Day 25, Level 1: Bathroom cleaning, Indian dining, NZ and Carthage

I had a cleaning day today - it wasn't in my initial plan but it took over my afternoon. I was going to get creative in my studio and work on WOW creation but the bathroom had other plans! I ended up cleaning both bathrooms top to bottom. Went through make-up, toiletries, medications, jewellery. Discovered things I'd forgotten about, biffed things no longer required, and generally got busy with a mega scrub down. Sorted and ordered and culled.

I found a basket of little soaps from hotels on my travels. I used to collect and save them. A fews ago I decided that I'd use them - but there are still some remaining. Made me think about travels long ago and the hotels I've stayed - some long gone, others going strong. A little trip down memory lane - you see, even hotel soaps can bring nostalgia! Some have beautiful little [plastic] holders, some are beautifully wrapped. You don't get hotel soaps like that any more!

Went for an early dinner with friends to a pop-up Indian restaurant with a difference. It's new and quirky and the food is excellent. We were planning to go to another place but it was closed on Sundays. So Plan B came into operation - that's the name of this Indian Restaurant. Plan B. A good one!

We ordered a selection of dishes and they were all delicious. The place has an authentic feel, kind of street food sharing plate style. Dishes are served on earthenware plates and chopsticks are supplied as well as knives and forks. They have a huge range of craft beers on offer, and a good wine list. They're still finding their feet but off to a good start. We'll be back. 

Plan B Chicken special - superb!

Made me feel a little bit like I was far from NZ for a wee while. 

Seeing NZ is all well and good and we have superb scenery and great offerings. - but I've seen most of it. Lots. Part of the glory of travel is meeting people from different cultures, seeing things that are not on your back doorstep, discovering new places far away that don't have NZ-ego plastered all over them. That's well and truly on the back-burner for now, sadly.

I have to say that the new "Do something new New Zealand" advertisement that has just been released to entice us Kiwis to go visit the delights of our own Kiwiland is an embarrassing disaster. It smacks of the 1970s when NZ was a place I wanted to get out of as soon as I could and go see the world. Public funding went into this horror. 

It's an unsophisticated singalong nightmare telling us to go and do this and that around the country. For goodness sake, we don't need a couple of women singing [very badly] in gumboots, and strumming guitars all cheery-goofy-knees-up NewZild style to tell us. Please, get rid of this shameful NZ promo that is a great big turnoff! It's as bad as the shameful Air NZ Safety rap video that got slammed last year. Sad, as Madeleine Sami, one of the women who wrote and performs this cringe-fest, is talented and I really like her as a comedian and actor. But this mess gets a MASSIVE thumbs down.

Tourisn NZ - stop lowering the bar to the lowest possible level and get on with decent messages that mean something!! Actually, we don't need to be bombarded with messages about our country if it really is that fabulous. It should just go without saying, don't ram it down our throats. 

As I've said before - I have a very grave concern that a generation of NZers is going to end up not even knowing anything about the rest of the world, other cultures, their history, how they came to be. And this will manifest into the future. We'll end up like a mini USA if we're not careful - a land of insular, ignorant beings who can't see beyond their own borders. NZ - there is a big and wonderful world out there, beyond the current politics of the day and Covid. 

This situation of concentrated inward NZ focus pervading everything perturbs me very much.

Another thing that is currently riling me about NZ is when news reports come on about foreign places but only give half the info. If it's about Paris or Rome or London or somewhere everyone knows, they'll mention the city. But if it's a smaller city or town in some foreign land, they don't mention the detail - only the country. It's so frustrating, as some of us Kiwis may actually have been to that little village or unknown town.

For example, when they mention "A ski resort in Austria ..." they leave out the name of the resort. So easy to put it in. Yes, I can Google to find out the name easily enough, but it's annoying.  

There are Kiwis who may well have been to these lesser-known places where things that are interesting enough to report on have taken place - even if the reporter/news people have never heard of it! Come on news people, report the detail!

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Carthage ...

Remembering time spent at Ephesus when writing yesterday's post made me think of time in Carthage in Tunisia. Not as spectacular as Ephesus but equally as evocative of important historical times. Brett, the boys and I spent time here during a Mediterranean cruise back in 2009.

Ruins at ancient Carthage

With Sam (age 16) - not sure he was all that much into the history!

 Michael (age 13) getting into the spirit of things!