Kirk's Sale, now on

WellUrban probably sums up the effect of the annual Kirk's Sale best when he writes...

Expect worse than usual queues of SUVs between Karori and Lambton Quay this morning: the Annual Kirks sale is on. From the look of some of the ladies queueing outside the doors this morning, it could be said that they could definitely do with some new clothes (anything designed after 1990 would be an improvement), but that would be snobbish and catty and not the sort of thing I'd say at all.

Nor us. Remember, there's probably some good umbrellas for sale too...

Bunnies on Ponies @ Cabaret

Amongst the usual info accompanying the email alerting us to a rare Bunnies on Ponies performance, was a brand new word - nosfarious. To quote...

The nosfarious Bunnies On Ponies are making a rare appearance at Cabaret (ne Chow) this Saturday night from 11pm.

We like it. If one of the Bunnies (or, indeed, one of our faithful readers) would care to supply a definition, we'd be most appreciative. (Although, Google, always the spoiler of ill-informed fun, asks Did you mean: nefarious, which we suspect they did).

Anyway, if a bit of 'folky mild-rock cantankerousness' is your thing, and you like the idea of a group comprising Samuel Flynn Scott (The Phoenix Foundation), Dave Long (The Mutton Birds), Lee Prebble (knob twidder extraordinaire), Tom Callwood (The Little Bushmen) and Mike Fabulous (The Black Seeds), then head along to Cabaret around 11pm this Saturday night (28 Jan).

{photo courtesy of fellow Wellingtonista, Jemsweb}

Stories Told to Me by Girls, second season

Those of you who missed out on the first season of Julie Hill's play 'Stories Told to Me by Girls' should head down to Happy tonight or tomorrow (or yesterday or the day before that, if you have the technology), to catch a special return season. Laurie Atkinson's review in the Dom is suitably gushing...

It's like performance art, but without the pretentiousness that seems to attach itself to this art form, mixed with revue sketches, stand-up comedy and Julie Hill's knack of combining believable people, lively, offbeat stories and a dry sense of humour.

We meet along the way a would-be actress and her agent (told with huge silhouttes onthe screen), a four-year-old Red Riding-Hood, Rebecca in an S&M dungeon getting her revenge on her old maths teacher, the unhappy life of Dougal (told with chalk drawings), young Dusty's sand castles, and Katheryn's horse-riding audition.

[Solo actor] Smith is in comedic control throughout, whether as the actress being told she looks like Liv Tyler, or as the young Dusty and Dougal. Add Peter Daube's music and Megan Adams' video choreography to the mix and you have a sparkling beginning to the theatrical year.

More info (times/prices) at the Stories For Girls website...

The Chinese New Year is coming soon

January 28 until February 11. And listen up folks, it's the Year of the Dog!

What we're particularly looking forward to is the Asian Market (11am-3pm) at the Events Centre on the waterfront on Festival Day (Feb 11). The food! The crowds! But mostly the food.

Festival day will also sport a parade from Courtenay Place to Frank Kitts Park from 2-3pm & "colourful action & entertainment" from 3-5pm at Frank Kitts Park.

More details of this & other events are right here.

Wellington Chinese New Year Celebrations 2006

Wellington Speed Traps

So, Wellington's busiest urban speed camera is situated down Ohiro Road (which, for those unfamiliar with this road, starts down in Aro Valley, works its way up to Brooklyn, the meanders down through Happy Valley to Island Bay).

This particular Wellingtonista knows the route well - I've been pinged at least four times over the last year. It's hard to reconcile the rationale of national road policing manager Superintendent Dave Cliff - who states that sites for fixed cameras had to meet one of two criteria: either they were in a spot where there was a history of speed-related crashes or where speed had been a problem, such as outside schools - with the section of Ohiro Rd where all my tickets have been picked up (between the Cinema and the 70k zone). The local school isn't on the road, there's no major intersections, and I've never been aware of any crashes on that particular stretch (not, of course, that that means there hasn't been dozens I'm not aware of).

The fact that it is such a long, uninterrupted and downhill section of road is, of course, why it gets so many 'speedsters'. As you roll down the hill towards Island Bay, you can't but help build up some extra momentum - constant braking is required to keep within the limit, and, if like me you tend to judge the speed of the car by the sound of the engine more than the actual speedo (which in my car is infuriatingly obscured by the steering wheel), it's easy to let it sneak up without realising. If you roll past the camera when your car has picked up an extra 10kph on you then - ping! - kiss another $80 goodbye.

It's interesting to note that the other speed camera location around the central city that's doing a lot of business is the one at the bottom of Adelaide Road, between the big Riddiford Steet intersection and Hall Street. Again, situated at the end of a long, straight, downhill stretch of road, and, in this case, hidden away behind a tree. Much like the one, also on Adelaide Road (at the end of another long, straight downhill stretch) that you pass every time you drive into Island Bay.

Still, that's what brakes are for, I suppose...

Stories Told to Me by Girls

Well, after a well-earned holiday, the staff of Wellingtonista Towers are starting to retake their respective blogging places around the spacious and freshly decorated open plan office.

First up in our 'recommended things to do in the evening now that your days have returned to the daily working grind' is "Stories Told to Me by Girls" - a new play starting down at Bats Theatre tonight (Tue 10 Jan).

Written by Julie Hill, the play features Jo Smith (previously of the infamous Trouble Theatre Company), with music by Peter Daube (Bilge Festival), clothes supplied by the so-hot-right-now Misery, and a whizzy visual backdrop courtesy of director Stephen Bain.

Apparently the play "...shines a ginormous blowtorch on everything you didn't realise you didn't need to know about the art of female storytelling", which, for us, is more than enough reason to get along.

Season runs Tuesday 10th - Saturday 21st January (with no shows on Sunday or Monday), and starts at 9pm each night. Book at Bats.

Happy 2006

Wellingtonian flickr-ites Felicity and Philip were narrowly pipped at the post for first picture of 2006 to hit the American-based mega-site Flickr and the 2006firstpix pool (with their snap [above] of New Years revelries in Civic Square), by Masterton's curiouskiwi (who has taken enough fine pictures of Wellington to qualify as a local anyway), who managed to stay up late enough for her shutter to snap down on this riveting scene at exactly 12:00:02 on the 1st of January 2006 (there was a leap second, which makes all the difference, apparently.

A happy new year to the Wellington flickr group, whose photos continually liven up the Wellingtonista homepage.