View from my window

But not for much longer. I am currently undertaking the joyless task of finding a new flat. I'm looking for a room in an established flat which is like a mix of speed dating and a job interview - because even if I really like a place, there's no guarantee they'll like me.

Until this summer I had never noticed how many Pohutakawa trees there are in Wellington (there's one in the foreground of the above view, to the left). For some reason I always think of them growing by the sea, like this scene from my visit to Ngawi:


But actually they're everywhere. Outside my apartment:


And on my way to work:


There's a particularly impressive one in the grounds of the Beehive. But I don't have a photo of that.

Currently I am addicted to Mad Men. I got season one on DVD for Christmas and I. Love. It. The scandal! The decor! The hair! THE DRESSES.


I do love Christina Hendricks and her character Joan Holloway. Even though Miss Hendricks isn't really a redhead. Which is disappointing.


There are also some excellent dresses in Funny Face (not that you'd know it from the poster) - our choice for the first classic movie Sunday of 2011.


Because the opening sequence of the film is set in the offices of a fashion magazine it reminded me of The Devil Wears Prada and in both movies they go to Paris, so there are a number of similarities, but of course Funny Face came first. And it has Audrey Hepburn in it. I enjoyed the film - particularly Audrey's interpretive dance in an underground bohemian Paris club (the poster is depicting stills of her dance) - but overall I was too distracted by the fact that Fred Astaire looked old enough to be Audrey's father. The relationship between their characters wasn't romantic, it was just weird. I guess they thought they could get away with it because it was Fred Astaire.