Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend. As a former Wellingtonian who still holds a great deal of fondness for the city (I maintain it’s the best city for trail running in the country) I’ve been following our War for Wellington coverage avidly. Joel MacManus, Wellington editor, has been doing huge amounts of work to cover the recommendations of the independent groupadvising on densification in the city. Opposition to these recommendations has proven to be one of the few things that MPs from across the political spectrum can agree on.

Some years ago I read a book called Making Rent in Bed-Stuy by Brandon Harris. It’s one of those quintessential first-book essay collections, of the type where the titular theme of the book is effectively explored and then a set of mostly-unrelated essays is wedged in to make the project book-length. My Goodreads review read “When it’s about making rent in Bed-Stuy, it’s good. When it isn't, it’s... less.” I did think there was a lot of good in the book, but I had to sift too much to find it.

I’m down to dedicate a lot of time to my lunch and dinners—ten courses on a Wednesday night? Sure! But when it comes to the first meal of the day, I just want something filling and easy. I’m currently working out of my anchovy on buttered knead love bakery sourdough phase and into a world of fried eggs. My favorite way to fry eggs is over medium high heat in a (very well seasoned) cast iron pan.

Pete BlaberPete Blaber commanded at every level of one of the most elite counter-terrorist organizations in the world during most of recent history’s most significant military and political events. He has an MBA, and a Master’s degree in National Security ncG1vNJzZmirpZfAta3CpGWcp51kjbGx056ZpZmSmr8%3D

The flight from Huatulco to Oaxaca City is a six-seater, jumpy and right there in the clouds so close to the the pilot that it feels like you are flying in a dream low over the scrubby Sierra Madre del Su. Just enough room on my lap to open my sketchbook and use the bitten end of pink tropical almond fruit to draw, its tannins eating into the soft paper beautifully.