Part of the Cystic Fibrosis Christmas Tree display at wellington Airport

It’s now Monday December 4^th, 2023. Kia ora!

Yesterday morning I went to church. It felt quite adventurous after Saturday night’s Messiah, but it was the first Sunday of Advent, and so a special occasion.  It’s lovely to see the Christmas decorations up, and it was lovely to hear the organ playing almost all the hymns.  The sermon was good, too, relating Jesus Christ’s coming to earth as a baby (“and the word became flesh, and dwelt among us”, John 1: 14) to our hope for Christs’ Second Coming to earth. While the text from Mark’s Gospel (13: 24-37) is pretty scary, the text from 1 Corinthians 1: 1-9 reassures us (“you are not lacking in any spiritual gift”) that we have all we need to get through whatever lean and difficult times may come for us.  The symbol for the first Sunday of Advent is Hope, and it seemed very appropriate.

The weekly Covid 19 report was published today.

Covid-19 cases have dropped since last week, but there were still 20 further deaths attributed to the virus, according to Ministry of Health figures.

There have been 6656 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the week to Sunday, and 20 further deaths attributed to the virus. Of the new cases, 1131 were probable cases and 3553 were reinfections. There were 332 cases in hospital and one in intensive care. The seven-day rolling average of new cases was 951 per day. Measurements of Covid 19 in wastewater are causing concern.

Last week, Te Whatu Ora reported 6814 new cases and 27 deaths, including a child aged under 10.

Our son from the UK and his wife came to morning tea. We stayed at home because a tradesman was due to come, but he did not turn up. We went up the road to the café for lunch.  On Tuesday they were to fly south to Queenstown.

On Tuesday morning I went to bible study. We did not read the set text, which was from the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, and does not describe Jesus’ birth. Instead we read I Thessalonians chapter 5.

Afterwards I caught a bus into town, expecting to go to a 1 pm movie, but Lighthouse Theatre must have changed their schedule (or perhaps I read it wrongly!) I was really hungry by this time, so I had lunch at Kaffee Eis. I had to sit in a draught, but the food was delicious, especially a lemon slice with whipped cream on the side.

Afterwards I went to Rebel sports shop in the old James Smith Building, seeking to check out Christmas presents for two of my grandchildren, from their comprehensive lists. It was bewildering, though – there are many Nike school bags, and I now l know what a “bucket hat” is!  It may be easier to give them vouchers (to redeem at the Boxing Day sales!), although it would be nice to give an actual present. Then I checked our Unity Books, and looked for suitable books for my daughter, but I couldn’t find anything really suitable.

Then I went to Whitcoulls and Farmers, where I bought some small necessities, before catching a bus home.

It’s now Wednesday December 6.

This morning I got up early to go to hymn singing. We sang O Holy Night, but the organist has found a lower key version of it. While it goes high at the end, I found it difficult to sing so low!

Then it was the final for the year of our Te Reo class.  It was lovely, of course: we looked at place names, checking out the meanings of the various prefixes and suffixes. Afterwards I caught a bus into town, and bought some capri pants from Farmers, before catching a bus home.

The new coalition government is upsetting many people, already.  Winston Peters is calling the press “morons”, but surely you want them on your side?  There were big protests by Māori yesterday in the main centres: Luxon said that he didn’t know what they were protesting about! Then he claimed, in a very Trump-like way, that Māori would be better of under this government that they were under Labour; meanwhile the new government is seeking to dismantle everything that Labour did. It just makes me so sad: Labour tried to do so much for Māori, but succeed in annoying many people, and, of course, not doing enough for Māori.  Meanwhile Minister of Finance Nicola Willis is negotiating to not pay public servants more if they know Te Reo Māori. Surely it makes sense for anyone in a public-facing job, or drafting public policy, to be familiar with Te Reo Māori?

It’s now Thursday. I went to my Thursday singing as usual, and we gave a small concert. For once, it was fine and sunny there in Khandallah, and the conductor stood her keyboard in front of the singers, so we could see when to come in.

On Friday afternoon we bought some birthday presents for our daughter – in Johnsonville!  I was relieved about that.

It’s now Sunday December 10^th.

The weather was beautiful on Friday, but it turned unpleasant over the weekend, getting windy and wet and a bit cooler.  So wearing summer clothes will have to wait a few days longer.  On Saturday we had Covid immunisations – again! The Pfizer one, again. Apart from a sore arm, I don’t really have any negative effects.  Afterwards we went grocery shopping.

Today was to be the Khandallah Fair, and the church was to be involved in this. There was a Christmas Pageant, which I haven’t seen before.  The planned fair was moved with the stalls going into the Khandallah Town Hall, and some activities moving to the church. I really needed to speak to the organist about the Christmas Eve carol service, and a friend had kindly given me a lift, so it was a busy time. JD had given me some change (which I was going to spend at the Fair), but then he wanted some back, so I didn’t have much left!  I bought a jar of grapefruit marmalade however.

On Monday we were due to go out, but JD had an appointment, so we did not go. On Tuesday morning I went to Bible Study. This time we were reading some of the verses from John’s Gospel chapter 1, about John the Baptist prefiguring the advent of Christ: his semi-miraculous birth came a few months before that of Jesus.  Afterwards some of us had coffee together, and a friend drove me home. 

Wednesday was going to be a very busy day, with the final hymn singing session for the year, coffee afterwards, followed by a movie and Christmas lunch at the Khandallah Town Hall. I was looking forward to both of them. However our son from the UK wanted to spend some time with us (what a treat!), so I had to cancel planned activities.  Hymn singing remained, and our son was going to meet us for lunch, but of course he had a busy day (!), so he wanted to meet us in town for morning tea.

Accordingly JD and I got up and showered early, and he drove me to hymn singing. I invited him to listen to us (and admire), but he had to go and get petrol.  Some singers were late, and we ended up with 15 of us in addition to the organist. We had a lovely singing session, and then I left (with apologies), to meet JD and drive into town. We got there, and found a carpark, and guess what our son was late!  But I found a good table at Smith the Grocer Café, and we had a delicious morning tea. Afterwards we went to Noel Leeming and bought a kindle for me (they had a special deal, and I’ve been wanting one for some time).  I have to admit I’m still struggling with buying stuff to read on it, but I have created an account, and found how to charge it.  Then we had lunch at Kaizen Café in Porirua.

Meanwhile there have been various negotiations and arrangements for our upcoming trip to Hawkes Bay.

Today (Thursday December 14^th) we had our final Thursday morning singing session for the year. It was lovely, although I had woken up with a headache. But I took a Covid test, and it was negative, and I’m not sneezing or coughing, so I went. We had a catered lunch afterwards, and this was very enjoyable, although a friend of mine was unwell.  But although at least two people stayed away sick, there was a good turnout.

Afterwards I caught a bus to Johnsonville, and then a bus home.

The war in Israel continues, with serious bombardment in Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force. Meanwhile, it has transpired that not only did Netanyahu know about Hamas’ plans to attack Israel well in advance, he’s been giving money and fuel to Hamas!  Many are saying the two-state solution (i.e. Israel and Palestine agreeing to share disputed territory) is dead, and the PLA (Palestinian Liberation Authority) is corrupt!  Yes, indeed, but surely Netanyahu is corrupt too!  The world, and President Biden, are decrying Israel’s attacks on Gaza, but they’re continuing, brutally, none the less. Where are the Palestinians in Gaza to go? Where is safe? And, of course, the humanitarian situation is terrible.  Meanwhile, President Zelensky of Ukraine has gone to the US to plead for more funds, and Republicans are saying No. I cannot remove the underlines, for some annoying reason.

I am nervous about our upcoming trip to Hawkes Bay, but hopefully I will be rested and organised and I will rise to the occasion. It will be lovely to see our daughter again.

Here in New Zealand, the coalition government is in a spot of bother, I think. There are a number of changes proposed before Christmas, and Winston Peters continues to make waves. The mayor of Wellington, Tory Whanau, is in a  spot of bother for her drinking making waves. Will there be enough water in Wellington this summer?  We hope so. It’d be nice to have summer too!  Yesterday I wore a long-sleeved blouse, and it was quite cold. Today it’s warmer and I dared to wear summer clothes!  But although it gets warm/hot in the afternoons, it still gets cold at night.

On Christmas Eve there will be a carol service at my church, and on Christmas Day I am to do a reading.

That’s it for now. Busy-ness is interspersed with quiet periods, thankfully, where I wonder what I should be doing, instead of taking it easy. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

Raspberries (my favourite) are now generally available, and are coming down in price. They’re large and in good condition.

It’s now Sunday November 26^th, 2023. Kia ora!

This morning I went to church. The organist played the organ before, during and after the service – what a treat.  The texts were Ezekiel 34:11-24 and Matthew 25:31-46, the sermon about the sheep and the goats. The Ezekiel text was about two kinds of sheep – the fat sheep and the lean sheep. I did not know this text, although I’ve read the rather mystifying book of the prophet Ezekiel several times. The minister preached a fine sermon, about Jesus’ instruction to be kind and help those in need of help, whether they are hungry, thirsty or naked. It’s a fine, sunny day, but still quite cold. Afterwards JD picked me up and we went shopping to – you’ve guessed it – New World in Thorndon. It was busy but not crazy busy. I couldn’t find loose cherries, or any summer fruit but nectarines, but I got most of what we wanted.

On Monday I went for a walk in the morning; it’s still not really summery here, with some quite cold winds about. You always need a cardigan, and often a jacket; it rains, seemingly spontaneously, too. I’m sure that previously at this time of year (late November), we’d be wearing summer clothes. While some brave folk are, I have done so twice.

It was our grandson’s 6^th birthday, so we visited in the afternoon to give him his birthday present, (and a small present for his sister, of course), and eat birthday cake. So that was lovely. We gave him some lego, and he was amazingly smart at putting it together. Mind you, it’s a 3-in-1, so there are other options for it.

On Tuesday morning I went to bible study. It was Mark’s Gospel 13: 24-37, a text about the difficulties of the “end times” before Christ comes in glory. The main message is to be alert, because no one know the day or the hour but God the Father.  But at almost the beginning of Advent, we celebrate Jesus’ birth. Someone, and the minister, linked these two comings; then on Wednesday morning we sang “Lo! He comes with clouds descending” to the beautiful Helmsley tune.  Mark’s Gospel also reminds us that Jesus’ words remain, although there’ll be other great changes, and I remembered the first verse of John’s Gospel: in the beginning was the Word…”  This first chapter goes on to say “And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us”. That is all rather wonderful, I think. And we told not to be afraid – many times.

On Wednesday morning we had hymn singing, and then I got a call to day my daughter has Covid – again!  So we would have to defer our planned trip to Napier for her birthday. But that morning I was due to get a haircut. I caught a bus from Khandallah, and in theory I had 4 minutes to catch a train on the Kapiti line. Sadly, I just missed the train. I thought the next train would get me there just in time, but it did not. However I rang the salon and they agreed to take me, although I was pretty late.

Afterwards JD picked me up. Our granddaughter was due to come at 1 pm; I had thought we would get something from the lovely Nada bakery in Tawa, but as we drove very slowly through Tawa, I wondered about the wisdom of my decision.  Then a new salesperson was serving us, who was incredibly slow. However we got home in time to have something to eat, and another cup of coffee.

JD and our granddaughter were due to put up and decorate the Christmas Tree. JD found our (artificial) tree, and the box of decorations, and even the Christmas lights, although some of the boxes were wet. How did that happen?  I couldn’t find the Crib we’d been given, but nevertheless, everything still worked, including the electrics, and JD did not electrocute himself. So we all did a fine job of unpacking glitter, untangling gold and red streamers, and hanging decorations. Our granddaughter was a big help.

On Thursday I was to go to my main singing session at the Khandallah Town Hall. JD was getting the car brakes fixed, so he could not drive me there. I tried to call Uber, well before 10:25 am, but they couldn’t send a car until 11:05 am, and it would cost $30!  Outrageous on both counts. I called a taxi from Wellington Combined Taxis, and it came almost right away.  I booked using their automatic system, which failed to mention the “green card”, which entitles me to half-price taxis using certain companies.  I stayed on the line to talk to a “real person”, but saying I had a “green card” meant nothing to them. Did I have a Total Mobility Card?  I assume that I do. Then the taxi was there, and the driver duly photographed my green card. I arrived in Khandallah by 10:50 am, and it cost me $7.50!  I even had time to buy my daughter-in-law’s birthday present.

Singing was lovely, of course, and there was a great turnout. I had lunch at a café there, a smoked salmon bagel, and then left to catch a #24 bus to Johnsonville. JD was off to a 2 pm appointment, but the #24 bus turned into the #19 shuttle bus, so that suited very well.

Now it’s Friday December 1^st, December at last! Seeing we’ve postponed our trip to Napier, I now have a number of appointments I’d cancelled out of for the week. I am quite discombobulated by all these changes! Thankfully my daughter does not appear to be greatly suffering, and she’s on the anti-viral drug Paxlovid again, but her new acting house manager is quite sick. So there’ve been a number of texts to and fro.

Someone is supposed to come from Access today. My schedule said 10:30, and then 11:30; I checked it again, and it says 1:45 pm! So I didn’t need to get up so early after all.

Meanwhile our son and his wife are due to arrive from Canterbury, U.K., this afternoon, but their flight from Singapore has been delayed, and I doubt that they’ll make their expected connection.  As it’s a Friday, they may have difficulty getting on a plane from Auckland to Wellington. Still, we don’t know yet when they’ll arrive.

In the US it was Thanksgiving last Thursday, so there weren’t many pf the usual podcasts.  It seems strange coming just before Christmas, but I guess the decorations continue, if changed; Americans love decorations, anyway.  And I guess the so-called Black Friday sales come in handy for Christmas.

It’s rather old news now but evidently President Biden continued negotiations during Thanksgiving weekend to ensure that the ceasefire in Israel and hostage release went ahead.  Duly we all held our breath as hostages were released by Hamas in dribs and drabs and Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel in exchange. The pause was even extended for a couple of days, but the IDF are at it again now, i.e. the war continues. Netanyahu vows to kill every member of Hamas: so how will he know when he’s succeeded? Meanwhile many women (presumably innocent) and children continue to be slaughtered.  Marches and pro-Palestinian sympathies continue, as does ani-Semitic activity and marches in sympathy with Israel.  As usual, dark forces are perpetuating the devastation, while many innocent people and would-be peace makers don’t appear to make a difference. Some newspapers are calling the pause in fighting a “truce”, but I think not- a truce implies some kind of agreement between the warring parties. I don’t see this,

It also appears that Israel had warning of the Hamas attack, which seems to have been deliberately ignored.  Netanyahu’s claim to ensure the safety of Israeli citizens is severely compromised as it’s evident that not only did he not keep them safe, he failed to come to their assistance for several hours after the brazen and barbaric attacks by Hamas.

Henry Kissinger has died, aged 100, and of course his legacy is being reviewed. While Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s Morning Joe seemed sympathetic to his legacy, David Ignatius reminded us all of just some of his misdeeds. Noone wants to speak ill of the dead, but Kissinger’s legacy is very disturbing, resulting, as it did, in so very many liberal governments toppled and deaths in Central and South America, in South-east Asia, and in India over the creation of Bangladesh.

Trump’s legal woes continue, without much seeming to change, although his rhetoric gets more and more alarming, as does his increasing support.  Congressman Perry’s texts have been released, seemingly by accident, revealing that he played a bigger part than we formerly knew in helping Trump try to hang on to power. Liz Cheney has written a book which claims, amongst other interesting things, that “my” Kevin McCarthy went down to Mar-a-Lago to visit Trump and comfort him, such was his grief at losing the election. So, of course he knew that he’d lost it.  Of course, Trump displayed no such loyalty to McCarthy when he was about to lose the Speakership of the House of Representatives. Apparently he was upset that McCarthy had failed to get his two impeachments cancelled. This was not possible, by the way.

There is a climate conference in I think Dubai, of all places; King Charles addressed the attendees, very effectively.  Meanwhile Prime Minister Sunak refused to see the Greek Prime Minister about returning the Elgin Marbles, presently in the British Museum, to Greece. Some wag joked that if they were returned, it would be cheaper for people in places like Yorkshire to fly to Greece and see them rather than catching a train to London.

Our youngest son and his wife arrived on Friday evening.  Their flight from Singapore to Auckland had been delayed, causing them to miss their connecting flight from Auckland to Wellington. Thankfully they were able to board a later flight, it being a busy Friday.  We went to meet them – in fact JD was so anxious to get there that de decided we would have something to eat at the airport.  I was sceptical, and rightly so, since all the food outlets that were still open were closing.  We had very sticky (but quite tasty) chicken burgers with our oat milk lattés. There was a welcoming committee of ourselves, two of our other sons, and our daughter-in-law’s father. Our son’s bros were taking him to a concert, and she was to stay with her parents.

There is great upset and outrage over the new government’s intention to reverse the previous government’s smoke-free legislation. Much of the rest of the world wonders. New Zealanders are really upset, including some National Party voters who thought Chris Luxon cared about them. Well, no, I doubt it.

On Saturday morning our youngest son messaged us to suggest having breakfast together.  Jet lag will do that to you, waking really early! The local café didn’t open until 9 am, but we walked there (it was a lovely fine day), and they were already really busy. In the afternoon my one of my brothers-in-law called with one of his daughters. I had thought he was still in Australia!  Then on Saturday evening I was due to go to this year’s performance of Handel’s Messiah at the Michael Fowler Centre. This year it was to be sung by the Orpheus Choir, accompanied by Orchestra Wellington. The performance was very well reviewed, and there were lots of people there, but my friend and I, having changed our handbags, forgot to bring masks. We probably would have worn masks had we brought them. Afterwards her husband drove us home in his new electric car.

Once home, I ate a fruit mince pie, not having had an evening meal, and just crackers and cheese and a biscuit when our brother called.  I was glad to have gone!  It’s very familiar now.

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

A Black Friday

It’s now Wednesday November 15, 2023. Kia ora!

On Monday I was supposed to go to a friend’s house for lunch, but she was caring for her granddaughter, as it was a “teacher only” day. JD took me to Lower Hutt, where I planned to do some shopping. I found Number One Shoes – not in Queensgate, but nearby. There was a very helpful person there who told me where things were and looked after me while I tried on a pair of sandals and a pair of shoes.  Hannah’s kept sending me very attractive advertisements for cheap shoes, but when you find a store, they’re not there as pictured.  The shoes were both full price, but I bought the sandals, which are kind of “dressy”.  I couldn’t find more open slip-on shoes; the ones I tried on had laces, which is not that convenient. 

Afterwards I went to Queensgate. I went to Farmers, where they have an amazing selection of women’s clothes. I wasn’t going to buy anything, but they had good discounts, and I found a beautiful skirt there. Then I wanted to try it on, but couldn’t find the woman’s changing room, or a female assistant. Eventually I found the right place, tried on the skirt, and decided to buy it.

Then I went looking at Whitcoulls for a Christmas present for one of my grandsons.  I found it, and also a present for his sister. Then I had lunch at the Butler’s Café – beautiful: a club sandwich, a beautiful lemon cake, and a latté.

Queensgate seemed a total maze: eventually I found a way out, and back to the bus stop. I’m sure there was a faster way to exit!  I caught the bus that was there back to Wellington, and went to the Whitcoulls in Lambton Quay to get my granddaughter’s other Christmas present.  Then I caught a bus home. I know what they want, but the things they want are very popular!

That night, I think it was, I heard that British Home Office Secretary Suella Braverman had been sacked by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.  I guess many are pleased, but he’s brought David Cameron back as Foreign Secretary!  That pleases no one: the author of austerity and the Brexit referendum is welcomed back?  I think not. There is an air of scandal about Cameron, too: Winskill, I think.

On Tuesday morning there was lots of reaction to the sacking of Suella Braverman. The Rest is Politics did an emergency episode on this on Youtube, and of course James O’Brien on LBC radio spent a morning on it. Braverman’s “resignation” letter in response to her sacking has now been published, and it’s fair to say she’s not best pleased. Did she expect loyalty in politics? Fancy that!

On Tuesday morning I went to Bible Study (Matthew 25, don’t hide your talent(s) under a bushel!), and then a friend drove me into town, where Unity Books were holding a book for me: Jan Morris; Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere. I didn’t need this book, but it’s really interesting and it’s nice to have my own copy.  Afterwards I caught a bus home.

This morning I got up early for hymn singing again. It was lovely, of course. This afternoon we looked after our three-year old granddaughter. We arranged a treasure hunt:  a bit of thought went into this. JD got down some little ornaments which had been placed up high when our daughter went through a phase of throwing everything out the window. I had also bought a small packet of chippies, which she was allowed to eat. I wrapped the items, and JD hid them. It was surprisingly difficult to find things, although the hiding places weren’t complex!  There was no hiding things in cupboards!  She’d brought some items, too, and I hid her wand and then we couldn’t find it for a while.

Meanwhile, the war in Israel continues, with terribly brutal attacks on Gaza, on an asylum centre, and hospitals, amongst other sites. Intelligence claims that Hamas uses such sites for arms and their own shelter, so in Israeli eyes, that makes them suitable sites for bombing.  There are huge marches in lots of places calling for a ceasefire: some claim this would give Hamas time to rearm. But JD pointed out that nothing can be taken in or out of Gaza, so I doubt that they can. Others, including President Biden, are calling for “pauses” in the fighting, so that aid can be delivered to the Gaza strip.  It’s all desperately sad, and people like Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former British Home Secretary Braverman do nothing to help in the aim for peace, instead seeming to stir up more hate.

It’s now Sunday November 19^th.

On Thursday morning I went to my other singing session; on Friday someone came from Access to do some cleaning. Before she came I managed to change the sheets as well as the towels.  In the evening we looked after two of our grandchildren.

On Saturday we went to New World in Thorndon to do some shopping. Although we’d picked up things during the week, we still managed to buy lots of things. On a good note, we got Jersey Bennie new potatoes, raspberries, coffee beans, salads, and pies. It was not busy at the supermarket.

Afterwards we went to a Persian Rug shop on Thorndon Quay. JD demurred, but I really wanted to go, to get a mat for the area between the front door and the steps down to the main living area.  In the event, we bought a circular rug, which not only fits the space nicely, but is similar to an existing rug over the new carpet.  I want to protect the new carpet, needless to say. It was a sudden decision, but it’s a good Christmas present to ourselves.

This morning I went to church. It was lovely, of course. The texts were from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, and the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. 

It’s now Wednesday November 22.

Other than that Sunday was a quiet day, but on Monday morning I met two friends for coffee. It was lovely! Afterwards, JD drove me to Spotlight where I bought a zip for a jacket of my daughter’s. The jacket is just fine, but the zip is broken and needs replacing. I should very much like to get it repaired and add it to my stock of jackets.  It’s grey with a pink fleece lining, and I presume it’s waterproof. We had lunch at La Cloche.

On Tuesday I was due to meet an old friend for coffee at Smith the Grocer Café. Before that, JD had a meeting with his accountant, and he wanted me there. He wanted me to find receipts for charitable donations, and, frustrating as it was, I was able to find them.  It’s a challenge because I put so much stuff away before the new carpet was laid, and it’s been really hard to find things again. But I found them, and they’ve duly been recorded!

It was lovely to see my old friend again later in the afternoon: her older sister was a very close friend of myself and of JD, and he was at boarding school with her husband, now a widower, so we go back a very long way. She has just been to Europe, and we loved many of the same places.

This morning I got up early to go to hymn singing. It’s much easier to get up early in the morning now it’s so much lighter! It was really warm this morning, too, and I was brave enough to wear summer clothes.  Hymn singing finished early, and there were 30 minutes till the Te Reo class, so I had morning tea at one of the local cafés: an oat milk latté, of course, and a cheese scone. It’s slightly illogical to order these two items, but the nice lady serving me said these were the things she’s order as well.

The Te Reo class was enjoyable. We talked about greetings and food. It’s revision for me, but that’s no problem, as it’s good to feel more sure about expressions in Te Reo Māori.  Hymn singing was lovely, too.

Afterwards JD picked me up, and our granddaughter came from 1 till 3 pm – another treat.

In Israel, dreadful slaughter continues in Gaza, with hospitals and refugee camps attacked. Marches demanding a ceasefire are ignored; the Biden administration asks for a “pause”; negotiations to release more hostages are ”very close”; meanwhile, brutality continues with men, women and children being killed and injured.  It’s all terribly upsetting, and even more so to see President Biden and Sir Keir Starmer losing support.

It’s now Saturday November 25^th.

Sometime in the last few days a pause was negotiated between Israel and Hamas, whereby Hamas would let some of the hostages they’re holding go in return for Israel letting some Palestinians go (including women and children) that they are holding prisoner. Also, much needed humanitarian aid will be allowed into Gaza. The Guardian claims this arrangement is a “truce”; I think that’s going a bit far; some are calling it a ceasefire, but the IDF are claiming that fighting will continue. Perhaps this has just been a “pause”, as President Biden has asked for.  I gather some hostages have now been released, to the great relief of their families. There is said to be a very young child whose parents were both dead.

On Thursday I went to singing, and met a friend afterwards. Although it did not start till 11 am, I had a last minute rush, and then we had several holdups: a walking party crossing the road in Johnsonville, a stoppage, and then lights and a barrier at the Khandallah Railway Station. 

On Friday I was due to post a parcel of Christmas presents to my grandchildren in Taiwan. I was to give my granddaughter a copy of John Mulgan’s Man Alone, an iconic New Zealand novel. I did manage to finish reading it. We walked up the road to Simmer Café for lunch (a shared pizza), and then we drove to Khandallah to buy two models to slip into the parcel. Then the question was where to post it, since the Post Shop in Khandallah was now closed. We drove out to North City, where there was indeed a NZ Post outlet – in the Paper Plus store, downstairs and about as far away from the main entrance to the shopping centre as possible.  JD ran into someone we both knew, but keeping my eye on the time, I went downstairs to complete the process of sending a parcel.  I was filling out the customs declaration, with some difficulty, when JD joined me. Although the parcel was small, and not heavy, it cost $38.33 to post it! And that after the effort of wrapping and labelling the parcels, finding a packet to put them in, and finding the address! Thankfully we’ve met the concierge at the small block of apartments, so he will take care of the parcel if my son and his family are away.

The other big thing that happened was that coalition talks between Luxon, Seymour and Peters have ended, at last, and a government has been formed, with Peters and Seymour sharing the Deputy Prime Minister role (Peters first, then Seymour – when the next election is due). Peters will also be Minister of Foreign Affairs; Crusher (Judith) Collins will be Attorney-General and Minister of Defence, amongst other things.  Peters distinguished himself by calling the media “morons”. While many may agree, it’s surely unwise to use such an emotive word for people who you surely want to be on your side.  That’s enough for me – the three (Ami) Egos have agreed on some things.

I greatly fear this new government. Several commentators have said that they plan to undo everything the Labour Government did. Already they’re introducing so called “No fault” evictions, where a landlord can get rid of any tenants they don’t like without giving a reason. There’s consternation about the influence of Te Reo Māori, and I suspect there’ll be much undoing there, although there are already lots of Māori placenames ( as there are many placenames in Gaelic in Wales). One of their priorities is to extend the parliamentary term to four years. They have promised to increase the speed limit. And do on. No mention of child poverty, or the climate. I fear for Hōhepa.

There is a ministry for Disability, but it relates mostly to people in wheelchairs, many of whom have active brains. But many of our children don’t look too bad, but can be really difficult to manage, needing 24/7 care for their incontinence, unpredictability, inability to take meaningful decisions, inability to speak, in many instances. They have special abilities, but they have special needs as well.

This afternoon we went to see the film Maria Callas at the Penthouse Theatre. What a wonderful film!  The sound was great, and it was the film of an appearance she made in Paris in 1958. She sang from Norma, Il Trovatore, and the Barber of Seville, demonstrating a wide range of singing styles and acting ability. The second half of the concert was devoted to Act 2 of Tosca. Well, it was quite wonderful. Afterwards I was really hungry, but the Salty Pidgin in Todman Street was closed till 4 pm, and what used to be the Brooklyn Deli was now an Argentinian Restaurant. We looked at the menus and cabinet food at the Penthouse, but they were clearly very busy, and I’m afraid the food and the menu didn’t appeal to me. JD suggested we go home where he would make lunch, but although we went home, and I was really hungry, guess who ended up doing all the work and putting things away afterwards.

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

A favourite sampler

It’s now Wednesday November 8, 2023. Kia ora!

Last Monday morning I met a friend for morning tea at the Johnsonville Shopping Centre. I needed to pick up a prescription and get some cards (three birthdays coming up, and a farewell card). I also wanted to visit the Hannahs shoe store, which has moved to where Warehouse Stationery used to be. Apparently Hannahs has merged with Number One Shoes; I made my way there, a bit of a challenge in the cold and wet, but it is very like a warehouse, where the customer does all the work. Although Hannah’s has twice featured a promotional brochure, with two pairs of Hush Puppies shoes on special that I would like to try on, they didn’t have them here. There is no longer a Hannah’s store in Lambton Quay; the prominent one in Napier has moved too. As the Hush Puppies store in Willis St has closed down, I am at a bit of a loss, with respect to buying Hush Puppies shoes. This brand costs a bit more, but the shoes are comfortable and suit me well.  So that’s a bit frustrating. I am very reluctant to buy shoes online! Really, one needs to try them on.

It was cold and wet on Monday, after being really warm on Sunday! Although it rained on Sunday evening.  Strange weather.  I made my way home, and we had lunch at the 1841 pub (creamy mushrooms), but the food there doesn’t really agree with me any more. We had tried Simmer Café in Churton Park, but there were no seats available, and it was too wet to sit outside. Café Thyme was closed, its being a Monday.

On Tuesday my eight-year old granddaughter was dropped off for a while.  She had been unwell, and her parents didn’t want to send her to school, but she wasn’t sick enough to be in bed.  I had a lively talk with her!  It’s nice when grandchildren get old enough to have a conversation.

Last night we watched the 1965 film “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”, starring Richard Burton, Claire Bloom and a cast of famous actors. It’s in black and white, but it’s a really good film. For some reason I haven’t watched it earlier.  JD had tried unsuccessfully to find a free version of the complete film on Youtube; but suddenly, there it was (with annoying advertisements).

This morning I got up early to go to hymn singing. It was lovely, of course!  It’s so good to be meeting like this again. Afterwards I talked to the organist about singing O Holy Night at the coming Carol Service. Then there was another Te Reo Māori class at Khandallah Town Hall, now at 10:15 am.  I was very tired, for some reason, but we played another card game – Remembrance (in English). It was a good way of being familiar with numbers in Māori. JD had agreed to pick me up afterwards; I got some lunch from Parsons Café, and met him at the New World supermarket. It was very quiet when I went there, and the carpark was half empty, but this changed, of course, and by the time JD arrived it was very busy.  There was a bus to Johnsonville at 11:15 am, but with the class starting later, it was hard to catch this.

Our three-year old granddaughter was due to come from 1 – 3 pm, while her mother helped out with swimming at her son’s primary school. JD and I had been to her house twice: she wanted to come to our house today. I had got out some toys for her: the doll’s house, the push chair, and several soft toys. In the event, we read stories, and did puzzles: I’d found the Bananas in Pyjamas puzzle that went with the story book, and she enjoyed that. What a joy, to look after her, though! We haven’t seen so much of her, thanks to Covid, coughs and colds. I asked her what we should tell Father Christmas she’d like for Christmas, but the answer was – presents!

It’s now Friday November 9^th.

Yesterday I went to my Thursday morning singing.  It is really hard to get to Khandallah at present, so I was very pleased to be dropped off.  Afterwards, a dear friend brought me home. There weren’t as many people at singing, perhaps because getting to Khandallah, let alone getting a carpark, was so difficult.  It was lovely, though.

We are watching World at War on TVNZ+. A new series has been released, but we’re watching series one again. I have very vague memories of this, so it’s good to see it again. Lesley Manville is wonderful, of course, and Sean Bean, but all the actors are good. You get occasional gems on what is now TVNZ+ (formerly TVNZ On Demand), amongst all the dross. We’re also watching series 2 of The Gilded Age on Neon.  An episode is being released each week. It’s a bit like Succession to watch: frustrating, but without the swearing. I do find the hats ridiculous, and the tight-fitting dresses; but it’s fun to watch in a masochistic kind of way.

Today I cancelled Access, and we went to the Art Group instead – it’s the final for the year, already! I didn’t bring any food; it wasn’t asked for, but some of us had coffee afterwards. I took my laptop to the Art club, hoping to be creative by doing some writing. And here I am.

Trump testimony

Trump’s eldest sons Don Jr and Eric testified in Trump’s New York civil fraud trial, and then Trump himself did, and then Ivanka.  She’s not being prosecuted in the New York fraud trial because of the statute of limitations, which I think means that because she worked for the presidency during her father’s time as president, whereas Don Jr and Eric were responsible for the Trump business. Don Jr was arrogant and bombastic, Eric came across as even more stupid (he was in real estate but poured concrete rather than doing appraisals), and Ivanka (was she wearing a wig?) also had a terrible memory. One almost feels some sympathy for Trump, having children with such terrible memories.

But when Trump took the stand it was something else: bombastic, avoiding the questions, and really exhausting and annoying. Every time he spoke you wished he’d shut up.  We were reminded of how annoying he can be. Someone said he was reminded of the Chicago 7 trial arising from events in 196,.  where the defendants so ridiculed the court that the trial became farcical. The judge reminded Trump that this was not a political rally, and asked his lawyer to control his client, if he could. So that was interesting. This trial seems to matter to Trump far more than his other legal jeopardy, but he’s obviously very angry. But he admitted to his crimes.

There were elections in the US recently, where Democrats did rather well. Andy Beshear won the gubernatorial race in Kentucky with a higher majority than previously; in Ohio an abortion initiative won for the democrats, and in Virginia, Democrats now control the House and the Senate.  So the Dems did rather well, by most accounts. Republicans criticize the Democrats, but that is their wont. The New York Times published poll results that were not great for Biden, and this has caused a lot of distress.  But the Dems are quite good at winning elections. So on it goes.

It’s now Sunday November 12^th.

This morning a friend have me a lift to church. Bearing in mind that it’s much warmer now, I wore black trousers, a black and while short-sleeved blouse, and a red linen jacket. I was quite warm enough in the church, although it became cold and windy later on.  Church was lovely, of course; the organist was playing Bach’s Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring as we entered.  The sermon was based on the Old Testament text from Joshua 24: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”; the New Testament text was from Matthew 25, the parable of the foolish bridesmaids (or virgins, depending on your translation).  The minister stressed the importance of choosing the Lord God, and then of being ready for His next coming.

Afterwards JD picked me up to go to an Italian Film Festival film at the Embassy Theatre at 12 noon, about Naples. It’s the last day of the Italian Film Festival in Wellington, and this is the only film I’ve managed to get to.  I was very early, and had to go upstairs to get a ticket. The Black Sparrow, the upstairs bar, was closed, and so I thought I would get coffee downstairs. Silly me! The downstairs bar was closed too, so I had time to go to the restroom, and then look up to see how long the film was – almost two hours!  I sat through the film, which I found very affecting.  It’s set in a poor area of Naples, La Sanita, and the film maker explained he’d been away for 40 years, and nothing had changed. Well, JD and I were last there in February 2010, and nothing had changed from what we saw!  The same poverty, narrow streets, motorcycles, washing hung out across the street, people looking anxiously out of windows, and the same sense of disrepair, holes in walls, painting needed, and not much in the way of greenery.  This grave state of lack of repair contrasted with the motorways, where smart cars stream past seemingly oblivious to the chaos beneath. The main star visits the catacombs at one stage, and again one is horrified by the rows and rows of skulls.  The catholic cathedral is on better shape than the other buildings. I am so glad I saw this.

Afterwards, of course, I wanted something to eat, but Courtenay Place has many Chinese or Indian restaurants, but few if any coffee bars. I ended up walking to Pandoro on the corner of Wakefield Street and Allen St, where I had an oat milk latté and a baguette.

Afterwards I was going to catch a bus along Manners St and go shopping, but I was just too tired. I eventually found the bus stop for buses going north, and got onto a Churton Park bus.  JD met me at Churton Park – he had just returned from an appointment.

In New Zealand, we still wait for a coalition government to be formed by Christopher Luxon. Any negotiations (presumably there are negotiations going on?) are secret. One friend of mine said this was a good thing, seeing projected cuts of present benefits cannot be made. On the other hand, several climate-related initiatives have been put on hold. Meanwhile, Chris Hipkins has been sworn in as Prime Minister again, and a seat in Nelson has gone to Labour after a recount: by 24 votes!  Yes, it was a disappointing election outcome, but not exactly a “bloodbath”.

That’s it for now. One had to feel sorry for King Charles III opening Parliament, with all the appropriate pomp and circumstance,  and having to read Prime Minister Sunak’s speech which seems largely in opposition to his own views. A good outing for the dressing-up cupboard, quipped one newspaper. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

Today’s sketch as we wait for a coalition government to be announced: the Genga Coalition

It’s now Tuesday October 31, 2023. Kia ora!

Yesterday I finished reading my book “The Red Hotel”, which I’d reserved from the library. It tells about the Metropole Hotel during the Second World War, when it was very difficult to get press passes from the major newspapers, and it was very hard to get visas to Russia. Stalin sought to influence heavily what the journalists wrote, and translators, always beautiful women, were engaged not only to restrict what news could be sent abroad, but also to spy on their targets. You end up with a very complicated web of spies masquerading as journalists, and the inevitable love affairs that ensued. The journalists were not allowed to report from the war front: any trips were carefully orchestrated and catered for, to demonstrate that Russian forces were doing far better against the Germans than they were initially.  It was an interesting, if very complicated book. There’s a harrowing story about a Russian Jewish woman who got caught up in Stalin’s Reign of Terror, and imprisoned for 15 years in the Gulag; attempts by people outside the Soviet system to help may well have caused more harm to her and her family. After the death of Stalin there was some relaxation and reconciliation, but in the current war against Ukraine Putin is employing similar tactics to control whatever information is allowed to be disseminated.

Today JD was meeting an old friend at 10 am at Bordeaux Bakery in Thorndon Quay; he dropped me off in Murphy Street to catch a bus to Brooklyn. I was navigating my way through controlled crossings, when a bus ran through one, even though the Green Man was showing!  I was so shocked that  I didn’t think to take the bus’s number. I caught a bus to Brooklyn, and had time to have a toasted cheese scone and a latté. I saw The Oak Tree, a BIFF film directed by Ken Loach, so I knew what kind of film it would be.  But it was a really good film, about a Syrian refugee family arriving in a north of England village, and the consequent anger and resentment amongst the locals as the refugees try to establish their new home.  The highlight of the movie for me was a visit (by the film) to Durham Cathedral, which I have long wanted to visit.

It’s now Wednesday November 1^st.

This morning hymn singing started again with the lovely pipe organ at the church.  I got up early, but it was really warm and sunny. Getting there was tricky:  Khandallah is still getting new water mains (thankfully!), but there was a queue in Boxhill. We turned left into Station Road, something we’ve been avoiding for the last few weeks, and went along Cashmere Avenue to Everest Street, and then down Ganges Road.   It was lovely to sing hymns together again. Afterwards I caught a bus to Johnsonville, and then a bus home.

In the afternoon we were due to look after our granddaughter again from 1 till 3 pm. I had looked out some things to take to amuse her, but she seemed a bit tired today.

Back home, I am catching up with today’s news.  I’m a bit upset because I listen to many podcasts using Apple, but I often get the message “Unable to prepare for playback”.  Spotify is my next choice, but I can’t always find the latest episode on Spotify. Moreover, it’s really annoying to see that a new episode is available, and not be able to listen to it.  Other players like Audible want money (I think) to use their platform, so I’m trying to avoid that, but it’s very hard to listen to all the podcasts I’d like to hear. Apple was a great engine because it would keep on working through a list of podcasts without stopping, something very useful when you’re trying to get to sleep.

In the UK, a panel is hearing evidence on the Tory government’s response to Covid 19. We knew it was dreadful – the UK and the US had some of the worst responses, but I think we’re all shocked to learn just how chaotic and unprepared Boris Johnson’s government were.  The then chancellor Rishi Sunak invited people to “eat out to help out” but this turned into Eat out to Help Covid, as many people got Covid and some died: it was a very serious illness in the first few months, before we had vaccines and medication.

It transpires that Johnson asked “Why are we destroying the economy for people who’ll die soon anyway?”, and basically didn’t care if people, especially older people, died of the virus. The government’s attitude was very cynical, as we already knew from the Partygate scandal. A further shocking fact is that then British Prime Minister Johnson was laughing at the Italians: remember how the city of Bergamo in northern Italy was very hard hit early on in the pandemic?  The UK government also talked about providing body bags, not about keeping those bodies alive. Eventually they did have a complicated lockdown, with some very confusing rules, but even as New Zealand locked down and closed its borders, planes were landing at Heathrow and passengers not being tested for Covid. Here’s a link to an article about this tragedy:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/04/when-britain-needed-a-decent-leader-we-had-a-derelict-at-the-helm-boris-johnson

Marina Hyde joked that Covid 19 was the wrong crisis for Johnson and Sunak:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/01/boris-johnson-dominic-cummings-covid-inquiry-no-10

It’s now Sunday November 5^th.

On Thursday morning I had my other singing, in the Khandallah Town Hall. Despite the traffic problems, there was a great turn out. Afterwards John picked me up and we went into town to the new Lego shop in Willis St. It was very busy! We couldn’t get the lego my grandson wanted for his coming 6th birthday, but we got two similar sets. I hope he’ll like them! I had hoped we’d have lunch at Smith the Grocer Café, but JD had put little money on the parking machine, so instead we went to La Cloche in the Old Hutt Road, where we parked for nothing. I had a smoked salmon and spinach filled omelette and salad; JD had omelette, salad and chips, of course; they used to have shoestring fries there, but they didn’t today. We had bought a strawberry tart to share, but we took it home for dessert. The omelettes were really filling!

On Friday someone came from Access to do some cleaning; I was very tired, I’m afraid. The next day we went shopping at New World in Thorndon; there were no raspberries, alas, but Jersey Benne potatoes have come in, and I got some Havarti cheese covered in peppercorns.

This morning a friend took me to church. The minister pointed out that November 5 is the anniversary of the Parihaka resistance. He pointed out that the peaceful resistance was followed by intense violence, but in 2017 by a formal apology from the government for the crown’s usurpation of Māori land.

The results of special votes in the recent general election here are in now, and amongst other news, Greg O’Connor has comfortably retained his seat. It seems that special votes favoured Labour, and National and Act have both lost seats, the Greens have gained one, and results are very close in two seats. Te Pati Māori has won six seats causing an overhang, and so Christopher Luxon will need support from Act’s Davis Seymour and New Zealand First’s Winston Peters to form a coalition government. Not only is Luxon new to government, he’s totally new to this kind of negotiation; I’m sure many of us are more than frustrated that Peters is again calling the shots.  It will probably take a long time, whatever the outcome. Hopefully that means we won’t lose any current “privileges” in the meantime.

It’s now Monday November 6^th.

Last night a friend picked me up to go to a Salvation Army Proms concert at what used to be the Methodist Church (a brick building) in Cambridge Terrace.  We went early and got a carpark in Kent Terrace; most of the right-hand turns have been blocked off, and, furthermore, although it was Sunday evening, the carpark had to be paid for!

I hadn’t been inside this chapel before, but it is really attractive inside and quite “cosy” unlike many churches. Someone has bought it, and restored it quite beautifully. It’s rather forbidding exterior belies the beauty inside, with fine light fittings (chandeliers), Persian rugs, and beautiful paintings. This concert was like a British Proms, in celebration of the coronation of King Charles III. The only nod to Māori was the New Zealand national anthem having the first verse sung in Māori!

So the concert was very British, while acknowledging some New Zealand places and composers.  There was a brass band, a choir, and some string players. There was some quite beautiful soprano singing, including several solos. I especially enjoyed Zadok the Priest and Men of Harlech.  They also sang the Slaves’ Chorus from Verdi’s opera Nabucco. Towards the end we joined in hymns like I vow to thee my country and Jerusalem, followed by Now is the Hour. Afterwards supper was served in a large hall behind the church, with sandwiches, cakes and savouries. This room had more fine paintings. Then my friend showed me the Board Room, with yet more beautiful paintings. There’s also a private garden outside.  You’d never know there were all these facilities. I wondered, somewhat naughtily, about the earthquake rating, but was informed that as this was a heritage building, it didn’t have to be strengthened.  Ha ha! But there were no warning signs, either! I guess if there’s an earthquake you get under one of the wooden pews (complete with kneeler), or the many chairs. What a lovely place! Evidently they’re going to do a Christmas concert there as well, and they do Easter celebrations too. All this was free – there was no fee for the concert, and not even a koha collection.

The weekly covid news was published again today, although you’d have trouble finding it. There have been 5872 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the past week, and 19 further deaths attributed to the virus. Of the new cases, 1364 were probable cases. Of the new cases, 2823 were reinfections. At midnight on Sunday 5 November, 212 cases were in hospital and five in intensive care. The seven-day rolling average of new cases was 838 per day.

New interim results from New Zealand’s Long Covid Registry show support measures for the illness are lacking, with people heading in to work unwell. Research lead Dr Paula Lorgelly said the study showed Long Covid was a debilitating condition.

Last week, Te Whatu Ora reported 3934 new cases and 29 further deaths. Covid is still with us, and it’s rearing its head again in the US too.

The situation with the war in Israel continues to be very distressing. What is even more upsetting, if that were possible, is that President Biden and Sir Keir Starmer (leader of the Labour Party in England), are losing support because of the stance, that Israel’s right to defend itself is supported, but, hey, they need to wind back the violence against Gaza – about 4,000 Palestinian deaths was the latest I heard yesterday.

Here’s a link to a thoughtful article from the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/05/in-middle-east-as-in-greek-tragedy-justice-must-prevail-over-moral-absolutism

It’s now Tuesday November 7^th.

An opinion poll in the US has come out showing Trump as having more support than Biden.  This is very distressing! Remember Trump’s Muslim ban, Palestine sympathisers?  Why do so many of you trust this man (Trump)?  How can American voters be so stupid. Mind you, one may well ask how can New Zealand voters be so stupid, as to again put Winston Peters in the position of kingmaker?  Does anyone trust him? Is he experiencing cognitive difficulties?  He won’t talk to the press, so the process of negotiating with him, however fruitless, is closed to us, the voters.  Luxon has said that Seymour’s proposed referendum on Te Tiriti would be “divisive and unhelpful”. On that, I do agree with him. I’ve been surrounded by a lot of National Party voters recently, and it has quite upset me. So everything goes on hold, including some environmental initiatives. Meanwhile, Chloe Swarbrick, combative and popular Green Party MP for Auckland Central, has espoused the Palestinian cause with a “River to the Sea” tweet, which implies that the state of Israel no longer exists. Chris Bishop, a National MP, has already been chided by Luxon for something he said.  An Israeli MP has called for a nuclear bomb to be dropped on Gaza. Netanyahu has suspended him. But really, people, what about the pollution? Israel is not a large country. The fallout would be truly more terrible.

Oh dear oh dear. In Ukraine, the brutality continues, with Ukrainian forces having some significant success while Putin’s cruelty continues with missiles fired seemingly at random, usually causing civilian casualties.

Anyway, that’s it for now. There’s news today of Trump’s cross examination in his New York fraud trial, which unsurprisingly, was not deferential. I’ll say no more for now. I’ll just say that any sympathy I might have had for his having such ignorant and offensive sons, is truly gone now. Slava Ukraini! (I have to confess that British PM Rishi Sunak is now using this phrase in the Telegraph’s weekday podcast Ukraine the Latest.  Still and all, you read it here first. Ngā mihi nui.

I hesitate to include this photograph, but somehow Luxon will have to work with Winston Peters and Dave Seymour to form a working coalition.

Today is Sunday October 22, 2023. Kia ora!

This morning I went to church at Johnsonville Uniting Church, where we were worshipping this Sunday. I’m not sure that everyone at Khandallah got the message, which was a bit sudden! They have a lovely minister there, and there were three texts: the one in Exodus 32 about the golden calf (evidently the Egyptians had a god in the form of a bull, I did not know that); Psalm 106, and the beautiful text from Philippians 4: 1-19, which is such a comforting text about the peace of God which passes human understanding; it also encourages us to think about beautiful things, not negative ones. It is good to be distracted from the dreadful conflict in the Middle East and in Ukraine.  The Middle East conflict seems to have aroused resentment and many anti-Israel protests.  Some sceptics are asking what President Biden achieved by hugging Netanyahu, who has favoured Hamas over the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation) and been provocative rather than peaceful. Biden is seeking Congressional approval for a huge sum. Israel has apparently asked for $10 Billion dollars: for what, exactly? One hopes that Biden has some kind of leverage over Netanyahu, although I fear the latter is like someone else with his “reptilian cunning” and political survival instinct.  “Blessed are the peacemakers”, says the Good Book. “For they shall be called Children of God”. 

After church, I went to the Johnsonville Library to the café there and had an oat milk latté and a cheese scone. It was very busy, and the scones aren’t as good as Smith’s, but instead of finishing my book about Trieste, I read a very moving Guardian article about a still birth.  Then I caught a bus home.

The little bit of good news about the Middle East conflict is that despite all the death and destruction and terrible news stories, aid trucks are now getting through from Egypt to Gaza. There is a terrible sense though that the Israelis will be seen as being as brutal as Hamas in their desperate vengeance.

I was going to return my book about Trieste to the library, but I can’t quite bear to part with it yet. How I miss the UK Book Depository, where one could buy cheap books with free shipping! No wonder Amazon took it over and closed it down. Perhaps one of the second-hand bookshops in Wellington will have a copy.  Meanwhile, I should read some other books, but it’s hard to switch when one book has impressed one so much.

Today’s Guardian has an article about the Adriatic, including Trieste and Istria. Here’s a link:

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/oct/22/amazing-adriatic-the-top-five-places-to-visit

I wasn’t wrong to be fascinated by Trieste.

It’s now Monday October 23^rd, Labour Day in New Zealand, a public holiday.

JD had an appointment, so I decided to go an see the French movie A Great Friend at Petone.  The time for his appointment had changed, so he was able to give me a lift to Petone. Thankfully, there was hardly anyone there, so I decided to have lunch there: an oat milk latté, of course; an empanada, and a lemon and raspberry cupcake.  There was plenty of time for me to tackle the puzzles in my new Listener before seeing the movie. And I’m pleased that I saw it, although it wasn’t one of the best movies.

Afterwards I was going to catch two buses home, but the timetable was different from what my phone had told me – instead of the #83 bus being due shortly after the end of the movie, there was 20 minutes to wait, according to the information board.  JD rang me, and thankfully came to pick me up.

In the Middle East, more aid is getting through; the Israeli Defence Force is still firing missiles; and there’s enormous grief and anger in Gaza, and huge protests in other places, such as London and Australia. Meanwhile Biden is seeking more money to aid Israel and assist rebuilding in Gaza, after the Israelis have bombed it?  Despite the fact that many right-wing Americans support what Biden is doing, although most of them wouldn’t admit it, many others oppose helping Israel.

Locally, it seems that work to earthquake-strengthen the Town Hall is now going to cost more, and won’t be finished until 2027! And then the Michael Fowler Centre will be closed for earthquake strengthening or for demolition!

There is to be an Italian Film Festival. I try to print the program, but it is pretty confusing. There are some old movies, including Blow Up, starring Vanessa Redgrave and David Hemmings, which so impressed me when it first came to Wellington; also Fellini’s La Strada. There’s a film about Naples called Nostalgia, which I’d really like to see. And then there’s BIFF (The British and Irish Film Festival) which has awkward times for the films I’d like to see. I like the French film Festival, where I can rock up in the daytime using my Gold Card and there’s usually enough room; or one can book in advance. 

It’s now Wednesday October 25^th.

Yesterday JD dropped me off at the Terrace in town. I was due to have a blood test, but the SCL lab was very busy! I had planned to have the test, have morning tea, but changing plans, I caught a bus to Manners Street and went to Arty Bees second-hand book shop. They didn’t have a copy of the book by Jan Morris about Trieste; I also went to Pegasus Books in Cuba Street, but they didn’t have it either.  I then caught a bus to Willis St and had morning tea at Smith’s Café (a latté and a toasted cheese scone; and walked back to Unity Books. They don’t have the Trieste book, but they will order it in for me. By now, it’s so hard to get, I really want my own copy. They also have a Lonely Planet Guide to Taiwan (surprise!), but it’s quite expensive at $45, although it looks really interesting. Then I walked down Willis St and Lambton Quay back to SCL labs on The Terrace. Although it was lunch time by now, there were fewer people there, and I could sit on a two-seater sofa. By now I felt terrible, but having made it there, I was determined to have my blood test.

Afterwards it was raining outside, and it was really warm, so I took a jersey off and my scarf and got out a thicker tote bag.  I rang JD, and thankfully he came to pick me up – I was really too tired to get home using public transport, especially in the wet. I bought a package of petit fours cakes to bring home from the Bordeaux Bakery in Lambton Square.

This morning I had a Te Reo Māori class in Khandallah at 10 am. Future classes are to be at 10:15 am, thankfully!  It was fun – we played the card game Fish, and asked each other for cards in Māori.  Afterwards, I planned to catch a bus to Johnsonville. It was really cold now. There was nine minutes to wait for another bus, and I rang my cousin, who’d tried to ring me earlier. Consequently I managed to miss two buses to Churton Park, and had to ask JD to pick me up after all. We were really late by now for minding our granddaughter at 1 pm. I got some lunch from the Café at the library, and JD had a quick shower.

We minded our granddaughter for a couple of hours: what a treat!  She and I alternately read each other stories (she’s only 3, but has an amazing memory). And played UNO, which is a bit like Fish. It was great fun.  We also admired her soft toys, and she played with a wooden puzzle which I had brought. She did a drawing with her Grandpa.

There’s big news today. Two more hostages have been released by Hamas, but there’s been dreadful violence in Gaza and hundreds of Palestinians killed. A UN resolution for a ceasefire has been vetoed by the US. It seems to me that President Biden is getting himself in all kinds of trouble for supporting Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu, which would be supported by republicans except he’s a democrat; on the other hand, many, including Jewish people in America, are very frustrated by the ongoing violence in Gaza, and are asking, like myself, what is the endgame? What is the desired outcome? Palestinian lives in Gaza, whatever their government, seem expendable, as the humanitarian crisis worsens. A hospital and a mosque have been bombed. The hurt and destruction are terrible. BBC4 continues to file excellent if harrowing reports.

In the US, there are plenty of distractions. A MAGA guy, Tom Emmer, was proposed for speaker, but Trump said No, so he withdrew his name. Now another republican, Mike Johnson, (who?) has been put forward. Jenna Ellis, indicted by Georgia D.A. Fani Willis, has pled guilty, tearfully, saying that if she’d know the information about Trump winning the election was untrue, she wouldn’t have acted for him.  Another Trump ally, Mark Meadows, former Chief of Staff, has opted for a plea deal in Jack Smith’s election interference case.  Meanwhile Trump continues to make vile claims, and guess what U.S. also means “us” – who would have thought it? He also claimed, at a rally in New Hampshire, that Victor Orbán, the strongman leader if Hungary, was the leader of Turkey. That country also has a strong man leader, but it’s not Orbán, it’s Erdoğan.  Well, Biden may be old, but he’s not that dotty, and thank goodness he’s president during this crisis, and not Trump. It’s ghastly to imagine how Trump would have handled it.

In other news, Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has testified against Trump in his New York fraud trial, saying that he was required to state the business and property values according to what Trump wanted, not what he or Allan Weisselberg (C.F.O. but not a qualified accountant), may have thought. Both men went to prison for Trump; Cohen obviously greatly regrets having lied for his former boss. Trump stormed out of the court saying that he had won. Actually, that is not the case.

It’s now Thursday October 26^th.

This morning our son rang from the UK! It was lovely to talk to him.  I had to bow out of the call to have a shower and go to singing in Khandallah.  It’s very windy today, and crowded with disruptions in Khandallah: a water main replacement is inching ever closer to the shopping village in Ganges Road, and there are detours and lots of cones, so it’s a challenge to get there but people come, nonetheless. Singing was lovely, of course, and I even managed to pick up a prescription in Johnsonville on the way.  Afterwards a dear friend gave me a lift home – she even brought her car outside the Town Hall to pickup another friend and myself.

Now, I’m trying to catch up with the news: in the US, Trump has been fined (again) $20,000 for defying Judge Engoron’s so-called “gag” order; Michael Cohen has taken the stand again; an a speaker of Congress has been elected, Mike Johnson – “Jordan in drag”, said Adam Kinzinger.  He’s MAGA of course,  an election denier and very conservative on abortion.

It’s now Sunday October 29^th.

There’s been another mass shooting in the US, this time in Lewiston, Maine, where such things never happen. Well, it’s happened now. I think 18 people are dead, and perhaps 50 wounded. There was a big search for the gunman (a disaffected veteran), until he was found dead, having taken his own life. Amazingly, the new House Speaker, said this wasn’t the time to talk about gun violence (so what would be the “right time”?), and that people had a right to be armed and to defend themselves. Except, in the Uvalde, Texas shootings, the police were afraid of the gunman, and who can blame them.

Of course we are devastated by the All Blacks’ loss to the Springboks by one point in the Rugby World Cup final. The refereeing was upsetting of course, especially when the captain Sam Cane’s yellow card became a red card, and he was off for most of the game!  Disallowed tries and a missed goal kick added to the misery. We watched it at our son’s house nearby, and I zoomed into the church service afterwards. Thank goodness for zoom, but sadly the sound wasn’t at all good this morning, although I turned up the volume on my computer. There was a visiting preacher, but I couldn’t hear much of what she said.  I think it was about the devastating effects of climate change, and an exhortation to us to do what we can in our local environment to be wise and to look God’s Creation. Of course, we’re encouraged not to be afraid, but it is hard not to fear for our children and grandchildren’s futures.

I went on my first ever church retreat over the last two days. They had held one at the Home of Compassion in Island Bay some time ago, and I had not been, but those who did go enjoyed it.

This began with an interview first, and then a dinner and workshop on the Friday evening.  JD came to pick me up afterwards, and we took another friend home, but JD insisted on doing a mystery tour of the Transmission Gully Highway to see where the exits were. I could have done without that!

On Saturday we were to start at 10 am, and as I had not had coffee, I got a take-away latté before hand. Two extra people joined us on the Saturday, making about twelve in addition to the minister and two elders taking this Pathways course.  We worked in groups, or on our own, and it was really good to get to know people better, and learn more about their circumstances. There had been several bereavements that I hadn’t known about.

After lunch there was a hour’s quiet time, to go for a walk, pray, rest, reflect; I was wary of this but went in the church where I could put my feet up. I read some poems, read some verses (Isaiah 40 and Hebrews 12); prayed, and then played music in my head: Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St Matthew Passion, and some hymns: O Master let me walk with thee, and Blessed Assurance. Then I joined some other folk in the sunshine.

We finished soon after 3:30 pm; I have to admit that I was very tired in the afternoon. I think I was glad I went, although I find it hard to say what I really mean in these situations.

Overseas, in Gaza, Israeli forces are stepping up their attacks; they have cut power and communications to Gaza, so the situation there is even more dire, as more and more innocent people and children are hurt, along with supposed Hamas terrorists; there have been protests including in Auckland and Wellington yesterday, marching for Palestinian rights.  What a desperately sad situation.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, we are in hiatus as we wait for special votes to be counted in the recent General Election, and Luxon does the tricky job of negotiating with two Māori: David Seymour and Winston Peters.  It’s a kind of relief to be in this interim phase; although I remember we were in the US in November 2017 when Winston Peters announced his decision to form a government with the Labour Party, then headed by Jacinda Ardern, who was to become Prime Minister, and have her first child!  I had quite given up on politics; what a treat it was to have a Labour Government, especially through Covid, and how proud I was of Prime Minister Ardern.  Now, six years later, we wait again, not really expecting anything good. I just hope that our Super Gold Card privileges such as free public transport in off-peak hours don’t get removed.

The dreadful situation in the Middle East has quite distracted us from the war in Ukraine; there are fears that Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, will get involved, and that Iran is contributing to Hamas’ funding. This conflict could well spread. It’s such a sad and complicated situation. 

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

Beautiful Trieste is on my list for my next trip

It’s now Monday October 16^th, 2023. Kia ora!

Firstly, a Covid update. You have to search, but they’re still being published each week. There been 3816 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the past week, and 17 further deaths attributed to the virus. Of the new cases, 1735 were reinfections.

As at October 9 there have been 3571 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the past week, and 15 further deaths attributed to the virus. Of the new cases, 1603 were reinfections. At midnight on Sunday 8 October, 230 cases were in hospital and four in intensive care. The seven-day rolling average of new cases was 510 per day, up from 422 last week.

Last week, Te Whatu Ora reported 2968 new cases and 14 further deaths.

There have been 3816 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the past week, and 17 further deaths attributed to the virus. Of the new cases, 1735 were reinfections. At midnight on Sunday 15 October, 243 cases were in hospital and two in intensive care. The seven-day rolling average of new cases was 544 per day, up from 510 last week. Last week, Te Whatu Ora reported 3571 new cases and 15 further deaths.

On Monday’s episode of The Detail, University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said Covid-19 has not gone away. “It’s our number one infectious disease threat… it’s really displaced influenza as our biggest single infectious disease killer.” And Baker warned the number of reported cases are probably well behind what’s actually out there. “[There are] 3500 or so reported cases every week, but we know that will be at best 50 percent of the cases in the community… maybe less than that… so we’re still looking at about 10,000 cases probably a week at least.”

It’s now Wednesday October 18^th.

Monday was not a great day. I had intended to go into town, but I did not. On Tuesday morning I was to look after a house where the family were to be away at a funeral. JD had said he would come with me; I hadn’t been there before, but we found it all right. It was a lovely house, with beautiful paintings and lots of interesting books.  The weather wasn’t great. Afterwards, JD had an appointment, so I asked him to drop me off at Pataka’s Kaizen Café.  It was lovely there, and not too busy. Afterwards I looked at the galleries and the shop, and then went to the library to wait for JD and read my library book. What a lovely set up it is! 

I didn’t have to wait long for JD.  Then we drove up the new Transmission highway to the Waitangirua/Whitby Gully turn off, since JD wanted to know where the exits were. Afterwards I wanted to go to the library at Johnsonville, to pick up a reserved book. It was just after 3 pm, and so really busy. JD parked in the Johnsonville Shopping Centre car park, not the library carpark, as I was hoping. Consequently I had to negotiate the car park, in the rain, and then cross the busy road to get to the library. My reserved book is a big tome, as they always tend to be!

This morning we were due to go to the Titian movie at Pauatahanui. It is one of the last screenings, and we both wanted to see it.  Although the car park nearby was almost full, there were very few of us to see the movie.  In fact, we were so quick getting there via the new Transmission Gully highway, we turned out to be early. I could have had my free coffee after all. JD had an ice cream and a peanut bar. I was looking forward to having something to eat there afterwards, but this was not to be

The film was pretty good – Titian was an amazing artist, and his sensuous women presage the coming of Tintoretto. Years ago, when we were in Boston, there was a wonderful exhibition of paintings by Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts which we saw three times! We bought the book, and a couple of prints by Titian, although I have to confess that I don’t know where they are now. What a treat!  Titian died, quite elderly, in another visitation of the plague, but at least he was quite intelligent in terms of maintaining an income; sadly, the woman he loved died in giving birth to his daughter Lavinia, who was later to die in childbirth herself. There were two sons too, one of whom stayed close to his father. Titian was born in Venice, and lived there for much of his life, so it was magical to see much filming of Venice.

The days leading up to yesterday I have been listening to and watching many videos and podcasts about the situation in Israel.  Americans are stressing Israel’s right to defend itself; but the view that this aggressive defence needed moderation was being voiced. Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, has been doing “shuttle diplomacy” around the Middle East; Biden is scheduled to go to Israel on Wednesday (that would be our Thursday).  But all this changed to day with news of the bombing of a hospital in Gaza, and area that was supposed to be evacuated (like, where to? And what to do with people in Intensive Care and other crises?) Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis worsens every hour.

Israel claims it did not fire missiles on the hospital, but it would be fair to say that the level of crisis just went up several notches. Many of us re wondering what to believe. Biden has reportedly cancelled his projected visit to Jordan.  The resentment has grown enormously: why should Palestinian people suffer, again? While the attack on Israel (which Hamas claimed responsibility for) was truly awful and brutal and Isis-like in its cruelty, what kind of vengeance, and hostage negotiation, is appropriate? 

So, this already scary crisis has just gone up a notch. The resentment and grief on both sides are understandable.

In addition, Trump claimed yesterday that Republicans eat their young. He said this twice. Although not a great deal is being made of this, I think it’s remarkable; surely this is some kind of “red line” for other republicans! It seems not.

It’s now Thursday October 19^th.

I think I wrote that the population of Israel is about 20 million If so, my sincere apologies, it is just under 10 million. It is not a large country, with a big population. Americans have some difficulty with this.

This morning I  had an appointment at Wellington Regional Hospital at 11 am. Consequently, we left by 10:20 am. JD dropped me off at the main entrance, where there is a convenient drive – through; a guide took me through the maze of escalators and corridors to a lift, that would take me where I wanted to go. That went fine, and I found my way down again to the main hospital entrance. A Mojo coffee stand has replaced Wishbone, and as I hadn’t had a cup of coffee, I waited in the queue for a time. But you could only get coffee in takeaway cups; there was nowhere much to sit; and presumably you had to wait until your order was called; so I gave it a miss and went outside to catch a bus into the city. There were plenty of seats, and I didn’t have to wait long, but dear me there’s a bike lane you have to traverse to get on the bus, after waving it down, and although bikes are supposed to stop for bus passengers, of course they go whizzing past. Oh dear, more obstacles. And this is outside the hospital, too.

I decided to go to Smith’s Café in the Old Bank Arcade again. I had a cheese scone (delicious!), an oat milk latté, and a lemon and passionfruit slice (which I brought home to eat). Then I went to Unity Books and bought a book for my eldest granddaughter for Christmas. I couldn’t find any Christmas cards there, it may be too early for them. I checked the travel section, and, amazingly, there was a Lonely Planet guide to Taipei, so I bought it. It’s a small book.  Then I went to the nearest bus stop to catch a bus home, noting, with sadness, that the Hush Puppies shop has closed. Hannah’s have Hush Puppies, but Hannah’s has moved out of the Johnsonville Shopping Centre to a where Warehouse Stationery used to be, a wee shopping complex that’s not that easy to get to.

It’s now Friday October 20^th.

Yesterday we awoke to news of rockets having been fired at a hospital in Gaza.  Israel insists it is not responsible.  Meanwhile, President Biden is going to Israel. Is this wise? Probably not, but he’s home now, thankfully, and addressing the American people (I’m listening now and he is speaking really well).  Jim Jordan of Ohio has lost a second vote to be speaker, by more votes against him that in the first vote. There is talk of installing a “pro tempore” Speaker, i.e. a speaker for the mean time as the US really needs a speaker to avert a government shutdown, and to approve assistance to Ukraine and Israel. Oh, and Sidney Powell pleaded guilty in the Georgia case.

The targeting of a hospital in Gaza, whatever the cause, has aroused further large protests across the Middle East. Arabs are, for the most part, against America which is allied with Israel.  The US seems to be calling for restraint, but it sides with Israel, stating Israel’s right to defend itself..

This morning I listened to an LRB podcast where the interviewer spoke to an Israeli and a Palestinian. This was very measured and interesting. The Jewish person made the point that everyone in Israel is descended from a family that lost people in the Holocaust, and consequently still has a fear of the Gestapo and the concentration camps. This fear may seem irrational to us, so far away, but Jewish people have always potentially been discriminated against and resented, and their safety is paramount. 

The Palestinian person made the point that in negotiations, Israeli rights always seemed to have priority over Palestinian rights.

For the last few days many people have been asking what is the endgame in Israel? For Israel? Who else is involved, and likely to be involved?

Biden has also negotiated for humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza via Egypt.

I have been reading the Jan Morris book on Trieste, called Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere. The library seriously wants it back, and I am a slow reader. But what an interesting book it is. I read a review of this book in the Economist, and the allure of Trieste has remained with me. It is a port city, and was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but was assigned to Italy after the Second World War. So it’s very cosmopolitan, with the people being mainly Austrian or Italian, or a mixture. There were many Jews there, but when Germany took over Trieste during WWII, they made a huge effort to get rid of them.  James Joyce was there; New Zealand was there, together with Tito of Yugoslavia, when the Germans surrendered at the end of WWII; the country adjacent to Italy at this point is Slovenia. Before the beginning of World War 1, the bodies of the assassinated Arch-Duke Ferdinand and his wife were driven through Trieste, with great dignity. Mussolini’s colleague Gabriele D’Annunzio was in Trieste. Trieste went all out for fascism. It’s a fascinating place.

It’s now Saturday October 21^st.

It’s been a good few hours for democracy, I think: in the US, Jim Jordan has failed in a third attempt to get enough votes to be speaker; disgusting threatening taped messages have surfaced of attempts to intimidate GOP Congress representatives who voted against him. They have not worked to intimidate his opponents.  In the Georgia RICO case, Kenneth Cheesebro, who, like Sidney Powell, had opted for a quick trial, has, like her, pled guilty, having spurned an earlier plea deal. That eases the burden of trying many people at once, but it’s truly significant that two of Trump’s allies who helped him try to swing the election for him have agreed to testify truthfully. Neither will serve jail time, both will be on parole and have to pay fines and write letters of apology.

President Biden has returned safely from Israel, and given an amazing speech from the oval office of the White House. That is a flight of around 10 hours 45 minutes, not insignificant. Isn’t Biden amazing? Thank goodness he is safely back; some thought he was unwise to go to that dangerous place, where he would be a target of so many. Thank goodness he is over these negotiations! In this situation, having been around a long time, and having personal connections with many folk, is a big advantage. This morning I learnt that Hamas has released two female American hostages. Yet the Gaza humanitarian aid is still not coming through Egypt, and Israel continues to attack Gaza. No one is safe there. While stressing Israel’s right to defend itself, Biden and Secretary of State Blinken are warning against Biblical Old Testament-style vengeance; the so-called “rules of war” must be observed: as in if civilians get killed as a by-product of legitimate military action, that bad thing may happen; but you can’t deliberately target a place where civilians are known to be, like a school or a hospital.  So that’s all good. Oh, and in Poland, a right wing government has been elected out of office.

Meanwhile, the US Congress still has no speaker (this is the person next in line to be president after the president and vice president);  Humanitarian aid is still not getting through; Israel is still pretty trigger happy, it appears; and Putin has been to China and met President Xi.

I have several books that I’ve reserved from the library:  Sleepwalkers, The Red Hotel, and, of course, my book about Trieste. I want to reread Man Alone before sending it to my eldest granddaughter for Christmas. The books I wanted to get through about Ravenna and Ukraine will have to wait. Somehow the books I reserve from the library usually turn out to have a lot of reading in them! It is all so interesting.

JD tells me that Ukrainian forces are doing rather well against the Russians, using their new ATACMS from the US. I cannot find details in any newspaper! But that’s it for now. Trump’s so-called “gag” order, and his and a judge’s response, will have to wait. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

They’re both New Zealanders! The All Blacks played Ireland in this morning’s Rugby World Cup game in Paris.

It’s now Monday October 9^th, 2023. Kia ora!

This morning I am eager to hear (sensible) reaction to the surprise attack on Israel by Hamas, where many Israelis have been taken hostage, and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has vowed revenge.  The US commentators, usually so quick to rush into print/podcast when a new crisis occurs, are largely silent, still dealing with McCarthy’s ousting as Speaker of the US Congress, and Trump’s various legal woes.  But what I want to know is how Congress will allocate yet more funding to Israel, without a Speaker? There are immediate consequences of this debacle. I guess they thought there would be a breathing space until the next government funding crisis in November. But no, life goes on, and stuff happens outside of the US. So they need a new speaker right now. It frustrates me that this consequence is recognised by me before I see it anywhere in the media. I must admit that their limited perspective is frustrating at times. This is something that JD and I share.

I am listening to a most interesting podcast from The Rest is History about the start of the Arabian Empire, called the Baghdad: The Forging of Islam.

It’s now Tuesday October 10^th.

There are big repercussions for the attack in Israel; it’s being called a terrorist attack; hostages have been taken; and a music festival was attacked!  As expected, there is lots of discussion; as expected, Israel’s Prime Minister vows enormous vengeance; there are also voices about the misery of the Palestinians who live in the Gaza strip. I won’t attempt to take sides; I’m sure that many innocent folk have been and will be victims. Already the death toll is over 1,100 I think; so far 11 American citizens are known to have been killed. This attack by Hamas achieved surprise (where were Israeli and American intelligence?), but I am likening it to a suicide bombing, where the perpetrators expect to achieve their reward in heaven.

It’s now been echoed several times so far on MSNBC:  that the US Congress needs a Speaker! They are in recess for a week. Senator Tuberville still maintains that he will hold up military appointments. I thought that Republicans were amongst Israel’s biggest supporters?  Oh dear, what a very sad state of affairs.

In local news, election fever continues. It will be a relief when this is over. Among interesting points: an ACT candidate has died; some are saying that ACT peaked too early; and that Winston Peters timed his re-entry perfectly.  Judith Collins is nowhere to be seen; neither is former Prime Minister Ardern, although my Instagram feed tells me she voted early. National have wheeled out (Sir) John Key, and Labour Dame Helen Clark to assist their campaigns. I’m not particularly enamoured of either of them.

Last night there was (another) so-called debate between Grant Robertson and Nicola Willis about their financial policies. The front page of this morning’s paper highlights a saying by Cameron Bagrie, who, I understand, claims to be an economist: “And as an economist, there’s not a lot of confidence on either side”. What does this even mean? Bagrie is presumably an educated person. I know when I was marking, I would have taken issue with such a statement.  Does he mean that he doesn’t have confidence in either plan? Or they don’t have confidence in their respective plans? Who doesn’t have confidence?

Hipkins is out of isolation (now 5 days) for covid 19, but another Labour MP has covid. There’s a report by Michael Baker that New Zealand’s pandemic policies saved 20,000 lives!  And a great deal of fear and anxiety, I might add. Well done, New Zealand!  I doubt if that will happen again.

It’s now Wednesday October 11^th.

Yesterday afternoon two of my cousins came to visit.  One of them brought an Apple and Rhubarb Shortcake that she had made. It was delicious! We had it with honey-flavoured Greek yoghurt.

This morning I went to a Te Reo Māori class at the Khandallah Town Hall. I’ve missed three classes, I think, but it seems to be making a lot more sense now and I enjoyed the session.  We learnt about means of transport, and popular locations. There’s a lot of Māori versions of English words, so that makes things a bit easier. Afterwards I voted at the Khandallah Town Hall.  That was fine, although the marker pens are a bit large and blunt for the tiny circles to tick the party and candidate you wish to vote for.  Afterwards, there was no sticker, no exit poll. However I did get a robot call from Greg O’Connor last night.  This morning’s newspaper has a full front page advertisement for Prime Minister Hipkins and Labour, so that’s nice.

With regard to the terrorist attack in Israel, despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s vengeful response, the attack is shown to have been truly terrible, and is being seen an Isis-like attack in its brutality. So that is very scary indeed.  It’s thought to be backed by Iran, and the US recently did a prisoner-swap with Iran for $6 million USD.  Of course, somehow the attack is the Democrats’ fault. The fact that there are so many Jewish commentators in the US doesn’t help – it seems most of them are Jewish, or Catholic; one has to feel for the Palestinian people who seem to be very poorly served by – everyone, including their leaders.  But it’s upsetting to see the Israelis being cruel by walling off the Gaza strip, and in effect doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to them. Now, I don’t want to get into an argument about this, since it’s desperately sad to see any suffering and destruction of the means of livelihood.  Of course conspiracy theories abound, but it seems that Putin was pleased to see the world’s attention focussed on Israel rather than Ukraine. What a desperately sad situation.

It’s now Thursday October 12^th.

It’s becoming ever more evident that the attack by Hamas on Israel was cruel and brutal, as details emerge of the cruelty. There was surprise, that people weren’t rescued and didn’t know what to do. Prime Minister Netanyahu is being criticised for not looking after the Israeli people (about 10 million). There are stories of babies being decapitated, a man with his arm cut off, many deaths and then there are the hostages. The Gaza strip has been under siege and the humanitarian situation is desperate.  Although people have been advised to leave, they cannot do so. As someone pointed out on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, there’s a difference between being militant and being a terrorist. The surprise attack by Hamas is being described as terrorism, whatever the provocations that may have led to it. The Israeli response is hopefully not terrorism.  The Rest is Politics podcast had a special episode, where Rory Stewart tried to explain in ten minutes the situation in Israel:

https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/the-rest-is-politics/id1611374685

That was a very cautious and measured explanation, I think.

Among things that impressed me were Alastair Campbell talking about the Good Friday peace Agreement, which effectively put an end to terrorism waged by the IRA.  Peace in Northern Ireland looked impossible, and there were very strong feelings on both sides, but it was achieved, and for the most part, the Peace Agreement has held firm. I doubt if many people realise just how significant it was.  And so, perhaps there is hope for the Middle East.

Yesterday afternoon I got JD to drop me off at the Johnsonville Shopping Centre. I didn’t find the book I was looking for at Whitcoulls, but of course I managed to spend some money. When JD came to pick me, he voted, and sent me shopping at Countdown. That is frustrating, since I don’t know my way around that store.

This morning my Thursday morning singing resumed after a break for the school holidays. There was a great turnout! And some fantastic singing. It was nice to be back.

 There are now 22 Americans confirmed dead, and several are among the hostages. 15 have not been accounted for.

It’s now Friday October 13^th.

It’s said there are still at least 97 hostages held by Hamas. The situation in Gaza is dire indeed, with no power now.  Some are wondering what the end game is, for Netanyahu’s war, What would success look like?  I remember Americans Congresswoman Barbara Lee (I think it was ) after the 9/11 attack, and the start of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying something along the lines of be careful not to become the evil you seek to avenge.

Oh, and by the way, Trump praised Hezbollah, and President Xi of China, and criticised Netanyahu for not helping with the assassination of Sulemani.

Apparently 25 Americans have been confirmed killed in the current conflict.

It’s now Sunday October 15^th

I guess by now everyone knows that National did far better than Labour in yesterday’s general election; still, Christopher Luxon will have to form a coalition government with ACT and probably N Z First. They failed to get 50% of the vote.  Greg O’Connor retained his Ohariu seat, thankfully.   This result is not really surprising, but I find it upsetting. It’s being called a bloodbath, but I think that is an exaggeration. What I find even more upsetting is that the Voice referendum in Australia failed to win, although it was thought to be a certainty a few weeks ago.  What strange decisions people make! Still, it’s a privilege to be able to vote, peacefully, and to be able to vote early in many locations.  And although I dislike the National Party and what it stands for, at least it’s not (at present) as far right-wing and crazy as in many countries.  National and Act only have a slim majority of seats; one seat, at the moment, and that could well change with special votes and other mishaps.

This morning we got up early and went to watch the rugby match at my son’s house. The All Blacks were playing Ireland, in Paris, at the Stade de France, for a place in the quarter-finals. It was a very exciting game, which the All Blacks won by 28 – 24. There were some odd decisions by the referee, Wayne Barnes.  There were two yellow cards! And yet the All Blacks won. That should cheer us up!

I have been listening to several podcasts about Hamas’ sudden attack in Israel, and watching some very good videos from BBC News and Channel 4 News. I have been learning more about the history of Israel and the Middle East this century. I have heard from many Jewish people who worked towards achieving peace in the region, only to find, as many have done, that Prime Minister Netanyahu has been a deeply divisive figure, plagued by scandal. Like his authoritarian counterparts, he continues to escape the sanctions of the law.  He does not seek peace or unity, it seems. And there are several questions: why did he take so long to address the nation of Israel after the crisis? Why were the famed Israeli intelligence service (Mossad) not only unaware of the attack by Hamas, the I.D.F. (Israeli Defence Force) failed to act on it. It seems that there was little security at the music festival in the desert near Gaza, from where many hostages were taken.  It seems that after the attack, there was no official guidance for hours and days.

The attack by Hamas was really well planned, and evaded the Iron Dome defence and Israel’s other technological defences. While there is no question that the massacre was extremely gruesome, and affected many, many Jewish families, there is also little doubt that the way Israelis have treated their supposed enemies has been and continues to be with Biblical, Old Testament rage and cruelty. The New Testament says “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God”. Now I don’t want to offend anyone, and I’m learning more and more about this situation, but it seems hard to defend Israel’s response in Gaza to “raze it to the ground”. Are any leaders of Hamas even there? It’s a huge humanitarian disaster, to evacuate 1.1 million Palestinian citizens, who have in all probability done nothing wrong.  And where are they to go?

We are waiting now for Israel’s response, and one wonders how easy it will be for the US and other countries to defend this response.  It’s been compared to the Japanese attack at pearl Harbour, and America’s 9/11, but it’s known that while the Japanese Ambassador tried to warn President Roosevelt, he was kept waiting; while the 9/11 attack came as a huge shock, there were many intelligence warnings that were ignored. I guess when an “unbelievable” attack occurs, the intelligence is even more unlikely to be believed.

Whatever the wrongs of the attack, one has to think very carefully about the response, whatever the desire for vengeance. The US response to 9/11 was pretty drastic, and it was under the Obama administration that Osama bin Laden was finally tracked down and killed. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour got America into the Second World War, which was probably a good thing, all things considered.  But it’s so terribly sad that innocent people, who didn’t contribute to any division, who may have actively sought peace, must be made to suffer anyway; it’s as though their lives don’t matter. The response of President Zelensky, also Jewish, of Ukraine has been very different: he has rallied Ukrainians to fight for their country, and face unimaginable hardships in so doing. For a long time, Ukrainian forces resisted any attacks on Russia, although Putin had invaded without being threatened or invaded himself. The cruelty of the Russian attacks and subsequent kidnappings and torture are similar to the Hamas attack, although for Hamas they’re no doubt aware that they’re on a suicide mission, with their reward due to come in paradise. I’ve never been quite sure how that works, especially for the 40 virgins, but there we are.

And what might be the consequences of this attack, and retaliation? Was Iran involved, and, if so, to what extent? Are the Lebanese Hezbollah likely to get involved? Are the Russians involved? Will nations still be prepared to support and supply Ukraine, remembering that they are suffering on the democratic world’s behalf.  Now there are two great conflicts – Ukraine and Israel, both with the potential to become greater.  Meanwhile, in the US, Republican-dominated Congress still lacks a Speaker. Many are saying that there is chaos in American politics. It makes our issues in Australasia pale by comparison.  There is danger in chaos, though. Some are saying that Israel was in a chaotic state before the sudden Hamas attacks, what with the huge protests against changes to the legal system, and the difficulties in forming a far-right coalition government. Still and all, we’re fortunate to live in Aotearoa.

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

The Trinity test at Los Alamos, showing the traditional mushroom cloud

It’s now Friday October 6^th, 2023. Kia ora!

Yesterday we were due to meet up with our daughter and her friends, but arrangements were a tad haphazard.  Instead, the cleaning lady turned up – I had not looked at the schedule, and again, Access had tried to change my weekly schedule from Friday to Thursday. I repeat, Thursdays are no good for me. I go to singing or to Tai Chi on a Thursday morning.  I don’t do much, but this is really important to me, as I’ve explained to Access more than once.

In the event we had kebabs with them for tea at their Airbnb.  They were staying nearby in Paparangi. The house looked quite attractive on Google Maps, but it was down a really narrow cul de sac, and not that easy to get to.  Furthermore, access was difficult, with an overgrown sloping path and some steps with no handrail. Surely this is not legal?  The house was quite nice inside, and I guess getting somewhere that sleeps 7 is quite a challenge to find.  Still, they may have been more comfortable staying in a motel! Inside there was a sunny conservatory and deck, and a modern kitchen. We took some paper towels and picnic plates and some lemon iced tea.  One of our sons called in to see his sister while we were there. They were to go to the WOW show that evening, and leave to return to Hawkes Bay early this morning. Our daughter always had big smiles for JD and myself and her brother. Evidently she enjoyed the WOW show, although it was quite intense.

Today someone came from Access to do some cleaning, and accordingly, I changed the towels, tidied up, and put some washing on.

So, in the US, Trump’s “My Kevin” has been ousted as Leader of the House of Representatives; and Trump is growing increasingly unhinged as his business is threatened in the New York civil fraud trial. Whose Kevin is he now?  Trump did not support His Kevin in this crisis.  This fraud seems to be the trial Trump finds most threatening, since it strikes at the core of his professed personal wealth. Forbes have taken him off their Rich List; and he’s now quoting from Hitler’s Mein Kampf.  Wise people are talking about the Weimar Republic (you know, the one that was failing when Hitler was elected to power); and about the famous film Cabaret starring Liza Minelli; there’s also talk about the Fall of the Roman Republic, or perhaps the Roman Empire.  Having watched the film Path to War with Michael Gambon as Lyndon B. Johnson, I can see how so many Americans have distrust in the institutions of their government. Still and all, I want to be able to renew my passport! You need some institutions of government to achieve that. It seems many Americans do not have passports.  In an island country like New Zealand, literally at the bottom of the world, you need a passport. Also, it’s a recognised form of id.

Apparently Trump’s been given 7 days to submit a list of firms that will lose business licences.

The general election in New Zealand is coming up soon, Our Easy Vote cards arrived in the mail yesterday, but, sadly, they’re not perforated. Meanwhile, it’s pretty sure to be close, with popularity among the major parties not changing much over the past few weeks. Prime Minister Hipkins is out of Covid isolation now, and says he’s feeling fine; there’s still a lot of changes to public transport with many trains replaced by buses on account of staff shortages and other mishaps.

Trump has withdrawn his case against Michael Cohen, on the point of being required to testify under oath. Trump’s fraud trial continues, and Jeff McOnie (I think) has confirmed that Eric Trump was fine with him greatly augmenting the values of various Trump properties. The trial is to be delayed for a few days; but Trump has been asked to nominate businesses to be ruled out of order.

But the most stunning Trump news is that he told Australian billionaire Pratt about US nuclear powered and armed submarine capabilities. Pratt bought his way into Trump’s club at Mar a Lago, chatted to Trump, and subsequently told several people about his discussions, including three Australian Prime Ministers – Scott Morrison, Paul Keating, and Malcolm Turnbull, I think.  Whether these highly confidential details were true or not is beside the point; there is no classified document involved here, but Pratt has been interviewed by prosecutor Jack Smith, who evidently wishes to establish that Trump was very careless about classified information. He had a very short attention span, but he paid enormous attention to details of how the nuclear football worked, it is said. Furthermore, he called for the shooting of his former Head of the Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley, expecting that someone would take him up on it. To date, no Republicans have denounced this shocking call.

By the way, the Aussies reneged on a submarine deal with France. Just saying.

It’s now Sunday October 8^th.

Last night we went to a 5 pm screening of Oppenheimer at the Penthouse Cinema in Brooklyn. The film is unusually long, at three hours, but there were several people there, including a very restless person behind me who continually jabbed at my seat.

The film is very good; Cillian Murphy does a fine turn as Dr Oppenheimer; Matt Damon is fine as General Groves; and the rest of the cast are uniformly excellent. I found the film a bit theatrical, with frequent interruptions of loud and colourful eruptions.  The music, if you can call it that, was awful.  The story is told in terms of the questioning of Oppenheimer by the FBI and the senate after the Manhattan project’s success, about his supposed communist origins.  I found this upsetting, given that it parallels the American legal system as demonstrated in the current Trump trials, but then we learn of Trump’s supreme carelessness about classified information! Anyone else would be in prison!

Still, it was good to see the Manhattan project in action under Groves and Oppenheimer, in New Mexico; it was interesting too to see his misgivings develop as the outcomes were taken completely out of his hands, as in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the development of the arms race, MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), and the Cold War. It was pointed out that when the Manhattan Project started, the Americans were in a race to establish an atomic bomb before Germany did, since it was known that Germany was eradicating Jewish people, and Hitler’s hatred of Jewish people had been know for a long time. After the bomb had been tested, Germany had surrendered and was no longer at war; the main enemy, it was thought, was Japan. It later became former US and UK allies, the Soviets.

There was no mention at all of the British development of nuclear power at Cambridge University, as documented by C.P. Snow in his Strangers and Brothers series of novels, where his brother Martin is a scientist heavily involved in the development of nuclear power in England. The scientists there had similar moral qualms about the monster they had created:  they were shocked when a nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and then on Nagasaki.  Their similar moral unease, coupled with radiation sickness, was not mentioned at all. Still, Christopher Nolan has produced a fine and memorable film, like his Dunkirk and 1917 films were memorable, for telling human stories against a background of much larger events, and doing a pretty good job of it. Actually 1917 was directed by Sam Mendes. My bad.

There was a lot of mention of Prometheus (the film was based on the book American Prometheus), the Bhagavad Gita (“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”), and yet the project was named Trinity.  The Rest is History podcaster Tom Holland spoke about Frankenstein.  Evidently Trinity refers to a sonnet by John Donne which begins “Batter my heart, three-person’d God”. Oppenheimer called the test Trinity.  Americans do love historical analogies! I guess many of us do, too, although it’s frustrating when they’re used incorrectly. I think of the Trinity as a Christian concept, not a Jewish one, so calling the test Trinity is something to know more about. Evidently Oppenheimer and his mistress liked the sonnet.0

I guess it’s good to be reminded that nuclear power presents a threat as great as that of climate change. Somehow, despite the proliferation of nuclear weapons, amongst several countries, and several near misses, many of us have survived to date, and we hope and pray that our children and grandchildren will survive.

I’m glad we saw the film. Oppenheimer was a linguist – he gave a lecture in Dutch, and was learning Sanskrit!  The beginning of the film reminded me of my eldest seriously brainy son, who is a mathematician, a fine linguist, and a fine musician. Seriously brainy people (and I’m not putting him in the same class as Einstein or Oppenheimer) have a degree of autism, perhaps, or unusual behaviour, on the edge of normalcy. He also has a beautiful wife and two beautiful children.

We had agreed to have dinner in town after this. The Salty Pidgin looked pretty busy, so we drove into town and again found a car parking area off Cuba Street, where we had parked the other night.

We had dinner at Loretta, again: JD had a glass of Neudorf Chardonnay (always a treat), and I had a grapefruit mocktail. I was really thirsty after the long movie. We had flatbread and white bean dip, a rather strange main course, (I’d thought the servings were really small after the other night!), and delicious desserts – again: an affogato with Kahlua, and a chocolate brownie with Cointreau ice cream. They were both delicious. We should have shared a pizza for our main course!

As we waited for our food, I commented on the fact that there hadn’t been a nuclear war, yet, although of course there’d been the Chernobyl disaster. JD had been looking at his phone, however, and said that the Palestinians had fired several rockets into Israel. Sadly, this morning, this has become a drastic situation, with Israel declaring war on Palestine. Middle East peace, one of President Jimmy Carter’s hoped for legacies, is not to be, although he’s had huge success with eliminating guinea worm. So there’s another war, and another crisis. Strangely, the famed Israeli intelligence service did not have forewarning of this attack. And where was the Dome? It happened on a Sabbath (Shabbat) day, and many are reminded of the Yom Kippur War in 1973 50 years ago this week , when Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. Yom Kippur means atonement, by the way.

Afterwards we came home, having left the heat pump on. As JD insists on closing all the doors, it’s not much use leaving the heat pump on!

This morning I listened again to the two The Rest is History podcasts about Oppenheimer.  The film sticks pretty closely to the truth, here. Oppenheimer was a seriously intelligent and unusual person, and yet he managed to hold the unwieldy team of brainy people0 together and pull off delivery of the atomic bomb. There was contention: Edward Teller thought it would be best to develop a hydrogen bomb. After this amazing feat, what happened next was taken out of Oppenheimer’s hands, and he was vilified for possible communist party connections in that peculiar American way. By the way, the spy Klaus Fuchs was a member of the team delivering the Manhattan Project, and Oppenheimer had nothing to do with his appointment. Senator McCarthy was gaining influence, President Truman was newly president, and the very shady J. Edgar Hoover was head of the FBI.  What a strange country!

This morning I went to church. The texts were about the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20: 1-20 and Matthew 21: 33-46), and a parable about the owner of a vineyard. It strikes me as significant that to deliver the Ten Commandments to Israel, Moses must go up the mountain where God remains unseen in the cloud. No one wants to risk God’s anger. In the New Testament, the vineyard owner sends his only son, and the other guys say let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance. In The New Testament, God is love, and it’s human beings who are angry. So in the Old Testament the one God, El, is unseen, and you must not make an image of him, but in the New Testament, God sends his Son Jesus to earth, in the form of a man, and even when people can see him, they despise him, mock him, and call for Barabbas when given a choice as to who is to be crucified.  Yet again, this desperate act of cruelty, led to our salvation, and Christ’s resurrection from the dead. So there is a wonderful progression.

An interesting verse in the Matthew’s Gospel text is about the stone: in chapter 21 verse 44. Going on after speaking about Jesus being the cornerstone, it says: “The one who falls in this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls”. The minister said that the first phrase referred to Isaiah 8, and the second phrase to Daniel 2. Being very interested, I looked these up. The Isaiah verse reads as follows: “And he (God) will be for a sanctuary, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, to both the houses of Israel…”. The Daniel 2:34 verse reads as follows: “Thou (Nebuchadnezzar) saw till a stone was cut out without hands, and it smote the image upon its feet of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces”.  This is when Daniel is brought in to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.  Matthew, being a fine Jewish scholar, often demonstrates his extraordinary knowledge of the Old Testament when writing his gospel, and so it is here.

The attack on Israel, by Hamas representing the Palestinians, seems to have been quite intense, with many Israelis being taken hostage.  In the walled enclave, walls have been taken down. Does this remind you of anything?  I guess one can try to understand the grief and upset on both sides, but surely violence does nothing to solve anything, in this day and age.

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

John Donne’s Sonnet:

Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you

As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;

That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend

Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

I, like an usurp’d town to another due,

Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;

Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,

But is captiv’d, and proves weak or untrue.

Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov’d fain,

But am betroth’d unto your enemy;

Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,

Take me to you, imprison me, for I,

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

I have hesitated to use photos of this guy, but seeing him looking angry in court is different

It’s now Friday September 29^th, 2023. Kia ora!

This morning started out warm and sunny, but it grew colder as the day wore on. Someone from Access came to do some cleaning, which was greatly appreciated.  Other than that, it’s not a great day for energy. But I tidied up before she came, as I usually do.

We have a general election coming up in about two weeks’ time. It certainly isn’t over yet:  Chris Hipkins did rather well in a debate with Christopher Luxon; as Luxon expounds on his financial plan, Labour are pointing out holes in it. To the rest of us, they look alarming. And his deputy, Nicola Willis, does not want to be in coalition with Winston Peters. META (formerly Facebook) had a nice photo of Greg O’Connor with his son Michael, who is also at Hōhepa. It’s evident that Christopher Luxon has been photoshopped to make him look more attractive.   So it’s not over yet.

Meanwhile, there was a protest today. What are they protesting about? Asked one news media outlet. Indeed, one wonders why. Evidently the protesters came and went and the police are thinking of removing street closures sooner than expected. So the protest was rather a damp squib.

There was another anti co-governance protest on Saturday, but the number of protesters were outnumbered by those who support co-governance. Go figure.

It’s now Monday October 2

So what’s been happening?  On Saturday evening we went out for dinner! This was a “Dinners for 8” function arranged by my church; actually it was dinner for six, with us being picked up by a couple I know who live locally, and driven out to another couple who live at at Summerset on the Landing. The host couple used to live not far from us in Churton Park. I knew them all, to some degree, but JD did not know them. There had already been several attempts to arrange this get-together, a lunch being preferable; but my recent sickness and different dates of being away made it very hard to organise. We were to take dessert. We made a nice fruit salad, and I wanted to get something chocolate to have afterwards. The ideal thing would have been chocolate peppermint thins, or sticks, but although we looked in two New World supermarkets, it seems they only come on the market before Christmas. So we settled for a chocolate caramel slice. JD is not a caramel fan, but he had to admit that this was delicious, fortunately!

Despite my nervousness, we had a lovely time, and JD enjoyed it, too. We had lovely cheese, crackers and grapes to start with, followed by tomato soup brought by another guest, She’d also brought beautiful soup bowls and plates that she’d had from her mother.  For the main course we had a chicken and leek casserole, asparagus, and a potato and tomato dish.  I wondered if I should have taken pouring cream, or ice cream, but I think there was no need. The Summerset on the Landing complex at Kenepuru is huge, but our friends have a lovely spacious house, and some beautiful paintings, including one by Philip Markham. He’s one of my favourite artists – I also have a small water colour painting by him.

The next day, the church service was to be followed by a pastoral lunch. Although there weren’t many of us (it was the middle of the school holidays, after all), there were two kinds of delicious soup, helpfully served in mugs, and rolls with savoury fillings, plenty of food. We were asked to bring something sweet to share afterwards, so I brought the rest of the chocolate caramel slice.

In the afternoon I wanted to see an Artbeats film about Venice. It was on at Petone, a cinema JD does not like, but he took me there. I was pleased to have seen the film.  It had some modern aspects, but wonderful views of St Mark’s  Cathedral, and an outside view of the Doge’s Palace (Hey, I’ve been there!)  There were lots of views of the Grand Canal, of course, and the Rialto Bridge.  There was a view of a J M W Turner painting, very impressionistic, which I have not seen before. Although I’ve seen several Turner paintings, I have not seen this one, and I did not know that he’d been to Venice (three times, evidently).  We watched a biopic about Turner, but it did not mention his going to Venice, as I recall.

Last night we watched Michael Gambon (later Sir Michael) starring as Lyndon Johnson, during the Civil Rights legislation of the Martin Luther King Jr days, and the politics of putting more troops into Vietnam, into a war which America would lose.  It was a very good film, and Gambon is excellent as Johnson; Path to War was the name of the movie.  It’s very long, and finishes with Johnson’s speech in which he says he won’t stand for President, and won’t accept his party’s nomination as candidate for president.  Shortly after these very sad events, we have the assassinations of MLK, followed by that of Robert Kennedy.  Then came Nixon and Kissinger, and more protests, and lots more war.

In local news, Prime Minister Hipkins has announced yesterday that he was diagnosed positive for Covid 19.  The Post is representing this as really bad news for his campaign, but perhaps there’ll be a sympathy vote for him?  I feel very sorry for him.  I’m wondering if my recent malady was the new variant of Covid 19, although the four RAT tests I did were all negative. Somehow, things don’t taste as good as they should; or perhaps my taste buds are growing older. 

It’s now Tuesday October 3^rd.

Early voting has opened for the general election, but our Easy Vote cards haven’t arrived in the mail yet. Of course, we could go and vote anyway, and I’m minded to do that.

It was very cold this morning, with a high of 10°C predicted, but after some rain it turns out to be fine and sunny, if rather windy. I went to Bible Study this morning, which was about the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20). There is another version (the same) in Deuteronomy 5. I have to confess it’s hard to get a word in, and a great deal of patience is required.  I went, though, because a friend of mine was going to be there. In the event, she didn’t come. Afterwards, JD picked me up from the supermarket. It was far to cold to catch a bus, or even to sit outside the supermarket entrance to wait for him. I had been going to wear my really warm puffer coat, but seeing the sun, I thought it would be too hot.  It wouldn’t have been! I ended up searching for my woolly hat and gloves to wear while I waited for him.

Yesterday JD had to go to Johnsonville in the late afternoon, and so I went to the library. Both my reserved books were there:  one reserve had been extended, thankfully, since I wasn’t notified that it was there; I returned one library book but held on to my book about Trieste, which I need to finish reading. It spoke about nationalism, which really does not make sense when one is from a melting pot of nationalities, or one’s parents are. It’s a very right-wing thing to be obsessed with patriotism, I think. During the Second World War, Italian fascism under Mussolini was rather obsessed with patriotism; but Trieste is one of those parts of Europe which has been under various nations and various governments during the last few hundred years. For example, Trieste is a port and was an important part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for many years; at the end of WWII, it was determined it should be part of Italy. So it really is a melting pot.

My daughter and some of her house-mates and carers are due to come to Wellington for the WOW show. There’s been an emergency, though: the carers who were going to come are unwell, and thankfully others have jumped in to replace them. One of them is a good friend and she has been to our house before, so that change should be fine.  There is a lot of Covid 19 about again: not only has Chippy got it, but it’s in several rest homes as well.

In the US Trump appeared in his civil fraud trial in New York.  Among several revelations, including Trump’s obvious anger, and Don Jr’s laughing about GAAP standards, the most startling revelation to me was that Allan Weisselberg was not a qualified accountant!  Trump cast doubt on his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s credibility, but since Cohen was proved to have lied in his defence of Trump, that would seem to be, well, an interesting claim! It is kind of interesting to see Trump in a court, where he does not rule the roost, and he’s not looked up to by adoring MAGA followers. It’s a scene not under his control. Of course, he threw his CFO, Allan Weisselberg, under the bus, again. That, too, adds to the fraud – the valuations and accounts were not taken seriously.

It’s now Wednesday October 4^th.

The comedians are back!  Last night we watched Stephen Colbert, Seth Myers, and Jimmy Kimmel. There is some frustration, I’d have to say, but much joy and laughter, and you always learn something new. It’s good to have them back! They each summed up what had been happening politically during the five month Hollywood writers’ strike, and summarised events around Trump, the gift that keeps on giving. Strangely, not much has changed, apart from a series of indictments, as it seems to anyone who tries to wean themselves off US politics.

This morning lots of things happened, as I woke up to more and more news. First, Congressman Matt Gaetz proposed a motion to oust Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker; the vote went against McCarthy (there were some who thought he would survive the first vote to remove him as Speaker); he lost, and evidently won’t stand again. So that’s one crisis, having just deferred the government shutdown to November.

My phone keeps popping up with advertisements starring Winston Peters, authorised by somebody else.  Peters has been a politician like, forever, and what has he achieved, apart from (sometimes) free public transport and the Gold Card? Not that we aren’t grateful for that, of course. But other than that, he’s been a divisive figure. The other annoying factor is ads in an American accent. Duh!  I received an email from the Khandallah Community Centre saying that they’re a voting centre. I replied that I hadn’t received my Easy Vote card yet. They said No matter, there is some delay with NZ Post, ha ha. They should have used DX mail!

In the US, Trump continues to cut an angry figure in his New York civil trial for fraud. This won’t be a jury trial, apparently partly because Trump’s lawyers (only the best people!) failed to request a jury trial. It’s also supremely ironic that Letitia James, a New York D.A., brought these charges, which may have the most impact on Trump – how dare anyone suggest that he’s not “really rich”? or that he fabricated his wealth?  It strikes me as supremely ironic that it is a black woman of some seniority (like Georgia D.A. Fani Willis and New York judge Tanya Chutkan) who is charging or judging Trump. Black women are dishing it to him, via the process of law. No matter how much he tries to discredit it, the process of law, however flawed, still stands.

Furthermore, a “gag order” of sorts has been placed on Trump. The event which finally inspired it was a photo of judge Engoron’s clerk with Senator Leader Schumer on Trump’s Truth Social, claiming she was Schumer’s girlfriend. Accordingly, this post has been taken down.

And furthermore, in the UK the Conservative/Tory Party is having its annual conference in Manchester. Apparently it’s in some disarray, although the American news is, as usual, taking up all the oxygen (to use another cliché). Ominously, there are some who favour a return of Liz Truss. No, really.  I think a return of Boris Johnson would be preferable to that. He didn’t quite wreck the economy. But Sunak is in all kinds of trouble, over climate denial, the indeterminate stopping of HS2, and Suella Braverman’s upsetting comments on Unwanted People arriving in Boats.  As with the US, it’s a case of there are so many crises that one tends to forget some of them. I just remembered the waterways crisis, which is not minor, either.

Back here, my daughter is coming to Wellington with three house mates and three carers.  This is a brave venture, seeing that the lovely ladies who were going to bring them are unwell, and substitutes (whom we know) have been appointed. There are question marks over the arrangements, so we are on tenterhooks. Meanwhile, one of our sons brought his children over for a while in the early afternoon. Our granddaughter was rather scary – she was into jumping, which we thought rather dangerous!  She decided to play Hide and Seek, instead. Grandpa wouldn’t play, but I did.  Our house is really good for playing Hide and Seek.

Prime Minister Hipkins has Covid 19, and not only him – there is rather a lot of Covid around, with several rest homes affected. So where is the next/new vaccine? I fear that a National Coalition government will not be nearly as protective as Labour has been. There is a lot of talk about Freedom, whatever that means to each individual. For me, personally, I want to be able to renew my passport, so I can travel outside New Zealand to visit my children and other members of my family. That is really important to me. I know there are other views, and I don’t know what kinds of link ups there are between various computer systems that keep tabs on us, but there is some good and bad in most things, and compromises to be made.  Accordingly I regard vaccines as life saving, although they’re not perfect, and there are some risks involved in using them.  We live in a far from perfect world. “As for God, His way is Perfect” (Psalm 18:30). I know I’d far rather pay tax for a degree of civilisation – sealed roads, public transport, a health and education systems, and a somewhat healthy liberal democracy, which I suppose we are here. The health system, whatever one’s complaints, kept me alive through several near-death experiences, although perhaps the Good Lord kept me alive in spite of its deficiencies! If my SAH had happened several years earlier, I doubt that I would still be alive, or my brain functioning as well as it does. 

After sliding in the polls, Labour seems to be strengthening its position again.  This will be an interesting election, that’s for sure.

My daughter and her group have arrived in Wellington, and we are to meet them for dinner tonight at an Italian restaurant. That is rather brave, I think, but it’s not my decision! I have been there before, and although it’s not my favourite, it was rather good when I went there last. Wellington is not Hawkes Bay! But perhaps it’ll be tolerant there.

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