I Walk With A Zombie

My Dear Fellows & Dear Princess Normal,

I've had a lovely quiet day today. The weather stayed fine long enough for me to step out this morning. Just for a potter into town to pick up bird food so that Punky & Jasper can continue to watch cat tv from our back window.

I also stopped in to JB Hi-Fi to pick up a couple of NZ dvds. The first was "Poi E" - a documentary about New Zealand's "unofficial national anthem". It really is a terrific film about a dude called Dalvinius Prime (actual name). Dalvinius was a Maori who was disheartened by youth losing interest in Te Reo (Maori language) and so composed this song which was a huge hit in the 1980's. It is very catchy. Play it loud in your kitchens, I promise it will have you dancing about. You may even try to join in. I always do. 

The other film I picked up is another documentary called "Spookers". It is all about a scary theme park which is very popular here. It's a behind-the-scenes look at the people who get to dress up as zombies and psycho clowns as part of their daily life. The trailer looked like it would be good fun, even quite touching.

I had a bit of a Spookers day myself. To get into town, I walked via the historic Bolton Street cemetery. It has not been accepting new guests since 1892, and it is very atmospheric to walk through. Some of the headstones are so old they are wooden. They must date back to some of the earliest settlers here. I'll explore it on a day that doesn't look like it's about to tip it down. After that, I headed past this Anglican church, which also looks somewhat foreboding against the overcast sky, don't you think?

Inspired by the spooky surroundings I put on the film "I Walked With A Zombie" when I got home. This is an old Val Lewton movie - he was a 40's film producer who was way too smart for the film titles he was forced to use. So it's actually not as lurid as it sounds. It's a romantic, windswept tale, based on "Jane Eyre" but with voodoo. It features songs by a calypso singer named Sir Lancelot who had quite an interesting life story. His song "Matilda" may have you dancing around the kitchen after you're finished with "Poi E".

And now, Er Indoors is complaining she is COLD. Meanwhile I'm still sitting here with my fan on. To prove her point she put her COLD HANDS on me. How does she DO that?? 

Maybe I DO walk with a zombie. Brrrr...

S.