Wednesday 2 September 2015

Stars and Lights


I’ve “been in the wars”, but have “soldiered on”. On Friday night a week ago, I had the great stupidity of walking – at speed, because I was in a hurry – into a plate glass window. It looked like an open door but it wasn’t! I was lucky it didn’t break. I now know how it feels to see stars!

Seeing stars!

It wasn’t the first time I had my forehead assaulted by an immovable object. When I was six years old, I ran into a lamppost while waving at my friend on the other side of the road. It got me a life-long bumpy forehead, and two beaut, fortunately temporary, shiners. As I was on my way home from a catechism lesson, before my catholic first communion, this did not bode well for any future involvement in religion … (speaking as a, now, atheist).

Little first communion girl, with my bruise and shiners

Anyway, after my Friday-night escapade, despite feeling a bit foggy in the head, I went to the Johnsonville Scottish Country Dance Club’s 60th anniversary dance the next evening. As a loyal Johnsonville member, I couldn’t not go, but I didn’t manage to last the full evening. The next day, still feeling foggy, I sought medical advice, and was told that I was concussed, and that I should take it easy for a few days.

Dancing “four hands across” (photo by John)

The three most long-standing members cut the birthday cake (photo by Loralee Hyde)

Lots of willing hands help in getting supper ready (photo by John)

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The following week, we went down to the Wellington Waterfront to view the offerings of the Lux Lights Festival. Of course John had a lovely time with his camera.

These lights were suspended above the water in front of the Foxglove Restaurant
(photo by John)

A video was projected onto a fine mist, sprayed up from the water near
Queen’s Wharf (photo by John)

Hundreds of lunchboxes hanging from a tree in Frank Kitts Park (photo by John)

After the festival the 1500 lunchboxes were to be packed with food
and gifted to hungry Wellington children (photo by John)

The Michael Fowler Centre was lit up in pretty colours too (photo by John)

The floating crane “Hikitea” (photo by John)

This was called “See Creature” (sic) in Opera House Lane (photo by John) 

The colours in this window display changed depending on where you viewed it from
(photo by John)

Not part of the festival, but a new permanent sculpture
in Cuba Street,  “The Philanthropist’s Stone” (photo by John) 

These giant lightbulbs on top of a pop-up bar in a truck changed colours every few seconds
(photo by John)

The Star Boating Club and paddle-boats on the Frank Kitts Lagoon (photo by John)

The lights of a city building reflected in a puddle


2 comments:

  1. A lovely musing on lights and reflections. Your childhood memory reminds me that when I was about the same age I was sitting with my parents one day when for some forgotten reason I lost my temper, jumped up and ran out of the room, colliding with the edge of the door as I went. I needed several stitches in my head.

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