An afternoon walk through Christchurch

After Orana, I had some time to kill before my next big adventure, so I decided to spend the time walking to Cathedral Square, where I was to meet up with my companions, rather than taking a bus. It proved to be quite the exciting venture, and I was able to see a different sort of rhythm to the life in Christchurch.
All this week, I have been hearing bagpipes. While I do enjoy the seemingly endless wail and drone of that magnificient set of pipes, it is a bit alarming when you're not expecting it. I have been seeing glimpses of teenage boys standing around in fields, and today was no exception. I found a group of about five boys hanging out in a section of Hagley Park practicing their piping. I don't understand it, but I enjoyed it. In that same section of park, I stumbled across what appeared to be a granda and grandson playing golf in the park. They were very cute to listen to and seemed to just be picking random marks to hit their ball at--a sort of golf-bocci if you will.

Pretty quickly I reached a point where I didn't know where I should go. Fortunately, I found the tram tracks to guide me, and soon found myself in Cathedral Square.
Cathedral Square was bustling with activity. A number of food vendors were around, I found myself with a hotdog. Hot Dog here means lightly battered sausage on a stick, I have found out, and I am not disappointed. There was also an market from which I could have purchased anything from merino scarves to a pair of jandals, and of course, there was an oversized chess game going on. I didn't notice any woman watching the game, but I saw many men come and go and strategize. That, friends, is the success of a public commons. I also watched a lot of people, as I am wont to do, and saw this little boy chase after that particular gull (no other gull would do) for about twenty minutes. When he looked up and noticed he couldn't find his family, he became visibly concerned, though didn't panic or start crying. I looked around, too, looking for a stern looking mother or someone who had been keeping an eye on him. Instead, I found an extended family group hiding behind a statue, smiling and watching the little boy. As the boy moved around the statue, they rotated, staying out of site. Soon the little boy caught on and was all smiles. Though they didn't speak english, the smiling father figure hugged him and, I'd imagine, said something about not wandering off. Then, I was approached by the man pictured to the left. He said something schmoozy and loudly to attract attention for his magic show. I wasn't too interested, but went along with it anyway. He was kind, and had reasonably interesting slight of hand tricks with a deck of cards. I didn't find anything overly impressive except that he didn't ask for money...until the end. He went away with a gold coin--I don't know of what denomination--it's still monopoly money to me.

I still had a good forty-five minutes to kill at this point, so I decided to wander more. I found some museums that are worth checking out. One had a display of gigantic gnomes outside. Upon further investigation, I found that they were promoting the works of a woman who makes fabric flowers--less interesting. But, it might be a nice rainy day activity. There was also a sign asking us to please not touch the gnomes. I can't imagine that whomever created that sign ever imagined having to use those words strung together quite like that. Very nearby I managed to stumble across yet another market. This one was a S.O.L.E food market, I don't know what that stands for, but appeared to be full of local, slow foods and there was a singer, Anneka Thwaites, who was signing Joni Mitchell covers and then switched to one of my all time favorite songs, Blackbird. I had to sit and listen. I saw a little boy in a school uniform feel tomatoes for ripeness and another little boy walking a very big shaggy dog. The best part though, was finding an old lady with purple hair right before meeting up with my companions. Good call on her part.

Pictures later. There was drama.