Alex Hallatt 9/23/19 Alex Hallatt 9/23/19

Living in New Zealand: The UV is Very Intense

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I’m not out long enough in the sun for it to burn me yet (thankfully I have Dad’s skintone and not Mum’s join-the-freckles one), but it’s getting intense enough to feel it if I don’t put a hat on. Thankfully, it isn’t hot enough yet for the midges and mossies.

Alex Hallatt 9/20/19 Alex Hallatt 9/20/19

Living in New Zealand: Building a Brick-Lined Gabion Retaining Wall is Another New Skill to Learn

Having a large garden presents opportunities and associated challenges. I've never putting a retaining wall before: so I hope this works!

I have no idea whether this terracotta pipe is still being used by one of our neighbours!

The made-to-measure gabions from http://gabionworks.co.nz

I was very relieved when the two wired together boxes fitted!

Though we have over a thousand bricks around the property, it’s not enough to fill the boxes, but it is a chance to get rid of all the old bits of pipe and rubble we have.

Lots of this dirt (mainly loess and some clay) will be bagged to be put inside the gabions, like sandbags, with bricks on the exterior surfaces.

Filling the gabions is challenging (not just the shifting of bricks etc. uphill!). There are very few rocks on the property, apart from the massive volcanic ones that sit below the loess and clay.

I hope I don’t find one of those where I plan to put the shed…

Alex Hallatt 9/5/19 Alex Hallatt 9/5/19

Living in New Zealand: Lyttelton Legend Bill Hammond

Bill Hammond is only one of the many great creative people who made Lyttelton their home.

One of Bill Hammond's more recent works (detail)

There's an exhibition on at the Christchurch Art Gallery of Bill Hammond’s work. Bill Hammond is a Lyttelton legend and one of New Zealand's most well-known painters. We went to a talk by his friend, Laurence Aberhart, who told lots of stories about Bill. Bill had a dry wit and was enormously good fun to hang out with.

Before the talk, we looked around the exhibition and it was fantastic to see this work again:

Volcano Flag by Bill Hammond at the Christchurch Art Gallery

I miss the Lava Bar. It was somewhere I often went to on my own when the boyf was working hard in his London Street wine bar. I would walk up the street from my flat at number 6, sit at the bar and have a plate of their nachos and a beer, or maybe a glass of red wine, filled to the top of their little glasses. Often Bill Hammond would be sitting at the bar as well. I bet he misses the Lava Bar too.

We are lucky that there are still lots of great places to eat and drink in Lyttelton. But there was something about the Lava Bar that can't be replaced. It was quirky and busy and cosy all at the same time. It felt like home but you could always get into a good conversation with a stranger.

The Lava Bar may be gone, but Bill Hammond goes on. His work will outlast us all.

Alex Hallatt 7/18/19 Alex Hallatt 7/18/19

Living in New Zealand: Old Christchurch City Still Exists in Places

I don't leave port very often, but this week I had an appointment in the city. It seems that every time I go in there is something new to see as the rebuild continues eight years after the last big earthquake struck. But there are also a few old things hanging around, like the tram, derelict buildings (including Christchurch Cathedral. I have no idea how they are going to fix that but they plan to) and these steps. There must be a story behind these steps.