The first person who can supply us with photographic evidence of any workmen in the city, operating heavy or noisy machinery, AND WEARING EAR PROTECTORS!!

Will win a 1kg bag of Rahui Lodge Macadamia Nuts.

But I'm not sure you'll find one.

On the off-chance anyone wants a bag of nuts... photos of ear muff wearing Wellington workmen can be emailed to andrew.llewellyn@gmail.com.

The historic St Peters church, on the corner of Willis & Ghuznee St, is currently on fire.

There are seven fire appliances and one ambulance attending the fire, and just now they seem to have stopped the smoke belching out of the doors and windows. More updates & photos as they come to hand...

If, like many of us, you're furious about the way many media outlets treat women, you need to start reading the American magazine Bust. It's fiercely feminist, but also riffs on craft, culture and fashion - in a good way (they use 'real' people for models, of all shapes, sizes and sexualities etc) In fact, their new issue is the perfect place to start, because it features our Wellingtonians of the Year, the all-conquering Flight of the Conchords on one side of its flip cover, along with the Wellington landmark-defiling Elijah Wood.

I recommend subscribing, because this magazine is really so very very awesome, but if you just want to give it a go, you can buy it at Vic Books, Magazzino, and probably Unity Books.

Just in case you've managed to avoid the saturation coverage across the news media for the last week or so, today marks the 40th anniversary of the Wahine disaster.

We won't add to the plethora of stories (well, we are with this story I suppose, but, well, err...) we mostly just wanted to make note of one article in the NZ Herald, entitled...

Wahine ticket revives terrifying memories (+photos, audio)

Ahhh, yes. It'll be the ticket reviving those terrifying memories. Not the barrage of photos, audio or video.

Anyway, cynicism aside, it was a tragic event in Wellington's history, and we'll be taking a quiet moment today to remember the victims, and to salute the many brave people who risked their own lives to head to the beaches (and, in some cases, out into the storm-lashed waters), to help rescue the hundreds of passengers and crew of the ship who had been thrown into the sea from the foundering ship.

The above piece of artwork is part of a series entitled Eye Candy and was skilfully hand painted by resident Wellington artist, Brad Williams aka Slope, and until sometime during the 31st of October, was on display at (best late nite venue nominee) Sandwiches.

On which date it was nicked - during daylight hours - and both the Sandwiches lads and Slope are understandably upset.

So, if you happen to catch sight of this piece of work (approximately 2m x 0.7m, so shouldn't be too hard to see if is in the vicinity) hanging in a flat, for sale on trademe, or under the arm of some shifty-looking charcter on the street, give the cops a call. Cheers.

A reliable informant tells me that former hobbit and tv star Dominic Monaghan is in town, spotted browsing the fine fare at Whitcoulls in Courtenay Central.

I wonder whether he'll be around long enough to have Sunday brunch at Fidel's like the old days.

Anyone else find it amusing that every single dairy in Wellington today had the Dominion Post's "P pipes seized from dairies!" story on proud display out in front of their respective shops.

(And is there a technical term for those wire-frame things that hold the big one-page headline banner for the day?)

Sometimes there comes a time when you must leave this town, your town for a break - it could be a holiday; it could be your OE; it could be that career move; it could be to do a geographical and just get away.

What's that? Your favourite barista moved to Westport, and you had to follow? (Yeah, OK. There's always an excuse.) But sooner or later, you must come back. And when you do there is always a moment when you know you are home.

Here's one such:

Coming down the Ngauranga Gorge there's that long sweeping curve where the Hutt and Porirua motorways meet. Look up from the road and you'll see Wellington arrayed in full panoply before you. There are our small cluster of tall buildings standing proud, feet in the sea and backs to the hills. There are the hills themselves, steeply carpeted with houses in defiance of tectonics and plain good sense, looking on to and out to the sea. There is the bowl of the harbour, rimmed with bush and filled with reflected sky. There is the sky, mostly blue, sometimes grey, often set with clouds scudding.

There it is. Our town. Where you live. Where I live.

Where is this moment for you?

Is it, as the Front Lawn once had it, flying overhead?

over Wellington Harbour
Oriental Bay is standing there in the sunlight

Is it that first sip of Mojo or Fuel?

Is it Courtenay Place at the weekend?

Where? What? With whom? Comment, zoomin, or blog away!

Not much movement at the top of the Mercer Human Resource Consulting "Most Livable Cities" rankings this year, with, like last year, Wellington coming in 12th, trailing our northern neighbours Auckland, who come in at a very credible 5th. In fact, there's really no movement at all in the top 20, with Zurich and Geneva still 1st and 2nd respectively, Vancouver 3rd, Vienna 4th, before a bunch of German cities slot in below Auckland. The rankings are ...

based on 39 key quality-of-life issues. They include political stability, currency-exchange regulations, political and media censorship, school quality, housing, the environment and public safety.

More of the table here.

So, I hope everyone's now up to speed on creating false identities, after the Dominion Post's useful step-by-step front-page guide yesterday, which talked you through the steps required in getting a fake driver's license or passport. Thanks DomPost!

What really got us nervous though, was the myriad of ways in which our moves and actions throughout the day are tracked by 'the man'.

The DomPost listed several examples of supposedly 'nefarious' personal data-collection. Did you know that the web-browser you're using this very moment to look at this page keeps a record of the fact that you've looked at the page? It's true. Doctors, apparently, also keep records of your various visits. Suspicious? Almost certainly.

And, even more insidiously, the library keeps a record of what items you have borrowed from it at any given time? Why, oh why!? The pervading finger of 'the man' permeates every facet of our life. Our private lives, and indeed, our very identities, it would seem, are under constant threat, from the authorities, or figures who know how to manipulate the system.

Or, on the other hand, maybe it was just the worst front-page 'shock' story, ever.

Well, did you?

More info once every other man and his dog stops hammering the GeoNet website.

Update. Well, there ya go: a 4.8 shake, focal point 50km deep, 30km west of Porirua, out in Cook Strait. A decent rattle.

(And if you did feel it, report your experience here. Do your bit for science.)

Brilliant. Some generous soul has started transcribing Ronald Smythe and H. Westfolds' "letters to the editor" to a blog.

Between them, Westfold and Smythe have cornered the market on curmudgeonly grumpiness, making their output, naturally, some of the best comedy writing to be found coming out of our fair city. Says Smythe...

What has happened to the youth of today. It is a rare occasion indeed when I am shown politeness and respect by the younger age groups. Good manners have flown out the window, along with dress sense and decency.

I presume today’s public schools are partly to blame, although parents are no doubt shirking their responsibilities also.

...and H. Westfold, channeling, it would seem, Grandpa Simpson...

Your March 15 item about that lovely 1963 Studebaker and its manufacturer evoked memories of my adolescence in the late 1940s. You see, it was Studebaker which pioneered the "New Look" analogous to that of women’s fashions just then. It was in late 1947 or early 1948 that just a few of the latest Studebaker model appeared on our Taranaki roads, one of those cars being owned by a farmer near my hometown, Inglewood. For a short while, their profile made heads turn – a car’s front and rear ends both looked like front ends as we’d known cars for many years!

...and so on.

Read more at the aptly named I am of the Opinion.

[Hat-tip to Alan for actually un-earthing this.]

• Gen XY's Top 10 list of what's wrong with Wellington parking.
  
• Mystery Bar 45 at WellUrban.
  
• Surfaid have a concert coming up in November at the Town Hall, featuring The Phoenix Foundation, Open Souls, The Little Bushmen, Twinset, Odessa and The Wellington Ukelele Orchestra.
• ...and Cactus Kate has never "really understood Wellingtonians." Likewise, we don't really understand Ms. Kate.

There are hundreds - nay thousands - of possible venues in our fair city for children's parties. Today I bring you one that I have recently used and enjoyed.

The YMCA on Tasman St is available for hire at a very reasonable rate. It is pretty rough, which actually is nice and relaxing when you have 20 under 4s hooning around. There are crash pads, a huge foam pit, beams, balls and lots of opportunities for kids to run themselves ragged.

You can take your own food and there is chilled water on site.

No alcohol allowed, so I'll be rethinking it as a venue for my own birthday. A martini in that foam pit seems very appealing.

I didn't spot a single Young Christian Man, nor did anyone perform YMCA. We had a goodly dose of the Spice Girls though.

YMCA of Greater Wellington INC
69 Tasman St Wellington 0-4-385 4091

Well... around them anyway, if you don't want the gardeners getting medieval on you...

What:
Spring Festival, Sept 23 to Oct 8.

Where:
Botanic Gardens & Otari Wilton's Bush

The Botanic Garden and Otari Wilton's Bush will host two weeks of family orientated events.

Activities include:

• glow worm tours
• live music
• petting zoos
• plant sales

Brochures outlining the events will be available from both gardens and all Feeling Great stands from 1 September. PDF files here:

Spring Festival Brochure
Stamp Your Name on the Stump
Spring Festival Photo Contest