If it's Friday . . . .
Well, it is Friday, here – but depending on where you are, it's probably Thursday (except for my pal in Saudi Arabia, who is also on this list – I have no idea what day it is there.)
We had a glorious day yesterday – beginning with a look out the hotel window – our room faces another building, so I wasn't expecting a view – but, lo and behold, the windows of that building are mirrored, and we had a view of the sky and houses crawling up the hillside. The sky was clear piercing blue (evidently Wellington is one of the rainier cities in the world), and I think we were seeing a reflection of the front of the hotel, because flags were flying as foreground to the hillside view. I'll try to upload a photo of that.
To start the day, Margaret brought good coffee back to the room. The hotel provides instant coffee, including decaf, which will do to stave off the withdrawal symptoms, and we have a fridge in the room which holds milk. It's also stocked with other standard bar fridge goodies, most of which aren't of interest to me,
and, since I'm not on an expense account, not affordable. It's enough to say that instant coffee isn't my 'cup of tea'.
We took the Cable Car up to the Botanic garden which was a real treat – because Wellington is so very hilly, there are many cable cars, but this is the only public one. The city was founded around a shoreline which wasn't too extensive, and was and is surrounded by hills. There was no way to get UP, other than to climb straight up – no room for meandering paths or roadways. So, the city fathers and others with money started building cable cars. Fascinating way to get around – have you seen the funicular in Quebec City? The public one here runs in a straight line, at what I would say is a 30 degree angle. There are others though that curve around a bend, to get up to the house above. Interesting, eh? You wouldn't want to forget something at the bottom – honey, would you go get some milk??? Even the furniture has to be moved up by cable car for some of these homes.
Went to a film last night at the NZ Film Archive – it was a collection of old clips from the 20's, about fashions of the day. Surprising to see how depictions of female beauty have changed; without exception all the models had what we'd label as bad teeth, bad hair, and were flabby – interesting, eh?
The concluding clip on the series was another from the 20's – Titled “Around the World in an Austin Seven”, two NZ fellows decided to go round the world driving a 'baby Austin'; this was 1928 remember, so the car looked like what I'd call a Model-T, or Model-A, though considerably smaller. It had a cloth top that became a tent; and a convertible top for inclement weather. These fellows started in Australia and drove from south to north I think, again remembering that there were few roads! They drove through what we'd call 'bush', made up of chest high weeds / bushes/ trees. The narrator said they often experienced 70 (yes seventy) tire punctures per day. No automobile association to help, either. Following that first successful part of their journey, they decided to go to San Francisco, they loaded the baby Austin onto a ship – the Tahiti – which unfortunately sank! The fellows filmed the whole thing – again remembering this is the 20's, and they were using a very large moving picture camera on a tripod. They were in a lifeboat and filmed the sinking of the ship from that vantage point. No re-takes, no digital imaging.
The film was accompanied by a live piano player, who played continuously the music from the 20's – a lovely touch.
We had walked from the hotel to the Film Archives, about a 20 minute brisk hike. Once we got out of the central business district, things were livelier – the Cuba district had lots of cafe's and people; as did Manners Mall – think of Ottawa's Sparks Street – no cars, lots of people strolling. It was a lovely evening – warm, no rain (I do keep noticing that!), great for walking. Following the purchase of dinner in a new-found supermarket, we ate a lovely dinner of rolls, salad, cold cuts, each prepared just the way we individually wanted it. And, the price was right.
In the supermarket, I was exposed to, or at least noticed for the first time, a new public policy – really! NZ has done away with pennies and nickles, and all purchases are rounded up, or down, to the nearest 10 cents. So, my total bill for groceries, etc was $10.67, but the clerk gave me change for $10.70. Margaret's total bill was $10.42, so they rounded down to $10.40. I asked the clerk about it, and he explained that the policy is nation-wide, not just his store. OK – do we see the Canadian govt, or the US govt, or the Saudi Arabian govt doing that??
And, the money is almost all the same colour!! very confusing, as the size of the coin does not relate to its value – that is, the dollar coin is nearly the same size at the 2 dollar coin, as is the 20 cent piece. Evidently there is no 25 cent piece, which we are familiar with. So far, the only copper coloured coin is the 10 cent piece. Very confusing.
All this new stuff – who knows what I'll learn today!!
Well, it is Friday, here – but depending on where you are, it's probably Thursday (except for my pal in Saudi Arabia, who is also on this list – I have no idea what day it is there.)
We had a glorious day yesterday – beginning with a look out the hotel window – our room faces another building, so I wasn't expecting a view – but, lo and behold, the windows of that building are mirrored, and we had a view of the sky and houses crawling up the hillside. The sky was clear piercing blue (evidently Wellington is one of the rainier cities in the world), and I think we were seeing a reflection of the front of the hotel, because flags were flying as foreground to the hillside view. I'll try to upload a photo of that.
To start the day, Margaret brought good coffee back to the room. The hotel provides instant coffee, including decaf, which will do to stave off the withdrawal symptoms, and we have a fridge in the room which holds milk. It's also stocked with other standard bar fridge goodies, most of which aren't of interest to me,
and, since I'm not on an expense account, not affordable. It's enough to say that instant coffee isn't my 'cup of tea'.
We took the Cable Car up to the Botanic garden which was a real treat – because Wellington is so very hilly, there are many cable cars, but this is the only public one. The city was founded around a shoreline which wasn't too extensive, and was and is surrounded by hills. There was no way to get UP, other than to climb straight up – no room for meandering paths or roadways. So, the city fathers and others with money started building cable cars. Fascinating way to get around – have you seen the funicular in Quebec City? The public one here runs in a straight line, at what I would say is a 30 degree angle. There are others though that curve around a bend, to get up to the house above. Interesting, eh? You wouldn't want to forget something at the bottom – honey, would you go get some milk??? Even the furniture has to be moved up by cable car for some of these homes.
Went to a film last night at the NZ Film Archive – it was a collection of old clips from the 20's, about fashions of the day. Surprising to see how depictions of female beauty have changed; without exception all the models had what we'd label as bad teeth, bad hair, and were flabby – interesting, eh?
The concluding clip on the series was another from the 20's – Titled “Around the World in an Austin Seven”, two NZ fellows decided to go round the world driving a 'baby Austin'; this was 1928 remember, so the car looked like what I'd call a Model-T, or Model-A, though considerably smaller. It had a cloth top that became a tent; and a convertible top for inclement weather. These fellows started in Australia and drove from south to north I think, again remembering that there were few roads! They drove through what we'd call 'bush', made up of chest high weeds / bushes/ trees. The narrator said they often experienced 70 (yes seventy) tire punctures per day. No automobile association to help, either. Following that first successful part of their journey, they decided to go to San Francisco, they loaded the baby Austin onto a ship – the Tahiti – which unfortunately sank! The fellows filmed the whole thing – again remembering this is the 20's, and they were using a very large moving picture camera on a tripod. They were in a lifeboat and filmed the sinking of the ship from that vantage point. No re-takes, no digital imaging.
The film was accompanied by a live piano player, who played continuously the music from the 20's – a lovely touch.
We had walked from the hotel to the Film Archives, about a 20 minute brisk hike. Once we got out of the central business district, things were livelier – the Cuba district had lots of cafe's and people; as did Manners Mall – think of Ottawa's Sparks Street – no cars, lots of people strolling. It was a lovely evening – warm, no rain (I do keep noticing that!), great for walking. Following the purchase of dinner in a new-found supermarket, we ate a lovely dinner of rolls, salad, cold cuts, each prepared just the way we individually wanted it. And, the price was right.
In the supermarket, I was exposed to, or at least noticed for the first time, a new public policy – really! NZ has done away with pennies and nickles, and all purchases are rounded up, or down, to the nearest 10 cents. So, my total bill for groceries, etc was $10.67, but the clerk gave me change for $10.70. Margaret's total bill was $10.42, so they rounded down to $10.40. I asked the clerk about it, and he explained that the policy is nation-wide, not just his store. OK – do we see the Canadian govt, or the US govt, or the Saudi Arabian govt doing that??
And, the money is almost all the same colour!! very confusing, as the size of the coin does not relate to its value – that is, the dollar coin is nearly the same size at the 2 dollar coin, as is the 20 cent piece. Evidently there is no 25 cent piece, which we are familiar with. So far, the only copper coloured coin is the 10 cent piece. Very confusing.
All this new stuff – who knows what I'll learn today!!
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