Friday 27 July 2012: "Open Wide!"

After our unsuccessful visit to the corset shop in Founders' Heritage Park the other day, we popped back there briefly this afternoon in the hope of finding it open. This time, however, instead of finding a notice on the door saying 'Closed for Lunch', there was one saying 'Back in 15 mins - gone for coffee :)'

So we had another wander around the park. This time the sun was out and there were more people around, and Christina said it didn't feel as creepy as before. This old Safe Air Bristol Freighter is on permanent display near the duck pond. The RNZAF ordered 12 of these aircraft in the late 1940s and Sounds Air Freight Express (SAFE) also operated a number across the Cook Strait between Wellington and Blenheim, of which this is one. They were finally retired in the 1970s but this is one of four remaining on display in a preserved condition. Other old Bristol Freighters around the country have been turned into cafes and backpackers' hostels.

When we returned to the corset shop is was still closed, so we gave up and hoped that we might, one day, be there at the same time as the owner! It's not that we wanted to buy anything, but Christina would like to have a look around and talk to the woman who runs it. She trained at the same university where Christina is currently studying and designed the costumes for the upcoming film 'Kiwi Flyer' which was being filmed in Nelson this time last year.

It was getting quite late in the afternoon by then but we headed over to the WOW (World of Wearable Arts) Museum near Immy's school. There is only one word for this - WOW! It's a fabulous collection of exhibits - clothes that are amazing works of art - but sadly photography is not allowed, otherwise something there would certainly have been the blip. WOW started in Nelson in 1987 as a promotion for a local art gallery and continued to be staged here for a number of years. However, like Topsy, it grew bigger and bigger. When it started to attract entries from around the world, Nelson's venues could no longer cope with the scale of the annual WOW awards ceremony, which is now held in Wellington.

We still have the museum here (which also houses a great collection of classic cars which you are allowed to photograph, but we ran out of time in the WOW section and the museum closed before we could get to them!) which is an absolute 'must see' for any visitors to Nelson. Christina picked up a few past catalogues which she thought would provide useful research material for a project that she's currently working on at Uni; the woman behind the desk in the shop was very helpful and went and rummaged in a drawer to find her some more material as well, which was kind of her.

As we had begun the afternoon in the jewellry studio of Mike Ward, a Nelson artist (and past WOW exhibitor) whose work is much favored by this family - Christina in particular, who wanted to pop in and have him adjust a ring that she bought from him in the market a couple of weeks ago - it turned out to have been a very 'arty' afternoon.

My mother-in-law is off to Italy first thing in the morning to spend a month with her middle son and his family, so she's spending the night with Jonathan and Lynley and we all went over there for supper. Her dog, Polly, is going to be staying with Lynley and Jonathan but as they are very busy with work, college and two small children, I will be taking her for walks every day - so expect a few dog walking blips over the next few weeks!

For the record, I am sitting here with my laptop on my lap(!) blipping this while watching the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.

• Canon EOS 60D:
• f/5:
• 1/800":
• 18.0mm:
• ISO 320

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