Skip to main content

Show me a sign

I spent the weekend in Martinborough, the charming little village, 45 minutes north of Wellington, famous for its vineyards and Food and Wine Festival. Not much was going on. I guess it is the middle of winter so I didn't have very high expectations.

Wendy Campbell's French Bistro MartinboroughWe were lucky to be able to enjoy dinner Saturday night at Wendy Campbell's French Bistro, which had just won the Cuisine Magazine regional restaurant of the year award. It is a nice little bistro, I guess it seats 30 people at a time. The award obviously caused a bubble of interest - or perhaps Saturday night is always full. I didn't really enjoy the meal itself - maybe grey old French traditional cuisine can't cut it when you have been exposed to fresh, well prepared contemporary food - available in any cafe or bistro in Auckland or Wellington. The owners are parents of John Campbell (of TV3's Campbell Live current affairs programme) and it was nice to meet his dad, amiably making guests feel at home. In spite if my criticism of the food, it wasn't bad and if you like that style of cooking, you'll be happy.



One of the fascinating things I noticed was that there are some interesting street name choices in Martinborough. I think my favourite was Radium Street. Kind of random. I'm not sure I would be all that happy to have that as my address - or maybe not, it has a certain charm and an impressive half life.

Then there was the fabulously optimistic New York and New York Street West. The town planners in the Wairarapa certainly know how to have fun.

New York New York

New Dowse Gallery Upper Hutt, Wellington, New ZealandStopped in at the new Dowse Gallery in Lower Hutt where I noted this sign. They don't mince words in Lower Hutt, do they? It's a nice gallery. I didn't like any of the current shows, but I'd like something like it in my neighbourhood - Auckland's North Shore should have a gallery - maybe up by the Design School in Albany Village - a sattelite of the Auckland City gallery.

By the way, the cafe at the Dowse is excellent. Very good fod, well priced and a young staff that 'get' service. Nice chowder.

The sign below is a slightly self-conscious 'branding' excercise for the Gallery. Funky but strangely purile - high on the patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel scale.



With a wait in Wellington we revisited the Marinui Surf Club cafe. This has to the be the best surf club business in the country. Close to the city (not like Piha) and very funky. This is the door to the dunnies:

Maranui Surf club toilet

Interesting trip.

Note to self…return in summer.

Wairarapa Info

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ze Frank thinks so you don't have to

Ze Frank appeared on my radar when I saw his presentation among the excellent TED Talks videos . This morning I was reading Russell Davies planning blog in which he referred to a clip by Ze Frank - Where do ideas come from. Here's the transcript: "...Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima [sic] writes, "Are you ever gonna break into song again? Are you running out of ideas?" Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima, that's a good question. I run out of ideas every day! Each day I live in mortal fear that I've used up the last idea that'll ever come to me. If you don't wanna run out of ideas the best thing to do is not to execute them. You can tell yourself that you don't have the time or resources to do 'em right. Then they stay around in your head like brain crack. No matter how bad things get, at least you have those good ideas that you'll get to later. Some people get addicted to that brain crack. And the longer they wait, the more they convince themse...
1 comment
Read more and leave a comment

Johnny Bunko competiton

The Great Johnny Bunko Challenge from DHP on Vimeo . There's a young chap in Indiana, one Alec Quig , who has written to me about creating a career based on a polymathic degree, from which he has recently graduated. He's an interesting young man and his concerns about going forward in life are the anxieties we all face at crossroads in our lives when we are forced to make choices. Dan Pink's latest book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need might help: "From a New York Times, BusinessWeek, and Washington Post bestselling author comes a first-of-its- kind career guide for a new generation of job seekers.There's never been a career guide like it.the fully illustrated story (ingeniously told in Manga form) of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job. Johnny Bunko is new to parachute company Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early days as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to find a new job. St...
Post a Comment
Read more and leave a comment

Why billboards must go.

The problem with billboards and advertising in public places is they are an invasion of privacy. Unlike magazine, tv, radio (etc) advertising you cannot choose to turn it off or avoid it. Nor does it offer anything in return. It is a medium that offers no benefit or advantage to the person it is inflicted on. At least television ads subsidise the programming. Without doubt some billboards are entertaining - I thought the anti GE poster for short lived MADGE activist group was particularly good. But most are rubbish. Literally. Badly executed. Nothing important to say. The debate has led to a great deal of hysteria - mostly from people with a vested interest in perpetuating the deployment of hoardings. Perhaps the idea that the issue at stake is 'property rights' is the creepiest. If you own a building you have every right to plaster anything you like on its external surfaces. Is that an antisocial point of view? I think so. In the UK you could have an ASBO slapped on you for si...
Post a Comment
Read more and leave a comment