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vostoklakeHighlights from a travelling weekend:
- atrocious coffee at the railway station at Tongariro National Park, served by one American and one Central European of some description (backpackers have to make a living somehow);
- a righteously pissed-off train conductor threatening to put off a bevy of drunken soccer fans in Levin (a fate worse than death for anyone who knows the North Island)
- chez Crazy Cat Lady / Tofulope, meeting my ex-cat Vega (was she always that hairy?!?) and her skittish but pretty little sister Turtle;
- a delicious meal of tofu and pasta;
- remembering one of the reasons I continue to live in Auckland, viz. the fact that apparently winter lasts all the way into November in Wellington;
- remembering that, while there are many things to love about Welly's public transport, the 60-year-old trains on the Johnsonville line are too noisy to have a conversation in;
- buying a white scarf and hat at Farmers Lambton Quay, and explaining to the clerk exactly where Bahrain is;
- reliving my young adulthood, wandering vaguely around town withmermaid all afternoon trying not to spend money;
- dinner at one of the glorious Middle Eastern restaurants on Cuba Mall (staffed by Assyrians, I believe);
- the kind and courteous fan who agreed to swap seats so the Mermaid lady could sit by me and have the offside rule explained to her;
- lustily singing the National Anthem in Maori, since the English lyrics suck;
- the fantastic cheering effort by the Yellow Fever/White Noise boys, including having the brass nads to take their shirts off with ten minutes to go, on a freezing evening in Wellington;
... and, lastly, being there, and shouting myself hoarse, the day Rory Fallon put the ball in the Bahrain net; my new boyfriend, Mark Paston, saved a penalty; and the mighty All Whites went to their second ever World Cup. I'm only just old enough to remember the last time, so I hope Brazil don't beat us 4-0 again. For the sake of my flist, I do hope we end up in the same pool as Australia, Germany and the US so we can beat you all. XD
- atrocious coffee at the railway station at Tongariro National Park, served by one American and one Central European of some description (backpackers have to make a living somehow);
- a righteously pissed-off train conductor threatening to put off a bevy of drunken soccer fans in Levin (a fate worse than death for anyone who knows the North Island)
- chez Crazy Cat Lady / Tofulope, meeting my ex-cat Vega (was she always that hairy?!?) and her skittish but pretty little sister Turtle;
- a delicious meal of tofu and pasta;
- remembering one of the reasons I continue to live in Auckland, viz. the fact that apparently winter lasts all the way into November in Wellington;
- remembering that, while there are many things to love about Welly's public transport, the 60-year-old trains on the Johnsonville line are too noisy to have a conversation in;
- buying a white scarf and hat at Farmers Lambton Quay, and explaining to the clerk exactly where Bahrain is;
- reliving my young adulthood, wandering vaguely around town with
mermaid all afternoon trying not to spend money;- dinner at one of the glorious Middle Eastern restaurants on Cuba Mall (staffed by Assyrians, I believe);
- the kind and courteous fan who agreed to swap seats so the Mermaid lady could sit by me and have the offside rule explained to her;
- lustily singing the National Anthem in Maori, since the English lyrics suck;
- the fantastic cheering effort by the Yellow Fever/White Noise boys, including having the brass nads to take their shirts off with ten minutes to go, on a freezing evening in Wellington;
... and, lastly, being there, and shouting myself hoarse, the day Rory Fallon put the ball in the Bahrain net; my new boyfriend, Mark Paston, saved a penalty; and the mighty All Whites went to their second ever World Cup. I'm only just old enough to remember the last time, so I hope Brazil don't beat us 4-0 again. For the sake of my flist, I do hope we end up in the same pool as Australia, Germany and the US so we can beat you all. XD
