It’s Official

Told you so!

A World Apart

I know you were/are absolutely sick of hearing me moaning and complaining about the wet weather we have endured this winter. Oh yes, I know it has been a very hot summer for all of you in the Northern Hemisphere, but here in Wellington, it has been wet! Incredibly wet and now we have the official figures to prove it.

Today we got new rainfall figures from Greater Wellington’s Environmental Science team to confirm that last winter was the wettest on record, following the misery of a summer that was also the wettest on record in the Wellington region.

The figures we are told, and on which we have to agree, “paint a portrait of suburbs soaked and districts drenched by record amounts of rainfall which exceeded many of the previous highest totals recorded across the entire region. On average, June rainfall was approximately 160% up on long-term seasonal averages…

View original post 236 more words

Advertisement

What Was I Thinking?

Thinking about Chris’ post yesterday

A World Apart

I know that it is my turn to post today, so why did I spend the afternoon with a friend and then dinner with another one, allowing me no time to write. So, 10.30 pm here and no idea what to write about.

I must say that Chris’s post yesterday horrified me. Particularly the photo of the school teacher who thinks it acceptable to turn up to school in a totally inappropriate form of dress.

I thought about all the outcry around much of the world in 2011 about the young woman who had to adhere to the dress code of Harrods or risk losing her job. The part of the code about which she was arguing was the need to wear makeup at all times at work. Read about it here.

So if a young woman is either sacked or forced to leave her chosen place of business because…

View original post 116 more words

And the booby prize goes to..

Chris is so mad and I am too!

A World Apart

Canada. Again.

THINGS HAVE GONE TOO FAR.

The other day it was our Prime Minister of questionable intelligence yet again, singing Bohemian Rhapsody, in a bar, in London England, the night before Queen’s funeral. He does us so unproud so often.

Now, companies and institutions have policies for a reason. In this case it is The Dress Code. It determines the public face – and sets the standard for professionalism. And this isinglass particular

We now have a situation – with more than one idiot – that demonstrates we have surrendered all standards, and probably ethics and morals.

This is the headline:

This is about the male teacher at the center of a controversy –that shouldn’t exist.

Enter Idiot #2

This is the direction that regardless of poor taste or stupidity, it appears the School Board, is about to deep six standards in the excuse of the…

View original post 149 more words

Ticket to Paradise

A World Apart

After the excitement of Opera at the Met on Saturday, today we went to the movies and saw a totally different tale.George Clooney and Julia Roberts star in Ticket to Paradise.

This is a fun and frolicking movie.Clooney and Roberts characters were married for 5 years and have been divorced for 20.Their only child, a daughter Lily, travels to Bali after graduation and meets and falls in love with a local seaweed farmer.

Her parents for once agree, they travel individually to Bali to stop their daughter from marrying and making the same mistake they think they made 25 years earlier.

There is no great story to be told, but the film is brightened and lifted by the fantastic scenery and some hilarious interactions between the stars. And of course, the stars brighten the screen with their smiles and their facial movements.

But a great movie it is not.I am…

View original post 79 more words

Opera at The Met

Saturday morning, not at the market but at the Met

A World Apart

I have told you before about the bijou cinemas we have here in the capital. They bring us opera from The Met, live in HD. And this enables those of us around the world to visit a local cinema to see world-class singers performing in this fantastic Opera House.  

And so, on a chilly early Spring morning, today we went to see the New York Met’s production of Lucia di Lammermoor.  

via http://www.Metopera.org

Wikipedia tells us – The story is “loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott’s 1819 historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor“.

“The tale was originally set in Scotland, which, to artists of the Romantic era, signified a wild landscape on the fringe of Europe, with a culture burdened by a French-derived code of chivalry and an ancient tribal system. Civil war and tribal strife are recurring features of Scottish history, creating a background of fragmentation reflected in…

View original post 230 more words

I wish

A World Apart

I loved JB’s post yesterday.

You know the one with the game?

I really wish that I could play,

But cannot think of a single name.

The Seasons changed today,

My favourite time of year,

I really wish that I could play

But something else is very clear.

If wishes were horses

All Beggars would ride

If wishes came true

I could decide

To play the games,

Frolick in fall,

Make up names

And manage it all.

Sad to say I’m under the weather,

Happy to say not for long

My brain is more like a feather

Tomorrow, I am sure will be like a song!

So, from North of 43 I must bid you adieu, and wish you well!

Chris G September 23rd!

View original post

Look Who is Coming to Dinner!

A World Apart

Look Who’s Coming toDinner

I have written before about thiscookbookand how it makes fun of the pretentious while delivering some really good recipes. On looking through it today for some inspiration I came across this:

This picture accompanied the suggestion that we assemble a nightmare selection of guests for a party.Thinking about this, my suggestion is:

• Film star or celebrity
• Woman CEO of a major company
• A rising young author- female to balance the gender
• Repertory actor
• Accountant
• Backbencher (for those who don’t know this is a member of the parliament who doesn’t hold a Ministerial portfolio)

The actor, the writer and the star will no doubt have had to starve at times while making their fortune and the rep actor probably is still starving.  So they will be reasonably easy to please.  No doubt the  career woman has” had to fight tooth and claw to establish herself in a man’s…

View original post 336 more words

Hard and fast rules

A World Apart

hard-and-fast

^{[hahrd-n-fast, –fahst]}

Seesynonymsforhard-and-faston Thesaurus.com

---

adjective

strongly binding; not to be set aside or violated:hard-and-fast rules

I had a wandering thought this morning, as many of mine are, about hard and fast rules. I can ‘t tell you why as that was many hours ago. But the thought stuck.

Perhaps it came from remembering a discussion with someone awhile ago about strict upbringings.

Or perhaps it came from another discussion about firm-minded (I won’t say closed) and open-mindedness.

And then the question came: are people who are firm-minded and have hard and fast rules likely to have a stronger moral compass?

I fall on the softer side of everything. But I admire those others. I used to strive to be more that way, and actually made progress over the years.

But now I just play at it. I mean I am…

View original post 116 more words

FAREWELL MY QUEEN

A World Apart

Go in peace – you’ve earned your rest

Yesterday along with millions around the world, I sat and watched the pomp and ceremony of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. It was 10 pm here and 11 am in London, so I sat in bed to watch the ceremony. And marvelled again at the splendour, the tradition,and the precisionAnd once again thought that onlyBritain can carry out something this magnificent, this well

142 Royal Navy sailors pulled the gun carriage holding the flag-draped coffin to and from the Abbey. I am sure this is the day those chosen young sailors will never forget.

The streets of the Capital were lined with thousands of those British people who felt so highly of their queen that they wanted to be present in any way possible on her final journey. And so from far away New Zealand I watched this ceremony. I was…

View original post 111 more words

More Music

A World Apart

Yesterday we went to the orchestra. The programme is entitled Leviathan and Orchestra Wellington’s Programme Notes noted “This concert is very special to OrchestraWellington as it marks the fourth piece presented through our Composer in Residency programme with John Psathas. We are joined by international percussion soloist, Alexej Gerassimez, for the NZ premiere of ‘Leviathan’ and would like to thank the German Embassy for their support of this project.”

Alexej Gerassimez is an amazing performer. Across the front of the stage was a large number of instruments. Several different size drums, two xylophones, a large bowl of water, and a water bottle, among other things.

Gerassimez playing
a water bottle

This percussionist spent 25 minutes playing his instruments, one after the other while rushing about the stage from side to side. Amazing.!

In case you are interested here is a link to a YouTube video showing him in a different percussionist activity.

View original post 25 more words