Food, Warmth and Shelter

These three things are basic to mans' survival.  If any one is missing for any extended period of time, then that's it.  You're dead.  Pretty serious stuff really - and now I'm going to completely trivialise it.  Last night Camille and I were reduced to turning all the lights on in the place we are staying in order to bring it up to a reasonable temperature as the 9 bar oil heater in the downstairs area is too inadequate to do the job.

We are staying in what is supposed to be 5 star accommodation.  It is a nice example of the "tick box" rating system. 

• Large LCD / Plasma screen?    tick
• Heated towel rails?  tick
• Controlled lighting?  tick
• etc.

Get enough of the right ticks and you earn the 5 stars.   Unfortunately I don't believe they rate some of the things that are fairly important to Camille and I

• Adequate soundproofing so we can't hear people traipsing up and down outside
• Good climate control
• Beds that don't 'dip' in the middle so I'm not lying downhill when ever I lie on my left hand side.
• and so on.

We are in the Boulcott Suites, an apartment hotel which is apparently great for corporate travellers looking for quality and space.  We are in a two bedroom "Townhouse" and yes, there is plenty of space.  It's clean and reasonably comfortable except for that heating thing.  It's not a particularly cold day and yet the heater can't really cope.  Most of the overhead lights are halogens and as they produce a fair amount of heat Camille had the bright idea of turning them all on to warm the place up.  This was very effective and possibly a better option than turning all the elements on the hob and oven on as we could feel the warmth radiating down on us.

We are in Wellington on a flying trip.  Camille has a meeting here this morning and then I'm dropping her at the airport so she can fly to Christchurch where she has another in the afternoon.  I get to drive home.  Joy!

Wellington

Camille and are in Wellington this weekend. For once it's a social instead of business trip. We came down last night after we finished work for the day. Around 5:30 or so we were feeling a bit peckish, not having had any lunch, so we decided to get fish and chips. As we were nearing Masterton and had no idea what was a good fish and chip shop we got one of the laptops out and did a Google search on "Best fish and chips" +masterton. The results pointed to the Four Seasons Takeaway so the next step was to look them up on Google Maps on one of our phones as they have built in GPS. That done we started following the directions.

Google Maps let us down and let us down badly. Instead of taking us to the Four Seasons, we ended up outside McDonalds which is not a place we ever wish to eat at. Not good.

However, we decided to drive around looking as we figured Four Seasons couldn't be far away. We found it on the main street, duly ordered a feed and continued on our way.

Were the fish and chips good? Yes, they were. The fish was very good. Pleasantly moist, lightly battered, lovely flavour, not greasy. All things I look for in a piece of fish from a fish and chip shop. The chips were good as well. I recommend the place.

We are staying in a small cottage in Belmont. The cottage is called "Gate Cottage" and is one of two cottages available at Belmont Cottages. It's a very nice place that gives a feeling of seclusion. I woke this morning to the sound of tuis which I really enjoyed. We don't often get tuis at home.

At present we are both lying in bed. Shortly I will make us breakfast which will be raclette cheese melted on garlic toast with poached eggs and bacon. Looking forward to that!

The Bolton Hotel

A good hotel which we have stayed in before. The woman at reception was pleasant enough but needs to think about the way she approaches things. I enquired about the food style in the hotel restaurant and was startled to be told that it was 5 star dining and that I may find it a bit expensive and that there were good but cheaper restaurants elsewhere. Ok, I'm not one of the best dressed members of society; in fact I can look very rough. However, I would have thought hotel staff would know not to make assumptions about their guests.

We were given the key cards to our room and headed on up to the 3rd floor which is the same level as the Gymnasium but we were told that we were far enough away from it so we wouldn't be disturbed by the noise. We got to our room and it wasn't quite what we expected. Instead of the suite with kitchenette we had booked, we were in a tiny room with barely enough space to get around the outside of the bed. A quick "There must be some mistake" phone call was made and we were transferred to the 14th floor into something more like what we were expecting.

The staff in the hotel are very pleasant people and quite chatty. I like this and have had several conversations with them in the lifts and corridors.

Wellington

In Wellington for the weekend. Camille is working and is in a meeting until at least 5:00pm. I've been wasting my time wandering the streets spending up large. New trousers, boots, jersey, car seat covers.

Car seat covers??

No, I didn't actually buy those. They came with the boots which is a kind of odd thing to give away with a pair of boots, particularly boots bought at Kirkcaldie and Staines.

I also bought a couple of green teas as the Jimmy Cook (ok - James Cook Grand Chancellor) hotel doesn't have green tea as one of its options in the room or with breakfast. How slack is that? The teas I bought were Gunpowder tea, so named because the leaves are rolled up very tightly and resemble coarse gunpowder grains. The other tea I bought because I liked the name which is.....

Iron Goddess of Mercy

Now that's a real tea! It isn't actually a green tea though. It's an oolong tea. Sort of half and half.

I also bought three books from Borders. They are all cheaply published Penguin books and they are:

1. The Classical World - Robin Lane Fox
2. What is History - E. H. Carr
3. The consolations of Philosophy - Alain De Botton
   

I'm really pleased that those Penguin books are being published again. When I was a child we had one room in the house that was lined with Penguin books. They bring back memories. They also bring back value for money as they cost $12.99 each. This is so much more attractive than buying a single paperback for near $40.00. They just aren't worth that and I am no longer prepared to pay it - except for the occasional impulse buy.

Over and out!