Last night I made a weak attempt to impress my readers by showing that I could find out what some audio equipment names meant. I'm not going to try the same thing tonight, even though Fender bass amps at Musicians Friend are on the menu, as it were. Fender is a name that actually means something to me, though in a limited sense, as referring to guitars. But obviously Fender have spread their wings considerably, and far more than musical instruments are part of their manufacturing these days. Fender's history is quite interesting, and worth reading about if you have the time.
Strictly speaking I don't: I'm supposed to be practicing music for the Junior Singing Competitions here in Dunedin this weekend, practicing some nasty accompaniments to some clarinet music for a young man who'll be turning up to rehearse in the next week or so (I'm subbing for his normal accompanist), reading two books that I'm supposed to review, finishing off the Grimhilda! book, and a host of other things. And that's apart from what needs to be done around the house in terms of day to day sorting out and maintenance. Then we have to fit in time to go for a fitness/recreational walk (dog included), catch a bit of a kip, if necessary, and so on.
None of this has anything to do with Fender.
Showing posts with label walks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walks. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Friday, April 12, 2013
Undiscovered Dunedin
My wife and I went for an hour and a half walk yesterday, using one of those Intriguing Dunedin Street Walks books as a guide. They were written by Paul Hayward in the nineties, and there are either four or five or them. A number of things have changed since the booklets were first published, but fortunately none of the streets have moved, so this is a plus!
The other plus is discovering bits of Dunedin that have existed longer than I have and yet I've never realised they were there before. Yesterday's big surprise was finding Braeview Crescent. Now, to those who live in the street, or know people who live there, the Crescent will come as no surprise, but, as Hayward notes, it's not a street you find easily: one end is only accessible by a pathway.
The more interesting thing is that as you come down the pathway you walk into what Hayward calls the equivalent of an English country lane, complete with (very high) hedgerows, and blackberries growing wild (and not sprayed with poison either, as far as we could tell). But the next surprise is that once you get past the hedgerows you discover that you're walking along the edge of a cliff, one that drops some hundred metres or more down into the lower Leith Valley area. You get a marvellous view over the North end of the City, but you also take your life in your hands if you go too close to the edge. Fortunately the dog wasn't interested in doing so, though I imagine if we'd taken my youngest son there when he was a child, we would have had our hearts in our mouths. I can remember my brother-in-law, years ago, being shocked at how casual my son was in regard to danger: at that point he was on top of the cliffs at Tomahawk.
Anyway, after the cliff-top excitement you find that there are houses built on plateaus at the edge of the cliff. Great views, but I'm not sure if they would be my ideal location.
The Hayward books are great for helping you discover lanes that you've never noticed before, little pathways that run between streets. I'm sure most cities have these, but they're easily missed. We went down one this morning that had the rather over-the-top name of Mentone Avenue. It was barely wide enough to walk down with your arms stretched out. It apparently has some connections with Menton, in France, where there is a villa that writers can go and live in for a year, courtesy of the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship. Most lanes are unnamed: they're just a way to get from A to B. They serve their purpose and good on them!
The other plus is discovering bits of Dunedin that have existed longer than I have and yet I've never realised they were there before. Yesterday's big surprise was finding Braeview Crescent. Now, to those who live in the street, or know people who live there, the Crescent will come as no surprise, but, as Hayward notes, it's not a street you find easily: one end is only accessible by a pathway.
The more interesting thing is that as you come down the pathway you walk into what Hayward calls the equivalent of an English country lane, complete with (very high) hedgerows, and blackberries growing wild (and not sprayed with poison either, as far as we could tell). But the next surprise is that once you get past the hedgerows you discover that you're walking along the edge of a cliff, one that drops some hundred metres or more down into the lower Leith Valley area. You get a marvellous view over the North end of the City, but you also take your life in your hands if you go too close to the edge. Fortunately the dog wasn't interested in doing so, though I imagine if we'd taken my youngest son there when he was a child, we would have had our hearts in our mouths. I can remember my brother-in-law, years ago, being shocked at how casual my son was in regard to danger: at that point he was on top of the cliffs at Tomahawk.
Anyway, after the cliff-top excitement you find that there are houses built on plateaus at the edge of the cliff. Great views, but I'm not sure if they would be my ideal location.
The Hayward books are great for helping you discover lanes that you've never noticed before, little pathways that run between streets. I'm sure most cities have these, but they're easily missed. We went down one this morning that had the rather over-the-top name of Mentone Avenue. It was barely wide enough to walk down with your arms stretched out. It apparently has some connections with Menton, in France, where there is a villa that writers can go and live in for a year, courtesy of the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship. Most lanes are unnamed: they're just a way to get from A to B. They serve their purpose and good on them!
Monday, January 17, 2011
More Dunedin quirky places
A dog is an anti aging product that works, by which I mean that one of the great advantages of having a dog is that he/she forces you to get out in the open air. Even though our dog is small, and can race back and forth through the house at lightning speed - and thus get some exercise - he still needs to get out into real world where there are endless smells and interesting things to follow up on (don't ask) and grass under his feet, and a ball to chase across a field...and much more.
Maori Rd runs through an extensive area of bush. For years I've walked and driven this road, and quite often I've gone down the main (bitumised) track that leads from Maori Rd to MacLaggen St, but it's only since we had the dog that I've discovered that there are multitudinous other tracks in this bit of bush, and sudden open spaces with grass, and even an Oak Grove with a cairn dedicated to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her diamond jubilee.
No doubt many other Dunedinites know these places well, although so far we haven't seen another soul when we've walked on these tracks. But I've lived in the city for more than fifty years, and never realised just how walkable this place was.
It's great to discover something new about your own city after all this time. (By the way, the link up above for Maori Rd takes you to a very short video encouraging some change to the two laybys on Maori Rd, so that they don't get further damaged by hoons driving their cars over the grass. If you don't know the road, this will give a small idea of it, and the encompassing bush.)
Maori Rd runs through an extensive area of bush. For years I've walked and driven this road, and quite often I've gone down the main (bitumised) track that leads from Maori Rd to MacLaggen St, but it's only since we had the dog that I've discovered that there are multitudinous other tracks in this bit of bush, and sudden open spaces with grass, and even an Oak Grove with a cairn dedicated to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her diamond jubilee.
No doubt many other Dunedinites know these places well, although so far we haven't seen another soul when we've walked on these tracks. But I've lived in the city for more than fifty years, and never realised just how walkable this place was.
It's great to discover something new about your own city after all this time. (By the way, the link up above for Maori Rd takes you to a very short video encouraging some change to the two laybys on Maori Rd, so that they don't get further damaged by hoons driving their cars over the grass. If you don't know the road, this will give a small idea of it, and the encompassing bush.)
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