The skyline of Taipei, with the tower Taipei 101 prominent

Last days in Taipei

It remained very hot. On our return from the tour to Yilan there was a peaceful protest in Taipei, and several streets were blocked off. Our guide should have known about this; it was frustrating to be stuck in traffic, knowing that we would have to catch a taxi back to our hotel afterwards. At one point I googled our current situation, and we were still 9 minutes away from the Taipei Main Station! Eventually we were dropped off, but not at the main station. There were few taxis there, but after a few minutes we got one. The driver spoke English, too!  I didn’t see any banners, but JD saw some. There were a lot of people around, especially near to our hotel, but they were very peaceful.  I tried to find out why they were protesting, and it seemed they were protesting “reforms” that would give another branch of government more power, that were proposed by the right-wing executive branch of the government. This week the new leader had taken over from the woman president who had served two terms.  People kept saying to me that the world is a dangerous place, and they weren’t talking about Ukraine or Israel.

That evening back at the hotel we ate the beautiful things we’d bought from the bread shop –  a long roll with blueberry jam, and a chocolate covered croissant. The blueberry one had some kind of custard filling.  I was very relieved to get back and wash my hands properly! JD went out to get some fruit and came back with pineapple.   

The next day was Wednesday, the eve of our departure. That day my granddaughter had a half-day off from school, so she had lunch with us too. We went to a vegan restaurant that we had been to with her last year.  I had Korean spicy chicken, except it wasn’t real chicken!  It came with a mixture of rice, sprouted beans, salad, and other things. It was pretty nice!  I had a sparking vinegar drink. We shared vegan cheesecake afterwards – matcha flavoured, and chocolate. There’s a lot of matcha-flavour, presumably what we would know as matcha tea.

Afterwards we went to watch our grandchildren doing Taekwondo. They are quite advanced from last year. Then we went back to their apartment.  We had some of the whisky we had bought from the Kavalan distillery for our son – it’s 50% alcohol, and JD and I found it very strong. Some friends of theirs had again given us beautiful cakes. We walked back to our hotel and had some of the cakes for our tea.

That was our last night at the hotel. We were to check out by 11 am the next day.  I had left packing until now – I could not find a dark green cardigan that I had brought with me. No matter; I’ve worn it lots, and although I’m disappointed, I’ll buy another, because it was very useful.

We were due to meet our son at 11 am, but we had finished packing soon after 9 am, so we went walking. We had coffee at The Dancing Goat café (brown sugar lattés, one hot one cold). My one had caramelised brown sugar on top – that is next level, and really something!  There were two delicious wee biscuits served with them.

Then we walked back to the Grand Courtyard. This was now open, but you had to pay to see the exhibition, so we did not go in. Then we met our son (we were able to leave our bags at the hotel), and went to another exhibition, and a series of pop-up arty shops. That was great fun!

Then we had lunch at another vegan restaurant quite near our hotel – we should go there if we visit Taipei again. I had a sparkling drink of peach-flavoured tea, and a salad with beetroot, prunes, nuts and quinoa, on lettuce and tomato. JD had some amazing pumpkin soup and quiche and salad.

Then we walked back to our hotel, collected our baggage, and got a taxi to the airport.

Unlike last year, it was very busy at the airport. It took us some time to find the Air NZ counter.  You realise, again, that NZ is a very tiny country in the scheme of things. Eventually we were checked in, and went through security.  Then we found our way to the EVA Lounge. It was very busy everywhere.

I had more coffee, and a carton of apple juice, and I was able to charge my phone. I only had my phone and my kindle for reading matter, and I almost wished I had brought a physical book to read. We both put on our pressure socks – with some difficulty, as far as I was concerned.

In the EVA Lounge there are no boarding announcements, so we duly went to the restrooms and made our way to our gate.  The lounge looked empty, but someone checked our passports and boarding passes, and we went downstairs – to another lounge where there were lots of people. There was nowhere much to sit, but then we were invited to board our plane. How nice to be priority customers!

We boarded the business class cabin, and found our seats. Knowing better what to expect than previously, I put on the scuffs Air NZ had thoughtfully provided, and stowed my trainers in the overhead locker. I stowed my handbag under the humpty.  Someone brought me a glass of orange juice; then a hot flannel.  There were many empty seats in business class.  Then we took off, and eventually were served dinner.  For some reason, this seemed to take ages, even though there were many empty seats. Still, it was quite good: an amuse bouche with duck, and some lovely nuts; then an entrée with smoked salmon and salad; then the bakery, with the lovely garlic bread and olive oil; and then my spicy pork with rice and greens. Dessert was a chocolate lava cake with dried raspberry garnish. This was delicious: the other choice was caramel ice cream. I ate this with some mineral water. It was so nice to have one’s own little table surface, with table cloth, large linen napkin with buttonhole, and proper cutlery. It was worth waiting for.

Then I went to the tiny toilet while someone made up my bed. This is a disadvantage of business class: you’re either sitting up, or lying flat, with different seat belt arrangements!  It’s lovely to lie flat, although it’s a little tricky to manage the rug, the seat belt (which must be kept visible), and the two pillows. Actually it’s much more comfortable with one pillow! 

I lay down, thinking this is rather wonderful, and then I got cramp.  I retrieved my magnesium cream from my carry-bag in the overhead locker, and applied it to my leg, although it is quite odorous.  Sadly, the cramp continued. I took off my pressure socks with difficulty – they were really uncomfortable.  The cramp continued, off and on, and although it was nice to lie flay, I did not really sleep, I think. Still, it was better to be lying flat and more comfortable.

At some incredibly early hour (3:15 am Taiwan time) they started serving breakfast! Someone brought me some orange juice; then there was a fruit bowl (melon, cantaloupe, pineapple, custard apple and watermelon), and then hot bakery items. I asked for a croissant and strawberry jam. Unfortunately I spilled the jam while opening the sachet, and it was quite liquid and went everywhere, making a real mess of my serviette and table cloth. The croissant was quite small, and very crumbly, which added to the mess! Then I chose the spinach and cheddar cheese omelette, which came with hollandaise sauce, streaky bacon, tomato and hash browns.  The omelette sounded good, but tasted a bit strange; it’s odd to have this sauce with an omelette. The hash browns were quite nice, but the potato in them was a little undercooked.

After that, I watched part of a movie, Alleluya. The entertainment system had far more options than in Premium Economy, and was far more accessible. I had seen the trailer of this movie. But I hadn’t actually seen it. It starred Jennifer Saunders, Derek Jacobi. Judi Dench, Russell Tovey and other luminaries, and had a rather good script. It’s about very elderly people in care, with their varying degrees of dementia and other ailments, but somehow it was not depressing.

Then we landed very smoothly at Auckland Airport, and it was time to retrieve my trainers and put them on.  We alighted to a very different atmosphere – much cooler, and the air is so different.  It was a fine day in Auckland, and not too cold, so we walked to the domestic terminal. We had been invited to leave our luggage in International, I think, but I did not trust Air NZ to get it to Wellington! We checked in at the Premium counter, and handed over our luggage. The boarding passes that had been printed in Taipei were not reprinted, although we found later that the specified gate had been changed.

We made our way through security, and to the Air NZ Lounge.  This was pretty full, but not as full as last year. We made our way to the coffee counter, sat down, and JD ordered coffee – a long black and a latté. He got some cakes and a tiramisu to eat – not savoury stuff, which I would have preferred. Then he disappeared for quite a while, leaving me with his heavy backpack. A large couple sat very close to me, and she used foul language!  There was someone on my other side, and after the graciousness of Taiwan I found it all too much and I was really uncomfortable. Also I couldn’t charge my phone.

Eventually JD turned up, and we went to shower. Showers were available, but towels were again in short supply. There seemed to be no one to ask for a clean towel. I got a towel which seemed clean but slightly damp, then went to have a shower. This worked pretty well, although the water kept ranging between hot and cold. This time I had taken clean clothes to put on in my carry-bag, dispensing with my usual paraphernalia. I found deodorant, and a disposable toothbrush and small tooth paste tube to use, and reappeared feeling refreshed. No JD, but I got a comfortable seat and an electric point to recharge my phone. I messaged JD, and then he eventually turned up. I got some tuna sandwiches from the buffet, since it was now lunch time.

Then we went to our gate, but it had changed to the next one. There were lots of people, and boarding was later than advised. Eventually we boarded our full flight, and made our way to Wellington. We retrieved our luggage, and caught a taxi home – where it was very cold! I had turned on our heat pump while still in Auckland, but that wasn’t soon enough, and we were both really cold. I didn’t really “thaw out” till during Friday night. Up to then, no amount of heating from the heater and the electric blanket or extra warm clothes or extra cup of coffee really warmed me up.

And the rest is: unpacking; washing; shopping; and adjusting to a very different environment. And finding baby photos of Number Four son to send to England for his and his wife’s baby shower.

Impressions of Taiwan:

Saturday was the second day of Chinese military surrounding the island of Taiwan to teach the new leader a lesson. “Independence and peace are like fire and water”, or some such, said President Xi of China.  While we were in Taiwan, several people said “the world is a dangerous place”, and they weren’t talking about Ukraine or Israel.

I noticed a new edginess, that wasn’t there last year; more overweight people, and more English; more American-isms; everyone was still nicely dressed and well-covered, although I saw two women in our hotel wearing short shorts, as New Zealand women do. I saw no tattoos, or beards, although there was some (a little) tagging! There was a nod to the West in a number of cafés offering waffles, scrambled eggs, and quiche, instead of expected Taiwanese food. But almost everyone is gracious and kind, bowing or acknowledging when you say hello. There’s a lot of “bye bye”. Everyone is kind and respectful.

In other news, the Trump “hush money” trial, which has been quite absorbing, is almost over; in the UK, Sunak has called an election for 4 July, to everyone’s surprise: he is displaying “don’t succeed” behaviour, right from his announcement outside D(r)owning St in the pouring rain; In Ukraine and Israel dreadful warlike things continue to happen.

The British media are having a “Brexit” moment – how on earth did this just happen?

And back in New Zealand, the Coalition government continues to do ghastly things, like scrapping first home grants and funding more charter schools, and cutting more government jobs: the “poor” rich must have their promised tax cuts. Luxon also made a speech calling Labour “arsonists” or some such. Really and truly!

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

The Lanyang Museum

Sunday May 12, 2024. Mothers’ Day!

We are in Taipei again. We flew from Wellington to Auckland in the morning; one of our sons drove us to the airport. The flight was very smooth, and for once we were sitting at the front of the plane, so I had a marvelous view too.  At Auckland, we walked to the Novotel Hotel – it does take about 10 minutes, but it was fine there too and not too cold.  Thankfully, this time the Novotel had a booking for us, and we could go to our room, although there was some drama over access cards.

Then we walked around the hotel to the transport centre to catch the Sky Bus into the city. This was only $12.50 each for us, although the bus was very full and we had to sit upstairs. The bus went to the Sky City hotel, and from there we walked to the Auckland Art Gallery.  We had met a lovely American woman from Chicago, who talked to us while we waited for the bus.

At the Art Gallery we had lunch – I had a salmon bagel while JD had a hamburger and chips, most of which he did not eat. Then we went to see the Robertson Gift, a wonderful collection of paintings which had been gifted to the Art Gallery by a wealthy New York donor and his wife. The paintings were his “children”. They were mostly modern-ish paintings, with a wonderful one by Monet, a Salvador Dali, some by Picasso and Braque, and several sculptures. There was even a painting by New Zealand’s Frances Hodgkins, although I did not think it was one of her best.

After this we got a taxi back to our hotel, where we ate dinner (fish and pasta), and went to bed. I was afraid we would not wake early enough for our 7:40 am check in, but JD woke at 5 am, although he did not have his shower until 7:30 am. I wished I had had breakfast at the hotel!

We rolled across to the International Airport, as you do, where we had to wait at a counter to get boarding passes printed. We got severely reprimanded for not queueing, although there was no queue when we started.

Eventually we got through security to have something to eat at Aroha Café. Sadly, this was not the adequate experience we had remembered from January 2023, when we had used it on our way to Adelaide.  The toast was tough, the coffee only just drinkable. There wasn’t much time left, so we made our way to Gate 18 – the furthest one!  Thankfully there were several restrooms along the way, and several “walk-alators”.

We flew Premium Economy to Taipei. We were seated at the front of the cabin, but although it was nice to have plenty of room, I could not quite reach the screen without undoing my seat belt, and when it was on, I couldn’t quite read what it said.  Also, the foot rest didn’t work quite right for me, in that it wasn’t quite comfortable.  Still, one shouldn’t complain. The service was very good.

Lunch was quite nice – a spicy pork dish with rice and vegetables, and an entrée with whipped ricotta (?), manuka-smoked olives, and some vegetable shavings that looked like onion but did not taste like onion. The hot bread was delicious. Dessert was chocolate miso ice cream in a little cardboard tub; that, too was delicious but we were both too full to eat more than a few mouthfuls. Every menu item both on board here and at the Novotel had something smoked and something whipped, all carefully translated into Māori, although this was by no means traditional Māori food.

It seemed a very long flight. I read my guide book about Taiwan – but found it disappointing, compared to the books I had borrowed from the library last year, being unable to find any in the shops to buy.  I also watched the movie “Napoleon”, and although I thought it was quite good (spoiler alert: very gory beginning), I could see why the critics panned it. But Joaquin Pheonix was surprisingly good as Napolean, and Vanessa Kirby was amazing as his wife Josephine.  But a historical biopic it was not. The clothes they wore were amazing, though! There were some battle scenes, particularly the battle of Waterloo, where Napoleon was defeated. Dinner was a kahawai “rillette” with mandarin segments, and a chicken dish with potatoes and vegetables. Dessert was a delicious pear and ginger cheesecake.

Eventually the plane began its descent, and I couldn’t see any land for ages, and then I could.  When we came last year, we did not have window seats in business class, and it was two hours later (the plane was late taking off), but this time we landed in daylight. We flew over flat land with lots of ponds, lots of green grass, and rather unattractive beaches.

We got through immigration, and then got our checked baggage surprisingly quickly. Then we went through to the Main Hall, and there was our eldest son! We took a taxi into the city to our hotel, and everything looked surprisingly familiar. Then we checked in at our hotel. We are on the 10^th floor again, this time in room 1001. It is very similar to last time, although they don’t give out the bottled water each day or fresh fruit each week any more. My mobile phone picked up the new network right away. There is a fan in the bathroom, which comes on when you turn on the light. The toilet was more modern and less precarious!

JD went with our son to his nearby apartment to see our grandchildren; I would love to have gone too, but I was really very tired by this time. Thankfully JD bought some fruit and drinks, as it felt rather strange not to have anything to eat or drink. Actually there is a water dispenser on our floor, but no complimentary fruit as there was last time we were here.

I went off to sleep, but woke feeling greatly refreshed, to find it was just sometime after midnight!  I did go back to sleep for a few hours, but we were both ready for breakfast when it opened at 7 am.

Breakfast was fine; we knew the drill, and I stuck to fruit (watermelon, orange segments and apple segments), fruit drink, coffee, and toast (white bread). JD has corn flakes: in a nod to Western civilization, there are containers of what I suppose are fruit loops, chocolate rice bubbles, and corn flakes. For spreads, there is butter, a red jelly-like jam, and sweetened smooth sweetened peanut butter. I rather like it now! Other than that there is the usual array of things we would tend to eat for lunch or dinner:  salads, noodles, rice and vegetable dishes. The next day there was something called “steamed egg”, which looked like a cross between baked egg custard and scrambled eggs, but it was very pale. It feels as though we are “home” again, although it’s so very different here.

On Friday morning I went for a walk in Da’an Park. There were many people there, some of them wearing sunhats. There were two untethered dogs, which amazed me. They weren’t aggressive. I passed two groups doing Tai chi – they’re so graceful. I walked a long way, but somehow did not encounter the lily pond.  There are several entrances: there was a large sculpture at the one I had entered, so I knew I needed to find that again. But I did walk rather a long way! It was very hot – meanwhile in New Zealand it has been very cold, especially in the mornings.

Later in the morning we met our son and his wife, and went to “Amore Vegan” for lunch. This lovely restaurant took some finding: we were in the main railway station, but this seemed to be located in a department store.

What a lovely place to eat! I had spicy noodles with chilli, but it was delicious and not too spicy. To drink I had a drink that tasted of apple with oolong tea – not too sweet, and very refreshing. Most restaurants offer forks and spoons as well as chopsticks, which is most welcome. I endeavour to use chopsticks, but get very clumsy when I’m tired.

After this we went to a coffee bar, where they did not have oat milk lattes, but JD and I each had affogato.

Back at the hotel our son brought our grandchildren to visit, and we gave them their presents. These seemed to be well received!

JD and I had dinner at the hotel that evening – a combination meal, as we had had last year, although this time there was less food, thankfully. There was an entrée of very thinly sliced meat; a soup which tasted chicken-based but had lumps of tofu; and our favourite pork meatballs and delicious fried chicken with mushrooms, apple and peppers. There was rice, of course, and some delicious fruit to finish. Mastering the chopsticks was challenging, but there were wee china ladles which helped.

The next day was Saturday. Again I went for a walk in the morning, up Heping St this time, and found the designer clothing shop (closed), Mollies’ Used book store, and what I think was the entrance to the Tae Kwondo studio. Then I walked back to Da’an Park, and then to the hotel.

We met our son and his family for lunch. We went to one of the children’s favourite restaurants, which also had a bakery next door.  This was quite an experience. We were served Bali tea, rather than water, on arrival. On advice, JD and I shared an order of soba (buckwheat) noodles, with side dishes of soup, a dipping sauce with horseradish, some edamame beans, some sweet potato, and a salad of a green vegetable that I had not seen before. There were also vegetables in tempura batter, mock-chicken pieces with a dipping sauce (all delicious); and two bowls of ice cream for dessert. Oh, and I had a delicious drink of tea flavoured with orange. Here there were chopsticks (no spoons!); I did find it hard to navigate the noodles and the dipping sauce!

Afterwards we went to the bakery next door and bought some croissants for our evening meal, and the others had an ice cream – served in half a croissant! No cones or waffle cones here, and although the place was vegan, there was a delicious ginger flavoured wee biscuit in the shape of a bear.

Then JD and our son and grandson went in search of coffee, after JD laboriously bought some headphones for his mobile phone.  We found a café beside a children’s playground, so JD was deputed to play with his grandson while my eldest and I retreated into the air-con café to enjoy delicious coffee. I had a latté with oat milk and caramelized brown sugar on top – delicious! Since we were seated at the bar, we could watch the baristas at their very fine work of brewing great coffee. It reminded me of our tea tour last year. This café actually had containers to store one’s bags – very welcome.

We rescued JD and the little boy, and caught a taxi home to the hotel. There was a visitation later that evening, where we were given some wonderful paintings.  That evening JD and I did not go out for dinner. Instead we enjoyed our croissants, bananas, and chopped apple he had bought. So far, there is no pineapple available in the shops.

We are due to meet the family for lunch today, at another Herbivore restaurant that we went to last year.

So what are my impressions so far?  I saw three beggars on Friday. As mentioned, I saw two untethered dogs at the park, which was strange. I’ve seen more overweight people already this trip. And people perhaps seem a little more edgy? Still gracious and friendly, though.

It’s now Monday 13 May.

Yesterday we went to an Art Studio where our grandchildren are taking private art lessons. Their artwork is very impressive! 

Then we went to the lovely Herbivore in a high end department store, where we had been last year with our two sons from New Zealand and the UK.  It was lovely again: we ordered brussels sprouts again; I ordered a salad with pecans, roasted beetroot, quinoa and vegan ricotta cheese. JD ordered a mushroom and truffle risotto, which, thankfully, was much less “soupy” than New Zealand offerings.  There was a vegan duck platter, where you took a taco and wrapped it around the duck with seasonings and sides like grated carrot, lettuce and onion. Everything was delicious. I’m starting to believe that the “fake” meats (whatever they’re made of), are more delicious than their real counterparts! Here you could serve yourself, with spoons and forks provided and large paper napkins. There was a lovely container to place bags and belongings.  The children had pancakes – which looked very filling. I had been tempted to order them, but wisely thought better of it. To drink I had lemonade with red grapefruit juice; my son ordered it without sugar, but when requested sweetening they brought a tiny jug with sweet syrup, which I added to the drink. To be honest, it tasted much better with a little sweetening. JD also ordered a half bottle of a Côtes de Rhone white wine, which was poured into four large wine glasses. To our surprise, there was plenty.

Afterwards we shared a delicious cake my eldest son had brought.  We were celebrating my eldest granddaughter’s 12^th birthday, and there were three candles: 5, 6 and 1!  We were also celebrating Mother’s Day and my granddaughter had had her birthday a few days earlier.  The cake was three layers, with a posy on top and a large maraschino cherry, a pineapple ring, and a piece of apricot. The cake, covered with some white creamy icing, had pieces of apricot throughout it, and an oolong tea-flavoured layer. My son cut it into 6 portions – they were quite large!

Afterwards we went to a store where JD bought our granddaughter’s birthday present: a bag and a t-shirt.  We were in a large shopping complex that I remembered from last year.

After this we took a taxi home; later on JD and I went to the Carrefour supermarket just up the road and bought more fruit, plain crackers and cheese slices as we had last year.  We also delivered a birthday card to the birthday girl – it’s her birthday today – and a little present I had brought from New Zealand at the last minute.

Later that evening JD went shopping again with his son and grandson, but it rained and he came back quite wet.  Today it is much cooler – a mere 23C, which, of course, would be a hot day in Wellington. I went for a walk after breakfast to Da’an Park, but there were far fewer people there, and the seats were wet.  It’s just drizzling now, but much cooler outside, and there is a breeze.

It’s now Tuesday 14 May.

Yesterday (Monday) I went for a walk in Da’an Park in the morning, but every seat was wet, and there weren’t many people there. It was much cooler – at least 5C cooler than the 31-32 C of the weekend. It also drizzled off and on.

We went to an older area of Taipei that had been settled by the Japanese; there were brick porticoes; it was quite charming, although it was cold and wet. Eventually we went into the restaurant where we were to have lunch.

This was different again. We had omelet on rice – all vegan, but the rice was tasty and delicious; and two noodle dishes, one looking as though it had egg yolk on top. We also had meat-like entrées. I had a pineapple drink.  For dessert we had what looked like a cross between panna cotta and crème caramel, although of course it was vegan. Afterwards we walked through past many stores, selling varieties of dried goods, many of them in sacks. 

We had coffee in a coffee bar which was up a steep staircase, but very nice when we got there.  JD and I had oat milk lattés with brown sugar, but it wasn’t caramelized like the day before.  JF had coffee made from Peruvian beans in a fine china teacup with saucer.

Afterwards I used the restroom: it was quite different!  There was a notice asking for toilet paper to be put in the toilet; but the handwashing equipment was quite basic, with nothing to dry one’s hands on. The bathtub, filled with pot plants, was lined with mosaic tiles! Then we caught a taxi home to our hotel. That night we feasted on crackers and cheese, bananas, and pineapple.

When I got back to the hotel there was news from New Zealand, specifically relating to our daughter and her proposed surgery which was to take place on Monday 20 May! I had given formal consent for this sixteen months ago – the dental surgeon had rung me when I was in Australia!  So it’s going to happen now? Her house manager had taken her to Hastings Hospital to the anaesthetists’s appointment that morning, but she would be unavailable on the following Monday, and the anaesthetist needed my consent.

Today (Tuesday) we were to accompany our grandson on a school trip – to a farm.  Quite a number of parents were going, so there wasn’t enough room for us on the bus that was taking the children, and another parent who spoke English was driving us in his car. We were to meet in the hotel lobby at 8 am.  I had set the alarm on my mobile phone for 6:30 am, intending to have a shower before breakfast at 7 am.  I duly did this, but there was a missed call from Hastings Hospital. Knowing that we didn’t have much time, we went down to breakfast, but alas many others had had the same idea, and there was a long queue! Then the dining room opened, and we were easily able to find a table.

After breakfast we went back up to our room where I again tried to ring Hastings Hospital to give consent for our daughter’s General Anesthetic.  I got through to reception, and then to anesthesiology, but my phone ran out of credit and my call was cut off. I had to fire up my computer to add more $$$ to my much diminished balance, and then I rang again. Unfortunately I got put on hold, and had to abandon the call again. Then someone called me back, but I got put on hold again, and again had to abandon the call.  By now we were late meeting our son and our driver in the hotel lobby. Consequently I had a rush to put on socks and trainers; JD forgot to bring a water bottle!  Fortunately I brought my raincoat and a cardigan, as this day only was unusually cold.  I was reminded of the situation when my five children were small, and I used to wonder which one needed me the most, when there were multiple needs. It wasn’t always the youngest!  But I did feel really inadequate. Thankfully there were a few days to elapse before the scheduled surgery.

We drove to the farm where the school visit was to occur. It took about an hour; we drove through a hot springs area, and then up into the hillside round some very winding roads. Eventually we reached the spot, but the children took quite a long time to arrive after we were there. It was quite cold, and there was nowhere to sit!

Eventually the children came, and we trudged through to the open classroom that would be our base. There were several long narrow tables with bench seats; there was a water container (thankfully JD had brought the wee bowls we had bought to use as drinking vessels); there were tubs for washing. There was also a ledge where everyone put their backpacks and bags.

On the way the growth was very lush: it was quite unlike a New Zealand farm. There were some beautiful flowers, and some geese, and some kind of bird sound.

There were other school classes at this farm, although we were separate from them. An instructor showed us how to decorate plain tote bags by making stencils of different leaves. Parents all joined in this activity, as did JD and I. We went outside to collect leaves; it was all amazingly well organized, with blank canvas tote bags, palettes of paint, brushes, and squares of paper to be used for pressing.  It was quite good fun. Afterwards we hung the bags to dry (there were pegs provided), and we all cleaned up.

We also saw some chooks on our way to collect the leaves.

I did use the rest room, which was probably the most basic I have encountered in Taiwan: most of the lavatories were squat type, but there was one western-style lavatory which flushed, although it was a very tiny space. Afterwards there was nowhere obvious to wash one’s hands, but there were large sinks with soap some way away.

Then we had lunch: our son had supplied bowls and cutlery; the farm supplied lunch. It was delicious: rice, ginger flavoured chicken, an egg mixture, and stir-fried cabbage, which the children had helped make. It tasted delicious.  After lunch the children went off and played; I stayed in the room with the tables and benches.  The paths had stones placed for walking on a rather muddy base; the stones were rather uneven so one had to watch where one walked.

Eventually it was time to pack up and return. I was very tired by this time, and really looking forward to having a cup of coffee somewhere local.

JD and I went to the Dancing Goat Café, but although the man in charge recognized JD, and welcomed him, he did not understand when I asked for “drip” (siphon) coffee, which I had so enjoyed last year with one of my sons when we were here. So I had a latté, but alas he didn’t have oat milk! Still, JD and I shared a waffle with maple syrup in a tiny jug, fruit, and ice cream. It was pretty good.

Then we went to the Carrefour supermarket and bought some more crackers and some more fruit and some teabags. For some reason the two teabags that were in our hotel room have not been replaced.  We couldn’t seem to buy a small packet!

It’s now Wednesday 15 May.

Last night we slept well. We went down to breakfast some time after 7:30 am; afterwards I tried again to ring Hastings Hospital. I got put through to anesthesiology, but their recorded phone message had four possible replies. Sadly none of them worked – it seemed to be on some kind of loop.  I sent our daughter’s house manager a text advising her that I was unable to access the hospital, and suggesting she communicate with me using JD’s mobile phone, which was on a different plan. My phone was very costly for overseas calls, although I had paid lots for overseas roaming. Then I was advised that Taiwan was withdrawing support for the 3G network, which I was apparently on.

We went for a long walk in Da’an Park. It was 29C today, but there was a nice breeze. We found the pond, and there were several school groups there, All the children (as yesterday) seemed incredibly well behaved and well cared for.  We spent some time at the park, and then walked up Heping St as far as the designer shop. This had just opened. JD liked a blouse there (not a garment I would normally have chosen), but I suggested we come back later as we were to meet our son in a few minutes. This was probably a fatal mistake, as we did not go back there!

Today we went to another restaurant for lunch, which was mostly vegan. This was a nice place to be, but I did not enjoy the food as much.  We ordered lots of appetisers; I ordered a fruit juice drink, and we shared two desserts which looked like mille feuille.

Afterwards we headed back to our hotel. JD wanted to have coffee at the Dancing Goat again. I had found my photo of the lovely drip coffee I had had a year ago.  So my eldest son ordered this, and it was complicated and took a long time.  There were two lots of coffee grounds that we sniffed; then eventually the coffee came, on a tray each: a cup of coffee; a glass of water; and a small tube-shaped container of coffee in a glass of iced water. We were also served some delicious small biscuits: two were like Anzac biscuits, and the other two like shortbread with fruit inside it.

In New York, the Trump case continues. It is absorbing viewing!  As Benjamin Wittes says, it’s the trial America deserves, and probably the only one they’re going to get before the presidential election in November. It is salacious and has had some shocking details; seeing American’s reactions to the sleaze has been interesting. Some of them are quite prudish.

Today Michael Cohen has been under cross examination, after testifying, unemotionally, yesterday,  A number of senior republicans, including the House Speaker, Mike Johnson, turned up in New York to support Trump, all wearing suits and long red ties, like Trump does. On MSNBC this lineup was being compared to Trump’s close interest in beauty pageants and swimsuits.

They are all supporting Trump, of course: they are in effect saying that morals don’t matter, and the justice system doesn’t matter; Stormy Daniels testified that Trump did not use a condom when he had sex with her. So what if she had become pregnant?  What’s more ironical is that Cohen is testifying that he lied for Trump; the trial is largely about Cohen’s misplaced loyalty to Trump; yet Trump’s supporters continue to support him, not seeing the Shakespearian/Greek Tragedy aspect of their support. Wittes even called Stormy Daniels his favourite person in the trial, comparing her to the fool in Shakespeare’s Tragedy of King Lear.

It’s now Friday morning here 17 May.

On Wednesday evening we went to a nearby café, Editors and Books Café I think it was called. It was like a bookshop with tables. The maître d’ spoke English. We each ordered a stewed beef dish with rice rather than bread, and Chinese plum juice to drink (cold, with ice).  It did have a strange sharp taste – a bit more vinegary than I would have preferred.  JD’s meal was delivered on a tray several minutes before mine. Eventually mine was delivered – a container of the stewed beef (with vegetables), a container of rice, a small container of fruit – apple and pineapple, and a small lidded jar with delicious lettuce salad with dressing, that JD said reminded him of prawn cocktail sauce! We were given spoons and forks to eat with. The meat was rather gristly, but we expect that here.  The meal was quite nice, but we both felt rather strange afterwards, as if it hadn’t quite worked.

On Thursday morning I went for a walk in the park again, where a retired Taiwanese professor of mathematics engaged me in conversation.  I was happy to brag that my son and daughter-in-law are both academics too, and JD (jnr)’s field is mathematics. This nice gentleman had taught in Brisbane for 3 years, but not been to New Zealand.

We met our eldest son and his wife for lunch: this time we went to a vegetarian restaurant, on the first floor, above a bakery. It was modern and very busy.  So again we had a range of delights to eat – appetizers, which we shared.  There included so-called “stinky” tofu (I tried it but I’m not a fan!); there was a vegetables dish with greens and mushrooms; but a really delicious dish was deep-fried pineapple on a salad with cashew nuts, sultanas, craisins and suchlike – JD really enjoyed this, as did I.  Then there was a dish like we’d had at Herbivore with heated tacos in a basket, a sauce to spread on them, and what looked like duck and some sliced cucumber. There were only chopsticks here, so it was a bit of a challenge to eat with them!  There were some sweet little biscuits covered with sesame seed at the end. I had a delicious drink – I think it was grapefruit and cherry.

Outside there were people begging – two women sitting on the pavement, and an older man with a begging bowl, who would chant and wait until you gave him some coins. So that was strange.  Things seem a little more edgy this year.

There was a subway entrance nearby, so we caught trains – two stops then one stop, to the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial. The trains are fast and very efficient. At the memorial it’s all very traditional Chinese-looking: there’s a great concert hall, a big plaza, a Freedom gate, and another gate.  We went into the concert hall, where there were two cafes, lots of books, and nice restrooms.  This was another restroom where you were required to put the toilet paper in the toilet!  JD and I had oat milk lattes; our son had coffee which came in a fine china cup with saucer. I looked at some of the books, which had English titles as well as Chinese.

Afterwards we caught a taxi back to our hotel. That evening we had dinner at the hotel. There are restaurants around, but the menus are in Chinese, with no English, so it’s very tricky to order. We ordered beer for JD, a fruit juice drink for me, fried chicken with apple and bell peppers, and JD ordered a pork dish, with came with bao buns. There was no rice, but we didn’t really need it, there was plenty to eat.

This morning we are to meet our son at 11 am. It is lovely to be here, but I wish that I weren’t so tired! Tomorrow there is a concert again, with our granddaughter singing in it.

I decided I would no longer try to ring Hastings Hospital; if the surgery were to be postponed, that would be fine with me.  Although it should not have been, it was difficult to get in touch.

It’s now Sunday 19 May 2024

Yesterday was my granddaughter’s concert.

Beforehand I went for a walk in Da’an Park, and walked back along a side street that I hadn’t covered before. Then JD and I went to Café Galette. We had brown sugar lattés, and shared a delicious cheesecake with blueberry topping. We bought a jigsaw puzzle for a grandson in Wellington; I would have loved to buy more, but we did not – the puzzles were quite expensive! And perhaps not so easy to transport back to New Zealand.

Before the concert we had lunch at a Stir Fry vegetarian restaurant. It was very busy, and very hot, however we had some nice food – fried rice, stir fried green vegetables, deep fried shrimp and pineapple (delicious!) and others. I had a bottled Kai Kombucha with passion fruit and mango flavour which was quite strong – I needed to water it down.

Then we walked to listen to the concert, which was in the same auditorium as last year.  The seats were very comfortable!  Different bands played mostly well-known music, like Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba and the theme from the television series Mission Impossible. Eventually the choir came on, and they sang nicely but the altos were rather loud.

Eventually the orchestra played, and the Maestro had some fun with them Their Phantom of the Opera was a huge hit.  The choir sang some items with the orchestra, and now they made a beautiful sound.  The concert was about two hours long. Afterwards we went back to the hotel.

After a rest we went down to one of the hotel restaurants for dinner. JD managed to order one order of pork meat balls, and two orders of rice. The pork meatballs were again delicious, and came with cabbage and very thin rice noodles. We each had a fruit drink. Afterwards we bought two desserts – lemon tart and tiramisu from the cabinet – the hotel packed them beautifully in a plastic container with forks and napkins, in one of their beautiful paper bags.

Last night (Saturday) there was some noise in our level of the hotel, but it stopped around midnight. Again I did not sleep very well – it seemed very hot. The air conditioner is set to 26C, and you can’t change it.

This morning we went to the local Presbyterian church. It was lovely, although of course we couldn’t understand the Taiwanese bits. But the singing was amazing – there was a choir, but we sang 4 hymns as well.

Afterwards we went to Herbivore again – this time to celebrate our grandson’s 7^th birthday. His birthday is actually in July, but we’ll be gone by then (and it is likely to be even hotter). Herbivore was lovely, of course: I ordered felafel with hummus and Tzatziki and spiced turnip, sliced cucumber and pita bread. It was delicious!  I ended up eating too much, again. There was some beautiful designer clothing in stores nearby – very expensive!

Monday 20 May

On Monday morning I was awakened at 4 am by a call from New Zealand.  It was my daughter’s House Manager. I called her back on JD’s phone, and then the hospital called me on his phone – the dental surgeon, and the anaesthetist. So we had a nice chat and I gave consent and talked about previous surgeries. It was 8 am New Zealand time. It appeared that my daughter’s House Manager was actually with her for this. So I felt greatly relieved, that these competent caring specialists had actually spoken to me.

I couldn’t get back to sleep afterwards:  but no matter; when we were at breakfast, the dental surgeon called again to say that things had gone well, and to say what he had done.  So that was good to know. I went for another walk afterwards, and another lady rang me from Allan House, but I told her that the surgeon had called me already to update me.

Then we met our son and his wife and went to another restaurant for lunch, again where I’d been before! This one had bears on the walls; actually koala bears are very popular here. I can’t remember what I had to eat!

The next day was our tour to Yilan, with an early (for us) start.

Tuesday 21 May

Tuesday was a big day – we were booked on a tour to Yilan, which looked quite intense. We had to be at the Taipei Main Station at 8 am (actually 15 minutes early for 8 am start), and we were to be delivered back there by 5 pm.

In between was a museum visit, a Heritage Site visit, a visit to the Kavalan distillery, and a Hot Springs visit, and, presumably, lunch.

JD wanted the alarm on my phone set for 6:15 am, although we couldn’t have breakfast until 7 am. I did not sleep well, but I got up and showered. There was a severe rain warning for Yilan, so JD took his backpack containing my raincoat and his umbrella. It was going to be hot, however. I wore trainers and took sandals, just in case I should need them.

It was really frustrating getting away. I went into breakfast and got some fruit and orange drink, but JD said we didn’t have time for toast and coffee! Admittedly, there was a queue – for both – but I really wanted them! So we went out and asked hotel reception to order a taxi; they gave us a slip of paper with the taxi number; JD went off to use the bathroom, of course, but hotel reception ordered a different taxi – the first one was going the wrong way. So we got to the station: then to find the right gate!  Actually it was easy to find, and we found our guide, in his yellow vest.  I could have bought something to eat but it’s tricky with not knowing what things are. JD assured the guide that we’d had breakfast! 

Our travelling companions, two guys from Singapore, both called Sean, arrived, They both spoke English, one better than the other. Our guide had limited English, but JD was able to use Google Translate to figure out what was being said.

We climbed into the tour van, which had room for 4 passengers, and headed off. Once across the river and then out of Taipei there were the familiar steep hills and several tunnels, with a few settlements dotted here and there.  It was not raining, although the sky was overcast.

After about an hour we arrived at the famous Lanyang Museum, built to a strange architectural design.  This was very interesting.  There were many photo stops, where the guide took photos of the four of us, and sometimes of JD and myself. He said he’d been doing these tours for 15 years, which I rather doubted! He was Hakka Taiwanese, and looked a bit like New Zealand Māori.

The museum was extremely interesting. It was a natural history museum, with exhibitions of flora and fauna, and details of logging and local settlements in Yilan county. There were also exhibitions of dragon boats, which are sacred here, and water (sea) rites.  There were natural lakes, ponds and canals.

After this it was still before 12 noon, but we agreed to have lunch (thank goodness!) We drove for some time, and eventually stopped at a noodle restaurant.  The land here is flat, and there are few skyscrapers, and more individual houses or smaller housing blocks.  The ground is very lush and green.

Ordering lunch was complicated! I had a bowl of noodles with what looked like pork mince and half a hard-boiled egg, with some green vegetable. JD had noodles with beef, which was quite tender.  We bought a bottle of apple soda, which was nice to drink.  JD ordered some dumplings as well, but again I was reminded that I don’t really like dumplings.

Afterwards we drove to the Taipei Heritage Site – a lovely venue, which had shops, a food court, a concert hall, and of course rest rooms. We spent some time here.  First we had coffee – at Home Essence, which had been recommended by our son.  We had lattes, of course. It was good to have coffee at last.  Then I browsed the shops, and we bought a gift for another friend at a beautiful tea shop. Again, it was beautifully wrapped and packaged up.

More to come – next instalment! Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

One of the Anzac Statues

It’s now Tuesday April 16, 2024. Kia ora!

It’s been a few days since I wrote, but several interesting things have been happening.

Last Friday JD and I went to our Art Group. The weather was truly awful: not cold, but raining consistently, with huge puddles everywhere. It was difficult to find somewhere to park, which rather interfered with my plan to get away in time for the cleaning lady from Access to come. In the event, there was a good turnout, and a lovely demonstration. JD and I did a joint effort!  We didn’t stay for coffee afterwards, but we did get home in time for our visitor. 

On Saturday there was an appointment, and then we had lunch at Peppermill Café – Eggs Benedict and oat milk lattés. I always find the food there delicious.

On Sunday morning I went to church, and afterwards I bought a beautiful bunch of flowers.  I have bought one of these before, and they last for about two weeks!  They are just so beautiful. A bunch of roses costs less, but they don’t last so long.

On Monday I went to Tai Chi again – it’s advertised as “Tai chi for beginners”, but it’s not like the Tai chi for beginners I used to do!  Still, it was my second time there, and I did enjoy it more.  It’s good to do some exercise! And I do try to remember to keep my knees “off lock”.

This morning I went to Bible Study – I John 3: 16-24.  I enjoyed the discussion. Afterwards I caught buses home.

Locally, more crazy stuff is happening. Hundreds of staff are being let go from the public service.  And yesterday the newspaper said that the government is considering a tunnel under Wellington.  Huh?  Who wants this?  And there are many earthquake fault lines in the area.  In this morning’s paper, there is a photo of Elon Musk, saying this is feasible if you spend enough money.  Well, I’ve been criticizing many American voters as being crazy, but this too seems a crazy idea to me. Does no one ask what you want, any more?  I suppose some consultants will write a feasibility study for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Over the weekend, there was a big drone strike from Iran against Israel. The US helped to shoot the drones down. One could watch this “strike”. The drones must have had to travel a long way!  President Biden is advising Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to “take the win” (as in there’s limited damage and most of the drones were shot down). Meanwhile, Israel, as usual, claims the right to defend itself, and will do so at a time and manner of their choosing. The rest of the world holds its breath. And, by the way, if Israel has an Iron Dome, and these drones can be shot down, why is this not so in the larger cities of Ukraine?  Bill Kristol wondered this in the Bulwark podcast this morning. Putin must be pleased, that despite difficulties, things are going his way, as he’s doing better in Ukraine, and tensions are high between Israel and Russian ally Iran.

Also, Donald Trump appeared in a New York court today on what is being called his “hush money” trial, where he repaid his then attorney, Michael Cohen, for paying off “Stormy Daniels” so she wouldn’t spill the beans on one of his extra-marital affairs right before the 2016 presidential election and just after the Access Hollywood tape emerged. News about this trial is emerging, but it seems that Sleepy Don fell asleep in court!

It’s now Sunday April 21^st.

What’s been happening? In Trump’s New York so-called “hush money” case (after the E. Jean Carroll defamation case and the business fraud case), a jury and alternates have been selected, and we’re all agog – to see Trump finally in court (again!), and I think evidence will start to be presented.  So that’s exciting.  In other US news, the House of Representatives has passed a bill to fund Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan assistance. Although Mike Johnson’s role as Speaker is at stake, nonetheless he has put this bill forward, and I think there is a collective sigh of relief.

Last week was interesting. Hymn singing on Wednesday morning was very enjoyable. We sang, amongst other hymns, Psalm 23 to the tune Crimond. There were several of us who sang the descant to this! Afterwards I had coffee and a cheese scone with a friend, and then her husband gave me a lift home. I was determined to “do something” on Thursday, but it was not a good day. On Friday my cleaning lady was supposed to come, but I got a call from Access to say she’d called in sick. I appreciated their letting me know.  JD decided to do his online entry application for our coming trip to Taiwan.  This, of course, necessitated my finding several documents: our eldest son’s current employment, address and telephone number, the name and address of our hotel, and our flight details.  I also noticed a record of our hotel booking in Auckland for the night before we fly to Taipei – it’s an early morning flight.  We are flying on a Boeing 787: a whistleblower has issued serious warnings, but we flew on this plane last year, and although they’ve had some faults, they haven’t crashed and they’ve been able to fly to the nearest airport if needed. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter!

As our trip is getting closer, there are things one should do in preparation. It will be hot there, but cold here, so one has to pack both for hot and cold climates; furthermore, we’ll be spending a few days in Hawkes Bay (Hohepa Family Weekend), with a party too. Alas, I can’t find an “o” with a  macron on this computer. This morning JD suggested that we courier a bag to Hawkes Bay to be left at the motel for our return. This may be a great idea.

On Friday I found our folder from last year, and combined all the printouts I’d like to take in a new folder. Come to think of it, I didn’t find the card with our hotel’s address on it. Must look again. Or harder.

Yesterday (Saturday) we went shopping. Although there were many things I didn’t buy, the bill still required me to enter my PIN when I presented my pay-wave card. However as JD reminded me, he’d bought two bottles of wine and some ice-creams.

We’ve been watching the television series “The Cazalets” on YouTube on television. It’s based on the series of novels by Elizabeth Jane Howard, which I tried to read at one time. It’s about an upper-middle-class family (not the nobility, as in Brideshead Revisited or Downton Abbey, but they do have an army of servants who seem to prepare meals, care for young children and the extensive garden. The series is about the effect of World War II on the family, and I would have to say that I am finding the television series is far more absorbing than the books.  Why are war stories so absorbing?  I guess they provide lots of drama, and they’re not quite as unpleasant as detective stories.  I find most of the new series on Netflix impossibly annoying.

Following this we watched The Camomile Lawn on television, which was televised in 1992. I found this more watchable, as the characters’ behaviour was mostly more outlandish, but the series was quite believable. I even found a copy of the book it’s based on at home here,

This morning I went to church. It was cold and quite wet, although light rain had not been forecast, and I did not take a raincoat.  The minister preached about loving God and loving one another, and giving one’s life up for another, as Jesus did for us, as opposed to people fighting in wars in the Ukraine and Israel. In these cases people may be persuaded into fighting for their country, which may or may not be a wonderful sacrifice, but it’s quite different from Jesus’ sacrifice for us.  Furthermore, the war dead are not going to rise again on the third day.

It’s now Monday April 29.

This morning I went to Tai Chi again. I think I’m feeling slightly more familiar with it, although I do find it hard to follow at times, getting right and left mixed up.  Last Wednesday there was another Te Reo class, and we studied Anzac Day again; we were all a bit lackluster, perhaps: I had already been to hymn singing, where we sang Anzac Day hymns, including the National Anthem – with the first verse sung in Māori.  Afterwards I missed my bus home, so I had another cup of coffee and a Danish pastry with apricots and custard while I waited for the next bus.

Thursday April 25 was Anzac Day, but it was really windy here in Wellington, and the commemoration which was to be televised was cancelled.  But there were photos and a video of our daughter at a commemoration at Clive Square in Napier, where it was fine and sunny and someone had thoughtfully laid out some chairs. It was not a nice day here. 

On Friday someone came from Access to do some housework; on Saturday we went out and went shopping in the afternoon.  The weekly tab was under $200, so I didn’t have to enter a PIN for my pay-wave card.

On Sunday morning I went to church, at Johnsonville Uniting Church this time; it was really an Anzac Day service.

Much of last week I was absorbed, like much of the US, with Trump’s trial in New York. The then CEO of the National Enquirer, David Pecker, gave a lot of evidence, which was extremely interesting.  I think we’ve all learnt things we did not know previously, about the extent of the “catch and kill” operation, and, of course, some of the skirmishes between the perpetrators. There is no honour amongst thieves, the saying goes. And to think that Putin helped this guy too!  This may be the only trial of Trump to be held before the Presidential election in November this year.

In juxtaposition, the US Supreme Court considered Trump’s lawyer’s arguments that his role as president rendered him immune from prosecution after his term. This has been kicked up to the Supreme Court, in another ridiculous feature of the American legal system.  Other countries, such as France (Sarkozy) and Italy (Andreotti) have prosecuted their former leaders, and even imprisoned Sarkozy, and the sky hasn’t fallen in. Something prevents the US from prosecuting this guy, this “self-admitted sex pest”, as Colin Jost noted in his address to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Anyway, whatever happens, this trial and its evidence are extremely interesting and amusing at times. Former RNC Chair, Michael Steele, cracks up laughing at times.

British politics podcast, The Rest is Politics, have started another podcast called The Rest is Politics US, hosted by the UK’s Katty Kay (who also features on MSNBC’s Morning Joe), and Anthony Scaramucci. Well, guys, I used to have some respect for you, but Scaramucci? Really?  I cannot listen to him, and he has no credibility for me. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of other news sources. I have to keep listening to the promo – about “parlitics”. How very annoying.

The US Congress has finally passed a bill granting funding to Ukraine.  It seems that the Russians have been doing rather well, although according to JD they’re losing many young men – up to 1,000 a day.  In the US, there are protests on many university campuses (campi?) about the situation with the war in Gaza in Israel. These are pro-Gaza for the most part, and there is a degree of anti-Semitism.  Many students have been arrested – there’s a sense that the authorities don’t know what to do. What is to be done?  It’s a dreadful situation. As Bernie Sanders says, it’s not antisemitic to question Prime Minister Netanyahu. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

Perugino’s image of Handing over the Keys in the Sistine Chapel

It’s now Easter Monday, April 1, 2024, a public holiday. Kia ora!

What an interesting few days it has been.  I used to find the long Easter weekend boring and rather frustrating.  Most shops are closed; the roads are dangerous; prices are higher than usual, and many places are either closed or impose a surcharge.  But last week I had a busy and enjoyable week.  In my upbringing, Easter and Christmas were not celebrated; it’s rather wonderful to me to celebrate the Christian aspects of these festivals. This morning I finished listening to Bach’s St Matthew Passion, after unsuccessfully starting several times. One year there will be a wonderful performance of it in Wellington.  In the meantime, I listen to German or King’s College recordings.

Furthermore, JD and I watched the play Becket on television.  This is a rather wonderful 1964 film of one of Jean Anouilh’s plays.  I was familiar with his Antigone, from the Sophocles play. Oddly, I was just talking with someone about Anouilh’s Antigone.  And I’m familiar with T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral, and Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

The film stars “smoldering eyes” Richard Burton as Thomas Becket, who becomes the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Peter O’Toole (who starred in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia), as King Henry II. The costumes are amazingly lavish and beautiful. John Gielgud (later Sir John) does a wonderful turn as King Louis of France.  The Pope makes a rather wise decision.  So it all fitted in rather well with Holy Week.  This morning I listened to an old Rest of History podcast where half the podcast was about Thomas Becket, who was murdered, in Canterbury Cathedral, on December 29.  He later became a saint and it is said that he performed miracles of healing.  He had been a great favourite of King Henry II, but it all went wrong when Becket found he had a greater loyalty to God than to the King, after the King made him archbishop.

Afterwards, late last night, we watched Mr Bates vs the Post Office, the mini series starring Toby Jones recently shown in England.  We watched two episodes, I think and hope that another episode is shown tonight.  

In this morning’s paper, I was surprised to read about Anzac Day remembrances – already, since it is only April 1 today. We didn’t get nearly as much about Easter. While remembrance of personal sacrifices should be done with dignity and respect, a greater sacrifice took place over the Easter weekend.

It’s now Tuesday April 2.

This morning on Morning Joe Mika spoke about a service she and Joe had attended on Easter Sunday, and about renewing one’s faith at this special time, whatever kind of Christian you are.  I think Chris Matthews spoke about Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd. Yet Donald Trump, if elected, seeks to ban this channel!  I also noted on the Bulwark podcast Tim Miller speaking about Easter. What a lovely Easter message President Biden and his wife Jill gave!  As opposed to the Former Guy sending many messages on Truth Social that were not in any way Christian, despite his hawking of Trump-branded Bibles. It’s so interesting that America claims to be a Christian nation, despite – well, everything.

we watched the remaining episodes of Mr Bates vs the Post Office on television. What a wonderful series it is – Toby Jones is a magnificent actor, in my view. It’s shocking to think that this happened recently, and those affected are still trying to get proper compensation.

It’s now Thursday April 4.

It’s been a busy time. Yesterday morning I got up early and went to hymn singing; afterwards I had a cup of coffee with a friend. After I got home JD and I went up to Simmer Café for lunch. While there, I saw the woman who used to be one of our neighbours. She left when we were in Taiwan last year, and I hadn’t said goodbye to her. It was good to catch up. She’s moved to Tawa, so she’s not far away.

Meantime, the world’s horror at the war in Gaza Israel has been reinforced by the fact that 7 aid workers were killed by the IDF.  The situation there goes from bad to worse.

But when we got home, I heard about the big earthquake (7.2-7.4) in Taiwan! It must have just happened a few minutes earlier.  Actually the epicentre was off shore to the east of Taiwan, near a city called Hualien. Thankfully we heard from our son who lives there: messenger was still working. His family and his wife’s relations are all safe, thankfully. It’s hard to assess the damage in Taipei: the file pictures are shown over and over again, but the damage was far worse in the Hualien area, which had alarming photos of rescues and buildings toppled.  At my son’s apartment, there was a mess in the kitchen, and the shaking and aftershocks were fierce and scary. Today I heard that there is a long weekend holiday, so the authorities will be relieved that far fewer people will be travelling, especially on the underground public transport system. Some tourists are trapped at the Taroko Gorge national park, where I would have liked to go. There’ve been many queries about his safety. In Japan there were tsunami warnings for the islands near Taiwan, but these were later toned down. It has been difficult to get useful information about the situation in Taipei, but where my son lives (not in a high-rise building, thankfully), the power was still on. So scary times, but good to be able to communicate. It seems that 12 people died.

This morning I had the final session of my Thursday morning singing for term one. We celebrated by sharing a beautiful catered lunch after our singing.  After that JD came and picked me up: it was quite cold and wet and unpleasant outside.  When we got home, we found one of our sons was doing some tree-trimming and section clearing around the house. How quickly the trees grow! It’s lovely to have the trees, but they can become a little oppressive!

It’s now Tuesday April 9.

It’s been a rather busy time. On Saturday evening we had dinner at my son’s house; on Sunday I went to church for Low Sunday.  Saturday night was an extra hour long as we put our watches back one hour for the end of Daylight Saving. Thankfully the phone knows what time it is!  The days are suddenly much shorter, with it getting dark earlier, and being dark in the morning, too. It’s been very cold in the mornings, although we’ve had fine days on the whole. The other night I had the heater on in the master bedroom – that means it’s really cold! It’s still a puzzle as to what to wear – I remember that the temperature drops by several degrees once the sun goes down and it ceases to be a warm sunny day.

Yesterday I went to a new Tai Chi class – for beginners – at the Khandallah Town Hall. I would love to practice Tai Chi again, but, of course, everything is slightly different. Fern teaches a different style of Tai Chi from what I’ve been used to, although, of course, it’s similarly graceful and elegant.  There were several of us there; one woman was determined to “get it right”!  It takes ages, one is always learning, and one certainly doesn’t master it overnight, or in a single lesson. But I’ll persist, at least until we go away next month. Afterwards I didn’t have to wait long for a bus to Johnsonville, where I had a few errands to do. I was going to have my flu vaccine, but there were lots of people at the chemist in the shopping centre, so I decided to give it a miss,  After I got home, we went to Simmer Café for lunch, where we (again) shared a pizza.  I can’t eat Dominos pizzas anymore!

This morning we got up early (!) to go to a 10 am viewing of the Perugino movie at the Lighthouse Theatre in Petone.  JD doesn’t like this cinema, but this viewing was in a large theatre, and we were the only customers, so we could talk to each other throughout the film. I am ashamed to acknowledge that I had not heard of Perugino, but he preceded Raphael (and you can see his influence), and was a rather wonderful painter.  He only painted religious scenes, not mythological ones, as most of his contemporaries did. But in the rather crowded world of beautiful Renaissance painting, he was rather wonderful. The faces in his paintings are extraordinary (his patrons, perhaps?), and he inserts himself into one of his paintings. The faces are not quite symmetrical, and the hair is wavy. His subjects, especially the Baby Jesus, are well nourished, as a pathologist would say. What a treat.

Afterwards we went to Sea Salt Café in Days Bay for lunch – another treat, where the lovely lady in charge remembered us. Several patrons came in after us. We had entree-sized whitebait omelets with salad and fries, oat milk lattés, and shared a beautiful chocolate mousse for dessert.  When we got home, I got out my renaissance art books to look up Perugino, but sadly there isn’t much about him, apart from a fresco in the Sistine Chapel of St Peter being given the Keys (of the Christian church).

I missed a Bible Study this morning. The text was 1 John 3:1-7, a rather wonderful text about our being children of God. There are other references to our being children of God: John 1: 12 talks about people who received Jesus being children of God, and in the Beatitudes is says Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. I think that is quite a wonderful thought, that we can be children of God, along with his Son who became a human being – “the Word became flesh”.  In fact we’re also heirs: Romans 8:17 “if we are children of God, then we are also co-heirs with Christ”. That is an amazing thought, that those who love God are not only redeemed by the risen Saviour, but we are also co-heirs with him.

It’s now Wednesday April 10.

This morning I got up early to go to hymn singing; this was followed by another Te Reo Māori class. Afterwards I caught two buses home, but I am very tired, for some reason. Today it was supposed to be much warmer than the last few days, but it is cloudy and quite windy, so not so warm.

Tomorrow I am meeting some of my usual Thursday singing colleagues for coffee.

Back here, Prime Minister Luxon keeps cutting jobs, at every government department.  So we’re in recession, surely?  That’s what CEOs do, of course;  they cut jobs.

In Ukraine and in Israel brutal wars continue.  In Ukraine, the Russians reportedly fired drones into the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is controlled by the Russians, and is already considered to be at risk. In Israel, there are continuing calls for a ceasefire, and continued protests in the west, calling for a ceasefire.  It’s said there are calls for new elections.  They are both desperately sad occasions and needless wars. They did not need to happen.

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

Today is Friday March 15, 2024. Kia ora!

I just finished reading Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice on my kindle. I had read it as a teenager, of course, and his Buddenbrooks, but I reread it this afternoon in one sitting, I found it so gripping. Of course the theme of an older man “grooming” a very young, very beautiful youth would be quite distasteful today, but nothing intimate actually happens between them: the lad’s beauty is a feast for the eyes only, although there’s the occasional shared smile.  But the story is so beautifully written, even in translation, that I found it quite absorbing, and of course I recognized the classical references, both to Zeus and Ganymede, and others, and Socratic dialogues with Phaedrus, with which I’m also familiar.  The German protagonist is smitten by the beauty of the boy; in fact he’s so obsessed with it that he fails to leave Venice, even after the city is in the grip of a plague. I should have included a spoiler alert, but the story is probably quite well-known.  I have that familiar feeling of frustration when a story I’ve enjoyed comes to an end, even though I wanted to finish it!

I’m also reading my Spies book, which is also extremely interesting, and rather long. 

We had a busy day on Wednesday: we chose tiles for the front door step, although we can’t get anyone to lay them yet!  Choosing tiles was frustrating, and I wished that I’d photographed the previous front door step. It had a rather nice pattern of different sized tiles, which I totally took for granted back in the day. When our driveway was concreted, the tiles were smashed up. After going to a second store, we found some tiles that will do, with a very helpful assistant. These tiles are quite different, but I think they’ll be nice.  One has to be careful with outside tiles – most we looked at were for interior walls or floors, but weren’t strong enough for the outdoors. We were going to have lunch at the Cafe in Kaiwharawhara, but it was closed for training and staff sickness, so we had lunch at La Cloche instead.

On Monday I went into town, and got a new battery for my watch. It’s great to have it working again.  I also posted my daughter’s Easter eggs. I looked at the pottery at Vessel, and saw a beautiful Japanese teapot there. The price was beautifully high!

We have been watching Wings on youtube, a television series set during the First World War about the RFC (the Royal Flying Corps, later the RAF).  It’s old and rather grainy, of course, and the planes are terrifyingly flimsy, but it’s quite well written and well acted, with fascinating stories. The pilots flew with an observer, their mission being to observe what German troops are doing, although the odd German plane tries to shoot British planes down. Of course, they have engine trouble and various incidents themselves.  Most scenes I can watch with a degree of detachment, but one episode really got to me, with a young girl being a volunteer nurse in a local hospital (spoiler alert: one patient has terrible nightmares and is terribly wounded), and her love interest, son of a blacksmith but a very good pilot, being court-martialed. Yes, he was at risk of being shot for cowardice, for disobeying an order, and for cowardice. Never mind that it was a stupid order, and the pilot is considered to be the decision-maker, and keeping the plane was important: we saw the range of stupidity between senior officers who were stupid, and lesser ranked officers and pilots who were brave and who knew what they were doing.  There was an episode in the trenches, which offered a useful comparison between the pilots (who supposedly had it easy), and the men on the ground.

It’s now Saturday, March 23.

It’s been a busy few days.  On Wednesday morning I had hymn singing, and then went into the city. I wanted to get a copy of Whale Rider for my granddaughter; I assumed Unity Books would be able to order a copy if they didn’t have one. But it was really complicated! The beautiful copy from the UK was very expensive, and they couldn’t get it in time; the lady serving me was very helpful, though, and advised me to try the lovely children’s bookshop in Kilbirnie, or Marsden Books in Karori, or a Paper Plus store – I think the nearest one is in the North City Shopping Centre. I was limited for time, so I walked to the lovely gift shop in the Fine Arts Academy on Queen’s Wharf. I navigated the pedestrian crossings, but there’s quite a geyser (severe water leak) outside. I didn’t find anything suitable there, although I said I’d bring JD back with me. Then I walked to Whitcoulls in Lambton Quay, and bought a paper back copy of Whale Rider. I then caught a bus to Bordeaux Bakery in Thorndon Quay, where I was to meet my cousin for lunch. Last time we were there it was very busy; not so this time. 

Afterwards I crossed the road again – there was a crossing nearby outside , and a bus stop (but no seating).  There are #1 buses every 10 minutes, so I thought I’d be all right, but a #25 and then a #24 bus went by. Then came a #1JW bus, which went right past me!  I decided to walk to the next bus stop where there was a shelter, but when I got there, the stop was closed and there was a temporary bus stop 100 metres north!  I found the temporary stop, where there was no bus shelter, only shade from the sun and one could sit on a wall. After not too long a #1CP bus came, so I caught that to the Churton Park shopping centre, and walked home. I couldn’t ask JD to pick me up since I knew he had another meeting!  Anyway, I got home safely, although very tired.

The next day I had my Thursday morning singing at Khandallah, and on Friday a lady from Access was supposed to come. I changed the bed linen, and the towel, and then checked my schedule.  She wasn’t coming, so I cancelled, not wanting to have a stranger in the house.

It’s now Saturday and lots of things have happened, the main one being an announcement by Catherine, Princess of Wales, that she is having treatment for cancer. What a shock this is, and how incredibly unkind many people and even news anchors have been, What sad and shocking news.  I wish people had had the grace to leave her alone! 

In other major news, there’s been a terror attack at a Moscow concert hall, and (so far) 40 people were killed; over 120 were injured.  Isis have claimed responsibility for this incident. It’s been a while since the world had a terrorist incident of this nature.

In other news, Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin has announced that he will leave on 19 April!  He’s quite young and was considered a moderate republican. The Congress has just passed a funding bill, but they have an even slimmer majority now with the departure of this person in addition to George Santos and Kevin McCarthy.  Marjorie Taylor Greene is to file a motion for Mike Johnson to be removed as Speaker.

Oh, and Trump is desperate for money, so that he can lodge over $USD350m in order to lodge an appeal against the New York fraud case that found him guilty of overvaluing his assets.

This afternoon we went shopping – to New World in Thorndon.  Although we didn’t buy as much as usual, the total seemed to cost more than previously. Everything seems to cost around $10, although many items were on “special”.

It’s now Saturday March 30^th.

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday; I bought a big bunch of flowers from the dairy in Khandallah: they’re beautiful, but I had to get a very large vase to fit them!

On Monday morning I had morning tea at the café up the road with a dear friend whom I hadn’t seen for ages. I could have gone to Ray Good’s funeral in the Anglican church in Newlands, but I didn’t know Ray personally, although I knew of him, of course.

On Tuesday I went to Bible Study in Khandallah. We were reading Acts 10: 33-43 – a beautiful text that is related to Acts chapter 2, with Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit – to Jews who believed in Jesus, although they were not yet called Christians. But Acts 10 has a Roman centurion, asked by an angel to go and visit Peter, and God’s injunction to Peter that no animals were unclean, and that in fact Gentiles could be followers of Jesus too. After this wondrous event Peter preaches a wonderful sermon – perhaps the first sermon. The next chapter has Peter recounting this incident; the previous chapter has the conversion of Saul, becoming Paul, on the road to Damascus; he went from persecuting people who believed in Jesus to being an ardent one of them.

Afterwards I had coffee and a hot cross bun at a café nearby with a friend.

Wednesday was a busy day. I had hymn singing in the morning, and so got up early; after that we had a Te Reo Māori lesson, followed by lunch at the Khandallah Town Hall: delicious soup and rolls, followed by coffee and Easter eggs.  I was enjoying this when I got a text from my cleaning lady, asking if she could come to my house early. My appointment with Access had been changed from Friday (which would be Good Friday) back to Wednesday.  I left to catch a bus back to Johnsonville (it went all around Broadmeadows), which then turned into the #19 shuttle. Thankfully I got home before the lady from Access arrived. JD had had to go out, so I couldn’t ask him to pick me up.

On Thursday morning I had more singing in Khandallah, and then the Maundy Thursday service at 7 pm. A friend offered me a lift home, and I even managed to go to the supermarket there are buy JD a bottle of wine,

On Friday morning I was to join in a Walk of the Cross from Johnsonville Uniting Church via the Catholic Church, to St John’s Anglican Church in Johnsonville. I was to take part in the second to last reading, at the Police Station, and I had to keep track of my co-readers. As we went on, more people joined the procession, till there were perhaps 80-100 people!  I had not joined this walk before, so I didn’t know what to expect. Thankfully it was a beautiful fine day with little wind.  It had been cold, wet and windy the night before, but the weather in Good Friday was very good. At St John’s we had more hot cross buns and tea or coffee.

The rest of Friday seemed very quiet after all the activity. In Wellington the New World supermarkets are closed on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Meanwhile, other things have been happening. There has been a mass terror event at a concert in Moscow, where 137 people were killed. Isis J has claimed responsibility, and although US intelligence knew in advance and warned Russia, Putin is still trying to blame Ukraine, saying they were involved in some way. Meanwhile, four suspects have been arrested and jailed, and have appeared in court, obviously having been tortured. No human rights, there, then.

In the US, in Baltimore an important bridge has come down after being rammed by a cargo ship; only six people are thought to have drowned. What a relief it is to have Pete Buttigieg as Transport Secretary and Joe Biden as US President, then.

During Holy Week Trump has been touting a Bible – the King James version, the God Bless America Bible for $59.99 (remember that’s American dollars).  Well, I’ve never paid for a bible, although I have several at home. He also wished Americans “Happy Holy Week”. That is just so uncomfortable. We say, Happy Easter, on Easter Sunday, but Holy Week is the most solemn time of the year for Christians.  And, why does God just love Americans?  The rest of us are out there, too, and some of us are even women and girls. Wait, I believe a young teenage woman gave birth to Jesus in his physical form. Also, although I love the King James translation, many churches use a different, more up to date translation, which has eliminated the “thees” and the “thous”.

It’s strange that in the US most programmes and podcasts continue as usual on Good Friday, although many Americans are Christians and earnestly follow some Christian religion. None the less, they continue work as usual. I remember when we were in Boston once for Easter, and it was not a long weekend as we are used to here. We did go to church there on Easter Sunday; it was rather strange, and very cold outside, although sunny.

Earlier in the week JD and I watched the three episodes of Escaping Utopia, on TVNZ On Demand.  I found it very upsetting, especially the woman in India who was pregnant (again), but seemed to have died inside.  How would she ever get away? Or get a current passport?  I found it really creepy, not just Hopeful Christian, or whatever his name is, but the groom who kept his arms tightly folded despite sitting beside his new bride in her pink dress. There seemed to be no bibles, although some women quoted scripture; I saw no evidence of services, or even of prayer.  People who had left seemed strangely normal! I thought of the people I go to church with, or the people at Hohepa: for the most part, they’re wonderful, good, kind people. I can’t imagine them being threatening or unkind.

It’s now Sunday March 31, Easter Day.

This morning I rang our daughter in Hawkes Bay. Then I went to church, where I was privileged to read the gospel text: Mark’s gospel, 16:1-8.  They had had an early service at 7 am, where more than usual attended: about 20 people. 

This afternoon I’m watching a Easter Vigil Mass at St Peter’s in the Vatican, in Rome. There is some beautiful singing, and reading of scriptures, in French, Spanish and Portuguese. The gospel text is the same as the one I read this morning! Pope Francis is evidently very frail: he is wheeled in in a wheel chair, but he actually finds the strength to preach, and what a beautiful homily it is too. I am very moved by the whole thing. He speaks, amongst other things, of the great stone being rolled away from Jesus’ tomb, and of his not being there – because he had risen. All objections, all difficulties have been removed that would separate us from God.

This Easter I have been reminded of the Easter four years ago, in 2020, when Covid 19 was ravaging the world, and we couldn’t meet safely. At that stage we did not have Covid vaccines, or anti-viral medications like Paxlovid. I remember St Pater’s Square being empty, and some very moving Easter services being celebrated with minimal religious, and a beautiful singer in New York singing “Christ the Lord is Ris’n Today”, alone. It was all incredibly moving. Zoom had a good workout, as we in Aotearoa could dip into services around the world (since we had nothing else to do!)

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

An image of Hadrian’s Wall, a symbol of the “Pax Romana”

Today is Thursday March 7, 2024. Kia ora!

It’s a while since I blogged.  After we came home from Hawkes Bay, it was good to be able to use our driveway, and our garage again.

I was very tired after our return. We went shopping in Thorndon; I went to church, and then a friend came to visit. Then I went to hymn singing on Wednesday morning and to my Thursday singing. There was a Te Reo Māori class;  and I got my hair cut and coloured on Friday 1 March, having moved the appointment from the previous Friday, since we stayed an extra day in Hawkes Bay.  On Saturday night we looked after two of our grandchildren – there was no fighting!  They’re quite big now (Intermediate and primary school age), and we didn’t have to bathe them, or care for them as we did when they were smaller.

The next morning I went to church, and there was a congregational meeting afterwards to consider a decision before the local church.  This was most interesting:  there were some very strong views on both sides; but it took quite a while, of course.

That afternoon there were two appointments in Tawa. Afterwards we bought some savouries from Nada Bakery in Tawa just before they closed, but it wasn’t a great idea: there was little food left, and the hot goods have been kept warm for hours, by this time. I was very hungry, since I hadn’t had lunch because of the length of the congregational meeting.

On Monday I took things very quietly; it rained off and on, but between showers we managed to walk up to the local café for lunch.

On Tuesday morning I went to Bible Study. I had thought it was to be on Numbers 21:4-9, and so I had studied those verses and printed maps about the Israelites’ forty year journey in the wilderness. In the event, we studied John chapter 3, which is a wonderful text, of course. I had decided that even if the reading were changed (as sometimes happens!), it didn’t really matter, since there was always something to learn.  Actually the texts are linked. In Numbers 21 verse 8 Moses is told to make a serpent and put it on a pole, and lift it up: whoever looked on the serpent would live.  In John 3, verse 14 Jesus says: “ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up”, then in verse 15 it says: “that everyone who believes on him may not perish, but have eternal life”.  So that was really interesting. I really must learn more about the Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness after Moses led them out of Egypt. Spoiler alert: there was lots of grizzling, some idolatry (the golden calf), and lots of wars; and the Ten Commandments, of course.

In US politics, things have been happening:  the US Supreme Court has decided to hear Trump’s claim of immunity as president: they will start hearing oral arguments on 24 April!  That’s ages away! They’ve also ruled that no state can eliminate Trump from the ballot. They’re saying it’s Congress’s job to determine if Trump caused an insurrection as per the 14^th Amendment to the US Constitution; but hey, even if Congress were to pass such a law, would Trump, as president, ever sign it into law? Will he ever be tried?  He’s almost certainly the republican candidate for president, having won Republican primaries in every state except Washington and Vermont, which were won by Nikki Haley. However Haley is pulling out of competing for the presidency; whether she’ll endorse Trump remains unclear. I must say I still find her really annoying, although her getting under Trump’s skin was amusing. Mitch McConnell will stand down as shadow leader of the US Senate from the end of the year; meanwhile he’s endorsed Trump (although Trump insulted his wife, even though she was a member of his cabinet).  Americans are now realizing that the courts will not save them from Trump becoming president; meanwhile, he’s doing as well as or better than Biden in the preferred president polls. I wish they’d realize, and acknowledge, that whoever is US president has a huge effect on the rest of the world, as former Prime Minister of Australia  Malcolm Turnbull made clear to Nicole Wallace on her Deadline White House program on MSNBC. Meanwhile, a few voices are saying that Biden has been the best president in their lifetime. Here’s a link to one such voice: here’s a link. JD found this, I had not heard of this guy.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-supreme-court-versus-america-news-march-5-2024-1526/id321997239?i=1000648058399

I always listen to The Rest is History podcast, which comes out here on Monday and Thursday afternoons. I usually find it really interesting, especially the episodes on Carthage. Carthage! This featured hugely in Roman history and literature, featuring Queen Dido of Carthage as waylaying the hero Aeneas who fled burning Troy to found Rome (see Vergil’s great epic poem the Aeneid), and the three Punic Wars where Rome fought against Carthage, before it’s final destruction. 

Imagine my disappointment this week then when Monday’s episode was The History of Chocolate (sponsored by Cadburys), and this afternoon’s episode, not released yet, is History’s Greatest Monkeys!  Really and truly, what a come down.  I must say, too, that like Dominic, I find it frustrating when Tom Holland questions an “accepted” version of events, saying it might not be true.  While this may be interesting it’s potentially confusing!

I’ve just finished reading Tom Holland’s Pax, about the Pax Romana throughout the Roman Empire. The Preface talks about Hadrian’s Wall, between Scotland and England, and finishes with the wonderful Pantheon, finished in Hadrian’s time as Emperor. This book covers Nero as Emperor through to the death of Hadrian. Of course, it wasn’t always peaceful everywhere, and pax romana was achieved by a great deal of violence, but they left some amazing buildings and aqueducts as well I remember the first time we were in Rome, in January 1974, and seeing the Pantheon –  isn’t that a famous building? There was a policeman standing outside it carrying a machine gun. He looked about 15! What a joy it was then, in that dangerous time, to come across almost deserted monuments and explore them, without the crowds. I remember most the wonderful doors, which still move easily.

It’s now Friday March 8.

So it is, rather than seems, that the US Presidential contest will be between President Biden and former president Donal Trump. That means that Trump will be entitled to intelligence briefings (as I noted earlier), although he’s under indictment for holding on to classified documents.  There is great concern about this in the US, as might be expected; it’s extremely concerning for all of us, too.

On Tuesday evening I went to one of three Lenten studies organized by the minister. This was at the church, starting at 6:30 pm, abd we were invited to bring a snack. I brought crackers and Hohepa cheese and quince paste, a current favourite. It was a pleasant session, about prayer, but did not finish until almost 8:30 pm! We had not had dinner, and I had an early start the next morning for hymn singing.  I learnt several things there, including the TSP acronym, which I rather like: Thanks, Sorry, Please!

This afternoon I finished reading Jan Morris’s Venice on my kindle. While I prefer to read a book on paper, and flip back and forth through it, I have enjoyed the simplicity of the kindle. It’s great for travelling, too. But what a wonderful book!  Ruskin said that the Doges’ Palace was at the centre of the world, and I’m rather inclined to agree with him, having seen it myself in February 2010 and been very impressed, by the maps, the artwork, the chastity belt (once seen, you can’t un-see it), and the dreadful prison underneath, where “Noli me tangere” was carved on a wall.  Don’t touch me!

It’s now Saturday March 9.

Today it’s fine, and much warmer than it’s been the last few days. So it’s time for chinos and sandals again. We went shopping in Thorndon, where it was very busy.  Many of the things I wanted to buy were “On Special”, so the bill was surprisingly large; “special” just means one is saving perhaps 50 cents, but of course I get drawn in (JD too). He bought another Sensodyne toothpaste, despite already having two tubes on the go.  We bought raspberries and more lovely summer fruit; salad, bread, Havarti cheese slices, fresh beans and lettuce, among other things.

Last night we watched President Biden’s SOTU (State of the Union) address to Congress. I did not watch it live, fearing I would be embarrassed, but I watched it afterwards – more than once. What a marvellous speech!  Biden did wonderfully. He seemed to have plenty of energy.  The repeated applause is really annoying, although interesting too, in a way. It was absolutely fascinating to watch Mike Johnson, current leader of the Congress, who was sitting right behind the President. His face was a study in discomfort and frustration: he seldom clapped, and shook his head at times, but at least he was polite. One imagined he was getting a text alert from his son for watching porn, and wondering which would be more sinful:  watching porn, or watching a democratic president’s address.  His discomfort was stunning to watch, especially as Biden challenged Republicans to acknowledge the truth about the 1920 Presidential election, and the January 6 insurrection. He looked as though he was telling himself not to clap, despite being naturally inclined to. So that was fun to watch. Biden is so good at managing the crowd (including Marjorie Taylor Greene), and at speaking in this way. The Supreme Court members were there too, except for Clarence Thomas; he challenged them, too, at times. Biden is being compared to Reagan, and while I’m not a Regan admirer, I can see why this comparison is being made.

There are some local frustrations. News-producing organisations are in trouble: Newshub is to close, and TVNZ is to lose some staff and some programs. The daily newspaper gets thinner and thinner. But the puzzles are still good. I’m not really bothered about TVNZ’s woes, as I seldom watch their so-called news programs, finding them really annoying.  In this morning’s paper, there’s a long article about the development of areas of Churton Park and Glenside. There are maps, too, but the print is so tiny that I can’t read it!  As one of my sons and I live in the area, I’m really interested. It was recently reported that plans for a link road between Grenada (Village?) and Petone (Horokiwi?) are being dusted off and it’s being seriously considered by the Coalition government, but there was nothing to say or show where the road would start from or end up. So that too is really frustrating.  My third example is the local rag, the Independent Herald, which has a story about the Repair Café at the Ngaio Union Church, which is starting up again. Well, full credit, and I would like to use them again, but there was no information about when they would re-start, and for what hours. I guess this information is on Facebook, sorry, META.

Today JD and I went to see “The Great Escaper” at the Lighthouse Cinema at Pauatahanui. It’s a lovely theatre, and we were even warned that the seats had been cleaned and might still be a little wet? Other cinemas, please take note! The film was interesting: I don’t admire Michael Caine, remembering his performance in “Alfie”, but he did a good job here, as did his on-screen wife, played by Glenda Jackson. She’s not particularly good looking, but what an amazing actress she is!  The recreation of the Normandy landings made us both cry, although JD claimed that the historical details were incorrect. JD’s Dad was at the D-Day landings. I must say why did the retirement home not have a lift?  And if the Bernie character was taking his wife Rene for a walk in her wheel chair, how on earth did they get it up the stairs? At the entrance to the home, or within it?  The “apartment” they lived in wasn’t great, either, although the staff were kind.  Still, I’m glad I saw the film, walkers, canes, wheelchairs and all. 

Afterwards, we came home and JD hung two paintings that he’d been given by our daughter for his recent birthday.

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

Affogato, my favourite dessert at present

It’s now Sunday February 18, 2024. Kia ora!

Yesterday was momentous – a whole lot of interesting things happened, and there were interesting events on Friday too, which I did not write about.

On Friday Fani Wills, District Attorney of Fulton County, testified in a fiery manner with regard to her alleged (by a Trump supporter) conflict of interest with a male prosecutor with whom she had an intimate relationship. While this does not look good, the consensus it that there wasn’t a conflict of interest.  Many people are hanging on DA Willis’s RICO case as being one of the most straightforward and interesting indictments of Trump and some of his associates, some of whom have already pled guilty. And when exactly does an intimate relationship begin? At the first date? Before that? When the couple first have sex? When they decide to live together? It’s complicated, and the two people involved may well have different ideas about just when the relationship began.

In the case of Republicans in the US Congress wishing to impeach President Biden over shady dealings with his surviving son, Hunter, an FBI whistleblower has been arrested and accused of lying.

Overnight, that would be Friday/Saturday, there were by-elections in two English electorates, which were supposedly “safe” Tory seats, but they were won by Labour. The Rest is Politics did an emergency podcast about this result, but I have not had time to listen to it yet.

Locally questions are being asked as to whether Nicola Willis can fund the tax cuts she promised.

On Saturday I woke up to the news that Alexei Navalny was dead at 47 years of age. This is regarded as suspicious – there’s been no reasonable explanation for it yet. There’s been an outpouring of grief around the world, and many, including Biden, are blaming Putin directly. Ater all, Navalny was poisoned, presumably by Putin, and yet he chose to return to Russa, where he was being held in a maximum security prison in the Arctic circle.

The next big thing was that the judge in Trump’s fraud trial in New York released his ruling, that Trump is fined over $350m and not allowed to do business in New York for three years. His two adult sons are also fined. They’re not best pleased, of course: will Trump appeal?  IF so, he’ll have to stump up much of the money.  And looking at sources of funds, Ronna (Romney) McDaniel has resigned as chair of the RNC, at Trump’s direction, and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, is looking to be appointed to a senior position. Every dollar raised will go to Donald Trump’s re-election, she promises. I wish she wouldn’t sing!  Has no one told her she’s out of tune, and sounds awful?

We also learnt that Trump’s hush money case to go ahead on March 25.  This would be Alvin Bragg’s case where Trump has been indicted for paying off Stormy Daniels, in a complicated way using Michael Cohen for his just before the 2016 presidential election. By the way, Michael Cohen has spent two years’ time in jail for his part in this scandal. It’s useful to be reminded of the sordid details of this case, which has been minimized by many as being not such a strong case as the other indictments.

Meanwhile, there’s been a huge fuss about Biden’s age and his supposedly failing memory, as reported by the Hur reports.  It says there are no grounds for prosecuting Joe Biden, but manages to imply that he’s a well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.  This five hour interview took place immediately after the crisis in Israel, so undoubtedly Biden had his mind on other things. Nevertheless, this report has done enormous damage.  Never mind Trump’s obvious cognitive difficulties, the spotlight is again on Joe Biden. Yes, he’s old, but to many he’s the best American president in their lifetime.  The podcasts I listen to have been focused on this – frustratingly, since they were already just a tad obsessed with the issue.

In Israel, the IDF is now attacking Rafah, the city to the south of the Gaza strip, near the border with Egypt, despite ongoing calls for a ceasefire. Biden has even expressed publicly his frustration with Netanyahu.

It’s now Friday February 23.

We just got back from Hawkes Bay. We headed north on Monday, to spend JD’s birthday in Hawkes Bay (after the Art Deco festival), see our daughter, and I had a few other things on my list.  It was very windy in Wellington, but we ghad a good trip north with little traffic and few road works.

On the way, there were phone calls to say that she wasn’t well, with cold and flu symptoms, and had been on contact with someone who subsequently tested positive for Covid 19; we also had a call from the lawyer handling my guardianship application. He’s proposing to make it for five years, not three, which would be appreciated! We agreed we’d see how our daughter is on the Tuesday.

Well, she continued to test negative for Covid 19, so we had morning tea with her (and picked up some delicious organic plum jam); as she didn’t seem too bad we took her to lunch at the lovely Birdwood’s Café.  It was quite windy, so we were very happy to be seated inside.

They were very busy there, but we had a delicious lunch: JD had avocado with lavosh crackers, our daughter had a hamburger, and I had a smoked salmon flan with salad.  I had an iced tea to drink, which thankfully wasn’t too sweet.

Afterwards I had the caramel rhubarb layer cake, she had chocolate brownie, and JD had the special cake (with plum and mascarpone), and affogato.

The next day we had various meetings, and went to the lovely shop at Hohepa Clive, where I bought more Danbo cheese, a jar of relish for a friend, and another Weleda deodorant. That evening we took our daughter out to dinner, but she really wasn’t very well. She coughed a lot on the way there, and just didn’t seem well, although her appetite was unaffected! For dessert she had a churro sundae. She let me eat one of her churros, and it was much larger than I expected!  There were three more, so she didn’t go without.

JD’s brother was coming to Napier with some of his family members, so we decided to stay an extra night. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay at our lovely Havelock North motel, but had to move into Napier itself, to the Edgewater Motel.  There was plenty of room here (an extra bedroom, but no spa bath), but it was very dated and none too clean. Still we were only there for one night.

On Thursday evening we had dinner at the Thirsty Whale pub, where the food was very good (and plentiful).  Everywhere was really busy!  Wisely, I had an entrée, whitebait fritters with salad, instead of a main course. We had ordered cheesy garlic bread and toasted ciabatta  bread with dips to start with, and I quickly found myself quite full. But I still had room for dessert: affogato (a small espresso coffee, vanilla ice cream served in a tall crystal stemmed glass, and a glass of Kahlua. It was so good – we all had affogato, although with different liqueurs. The Thirsty Whale does the best affogato that I’ve encountered so far.

Today we drove home, getting away from the Edgewater Motel at 10 am. I decided not to go shopping at Farmers in Napier,  much as I had wanted to, I just wanted to get home.  But sadly there were lots of road works, and lots of hold ups. Everywhere was really busy! We decided to stop for lunch in Woodville; otherwise it was a case of going on to Shannon. But we couldn’t find a carpark!  JD turned around, twice, and eventually we found one. We went to Café 88, where we’ve been before, and joined the queue! They were really busy here, too!  I had scrambled eggs, which wasn’t actually on the menu, but previously they’ve made them for me.  And they did today, too, and they were very good.

The Saddle Road was closed (still), so we had to drive over the Pahiatua Track road, as did much other traffic. Still, we got back to Wellington in good time, where it’s actually finer and warmer!

Well, I did not get to go to Farmers in Napier, but I did get the things I wanted from the Life Pharmacy there, and I did get a beautiful dress from the Annah Stretton shop in Havelock North.  I also discovered the Paper Plus Select store, and the Wardini Bookstore nearby – both great for a browse!

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

The church of San Carlo in Rome, one of Boromini’s designs

The circular spire on Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza in Rome

Today is Friday February 2^nd, 2024. Kia ora!

There has been some drama here. I dropped my computer, just from the bed to the newly carpeted floor, but sadly the screen was “munted”.  I was not totally at a loss, since I can get most things on my mobile phone, but it seemed a huge loss, nonetheless. We took it to a PBTech store to get fixed, but we were advised that it would take several weeks to fix; sadly we couldn’t buy the same model again. So we bought a new computer – my birthday present, ha ha, but it’s very different. I am gradually getting used to it. I eventually got gmail to work, and this morning I got Word to work again, thankfully. I like to write by blog in Word before copying it into WordPress.

It’s now Friday February 16.

I am getting used to the new computer, although I didn’t really want it to be my birthday present!  For JD’s birthday we got a picture reframed with new glass – it was a historical print which had been given to us, but the glass had broken around Christmas Day, and the frame was broken. So it was good to get it repaired, and it now hangs downstairs again. The subject matter is unfortunate, showing as it does armed British troops marching down Hawkstone Street, and a handful of scared Māori cowering in the foreground. It’s not a picture that I would choose, but it was given to us.

On Saturday February 3 we had lunch at Sea Salt in Days Bay with two of our sons and one son’s family.  We had a lovely lunch, and went to feed the ducks at Williams Park afterwards. Sadly, it was cold and windy. After that JD and I had coffee and cake at Smith the Grocer Café – yum (I had lemon and blueberry cake with cream).  The next morning I went to church;  we had appointments after that, and I was very tired afterwards.  On Tuesday February 6 it was Waitangi Day. Although I would have liked to go out, we did not go anywhere.

Last Sunday I went to church, it being Transfiguration Sunday.  The texts and the sermon reflected on Jesus’ Transfiguration with the passage in 2 Kings 2 where Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. I have written about this separately.

During this time there has been work on our driveway – the lower part, and the barbecue area, and a new drain put in. This was delayed for months, so it was quite an event when it actually started; it was noisy and dramatic with the concrete being dug up, and the plumber laying a new drain. The nice tiles at the front door were removed.  For a while, it stayed like this – although the ground was evened out, making it easier to walk on, JD had to park the car on the street.

Then things went quiet for a while, and we hoped it would not rain heavily as we waited again.  I sensed it became rather musty again downstairs. Eventually JD got a text message saying the concreting would start on Wednesday at lunch time. Consequently there was some rearranging of existing commitments. On the Tuesday before, a friend came to visit, and on the Wednesday morning there was a Te Māori Reo class in Khandallah at 10:15 am.  I had to rush away to catch my bus to Johnsonville, which was due to go through Khandallah at 11:15 am. I caught that, and then the shuttle bus home – for once, they coordinated! Thankfully I got home when I did, because the concreting was in force, and it wasn’t easy to get down the drive. I got in through the garage door.  The concreting was amazing – it seemed to work really well; the next day, they returned to lay a kind of asphalt. It looks amazing.  In the barbecue area, we could lay a cotton rug, if we wished. Now for some landscaping!

In the meantime, we can walk on the new concrete, but we can’t drive on it, or use the garage for a week. This is frustrating, although if we go somewhere in the car, it’s already on the road, so it makes the journey faster, perhaps.

Yesterday I had Thursday morning singing in Khandallah – the second session for the year. There was a great turnout, and thankfully my voice was better this week. The previous time my voice was very croaky, much of the time. After that we walked up the road to share a pizza for lunch at Simmer Café. We were quite daring and shared a chocolate éclair as well. There were no blueberry muffins left, so they must have had a busy morning, but the café was quite empty while we were there. The pizza tasted amazingly good.

This morning we went to see a movie at the Lighthouse Cinema in Wigan Street, called Boromini and Bernini. I have to confess I had not heard of Boromini.  Thankfully we had a good run there, although there are road works in Taranaki St, and we could not turn right into Wigan Street. Still, John did a U-turn, and amazingly we were able to park outside the cinema. When we went to buy tickets, it was very slow, but we managed to take our seats before the movie started. It was a fairly full theatre, but given that there are very few viewings, that’s not surprising.

What a wonderful film! We both enjoyed it, despite finding two of the commentators really annoying. Thankfully they were balanced by other good commentators.

Afterwards, we rushed home, not having lunch in town, or viewing Helen Wilson’s art exhibition at the Southern Cross Hotel, or getting presents for our grandchildren for the party tomorrow.  We got home, and had tomato and avocado on toast, and then I checked My Access site. O – surprise – the assistant is To Be Advised. It’s now after 1:30 pm, and the help was scheduled for 1:30 pm. I ring Access, and eventually the person on the other end of the phone figures out who I am – after spelling my first name and my surname for her. I should have been rung; they’re still looking for someone to replace my usual helper, who evidently can’t come. So I cancel the help – I don’t want to show another stranger where things are in this big house. So we need not have rushed home, at this rather busy time.

But the film was pretty good.  One of its central themes was the competition between Boromini and Bernini, which depended to a great extent on who was pope. They were both involved in the design of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican in Rome. I mainly remember Bernini for the statue of St Teresa’s ecstasy, in the church of St Maria Victoria in Rome.  In 2010 when we were last there, we had tried to see this wonderful carving several times, but the church was always locked. On our last day in Rome, the church was open, and a priest was saying Mass, in wonderful Italian, in that matter-of-fact way that is common in Europe – religious devotion is an everyday part of life, as it should be, in my view.  A feature of the statue is an angel aiming an arrow at St Teresa’s crotch area, much in the way that Cupid fired arrows in many of the famous paintings of mythical scenes.  St Teresa is having rather a good time. Anyway, this statue did not feature in the film.

What impressed me most, was Boromini’s depiction of the Holy Ghost (Spiritu Sanctu) as a dove in the middle of a triangle in the church of San Carlo – which I have not seen (yet).  I was fascinated, again, by the rather wonderful red garb worn by the conclave of cardinals when electing a new pope, although I wasn’t impressed by the lottery wheel depicting the election – let’s pretend it’s a more honest, prayerful process.  What’s the third thing that so impressed me? I know, a spiral on a spire on a church that Boromini designed for a university in Rome – that reminded me of Trajan’s column, with its circular carvings, although this was not mentioned. I’m sure it was an inspiration for Boromini’s very tall spire, however.

I am rather struggling to get through my library reserves. Oof course, they all come at once, and they’re all large tomes. There’s a very good book called Spies (I think I read a good review of it), Tom Holland’s Pax (he read the foreword aloud, which is amazing), and a book about crime in Berlin during World War II, which was named in a podcast. I just didn’t expect them all to come at once!  I have to admit that I’m struggling a bit with Pax. The first chapter is about Nero, and it was really fascinating. The next chapter was about the year of the four emperors, and I have to admit it was heavy going. Now I’m reading about Vespasian and his son Titus, and I’ve just read about the sack of Jerusalem. But I shall persist, as I doubt if I’ll be able to renew these books.

I  thought about making a list of some of the things we’ve lost. While I wouldn’t normally advise dwelling on the past, I retain some ability to be upset about things that I really liked that are no longer available:

Imperial Leather White Soap

Rush Monro’s Rum and Raisin ice cream

Black Doris plums

A nice salad with grated carrot and sultanas

A salad with chicken, grapes, celery, lettuce and dressing

Wishbone and some of its products

Barkers Green Tomato Relish

Several nice coffee bars that did not survive Covid 19

The old bus route, where the bus that goes along my street went all the way into town (and back, of course!)  Now I have to catch two buses.

The creamy chicken pie I could buy at my local New World for a time

Café de Laos in Ahuriri, Napier

The Transmission Gully SH1 is wonderful, but it bypasses Otaki, and so I can no longer stop at the River Cottage Café for lunch! I used to rather like that; they had wonderful Danish pastries there.  Now we usually stop in Shannon, or Woodville – not favourites of mine. 

That’s it for now. The motley crew that are the Coalition Government in New Zealand continue to take steps that are shocking to me, but are to be expected. What will happen in terms of Te Tiriti issues? Reporting on that has gone very quiet after the hui at Turangawaewae in Ngaruawahia, the celebrations at Ratana, and the celebrations at Waitangi, which coincide with Waitangi Day on February 6.

Slava Ukraini!  Ngā mihi nui.

Kiingitanga Hui

Today is Tuesday December 26, 2023. It’s Boxing Day. Kia ora!

We had a lovely Christmas Day. I got up early to ring my daughter in Napier, and then I went to church. I was to read the gospel test, from John’s Gospel chapter 1 verses 1-14. “In the beginning was the word…” What a wonderful text: forget about Mary and Joseph, the baby Jesus, angels, the Magi, the shepherds, King Herod, Emperor Augustus etc. They are mostly wonderful, of course, but in verse 14 it says: “And the Word (ὁ λόγος) became flesh, and lived among us”.  This is quite philosophical, and places Jesus Christ as part of God from the very beginning, and his babyhood, childhood and manhood was a mere interlude: wonderful for us, of course, since we celebrate his birth at Christmas time and then his death, in the prime of his manhood, at Easter – for our redemption, and our salvation.

After this JD picked me up, and we continued to prepare for family members in Wellington to come later that afternoon. So it was all quite relaxed, really.  I prepared vegetables, and made cheese sauce, which kept warm in the food warmer, as did plates and vegetables as they were cooked. Our son from the UK had marinated chickens in a mixture of red wine, mustard, peppercorns, bay leaves, and lots of garlic. He took charge of cooking them, too!  Our son who lives locally brought a grazing platter, which we enjoyed with non-alcoholic bubbly wine while the chickens cooked.

So we had chicken, new potatoes, salad, and vegetables with cranberry sauce for the main course. For pudding we had steamed pudding (Christmas Mince) and Ginger with butterscotch sauce. We also had custard, pouring cream, and three kinds of ice cream We also had raspberries (which were in perfect condition, although I’d bought them on Friday), strawberries with optional Amaretto, and JD made a fruit salad with other beautiful summer fruit. The only snag was that I’d bought a lemon to add to the syrup for the fruit salad, but when I cut the one I’d bought in half, it was rotten inside. Everything else worked pretty well, although my new potatoes weren’t how I’d wanted them to be. I should have roasted them instead of boiling them with mint. The peas cooked briefly with mint did work well. So we all ate far too much, and it was very enjoyable.

The next day (Boxing Day) was very quiet.  We ate left over food, the dishwasher washed glasses, and things got put away.  The next day, Wednesday, we watered my son’s plants, and went for a walk beside Oriental Bay.

On Wednesday it rained, and I was determined to get out of the house. JD dropped me off at the Penthouse Cinema to see the 1:15 pm session of the movie One Life. Many others evidently had the same idea: I couldn’t get into the cinema, the queue was all the way back to the front door. I had a few minutes to spare, so I waited my turn. But when I got to be served, the movie was sold out! So I had a cheese roll and a latté and wondered what to do next. I caught a bus into the city, and went to Unity Books, and the supermarket in Willis St. The bookshop was very busy, and I didn’t see anything specific to fascinate me, so I caught a bus home. I did manage to see the film a few days later, and it was very good indeed.

On Thursday afternoon my youngest son and his wife were to start their flight back to the UK, going via Auckland and Houston to London’s Heathrow. They got back all right, but sadly their baggage did not. (It did turn up after a few days, though).

The next day was fine again. I cancelled the home help from Access, and we did – what, exactly? I can’t remember.

On Sunday morning I went to church in Ngaio. We had lunch at The Peppermill Café in Porirua. It was wild weather in the morning, but fine in the afternoon.

On Monday January 1 I went to a friend’s house for lunch, and had a lovely time. I took her some cheese from Hōhepa.

Wednesday January 3^rd.

Several things have happened: a large Earthquake in Japan, and a plane collision; Claudine Gay resigns as Chairman of Harvard. And the head of Hamas has supposedly been killed.

Thankfully, Apple podcasts seems to be working again. That’s a big relief, since when you’re on Apple podcast reader, it tends to keep on going; otherwise I wake up when a podcast stops.

It’s now Sunday again, January 7^th, Epiphany Sunday.

This morning I went to church in Johnsonville.  There were lots of us there, and it turned out there were many there whom I knew.

The minster spoke about the 12 days of Christmas, and what they represent:

1. Baby
2. Old Testament and New Testament
3. The Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit
4. The four gospels
5. The Pentateuch: first 5 books of the Bible
6. God created the world in 6 days
7. On the seventh day (the Sabbath) God rested
8. Xx (I can’t remember!)
9. Fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
10. Commandments
11. Faithful disciples
12. Disciples in all; 12 tribes of Israel

The minister also spoke about the magi giving precious gifts to the infant Jesus: golf, frankincense, and myrrh: gold being the most precious metal, frankincense used as a fine fragrance during offerings, or prayers; and myrrh being used for embalming. The minister made the point of myrrh being an expensive gift, showing in what honour the new born King of the Jews was held; he did not make the connection with Jesus’ embalming after death, although he spoke about women at the tomb of Jesus who had gone to embalm him (Luke 24). But he had risen! Death could not hold him. The minister did not make the connection of Jesus’ death being foreseen in the bringing of myrrh by the magi. 

Yesterday I walked to the local shops, and bought more psyllium, raspberries, and vanilla ice cream. It’s really hard to get this rather nice ice cream!  It was a beautiful sunny day. In the afternoon I visited a dear friend.

In the UK, there are major floods. Fortunately our son and his wife are not majorly affected. The Post Office scandal is also causing much discussion, since the screening of the TV dramatization Mr Bates vs the Post Office. I have listened to two podcast episodes that have been republished, going over this. I did know what it was about. UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, seems to be tone deaf about both crises.  He certainly does not show empathy.

In the US, things grind on as Trump looks more and more likely to be the republican presidential candidate. The Iowa and New Hampshire caucuses are about to be held. Trump continues to say terrible things. Many so-called “normies” are realty concerned about this, as is the rest of the world.  Will he ever be held to account?  Once he becomes Republican candidate for the presidency, I doubt whether any court cases will go ahead. Meanwhile there’s ongoing confusion as some states rule that he’s not eligible to be a candidate for president. I would think this is crystal clear, but of course Americans will not take this off-ramp. Trump has referred this to the Supreme Court, who will address this issue quickly, but not his presidential immunity from being tried. Really and truly, this is just so frustrating.

Meanwhile, locally, water leaks continue to appear, although many have been fixed; it’s claimed that fixing spot leaks prevents major pipes from being replaced. Water meters are being considered; we’ve been warned about water shortages but it has actually been raining many nights, so perhaps there isn’t such a shortage after all.

It’s now Saturday January 20^th.

I haven’t written for a few days; it’s been a rather frustrating time, with not really enough to do, and no movies on that I really want to see. I have felt a cold coming on, some days: it hasn’t really amounted to much though. 

The main things that happened are that the concreting contractor has finally turned up, to put in a new drain, and resurface part of the driveway. So it’s fantastic that he has come at last; of course, the job is bigger than originally quoted for. The other thing that’s happened is that my guardianship (welfare and property) has expired. The mail deliveries have been haphazard; I juts got a letter advising me of this well after it had lapsed, and after the letter had been written. This gets renewed every three years; I wish I had kept note of this – there was no warning given! 

Consequently it’s been a big job to renew it. There were multiple forms to be downloaded, and my signature witnessed by a JP (try finding a JP in the middle of January!), and I had to get my sons’ approval, including the two overseas.  I had great trouble finding their changed addresses!  Anyway, it took hours to fill out the forms, and then I affirmed the two affidavits and got them witnessed.

On Friday I cancelled my home help and went into the CBD to courier the signed papers to Napier. Thankfully, this was easy: I bought a courier pack, addressed it, after waiting for a writing booth, and lending someone my pen (they don’t have pens any more!), and then I handed it over to be sent. Hopefully that is all I have to do:  a medical certificate is still required, and then I await confirmation of my guardianship.

It has been very hot and quite muggy here in Wellington. We’re not used to this!  Nightwear needs to be changed often; the wonderful heat pump works well on its air-conditioner setting, but the cold air, unlike the warm air, doesn’t rise. So it’s cooler downstairs, but pretty hot upstairs, It’s very hot in the kitchen – so not much cooking takes place.

So what’s been happening?  In the Middle East, the IDF is still killing people in Gaza; Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea, and a coalition of the US and the UK have been trying, rather ineffectively, to stop the Houthis.  It’s rather complicated because the US has backed its ally, Saudi Arabia, in its war in Yemen. Of course, different strains of Islam are involved; it’s a complicated situation that I don’t really wish to understand. The shady involvement of Iran is there too, and Iran has been attacking a terrorist group (which I’ve never heard of) in Pakistan. The two countries share a border, apparently. Israel under Prime Minister Netanyahu shows no sign of stopping its attacks on Gaza; there are still big protests in many countries calling for a ceasefire.

In Ukraine, the war continues, although the Ukrainian forces had caused expensive damage in Russia.

Everywhere there is a right-wing government, it denies the ever-present reality of climate change.  Here in Aotearoa, Māori are having a hui, in response to the coalition government’s express wishes to wind back its Te Tiriti responsibilities, and yet Prime Minister Luxon won’t go to the hui – it’s not a political event, he says.

We’re thankful here that things aren’t too bad, really.  It’s hot – which is unusual! And drizzling today, not raining. We’re blessed, really.  Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

Carols by candle light

It’s now Thursday December 21, 2023. Kia ora!

Last Sunday morning I went to church. We were due to drive to Hawkes Bay later that day; JD drove me there and picked me up afterwards. I had already packed, of course, and worked out what clothes to take; our son from the UK and his wife were going to drive there separately.  I worried about holding JD up, but of course he hadn’t had a shower, or packed, and was working on writing a paper that had to be done that morning. I got a message from my son to say they were having lunch in Shannon, and we had not even left Wellington.

Eventually we got away a few minutes before 2 pm, which leaves the awkward question of where to stop for lunch, i.e. what will still be open. The expressway goes past Otaki now, so we can’t stop at the lovely café there for something to eat; the cafés in Woodville were likely to close before we got there. So we stopped at Shannon, and shared salad sandwiches and had rather strange oat milk lattés. Sometimes it’s better to have a “long black”.

We made good progress – there was little traffic on the road, no big trucks, and it’s being Sunday, very few roadworks.  We were happy to turn off to Havelock North and not go through Hastings or Napier. It’s a different climate up there!  When we got there, I changed and we walked to a nearby bistro to have dinner – a smoked salmon salad, and affogato.

The next morning we picked up my daughter from her workshop (Rongo) at Hōhepa’s Clive site. It was pretty hot, so we were glad of the breeze. Then we went to lunch at Birdwood’s Café just out of Havelock North. What a lovely place it is!  Service was efficient, and the food was delicious, with special mention for the smoked salmon quiche, and the rhubarb caramel layer cake.  It’s nice to walk around and admire the ducks, too.

We gave our daughter her birthday presents, which I think went down all right: a beautiful embroidered jacket, an apron, and a lovely book with short stories and nice pictures. I would have given her a spa bath, but the spa was not working at our otherwise lovely motel, alas, and I had no bath salts.  That evening we had dinner at the Thirsty Whale in Ahuriri, where the affogato is truly amazing: ice cream in a tall crystal glass, with a small espresso coffee and a glass of Kahlua on the side.

The next day, our son and his wife drove back to Wellington, but JD and I had an extra day, with two meetings, and a visit to the shop at Hōhepa Clive, where amongst other things I bought another Weleda deodorant and some Danbo cheese.  Each morning in Havelock North I was able to buy a copy of The Post at Paper Plus, a very nice store a few minutes’ walk away from our motel. What a lovely place Havelock North is!  It can be really hard to get the Post; and in Havelock North, whenever you approach crossing a road, cars stop for you. Mind you, the roading is complicated, with an island in the middle, and paved areas around it, which are not specifically for pedestrians.  There are lots of beautiful clothes shops too.

On Tuesday morning we had coffee with the new House Manager for the house where our daughter lives, and the cluster manager. This was in a relatively new café (St Martha) in a more industrialised area where I had not been before.  They didn’t have cheese scones, which was probably fortunate!  Then we drove to Poraiti to have a meeting with the Hōhepa Hawkes Bay manager at Hōhepa School.

After that, we had lunch at Adoro Café where I had a mini-doughnut.  That evening we took our daughter to the Lone Star restaurant in Napier (she calls it “The Star”). It’s not one of my favourites, but it has plenty of room, a unisex disability bathroom, and drawing things. The servings are huge, but JD and I lucked into sharing a main course (which was delicious, and fortunately we wanted the same thing), and a dessert.

On Wednesday morning we drove back to Wellington. It was hot in Hawkes Bay, and quite humid, although it rained on Monday evening!  The weather seemed to alternate between being fine and sunny and overcast (but still hot). We decided we will come back to Hawkes Bay in February.

JD had decided we were in a rush; accordingly, he thought we could eat at MacDonalds’ in Dannevirke, but we were there by 10:20 am and it was much too early for lunch. Accordingly we had lunch (again) at – you’ve guessed it, Shannon.

Back in Wellington, our son was minding his nephew, but he hadn’t had lunch, so we walked up the road to Simmer Café.  It’s amazing what you find you can do for your family!

While it’s quite nice to be back, it’s a lot cooler, and for some reason I didn’t sleep well last night. I slept remarkably well on our last night in Havelock North.

It’s now Saturday December 23^rd.

Christmas Day is not until Monday. That feels really strange, somehow.  I am confused about what day it is! Yesterday a cleaning lady came from Access; we also had two grandchildren here for a time. Then in the afternoon, after they’d all gone, we went shopping – to New World, in Thorndon, of course!  It wasn’t crazy busy. I think I got almost everything on my list.

Last Christmas Day we had a lovely picnic. However the weather looks very dicey this year, with an overcast sky and showers likely, so we will have the family that are in Wellington here – eight, in all.  Our sons are bringing things, so I really don’t have to do much except set the table (and decorate it), peel the potatoes, make a salad, and not drop anything. Oh, and get JD to be helpful, especially with carrying things to and from the table. Oh, and clearing it first – not leaving it to the last minute.

On Christmas Eve there is to be a candle-lit carol service at 11:15 pm (I think!), and a service on Christmas Day at 9:30 am.  The family are coming in the afternoon (one couple is going to have lunch with her parents), so I should have plenty of time to get ready.  It’s a long time since we had a Christmas meal at our house. Thankfully we were able to get lots of lovely summer fruit yesterday when we went shopping. I have also got out long us-used jugs and cutlery, and even cleaned some of the silver. That felt very Downton Abbey-like (from a servant’s perspective, of course)!

In Prague, there’s been a shooting at a university, with 15 dead; In China, there’s been an earthquake, with about 100 dead, last time I looked; in China, they’re still suffering from a respiratory illness. Meanwhile, what’s being called a fifth wave of Covid, with a new variant, is doing the rounds. It’s not as severe as the delta or omicron waves, but is more infectious. So that is casting a bit of a blight on everything. There’s a tummy bug going around, too.  Nevertheless, we are fortunate here, compared with those in the troubled Middle East, where it seems 20,000 have been killed in Gaza thus far. The IDF told people to evacuate, but they’re not safe, despite leaving their homes. Where are they to go? Israel seems to have no intention of stopping any time soon, and their attack has been particularly strong in terms of bombardments. And success looks like – what, exactly?

It’s now Sunday 24 December, Christmas Eve.

This morning I went to church in Johnsonville. It is drizzly and overcast, but very warm and humid.  The church I usually attend was not having a service this morning, and it now feels weird not to go to church on Sunday morning, so I went, although there is to be a candle-lit carol service tonight, and a service at 9:30 am tomorrow (Christmas Day) morning, so it’ll be a busy time.  I have told JD I want to set the table today, so he’ll have to clear his things off it, and not at the last minute, either.

After church I caught a bus home, and found JD putting away the photos he’d got out yesterday (thank goodness).  Then we went up to Simmer Café and shared a pizza. We also had oat milk lattés in takeaway cups, since they were closing soon!  It was busy, though.  I’m sure those guys deserve a break.

Afterwards we went shopping for last minute stuff: plums, bread, peas in the pod, and flowers!  They’re outrageously expensive, but then as I assured JD we’re not driving away or buying petrol, or buying stuff for our hosts. Buying flowers for decoration, and for the table, somehow doesn’t feel so expensive now. Then we found a grog shop that was open on Sunday (!), and bought whisky, rum and brandy (to flame the Christmas pudding), and a bottle of Kahlua (so we can have affogato at home). There didn’t seem to be any miniatures.

This afternoon I am resting, listening to a rather nice recording of Handel’s Messiah, before we go to our carol service tonight.

Turning now to US politics, the Supreme Court in Colorado has made waves by ruling that Trump is ineligible to be on the ballot for the 2024 presidential election, in terms of Amendment 14 of the Constitution.  Well, you’d think that settled it, but of course Trump is furious, and has referred the decision to the US Supreme Court, and published the names, addresses and phone numbers of the members of the Colorado Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the Court has indicated that it won’t rule on whether Trump’s executive privilege renders him immune from Jack Smith’s election interference case. I would have thought it was clear that he is ineligible to be president again, as Judge Michael Luttig and retired law professor Laurence Tribe have argued most eloquently, but of course Americans have complicated the issue, with many (white people) believing it would be undemocratic to rule Trump ineligible (by the way, he is surely ineligible in terms of the much-revered constitution!) In Texas, they’re threatening to take Joe Biden off the ballot.  Once again, it’s coloured legal experts like the amazing Sherrilyn Ifill who see this most clearly.  Once again, the American people are being offered an off-ramp, and refusing to take it.  I find it unbelievable, really, firstly, that Trump has such widespread support, and secondly that he seems to be very much in the race to become president again.

But now is the season of glad tidings, of great joy, and we are fortunate to be here. Mere Kirihimite! Slava Ukraini!  Ngā mihi nui.