Warmer Clime, Warmer Time.

It's been cold with a  bitter North-Easterly coming in from The Minch. I don't like the cold. So I escaped in my photos back to February in New Zealand and the Napier's Art Deco Weekend. It was around 30℃ and nigh on perfect (for me). There are many more where these came from but this is a taster.

Fixed wheel and no brakes (but a lovely smile).

Don't you just love eccentrics?

Money to charity

One of many groups

The only juggler I saw

The Art Deco lunch seating waiting for its bums

A strange way to wear a sporran

Really entering into the spirit of things

Full Highland dress in 30℃: rather them than me

The Soapbox Derby

The days of the soapbox as a vehicle for racing are long gone (except for a few diehards) but the name lives on and the Art Deco Weekend Soapbox Derby is one of the most popular events. It took place just after miday on the sweltering sundrenched Saturday morning with a huge crowd lining Napier's Tennyson Street.

There were numerous categories and entries including a 4-7 age group. Given that these machines travel quite quickly and are often hard to steer it must be quite an adventure for a 4 year old.

There were many machines and these are some of them:

Tnen they raced:

There were so many categories and prizes and I have no idea who won in which categories and a trawl of the various articles on the internet have been of little help but, hey, who cares? For the spectators it was just a case of watching the fun.

Art Deco Napier

I was up at 0630 last Saturday morning by which time Wendy and Martin had long gone to the gym.  It was a glorious morning so at just after 7am I decided to go and photograph the centre of Napier again before the Art Deco Weekend hordes descended for the Vintage Car Parade and the many other attractions of the day. Between that time and arriving back home at about 2.30pm I managed to take over 600 photos so I shall have no excuse for not blogging over the next few weeks although some of you may get rather bored with photos of vintage cars.

Firstly, however, I shall regale you with some photos which show why Napier is such an important Art Deco icon.