A modern palisade

This morning I ran to and then through the Auckland Domain, noting as I entered from Park Road the HUGE sign on a trailer advertising the coming Christmas in The Park concert. Which is free. And which is sponsored by a large US based multinational drinks company. So of course the largest words on the sign are the company's name/logo. And the biggest single item is an image of a bottle of the stuff. Capitalism stinks when we kowtow in this way.

Headed down Lower Domain Drive, which is closed as it is temporarily a construction site. Like many other runners and walkers I ignored the signs, believing that they were there to stop vehicles. Halfway down the hill was this piece of construction.

The footpath is now coloured concrete. Until a month or so ago, it was an uneven and broken surface which at one stage had probably been what we in NZ call tarseal. In a number of places, this being one of them, the path had fallen away and was very narrow.

The construction has involved the placement of large concrete piles as a retaining wall, with fill placed to provide the base for a new, wider and safer path. The construction process is still underway a bit further down the hill, and I have put a picture of that in my blipfolio.

I like what they have done here with the fence (and in three or four other places as well). The fence has referenced a Maori Pa. Large orange painted posts between which are stakes of different lengths. The outer wall of a Pa was such a palisade. This is not exactly a palisade as the stakes (or pales) are not set in the ground, but are nailed to the fence rails. The tops of the tall posts are covered in black plastic. I am guessing that they are carved, and they need to remain covered until there is a formal ceremony undertaken.

The highest point of the land in which the Domain is set was a village in pre colonial days. It is great to see the history of the place informing the nature of the defence placed here. A different defence. A defence against people falling out from in rather than a defence to keep out those who would want to force their way in.

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