Oh, frabjous days

Am writing this epistle from Wellington. Storms had occurred last Tuesday night and the news said Wellington was affected so was hoping the airport would remain open. I got to Auckland airport with nearly an hour to spare and when I went to get my ticket with the automated gizmoes that are in the domestic airport now, it would not issue my ticket and said to go to the counter. Just as I was thinking dire thoughts, the chap at the desk offered me an earlier flight which was boarding in 10 mins, so all good, and I took it. Had an uneventful flight sleeping a good amount of the way. We were warned there might be bumps due to the wind on landing but there was hardly a wobble. Walked out from picking up my bag straight onto the airport flyer bus and oh my gosh, the bus has had a makeover. The seats are black leather with a red stripe in the middle of the seat instead of a multi-coloured synthetic fibred material they used to have. A recorded voice tells you the name of each stop coming up and there is a screen behind the driver that shows where the bus is travelling on route, flipping in between news items from "stuff nz". The fare has increased by $3 but I guess that is a small price to pay for all the mod cons, lol.



I had arranged to meet daughter in law and number 1 grandson in town so thought as I was early, I would kill some time at McDonalds whilst waiting for them. I ordered a coffee and went to get some money out on eftpos as I went to pay for it, and they don't give cash out at that store - hmmm. To be fair, the girl took the change that I had, and gave me the coffee as I said in the store I worked at we gave money out, so she must have taken pity on me. I then went to use my laptop, but no wireless connection available - another black mark, as once again, in Gton they have that. Got a txt to say it was a different Maccas I was to meet the troops at so walked back several blocks window shopping on the way. No 1 GS had been to see a play about Robin Hood but that seemed to pale into insignificance by getting a dinosaur that had moveable wings, and a light shining in it with his Happy Meal, lol.



I had gone down dressed for the 3 degrees it had mentioned on the news the day before, only to nearly expire with the warmth as it was a very sunny day. Was glad later on in the evening though as the temp dropped markedly and has done each evening since. Had a slow start to the day yesterday with watching 4 different Batman stories on DVD on disc one of four discs, lol. It was cartoons and had a running commentary on who all the bad guys were during the stories from No 1 GS! The day progressed leisurely and then we decided to walk up the road to get some bits and pieces for lunch. There are a whole new raft of super heroes about since Christmas and a heap of Dragons that I have become acquainted with in the last few days. I think I have been told of every character in Star Wars - all incarnations of that series, and what they looked like as children and when they got older ...... I tell you, my head is spinning, lol. Was more on familiar turf at night time as part of our tradition is for Nana to read the bed time story when she is about. We usually do a chapter a night (unless like last time we had to do a couple in a row cos Nana couldn't wait two nights to know what happened at a crucial part of the story, lol). The book of choice is "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" which I had read to me at a similar age (after lunch at school as was "Bedknobs and Broomsticks"). I have arrived as Aslan was being killed by the White Witch, and tonight the final battle has just begun.



Today we set of by bus at 10am to go see "Alice and Wonderland" at the movies with Johnny Depp playing the Mad Hatter, the movie directed by Tim Burton for those playing at home. More about the buses first - the local bus also has had an interior face lift with the seats covered in black fabric of sorts patterned with green ferns - very NZ I thought. They use plastic cards with a fish outlined on the card - they are called "snapper" cards and you swipe a reader of said card as you enter and exit the bus, therebye using no cash. You load the cards at various venues about town with money which then is debetted as you swipe. Go technology. Back to the movie. After being disappointed at "Where the Wild Things Are" at Christmas, I was unsure how this movie was going to pan out. I have to say here, I saw the original Walt Disney cartoon movie of Alice in Wonderland with my cousin in Papatoetoe picture theatre when I was about 8yrs old and it gave me nightmares with the Queen chopping heads off at whim. To start with, I wasn't sure where this movie was going as Alice was 20yrs old and at a garden party where her engagement was to be announced to a distinctly foppish sort of a lord. She hesitated and went for a walk in the woods to make up her mind whether to accept the proposal, following after the white rabbit that she had seen about the place. Once she fell down a rather large rabbit hole under a tree it sort of became more of the story I remembered. I enjoyed the movie and felt the characters were very much as you would imagine them if you were an opium addict which I believe Lewis Carrol was or am I maligning him and getting him mixed with Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame. Anyway, moving on lol, Johnny Depp plays a very interesting Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts is a brilliant nasty piece of work. If you suspend what you think you know about the original story, it is a great movie, with lots of recognisable bits in it with an interesting take on the rest.

We walked to Cuba Mall from Redding Theatre and Burger King was the lunch of choice of the small one. I had sympathy for the girl serving there as she was obviously new, and felt for her struggle around the till and getting the order correct, lol. A spot of clothes shopping for the lad at Farmers, and yippee for 30% sale as of course all the Ben 10 clothing, and Bakugan (not sure if that is spelled right, lol) has a higher markup than non super hero clothing!. In a bout of speed shopping I managed to find myself a pair of boots that go right to the knee woohoo and as they are not leather but a passable fake, they did not break the bank at $70 instead of the $300+ prices for the real deal. Another walk drifting past several shops all the way up to Lambton Quay (for those playing at home) which is a fair hike, deserved an ice cream, so sharing the love, it was Mc D's this time only to find their machine had broken down, and luckily there just happened to be another Burger King almost next door so the small one did not have to faint from hunger, lol. It was two very weary excursionists who caught the bus back to Karori for the short walk home to a restorative coffee and slice of lemon poppyseed cake. Woohoo.