Odds and Sods

We'd forgotten to mention earlier that we'd gone to an improvisational Shakespeare play - "Shakespeare As You Write It". The audience was asked to suggest or vote on a number of choices, and the three actors put together a Shakespeare play incorporating the suggestions. The audience chose a setting (ancient Rome), a movie to use themes and characters from ("Finding Nemo"), and a trait that the protagonist should have (someone yelled out "rhythm", and the cast started laughing - quickly admitting that they were looking for something like "honesty" or "daring", but they went with "rhythm"). They also asked for a number of smaller features that should be included. The list ended up with six items, ranging from the hero going on a quest to living with a disability. The actors skillfully wove these all together into a multi-act play. We were greatly entertained as well as very impressed.

This last Wednesday we went to a mid-day gardening workshop at the university. The topic was how to build a raised bed garden, but the interesting part was meeting Rev. Tom Innes, the university chaplain, who is apparently known around campus for being a skilled home brewer. Before the workshop started we were all offered a mug of his home-brewed ale. Paul is getting to like this university!

Tom Innes shows how to build a block wall for a raised garden

Rev. Tom offers his home brew to the crowd

On Saturday we took a city bus to the village of Lyttelton.  Lyttelton is just over the foothills from Christchurch, and is known as a village with a strong English heritage.  It also functions as the harbour for Christchurch, as the Christchurch beach is too shallow for commerce.  Lyttelton also boasts a good farmer's market, actually the first in the area.  Saturday was a cold day to start with, and it started to rain just as we got to town, so we didn't stay long.  However, we'll be back on a nicer day to better investigate this charming community that unfortunately was hit quite hard by the recent earthquakes.

Savoury treats at the Lyttelton Farmers Market

A roasted vegetable calzone and a mushroom crepe got us through the rain