Trendy But Casual

New Zealand in Berlin

TM and I are just back from Berlin, where I was taking part in an event called the Berlin Sofa at the English Theatre. Peter Rider, the New Zealand ambassador to Germany, invited me to join him so we could present a short program on NZ lit, with lots of readings and chat.

We divided our presentation into four sections - The Edge of the Universe; This Sporting Life; Islanders; and Flying Kiwi.

The Edge of the Universe - our unique place in the world

‘New Zealand begins with sea and ends with sea. Understand this and you begin to comprehend New Zealand and the New Zealander.’ Maurice Shadbolt

 Poems by Bill Manhire (‘Milky Way Bar’); Allen Curnow (‘House and Land’), and Denis Glover ('Home Thoughts'); part of the story ‘The Doll’s House’ by Katherine Mansfield; the final page of Making Peoples by historian James Belich; and two novel excerpts: The Matriarch by Witi Ihimaera and Tu by Patricia Grace.

This Sporting Life - our national obsession

‘Apart from history, there are only two spheres in which New Zealand has been a world superpower. One is the export of protein. The other is sport.’ James Belich

 Excerpts from two novels - The Book of Fame by Lloyd Jones and Lovelock by James McNeish, and my father's favourite poem,  ‘Referee’ by Hinemoana Baker.

Islanders - voices from the edge

“In a country inhabited for a mere one thousand years, everyone is an immigrant or the descendent of an immigrant.” Michael King

An excerpt from the novel Going West by Maurice Gee, and poems by Selina Tusitala March (‘Guys Like Gauguin’); Sonja Yelich (‘talking to a brick wall’); Tusiata Avia (‘Aunty Lapo’a calls Nafanua and talks about her holiday’); Alison Wong (‘Chinese Settlement, Arrowtown’ and ‘One Hundred Pounds’); and Karlo Mila ('Sacred Pulu').

Flying Kiwi - writers (and books) that roam

“The islands are moving.” Dylan Horrocks

Excerpts from two novels - The Conductor by Sarah Quigley and Rangatira (by me) and from the essay ‘NZ Return’ by the late, great Nigel Cox.

In addition to the readings, we showed various clips, beginning with clip of the All Blacks' haka (there was method to this madness - believe me: we wanted to talk about oral traditions, and also about exploring NZ BEYOND the All Blacks), then a short film about our books and writers made when New Zealand was invited to be 2012 Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair. At the end of the second section, just before the break - for a good deal of NZ wine - we showed an amazing clip of Jack Lovelock winning the 1500 metres and breaking the world record at the Berlin Olympics in 1936, with a commentary by Harold Abrahams. At the medal ceremony, by the way, the anthem played was God Save the King ...

During the 'pause' we played some footage from the Diversity Stage at Polyfest, so people could see the range of cultures and languages represented in Auckland high schools. You can see the 2012 performances here. At the very end of the programme, after we talked about possible futures for NZ lit, and emerging new voices. So of course we couldn't resist ending with a clip of Joshua Iosefo's 'Brown Brother' speech. You can see the original and the TV3 version on YouTube.

The event was quite a success, I think, with a good-sized audience of both native English- and German-speakers. Peter Rider was an excellent reader, and I hammed it up, as ever. Lots of audience members wanted to hang around and talk afterwards. We wanted to include more excerpts, but time was limited, of course. The audience especially liked the third section, even though there were numerous cultural references (and words from various languages) that were new to them. People were willing to make the imaginative leap, and to immerse themselves in the unexpected, the unfamiliar ... Unlike a certain profoundly ignorant Danish politician.

I loved being in Berlin. I like the way cities jolt me out of routine, the way they swarm over me with their new noises and sights and smells. (And tastes, too: let's not forget currywurst.) The picture above is us in the dome of the Reichstag. Below are a few more Berlin pictures - random, of course, as I can't seem to manage anything orderly these days.

 

Jubilee

Yesterday was the first Sunday in June, and we were back in the UK, so of course it was raining for most of the day and ABSOLUTELY FREEZING. But TMiddy and I are intrepid travellers, as ever: we arrived at the Thames around 10:30 in the morning, to join the rest of the million or so people waiting for the Jubilee Flotilla.

We were standing on the north bank, between Southwark and London Bridges. And we were standing there a long, long time: the first boats in the flotilla didn't appear on our stretch of the river until about ten to four that afternoon. The drizzle came and went, then the rain turned torrential around 5 PM. But spirits were high around us, and there was a certain commitment to red/white/blue accessories, as you can from these pre-flotilla snaps of the crowd in our zone.

 

 

 

Some people were drinking champagne or gin-and-tonic-in-a-can; more people were drinking tea and coffee, because (did I mention this?) it was ABSOLUTELY FREEZING. Some had brought deckchairs and tents and enough food for three days. Someone had unfortunately brought a kazoo. Bunting (TM's new favourite word) was strung along the Thames Path, and a group to our right managed to prop low-hanging branches from a tree up on the bunting line. This drew a 'three cheers' from the people standing further back, because they could get a glimpse of the river at last. We were about three back from the front, so could see the water, and the rain, and the fog descending on the Shard ...

And we could see the boats - hundreds and hundreds of them.

 

 

 

The next picture is of the royal barge, the Spirit of Chartwell. Camilla (my alter ego: please follow her on Twitter -  @camillaPOW) was a blob in cream; Kate was a streak of red. The Queen is the woman in white. It was hard to get a picture with all the wild flag-waving and general mania around us. We could hear the cheers and cries from the other side of the river. (Note all the people on rooftops and balconies as well as along the banks.)

 

There was also a 'three cheers' moment in our section of the river for the Dunkirk 'little ships', about forty of which were taking part.

 

 

Many people bailed as soon as they'd seen the Queen, and I could understand why. It was ABSOLUTELY FREEZING, the rain was getting worse, and eighty minutes after the royal barge passed boats of all varieties were still coming. For example:

 

 

Eventually, when the river was just a blur through the rain, we lumbered away as well. My legs felt frozen on the spot, and though we huddled under an umbrella for the final part of the flotilla, we were soaked through. Some people were in such a hurry to leave, they abandoned everything:

 

I didn't see/hear much of the anti-Jubilee protests going on, though at the end of the day, headed towards Borough Market, we did pass someone murmuring "Stuff the Jubilee, the Queen is an ********". (We had dinner at a NZ restaurant, GBK, near Borough Market, where every restaurant appeared to be under siege from hundreds of people who looked like they'd fallen in the river.) Walking to Waterloo Station to catch the tube, we spied a one-woman protest still going on.

 

What this picture doesn't reveal is the window above. While TM was taking this picture, I stood gazing up at the building. Some people in the floor above this one, sitting in the window and still clutching their Union Jack flags, seemed to think I was looking up at THEM. They all waved to me, and flapped their flags. I waved back. It was a great day out.