Wellington, NZL
The last weekend in September saw me in New Zealand to hold an ISSF Pistol
Judge Course. Due to circumstances that
suited the pistol people within NZSF, this course was in Wellington – no problems
for me as I had not been there before and I arranged an extra 1½ days before
the course to do a bit of sightseeing.
Airline departure schedules ex-Sydney on the Thursday were still ‘interesting’
after the dust storm the previous day, but eventually
we were boarded and off and after about three hours landed at Wellington – Wellington
NZL has a reputation for being wet and windy – it was. Further, in comparison with Sydney, it was
cold, wet and windy: loved the cold; and breathing dust-free air was a bonus.
Wellington architecture is interesting.
I would venture that you can see more architectural styles and materials
in a few minutes walking around Wellington than you would encounter in a day’s
trekking of Sydney or Melbourne. The Wellington
area is generally ‘hilly’, with much of it being very steep, and seemingly every
bit that is even remotely buildable has a structure on it
It was REALLY weird to get up on that Wednesday morning to a red glow to
everything; and then (as I staggered from the bedroom towards the first cup of
coffee) I came to an uncurtained window and saw the sky! Red sky in the morning… It was really red!
Step #1 was to close up the house a much as possible (yeah! I am an
asthmatic) and hunker down to wait it out – so much for the usual Wednesday ‘old
farts’ get-together at the club.
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I did venture out later in the
afternoon when the worst of the dust had either dropped or blown out to sea.
Everything was covered in red dust:
·
Roads, vehicles, houses and
gardens, everything. It was up to ½”
thick in the gutters
·
The covered car parking at
the local mall was interesting where the dust has blown in and then settled. Tracks where vehicles had driven and clear-ish patches under cars that had been there most of the day,
but every other horizontal surface was red.
On arriving back from NZL the following Monday, the air was still dusty
once I got out of the terminal, with (still) lots of red card around and large streaks
of red dust along the edges of the motorway to be seen on the drive home.
A variation on the ‘Grudge Match’ theme
So far:
·
One of us has lost some weigh,
but hit a plateau
·
The other two managed (?)
to put on weight in the first 10 days
·
One of these two is in
danger of DSQ; salmonella poisoning is a quick way to lose weight, but not
within the intent of the rules… The
Statutes and Rules Committee is watching her situation very carefully.
One way or another we have each shed a few kilos, but there is a long
way to go.
Boys and their toys
Regards to all,
Spencer (95.5 Kg)
010909