I'M OVER FANCYSCHMANCY

 Yesterday I went into the city. My back was sore but I figured that a walk would do me good. It did - to a point. It was a long steep walk down from the hills to the main road into town where I jumped on a bus. I'd arranged to meet The Old Girl at 5.30 and stupidly had left too early - about 11 so I had hours of walking about. I did this with difficulty, in discomfort and pain and, at the art gallery had to take the lift to the first floor. The exhibitions were great though with a 'pen and ink' display of NZ prints and lithography over the last 100 years featuring many of our famous artists. In another exhibition I discovered a very scary print by a German artist Käthe Kollwitz who painted anti-Nazi themes in the 1930s. This was a powerful piece and reading of her on-line today I saw that she did many works with death and politics as a theme (her son was killed in WW1) and she witnessed terrible things  before and during WW2.

This lithograph depicts death flying down to seize two children while a third manages to escape. I found it to be very moving.

'Throng of children'.

As I was hobbling around town I fancied a sandwich for lunch and checked out at least a half dozen cafes and food places. Everything on offer was 'fancy-schmancy' and over-priced. I didn't want a jazzed up bruschetta with salad on the side or over-sized muffins let alone giant sausage rolls and croissants. I wanted a sandwich - just an ordinary one. Eventually I wandered back to the bus interchange where I'd arrived into the central city and found this:

Phat Phillip's food bar

I bought a pack of two bacon and egg sandwiches for $4.50. They were delicious. Phat Philip offered me a free coffee as well. Now that's what I was looking for.