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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The restaurant where we had the birthday lunch

Looking down the street from our restaurant.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

London Coronation Rehearsals

It’s now Sunday May 7^th, 2023. Kia ora!

Last night I stayed up to watch the coronation of King Charles III. JD stayed up too, and we watched it together. I went to bed sometime after 1 am this morning, so I missed the balcony appearance; I also missed the salute of the massed troops on the lawn of Buckingham Palace.  But I did watch the ceremony. Even avowed anti-Monarchists watched the ceremony, realising that it’s been 70 years since the last coronation, and wanting to see how this one might be different, and wanting to see the pageantry. Well, it did not disappoint, although it continued to drizzle with light rain in London. Never mind, there may have been the odd contretemps, but it looked as though everything went pretty smoothly, apart from some very frisky horses in parades leading up to the big event.  And what was Richie McCaw doing there, with Sir Sebastian Coe?  I didn’t know that he’d been invited.  Evidently some service members had to board trains at 3 am to get to London and be there on time. FB, now Meta, has a lovely photo of red-uniformed guards boarding a train to get back to their barracks, with the caption: So nice to see guards on trains again!

Well, you have to hand it to the British, they do turn on an amazingly good spectacle, whatever the weather and the horses’ friskiness.  All that ceremony is a great tourist attraction, and while the Americans do funerals well (they’ve had a lot of experience), they must be slightly envious of the British ceremony dating back hundreds of years, on some cases, but not to Biblical times, as one commentator remarked. Really, that makes you wonder just what is taught in schools these days! And Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s remark that he hoped it wouldn’t be like a Gilbert and Sullivan Opera seemed totally inappropriate. He has been saying some odd things lately, but he conducted the ceremony all right.

Primarily this was a religious ceremony, with the anointing and coronation having roots in service, not in being served.  One felt for all the invitees having to wait hours before the coronation service began;  there was a pre-coronation concert, but even this avowed lover of classical music found some items rather tedious. King Charles may love this music, but I doubt that many of his loyal subjects share his views.  Never mind, it was entertaining. Meanwhile, one could tut-tut at the many ill-fitting suits and “silly walks” displayed, while a few displayed great elegance: Brigitte Macron looked amazing, Dr Jill Biden and her daughter made great entrances wearing blue and yellow; and then we had the “descent of man”, a line up of former British Prime Ministers, including Liz Truss, and the inevitably unkempt Boris Johnson. I was disappointed not to catch a glimpse of Rory Stewart wearing the uniform of a Privy Councillor, or any privy councillors. I did see New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins wearing a korowai, with the Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro.  Sadly, I could not be as proud of him as I was of former Prime Minister Ardern, but I guess we were fortunate to gave her for six years. All good things come to an end.

I watched the Coronation coverage on TVNZ on Demand, when JD didn’t have the television on TV One.  It was good the way the presentation switched between parades and preparations outside, and arrivals of guests to Westminster Abbey (poor lucky things, at least we had bathrooms and food and drink near at hand! And we didn’t have to dress up for the occasion).  Some of the marching left a lot to be desired, and the crowds seemed rather meagre, but then hundreds of people flocked to the Mall afterwards.

It did strike me that the pageantry for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, and her funeral, and this occasion were all wonderful, but all slightly different. Well done to those involved!

This was King Charles III’s big day, and so it seemed appropriate that the arrivals focused on him and his queen consort processing to the Abbey in a covered coach;  the arrival of the Waleses was not highlighted – JD wondered if they’d had a last minute crisis, but of course they hadn’t. Prince George was a page-boy for his grandfather; the Prince and Princess of Wales looked wonderful, of course, as did Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. The Princess of Wales and her daughter Princess Charlotte wore lacy headbands, not tiaras. Princess Anne looked quite wonderful too. But our eyes were on King Charles.  Prince Harry had arrived a few minutes earlier; he was seated with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their husbands, and he seemed to insist on a bit of friendly conversation and joking with one of them. Strategically, the red feather in Princess Anne’s hat got in the way of the camera having a direct view of him. Afterwards Princess Anne rode a horse in the parade back to Buckingham Palace. Her new honour solved the problem of what to wear, as she amusingly remarked. She looked very regal, almost like her mother.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Edward and Sophie, looked wonderful, of course.

The King did not look happy throughout. I found it hard not to think that he just wanted to get through it all safely; after all, there was a lot of formality, not just in the ceremony of the coronation, but the public trips to and from the Abbey, and then the appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, and the feast afterwards. All of it would be exhausting really, and he’s over 70, as is his sister Princess Anne.  Perhaps he was wishing his mother was watching him – See me now, Mum (and Dad); aren’t you proud of me (yet)?  He looked serious, dignified, almost as if he was in pain; perhaps he was just trying to hold it all together. His big moment was finally here, and yet what memories he must have had – perhaps of his mother’s coronation 70 years ago; we saw delightful photos of him and Princess Anne being naughty on that occasion. He must have also been remembering his marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales, and how that ended in tears; of her death and funeral;  of his disgraced brother Andrew, and, of course, of his other son, Prince Harry, who married yet another difficult woman, and has betrayed his family so terribly.

We saw King Charles at his most vulnerable, kneeling before the altar, wearing a white shirt, before his anointing (which was screened off).  This reminded me of masonic rituals, although I guess that any induction ceremony or sacrament, whether it be baptism, marriage, or death, or ordination, or something else, requires an element of vulnerability. And I was correct about the crowns: he was crowned king with St Edward’s Crown, which is only used for coronations; otherwise the Imperial Crown is used, although Britain no longer has an Empire. It did when his mother was crowned, although India became independent in 1947, and the African nations were to peel off in subsequent years. When Prince William, Prince of Wales, kissed his father after promising his allegiance, it reminded me of Prince Philip’s sneaky kiss of his mother at her coronation.  The pledge of allegiance, to be undertaken by those watching (another Welby idea), was thankfully dropped. Really, the king has very little power nowadays, although according to the Guardian the British monarch gets to vet all legislation before it’s voted on.

It was noteworthy that a Scottish religious leader presented him with a new Bible, saying that it was the most valuable thing in the world. As with Roman Emperors’ victory processions, there were reminders that life on earth is temporal, yet there was a Latin chant shouting Vivat, and May the King Live Forever! Well, his mama lived for a very long time.  Their prayers were answered, and it truly did feel like the end of an era when she died.

The ceremony had the Eucharist, but for whom, one wonders? Not the congregation; perhaps for some of the religious leaders and the King and Queen. I did see a Communion Chalice being shared, and I froze; there wasn’t a mask to be seen, of course. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a Hindu, did a reading from Philippians 3, about fixing one’s eyes on Christ: I found this quite striking. He seemed to have a speech impediment, a kind of lisp, which I had not noticed before. The hymns, sung by the congregation, were quite wonderful: Christ is made the Sure Foundation, and Praise my soul the King of Heaven. There was nothing in the service I would disagree with, and the emphasis was on God, and service to God. The Archbishop gave a short sermon, with a smile as he began to do so. I think everything was in large print, for the mostly elderly folk who had to say and do things.

One felt for Penny Mordaunt, who had to stand holding something really heavy for what seemed like a long time; it seemed rather unfortunate that she’d chosen to wear a teal-blue outfit, the strong colour not really fitting in with other elegant costumes.

It seemed quite a long ceremony to crown the king, but what about the queen? She was not forgotten, and was crowned with Queen Mary’s crown (I think she was the wife of King George V), which was remade for her, although it looked pretty heavy and seemed to not be placed quite right on her head. It’s an irony that Prince Albert (Queen Victoria’s consort) and Prince Philip (Queen Elizabeth II’s consort) were not crowned, but Queen Camilla and Queen Elizabeth (wife of King George VI and mother of Queen Elizabeth II) were crowned queen; Anne Boleyn was too, well after King Henry VIII’s coronation, and before her beheading. It seems she insisted on being crowned queen, and was disappointed that more people did not come out to cheer her parade.  What tumultuous times those were. That’s very odd, really; women don’t count for much, but if a woman is monarch, then her husband counts for less? I suppose you couldn’t have Albert or Philip being crowned king, could you? How come King counts for more than a Queen?

So it was all quite wonderful, if perhaps a tad – boring?  Prince Louis did not disappoint – the camera caught him yawning, at one point; I did not see him in the service again, so perhaps his mother had someone discreetly remove him?

After the ceremony, and one had to feel for the newly crowned King and Queen negotiating the steps, robes and trains, and those heavy crowns – the King and Queen rode back to Buckingham Palace in a gold coach. Now this, I have to say, reminded me of Disney, with its very ornate, almost rococo, gold roofing.  Mercifully it was covered; the Waleses came in another covered carriage, as did the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and their children.  There was amazing synchronised marching by the forces on the parade back to the Palace. All the messes made by the horses had been cleaned up before the march back to the Palace.

Here’s a link to a video posted by the Waleses:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/royals/300871957/william-and-kate-share-behindthescenes-video-from-kings-coronation

After everyone got back to Buckingham Palace, I went to bed. It was already very late, but I had trouble sleeping after all the excitement.

The Monarchy argument rages again: he’s not my King! Apparently some anti-monarchy protesters were arrested in the leadup to the coronation. I hear these arguments, but, honestly, would you rather have someone like Johnson, Truss, or Luxon as your head of state? The Royal Family are inoffensive, and the Prince and Princess of Wales are rather wonderful. They’re well liked here and in Australia, and loved in Great Britain (and North America). People complain about the costs of royalty, but look at the costs of the American political system!  All the politicians have flights from home to Washington, several staffers, and security.  Then there are the ridiculous costs of American elections. Certainly, the Royal Family’s finances are somewhat opaque, but by and large they’re inoffensive, gracious, sensitive, well-dressed, and behave impeccably. And we all like a good parade, don’t we?

The display of British pomp and ceremony (and a great time with the dressing up box) contrasts with the scene in the US, where there’s been another mass shooting, this time in a Texas outlet mall, with at least 8 killed and 7 injured, before police shot the gunman.  Meanwhile, Trump joins with the J6 “Choir” to sing the US National Anthem, hand on non-existent heart. It seems that in his view woman are there for his pleasure, and don’t exist to be anything in their own right. One presumes, though, that he perhaps views his daughter Ivanka differently?  Whatever the story there, she married a Jewish man and converted to Judaism, so that must have been come kind of rebellion. Didn’t he say “Tom Brady could have been my son-in-law”?  Ivanka’s preference didn’t come into it. In marrying the rather weedy Jared Kushner, she certainly didn’t marry a football player or even a sportsman.

Whatever your faith is, this was a Christian ceremony that made no secret of being Christian, and Anglican, but acknowledged other faiths and had their representatives in attendance. I think that is a rather wonderful example of being tolerant, while being Christian. The US, on the other hand, would claim to be a Christian nation, while some of their absolute judgements seem very unchristian to many others of us. 

Still, although the Abbey’s new blue carpet with a yellow background reminded us of the Ukrainian flag, we could be at peace with this lovely coronation, that went so well.  Long live the King! 

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

Back during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, there were two crowns: the crown of St Edward, and, I think, the Imperial Crown. We went to see the crown jewels in the Tower of London in 1973. I’m not sure which crown King Charles will be crowned with.

Today is Friday April 28^th, 2023. Kia ora!

Today is Friday and someone actually came from Access to do some cleaning. In the afternoon I went over to Seatoun to see my cousin who lives there and her sister who was down from Auckland for a few days. It’s been a lovely fine day, after a cold start. 

This morning I listened to a Lawfare podcast with Roger Parloff talking about the trial of the Proud Boys for insurrection in the January 6 riot; the verdict is now with the jury.  Roger Parloff is good value, in my view. After that, Charlie Sykes was joined on the Bulwark podcast by Lawfare’s Benjamin Wittes for a weekly podcast to break down Trump’s legal woes. I found it very interesting.

It’s now Monday May 1^st.

It’s been a busy few days!  We’ve had glorious weather, for autumn: fine and sunny, with little wind, but cold nights and mornings. On Saturday I was due to attend Singfest at Queen Margaret’s College from 1 till 4 pm.  JD insisted on taking me in, although he had an appointment at 1 pm. Consequently we left home early, and I wasn’t really ready. I missed having lunch! But I did prepare some snacks to take: crackers, biscuits and a drink bottle.  It turned out that the traffic was really heavy on the motorway. Plan B was for him to drop me off in Johnsonville, where I could get an Uber or a taxi; but there were huge queues for the Johnsonville turnoff, so we kept driving. Plan C was to use the Old Hutt Road, so that JD could drop me off and get back on the SH1 motorway, but there were huge queues for the turnoff to the Hutt Valley/Old Hutt Road, so that option was out too.  So we drove on the motorway, and he took the second exit and dropped me off at the top of Murphy Street.  I was happy to walk to QMC, but where to go?  I think I took Turnbull Street, hoping there would be a way through and all the gates to Thorndon School wouldn’t be closed. In the event there was a walkway, with a pink line painted on it; there was a gate, but it opened easily, taking me through to Hobson Crescent.  Thus I got through to Hobson Street, and so to QMC – extremely early.

Eventually the workshop began, in the atrium. It wasn’t a large space, and the seats were very close together. I saved a seat beside me for a friend of mine, who had offered to pick me up, but she brought another friend and they sat somewhere else. The workshop began with a warm up and a very energetic first song, with lots of clapping, foot stamping and dancing.  So all that would have been fine, if we’d had more room! There was some beautiful singing, though, and once again it was nice to sing with strong singers.  We had two breaks, and both times I went outside.  I moved my seat, partly as required for a gospel singing item, and partly to have more room. There was lots of standing. I must say, though, that although QMC claims to be accessible, they could do with far more handrails!  The only one I saw, that I used, had some ghastly mess on it, which soiled my hand and my handkerchief. I tried to wash  my hands in a drinking fountain, but I felt really unclean after that. I expected that JD would pick me up afterwards, but he had an unexpected visit from one of our sons and his daughter, and so wasn’t answering his phone.  I had hoped to go shopping in Thorndon, but my friend gave me a lift home. The traffic was still heavy – because SH58, the Haywards Road, was closed.  She was catching a plane early the next morning, so I felt really guilty about taking her out of her way. But I did get home, and had a cup of coffee and another snack!

What was truly amazing was that I didn’t get a frog in my throat!

The next day I went to church. It was a special occasion, with an special older lady being awarded Elder Emerita, and two baptisms. It was also Harvest Sunday.  In this day and age of plenty, where many of us eat too much food, and agonise over what type of food it is (vegetarian, vegan, organic, gluten-free, and all the allergies), we tend to take it for granted that we have plenty of food to eat. We’re not too worried about the quality or amount of the harvest, in fact many of us are quite removed from it, buying our food at a supermarket of a farmers’ market. After morning tea, there was to be a congregational meeting. The strategic plan (which I had had something to do with) was adopted, and those who were there got into the weeds of shared meals, faith pathways, and Te Reo classes. I put myself down for further discussion about two of these; I’ve summarised what happens at the Khandallah Town Hall for Te Reo Māori classes; I think the Minister has something more formal in mind. I have yet to hear from anyone about these proposed activities. I guess they go some way towards addressing some of my issues!  There is an introduction of Biculturalism in the Mission Statement, which is good.

This morning I was to go to my exercise class in Ngaio, but it seems that most if not all trains on the Johnsonville Line have been cancelled, and there are no bus replacements, so even if JD dropped me off, I had no way of getting home from Ngaio. The #25 bus joins Ngaio Gorge Road at Perth Street, so that’s not really an option.

There were 11,063 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Aotearoa in the week to midnight on Sunday and a further 26 deaths attributed to the virus. The 26 people added to the Covid-19 death tally brings the total number to 2762.

The number of people with the virus in hospital was 265 with eight people in intensive care.

Canterbury, Waitematā, Counties Manukau and Southern recorded the highest number of the country’s cases.

There were 12,383 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Aotearoa the previous week, and a further 20 deaths attributed to the virus.

Last week the Ministry of Health abandoned a long-awaited survey of Covid-19 infections, with a spokesperson saying it was no longer needed.

It’s now Wednesday May 3^rd.

Yesterday I went to Bible Study (Acts 7, speaking about Stephen’s preaching and martyrdom).  This comes after Peter’s preaching, and before the incident with Philip and the eunuch, and before Paul’s Damascene moment. Stephen is so graceful, and perhaps typifies what had happened to Jesus Christ earlier; but he called those he addressed “Stiff necked”. That didn’t go down well, it seems, and Stephen was stoned to death. It struck me that there were great times of conversion, and baptism, contrasted with Paul’s persecution of the saints, before he became a servant of Christ. 

This morning I got up early to go to hymn singing. It was lovely, as it always is.  This afternoon I met an old friend and we had a lovely conversation over coffee.

That evening I read in the Guardian that 6 Libyans are facing death penalty for converting to Christianity. They’re a threat, it’s supposed.

It’s now Saturday May 6^th.

Has it been consequential? I went to my other singing group on Thursday morning, and had lunch with a friend afterwards. On Friday someone came from Access to do some cleaning – wonderful.  For our evening meal, which JD was supposed to cook, we had a semi-instant pasta meal, where you didn’t have to cook the pasta first; you mixed in the sauce and heated it in the microwave. It was edible, but there wasn’t a great deal of it.

In the US, in summary: four Proud Boys have been convicted of seditious conspiracy; the hard-to-watch trial of Donald Trump for the rape of E. Jean Carroll continues; the evidence has now been presented.  This morning I watched an excruciating tape on Youtube about Trump’s evidence, where he claimed that a photo of his second wife, Marla Maples, represented E. Jean Carroll, having claimed that Carroll wasn’t “his type”, whatever that means. Trump’s and his lawyer Joe Tacopina’s attitudes are disturbing: basically, that Carroll didn’t react straightaway, by screaming or going to the police.  I imagine she was totally shocked, as a moment of fun and flirting, in a semi-public place, suddenly turned into a sexual assault.  Trump’s attitude seemed to be that any woman would desire him – she had no choice in the matter; she wasn’t given a chance to say “I don’t fancy you”. We’re brought up not to hurt anyone, but with some guys one has to be very direct; even then, some think that a woman really wants them, and that “No” really means “Yes”.  So that has been quite upsetting.

The news about Supreme Court judges having payments and benefits from wealthy right-wing donors just gets worse and worse.

In London, things are heating up for the Coronation of King Charles.  While this has been slow to excite people, here and abroad, many of us are getting excited now.  Many avowed republicans are keen to watch – for the ceremony; that reminds me of men who claimed to read Playboy for the articles. Ah well, the Brits will put on a good show, and it will be well worth watching, I think; there’s been a suitable gap since the Queen’s platinum jubilee, and then her funeral, a few months later.  People like ex-Tory Cabinet Minister Rory Stewart talked about hiring his Privy Councillor’s uniform (costume?), complete with feathered hat.  It seems, though, that Archbishop Justin Welby advocated that those watching the ceremony swear the oath of allegiance at home, or wherever they are. That has caused distress and people vowing that they won’t swear allegiance to King Charles. In the past, dukes had to swear allegiance to the monarch, so that he could count on their loyalty; “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”, said Shakespeare, who wrote several plays about monarchy. It evidently fascinated him. Welby has said some strange things lately, and there seems to be a huge split in the Anglican Church over the blessing of gay marriages. 

Anyway, most of us are keen to watch the ceremony, as long as we can stay awake!  What will the Princess of Wales wear? And will she wear a tiara? What will everyone else wear?

It’s hard to know what’s happening in Ukraine, apart from probable lies, suffering, and continuing brutality.  That’s it for now.  I hope to stay up watching the coronation tonight, although I expect by about 1 am tomorrow I’ll be happy to go to sleep, and watch the rest later.  Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

No caption required.

It’s now Tuesday April 25 2023, Anzac Day. Kia ora!

April in Māori is Paengawhawha! Isn’t that wonderful?

Yesterday I went to my exercise class at the Ngaio Union Church.  I felt very guilty about not having been there the last few weeks, but claimed my autumnal asthma as an excuse.  It’s also a hard place to get to!  But it was lovely, of course, and I enjoyed coffee and an Anzac biscuit afterwards. I must admit I prefer Anzac biscuits as they traditionally were in the Edmonds cookbook, unadulterated with chocolate, or cranberries, and not too thick. Chocolate and cranberries are fine, but Anzac biscuits are special, and don’t need them. They have no eggs, either!

After a cold, wet start yesterday it became fine and warm if rather windy. I caught the train back from Ngaio and JD picked me up at the Johnsonville Library. I was very tired after the exercise class.

Last night we watched the film Children of Men on Prime Television.  It’s a very dystopian vision of a future where women are infertile; the frequent advertisements were mostly for McDonalds. I found them extremely annoying.

On Sunday night we watched the film Vice on Eden. As if we needed reminding if just how awful Dick Cheney is.  While he doesn’t want to see Trump as president again, he helped create the conditions that led to Trump’s appeal to millions of Americans.

Yesterday the Covid 19 report came out, and I didn’t even notice!  It wasn’t quite as bad as the previous week’s one.

I actually slept well last night. I woke up to the news that Tucker Carlson has left Fox, and CNN have got rid of Don Lemon.  CNN have got rid of/failed to renew the contracts of several people lately, all on the liberal side: Fareed Zakaria, Bill Smerconish, Don Lemon, someone else who’s name I can’t remember right now (I think it was Brian Stelter).  CNN videos regularly came up on my Youtube feed; they don’t now. I have to work quite hard to find Jake Tapper or James Acosta, even. Erin Burnett, female and white, comes up quite often.

This morning I listened to Charlie Sykes’ Bulwark podcast, but evidently when it was recorded the news about Tucker hadn’t broken – it wasn’t mentioned. Will there be more emergency podcasts, I wonder? It’s being discussed on Nicole Wallace’s Deadline Whitehouse. How will politicians like Ron de Santis and Donald Trump react? I’m wondering in particular how Ron de Santis will react. What a delicious quandary! Where will Tucker go?  His evil work was done, perhaps, or was he too much of a risk to Rupert Murdoch’s media empire?  Did Trump ask him to get rid of Carlson? Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck and now Carlson have gone, and the rather wonderful Chris Wallace and not so wonderful Shep Smith but Rupert Murdoch remains, and the Fox news no longer claims to be “fair and balanced”; rather, it’s gotten worse and worse.  So what’s Murdoch after, other than more power and more money?  What if he were to support left-wing liberal outlets?  But Carlson has gone, he’s already presented his last program, and he doesn’t get to say goodbye, not on Fox, anyway.

Rupert Murdoch has made some odd moves lately, leading some to wonder if the nonagenarian is losing his reasoning powers: he’s divorced his fourth wife, Jerry Hall, by text; he was engaged, and then broke it off, after buying a very expensive engagement ring; and he didn’t settle earlier with Dominion, who were suing Fox for $1.4 billion USD  The Guardian had an interesting story about him recently, reminding us of how much damage he’s done:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/23/rupert-murdoch-was-ever-a-master-strategist-but-hes-beginning-to-lose-his-grip

There are lots of stories about him, but I was horrified to learn how Margaret Thatcher had abetted his moving his media empire into the UK, before his US move. It all seems incredibly cynical. 

I recently answered a Labour Party questionnaire, about how the coming election campaign might be effective. It was nice to be asked, but I felt increasingly out of touch with concerns that younger people might have. But I did answer it, and of course the main issues remain: child poverty, the need for comfortable, affordable housing, the climate, of course: and just being a kind and decent human being, with opportunities for all, not just the privileged few.  While many people may be tired of a Labour Government and long for a change, I think many have forgotten what a National Government is like. If they’re in coalition with Act, it will be even worse.  Anyway, there’s been a change of Prime Minister, and Chippy seems to be doing just fine, while Luxon seems unable to say anything effective. I miss former Prime Minister Ardern so very much, but some of that toxicity that she aroused in protesters has gone, although Chippy was at her side as Covid Minister. Ah well, what it is to be a male, albeit a separated one. I don’t even know what his religious affiliation, if any, is.

With regard to Ukraine, there’s some news.  Putin has cancelled commemorations for the Russian victory over Nazi Germany in what it calls The Great Patriotic War. This is huge: the commemorations are enormous, as is the propaganda; (I recently found out that the great tank battle at Kursk came several months after the Battle of Stalingrad).  It’s said that Putin fears that there may be protests against his special military action in Ukraine, and also fears upsetting Russian citizens about the deaths of their men, and the cost of this action. It has also transpired that the Wagner group have been ordered to shoot any Ukrainian forces that surrender, rather than taking them prisoner. That, too, is shocking news.

We return now to Carlson’s exit from Fox – not a dignified one. Journalists and comedians are already having great fun with this, in particular, Seth Myers and Desi Lydic on The Daily Show. I can’t resist including links:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVTyTA7-g9nopHeHbeuvpRA

Jimmy Kimmel was very funny too, with his “Mother Tucker” piece:

Tucker’s manic giggle will long be remembered, hopefully more than the crazy things he said.  One will also remember his fawning interview with Trump after Trump was indicted, and of course Tucker’s texts: “I hate him passionately”. Well, Trump was certainly good at destroying things, as Tucker noted, in fact he may also have destroyed Tucker’s so-called career, as well as any credibility he may have had.  It’s hard to feel sorry for Tucker. In fact many people are feeling maliciously happy.

Evidently the jury members are to be chosen on Tuesday (that would be tomorrow, in the US), in the E. Jean Carroll rape trial; there’s no news of that. However Fani Willis, District Attorney of Fulton County in Georgia, has announced that she will announce charges in the coming northern summer. Ho hum, a lot of American excitement is over something that may happen in the future, if the Georgia state government don’t get rid of Fani Willis in the meantime.

It’s now Wednesday April 26^th.

This morning I got up early (after quite a good night) to go to hymn singing. I should mention that last night we watched the latest episode of Succession on Neon. The three younger dastardly Roy siblings (plus their hangers-on, Tom, Shiv’s ex-husband, and cousin Greg) and their business team go to a Norwegian retreat to bargain with the seriously rich and seriously weird dude who would buy Waystar Royco.  There are scary scenes of gondola lifts and impossible heights, and other general weirdness, somewhat countering the pathogen that is (or rather was) Logan Roy, as Gerri puts it. Kendal Roy seems to have lost his coke habit and become a serious person, quite a change in his character. He now makes his brother Roman and his sister Shiv seem less than his equals, not that that’s setting the bar very high.

Anyway, hymn singing was lovely, as always. Afterwards I caught a bus into town, where it was drizzling quite heavily and it was quite cold. I got out my hat and gloves, and wished I’d worn a warmer jacket. I walked along Abel Smooth Street, crossing Cuba Steet safely, to the Southern Cross. I had good memories of this establishment, but it was pretty dark. I had to ask someone where the gallery was. I found my way there, “past the chandelier”, but it was tricky to see the paintings, which were hard to see because of a long table in the room. Still, I enjoyed seeing them. I knew two of the artists, Helen Wilson and John McConnell, and I’d heard them speak about Judy Langham. I enjoyed seeing them all. I could have stayed at the Southern Cross for morning tea – they had plenty of scones – but it was so dark and unwelcoming that I walked away. Outside it was still cold and wet, and I made my way down Cuba Street to the Manners Street bus stop. I caught a bus to Willis Street, and went to one of my favourite cafés, Smith the Grocer, and had a toasted cheese scone and a long black coffee. They do the best cheese scones ever!

After this I went to Wishbone in the James Cook Arcade, and bought sandwiches for lunch, a chocolate slice and an Afghan biscuit, and a risotto for dinner. Then I went to Strands to check out the luggage. They are having a sale until 14 May, but even so, it’s bewildering. I decided, wisely, that I’d have to think about it. I’d really like some new luggage, but I feel guilty, having suitcases already, although they’re well used, and I did give one to my daughter. Further thought is required.

This afternoon JD and I completed our vaccinations. I had my Covid 19 jab – the fifth one, I think – the co-valent one, and JD had both that and the flu vaccine.

Yesterday I was sent some photos of my daughter and friends at the Clive War Memorial and the Taradale War Memorial. I know the Taradale one, having driven past it many times, but I have never been to the Clive one, I’m ashamed to say. But I was struck again by the enormous sacrifice made by New Zealand in both wars, sending young men (and women too, as nurses) to battle grounds and trenches far far away. 135 men or boys went from Clive to the First World War, and 25 of them were killed in action. In the Second World War, Clive sent 136, two of whom were nurses. Of these, 15 were killed. And this is just Clive, not Napier, Hastings, Havelock North, Taradale, and other outlying towns, of which there are many. The Hōhepa folk had made a beautiful plaque for a memorial.

In the US, Joe Biden is they say running for re-election as President in 2024. They say he’s running, but it has to be metaphorical, at his age! I think I’m pleased, but I just hope nothing happens to him.

The pundits are still wondering just why Tucker Carlson was fired – defenestrated by Fox.  There is speculation that the Abby Grossman legal action is responsible; that disclosures made as part of the Dominion lawsuit were upsetting; that he was too rude to his bosses; that his general work environment was disgustingly disgusting; and that the members of his team rejoiced at his departure.  Misogynistic, racist and antisemitic as he was, he was not bigger than the network. I still wonder if Trump was responsible. And what is Kevin McCarthy to do now? Didn’t he give hours of January 6 insurrection tapes to Carlson, who minimised the terrible nature of this riot. One commentator noted that other Fox hosts did not follow in acquiescing with his interpretation. What happens to these tapes now?

And Trump’s rape case against E Jean Carroll continues. What to deal with first?

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

Caravaggio’s The Incredulity of St Thomas

It’s now Sunday April 16^th, 2023. Kia ora!

Yesterday we went shopping in the afternoon, and had lunch at Smith the Grocer café.  I had a salmon bagel, which unusually had quite a lot of red onion. We shared a beautiful cheesecake – raspberry and white chocolate. The kitchen was closed, so we couldn’t indulge our preferences, for avocado on toast with dukkha and an omelette.  We also bought a new mattress topper, from Wallace Cotton, who were having a sale.  This is a bit of luxury, but it is Oh so comfortable. I had slept on one when we stayed in Geelong in January, and I’m completely sold.  You can’t get them in shops here (well, I tried the Warehouse, Farmers, Briscoes and Bed, Bath and Beyond and none of them had one). It gave us a chance to air and change the bedding: sheets, duvet cover, and something to cover the new duck down mattress topper.  I am alarmed to realise the duvet inner we are using is well over 35 years old! It must be due for replacement. (I have since found another one that we can use).

I am relieved that the bus stops at Wellington Railway Station interchange have been fixed at last, I trust. The front one, stop A, has a hospital symbol (a cross within a circle, I think, but I couldn’t find one!), stope B has an aeroplane, and boasts the new Airport bus; and stops C (Brooklyn) and D are presumably for the others

Last night we watched Bernie on Te Whakaata Māori, a strange film starring Jack Black and Sally Field, based on a true story, evidently.

Today is a lovely fine day, although it was a cold start this morning, with some condensation. Despite the new mattress topper, I was quite cold (it was only 7 degrees C), and it was hard to believe the mercury would climb to 19 degrees C.  There were not nearly as many people at church as last Sunday. I was privileged to read from Acts 2, Peter’s first sermon, where he speaks about Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, as predicted by David in Psalm 16. Jesus is presented as being a descendant of King David, although actually has was born of the Holy Spirit. It must have been quite an ask for Joseph to accept this baby as his first-born son, when he and Mary were not actually yet married.  The Gospel text was from John’s Gospel 20: 19 – 31.  The Order of Service was a bit mixed up, as though several files had been copied and pasted.  The problem with my reading (Acts 2:14 and 22 – 32) was that the lines were quite wide, and I sometimes confuse the beginning of the next line.  I used another sheet of paper to mark each line as I went. What a beautiful text to read.

I caught buses home, and in between buses I picked up a book on reserve at the library: A Heart Full of Headstones, by Ian Rankin.  I’ll add this to the pile of books on the go: my beautiful book about Ravenna, Huia Come Home, Seasons in Tuscany, A History of the Khandallah Church, and The View in Winter. Sometimes, though, it’s just too much effort to read and I’d rather listen.

It’s now Monday April 17^th.

It’s fine and sunny today, but it’s not a great day for me. I should have gone to my exercise class this morning, but I didn’t feel up to it. Instead I listened to an item on Youtube featuring Tom Holland, Why I Changed my mind about Christianity. I found this very powerful. I recently read Tom Holland’s Dominion, and wrote about it myself. Here’s a link to Tom’s lecture:

The introduction is in Romanian, but the lecture is in English.

Today the Covid 19 report comes out. It is as follows: there were 14,242 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Aotearoa in the week to midnight on Sunday, and a further 21 deaths related to the virus. Another report says 32 virus related deaths. The 21 people added to the Covid-19 death tally brings the total number to 2716 people.

Of the new cases last week, 6061 were reinfections, according to the figures from the Ministry of Health today.

There were also 363 people with Covid-19 in hospital as of midnight Sunday, with nine cases in ICU. The seven-day rolling average of cases is 2029.

Last week 12,129 new cases were reported and eight further deaths were attributed to the coronavirus.

Professor Michael Baker says New Zealand is experiencing a fourth wave of Covid 19. So that’s that.

It’s now Thursday April 20^th.

On Tuesday morning I went to a Bible Study; some of us had morning tea afterwards. in the afternoon I had a dental check up. It was quite intense – it was late on the afternoon, and I figure it cost about $15 per minute. Still and all, nothing amiss was found apart from some plaque.  I watched something on the television that corroborated the Lenten series I attended about early Christianity in the Bay of Islands.

On Wednesday morning it was raining heavily, but I got up early to go to hymn singing. It seemed to be still dark as we drove to Khandallah, but there was little traffic – it’s the second week of the school holidays. There weren’t so many of us there, but it was lovely, as always.

Afterwards I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch, but there was an urgent change to arrangements: our grandchildren came, and we took them to McDonalds for lunch. It certainly wasn’t my first choice, but actually there weren’t many people there, once we’d navigated our way through the heavy rain, the parking lot, and the gas station to Maccas.  Once there, there was a complicated new (to us!) ordering system.  It was complicated, but it made sense. Sadly, we got to the end, and to payment, when there was something wrong with our order. So it had to be done all over again.  Still, it came quite quickly, and I enjoyed my peach flavoured iced tea. JD asked for a medium “long black”:  ha ha! It was certainly long, and black, but I don’t think it was what he expected. The secret of a “long black” is the crema, and the fact that it’s small, as opposed to a ristretto, which is tiny. 

Afterwards we went to the Johnsonville Shopping Centre where the children spent some time at EB Games, which is to close soon.

This morning I went to a Te Reo Māori class in Khandallah. We learnt about Anzac Day, and I really enjoyed it. Somehow I felt more in tune with what we were doing. Afterwards I was going to catch a number 24 bus to Johnsonville, but the bus stop has been moved for a few days!  Instead I caught a train from the Box Hill station. The station is fine, but it’s risky crossing the busy road to get to it with no pedestrian crossing!  I caught the train, and then a bus home. After that, we had lunch at Simmer Café – we shared a pizza (much nicer than commercial pizza chains), and I enjoyed a lime and passionfruit tart. Then we picked up my bracelet that we’d bought at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport Duty Free area. The bracelet had broken less than a month after we bought it, but it’s fixed now, and it’s nice to have it back. It was a birthday present.

It’s now Friday April 21^st.

This morning I met an old friend for coffee. As it was  drizzling, and JD couldn’t take me, I caught the bus. It was lovely to see her again.

There are things happening in US  politics which I should mention, alas.  Fox News decided to settle its lawsuit with Dominion, at the last minute, as the trial was just beginning. Fox News agreed to pay Dominion a large sum, $787.5 million dollars. That’s a large sum for most of us, but many American viewers feel cheated, not seeing the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson, and others testify under oath, i.e. hopefully tell the truth. Apparently Biden is to announce his run for a second term as president; Ron de Santis is facing increasing negative perceptions about his ability to go up against Trump for the Republican nomination; thus far, there isn’t really anyone else in this competition;  and Trump faces increasing legal peril, including E. Jean Carroll’s rape case in Manhattan. Trump is not going to attend, so he says. I can’t see people flocking to a Ron de Santis rally, as they did to a Trump rally. He doesn’t seem to have that people power. And there are more and more senseless killings and woundings from gun violence.  Folk are pro-life and pro-guns: just how does that make any sense?

A US Supreme Court ruling has halted a Trump-appointed judge’s ruling against the abortion drug, mifepristone.  It’s so ironic that one of the reasons against the drug was that it may cause bleeding and cramping; well, as if birth itself does not cause that! Fancy! The Rev Al Sharpton made a lovely point on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that the little blue pill commonly used by men to achieve an erection would by no means be banned; indeed, unwanted pregnancies have nothing whatsoever to do with the male who fathered the embryo. Astonishingly, he has no rights and no responsibilities at all; apparently has nothing to do with the pregnancy, or the avoidance thereof. Really, the US is a wonderful, and a terrible place. And many Americans are wonderful people.  Just don’t discuss politics with them.

In other big news, Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket blew up shortly after being launched (it cost a great deal of money, but I can’t find out how much now).  He’s also made some change to Twitter, which are seen as being negative. In the UK the Deputy Prime Minister (how could he be deputy PM?) Dominic Raab has resigned, after a report to the Prime Minister about his bullying. I wonder who they’ll get next? Be careful what you wish for: the dreadful Priti Patel, who was also accused of bullying, was replaced by the even more toxic Suella Braverman as Home Secretary. We thought Al Qaeda was terrible, but then Isis came along.  Meanwhile, we’re counting down the days to the coronation, to occur in a few days’ time.  One feels rathe sorry for Charles, and then one doesn’t.  Let’s keep the traditions, the tiaras, and the jewellery:  and forget about slavery, colonialism, adultery, faithless children, unseemly wealth, and so on. 

In Sudan, dreadful fighting continues.  In Ukraine, dreadful fighting continues, but on a different note the Russians managed to bomb Belgorod, a city in Russia, i.e. one of their own cities. 

It’s now Sunday April 23^rd.

This morning I went to church, and tried to follow the readings in my Māori-language Bible on my phone.  Yes, I’ve downloaded a Bible Society version of the Bible in Māori – Te Paipera Tapu. It all helps with learning familiarity with Te Reo.  We sang Whakaaria Mai/How Great Thou Art in both English and Māori, and we had both the organ and the piano playing for several hymns.

The texts were again Acts 2: 14, 37-41, and Luke 24: 13-31. It’s the third Sunday of Easter, and we’re still learning about Jesus revealing himself to his disciples after he rose from the dead. In this Gospel reading he’s going for a walk; it’s notable that those close to him saw him several times, walking, eating, and doing human things, before he was caught up to Heaven. I must admit that I come out of church wishing to write about it, but of course time goes by and it’s hard to get back into the mood. It was nice when the Order of Service was printed, as it served to jog one’s memory, as well as advising what to expect. I admired the art work used to describe the sermon! Of course, we have a power point overhead, but it’s hard to remember it all.

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

A variety of Easter Eggs

It’s now Saturday April 8^th, 2023. Kia ora!

There’s lots of news out of the US. While I try not to let it eclipse important other things, like the fact that it’s still Holy Week, as well as the initial indictment of Trump on 34 (!) felony charges, it’s been revealed that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has benefitted from huge donations and trips from a republican donor, that were undeclared; Mike Pence has agreed to testify (to the January 6 Committee?) after all, two black democrat representatives have been expelled from the Tennessee legislature, and a Texan judge has invalidated the CDC’s approval of the abortion drug, mifepristone. How does all this even happen?  I listened to a Bulwark podcast yesterday where Charlie Sykes spoke to a reporter who gave a terrifying picture of Trump supporters who are armed and have been “given permission” to be nasty, to say nasty things, to be racist, and implicitly, to rough people up. Some pastor referred to his gun as his “rod and staff” (Psalm 23). I’m sure the Good Lord did not intend that we would protect ourselves from other parishioners with arms! Mind you, Charlie is conflicted himself: he frequently appears on MSNBC, as do other Bulwark characters (Tim Miller, Mona Charen, Bill Kristol), and is rather rude about the MSNBC green room. He really wishes that republicans would go back to – what, exactly? What is “true conservatism” any more? Everything has changed, as pointed out by the white woman, a former teacher, who was not expelled from the Tennessee legislature. By the way, the three Democrat representatives were protesting about guns, and their ease of access, given that just days ago there had been a mass shooting at a Nashville Presbyterian school, and three nine-year olds and three adults had been shot dead – with an AR15, which now seems to be the weapon of choice. The brave white woman democrat had previously survived a school shooting! I think that’s the bulk of it. There are still podcasts giving reaction to Trump’s indictment; I am so glad that I don’t live in the US, wonderful and terrible as it is. The Texas judge’s ruling about the abortion pill has only just come out, although it’s been expected for some time. It seems so ironic to me that the pro-life (i.e. anti-abortion) brigade don’t seem to care about destroying existing lives or fertility, be it that of the mother with an ectopic pregnancy or another life-threatening condition, or doctors who would treat such women and provide safe abortion care.

Actually it’s the 25^th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement over Northern Ireland, which was just huge. The Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuiness, two men with extremely different views, somehow came together and the violence, religious and political, that had characterised Northern Ireland and Great Britain, for the most part, came to an end. This was immortalised in the film The Journey. The Guardian had a very interesting podcast where a mother and her daughter (born 25 years ago) both spoke. The mother spoke about the gauntlet she navigated just to get to school, and how she was used to the violence, and thought it would never stop. Here’s a link:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/audio/2023/apr/07/peace-babies-and-the-birth-of-the-good-friday-agreement-podcast

In February 2010 we visited Leeds Castle, in Kent, where the Good Friday Agreement was signed.

In Napier, my daughter is painting eggs for Easter. Last year she painted eggs with masks on! This year there’s no need for masks, unless you go to a chemist or a medical centre. One of my sons is visiting Napier with his family, and they plan to go bowling!

It’s now Easter Sunday April 9^th, 2023. He is Risen!

Today is a beautiful fine day in Wellington, after a cold start.  There is a good turnout at church (I don’t know how many came to the 7 am Dawn Service).  It was lovely; JD brought me and a friend brought me home.  I felt the warmth of great friends there. Anyway, the sermon was about the joy of the risen Christ, and about our being commanded to spread the good news, that salvation is open to all on earth who believe in Jesus Christ.

The friend who gave me a lift home is another Marilynne Robinson reader!  I checked in my book room for any of her four novels, but I couldn’t find them – I’ve either given them away or got them from the library. She’s written five novels: Housekeeping (made into a film in 1987 and shown on the then Māori Television), Gilead, Home, Lila, and Jack.  The last four are related, although you can read them individually, of course.  The down-to-earth Christianity espoused in Gilead, in particular, related very strongly to the Christianity I was brought up with.

In the afternoon we went to see a painting exhibition at the Academy Gallery on Queens Wharf. It was very quiet there; very quiet in Wellington city, actually.

I have been watching a lot of Ozark on Netflix.

It’s now Monday April 10^th.

I watched a sermon by Bishop Robert Barron for the Easter, It was entitled “Let Christianity be Weird”. It was a wonderful sermon, as his Easter ones always are, but he mentioned that he had been speaking to Tom Holland, the author of Dominion, which I have recently read. He spoke about his wearing of a cross pendant, and of the enormous influence of Jesus’ crucifixion on the world.  Here’s a link:

I also listened to another Bulwark podcast (The Next Level), featuring Frank Bruni, an American journalist and op-ed writer.  He used to feature on the weekly The Argument podcast with Michelle Goldberg and Ross Douthat. Their differing opinions and intelligence made for very interesting listening. I was sorry when Jane Coaston took over. I no longer listen to this podcast. Anyway, Frank Bruni had a stroke at the age of 52, and permanently lost the sight in one eye. He’s written a book about this: The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found.  He spoke eloquently on the shock of having a stroke which damaged his optic nerve and losing his sight in one eye (with the potential to have another stroke and lose sight in the other), and the later transformation to give thanks that things weren’t worse for him, and a different appreciation of losing one’s capabilities as one ages. One of his issues is memory loss. He’s quite open about this.  I have some blank spots in my memory, too, which have been a source of great embarrassment.

It’s interesting how Easter is celebrated in different countries.  In the US, Good Friday isn’t a public holiday; the Bulwark podcast was delivered as usual.  That seems odd to me!  On my Youtube feed, there isn’t much in the way of celebration. I have listened to Bach’s St Matthew Passion, again, and that keeps coming up on my phone. Is the celebration diminished, or is it just that stuff’s not coming up for me? Actually, I wrote about the troubles in Israel; of course, they celebrate Passover now, and many Christians eat a Passover meal too. But Easter and Ramadan don’t have the same significance for Jewish people as they do for Christians and Muslims, respectively.

I have been listening to The Rest is History podcast – their series is currently about the Black Prince, the 100 Years’ War, and the character of chivalry. The Order of St George of the Garter is one of the highest honours the reigning English monarch can bestow, and yet no one would now expect the recipients to go off and be a super-hero in war (or would they?)  The tradition of knightly chivalry (not a woman’s world at all) is still alive and well in the British Royal Family. I think that nobles are required to swear allegiance to their new monarch; an interesting question, in this day and age. Still, King Charles III seems pretty harmless. Queen Camilla, on the other hand, should take another name, in my view!  Queen Camilla will always remind us that he preferred Camilla Parker-Bowles over the troubled but extremely beautiful Princess Diana to whom (however unwisely) he was married, and who was the mother of his two sons.

It’s now Wednesday April 12^th.

Yesterday I went to a Bible study, and had coffee with two friends afterwards. This morning I got up early to go to hymn singing, and then caught a bus into town. I resisted the impulse to buy another book at Unity Books (Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead and Ben McIntyre’s Operation Pedestal were contenders), but I bought a birthday card for my eldest granddaughter – in Māori!

This week the latest Covid 19 numbers were reported.  It was a public holiday on Monday (Easter Monday), so the report was published yesterday.

There were 12,129 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Aotearoa in the week to midnight Sunday, and a further eight deaths. The eight people added to the Covid-19 death tally brings the total number to 2695 people.

Of the new cases last week – nearly half were reinfections – 4973, according to the figures from the Ministry of Health today.

There were also 219 people with Covid-19 in hospital as of midnight Sunday, with seven cases in ICU. The seven-day rolling average of cases is just down at 1729.

Last week 2202 new cases were reported and 25 further deaths attributed to the coronavirus.

The government has decided to retain the 7 day isolation requirement for the Covid 19 infected people for a further two months. As usual, with Covid 19 restrictions, there are voices urging to get rid of isolation requirements, and others to keep them.

In town I had a beautiful toasted cheese scone with my first coffee of the day at Smith the Grocer, then I visited a jeweller to get my bracelet fixed – it was my birthday present, and we bought it duty-free in Melbourne!

I also got a pair of sneakers from the Hush Puppies shop – they were having a sale, and it was too good to ignore comfortable shoes that fit me well.

It’s now Thursday April 13^th.

This morning I was to see a movie with a friend. We caught the 10 am train from Johnsonville to Wellington, and then tracked through the tunnel to catch a No. 83 bus to Lower Hutt. We got off in Jackson St, and arrived at the Lighthouse Cinema in Beach St with time to have coffee before the movie. We saw Driving Madeleine, a French movie. It was great fun, with French spoken slowly enough to understand, for the most part, but the key character had a very sad life, and there was some distressing domestic violence.  I’m glad I saw it, but it could have been quite upsetting. The review and the trailer did not indicate this. Still, I’m glad I saw it.

It’s now Friday April 14^th.

Last night we watched a movie called Inside Man. I think I’ve seen it before. This morning someone from Access was due to come and do some housework. She was rostered to come last Friday – Good Friday – but Access rang me on Wednesday to say that she’d come on Thursday before Good Friday instead. Well. Thursdays are no good for me, as I’ve told them several times. So I had to cancel. As she was rostered to come today, I changed the towels, put two loads of washing on, folded JD’s washing, and did some general tidying up. I had an Art Group meeting, but decided not to go as the cleaning lady was due to come. Well, by 2:18 pm she still hasn’t come, and I wish I’d gone to the Art Group meeting.   That’s just so annoying. It’s almost impossible to talk to these people, and I suppose the arrangement will be reviewed in May – am I better yet?  Sadly, not. But whatever I say to whoever rings me (always someone different), doesn’t get translated to the person who comes to my house.

Internet access has been really poor here lately. I hope I don’t need a new phone – I think our Wi-Fi is dodgy sometimes. As it’s slow on my PC too, I suspect the connection, but it’s really annoying.

I’ll leave it there. IN Ukraine, fighting grinds on. I wish there could be an honourable peace.  Still and all, there are some advantages to living in New Zealand, even though it’s so far away – from anywhere!  Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper in Milan (seen in 2010)

It’s now Sunday April 2^nd, 2023, Palm Sunday. Kia ora!

This morning I went to church. Last night we turned our clocks back one hour, it was the end of Daylight Saving here. We are plunged into shorter days and darkness.  Sadly, last night the movie on Te Whakaata Māori was Marley and Me.  It wasn’t a great movie but JD likes Jennifer Aniston.  I didn’t sleep that well and accordingly listened to lots of podcasts.  One of them, Lawfare’s Rational Security podcast, had the co-hosts in discussion with Benjamin Wittes. One of their topics (this podcast was recorded before the Trump indictment announcement), was Trump’s choice to go to Waco for a rally on the thirtieth anniversary of the disaster there.  Although I remember this incident, the co-hosts were children or young people, as in the 2003 invasion of Iraq; consequently, their attitudes are coloured by not having lived through it. Ben Wittes quoted some wag who advised not to worship in a compound, and not to believe the leader is the Messiah, if the Bible is true. 

Last night it rained, but it became fine during the day, and it’s not cold.  At church, the organist and the pianist played together, which was quite wonderful, as they’re not seated close to each other. Quite a bit of practice must have been required! At church we were reminded of the distinction between Palm Sunday, and Jesus’s procession to Jerusalem, and His Passion on the Cross, as we head into Holy Week or Passion Week. The texts were Philippians 2: 1-11 and Matthew 27: 11 – 26, about Barabbas being released instead of Jesus, although Pontius Pilate could find no evil in him.  At Sunday School, the children had a Passover Meal, and we shared the leftovers after the service.  The Minister gave me a copy of Huia Come Home by J. Ruka to read, about the introduction of Christianity to Māori. I read several pages on my way home. There was confusion between me and JD as to whether he could pick me up or not, but as my usual bus was cancelled I caught a bus into Wellington Railway Station, and then caught a train to Johnsonville, and a bus after that. I managed to fit in a flu vaccine at Johnsonville Shopping Centre along the way.  As a child, I loved the huia. I had a pad with the huia (even then extinct) on the cover; it took a long time to get through one pad, and they featured native birds on the frontispiece, back in the day.

I have been reading an interview between Jon Meacham, historian and friend of President Biden, and David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker magazine. Thankfully, for once, I was allowed to read this one!  It was well worth reading. Meacham spoke about the current state of American politics, i.e. the hold Trump has over the Republican Party and millions of Americans.  To many of us, this does not make any sense at all, except to be thankful that I don’t live there, and none of my family currently lives there.

It’s now Monday April 3^rd.

This morning I went to the movies with a friend of mine. We saw Red, White and Brass – a movie about a Tongan brass band at the Rugby World Cup in 2011. It was a very good movie!  Afterwards, we went to Kaffee Eis in Wellington’s Cuba St before catching a bus home. It was raining heavily in the morning, but in the afternoon it was just drizzling.

Then  weekly Covid 19 report came our today. The numbers are still pretty awful; it’s not going away any time soon; there are still thousands of reinfections, and too many deaths.

It reads as follows: there are 12,202 new infections, and 5,149 of them are reinfections. There’ve been 25 further deaths, and there are 220 people in hospital, with 9 in Intensive Care.

It’s now Tuesday April 4^th.

Last night I watched an episode of Succession on my laptop.  Well, there are no guns, but there’s plenty of bad language, and actually the clothes aren’t great, Still, it’s mesmerizing, in a strange kind of way.  I guess it makes me grateful not to be part of One of Those Families, although I have to admit the theme music is amazingly entrancing.

This morning I went to Bible Study. I sometimes go, sometimes not; it’s always different, but like most things, it takes a while to find one’s feet. This morning we were looking at Acts 10: 34 – 43, not Pentecost, but the opening up of the early church to all Christians. It comes after the conversion of Paul, the Damascene moment of Acts 9, and again states the coming of the Holy Spirit.  We talked about speaking in tongues! Most of us are really sceptical about this, but we had a good discussion. Afterwards, I did some shopping.

It’s autumn here, and it’s a really strange time for me.  My allergies are worse, for some reason; I think I’m better in winter, although I’ve enjoyed the fine weather without it being too warm. But I feel unaccountably sad, at this time. The reason why, eludes me.  But I have a strange, sad feeling; the end of daylight saving plunges us into darkness, or shorter days; the sky is a strange place, and perhaps it reminds me of something sad in my past, but I don’t know what, exactly. 

It’s now Wednesday April 5^th.

This morning I got up early to go to hymn singing. It was beautiful, and we had a great turnout. We sang “O Sacred Head Sore Wounded” and “Ah Holy Jesu how hast thou Offended” to tunes from Bach’s St Matthew Passion, the latter being the tune from the final, beautiful chorus.

Here’s a recording:

Afterwards, noting that Trump had in fact appeared in court as required, I actually managed to ignore much of the hullabaloo.  In the afternoon, I note that Trump’s speech from Mar-a-Lago is highlighted, while I cannot find Alvin Bragg’s presser. I noted, however, that the journalists around Trump Tower outnumbered the protesters, and Marjorie Taylor Greene’s address was drowned out.  She was there for ten minutes, apparently. There were protesters on both sides – for and against the indictment. Yes, America, this is a big moment, but one would like to ask: Just When Will you Grow up?  I’ve been listening to an American Scandal podcast series about a 1950’s attempt to bring about the downfall of a democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran.  This is all so upsetting.  MSNBC are covering the incidents, of course; they screen Alvin Bragg’s comments listing the charges,

Meanwhile, Sanna Marin, former Prime Minister of Finland, has conceded defeat in the recent election to the far right; on the other hand, Finland will join NATO. You win some, you lose some. Here in New Zealand, former Prime Minister Ardern’s so-called legacy is being debated. It’s fair to say that most if not all journalists and opinion-writers are giving her a hard time. Many of us thought she was simply marvellous, and such a breath of fresh air.  We rejoiced at her handling of – most things, really – especially the mosque shootings in Christchurch, and then Covid 19.  It’s still really hard to get used to Chippy Hipkins, although he’s growing on me.

In Israel, there are troubles again, as Ramadan and Easter begin – both of which may not be relevant to many Israelis.  Rupert Murdoch has called off his fifth engagement. That doesn’t really matter, but it’s noteworthy, perhaps.

I went out to Queensgate Shopping Centre, despite my better judgment.  I wanted to buy a small container of hand sanitiser, since I keep leaving one behind; I also wanted to buy more disposable face masks, since I have carried a pack in my tote bag (they weigh nothing), but they’re all used up – I have lent them to many people as required. Sadly, you can’t get them now, except in a box. I had to go to Countdown for a small container of hand sanitiser. 

I went to the Warehouse, but it’s pretty awful shopping there. But I did find a Butler’s Café there, with plenty of room!  I hadn’t noticed it before, but it’s probably nicer than any of the other eating options at Queensgate.

It’s now Maundy Thursday, April 6^th.

This morning we had our last Thursday morning singing session for the term, and we enjoyed a delicious shared lunch afterwards.

Then I went shopping in Khandallah. It was bedlam there! The store is to be closed for Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, but not for four days like when we were first married! I bought some things, having asked JD to pick me up. My music was very heavy, too. I sat outside the store so JD wouldn’t have to enter the carpark, but of course he didn’t see me. Still, we caught up eventually.

In between times, I’ve been listening to various podcasts about Trump being formally charged with 34 felony counts by New York DA Alvin Bragg. Trump duly appeared, as promised, but he did not look like a happy man.  There’ve been some delicious headlines: Individual 1 gets his day in court; the Trump show moves to the courthouse; and so on.  A protester hoped Trump would be well-treated by Marjorie Taylor Greene’s “gazpacho police”. There was a really funny The Daily Show episode chaired by Ron Wood Jnr, with an appearance by Jon Stewart; MSNBC scrapped their normal programs to screen a special with their main anchors as team hosts.  To be honest, I was upset when several spoke at once; it reminded me of CNN programs before the 2016 presidential election.

The most interesting podcasts were a Lawfare Emergency podcast, and Lawfare host Benjamin Wittes appearing on the Bulwark podcast and Stay Tuned with Preet (those were the two he chose to appear on).

Just by the way. Nicola Sturgeon’s (former SNP Leader) husband was arrested; (he’s now been let go), and it wasn’t the end of Western democracy. I don’t think there was even a protest.

It’s now Good Friday, April 7^th.

Last night I went to the Maundy Thursday service at my church. It was very moving, as it was last year. But I think there were fewer of us there than last year.  We washed each other’s hands, and then had Communion. Then we went into the church, which was progressively darkened, as the candles were extinguished.  We left in silence. This time a friend’s husband picked me, and JD picked us up afterwards. I should have asked him to come a but earlier! I am now very tired indeed.

It is hard to find out just what services are on today. Our church does not have one, although the Johnsonville Churches (Uniting, Catholic and Anglican) are to have a service combined with a walk at 10:45 am.  Coming from a background where Christmas and Easter were not celebrated, I guess I have a bit of a “take it or leave it” attitude. Public re-enactments don’t alter the fact that Jesus suffered for me, and on my behalf.

This morning I have been listening to more podcasts – it’s Stormy (Daniels) weather!  And the pointy heads seem divided as to whether this first indictment has merit, and if so, how much.

It seems that Ashli Babbitt, a Trump protester who was shot by a black policeman during the January 6 riot, has become a martyr for the Far Right in America (although she carried a knife); this reminds me of the Horst Wessel story in the 1930’s in Germany, where he became a political martyr.

What’s happening in Ukraine? Again, I don’t know, and I don’t know how this ends, although I assume it will. Of much lesser importance was the protest in Parliament Grounds here in Wellington just over a year ago. It became evident that cold and stormy weather was not going to move these folk; even throwing excrement at the police was not going to move them, but look, they’re gone now. Thank goodness. There is a huge feeling about one’s right to so-called “free speech”, here and in the US, despite Prince Harry saying that the first amendment (of the US Constitution) was “bonkers”. I believe that one should always be careful about what one says; that one should endeavour not to hurt anybody, and to claim one’s views as one’s own. At the time.

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

One of Donald Trump’s “bleats” on Truth Social railing at his indictment.

It’s now Wednesday March 29^th, 2023. Kia ora!

We had an adventure, nipping up to Napier to see our daughter (briefly), and then driving back today.  Last Sunday I went to church, which was lovely; JD picked me up afterwards. We did not go to the fourth Lenten session for our church, although I would have liked to go. JD preferred not to. He was really busy.

On Monday the weekly Covid 19 report was published. The numbers are still stubbornly high. The report reads as follows: there have been 11,258 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the past week and 76 further deaths attributed to the coronavirus. Of the new cases, 4712 were reinfections.

There were also 211 people with Covid-19 in hospital as of midnight Sunday, with seven cases in ICU. The seven-day rolling average of cases was 1605.

Last week 11,544 new cases were reported and 12 further deaths attributed to Covid-19.

Three years on from the country’s first lockdown, former director-general of health Sir Ashley Bloomfield said New Zealand had stayed below predicted death rates, which was” virtually unique around the world”.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry into Aotearoa’s pandemic response is due to be completed in June 2024.

On Monday we finally got away after 2 pm, as JD had several appointments in the morning.  We stopped at Shannon, at a café that was still open; we then drove over the Pahiatua Track to Pahiatua, and thence to Woodville, and on to Napier. It seemed a very long drive, although the contractors had stopped work after 4 :30 pm.  Sometime after 7 pm we got to Napier, and then found our motel. We hadn’t stayed there before: there was a cricket final (domestic) at McLean Park on the Tuesday, and it was very hard to get accommodation for that night. 

In the event, we had an apartment, which was very well equipped with plenty of room, plenty of beds, two couches, and a washing machine and dishwasher. There was beautiful bed linen, and nice thick towels. We were very comfortable there, although it was quite noisy, being on a busy road.

The first evening we went to a pub for dinner. I ordered a salad, but it was far more than I could eat; there was an unpleasant odour of cooking oil.  It was hard to sleep that night, but then it’s usually difficult to sleep the first night one is away.  The next day we visited Hōhepa at Clive to see our daughter. She was in a singing session, and we joined in. Later that day we picked her up from her house, and walked along the waterfront, before taking her to dinner. We went to the same pub again, and the food was pretty good.  I had brought her Easter eggs and card with me, so we gave them to her too. This time, when we took her home, we went into the house, and into her bedroom. It’s lovely!

In Hawkes Bay, there are signs of the recent Cyclone Gabrielle, although some areas are quite untouched. We didn’t go to the Esk Valley, or up Pakowai Road, not wanting to be rubber-neckers. There were fences down, and a lot of debris, but what really shocked us was the damage to the railway line that we saw when we went along SH 51 to Clive. 

Before seeing our daughter, we had coffee and I had a mini-doughnut at Adoro Café.  We tried to have lunch at Ajuna Café, but despite the internet saying it was open, it’s very much closed. We had lunch at Tennyson Bistro (Formerly Ujazi) instead. I went to Farmers in Napier, but they’ve moved everything; they’re doing some development upstairs. Fortunately, although there was a sale (!), I didn’t buy anything.

I slept better the second night.  In the morning, it was very cold, even in Napier. Fortunately, as an afterthought I had brought some shoes and socks (as opposed to sandals), a pair of velveteen trousers, and a blouse and warm top. I was really thankful to have some warmer clothes to put on; I also enjoyed the lovely robe at our motel (which I had been trying not to use).

We had morning tea in Waipukurau, at Stella Café – a long black coffee, and a date and orange scone – yummy! We had lunch in Woodville, at Café 88, where I’m happy to report that the toilet facilities have been upgraded. We usually drive back to Wellington via the Saddle Road, but it was closed for a few days, so we had to use the Pahiatua Track again – a highway not meant for lots of large vehicles. Still, it was very hard for me to make such a short trip; I much prefer to stay at least three nights there.

I have been trying to work out how I’d get around and just what I’d do if I were there on my own, apart from shopping and drinking coffee, of course!

It’s now Friday March 31^st.

Yesterday I was very tired, but I went to my Thursday singing, which was lovely. It was very cold, however. With a sudden drop in temperature, we’re not used to wearing warmer clothes. There was a Te Reo refresher class at 1 pm, so with a 30 minute break, some of us went to a nearby café to buy something to eat. I would have liked to order a coffee to takeaway, but they were very busy, with a queue, and someone learning on the till, I did not. As it had been so warm, I had left my woollen hat and gloves behind! Normally I would keep them in my tote bag in case I needed them. The refresher class was very enjoyable. We went over much that we had supposedly learnt, and I have actually learnt quite a lot. Afterwards I caught a bus home, again regretting that I hadn’t worn a warmer jacket and hat and gloves.

This afternoon we have an appointment in town, but I have just heard that a New York grand jury has voted to indict Donald Trump on hush money charges. The specific charges aren’t announced yet, but the Dompost, the NZ Herald and the Guardian websites all lead with this news. The local papers have red highlights, so you can’t miss this news.

Well, there has been much opining during the last few days, with Trump announcing he would be indicted, and many fulminating on Alvin Bragg’s delay, and the reasons for the grand jury taking a month’s leave.  Republican reactions to Trump’s predicted indictment have also been shocking. As usual, Trump has managed to hog the news, knocking other important things off the front pages. My initial reaction would be Well done, Alvin Bragg!  There was some upset that this – the Stormy Daniels hush money case,   was not a serious enough misdemeanor to warrant all the fuss.  Well, it was pretty serious. At the time of it potentially being exposed, the famous Access Hollywood tape had just come out; several women announced they would sue Trump for sexual assault.  Stormy Daniels’ revelations would potentially cause his chances of winning the presidential election even more harm. Accordingly, his then attorney, Michael Cohen, went to great lengths, on Trump’s behalf, to conceal these payments. Cohen even took out an extra loan on his house. Apart from the issue of cheating on Melania, who had just given birth to son Barron Trump, this issue could have done Trump great harm. Cohen spent time in prison because of this! So yes, it’s very significant.   We await further developments.

There is some other significant news. Evidently Turkey has voted in favour of Finland joining NATO (it was a previous holdout); exposure of the Vulcan files shows Putin’s involvement in global and domestic cyberwarfare tactics – I’ve yet to find out more about that. The Russians have taken a Rupert Murdoch-owner Wall St Journal reporter hostage. In Israel there are huge protests against Netanyahu’s effort to compromise the authority of Israel’s Supreme Court.  In France there are huge protests about President Macron’s intention to raise the pension age from 62 to 64 years.  Many of us are saying, really?  When will the somewhat volatile French get this anger out of their system?

And locally the Stuart Nash furore is heating up. Do I care? The local media are making it a front page issue. Is it because of lack of other news? Is it just a storm in a teacup? And what’s happening in Ukraine?

Of course Trump went to Waco, Texas to hold a rally, Waco being the site of an FBI action against the Branch Davidian sect commanded by David Koresh.  I listened to a podcast series about this on American Scandal podcasts, and I watched a Netflix three-part series also examining what happened there. While there’s no doubt that the FBI made some mistakes, surely David Koresh should have let more people go. Both series presented him as being extremely difficult to deal with. I am reminded again of Joy Reid’s saying, that while Christians believe their Saviour died for them, cults tend to believe that you should die for the supposed saviour, be it David Koresh, Jim Jones, Donald Trump, or whomever. It also struck me again just how gullible some people are.  Of course Trump wasn’t sharing any compassion with those who’s lost loved ones; he was, as usual, feeling sorry for himself, and celebrating lawlessness.

It’s now Saturday April 1^st.

Last night we went to a concert at the Michael Fowler Centre, where the NZSO were performing Mahler’s Third Symphony, preceded by a Waiata by Robert Wiremu. They were conducted by the wonderful Gemma New. We don’t know Mahler’s music well at all, although I had tried to listen to this symphony. But the concert hall was full, and the enthusiastic audience gave a standing ovation afterwards. The audience was very respectful, with very little coughing or disturbance like we had at the opera a few months ago.  But goodness me, the seats are very cramped! They’re comfortable, but I couldn’t cross my legs. We managed to find a carpark in Dixon Street, (not too far away), and it wasn’t raining. It was nice to get dressed up again. And the tickets were only $25 each!

Oh, and there’s been another mass shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, at a Presbyterian School, that had previously been attended by the shooter, a transgender female, i.e. a woman who wanted to be a man. Her parents did not accept this, and insisted that they dress as a woman at home. They would then change afterwards.  Yet again, it’s a terribly sad story. It’s also a sad first: previously, mass shooters have been mainly male, rarely if ever female. They carried two assault rifles and a pistol, and shot through a closed door, dispelling the myth from the Uvalde shooting that doors should always be closed to keep shooters out.  Yet again, republicans insist on every child being born, and insist that someone has a right to carry an assault weapon, that may be used to shoot said child.  The price of freedom is accepting that children (and others, such as their teachers, support workers, and other staff) may well be shot, even in private schools.  That is a very high price to pay. Yet again, many of us are mystified at this contradiction in values.  What price human life?  Many of these children are traumatised at having seen their friends shot dead, or wounded, and at doing regular lock down drills, as if they were real.  In the US, most people are afraid all the time.

There’ve been some emergency podcasts following Trump’s indictment. Initial elation is turning perhaps to cooler reflection; Ron de Santis has said he won’t assist in Trump’s extradition to New York, where he is due to appear next Tuesday; Trump has apparently said No to that. Oh the irony, of de Santis declaring Florida a Sanctuary State! Some have pointed out that once indicted, things move out of Trump’s control: if he doesn’t surrender, he becomes a fugitive from the FBI; decisions whether he should be handcuffed (unlikely), or imprisoned (even more unlikely), move completely out of his control, although no doubt he’ll find a way to spin next Tuesday’s appearance to his own benefit. I like Meghan McCain’s tweet: “I like people who aren’t indicted…”

Americans are, for the most part, upset that a former president has been indicted: this has never happened before! Trump has always managed to evade serious legal jeopardy. I guess many of us are wondering, what took you so long, America?  Why did you elect him in the first place? I guess there’s never been a president like Donald Trump; he’s scored many firsts, including being the first president to be indicted..

There’s also argument about use of the hush-money/election finance scandal to cause the first indictment. Well, we don’t know what the actual charges are, although there are rumoured to be 15 (the Guardian’s Marina Hyde says 34 charges of falsifying records).  Apparently Stormy Daniels said Don’t pay me; anyway, he wasn’t president when he had his fling with her. He now calls her Horse-face, and claims she wasn’t his “type”, although he told her she reminded him of his daughter, who was very much his “type”.  I wonder what Ivanka’s thinking now, although apparently she’s said she loves her dad. My point is, if Trump hadn’t covered up this liaison, involving David Pecker in a “Catch and Kill” operation to hide the potential scandal, Trump may well not have been elected president, and his subsequent crimes may not have happened: this was maybe the start of this particular presidential crime spree, although many of us are very suspicious about Trump’s knowledge of the Russian involvement in his win.

I’d better stop now, No doubt there’ll be more pontification as the days go on. Trump will continue to be in the news, for all the wrong reasons; like the American love-affair with guns, many are seemingly in love with Trump and conspiracy theories.  

Meanwhile, life goes on. Stuff happens, and the Covid 19 numbers are still high in Aotearoa. But there’s the flu vaccine, and a new Covid 19 vaccine out, so that’s good. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.

Michelangelo’s statue of David in the Gallerie Della’ Academia in Florence

It’s now Monday Match 20^th, 2023. Kia ora!

This morning I went to a friend’s house for lunch. It was delicious: chicken sandwiches! It was lovely to see her. We talked about lots of things – acquaintances that know other acquaintances; the 2003 invasion of Iraq; the cricket, of course – the NZ Black Caps are playing against Sri Lanka at Wellington’s Basin Reserve, and it’s day 4 of a 5-day test match. We also talked about mattress toppers, trips overseas, exercise classes, and how to get work done. The weather is weird: it’s not that cold, but it’s windy and overcast, and almost drizzly. We also talked about whether, and how, the dreadful mosque shootings in Christchurch should be commemorated, after four years; and about the church I attend.

Last night we went to a third Lenten session at a local café, held by our minister. It’s good to see other church goers as we try to get to grips with what Te Tiriti o Waitangi means in terms of Christian worship today.

The weekly Covid 19 report is out today. It reads as follows:

There have been 11,171 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the past week and 24 further deaths. Of the new cases, 4630 are reinfections.

The ministry said 26 deaths were attributable to Covid-19. It said the change in total deaths with Covid-19 may not be equal to the number of new deaths reported today. “This is because deaths that occurred more than 28 days after a positive test that are subsequently determined to be unrelated to Covid are removed from the total.”

Of the 24 deaths being reporting today, one was from Northland, one was from Bay of Plenty, three were from Hawke’s Bay, one was from Taranaki, two were from MidCentral, five were from Wellington region, one was from Nelson Marlborough, five were from Canterbury, one was from West Coast and four were from Southern.

Three were in their 60s, five were in their 70s, nine were in their 80s and seven were aged over 90. Of these people, 13 were women and 11 were men. There are also 200 people with Covid-19 in hospital as of midnight Sunday, with eight cases in ICU.

The seven-day rolling average of cases is 1593. Figures reported last week showed there had been 11,544 new cases of Covid-19 reported, and 12 deaths attributed to Covid-19. So that’s not great. Covid 19 is still very much with us.

It’s now Tuesday March 21^st.

Well, I wasn’t going to go back there again, but the American news networks are getting into this piece of not-so-ancient history – The Bulwark, the Lawfare podcast, and the New York Times: here’s a link to the Bulwark’s Charlie Sykes’ daily newsletter. Note the Americans are more obsessed with whether Trump will be indicted, and, if so, what may happen:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGslbNKQxXbcccnQpcxXncNLNnJ

Former President George Bush is unabashed, which I guess proves what I always thought, that he’s a shallow, rather unintelligent person who lacks insight.

Here is another UK Guardian article:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/19/violence-us-invasion-iraq-bombs-al-qaida-islamic-state

And the UK’s Guardian has another insightful article: 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/20/iraq-war-destroyed-uk-trust-politicians-labour-turmoil-tony-blair

This involvement by Great Britain also spurred the television series “The Thick of it”, written and directed by Armando Iannucci.  It was cynical indeed.

JD argues that Blair had to go with Bush and preserve the “special relationship”; I argue that he didn’t.  I remember someone saying, as the US was poised to invade Iraq, that “we’re watching the end of American hegemony”. Isn’t “hegemony” a wonderful word?  It derives from the Greek, from “hegemon”, meaning leader, in the version I looked up. Under Trump, it seemed indeed that the US wanted to give away its global leadership; under Biden, not so much, and Biden has rallied the UK and European leaders in their support for Ukraine against its Russian invasion. 

On another note, this morning’s newspaper has an article about the death of Traute Lafrenz at 103. She was the last of the White Rose movement – a movement in Germany against Hitler after the defeat at Stalingrad. Sophie Scholl and her brother were arrested, and executed by the Gestapo – years ago we saw a film about this. But Lafrenz, although arrested and interrogated twice by the Gestapo, managed to survive. After the war, she went to San Francisco and founded the Esperanza School for children with special needs, following the philosophy of anthroposophy founded by Rudolf Steiner.  Our daughter attended the Hōhepa School and stayed in the Hōhepa Hawkes Bay community, which is also based on anthroposophy. So that is quite wonderful.

It’s now Wednesday Match 22^nd.

This morning I got up early to go to hymn singing. Today there was no traffic problem, and I was the first there! Although there were four apologies, there were plenty of us and it was a joy to sing together. 

Afterwards I caught the 10 am bus into town, and went to see the movie Aftersun at the Lighthouse Cinema in Wigan St. The movie had a good review, and I enjoyed aspects of it, especially Paul Mescal’s relationship with his 11 year old daughter, but to be honest I found much of it boring. For some reason, although it was Seniors Wednesday, I wasn’t offered a cup of coffee. As it was almost time for the movie to start, and I hate to go in once it’s darkened, I went without. I was really hungry and thirsty afterwards, but there was a queue for tickets, and apparently only one staff member, so I walked to Café Eis instead. It was nice there, although a but draughty. I had a sandwich, a long black coffee, and a delicious chocolate tart, most of which I brought home.  I then walked down to the bus stop in Manners Street and caught a bus home.

It’s now Friday March 24^th.

Yesterday I went to my Thursday morning singing at Khandallah.  There was a big turnout – almost 30 people, and we had a lovely session. 

This morning my lady from Access came to do some housework; accordingly, I changed the sheets and towels and did some tidying up before she came. I slept better last night, thankfully, waking at 5 am but going back to sleep after that. The previous nights I did not sleep well. One night I thought that listening to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony might put me to sleep- alas, not. I marvelled at the wonderful recording I was listening to, of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti. Even on my phone it sounds wonderful.  To get to sleep, however, I had to listen to a podcast. Sometimes on Apple they keep on going without a break; if they finish, I often wake up. Of course navigating all this when you’re sleepy doesn’t always result in wise decisions.

I’m now reading a book I bought about Ravenna, by Judith Herrin.  After seeing pictures of the wonderful frescoes there on a Youtube video, and hearing podcasts about the Emperor Justinian on The Rest is History, my interest is awakened and I would so like to go there. It also chimes in with my knowledge of Roman History, and the four emperors, the Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity, and a bit of religious history gleaned from Tom Holland’s Dominion.

It’s now Saturday March 25^th.

Today we won’t go shopping, we’ll have a lazy day instead.  There are several interesting things happening: here in Aotearoa, the far-right anti-Gay activist known as “Posie Parker” has been allowed into the country, but she couldn’t speak in Auckland (juice was thrown at her), and she’s cancelled a planned appearance in Wellington tomorrow.  In the US, Trump has announced that he’ll be indicted, but so far he has not. He has, however, hogged the limelight. He’s also made horrendous threats against Alvin Bragg, the New York attorney, who is expected to indict him.  Ron de Santis has walked back remarks he made about the war in Ukraine, calling it a “territorial dispute”.  Evidently it’s 20 years since the Michael Moore film Bowling for Columbine was released; I watched it, for the first time, on my computer.

In the UK, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has been in Parliament trying to justify his lying to the general public about the parties that happened at 10 Downing Street, while the rest of the country was in lock down, while their loved ones were dying alone and numbers at funerals were severely limited.

There is argument about the efficacy of lockdowns, with history being rewritten in some cases.  Remember how scary it was during the pandemic, i.e. for much of the last three years: initially, there were a huge number of deaths, and we didn’t know what caused someone to get Covid 19, there was no vaccine, and there were many deaths and many people seriously ill, with dreadful aftereffects.  Remember in New Zealand, after the first lockdown, we went about our daily lives pretty normally?  Auckland had the Americas Cup yacht racing, and we had wonderful concerts in Wellington. Now people are still getting Covid 19, and some are dying from it, or in intensive care, but it’s no longer as scary as it was, thankfully.

In the Ukraine, it’s hard to know what’s happening. The nuclear power plant is in grave danger (still? Again?); fierce fighting continues in Bakhmut.  Is Ukraine going to win? If so, how? How will this fighting stop? One hopes it will stop soon, with an honourable outcome for the brave Ukrainians, but the end does not seem to be in sight. Meanwhile, thousands of Ukrainian children have been abducted to Russia, and the ICC has labelled Putin a war criminal.

It’s now Sunday. I went to church, and we had the organ playing, always a joy.  However, although there were several children there, there weren’t many adults. The sermon was about faith, and the ways God might call us to spread the Good News, and say to others how much it means to us. Afterwards, JD picked me up.

I’ve listened to more podcasts – American – about the 2003 invasion of Iraq, twenty years on.  The Brits got into this much sooner. But I’m astonished at Americans, who have a different attitude – even if they now think it was a shame. Many of these people (Lawfare, the Bulwark) were impressionable young people who for the most part were behind the President George Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their mates in their gung-ho, non-reflective urge to invade the Middle East. This was “sold” in advertising terms, and the “selling” was obvious to more sceptical, cynical viewers, right down to “mission accomplished”, so obviously staged. It should be said that even now neither Bush nor Blair have any spoken regrets about the mess they caused.  It’s easy to see how Trump and Republicans and Boris Johnson and the Tories in England now rate all their moves on how they’ll be received by their adoring voters, not on what will be best for the country, or its citizens, or the planet we live in. Bush traded on the saying that you’re either with US, or with the terrorists (vague people, posing an even vaguer threat). There was no safe neutrality. 

Even General David Petraeus spoke mainly of the bravery of American troops, with some regret that objectives (what objectives?) after the toppling of Saddam were not achieved. There seemed to be no plan as to What Would Happen Next. Into that void, came civil war, Sunni-Shia divisions, Iranian success, and, of course, Isis.  Americans (gullible?) believed the need for war; then Trump was able to take advantage of that trust and gullibility. Whom should the American people trust? Why, Trump, of course!  Despite the fact that he’s a proven liar. Not their own government, at any level.

In Mother Jones there’s an interesting article by David Corn, who was one of the very few reporters who thought from the start that invading Iraq might not be such a good idea:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGslkjZlxLQXzHqtvclhkxHgWxH

Back in New Zealand, the activist known as “Posie Parker” left last night, apparently having seen enough opposition to her message to deter her.

In the US, Ron de Santis, governor of Florida and probable presidential contender, has signed laws and espoused some very scary views, while promoting his book The Courage to be Free.  Many would wish to be free, after the principal of a school in Tallahassee was forced to resign after showing pupils a picture of Michelangelo’s famous statue of David.  David is unclothed, and someone might take offence. To many of us, that statue is one of the most beautiful things in the world, even more so as Michelangelo carved it from a spoilt piece of marble.  To me, there is no shame in David’s nakedness. I don’t find it offensive.

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