SUNDAY IN WELLINGTON (BASE CAMP ONE)

The Old Girl and I enjoyed a day out and about in Wellington yesterday. 

We were treated to a lovely winter's day that was more like spring. The jonquils and daffodils we saw indeed thought it was spring - silly little buggers. Wait until late August and Wellington's notorious mid winter southerlies - that'll sort them out. Mind you though, the Milne Ice shelf collapse in Canada shows the effects of global warming so maybe those flowers are smarter than we think. See: MILNE ICE SHELF  COLLAPSE

We rode the Cable Car up to Kelburn and in the museum I showed The Old Girl the old cable car from the 1960s and 1970s that I used to ride on, sitting on the outside in the days when there were two cars - one going up and one going down that passed each other somewhere in the middle. This went on until some guy stepped in front on one and got munted*

We walked around the magnificent Botanical Gardens for a few hours (8 kilometres worth) and rediscovered many of the treasures, Finding the Henry Moore sculpture above the Lady Norwood rose garden, I gave The Old Girl a rundown on its provenance.

The brass dedication plaque was a bit hard to read (especially as I made sure that my shadow obscured it) so I paraphrased it for her thus:

"This statue commemorates an historic event in the gardens circa 1962 when a football game was terminated with no result when Robert Prowse took his ball and went home. "

Aquila non capit muscas.

We walked down through the Bolton Street Cemetery, past the Beehive and then along the waterfront to  base camp in Egmont Street. (I just noticed a mountaineering connection there).

On the way there I saw this ........

..... where some wag has put a mask on the face of the statue. Quite apt this, I thought, as the government is maybe considering reintroducing Level Two or more restrictions which will make the wearing of face masks mandatory for travel and close social interaction.

More later.

* Just in case some pedantic old school teachers who used to live near Kelburn object - yes, that image was from San Francisco but I couldn't find one of the Wellington cable cars passing each other. Hopefully this will keep your knickers from getting too twisted.