Let’s make the most of those colours before winter settles in
AFTER the weekend’s rain and southerly winds, it’s probably just as well we started our search for the brightest and best autumn photographs last week.
The photos keep rolling in, thank you very much. But I have a feeling the colours have peaked and over the next week or two the trees will start to show off their bones and we’ll begin the slide into winter.
Anyway, put aside that rather depressing thought and enjoy some more fantastic shots today.
Town hall safety
Great news that the Dunedin City Council has confirmed the ‘‘safety’’ railing around the balustrade of the town hall’s gallery was ‘‘only ever intended to be temporary’’.
Following a candid debate in this column, DCC chief executive Sue Bidrose told an ODT reporter the council was working hard to come up with the right solution — one which balanced safety against viewing and listening pleasure.
Staff had already considered and rejected several options, she said.
In the meantime, I received a note from a town hall usher about the safety rail. While it rails against the rail (sorry, couldn’t resist), it does show that trips and falls do occur and that safety should be a consideration.
‘‘Added to the normal briefing relating to emergency management etc from DMVL staff,’’ she says, ‘‘we were updated on progress, or lack of it, in their negotiations with council, given they anticipate a fall in ticket sales by irate concertgoers.
‘‘One lady shown to her seat downstairs claimed to have tripped and fallen near the balustrade upstairs just prior to the installation. She was visually outraged at the notion her incident had precipitated such an overthetop response.
‘‘I didn’t tell her that I had stopped ushering upstairs after tripping on a stairedge one night a few years ago and then ignominiously charging down a number of stairs from the back of the upper circle, luckily managing not to fall flat on my face at the bottom.
‘‘I recall hearing a few gasps from those already seated as I rocketed past. But even had I done that in the front circle, I can’t see how I could have possibly landed down in the stalls.
‘‘However, the rail is aesthetically awful and, with the town hall having been part of my life since I was about 10 years old, it is souldestroying to see such insensitive desecration of an iconic heritage building by some health and safety zealot.’’
Barnes dancing
Dave of St Clair believes the council should reconsider the length of time pedestrians have to cross the Barnes Dances.
‘‘The reason for the Barnes Dance is to aid both pedestrians and motorists in moving through the city. But I’ve noticed as a motorist that often everyone has crossed and the countdown still has, say, eight seconds to go. In that time you could get five or six more cars coming up to the lights.
‘‘Keep the Barnes Dance — I think it’s good. But shorten that time for pedestrians by about five seconds.’’
Kendrick Lamar
I really must get more with it. I have to admit I’ve never heard of the hiphop king with a Pulitzer Prize who is coming to Dunedin in July.
In fact, I had one of those ‘‘at crosspurposes’’ conversations with some colleagues at Channel 39 on Thursday about him.
The ODT was running an online poll on whether Kendrick should have his own mural (like Ed’s) painted on a wall in Dunedin. I was asked by one of the Channel 39ers what I thought about ‘‘Kendrick’s poll’’, which I took as ‘‘Kendrick’s pole’’.
I presumed it was some obscure topographical feature which had been discovered on the top of
Swampy Summit or elsewhere, and said I hadn’t heard of it and needed to look at some maps to figure out where it was.