*Prrrrrrrrrrtt*

The teenage boys sat on the edge of the dock eating premade chicken nuggets. All three were in raggedy shirts and sweatshirts. One with a large tear in the rear of his pants (revealing superman boxers) let a very loud fart, which made everyone on the dock turn. His friends hi-fived him.

5am approached and I was up. Well I was awake anyway, in bed with a migraine. Migraines are just common now. When I get home, I’ll have to start back up on smoothies – they seemed to make all my headaches go away. I’d been emailing Mom about some papers I needed to get mailed to my former employer. I got up to make some tea, switching on the hot water pot-heater-thing. Every place seems to have that. I went back to get my phone to see if Mom had replied, and instead found it vibrating from her facetiming me!

I had taught her how to do it before I left, we’d managed a few times. Now she’s a pro, and Dad still needs some work. He’ll get there.

“Happy Birthday, Mom! Well ..it’s your birthday for me anyways. ”

We chatted, I was sleepy, but obviously she hadn’t woken me up. I yawn down here. A lot. I helped her decipher which things to mail and then I waved bye. I was going back to bed. Or so I thought, because I discovered “Gone in Sixty Seconds” was on, Followed by “The Prestige”. Well then, my morning was set. Tea, Cage & Duvall, Jackman & Bale, and bed. That was the plan that worked. Also, random bit of info, the guy that plays “Freb” in “Gone in 60 Seconds” (the one from the the 90’s), went to Mira Costa High School, in Manhattan Beach. Just some random trivia for you.

A few hours later, after Bale’s twin self killed Jackman for being a jerk about magic, I slowly walked down to the bus stop for an afternoon of wandering. I’d seen a sign up the day before about a showing of Dr. Seuss artwork, after I was out wandering from attending my second “Hobbit” screening. I got off the bus on Lambton Quay as I usually do, and made my way towards the waterfront. The gallery should have been just a few streets down, and across from it.

Well it was that, and then a bit further… uh, East.. I think? Wait, let me get my bearings here, theres the bay over to my left, and then Wellington is here, and then the.. oh, no it was South. Yes, it was a few blocks further South than I had anticipated, but I got there nonetheless, after a few round-the-block and back trips. It was a small gallery, sliding glass doors again. An older, possibly middle aged blonde woman in plain black dress was talking to a man about one of the Seuss paintings when I walked in. They stood in front of the counter, which covered most of the wall of books and trinkets to buy behind it.

I snuck around the first island wall, with the painting they were talking about and went to look at the one on the other side. The paintings were very large, and hung on the white walls, and some other island walls. I wasn’t allowed to take photos, but there were some pretty neat drawings. It’s funny to me because just a few days earlier the rhymes from “Green Eggs & Ham” popped into my head. It happens sometimes, I just start thinking, “Sam I am… ” or “I do not like green eggs and ham…no, thank you, Sam I am.” Some things just stick with you, even if you haven’t cracked the book in 25 years.

There was one rather large drawing/painting that stood out. It was not Dr. Seuss related, it was a very different drawing of Geisel’s, and all I really remember about it was a giant naked lady and maybe a man chasing her? Definitely not a children’s book drawing. There were a few original sketches as well, such as “Green Eggs & Ham”, “The Cat in the Hat”, and more. All in all a small collection but interesting enough. I know, I know, why see an American artist’s art in another country, but hey… it’s Dr. Seuss, who says no to that??

On the other side of the gallery, were paintings from an independent New Zealand artist. I can’t remember the name, but it was very odd art. I do remember many Marilyn Monroe photos and drawings though. Those were good. I remember a lot of sheep drawings that kind of creeped me out. Which reminds me, Jason wanted me to bring him back a sheep. Things that creep me out sometimes: Jason + Sheep.

“Oh, don’t you remember the books Dad read? We used to call me ‘Sam’ because I was so like ‘Sam I am’..” A very tall girl and her mother walked into the gallery. It was time to leave.

I glanced around one last time, and waved thank you to the gallery host, leaving through the glass doors. I went back up the street, North, and found a sign that said “Chew Lane”.

Well, alright then, maybe there’s some food down this way.

The buildings on the left and right of this alley were stone and brick. There were lots of alleys like this, just randomly placed in the city and done up nicer than some other parts of the city. One of my favorite places back home, The Edison, has an alley entrance, but it’s definitely not nearly as nice as these ones – trust me.

The first cafe on the right was the Gotham Cafe. It was painted/decorated in a version of a modern abstract city style.

Guess I’ll have lunch with Batman today.

I’ve discovered that these people love American comics. They’re everywhere really. I walked into the cafe. Small tables, semi-busy, and black walls, with some white and some yellow building outlines. I checked the menu and found no mushrooms, spinach, or tomatoes anywhere. I did find a vegetarian quesadilla though. Excellent.

“We only have the burrito today, it has the same stuff, just different.” Said the cashier, a tall, dark dude, who was nice but probably thought I was dumb.

I said that was just fine. I went over to get a drink and came back to a brunette girl behind the register. Must have been a morphing alien. I paid the gianormous amount of $$ for a burrito and orange juice, and she handed me a metal stand with a plastic tiger wearing a cardboard wreath. Usually we get numbers but I suppose this works too.

I found a spot by the front window. I looked around and saw some of the other “table identifiers”: two stuffed batman dolls (one blue one black), a tree, and some more aminals. During my stand-search I saw a sign about wifi, and it read that the password was on the bottom of the receipt. Well, miss-morphing-man hadn’t given me my receipt. The sign also said to look around the cafe for the password.

Oh goody… Where’s Waldo, wifi-style” I couldn’t find it. I tried batman, gotham, and gotham cafe. I wasn’t that dedicated to finding it. I could check email when I got back to the trees (now THERE’S something you don’t say every day).

Morph-Girl brought my lunch. I was impressed because it had an actual salad with it, and the burrito was delicious with more vegetables than I’d seen in a week of eating out – except for when I ate at home.

All right, you can take my money…

I sat there and read, and also took some notes in my travel book. I saw a couple standing outside next to the cafe next door. The girl was crying, while the guy was trying to console her, but she wouldn’t look him in the eye. A group of six came into the cafe just then. The men were wearing jerseys, all american basketball teams. That reminds me! I’ve seen a few dodger jerseys. I think I completely forgot to mention either the first or second time visiting the gardens when I saw a rather recognizable hat for my family. I haven’t seen any yankees, or lakers, or anyone else except dodgers, and the one Cleveland Indians hat from the botanical gardens. I took a picture, I remember because I knew my dad wouldn’t believe me.

Back to the current situation. I continued to pretend to read while I watched the couple outside. After a long while they parted, different ways. She towards the coast, and he went back towards the city. I couldn’t see her, as I facing the city, but I did see him turn around and watch her for a minute, and then slowly continue on.

The group that had come in was rather loud, and the women kept sneaking a glance at me. This kept bugging me so I finished up. I left back down the street, and headed towards the ferry. I’d decided I did not want to take the bus today. Very tired of the bus. On my way down the street, I came to a corner where I heard another recognizable voice. I stopped to listen to “Me and My Shadow”, the live version with Frank and Sammy over speakers. It was right outside a spanish restaurant, that had a rather delicious sounding vegetarian menu. I hoped I could come back and check it out before I left Wellington. When the song finished, I began to head across the street, but then Big Bad Voodoo Daddy came on, “Minnie the Moocher” – well you can’t leave them. So I stood there, leaning against the old stone building until about half way through – it’s a long song. When I crossed I heard the Beach Boys.

I tried to go into the store by the Portofino to buy a ticket for the ferry, but it was closed. I had some cash so I could pay on the ferry anyways, and found a spot on the dock where’d I’d been on Wednesday. Next to the ramp down, a family sat arguing, american clearly. Their daughter had a backpack case on, that looked much like a trombone case. They were talking about where she was living, and people she was with, and wanting to be with family and other things. Whine Whine Whine.

I sat reading, and trying to hang onto my things with the crazy wind. Three boys, rather rude and loud came down the dock and sat on the edge overlooking the Dominion Post’s dock area. They chatted, and cursed. Then the middle boy farted. Well that was random, and loud enough that the couple across from me, who had been laying and enjoying the sun sat up and stared at them.

Soon the ferry arrived. It was incredibly windy so I could it rocking on the waves as it approached and docked. The group of us, the boys, the couple, the family, stood up to walk down the ramp. The father had grabbed his things and headed down the ramp, but I saw a lot of people on the ferry, and I waited at the top until they were all off. The daughter and mother stood there laughing with me. I’m fairly certain my dad would have done the same thing, but not because he’s in a hurry, most because he probably just couldn’t see. He also probably would have fallen over with how strong the wind is – he’s not so good with balance these days.

Once we were all on the boat, I took my spot in the back corner again. It’s a very good, comfy spot. It was the nice boat with the soft fake leather benches. The boys and a different couple went upstairs. The boat took off from the dock, and then the wind really kicked in. We were going side to side, and at one point I thought we might tip over. It was awesome.

Okay, so maybe I like boat rides a bit much. Back and forth, waves crashing over the sides. There was a girl employee this time, but the same driver I’ve had all three times. She was coming around to collect our fees. She had to run up and tell the people on top of the boat to come down because it wasn’t safe up top. The boys came down, drenched and laughing. For awhile they sat in the back with me and the other couple that had come down, and then eventually they moved back to the middle area with the rest of the group. I just sat comfortably, watching the water against the windows, and moving in my seat as the boat did, occasionally grabbing to the seat a bit so I wouldn’t fall over. So much fun.

The doors to upstairs kept slamming open and close as the boat rocked. After about 15 minutes, we slowed down, rocking more, and docking in the middle island. I watched as the driver and girl tried to get the ramp out onto the dock so more people could hop on. It was sliding and moving everywhere because of the wind. It was the windiest there, in the middle of the bay. The couple in the opposite corner from me, were horrified as they watched people try and walk on the ramp onto the boat. I just giggled.

Soon we were back on our way, headed towards Days Bay. I debated if I wanted to walk, or bus back. I decided to bus back, it’d only cost a dollar. As we docked in Days Bay, I headed up the stairs to the windy top and waited as they rolled the ramp out. The boat wasn’t nearly as rocky as it had been at the island, and I watched as the group waiting for the ferry, a rather large group, looked on at us walking off the ramp. The bus stop was at the end of the dock, and the helpful led sign said I had about ten minutes before the next bus.

As I got off at the next stop in York Bay, I realized…

Oh the girl never took my fee. Free Ferry ride!

Later that night, Sammy would make an appearance for me again while I watched the classic tv show, “The Wild Wild West”. He was guest staring.