There Goes the Neighbourhood

I know its a popular thing to attempt, but I’ve never really been tempted by a dry January. Actually, that’s not entirely true. A few years ago I did manage an almost-dry-january but that was because I was expecting to run in a Half Marathon at the end of the month and desperately needed to get rid of some unwanted weight. As it turns out, the event was cancelled the day before due to snow and ice so I never got to compete in the appropriately named ‘Brass Monkey’ nor did I successfully complete the dry January. As soon as I found out the event was cancelled I had a beer to commiserate the wasted effort and simultaneously celebrate the end of training. Well hurrah for that......

I’ve never attempted it since. Not the ‘Brass Monkey’ because being 12,000 miles away seems a reasonable exscuse, and the dry January because it seems....welll pointless really. Admittedly I could jump on a plane, travel to York and spend a very pleasant morning whilst running around country lanes but not in a UK winter. Stuff that! All things considered, I’m more likely to attempt a dry January than I am to run in sub-zero conditions. And that is pretty unlikely, especially since we have been living in New Zealand. You’d be hard pushed to find sub-zero conditions in January and the thought of travelling south to run in on a cold July day is not something that I want to contemplate right now thank you very much. Equally, depriving oneself of a cold beer on a hot January day is sheer madness. Nope no Brass Monkeys or dry Januarys for me.....unless it is forced upon me. “Ah, at last he’s got to the point of this blog!,” I hear you say. 

You see we’ve recently discovered that our local pub ‘The Windsor’ has closed down. Ferme. Geschlossen. It’s not uniusual for Auckland hostelries to close their doors over the festive period but they do ususally open them again. But not this time. Not for ‘The Windsor’ and after 165 years of serving cold ones to Parnell its doors are closed for good. It does strike me as unusual that Parnell high street can support a multitude of restaurants and cafes but can’t support a single pub. Actually there is another, ‘Hoggys’ but it’s at the top of the street and for us a twenty minute walk up a steep hill. It’s just about manageable in walking boots but not to be attempted in flip-flops! So Parnell is quite happy to support, at the last count, ten cafes (just how much Flat White can one town drink?) but can’t sustain two boozers. 

Obviously we’ve only got ourselves to blame - we just weren’t trying hard enough. The occasional pint, albeit on a regular basis,  just didn’t do it. Cut the mustard as it were. Which is surprising as I alway made sure that I ordered the largest size of beer, the Stein, rather than the diminutive pints. Which for those living outside New Zealand are not actually pints but are 500ml. Mostly. Occasionally a pint is only 420ml and you wouldn’t know it until it turned up on the bar top. Even then it can be deceptive - on more than one occasion I have picked up such a beverage only to wonder in my eyes need testing or my hands have suddenly grown out of proportion with the rest on my upper body. And don’t get me started on Schooners.....

Whatever the future of our local bar or building is, we have some fond memories of the place. Althoigh we have very rarely stumbled out of here at closing time, it has been a cornerstone of our existence in Parnell; a place to meet afterwork on a Friday, head to whilst we decide the agenda for a night out, a stop-off point whilst pizzas are being prepared a few doors up the street and more often than not, the first and last call for any overseas visitors who have dared make it this far across the globe. That’s not to say that there aren’t other pubs in this city that hold fond memories. For a start there’s the uniquely named ‘Andrew Andrew’ that was our first drink on NZ soil, enticed in by the name and the closeness to our hotel. ‘The Lumsden’ in Newmarket will always be a go-to place for a pre-cinema pint and the original post-work port of call, and of course there’s ‘Brew on Quay’ when we spent many an hour drinking Epic IPA whilst we used their free WiFi to find somewhere to live. So desperate were we to get out of the small apartment that we had to resort to sitting in a bar every night. Hard times. But none of these are what you would call ‘our local’ and therefore, despite arguably being better pubs, don’t hold that affectionate spot.

I guess we’ll just have to find somewhere else to call ‘home’. There’s the posh place just down the street but whilst they don’t have a dress code (nowhere in NZ does) we’ve never really felt comfortable amongst the latte-supping lawyers and hoorays, and a rather limited beer menu does nothing to help us overcome our prejudices .There is, of course, ‘The Paddington’ but a Liverpool FC quote above the door puts off at least one half of the Stanton-Davies contingent, and besides it’s at the bottom of a hill so the inevitable trudge back up after a few pints doesn’t make it an obvious choice. 

Of course the alternative, and this is a bit radical, is to buy the place ourselves. At only $199,000 it’s quite a bargain but I’m not sure the prospective punters could cope with random opening hours and a tendency to be closed for long stretches of the time. I just can’t see it working and it would be a bit of an extreme solution to the problem. 

For the time being, we will have to take our money elsewhere, enjoy the change and hope that the ‘Windsor’ re-opens soon. Well any time really. And when it does....well watch out Parnell! This time we’re going to make sure it stays open! Cheers!

False Start

Who on earth has ever heard of a bank holiday Tuesday? No? I’m not surprised because it just doesn’t happen. Admittedly there are the occasions when Christmas Day falls on a Tuesday but that’s different. And besides, it’s a Christmas Day not Christmas Tuesday and everyone is for too knee deep in mince pies to careanyway.

The same goes for its running mate Boxing Day and second cousin New Year’s Day. These all could fall on a Tuesday but most wouldn’t give it a second thought....It's at this point that I should acknowledge that there are those who have to work through the festive period might have a totally different take on this, just as there are many who work through all of the public holidays. 

Anyway, all of this is rather a long way around to noting that today is a public holiday in New Zealand and I find myself in the odd position of having just started the working week, now having a lie in and a sort of mini weekend. How come? Why it’s Waitangi Day of course - more of this in a minute.

New Zealand is blessed with a generous amount of public holidays. Obviously there are the aforementioned festive breaks, the only difference being that they are summer not winter holidays. But just like our Scottish neighbours, New Zealanders also enjoy the aptly named Day After New Year’s Day. Perfect for getting over that hangover or catching up on some much needed sleep.

Just when you’re back into the swing of things in work along comes Auckland Anniversary when the whole of Auckland takes a collective breath and heads to the beach again. Just to be fair, the rest of the country also has respective anniversary days at their allotted times in the calendar but Aucklanders deserve theirs more. Why? Well for putting up with living in Auckland and amongst Aucklanders obviously!

From Auckland Anniversary, it's only a week until the 6 February and Waitangi Day holiday. I know, I don't know how we cope. And then that's it....

Well until Good Friday and Easter Monday that is! Hopefully they're not too late in the calendar because the last thing we would want to do is actually work for a living. Not whilst there’s any strength in the sun and warmth in the sea anyway.

If the stretch from Waitangi to Easter seems a bit of a .....well..... stretch, then Anzac comes along to give us a well earned rest. The 25 April is a national day of remembrance that commemorates Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in wars and conflicts,  the date marking the anniversary of the first campaign of the Great War that lead to significant Australian and New Zealand casualties. 

By the time the Anzac commemorations are out of the way, Autumn is well and truly upon us and there is nothing but the long dark winter ahead. Just as well then that the Queen's Birthday public holiday in June comes along to give us all a bit of cheer. As you will know I'm a huge supporter of the Royal family and it's contribution to the economy, especially if there is a day off thrown in. I just ask that whoever is next on the thrown is selected on the basis of thieir month of birth rather than something as random as hereditary. June is an okay-ish month for a public holiday but May would be a lot better. Whilst we are on the subject (pun entirely intended), I do think it is a bit odd that the UK doesn't get a day off to celebrate the Head of State's birthday whilst New Zealand does. Losers!

After that, well there is only one more public holiday left and that's Labour Day at the end of October. This generally heralds the arrival of spring and its origins are traced back to the eight-hour working day movement that arose in the newly founded Wellington colony in 1840, primarily because of carpenter Samuel Parnell's refusal to work more than eight hours a day. Well hurrah for Wellington and Mr P I say!

Out of all of these holiday, most are either observed on a Friday or a Monday in what is locally known as a Long Weekend. Clever that. Waitangi and Anzac, however, commemorate historical events so they are observed on the day that they fall. If, however, the date falls on a weekend then they are Mondayised and the long weekend status is reinstated. 

So what about Waitangi I hear you ask? Well Waitangi is the national day of New Zealand and commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on the 6 February 1840, which is generally regarded as New Zealand's founding document. Needless to say when British colonists are involved, it's a very controversial document and I won't presume to understand all of the nuances. In fact, I'm not going to say any more on the subject other than the issues are still being resolved to this day through Treaty of Waitangi claims and settlements.

If you really want to find out more, there is plenty of information on the internet and a cracking museum at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in the Bay of Islands. It's well worth a visit if you're passing!

I wholly understand why the nation's two significant historical events are observed on the same date each year. Not everything has to beat to the drum of a working week and conveniently move towards a weekend. These events should be different and, dare I say, inconvenient and give everyone cause to stop and think what they are commemorating......even if it does mean having essentially two Monday mornings in the same week!