they will win; indeed, arrogantly so.  We all know what happens next. I admire Grossman’s ability to describe multiple scenes leading up to the final conflicts.

Every time I read the book, I want to write at the same time. I long for some technology that would transcribe what I’m saying into writing. It probably foes exist.

It’s now Thursday October 6^th.

Last night we went to the opening of Verdi’s opera Macbeth.  It was wonderful, of course. It was nice to dress up, and put makeup on. I was really worried about my cough, and dosed myself up as much as I dared, but in the event I only coughed a couple of times, and then not loudly or at length.  I had tried to book for us to have a meal beforehand, but the few local restaurants that were still open were fully booked. Plan B was to have a light meal (slice of a flan) before we left, and then get coffee and cake at the café that used to be at the front of the St James Theatre.

Silly me! I had worked out that we would park in the car park in Taranaki Street by the Hope Gibbons building; this was blocked off, however. JD turned into Dixon St, and to our surprise we found a carpark quite nearby. We made our way to the Theatre, where there were already many people – 30 minutes before the opera was due to start. But there were very few chairs; what there were, were already taken. The audience seemed to be mostly older people. Instead of wrestling with my phone, we went to the box office to get our tickets printed (as did many other people). Then I found a seat that was available, and asked JD to bring me coffee. Off he went – presumably with my phone. He eventually returned – with two plastic glasses of white wine. There was no barista, apparently, and no food – so it seemed. Hardly anyone was wearing a mask, although I was.

When we went in, I found that our seats were really near the back of the theatre – under the Grand Circle. Although the seats are sloped, a man with a large head sat in front of me, severely impeding my view.  The acoustics are fantastic, but I would have like to see the stage in more detail.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of background noise. This is an opera, people! Some respect is due. Creaking, noisy movement, talking, are all unwelcome. Even if the seats aren’t great, you don’t expect the background noise.

The show, of course, was wonderful. The music was superb. The singing was pretty good – I’d been listening to a recording of Maria Callas as Lady Macbeth;  the singers took a while to warm up, I thought; the singer with the Lady Macbeth role was a bit screechy; JD said she should just relax more, which I guess is good advice. She certainly makes a big sound. The male leads were all good, especially Macduff, who stole the scene in his major aria.  Personally, I didn’t think the chemistry between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth particularly convincing.  The opera stuck very closely to the plot of Shakespeare’s Scottish play, but the three witches were replaced, of course, by a large number of female chorus singers.

The lighting and colouring were impressive; it was very dark, black and white in the main, with lots of red. The figure of Macbeth in a blood-stained shirt kept appearing.  The changing backdrop was very effective, and provided an unusual visual as well as an aural spectacle.  The choral singing was pretty good, too, after they’d warmed up.  On an opening night things can be a little rough around the edges.  The view of what I assumed was a refugee centre was very effective (this represented Macduff’s flight); the representation of Birnam Wood, and bombing and desecration was effective. 

After the interval, JD wanted to go home! We had met two old friends of ours; she was achy all over, and he was about to take her home. I suggested we move – there were some unused seats a couple of rows ahead of us. We sat there, and had a much better view. The second half was even noisier – in different ways. There were lots of coughs, and lots of noise of people unwrapping sweets – Strepsils, perhaps?  Nevertheless, it was less crowded, we had a better view, and everyone on stage had warmed up. I enjoyed the second half  more than the first.

Afterwards, it was quite cold outside. I had worn my light puffer jacket over my pretty skirt and top – even so, it was very cold. We lamented that there seemed to be nowhere close one could go and drink coffee, eat cake, and discuss the opera.

I found that the Chaffers New World was open until 11, (it was now just after 10:30 pm), so we went there.  There weren’t really any nice cakes to buy, but JD bought some wine.

We came home and I had my coffee, although it was so late in the day.  While I had been quiet at the show, not blowing my nose at all, and hardly coughing, I started coughing in the car; unfortunately I kept coughing during the night, but I did sleep between bouts of coughing.  It was very worthwhile to go to the show.  These wonderful lines from the play were not in the opera, but I did think of them afterwards. I had memorised them when I was at college.

She should have died hearafter;

There would have been a time for such a word.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.   (Shakespeare’s Macbeth, 5.5)

It’s quite cold here, but today it’s sunny and fine; Wellington seems to have escaped the worst of the polar blast that has swept up the South Island.

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

It’s now Friday September 30^th, 2022. Kia ora!

We spent a few days in Christchurch during the week. We had a lovely time, of course, but I was badly surprised by how tired and exhausted I was. We flew south on Monday afternoon – around the time of the memorial service for Queen Elizabeth II. Of course, when I booked our tickets I didn’t know that Monday September 26 would be a public holiday. I had forgotten how cramped it is at the back of an Airbus; we were almost in the back row.

We had a delicious dinner of baked chicken with green olives and lemon, roasted potatoes and vegetables, with lemon posset for dessert.

The next day I was to meet an old friend at the lovely café at the Christchurch Art Gallery. We had delicious omelettes and salad, and lots of black coffee. It was roomy, and not busy, and we had a good talk.

Afterwards I caught an Uber home; there was confusion, of course, about where to pick me up. I had caught an Uber there, but the return car was determined to pick me up in Worcester St; the bright sun shining on my phone made it difficult to see the phone.

That evening, we had dinner at a Greek restaurant.  We had haloumi cheese, flavoured with oregano, soaked in Greek brandy, and flamed – with pita bread. It was delicious. Afterwards, we shared mains, with my cousin and I sharing a delicious pork belly dish.  Perhaps there were too many flavours – I soon felt quite unwell, although the food was delicious. It wasn’t the kind of straightforward Greek food I was expecting, like lamb kebabs with the lovely garlicky mashed potato dish and a salad!

The next day started out fine, but soon turned to drizzling and being overcast. We drove to Governor’s Bay, and had a delicious lunch there. I had a Greek salad with lamb and pork meatballs and pita bread with garlic butter.

That night we had roast lamb with roast vegetables and leeks, followed by a delicious chocolate slice.

On Thursday we met another friend who had moved from Auckland. We saw and admired her lovely house, and then went to Raspberry Café for another beautiful lunch. Keeping the Greek theme alive, I had another Greek salad, this time with lamb steaks, tzatziki, carrot humus, and lots of cucumber. Then we shared delicious cakes for dessert, and black coffee.

It was surprisingly emotional meeting old friends again, as well as my lovely cousin and her husband.  We are all aging, of course, and have already lost a dear friend to breast cancer (two years ago now); the wife of another dear friend has dementia. So things have changed. As well as growing older, and having various physical trials, we all get very tired, and are wary of infecting each other.  The friend I met on Tuesday I first met at a La Léche League meeting, when our eldest sons were babies.  Our children went to the same primary school, and our second sons learnt violin together at a music centre.  Like several other friends of mine, she had a daughter after having three sons.

The friend we met on Thursday had been at our wedding, and at our wedding anniversary party just over a year ago.  We had known her (and her parents) since our university days.  We later swapped houses for holidays.

A great deal has happened in the intervening years.  These occasions are really special.

After this we went to Riccarton Mall, where I redeemed a voucher we’d been given a year ago – on a queen size sheet set which had been reduced. I would have liked to spend more time shopping, but we were short of time and I was exhausted. I should put in a credit for this Westfield Mall (we don’t have one in the Wellington area).  Farmers in Riccarton Mall honoured the voucher, which I hadn’t been able to use earlier.

Our flight back to Wellington was supposed to leave just after 7 pm, but it was delayed. When we were asked to board, it was raining outside, and we had to walk a long way, past one plane, and climb the narrow, steep steps.  But there seemed to be more room in this ATR than in the Airbus we had travelled in on Monday. I had chosen seats nearer the front of the plane, but as they were boarding from the rear, I still had to walk a long way.

On board there were a few bumps taking off, but we were glad of the coffee and snack offered to us on the slightly longer trip home. It was just as well, because after landing with a bump, we then had to wait several minutes on the tarmac before the plane could be parked and we could exit. The kind steward held my bag for me while I descended the steps. After the motion of the plane, I’m always swaying myself for a while. Again, there was a long way to walk back to the airport building. We were the last off the plane, so it was a long, lonely walk to baggage claim. Out bags were there, though, and we caught a taxi home.

I slept better last night than I did in Christchurch, but it’s very cold here, and mostly raining. JD took me out for a Christchurch-type lunch; instead, we shared a delicious pizza, delicious coffee, and a chocolate éclair. I brought a roast vegetable salad home for an evening meal. There must be a new chef and barista at our local café; everything tasted better than usual.

In the evening we spoke to our son in the UK about the economic crisis there. They’re both economists, so while I won’t say they enjoyed the discussion, it was nice that they could have an interesting discussion about it. In England some banks have cancelled mortgage lending; I assume they’ve cancelled approved lending that hasn’t been taken up yet. That of course impacts a wide circle of people, not just would-be buyers.

It’s now Saturday October 1^st.

Today we went shopping at New World in Thorndon. It was certainly  different there: I saw very few masks, although I wore mine; it was busy, but people didn’t seem to be trying to avoid each other; there seemed to be a new sense of casualness.  Also, lots of things were missing, or short dated: there were no raspberries, tomatoes are still expensive, and there wasn’t much lettuce. I ended up buying mesclun, not my first preference, and salads. There were no pies, so we bought a quiche. We also bought ice cream, coffee beans, and pâté, also some biscuits.

It will be a busy day tomorrow, so the rest of the day is very quiet.

It’s now Sunday October 2^nd.

Sadly, I’m not feeling so well today. I have been fighting off what is, I hope, just a cold, not flu or coronavirus, with a raspy throat and a bit of coughing.  I’ve been taking an anti-viral supplement, but in spite of sleeping much better in my own bed, I wake up feeling quite unwell. I definitely have a sore throat now, and strange feelings in my chest, with a chesty cough. I was going to go to church, visit a friend, and then go to a concert at my church, but, alas, I’m not going anywhere. I sent an apology to my friend, zoomed into the church service, and sent another apology for the concert. Yesterday I felt that I could do this all, but now, sadly, I don’t feel like doing anything. It’s quite a busy week ahead – although it’s school holidays, we have engagements tomorrow, on Wednesday and Friday. I feel pleased now that I didn’t organise anything else. Tomorrow morning we’ll do Covid 19 tests again.

In Ukraine, Ukrainian forces have taken back the city of Lyman (which had been taken by Russian forces). This is despite Putin’s annexation of four provinces (including Lyman) and a rock concert and a terrifying speech in Moscow. It seems his forced conscriptions are going really badly. No one wants to go and fight in Ukraine; we’ve seen photos of queues of cars trying to get out of Russian. Former US ambassador Michael McFaull apparently said more men had left Russia than had been conscripted. There are photos of conscripted men being sent into areas quite unprepared for them, including a field strewn with snow! Yes, winter is coming (in the northern hemisphere).

In the UK, Prime Minister Truss seems determined to pursue her doom-laden budget, despite its already visible effects. She’s even warning of more cuts to welfare payments; she was going to ban strikes, but already there’s a rail strike. Won’t someone stop this madness? The Iron Lady was quite something; this is next-level crazy, however.  PM Liz Truss did not win a popular mandate for what she’s doing. The British Labour Party is doing rather well in the polls, where Sir Keir Starmer is emerging as a credible leader of the UK.

In the US, people are agonising over the coming mid-term elections, where margins are narrowing. Whatever. The devastating effects of Hurricane Ian are becoming more evident every day. The death toll is now at least 35 people. 

It’s now Monday October 3^rd.

This morning we were due to go out for morning tea, to a group that John really wants to be part of.  We both did covid 19 RAT tests, which were negative, thankfully. I felt a bit better than yesterday.  I had wondered what the dress code was; my google results said don’t wear black!  I really wanted to wear black trousers, a cream jersey and a woollen jacket; I actually wore a navy blue skirt and blouse with my light blue top from a David Jones’ sale (when it was still open, before Covid).  It was a bit of a rush: the first hose I put on had a run, so I had to find another pair. I ended up applying makeup in the car. When we got there, guess what most women were wearing: black trousers with a jersey, and differing degrees of scarves and jewellery. The men wore “smart casual”, with not all of them wearing ties, and some woollen jerseys rather than jackets.  It was quite pleasant, but we didn’t know many people there.  I didn’t cough at all.

Afterwards we visited JD’s aunt.  When JD rang first, she had a coughing fit, so we felt less guilty about visiting her.

We had lunch at a bakery (many places are closed on a Monday), and bought a Shepherd’s Pie to bring home. I saw very few masks while we were out.

We came home using the Transmission Gully highway, having turned off at the new-ish Manor park intersection. It’s really confusing. You turn left, go around a roundabout, and then take the Haywards Road to Pauatahanui. There have been tremendous improvements in the road, which are still continuing. There was a huge slip. At Pauatahanui we turned onto the new highway to drive back to Johnsonville – remembering to post our returns for the local body elections. I was going to post them yesterday in Khandallah, but didn’t go out.

The latest Covid 19 figures are reported today. In the last week there have been 9,975 new cases, 33 deaths, and 111 people in hospital (as at last night), with 7 in Intensive Care.  Evidently 10% of the new cases are reinfections.

Of the deaths being reported, 13 were from the Auckland region, two were from Waikato, two were from Bay of Plenty, one was from Lakes, one was from Hawke’s Bay, two were from Taranaki, two were from MidCentral, one was from Wellington region, six were from Canterbury, one was from South Canterbury, two were from Southern.

Two were in their 40s, three were in their 50s, two were in their 60s, three were in their 70s, 15 were in their 80s and eight were aged over 90. Of these people, 11 were women and 22 were men.

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

It’s now Saturday September 24^th, 2022.Kia ora!

I haven’t written since last Tuesday. On Wednesday morning I got up early to go to hymn singing. It was beautiful, as always; we sang a beautiful hymn to Sibelius’ Finlandia, Psalm 23, and Love Divine as sung at the Queen’s funeral. Afterwards I met an old friend for coffee. We had a lovely chat. 

On Thursday morning I had my other singing session.  JD could not take me there, so I had to Uber. Although it was a bit of a rush, I got there a few minutes early. In the afternoon I zoomed into another meeting I had joined.

Friday was quite a busy day.  JD had a meeting all day, and had to pick two people up from Wellington airport, and another from the Bay Plaza hotel, before driving to Hōhepa at Otaihanga for their meeting. He left at 7 am.

Meanwhile, I had a hair appointment in Mana at 12:45.  It was overcast, and drizzly, but not particularly cold. Nevertheless, I wore my big puffer jacket, and was glad of it. Thankfully, none of the buses or trains I planned to use were cancelled, although other services were.

It was all quite an adventure. I took some crackers with cheese in case I didn’t have time for lunch.  I caught the shuttle bus that left Johnsonville at 11:14 am; I then caught a bus from Johnsonville to Wellington Railway Station. I had to wait a few moments n Johnsonville, and I was glad of my warm jacket.

While I was waiting, I saw a truly amazing manoeuvre. Someone dropped a young woman off, at the bus stop, and then did a U-turn, in the middle of the busy Moorefield Road; the driver had to reverse to complete the U turn, and reversed into an oncoming car; that car couldn’t reverse, because there was traffic behind it; thankfully, the turn was performed without touching between cars. What an amazing sense of entitlement!

At the Railway Station in Wellington, there are workmen changing the main stops, so the bus stopped at the new temporary Stop A, past the wooden government buildings and almost at Stout St. I walked back to the Railway Station, where fortunately there were a few minutes to spare before the train left to Waikanae. It’s great to have information boards all around so you can tell which platform to go to.

The train was quite busy. It was supposed to get to Mana by 12:40 pm, but it was a few minutes late; it was then quite a walk to the hairdressing salon. Never mind, it was lovely when I got there, and I was given a long black coffee and two tiny biscuits individually wrapped – a nice touch.

In the event, I caught the last train back to Wellington before 3 pm, due at 2:53 pm. I had a few minutes before the train came, but not time for lunch, of course. I was thankful to have some crackers with cheese.

Once back in Wellington, I had something to eat at the New World Café.  It’s very basic, but I didn’t have enough energy to go somewhere more salubrious. My toasted salmon bagel was delicious, but it would have been nice to have some cutlery! After this, I was notified that several trains on the Johnsonville line were cancelled, but not the next one, thankfully. It left from Platform 1, quite a walk away. Like my train to Mana, it was busy. Using my snapper card, I logged on at the Railway Station.  It was raining by now.

I notice there is a good shelter at Crofton Downs station. I got to Johnsonville, just missing the shuttle bus home.  Still, it’s a bit of a hike from getting off the train, walking down the ramp, crossing the busy road. At least I could wait in the library. I finally got home, where JD had just arrived back.

We were due in town for dinner at 6:30 pm, so there was time for a short rest before getting changed and ready to go out again. Amazingly, I had felt very unwell in the early morning, but having survived the day, 3 bus trips, 3 train trips, rain and all, I felt up to going out for dinner, even though the venue was somewhere I’d fainted on an earlier occasion. In the event, it worked out well, although of course we couldn’t park anywhere nearby.  Never mind, we did get safely home, after having a nice meal at Apache. 

Today is definitely a rest day! No appointments today. A very quiet one.

It’s now Sunday September 25^th.

Daylight saving started last night.  Thankfully, we’re not driving back from Hawkes’ Bay after an exhausting Hōhepa Family Weekend, and a short night. Actually we miss these events, but Covid 19 has forced many of them to be cancelled or postponed.

This morning I went to church. It was quite cold, and drizzling, as usual. But church was lovely. We had a mixture of organ music and piano and guitar. We sang “Guide me o thou great Jehovah (Redeemer?)” to the beautiful Cym Rhonda tune.

The texts were from Timothy 1, chapter 6, about the nature of piety and contentment, and about the love of money being the root of all evil; the gospel text was from Luke 16, about the poor man Lazarus and the chasm between Heaven and Hell.

I was getting public transport home, but needed to do some shopping first. I perhaps could have caught the next bus, but someone ahead of me at the checkout took a very long time, so I had a snack in one of the cafés while I waited for the next bus.

The latest news is that President Xi of China may be under house arrest, according to an Indian news channel. Well, that would be big news, if it were confirmed. (It is not).

Meanwhile, there’s bad news from Russia about the Ukraine conflict. Putin spoke a few days ago (when exactly?) about his intention to conscript 300,000 more Russians, his intention to hold referenda in the occupied territories, and a threat to use nuclear weapons to safeguard territory he regards as his; it’s thought that the referenda are a means towards calling more territory Russian, and then needing to be defended.  He looked strange and weary and rather unwell, while delivering this terrifying speech.

The call for conscription terrifies many. Evidently, the conscription papers were already drawn up, and were delivered almost immediately. Men aged from 17 to 65 are being called up, regardless of their health, or lack of military training. . This has sparked protests, especially in Moscow and St Petersburg, where 1,000 (later reported as 2,000) people have been imprisoned; people are also trying to flee in cars, causing huge queues, and on the domestic airlines that are still flying, to countries that don’t require a visa.  It’s caused huge upset, with sick and ill people being told they are fit to serve at the front. Meanwhile. Ukrainian cities are still being shelled, and there are reports of people at gunpoint being forced to participate in referenda.  Once again, the world sits in the nightmarish situation of the potential for nuclear weapons to be used, while nuclear power plants carry their own risk.  Meanwhile, some people are returning from being in Russian custody very thin and with marks of torture. There was a mass grave at Izyum, now abandoned by the Russians.  There’s no welcoming committee, then.  It’s suspected that lots of Ukrainians have been deported to Russia.  It’s a very scary time – continued, but up a notch.

In the US, things have been happening too.  Rod De Santis, governor of Florida and potential presidential candidate, used tax payer funds to fly a number of asylum seekers fleeing communism to Martha’s Vineyard, seen as a liberal enclave, without any warning.  It seems the migrants were lied to, about a welcoming committee to meet them in Boston with housing and job offers.

The New York Attorney General, Letitia James, has indicted Donald Trump and three of his adult children for what she’s memorably called “The Art of the Steal”, for tax fraud over several years, where assets were greatly inflated in value to secure loans, and seriously undervalued for the purposes of paying tax.

There has been legal to-ing and fro-ing over the finding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago; a special master was appointed, as Trump’s lawyers requested; but conservative Judge Dearie (yes, really!), a Trump appointee, has asked for specific evidence that the FBI planted documents, and the US Department of Justice has appealed Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling that would have put a hold on their document review, meaning they can continue to review these top-secret documents.  So it’s not going all Trump’s way.

The mid-term elections remain a toss up; polls are probably quite unreliable because of the limited group of folk who actually take part in them.

It’s now Friday September 30^th.

We’ve been away for a few days, so I’ll write about that in my next blog.

Meanwhile, hurricane Ian is wreaking havoc in Florida, and now threatening South Carolina. On September 29 the January 6 Committee was to give another presentation on the events around that dreadful insurrection, but this has been postponed due to the impact of this hurricane. In the UK, after a period of mourning Queen Elizabeth II, there has been a bit of a meltdown, with the new Chancellor’s budget causing so much concern that the pound has fallen and the Bank of England is having to take corrective action. In Iran, huge protests continue over the death of a woman in police custody; she was arrested for not wearing a hijab correctly. In Italy, the head of the fascist party is about to become Prime Minister.

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

It’s now Tuesday September 20^th, 2022. Kia ora!

Last night I watched much of the television coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.  I found it was better to watch it on TVNZ OnDemand on my laptop, as there seemed to be atmospheric interference on out television set.  During the leadup, I watched Telegraph coverage on my mobile phone, rather than TV One’s rather irritating coverage. Eventually they switched to BBC coverage, which was awesome, as expected.

Well, what an occasion! It all seemed to go off without a hitch, although there were some interesting moments. The weather was fine, and it didn’t rain!  I was quite desperate to get my own feelings and impressions down before watching other people’s coverage and impressions. 

At the outset, the Queen’s coffin was to be transported from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey for the main funeral service.  This was a rather nervous moment, I sensed; the Royal Navy group did seem a tad scruffy, in some rather ill-fitting uniforms, and perhaps some shoes not shined. They looked as though they’d just had breakfast – and they probably had. They certainly don’t have magnificent uniforms.

Getting the coffin from the pall-bearers’ shoulders onto the gun carriage that was to be pulled to the Abbey seemed tricky. Atop the coffin was a purple velvet cushion carrying one of the crowns, and the orb and sceptre, as well as a wreath, and a card from the new King Charles, signed Charles R.  The flowers were from the gardens of Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, and Highgrove. The coffin was covered with the royal standard. The guys managed the move without disaster (it had been practised!) but it looked tricky.  One just hopes the crown, sceptre and orb had been secured – perhaps with museum glue?  I presume the Brits had thought of this.

The gun carriage was hauled to the Abbey – a beautiful manoeuvre, that was to be repeated. Eventually, it arrived, and again there was a tricky manoeuvre getting the coffin onto the pallbearers’ shoulders again. Once they’d carried it into the Abbey, it was placed on a blue stand.  Everyone in attendance was already seated; they now stood. I can’t remember if King Charles and his siblings followed the coffin into the Abbey.

US President Joe Biden arrived in the Beast, with its ultra-thick doors; not nearly as glamorous as a Rolls Royce or a Daimler, however.

Anyway, I was moved by the intimacy of the setting, in this vast building, where members of the Royal Family were very close to the bier. The Prince and Princess of Wales were there with Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

The service was, mercifully short – it took exactly one hour. There was no commentary for much of it, to the relief of many, I suspect. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, delivered a brief, well-spoken homily.  The new Prime Minister Liz Truss did one of the readings from John’s Gospel – “In my Father’s house are many abodes…”. I did get the feeling that this scripture was not particularly familiar to her. She mangled the reading, somewhat, but at least it wasn’t Boris Johnson reading it. One of Her Majesty’s last services to her country was to see off Bojo as PM and appoint Liz Truss.

There were a number of religious dignitaries who delivered brief prayers. One of them dropped his notes. Two of them represented “Free Churches of England”. Their website makes the following claim: the Free Church of England is a Christian church in the Anglican tradition and so rooted in a Reformed Catholic heritage. So do they object to the British monarch being head of the Church of England?  I have never heard of this movement.

The singing was magnificent, of course, and I admired the beautiful boy sopranos. Psalm 23 was sung to the tune of Crimond, with a beautiful descant; the hymns were “The Day Thou Gavest Lord is Ended” and “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”, by Charles Wesley, a Methodist anthem.  I hope we’ll be singing them tomorrow morning.

Towards the end of the service God Save the King was sung.  Everyone sang lustily, although not Prince Harry.  Princes Harry and Andrew did not wear uniform, although they wore their medals.  They are the only members of the Royal Family who actually served in war – Andrew in the Falklands, and Harry in Afghanistan. Everyone wore black, except for Prince William, the new Prince of Wales, who wore an RAF uniform; the colour was blue/grey.  Almost everyone else wore black, and most women wore a hat, although there seemed to be some from the Middle East spotted from their head attire.

Harry looked daggers throughout the funeral and procession: it hardly seemed like grief; more like anger, but why, I wonder? This was not a time to be angry.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, did not dominate; the lovely Sophie, Countess of Wessex seemed to be deputed to be with her. No hand-holding there, then.

Also towards the end was a lone bagpiper, playing in the Abbey. I’m not a great fan of bagpipes, but this was magnificent.

After the funeral service in the Abbey, there was an extraordinary procession – evidently it was 1 ¼ miles long! That’s the procession.

Members of the Royal Family followed the coffin, in a very long procession -they all marched. It was absolutely extraordinary – with amazing music. Everyone marched in step, although some of them were quite elderly, and must have found it a strain. There were Canadian mounted police, and defence contingents from New Zealand and Australia.  Along the way, there were crowds galore. Drums were shrouded in black. Some of the horses seemed a bit frisky! Servicemen’s arms were held in reverse. Standards were lowered, the crowd clapped, solemnly, as the procession went past them. It all seemed to go on forever.

At some point the women, other than Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, got into cars to follow the procession. Queen consort Camilla was in a car with the Princess of Wales and Prince George and Princess Charlotte. The Princess of Wales was wearing a pearl choker, as Diana had before her.  I had not seem her wear one before.

At some point the camera panned to views of Wolverhampton, Edinburgh, Christchurch (not the New Zealand one!), and Belfast showing crowds there watching the ceremony on big screens; evidently cinemas were also playing the ceremony.

The ceremony went on for ages. At 1 am I went to bed, but the march was still going, albeit the coffin had been transferred to a hearse, and was being transported to Windsor Castle. It was way past my bedtime! And I figured that I could watch the rest of it the next day.

As I can. There is footage of the ceremony at Windsor Castle; again there is a lone bagpiper, who plays superbly. The crown, orb and sceptre are finally reverently removed and the coffin is lowered into the royal crypt, to lie alongside that of Prince Philip. Apparently there is a private family service after this.

Well, I agree with many that this is a big moment, and I doubt if we’ll see anything like this again.  King Charles’ coronation will surely be an exciting moment, but it won’t be quite like this.

I think the Prince and Princess of Wales were wise to leave Prince Louis behind. This was not an occasion for young children.

I hesitate to read social media, but I couldn’t resist a Guardian newsletters suggestion: some wit suggested that a procession of former Prime Ministers represented The Descent of Man. Hasn’t Cherie Blair, wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, put on weight! I missed the spider.  Enough said. 

It seems everyone who was anyone was represented – at one of the services, or in the parade. Thousands of people lined the streets; thousands queued for hours to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth.  What a special few days it has been, and nice to have a breather, if a rather sad one, from the trials and tribulations that becircle British politics.

I’m now reading media commentary, having written some of my own. John Crace of the Guardian has summed it up rather well:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/19/queens-farewell-makes-uk-proud-again-just-for-one-day-john-crace

Back in New Zealand, the report on Sam Uffindell has been released – on Monday September 19^th, the day of the Queen’s funeral. Sam has been reinstated – the report found that he had not been a bully since his school days. Or some such rubbish. Evidently chasing your flatmate out of the house while calling her names was not bullying then. Whatever you call it, and whether or not you think it some retaliation was justified, this kind of bad behaviour is never justified.

In the US, Trump has performed at another rally in Ohio, where he was greeted by the Qanon sign, and had scary music as a backdrop. He also claimed that J.D. Vance was “kissing his arse”, in an extraordinary statement. What he said was “J.D. is kissing my ass he wants my support so bad”. As some wit said, the middle man has been dropped! Frank Figluzzi claimed it was like a religious cult. The Queen’s funeral was light relief compared to this performance, and endorses the truth of Justin Welby’s homily, where one of the things he said was that rulers of this world who seek glory are deluding themselves and won’t be remembered as heroes. Trump using this phrase is a new low, even for him. It certainly isn’t dignified.  In my book, it’s akin to swearing. This cannot be okay with all Republican women, surely!

In China, a bus carrying people to a Covid 19 quarantine facility has crashed, killing 27 people. That is some crash! People are furious, of course. There’s been a big earthquake in Taiwan; President Biden has guaranteed that the US will support Taiwan militarily if necessary.

Next Monday, September 26, is to be a public holiday here, with a memorial service to be live streamed from St Paul’s Cathedral in Wellington, so there’ll be an opportunity to indulge further in honouring Her Majesty. I do wish they’d built a more attractive cathedral, though. I don’t much like the Catholic St Mary’s either – it’s very cold, to me.  I do rather like Old St Paul’s Cathedral, built in wood and now earthquake-strengthened (ha ha!), and the Catholic Basilica in Hill Street, also in Thorndon. I’ve been to some wonderful concerts there.

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

It’s now Wednesday September 14^th, 2022.Kia ora!

This morning I got up early to go to hymn singing. It was very cold, so I wore my extra warm puffer jacket. I also found a tartan woollen scarf.

Hymn singing was lovely, and then I went to a Māori Language week celebration.  That was very pleasant, to meet new people and learn some phrases.  It’s nice to feel a bit more secure with familiar phrases, and about when to use them.

Thankfully JD picked me up afterwards, and we bought some lunch from Nada Bakery in Tawa. 

It turned out to be quite a busy day. In the afternoon our new stove was delivered.  It just fits into the space left empty by our previous stove. I had always feared that extensive carpentry would be required for this – well, it would if I had  had a double oven as I wanted for so long; I am trying to read the instruction manual, but after wading through all the stupid taken for granted stuff, I cannot interpret the instructions. There’re not obvious at all, like Bake, Grill or Timer.  How it actually works is yet to be discovered. Just after it was installed, my grandchildren came to visit. Thankfully I had some chippies and chocolate biscuits to give them for afternoon tea.  Then, I was due to get an eyebrow treatment. I haven’t had one for ages – I had an appointment, which was cancelled, because the therapist was sick; then I chose not to go for ages, since our Covid 19 figures were so high; then I had Covid 19 myself, and it took weeks to get over it. 

On Thursday I went to singing, which was most enjoyable.  Nothing much else happened.

It’s now Friday September 16^th’

This morning we both got up earlier than normal, JD to get a WOF for the car, me to prepare for someone from Access coming. I changed the sheets and towels, feeling very virtuous.

In the evening, we were due to have soup for our evening meal, and I decided to make cheese on toast to go with it. I put the soup on to heat up, and turned on (I thought) the grill to heat up. There was noise from a fan. I toasted the Vogel bread, and sliced the cheese, then put it on top of the lightly toasted bread, as I usually do. The I popped it in the oven to grill.  It wasn’t working! JD came out, read the manual, and decided that I had the wrong setting. He corrected the setting, and eventually the cheese was grilled, but it wasn’t browned. Ah well, by now the soup, served out, was getting cold. The manual said to close the oven door when using the grill! It gave rather strange instructions for baking – if the cake is too dry…if the pastry is too dry???? That doesn’t make sense. Honestly, my instincts tell me to leave the oven door ajar when using the grill. And why doesn’t it brown? I don’t really care, since I seldom cook now, but I would have found it really annoying in the old days.

It’s now Saturday July 17^th.

It was very cold this morning, but there wasn’t a frost!  So no condensation. It’s been a fine, warm day.  This weather is weird!

Early this afternoon we went shopping in Thorndon. Sadly, there were no pies or quiches at all, but there were raspberries!  I had a lovely shopping experience.

On Sunday (yesterday) I went to church; they had the AGM afterwards. I am now a member of the Strategy Committee (silly me, I didn’t find out when it meets!), and I also joined a prayer group.  It was a lovely fine day; a huge magnolia tree outside the church lounge was in flower – quite beautiful. Afterwards JD picked me up from the New World Supermarket. I had bought a raisin brioche and a chocolate snail (my favourite) to share, and some pizza bread and some yoghurt.

It’s now Monday September 19^th.

This morning JD gave me and a friend a lift to our exercise class in Ngaio. It was drizzling with rain. It was lovely, of course, although quite energetic! Afterwards we caught the train from Ngaio. I must admit I didn’t realise it was quite a steep walk up to the station; then, it turned out we were on the wrong side, and had to cross two sets of tracks – Ngaio is one of the places where the trains cross. To my amazement, not only was there no subway, or bridge, but not even warning lights, or a barrier. We crossed safely, but the station there is not as good as the one at Mana. That one is a model for affording some protection from the elements!

I caught the train back to Johnsonville, and then had lunch (a cheese roll and a lemon slice, with coffee) there. It’s always busy, but it did thin out a bit while I was there. Then I caught the shuttle bus home.

The hosts at The Rest is Politics podcast finally got into action again towards the end of last week. Meanwhile, new books keep coming out in the US about Trump’s time in office.  The rest of us continue to wonder about the state of US politics. At least some people are waking up now to the dangers posed by threats to their so-called democracy.  David Corn has published a new book called American Psychosis– I’ve listened to two podcasts about it.

The Queen’s funeral service is to be televised tonight while it actually takes place in Westminster Abbey.  Our Prime Minister Ardern is to attend, along with the Governor General, the Māori King and others. She has secured meetings with the new King Charles, the new British Prime Minister Liz Truss, and with the new Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Catherine. A Defence Force unit also performed a Māori haka for them.  I am bursting with pride.  To be honest, I haven’t looked at many Youtube videos during the last few days. The endless media speculation drives me nuts.  But I hope to be watching the funeral.

There are new Covid 19 figures out today, as the Ministry of Health goes to weekly reporting. There are 9,606 new cases reported over the past week;  there are 175 people in hospital. There have been an average of 1,369 new cases each day. There have been a further 74 deaths: of these four were from Northland, 20 were from Auckland region, five were from Waikato, six were from Bay of Plenty, one was from Tairawhiti, two were from Hawke’s Bay, four were from Taranaki, six were from MidCentral, four were from Whanganui, two were from Wellington region, three were from Nelson Marlborough, 15 were from Canterbury, two were from Southern.

Three were in their 20s, two were in their 30s, one was in their 40s, three were in their 50s, ten were in their 60s, 16 were in their 70s, 25 were in their 80s and 14 were aged over 90. Of these people, 33 were women and 41 were men. This takes the total number of deaths to 1962. I fear we’ll crack over 2,000 soon. Still, the numbers are much fewer than they have been. Although masks aren’t required in most settings now, many people still wear them.  There isn’t the fear that there used to be. And it’s quite all right here to wear a mask.

In Ukraine, a lot of territory has been taken back by Ukrainian forces, and many Russian troops left in some disarray, running for their lives, and leaving weaponry behind. Nevertheless, although this is hugely significant, many advise caution; and Ukrainian cities are still being shelled. This war ain’t over, by a long shot.

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

It’s now Sunday September 11^th, 2022. Kia ora!

It’s a nice day today (again). It’s not raining, although there’ve been some showers; it’s been sunny and quite warm, in the main.

I assume the statement “God save the King” is in the subjunctive (“Would that God might/may save the King” rather than imperative – you don’t give God orders to do something). I must say King Charles does look striking in that kilt and sporran (I don’t think I’ve seen that tartan before), those red socks, topped with the jacket and shirt and tie.

This morning I went back to church, physically. I haven’t been for weeks: I’ve been zooming into the service. I was in luck today: the organist was playing, there was communion, and several people spoke to me. The sermon was about the parables of the lost coin, or the lost sheep from Luke 15: 1-10 (later on we have the parable of the Prodigal Son).  Afterwards there was a beautiful organ solo.

Then I went shopping at the supermarket nearby. JD was due to pick me up. He rang while I was at the checkout – looking for bags, cards, no I’m not collecting the Little Garden collectables; he rang repeatedly, and I couldn’t answer the phone because I was busy with the lovely checkout operator! And there were people behind me in the queue! I had bought more things than usual, since we hadn’t been shopping on Saturday like we usually do. I composed a text for JD, to tell him I was coming, but I didn’t actually send it – sometimes the send button takes several goes to actually work.  JD was in the carpark. He was worried that something had happened to me.

We got home and had coffee together before JD had to go out. We watched some videos on television of the Ukrainian conflict. Ukrainian troops have tricked the Russians, and liberated some territory that had been taken by the Russians.  We saw some film of liberated Ukrainians: they are very thin indeed; they’re not in good shape physically, but they’re so happy to be rescued.

I am switching between watching videos about the Royal Family, about the Ukraine conflict, and the historian Tom Holland speaking about Christianity, and its place in Western Civilisation; and about how Christ’s death – and that the death of the cross – has such significance for us all; while crucifixion was the worst death the Romans could inflict, yet the mighty Roman Empire fell, and Christianity still reigns. Part of the Queen’s role as Head of the Anglican Church was Defender of the Faith. Charles, as Prince, used to be rather lukewarm about this, but it seems he has reiterated his commitment to the Christian faith in his first speech as King.

In a lot of the tributes talk about Queen Elizabeth rejoining the Duke of Edinburgh, who died just over a year ago; this belief is not part of my tradition; I wonder just where it comes from. We’re told that in the resurrection, there’s neither male nor female; we are told that the Lord will wipe the tears from every eye; I find that a very comforting thought.

The media show the new Prince and Princess of Wales with the Sussexes acknowledging the crowds at Windsor Castle. There seems to be no booing, but as expected the Cambridges are amazingly wonderful, while Prince Harry  manages to look dishevelled and uncomfortable, and Meghan fiddles with her hair. I wonder who put them up to this?  The new King Charles perhaps. What a moment.  The Sussexes walk hand in hand, needless to say; the Cambridges don’t. They’re far more mature. I did note that Meghan was wearing black hose (tights). 

I have to apologise to the London Review of Books. In honour of Queen Elizabeth’s death, they have emailed me “The Uncommon Reader” by Alan Bennett, first published in 2007. I think I remember it’s being published as a small hardback volume; I did not read it myself, although I may have given it away as a present. I enjoyed reading this beautiful story. Bennett is a very good writer, I enjoy anything by him. I can read this story, but the LRB won’t let me read anything more. Rory Stewart and Alistair Campbell, hosts of The Rest is Politics podcast, remain silent. Surely the news of the Queen’s death is political.

It’s now Monday September 12^th.

I went to the exercise class in Ngaio again.  Today it was drizzly and overcast, but not nearly as cold as last week. The trains weren’t running, again. JD gave me a lift, thankfully. The class wasn’t as crowded as it was last week.  There were different people there, too – and some of them knew me! Oh dear.  One’s past follows one around. I enjoyed the class, although I did find it tiring.

Afterwards I took a leisurely walk to the bus stop for train replacements, and caught the bus to Johnsonville. Then JD picked me up, thankfully, although the buses weren’t cancelled today. Thankfully, too, my new Listener arrived today.

The covid 19 numbers are still down, with 1149 new cases, 225 in hospital, and 6 virus related deaths. There are 3 people in Intensive Care.

The 225 cases in hospital were in Northland (1), Waitematā (46), Counties Manukau (28), Auckland (36), Waikato (18), Bay of Plenty (3), Lakes (3), Hawke’s Bay (1), MidCentral (8), Whanganui (1), Taranaki (1), Tairawhiti (0), Wairarapa (6), Capital & Coast (13), Hutt Valley (10), Nelson Marlborough (4), Canterbury (37), West Coast (1), South Canterbury (1) and Southern (7).

The hospitals are still under enormous pressure, although the number of  Covid 19 infections is down. There are still many new cases flying into the country from overseas.

From midnight tonight, the government’s rules change. The traffic light system is to be abandoned; masks will only be required in health care and aged care situations; and household contacts of Covid 19 positive cases will no longer be required to isolate. Covid 19 positive cases are still required to isolate for 7 days.  So that’s that, I guess.

At my exercise class this morning we did quite a lot of touching – of the individual stretchy bands, the bean bag, and our chairs, but most people were wearing a mask, however.

Prime Minister Ardern has announced that there is to be a public holiday on September 26 to remember the Queen, and a memorial service will be held in St Paul’s Cathedral.

It’s now Tuesday September 13^th.

I was going to meet one of my sons this morning, but he has a heavy cold, so I will be lazy and go for a walk instead. It’s not fine today, but it’s not raining at present; it’s cloudy, but not overcast.

I went for a walk to the local store. There is a very strong northerly wind, which almost blows me over, yet according to the nice lady at the checkout it was raining and overcast in Porirua. JD gets home and asks me if I got wet. Of course not, I reply, since it’s now sunny outside and I’m bemoaning the fact that the wind makes it unpleasant to sit out in the sunshine. Apparently there was a cloudburst, a very heavy shower of rain while he was on the motorway north. He couldn’t see where he was going, and had to slow down to 60 kph. You wouldn’t know it here.

While I was shopping, I bought the latest copy of the Economist that we get, obviously printed before HM the Queen passed away.  It has an obituary of Mikhail Gorbachev, who also died recently. Evidently he died in the same hospital where the head of Lukoil supposedly fell to his death out of a sixth-floor hospital window. He was not given a state funeral. I think Putin laid flowers at his coffin in the hospital; he was too busy to attend the funeral. It seems Gorbachev used brutality against Lithuania, when they tried to rebel; this was uncharacteristic of him. I have to say that I greatly admired him, whatever his faults.  The act of letting the Berlin Wall be torn down, and the subsequent reunification of East and West Germany, and independence of previously communist nations, was of tremendous significance, as was the end of apartheid in South Africa, and the coming to power of Nelson Mandela. By the way, did you know that the US “won” the Cold War?  You’ll hear Americans unashamedly claiming this.  I think perhaps humanity enjoyed some success there. Whatever has happened since, I think we’re all better off without the Berlin Wall.

I also read book reviews in the Economist, about the effects of climate change and its forcing of migration, and the desperate and challenging journey of migrants from Latin and South America to the United States.

I was a small child when Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne, and I remember being taken to see her and her husband, Prince Philip, when they first came to New Zealand.  I also remember two subsequent visits – one, waiting in the then Millard Stand at the then Athletic Park while she was driven around the ground, waving; another when I escorted a group of college students to line the drive to the Mary Potter Hospice in Newtown, where she was driven by. I remember noticing how small she was, and how pale.

There seem to be a great many events of great significance, even in my lifetime. While I consider that my parents were quite obsessed with the Great Depression of the 1930’s and World War II that followed, they occurred during their formative years, and my parents and their families endured severe deprivation. 

Some of the big events in my life have been the erection of the Berlin Wall, the assassination of President Kennedy; the nuclear scare, the Cultural Revolution in China, the Wahine disaster in Wellington, the Vietnam War and the even more terrible conflict in Cambodia; Watergate; conflict in the Balkans; the two Iraq wars and the events of September 11 in the US; famine in Ethiopia; Chernobyl and Fukushima; and so on and so on. I’ve probably omitted many things. Along with these have been growing awareness of the challenges posed by climate change, the coronavirus pandemic, and now the conflict in Ukraine.  Thankfully, my husband didn’t join the NZ Territorials (someone tipped him off that he’d be sent to Vietnam), and we didn’t have to send any of our sons to war (or persuade them not to go). One of one of my son’s friends joined the army, and did two tours of duty in Afghanistan.  He’s now back in New Zealand, married with two young children.

Along with all this, there has been a renaissance of all things Māori here. Te Reo is found in many hitherto unexpected places – in google searches, in newspapers, in place names, and in common usage. After all, where else but here is this language going to be nurtured?    I am going to have to know far more than my very basic Te Reo.

And now coming back to the event that still dominates in Great Britain, and to a lesser extent, here – the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II. I admit I have been luxuriating in some of the Youtube videos of all the formalities. The pageantry is quite wonderful, and I do enjoy it, as I did during the recent jubilee. What wonderful spectacle! What wonderful precision, and training. One can only admire such an amazing display. John Crace in the Guardian newspaper summed it up rather nicely:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/12/new-king-comes-to-westminster

There’s a lot of criticism of the costs involved in such ceremony and pageantry, and, to be honest, I have visited Cambridge University (yes, two of my sons were there, one a Junior Research Fellow at Kings’ College, Cambridge, the other a fellow at Christ’s College for a year); I attended a Midsummer Feast, a very special occasion. While I was prepared for the toast to HM (and nobody drinks first), I was unprepared for standing for the second Grace. Silly me! JD and I did our best to behave ourselves and not cause embarrassment. But while beautiful and gracious, these were really museum pieces, and did not feel like the “real” world outside of delayed or cancelled trains and clanking buses, or queues at the post office. The Brits are so obedient and well-behaved, on the whole, that I have a sense of “both and” rather than  “either or”.

There’s no doubt that the Royal Family has enormous private wealth, with many estates and lovely (if somewhat cold and draughty) homes. The Queen also had an extraordinary collection of paintings, to say nothing of the jewellery – she always was seen wearing pearls, and a brooch, if not a tiara, earrings and a bracelet. She was also known for being rather parsimonious, and not wishing to waste money. Still, I’d venture the British taxpayer gets more bang for their buck than the American one.  In the US all politicians get offices and staff, often security; the President gets a some might say ridiculous motorcade, and the secret service not only protect the serving president and his family, but past presidents too. So the US government must spend a great deal of money on its so-called democratic government. I think the British Royal Family is good value for money, on the whole, despite media baron Rupert Murdoch’s attempts to take them down. And imagine being under such examination – everything you wear, every piece of jewellery, is carefully noted, photographed and analysed; every time you go out the door, you have to be prepared to be scrutinised.  I remember thinking this about Charles and Diana’s then relationship; when I was having children, I certainly wouldn’t have born examination for all of the time.

It also strikes me as extremely ironic that King Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 in order to marry an American divorcée; I know there was lots of history behind that move, but that’s the story we’re been fed; King (formerly Prince) Charles married the woman, another divorcée, with whom he’d been having an affair, before and after the death of his wife, the then Princess (Diana) of Wales, the mother of his two sons, Princes William and Harry, and mother of the heir to the throne. .  Meanwhile, Harry has married (been allowed to marry?) Meghan, another American divorcée, and just look how that has turned out. Whatever your feelings about the Sussexes (and yes, feelings, we’ve got ‘em!), it’s not a good idea to be critical of your, or your husband’s family.  What a lot of questions their two children will have as they grow up. 

Speaking as a parent, and having faced questions from my own children, I would say the following: while there are some things I’d do differently if I had my time again, I was always busy, and always tired, and aware of obligations to people like my parents-in-law and the older generation. I think I always did my best, and tried to meet the needs of the child who needed me most at the time. I don’t think anyone was ever hungry, and they were always looked after. They all learned to play the piano – and many other instruments, besides. They had the right sports gear. They had new musical instruments as they needed them. While their childhoods could have been better, they certainly could have been a lot worse. I remember the fifth commandment, to honour your father and mother, “that you may be long-lived on the earth” – the first commandment with a promise. Sometimes I wonder just how well I have passed that one on!

In China another city, Xinjiang, has been locked down as well as Chengdu, where they have an indefinite lockdown, and they’ve just had a big earthquake. In most places there’d be an outcry if civilians couldn’t get food, or help; in China, that’s another matter. They’ve had flooding, too. It’s reported that tens of millions of people in at least 30 regions have been ordered to stay at home under partial or full lockdowns. On Monday China recorded 949 new Covid cases across the entire country.

In Ukraine, Ukrainian forces have taken back a considerable amount of territory held by the Russians, with in some cases Russian soldiers running for their lives, and leaving lots of ammunition behind. While this is very significant, Putin is retaliating by continuing to fire on cities and taking out electricity. The Ukrainian soldiers liberated from Russian control look relieved, and starved; the Russians certainly didn’t provide a welcoming committee. Everyone is nervous as to what Putin may do next. He’s never actually lost a war. It’s said that 80,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded.  It’s certainly not going Russia’s way.

The Covid 19 numbers continue their downward trend here, with 1,941 new cases, and 241 people in hospital, with 3 in Intensive Care. There’ve now been 1,962 deaths from Covid 19; that’s an average of 4 deaths each day, which is a lot less than it was. There were 78 new cases at the border today.

That’s it for today.  I’m aware that some of these topics will be very controversial. It’s nice for me to have a forum to air some of my views. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.