Author Archives: davidlegge

Wellington Maritime Museum. Worst moment – having to sit myself down in a remote corner of the shop because of much walking and clambering up stairs. Not Age! No, not age. Best moment. Watching the young women behind the counter doing little dances. They had forgotten I was there. Until I applauded. But definitely causedContinue reading “The Queen’s Bond”

Important things when travelling. Timetables, knowing where you are and the shower. Getting the temperature right is a science. Not squirting water out the door helps. I always forget to read the bottles on the shower shelf. I mostly grab the most interesting shape – which is only partly visible, and give my hair aContinue reading “A Day of Drips”

The bounce and pageantry is winding down. Cuba Street is slipping down to is busy streets, jostling crowds and zany shop doorways. I step out of a cafe and The final glow of the evening in an Italian cafe. “I remember you from some years back.” – the owner. Motorscooters, Italian of course discussed. TheContinue reading “The Carnival is Over”

Actually it is an old stable, modernised and now an apartment. Right in the middle of town. Alongside Cuba St. You can still see the old gantry, upper left, that was used for hauling up hay, supplies and horsey bits. The coffins in the courtyard contain the poor souls who have perished using the perishingContinue reading “Away in a Manger”

Booktown – booktown.org.nz. collections of books sit and wait. Mostly books I would have gathered and donated to the Sally Army. Often in a corner sits The Person In Charge. Busy. A lap top, or reading. Some look up and smile. Most simmer in their bookish world, not expecting anyone to buy a book. AContinue reading “Booktown”

A town of just over 2,500 people. Before 1955 accessible via the wheezing and puffing of the Fell locomotives up the Remutaka range. Today passenger and trains, trains whoosh into the dark and whoosh out into sunlight from the rail tunnel. A town of preloved antique shops, smiling in the morning sun. Grandma’s kitchen andContinue reading “Featherston”

And fly non stop for a week and a half. Godwits. Unique to NZ and China. Somehow, and for how long? – these birds know the favourable winds to assist the migration to enjoy summer in both hemispheres. And breed chicks – who ‘get it’ to migrate and have chicks, for thousands and thousands ofContinue reading “Eat Worms”

Even the car looks relieved as it pulls into our drive and kids ooze, tumble out. Welcome hugs. A long drive after a committee decision, ‘Let’s visit Poppa’.Committee decisions, no one is actually in charge, there is a moment of each looking at the other, ‘Now wot?’ followed by chatter, dawdling inside and clattering downContinue reading “Stuck on a Monument”

Low speed, lots of corners and the road now is tar-sealed. The ratatat of corrugations and dust are yesterday.Driving through shade and covered by ferns and native trees provide a break from all day sun. Almost at the destination and my phone sounds an alert. Nowhere to stop on this narrow road. I guess. AnotherContinue reading “Yesterday, and Tomorrow”