We're very nearly a sixth of the way through the new millennium, and it's starting to feel awfully familiar.

I guess I was hoping for something a bit more science fictiony. When I was growing up 2015 always seemed like a date from science fiction. As a relatively small Watusi I was taken to Auckland's Civic Theatre by an older cousin to see ‘2001: A Space Odyssey', which blew my mind even if I was too young for the almost obligatory accompanying drugs.

Then, 2001 was far off in a science fiction future filled with flying cars and bases on Mars. Now, fourteen years after that iconic date, it's a bit of an anti-climax.

Instead of great leaps from science fiction to scientific reality, all the world seems to be doing is recycling childhood memories.

In a weird time warp we now have ‘Thunderbirds' back on television, brand new and retooled for kids forty years later. And last night I sat down and watched ‘Paddington', the movie.

Delightful pleasures
I guess if I'd been thinking about it all those years ago when I was first read ‘Paddington' and ‘Winnie the Pooh' as bedtime stories, I would have betted on Pooh lasting for decades. But Paddington's longevity is a surprise. Pooh always seemed timeless, Paddington was a little old-fashioned.

But good news! All childhood memories remain intact – ‘Paddington', on DVD, is fantastic, revelling in all the delightful simple pleasures that made the original so appealing to a tiny Watusi last millennium.

(Trivia alert: the first Paddington Bear stuffed toy was created in 1972 by Gabrielle Designs, a small business run by Shirley and Eddie Clarkson. The prototype was made as a Christmas present for their children Joanna and Jeremy Clarkson. Yes, that Jeremy Clarkson.)

But if I might have expected Paddington to disappear into the past, then I would positively have betted at the demise of the naffest singing competition in the history of the world, a title still held even after the invention of Idols, X-Factors and Got Talents.

Over-inflated absurdity
While those modern spectacles continue to plum depths of awfulness, the true granddaddy of overinflated absurdity returns to television next week: the Eurovision Song Contest.

It is, astoundingly, 60 years old.

Who can forget the past winners? Abba, Cliff Richard, the bearded woman...? Who ever thought that having countries vote for or against each other was even vaguely sensible given how many countries in Europe actively hate each other? And what was so unclear about the contest name that led to Australia being included this year? Find out for yourself over three, yes, three, television nights next week.

I seem to have run low on space, but just a quick mention of a couple of Tauranga music events this weekend.

On Saturday, May 16 the Jade String Quartet are playing at the Art Gallery. This is not your ordinary string quartet; they play Jimi Hendrix. Of course they also play things you'd more regularly expect, so you'll probably get a blast of Vivaldi along the way, but there's none of the stuffiness one might possibly associate with the chamber music genre. They sold out last time they were here, with good reason. Tickets are $25, show at 6.30pm.

The Jade String Quartet.

Crank up the Wurlitzer
At Baycourt on Sunday, May17 there's a special Wurlitzer Organ concert. Wurlitzers are unimpeachably cool. ‘Music That Got Us Through The War Years' will feature music popular from during various conflicts; WWI, WW2, the Korean, and Vietnam wars. Timed to honour the WWI Centenary, renowned Australian organist John Atwell will rip through a nostalgia-laced collection of songs such as ‘Pack up your Troubles', ‘It's a Long Way to Tipperary', ‘The White Cliffs of Dover', and ‘In the Mood'. Things kick off at 2pm, tickets are $28 for adults, $25 for seniors, and free for children and students.

Finally, many thanks to all who generously donated jam jars for my recent frenzied feijoa bottling. I now have plenty. And I've decided not to make any more jam. In a shockingly sexist decision I've concluded that women make better jam than men. So I've given up.

If you're ever in Omokoroa, go to the Op Shop there. They have homemade jam from a woman called A. Jacobs which is the best I've ever tasted. It's so good I'm going to stick to making chutney from now on.