Icy pearls

I certainly hadn’t seen such big hail stones before. One moment it was the usual small balls of ice, the next I heard what sounded like stones being thrown at our window. I looked outside and the deck was covered in hail the size of chickpeas. Impressive. (Apparently they were marble-sized in the city.)

Ooh, I'll have some thank you

Abby wanted to go outside, but yeah, nah. I scooped some up and took it inside for her to play with though.

This weather isn’t doing any good to our seedlings. I noticed some of our seeds had germinated and then this happens.

Tough time for our seedlings

There’s also a trough next to the pot in the picture, but I purposefully didn’t include it – why? Because our dear little dog decided to take a dump on it because he was too wussy to venture out onto the lawn. Little SOB (and that’s literal too, ba-boom!)

Ooh, what's this "snow"?

It’s been quite a delight for a lot of people, and I was probably more excited about it than Abby. She did like being outside trying to catch the flakes, and kept saying “More snow!”

"More snow!"

It didn’t get heavy here in Hataitai but lots of Wellingtonians got to properly play in the snow and built snowmen and the likes. I want there to be a “good” snow day so I can get some cool Wellington snow photos too. And so Abby can have some more snow play as well of course.

Peach blossoms and snow

Snow on the lemon tree

She’s also a pro at riding her rocking horse now – complete with hat and a “Yeeha” at the end.

Unfortunately any time is play time and Abby still won’t stay in one place to get her nappy changed. Today she took off while I was trying to clean up a sticky poo, and then sat her dirty butt down on the rug. I picked her up to reveal a nice brown butt-shaped patch with some chunks, which Fez promptly ate – EWWWWW!

Then you get home, and the baby runs off during a nappy change, pees on the floor (while watching herself curiously), then comes back and sits her wet butt on the change mat. Sheesh!

Gosh darnit, not again

However when it comes down to the risk to pedestrians (three have been struck while crossing the new lanes), why can’t people just use common sense? If you cross a road, you look both ways. You cross at the crossing. You don’t weave in and out of buses to save a couple of minutes or a few metres of walking. The number of people who just casually walk out in front of buses and traffic in general is disturbing (as well as damn annoying and frightening when you’re driving).

Having said that, I also think bus drivers need to share the road better as well. Having been a public transport user for years, there’s a lot to complain about. Despite the slow speed limit in the city, in my experience, bus drivers do speed, and often. They go through yellow and even red lights, often accelerating to do so. They don’t give way at pedestrian crossings. Of course I’m not saying all bus drivers do these, but certainly some do.

I can’t really comment if these new bus lanes have improved public transport and congestion as I have not had to use them, but as it stands, the mall is now a normal road. It should be treated as such, and buses and pedestrians need to act responsibly as they should on all roads everywhere.

And to all drivers everywhere: don’t be a dick and block pedestrian crossings – that does not help anyone and makes you look like a stupid driver (and I may take a photo and share it with the world).

Go Wellington - isn't it ironic that I can't go?

When I worked at the supermarket, this little little old lady would come to my checkout almost every week and ask me if I was from ‘Ch-eyna’, then tell me she was from Scotland. No sorry, I’m not from China, just like the last time you asked (of course I was polite and didn’t actually say all that). I should’ve stopped her half way and tell her that I can predict what she’s going to say next.

Today I was at the post shop and an old lady was fidgeting with the stuff on the shelves, commenting how expensive everything was, and knocking stuff off as well as dropping her letter on the floor. She started cooing over Abby, and told me what lovely skin “you people” have. I told her that Abby’s dad was Kiwi, so she’s whiter than me, lol.

I’m not sure if it’s the same everywhere, but old people seem to be invincible to traffic around here. They literally walk out in front of cars and everyone just stops for them like magic. I saw three old folk doing this along the little stretch of shops on Bay Road in Kilbirnie. I guess you can’t let out that road rage like you would with other people – I would feel very bad for making an old lady cry. Or they might hit my car with their walking stick/frame.

Senior citizens can get away with so much. I guess it’s the reward for putting up with so much crap in their lifetimes.

You know the grumpy-old-man-sitting-in-the-rocking-chair type? Abby’s (step)Grandad’s a bit like that. I won’t repeat the things he’s said (political correctness – what’s that?) but let’s just say, lucky he’s old. He’s not really grumpy, but will voice his opinion, even ringing up the local MP, and good on him for it. Maybe we should all be like that – when we’re old.

Let me end with a quote from Dumb and Dumber – I guess they’re right – old people: though slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose.

Unfortunately, my only experience at Zico last week was nothing to rave about.

We were a large group of ten, out for a birthday dinner on St Patrick’s Day, and the waiters were new or just clueless, so perhaps those factors have to be taken into account for the less than satisfactory service.

First off, getting the waiters to take our orders was more trouble than it should have been. We told one of them we were ready to order and he disappeared without saying if he’d be back to take them. Luckily there was another that we caught the attention of, but her order-taking skills could have done with some polishing.

Ms Constantine inquired about the salmon carbonara to ensure she could get it without bacon. Her carbonara didn’t just come without bacon, it came without carbonara sauce and was delivered as a pomodoro pasta – if you work in an Italian restaurant you’d know straight away that there was something wrong with that. The waitress however didn’t seem to know the difference and was confident that the dish was correct.

The three boys ordered the “real deal” lasagne which is “served with green beans and potatoes” as the menu stated. This turned out to be a vegetarian dish made with green beans and potatoes. Far from the meaty tomato-based lasagne that you would expect as the “real deal”. Until we realised that there was no meat in the lasagne, there was much confusion over where the green beans and potatoes were because the menu implied they would be on the side and not in place of the meat.

As for my meal, I ordered the duo of lamb and steak, medium please. It arrived mostly rare and some bits were barely sealed… at that point I just couldn’t be bothered with making more fuss so just ate what I could. The bits that were cooked to my liking did taste good though.

And at least I had a good glass of red wine.

'Medium' does not mean one half done and the other half raw

We went to the Matterhorn a couple weeks ago with the hubby’s brother and his then-pregnant wife (who had her baby the day after me). The brother-in-law heard good things so we were keen to give it a go.

The meals were tasty, but boy they were the smallest dishes I’ve ever been served!

On top of that, the sister-in-law wanted to be cautious with her steak so asked for it to be well done. It took them three goes before they got it right. It came out medium first two times, and she had to wait an extra half hour or so after our meals were served before the poor lady could eat! How hard is it to cook a steak well-done!?

I got the ‘monk fish with spanner crab’. Ok, when you list something as spanner crab, I expect some pure spanner crab like a claw, or at least a hunk of meat. But no. Where was the crab? I could only assume it was mixed in among the processed sausagey thing that surrounded my two tiny pieces of monk fish. Disappointed with the description. I wish restaurants would describe their meals more accurately.

Matterhorn meal - feed a child for $36...

Definitely a place where you need an entrée, main and dessert, to feel satisfied – and poor. We opted for supermarket dessert on the way home instead.

• Not having a functioning oven is an inconvenience. You can’t bake anything, including cupcakes!
• ArtPop popcorn is the most disgusting microwave popcorn I’ve ever had. It smells like cheese and literally made me feel a little sick just from the smell. Ick.
• I’ve really missed sushi. Even homemade involves a little more effort in heating up the prawns and surimi etc before I can be sure they’re safe.
• It’s still not a good idea to use umbrellas in Wellington. You think you’d be alright when there’s just a light breeze about, but then out of nowhere there’s a big gust and you risk breaking your umbrella or looking like a dorky out-of-towner who should’ve just stuck to a rain jacket.
• A baby’s descent into your pelvis is measured in fifths, as the average adult hand is roughly the width of a baby’s head. My current descent is 2/5, meaning the proportion of the baby’s head above my pelvis is equal to the width of two fingers, and 3/5 of its head is already buried inside. She’s preparing for delivery!
• I love cinnamon donuts.
• If you want monster pastries, the bakery in Hataitai Village can help with that. Look at the giant donut and apple croissant we got!

Big cinnamon donut - what value!

Big apple croissant which was much fun eating with all the icing sugar and flakiness going everywhere

I tried to swat it but didn’t know where it had gone so I had a bit of a search. Lo and behold, there was a swarm of them all over the window! EEK! Gross. So I sprayed the bathroom and fled the scene, but not before taking a photo.

It’s been a while, but do you recall the hooha from PETA about President Obama swatting that fly? PETA still thinks Obama needs to be more caring about flies. If we could send a swarm of cluster flies to PETA and see if they like having them around. They’re persistent things that will come back after sitting on dog poos unless you exterminate them.

According to the post Obama and the fly on the PETA Files (not such a great name as it sounds like some disturbed individuals obsessed with other little beings),  if you use a bug catcher you can be a bigger person (figuratively, as well as literally)! Yes, you read right. If you need to be a bigger person literally, just use a bug catcher!

I don’t need to get bigger literally as eating and being pregnant is doing that already. But thanks for the tip.

17 flies just in the corner