Tag Archives: Wellington

Wednesday was Siena day

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Every time we visit Tuscany we make a pilgrimage to Siena. It was our local town for 6 months in 2011 and we take the chance to revisit some old haunts whenever we return.

Siena is famous for the Palio – a bare-back horse race that occurs twice a year (July and August) when local communities or contrada can enter a horse in the race with the victor having the honour that comes with winning. We have mixed views of the event – the drama, excitement and passion around the race is infectious but horses can often get injured or even killed during the event.

To prepare for the race, the central piazza in Siena – the Campo – is turned into a race track with a layer of clay laid down over the tiles and cobbles and gradually compacted over the weeks prior to the event.

Temporary wooden grandstands ring the Campo so the large crowd that attend the event has somewhere to get the best view.

When we arrived on Wednesday the track was down and all the bars and restaurants that ring the Campo had their tables and chairs set up on the track. Because of the temporary grandstands, they also have to squeeze their tables into a smaller area to allow people to walk past.

And once a day, at 3pm, the bars and restaurants have to remove all their hardware as the track is watered to help the clay compact. No one is allowed on the track so the Campo comes to a standstill.

Once the clay has dried enough – after about 2 hours – the tables and chairs, and people are allowed back on the track and Siena’s Campo returns to normal.

The Campo at 2:55pm
The Campo at 3:05pm
The “home straight” watered
Siena as the sun sets

A little more of Venice

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Having already published some Venice pictures, here are some more that we think might be interesting.

The torre in Piazza San Marco
Heron on a boat watching us arrive – a good omen according to Alaria
Aperol Spritz in the afternoon
Trying to pass as a local
Jean liked the glass sculpture in the hotel lobby – but they would probably miss it
An evening in Piazza San Marco

And the holiday has begun

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With our out-of-office notifications turned on, and bags and clothes strewn around our spare room the holiday is underway. We are in the middle of a weekend of packing. On one hand packing our bags. On the other, packing the girls off to their holiday retreat.

The sound of silence

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View from our verandah – Wellington Airport, Kilbirne, Evans Bay and Hataitai.

One thing that I’ve noticed over the last few weeks is the silence. Outside at night you can hear – nothing.

With virtually no cars on the roads and even fewer planes coming and going, the constant background city buzz has gone. To be replaced by silence, and at night, the call of our local Ruru.

 

Sentinel at the Gate

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Bella loves to bark at people passing our front gate. She sits and waits to hear someone approaching – then when they are level with the gate she lets loose – barking, barking barking.

Every morning and evening people on the way to and from work give her a “target rich environment” but in lockdown it’s different.

Here she is siting patiently, waiting for someone to walk past on Wednesday evening. But no one came.

So much music everywhere

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Thank you gentle readers for the additions to the lockdown playlist. Happy lockdown day 9. And the extended playlist is:

Alone Again, Naturally – Gilbert O’Sullivan

The Chain – Fleetwood Mac

Need You Now – Lady Antebellum

Don’t Stand So Close To Me – The Police

It’s Oh So Quiet – Bjork

I Think We’re Alone Now – Tiffany

Staying Alive – Bee Gees

Is There Anybody Out There – Pink Floyd

 

 

A funny thing happened this morning

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So it’s day 7 of the Covid-19 lockdown. Our medical community is braced for an influx of virus sufferers and I’m ensconced in the safety of my home. What could possibly go wrong?

Quite a bit it seems.

It only took 7 days but I’ve done it – produced a sequel to the “nail through the foot” incident of last year.  All it took was a blown lightbulb and a step ladder – well a kitchen step ladder to be honest.

Yes, another foot injury. This time it’s torn ligaments along the side of my left foot, swelling, pain and embarrassment – in equal measures.

I fell from the bottom step of the ladder and managed to sprain my foot to such an extent the doctor was impressed. “The bottom step? Really? The bottom step, are you sure?”, were his words while examining my swollen and rapidly blackening foot.

One x-ray later and I’m in a moon-boot with enough pain killers and steroids to treat a horse. Easy.

I’ll be spending the next week with my foot elevated, garnering as much sympathy and as many cups of tea as I can.

Top Tip: If you do something silly like this, now is an oddly good time to do it. When Jean called my doctor as I lay groaning on the ground she advised me to visit the after hours clinic (in Newtown for me) as they are “very quiet”. Apparently all the usual maladies that fill the clinic’s waiting room have mysteriously been cured. At 1pm I was the only person in the waiting room and when I had my x-ray I was the radiographers second customer – that day. 

Day 6 and puppy boredom has set in

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After 6 days of having us at home, Ellie has run out of things to keep her occupied. There’s only the office chair left.

Let there be music everywhere

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Day two of the lockdown and it’s quiet out there – too quiet. Time for some music, and what could be better than a curated playlist to suit these odd times.

  • We Gotta Get Out Of This Place – The Animals

  • Dancing With Myself – Billy Idol

  • Jailhouse Rock – Elvis Presley of course

  • All By Myself – Eric Carmen

  • I’m In Chains – Tina Arena

  • The Walls Are Closing In/Hangman – The Pretty Reckless

 

  • I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free – Nina Simone

 

  • Me & You Together Song – The 1975

  • Mad World – Tears for Fears

  • I will survive – Gloria Gaynor

  • All Revved Up And No Place To Go

 

And, of course, anything by Small Spaces. All suggestions for additional songs are welcome.

 

 

It’s 24 hours from lockdown

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We live in extraordinary times. In the next 24 hours we will give up our freedom willingly (for at least 4 weeks and possibly longer) and retreat to the relative safety of our homes, isolated, socially impotent and very likely bored out of our minds.

Today and tomorrow are the days to tidy things up – to sort all that life admin that needs to be done for a month in isolation. Not wanting to appear shallow, but top of my list was to purchase some of the delicious SmokeHouse Salmon Pate that New World stock. Ok, not earth shattering but just something that seemed important at the time.

Of course if I’d thought for another moment I’d have realised that it was possibly the least important thing I could have done in the day. But my brain ended up fixated on this damn pate.

So off I went to Chaffers New World to buy my limit of 2 pots. A llimit we can blame on all those who panic bought toilet paper, hand sanitiser, coffee, chocolate, baked beans and whatever else was panic buy of the day over the last few weeks.

I was expecting the supermarket to be chaos, queues out the door, police in attendance, possibly some tear gas being fired around but – no. It was quieter than any time I’ve been there recently – from a certain angle the store almost seemed empty.

Never one to miss an opportunity, I went in for some good old fashioned panic buying – well as much as you can do with a two item limit. When Jean saw my purchases she said I’d missed the point.

Poor women, she’s now stuck with me for 4 weeks – alone, together.

 

 

Despatches from home

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Our girls have been in a kennel for over two weeks. For both of them this is a whole new experience. We were a bit concerned how they would react and whether they would settle in.

We have been missing them so we asked the team at Waglands Dogs’ Holiday Retreat – seriously that is the name – to send us some photos of the girls. They arrived today and it seems we had nothing to worry about.

We suspect they’ve just had a bath as they look a bit too clean and fluffy for over two weeks on holiday in the country.

For the uninitiated, it’s Ellie on the left and Bella on the right.

 

Last day in Camogli

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Today we leave Camogli and head south to Positano. We have thoroughly enjoyed both our time here at Cenobio Dei Dogi and our time exploring the village.

Would we come back – like a shot.

As always it’s about the place but also the people you meet. After 6 days of turning up at the same places for meals and drinks, exploring the village on foot (it’s not a big village so there’s not much walking involved) and generally settling in we are starting to be recognised. The fact that we are from New Zealand is a surprise and the start of a conversation. And that’s what it’s all about.

Welcome home

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We have been home for just over a week and things are returning to normal. No longer is 3am our preferred waking time and we can now stay up well past 8 at night.

Spring is definitely in the air – not the 30 degree temperatures we have become used to, but certainly temperatures warmer than those we left behind at the start of August.

The grape vine that runs the length of our boundary fence is showing signs of life with green shoots growing on a daily basis.

Poppie and Bella were pleased to see us although Vicki did a great job of pampering them in our absence. They are both asleep on the floor beside the desk as I write, recovering from a day barking at the front gate.

The holiday memories are still close and there are stories to tell.

 

 

All Blacks in Italy

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Last Saturday morning life at the villa ground to a halt as we watched the All Blacks play Australia in the first Bledisloe Cup rugby match.

We found the broadcast on Sky Italia with the only downside being a choice of Italian or Australian commentary. Sadly no Justin Marshall for us, just Aussie commentators who became more depressed as the first half developed. Even they were struggling to find anything good to say about their local team until after the 50 minute mark. In the end of the game the best they could do was talk up the second half which, apparently, the Australian team won.

Aussies, no surprises there.

Earthquake in Ischia

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Tonight there was an earthquake centred on the island of Ischia. This is about 60 kms from Positano on the other side of the Bay of Naples. There has clearly been damage and tragically some loss of life.

In Positano we felt no shaking at all.

But as residents of our own “shaky isles”, our thoughts are with all those affected.