Fair season
The next five weeks are going to be tres busy for the discerning shopper. There are fairs galore. Here is a quick run down:
15th February – Craftwerk is on at the Southern Cross. An almost all new line-up of stalls will keep it fresh and interesting, and it is on from 5-9pm with bands.
17th February – Petone Fair. Jackson St will be chock full of everything from sausage sizzles, bouncy castles and ethnic food, to fab jewellery, clothes and gifts. Starts 10am. I recommend parking along the Esplanade and walking a couple of blocks to the fair.
17th February – The Big Bang is on at the NewDowse. This signals a month of exciting activities. A highlight will be The Real Hot Bitches performing a danceathon at 4pm.
3rd March – The second of the Martinborough Fairs is on. This is a repeat performance of the fair in February, with all the same fabulous food and stalls. It is a great opportunity to scope out some wineries while you’re over the hill. Martinborough Square.
10th March – Gay and Lesbian Fair, Newtown School. An array of stalls and activities. 9am-4pm
17th March – Whoop! Craft2.0 is going to be on at the NewDowse in Lower Hutt. This fabulous fair is the culmination of a month of activities at the NewDowse to celebrate its renovations. There will be the finest craft from around the country and hot bands. More information on this exciting event will be updated every 2 minutes (heh).
Bus Angst #32
Two words: bloody buses.
Actually, here’s a few more. This particular Wellingtonista had to wait forty minutes last evening for even one bus to turn up on his route. Of course, when one did, it was packed to the gunnels, so it sailed by the stop, as did the next, and the next. Finally, one only moderately packed bus did find space to fit me on board, so I did eventually get home, but what irks me is that in the forty minutes spent waiting at the bus-stop, I saw three Kilbirnie buses go by (the second two weren’t even that full), and two Houghton Bay buses. I mean, if they’re going to cancel buses, couldn’t they be a little more even-handed about it all?
Bus routes affected by the cancellations are listed here. I find it hard to believe that there are no #1, #4 and #32 cancellations after 4:30 today. As a precaution, I plan to back-walk a few stops to the Beehive end of Lambton Quay, to ensure, at least, that I can get onto a bus that will take me home, should one deem to actually turn up.
Didja feel that one?
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.)
We ask: Boy and dog?
The Wellingtonista want to know what is currently shooting in Wellington that would require a large truck towing a boy on a bicycle with a dog perched happily behind him to film down Lambton Quay.
Someone out there must have the answer. And also: how did they get the dog to hold on?
The Circuits of Happyness
At Happy tomorrow night you can hear three of New Zealand’s rising stars of minimalist electronic music:
- Sam Hamilton
- Angeline Chirnside aka Jane Austen
- Nigel Wright
These artists are described in the media release as “wonderful and amazing; think the magnificent beauty of Rosy Parlane, Minit, and Rachel Shearer’s Lovely Midget project. Hell, think of the internationally reknowned Fennesz, Tim Hecker or Keith Fullerton Whitman, if you like.”
Cheers drive
With so much happening in this fair and glorious city of ours (it’s not just mine, it is all of ours) there’s a high chance that you’re gonna bump into some “out of towners”, especially the next few days as the city fills up with drunk penguins, herds of Elvis-es and not an unwelcome amount of nearly naked people … the rugby Sevens are on!
Whilst we all know that nearly everything is within walking distance of the Stadium (“It’s a very walkable city” was probably only just pipped by “Absolutely Positively Wellington”) we at the Towers are sure that there will be a high proportion of these tourists catching buses from ‘here’ to ‘there’.
And once on the bus they will be pleasantly surprised by how, as Wellingtonians leave the bus, there is a hearty, “Cheers drive!”
Well, actually it’s likely to be a, “Thank you” or even a, “Thanks driver” but why shouldn’t it be, “Cheers drive”?
Nothing on
It has been brought to my attention that “a common complaint … from native Aucklanders when they venture south, or even tourists, is that, after three days in Wellington there is nothing to do”. While the writer of that comment doesn’t agree, looking around the city at the moment, I can see that they may have a point.
Wellingtonista boos: ads on our sacred space
Adjusting to the new offices on Lambton Quay hasn’t been easy, and a huge part of the problem has been trying to get into a new coffee routine. That is why it’s so distressing that Fresco*, which sells Mojo coffee, is now using takeaway cups printed with Telecom advertising. How many minutes will I spend thinking about coffee over the next two years? A lot more than I’ll think about switching to Telecom, you punks. Even if I hadn’t had my vodafone number since it was Bell South, there’s no way I’d switch now. Leave me alone and stop hounding me when all I am trying to do is wake up!
* Yes, their takeaway lattes are $4.50, but their muffins are $2.50, so breakfast is only 20 cents more expensive than getting a cheese scone and coffee from Kyrani.
Craft 2.0
TheNewDowse is due to re-open on February 17th. There are exciting activities planned for the 4 weeks following, culminating in da da da dah! Craft2.0.
Craft2.0 is going to be on the 17th of March, and will be a craftacular, a spectacraft, if you will.
There will be bands, and a terrific array of local crafty goodies. I will be there with Babylicious, SuperVery will have fabulous jewellery, magnets and badges, tres talented Sam Broad will have some of his delicious prints and frames, and the original John Campbell t shirts by Hadyn will have a starring role. It is all dead exciting.
The Cook Strait Rollercoaster Ride
Shot by an ex-workmate of Wellingtonistas Tom and Noizy, presumably spread by the magic of email, and now shared to the world thanks to someone in the UK, here’s some footage to rival that of our previous YouTube hit ‘Classic Landings at Wellington Airport‘.
This time it’s some serious weather doing its thing in Cook Strait, with the captain of the ferry Suilven deciding no gigantic swells were going to stop him from getting his freight and passengers to the South Island. Much, one thinks, to the horror of his passengers, who probably spent most of the trip in white-knuckled terror as the ship pitched and yawed its way across this particularly hostile stretch of ocean water.
Details on just how horrific the weather conditions (and a few stills of the Suilven making its way over some mountainous waves) can be found at the MetService site.
[hat-tip: spare room]