Archive for May, 2009

So it has been a while since I have updated this site. There are two reasons for this. The first is I have been busy at work and getting back into the mundane structure of working life, and the second is that I am just lazy. I will try and get you up to speed with what has been happening in Windy Wellington.

A lampost and some sea

Last night was the semi-final of the super 14. For those that don’t know, the Super 14 is the southern hemisphere version of the Heineken Cup involving 14 rugby union franchises from Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. The local franchise are known as The Hurricanes (get it, Windy Wellington….Hurricanes – it is all straight forward when you think about it). Anyway the Hurricanes made it to the semi finals and were pitted against another Kiwi team, ‘The Chiefs’. My chosen venue for watching the game was a pub called the Back Benchers which is located in front of Parliament, from which once a week the local Parliament Channel TV station broadcast a political chat show. It also happens to be two doors down from where Shona works, which makes it her ideal Friday night drinking pub.

The game was very tight, with two closely matched teams not giving an inch to each other. The Hurricanes had the slight edge in the opening exchanges and scored the first try to take an early lead. Then came the turning point; Jeremy Thrush, the Hurricanes man mountain of a lock, got injured and had to temporarily leave the pitch. Almost seconds later the Hurricanes had a player sin binned and the Chiefs took advantage of their numerical advantage and scored a try to bring the game level before half time. The drama was fantastic; it wasn’t long before the camera went to touchline to show Thrush, itching to get back on the pitch. I will remember the game because of the company I was with. Myself and a Welsh guy, who has just moved over here, were both supporting The Hurricanes and had been joined at our table by a retired engineer and his wife, who were visiting Wellington from The Coromandel and both of whom were supporting the Chiefs. As it turns out they were the now the King and Queen of the Watch Strap industry in New Zealand. He had a cracking sense of humour and the banter was flowing for most of the game. The Chiefs won the game 14 – 10. Now if you are thinking I may have written that whole paragraph just to get the joke in about thrush, you would be 100% correct.

In other news, we received our second set of visitors from England. Jo Chapman, who went to school with Shona, came to stay with us for a couple of nights on her tour of the southern hemisphere. Craig, her travelling companion, also joined us. For their first night with us we decided to go to an Indian restaurant on Cuba Street. Our waiter turned out to be a great character. Here is how our first conversation went……

Waiter: Alright English. You ready to order?

Paul: Yes Thanks….

Waiter: So you are English….What vindaloo do you want?

Paul: (Racist) Don’t want a Vindaloo actually!

Waiter: Alright, which Balti do you want?

Paul: (Racist) I don’t want a Balti actually!!!!

Waiter: Alright, which Rogan Josh do you want?

Paul: Well actually, I do want a Rogan Josh, Lamb Please.

Waiter: How hot, mild, medium, Hot, Kiwi Hot or English Hot.

Paul: English Hot please!

Waiter: You don’t want English hot sir, you want kiwi hot!

Waiter looks at Shona.

Waiter: And what would you like?

Shona: Do you do Korai Chicken..(not on menu)

Waiter: How Hot do you want that? Hot like me hot or hot like you hot?

Paul: (is he taking the preverbial?)

Waiter: Drinks? What lager would you like sir?

Paul: (Racist!)

Waiter: A Large one Sir?

Paul: (Fatist!) Yes.

The large one as it turned out, was 2 cans of Kingfisher instead of just the one.

Anyway, on to the next night….. we had a lovely time. The Vino did flow but unfortunately the Wellington weather didn’t behave itself and they didn’t get to see the Harbour and the rest of this city at its best. However I did manage to drag them to my favourite Irish bar to hear a singer whom it appears I am the only one who appreciates his talents. There is no accounting for taste is there? All together now…. “In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty”…… Their final night ended in a Chinese Restaurant I have had my eye on for some time, it has always looked busy from the outside but we must have caught it on an off night because there were only three other tables booked in the restaurant. I asked the waiter if the chef did prawn crackers because they weren’t on the menu. He looked at me and without missing a beat, said “not when it is this busy mate”…….. So never then.

Over the last month New Zealand has hosted its own comedy festival. We have been to see a couple of shows. First we went to see Steve Coogan, which was sadly a bit of a poor show. We both came out thinking that it was a bit tired and that we have heard all of these jokes before. However, our second trip out was to see Ed Byrne at the Opera House. The Venue was great and a bit unexpectedly the show was very well put together, something that we both enjoyed very much. We had tickets to see Mark Watson, but unfortunately it was cancelled. This was the gig we had been looking forward to the most.

Empire Cinema

However, what I really wanted to tell you about is my new favourite place in Wellington. It is probably well known to anyone who lives here or has in the past, but I had to tell you because it is a real gem of a place. The Empire Cinema, located in Island Bay. Obviously this is a Cinema but one which is completely different to any I have been to before. There are only a couple of screens and each one holds between 50 and 70 people. The best part is that if Shona and I go together we get our own comfy sofa. You can buy beer and wine and take it in with you and feel like you are in your own front room watching a film on the biggest flat screen you could hope to buy. I love it…

We are now very much in winter and we have been battered with 140 kmh winds for the past 2 days. The new picture on the site was taken yesterday during one of the storms. The local ferry operator which operates between the two islands suspended all ferries yesterday because of a 40m swell in the Cook Strait. It was very spectacular to watch.

Next week we are off to the South Island for a four day trip. I can’t wait, apart from the fact we are travelling over in a 20 seater plane – I hope the wind dies down a bit beforehand!!!

Paul.

Winter is not so bad is it? View from our house last weekend?

Last week saw our first earthquake experience, a rather pathetic 4.1 on the richter scale. Wasn’t so sure if it was an earth quake or someone rather large jumping up and down on the floor above me, but another New Zealand experience to get a tick. (4.1 is more than enough for me by the way).

Autumn in Wellington is bizarre, the weather can’t make its mind up. This morning when I left for work I fished the big winter coat out of the wardrobe as it was baltic. It started to rain about 10am, by lunch time I went for a walk and the sun was shining I had to take the coat and jumper off. Apparently it all depends on which way the wind is blowing. A southerly, brings the cold weather from the south pole (obviously) and will make it cold here, but if you get a northerly it is short sleeves and sunnies.

I like this quote from the sideline slogger’s blog regarding the IPL, my sentiments exactly.

Twenty-four tablets of No-Doz cost about $8 at the chemist – I will need to invest as it gets to crunch time in the Indian Premier League because at present I haven’t managed to stay awake for an entire match.

Clearly it is not all my fault with 10.30pm and 3am starts, and lisping Lalit Modi’s magnificent new innovation of 450 seconds of gibbering nonsense and advertisements masquerading as a “strategy break” all helping induce sleep.

These farcical interludes, which have even been enforced in reduced-overs games, are not quite as annoying as the new name for a six, the DLF Maximum. They’re not called that at Beige HQ, they’re called PFO Maximums where the P stands for Please and the O stands for Off.