Fishy Business

Some time ago the Hutt City Council, obviously flush with ratepayers' cash, decided to improve High Street by putting down the obligatory paving bricks to replace the footpath and removing a lot of handy angle parking in favour of far fewer parallel parking spaces. Surprise, surprise - fewer people came calling on the retailers, because a convenient park was a hard to find. The shop owners complained, so the Hutt City Council stepped up to solve the problem, but not by putting back the parks or reducing the cost of the remaining metered spaces. Oh, no - that's not a creative enough solution. Clearly what was needed was a night market, every Thursday. This would apparently bring vibrancy and the crowds to High Street. The start was delayed, because the ratepayers needed to pay for specially designed stalls to be commissioned and manufactured. In the time this took, the retailers decided they didn't want what was left of High Street shopping closed off for a night market. But we'd already paid for the fancy stalls. Not a problem -  the night market would now take place outside the council buildings, where nobody goes. It started off as a tacky, muddled collection of greasy food stalls and 'craft'. (I've never quite understood why stringing a few tacky beads together, total worth probably 50 cents, constitutes crafted jewellery and is worth $40 at the markets) A few weeks ago, I called again to see if the market had improved. Where was it? Well, most of it had moved into the Town Hall. The crafty folk found our lovely stalls too prone to wind and rain and wouldn't use them. Goodness knows where they would have retreated to if the market had stayed in High Street. Today, however, I wandered through on the way to my bus and spotted a seafoods truck. I have to say the terakihi, when poached over tomatoes, made a delicious paleo dinner. So all is not lost - Hutt City Council, at some considerable cost, has provided me with a source of seafood for Thurday night dinners. But their greatest gift to the people will always remain the delightful clock tower that looks like a pensive owl!