Senses working overtime #491

1 Wellington

This week was largely spent in our capital city. It's getting a bad press at the moment with less foot traffic in the CBD but while Unity Books are on Willis and Arty Bees, Slow Boat Records are in or near Cuba St mall, I will still have plenty of reasons to visit on a regular basis.

2 World of Wearable Arts

Jacky's thing more than mine but I still really enjoyed the sensual experience.

3 Listening to: Jimmy Buffett - Living and Dying in 3/4 Time

One of my purchases from Slow Boat Records. Try Come Monday.

4 Reading: The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys

One of my purchases from Unity Books.

5 Tasting: Hot! Like a Mexican tacos

Overtime: Neil Finn

There's a certain good fortune in having a moderate amount of success.

Answering the 'How come you've avoided scandal?' question in Mojo magazine #367

Senses working overtime #323

The senses went into overdrive on our recent holiday to Wellington. The main reason for our visit was to see the exhibition of surrealist art at Te Papa. The big city sounds and smells were definitely a change from our rural outlook in Takapau!

1 Surrealism at Te Papa

Great little camera trick allows you to reproduce Magritte's famous painting.

2 

3 Flamingo Joe's

Feeling good at Flamingo Joe's after their sticky date pudding!

4 Windy Wellington

Weather was pretty good but windy on our last day. 

5 Pier Review

Spied this well named boat on the Wellington waterfront (before finding ourseleves by the fishing boat Viking Bay Vigo - moored in Wellington so that the fishers with covid can go into MIQ).

Overtime: Replacement copies

I picked up a couple of replacement copies of some damaged albums at Slow Boat Records. 

My English copy of the Procol Harum album had a badly defaced cover - some plonker had coloured in the faces, so this clean Aussie copy was a good find, as was the Quicksilver Messenger Service; my original had some bobbles in the vinyl which made track one on each side unplayable. Given this is my favourite album by them I was thrilled to find this 'new' copy.

Senses working overtime #25

My wife and I spent some of last week in Wellington on some personal business. While there we always love spending time in Cuba Mall- not an enclosed mall à la The Dubai Mall, but à la Haight Asbury - as in a street that has interesting stores and very interesting street life. 

Here are five sights sounds etc from my visit:

1 Slow Boat Records - great to see records making such a strong comeback, great to see people in different demographics (i.e. not middle aged white males like me) combing the bins! 

2 Unity Books - I love a great bookshop and Unity Books is that. I came away with an armful recommended by the knowledgeable staff.

3 Graphic Comics - wonderful place to browse and buy your youth back. The source of my Trigan Empire find. These guys will find ANYTHING!

4 Vanishing Point Records - lovely people and a great store. Go see for yourself up the top of Cuba.

5 + overtime

The Mall itself - the sights and sounds from buskers, tai chi exponents, an outdoor barber, the water bucket sculpture, the cafes, the restaurants, the tatted up and pierced, the retro fashion stores, the record stores. Cuba mall is like no other!