It started out as a very cloudy, damp morning, I couldn’t see further than a few houses down the street. It was a great time to get out for a walk as very few people were out (it was also 6am on a Saturday so there is that!). I met a very friendly and beautiful calico cat, I’ve never seen one with such distinct coloring. After giving it a good tummy rub I headed back home and saw what looked like 2 tiny hedgehogs on someone’s fence post, but was actually a couple of shells covered in a spiky moss!
I had a wonderful phone call with Emmy this morning,not about anything in particular just to catch up. I’m used to seeing her a couple of times a week in person so it’s been so strange being away all this time and not talking to her. We caught each other up on what was going on, she and Eddie are coming to New Zealand in February so they are very excited and busy making plans. It brought back memories of phone calls home when I lived here before. They cost a dollar a minute (back when I made about $12 an hour) On Thanksgiving the American Embassy would put on a Thanksgiving meal for ex-pats and they would set up phones so that everyone could have a free call home, that was such a treat.
On my way to Annemarie’s place I passed a dad helping his toddler walk on top of a fence- they had on little blue gum boots – it was adorable! I took a different route and went down a walkway complete with several stairways that was probably a quarter mile long, what a slog to get home, glad I don’t live in any of those places. I went through a cool cut through with more local students artwork and passed a house with not 1, not 2 but 4 disco balls in the front room!
As has often been the case, the bus we wanted to take was canceled. Wellington has quite a shortage of bus drivers so buses are often canceled at the last minute or just don’t show up. We weren’t in a hurry and decided to walk to a different stop to take an alternate route, among the way we saw lots of groups dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland. Apparently there was some kind of city wide escape room with an Alice in Wonderland theme! We eventually made it to our destination, the quarterly Brooklyn community market. We were both starving so were very happy to see they had a sausage sizzle going. $2.50 NZ ($1.50US) for a large sausage in a piece of buttered bread was a very inexpensive lunch. The community market had a wide variety of wares from candles to ornaments to succulents to pickled items and even a mobile record store and a well stocked table of eco friendly feminine products. We both made a few purchases and then said goodbye. It was time for me to get ready for my trip to the symphony!
For a decade before Covid I had been attending various sing-along Messiah’s, often at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist church (which is actually in El Cerrito, but whatever). Since I couldn’t go this year, I did the next best thing- attended the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s production of Messiah. Tickets were really reasonably priced, I had a great spot in the stalls for only $40NZ (less than $25US). The rain that was expected in the early evening did not eventuate making the walk and bus ride there very enjoyable. I spied a couple of young girls all dressed for their outing to the symphony, so sweet. While some people were dressed up, many wore nice but casual clothes and several people had on trainers (tennis shoes). New Zealand’s more casual style definitely agrees with me.
I arrived early enough to hear the pre program talk about the history of Messiah given by the symphony’s tympanist who is a transplanted Yank (as Americans are called here). The first thing I learned is that it is called Messiah, not ‘The’ Messiah. Apparently the first concert in 1742 in Dublin was a fundraising event. They raised enough to free 142 men from debtors prison! The tympanist are used to play for a Handel symphony in Baltimore where each December they put on a huge Messiah sing-along in a football stadium (in Baltimore where it snows and is very cold in December). They would raise enough money from that event to cover the cost of their entire symphony season! He told us a hilarious story about a very busy Messiah season where on one Sunday he forgot to bring his lunch so snacked on unblessed communion wafers and grape juice while he waited to go on (the tympanist has a pretty small role in Messiah we were told). 😂
The concessions were the usual wine, beer and non alcoholic drinks along with snacks including ice cream and Lolly packs! Those are definitely a New Zealand thing. During intermission there was the usual long line for the ladies room, so I struck up a conversation with the woman in front of me and, small world, it turns out she and her family lived in Berkeley for 1/2 dozen years in the 2010s. We chatted about living in Wellington vs the Bay Area. She misses being there, but doesn’t miss driving in the Bay Area, which is so funny since I’m very grateful that I’m not driving here!
The concert was fantastic with incredible soloists, both the tenor and bass were Samoan, which is some thing I would not have seen at home. The tenor’s kids were sitting near me and were very vocal in their support of their father! The choir (The Tudor Consort) was very talented and the NZ Symphony Orchestra is top notch. I felt so lucky to be able to enjoy the gorgeous music live. I couldn’t help silently singing along, oh do I love that music! Something that I haven’t seen done in the US is the audience standing during the Hallelujah Chorus, apparently this is done because one of the kings, I think it was one of the King Georges, did so during a performance. We didn’t get to sing along, though I noticed I wasn’t the only one mouthing the words!
The concert let out a little too late for me to get the most convenient bus back home, so I took one that had a longer route, which, during the daytime, has beautiful views of the bays as it goes up and down the hills. But at 10:30 at night, it’s a little disconcerting as the headlights sweep over steep hillsides as we go barreling around corners. I made it home safe and sound buzzing from my wonderful holiday outing.