What a show it was last night, imagine this, standing in our third floor flat looking out the lounge window. You have a 180 degree view of the surrounding area for as far as the eye can see, surrounding suburbs stretch all the way out to some fairly large parks and in the distance area couple of farmers fields, we know they must be cropping fields because in the spring they are bright yellow with rapeseed flowers. But I digress, come a few minutes to midnight the show begins. Just a few rockets at first, and then it is all on, 1000’s of rockets, and I don’t mean small ones either. Imagine the display over Wellington Harbour or at Te Marua raceway and multiply that a thousand fold. Not an exaggeration, this is much more illuminating that Guy Fawkes Night, and we thought that was hugely impressive.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
January 1 2012
Overcast and cool this morning, but that isn’t going to stop us intrepid travellers from going out. Couldn’t make up our minds about where to go so decided to do a mystery bus tour. Nothing official of course. So off to the local bus stop and get on the first one heading towards Morden. Not been out that way before. I suppose this is the equivalent of ‘going out for a drive’ back home in NZ.
The double decker bus makes its way through narrow streets, cars parked on either side of the road, and in both directions too. Now you wouldn’t see that back home. High density housing, entire neighbourhoods of two, three and four storey terraced houses jostling eve to eve. Some with not front and no back yard. Others with their front door opening directly onto the pavement. Then we are in a more affluent area, large houses in twos and singles, their Audis, Beamers and mercs showing themselves off in the front yards. Small clusters of shops advertising themselves as Halal, or open 24/7, or get the best furniture deal here, all with no verandas like you would see at home. Only the occasional canvas pull out covering protects a doorway or the stock that is being displayed on the footpath. There is a lot of that here, wares spilling out of all manner of shops from fruit and veg to furniture.
So off the bus at Morden and spotting an inviting looking café we head there for lunch. Now in this one we could have had our passport picture taken, bought a beer, or one of the ornaments on display, or used their internet café option, oh and yes a nice lunch. Cod and chips with mushy peas no less. Mushy peas, I ask you why would you want your green peas all mushed up for goodness sake? No answer to that one.
So fed and watered we looked for the next bus stop, waved down our chosen one and will you look at that it has started to rain, and where are our brollys? You guessed it at home. But it might not last. But it does. Instead of staying on the bus to its end destination we exit at Epsom, across the road from the bus stop is a £ store where we hand over $2 for two brollys. The Man’s one was getting a bit sad anyway. Back across the road to Starbucks for a coffee and to give the weather a chance to make amends, which it doesn’t. We retrace part of the bus trip back as far as a railway station, and return home the short way only slightly damp around the edges.
No comments:
Post a Comment