Long Weekend highlights

It is Labour Day here today, so here are the highlights from my long weekend:

• Friday night drinks in the Malthouse - Yeastie Boys' Pot Kettle Black is on tap - Him Outdoors and I have a couple of pints each but it is now sold out. Sam and Stu have diligently gone to Invercargill to brew some of their latest release - to be called Golden Boy. I'll let you know as soon as I hear it's available, or check out their blog link above.
• In the interests of keeping the holiday alive for as long as possible, we visit the Mediterranean Food Warehouse in Newtown. Not only can you get fantastic pizza (made in their wood-fired pizza oven), coffee, and gelati here, but you can stock up on a great range of pasta, olives, and chianti - we can keep eating the food even if we can't enjoy the culture.
• The weather was rubbish so we got a video out and curled up on the sofa to watch Michael Clayton, a really enjoyable Saturday night film. George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson and Sydney Pollack are excellent - Tilda Swinton won an Oscar for best supporting actress and the film garnered another six nominations (in the top categories). It's a fabulous suspense drama and may sneak its way into my top 10 favourite films, but what would I leave out?
• Despite the fact that the weather was still appalling, the hardy souls at the Waitangi Park Market were still selling their fresh produce. We battled with the wind and filled our canvas bags with courgettes, carrots, eggs, peppers, asparagus, lettuce, leeks, broccoli, spring onions and ginger for $20. We get to be healthy, green and smug all at the same time.
• Went to visit my siter and her family for my nephew's first birthday. My other nephew has just learned to ride his bike without stabilisers and he was anxious to show off his abilities, so we went to the park to see his new-found talent. I remember riding a bike as one of those childhood achievements up there with swimming my first length in a pool and singing my first solo for the school choir. I also remeber my bike-riding progress was hindered somewhat due to the 'help' of my brother. Anyway, my nephew has no such hindrance and he's a little dynamo on wheels whizzing about underneath his safety helmet.
• Our cat is starting to forgive us for going away for a month and is back to being as normal as it is possible for a pedigree Burmese to be, pouncing on our feet, curling up on our bed at night and purring. We missed him and it's good to have him back. Cats are what make a house a home and he makes our little flat into his own feline palace.
• It was worth getting up in the middle of the night to see Liverpool beat Chelski at the Bridge. The Mighty Reds are now at the top of the table where they belong; long may it continue. I know I say this every year, but I really think this could be our season.
• Not letting the name put me off, with my huge aversion to hills, we walked up Mt Climie in the Rimutakas. It's a pretty steep slog up a 4WD track (It's 860m and you start at 200m - the track is 6km so you can work out the incline if you can be arsed), but the views from the top are worth the effort. You can see out to the South Island - including the highest mountain in the Inland Kaikoura Range, Tapuae-O-uenuku which is capped with snow - and back the other way over the Wairarapa. It's sweaty on the way up, massively windy up the top, and I fall in a bog on the way down and lose both of my shoes, but it's actually a good day out - although I daren't mention this to Him Outdoors, or he'll make me do it again.