Snapshots of Elsewhere

Drinking amongst the graves today, with the occasional crow.

Not as gothy as it sounds.

It’s sunny, lunchtime and there are thousands of others. In fact, graves are not required, as long as there is cherry blossom, but the graves mean you’re there specifically to remember or hang out with particular ancestors or recent relatives. 

Imagine if Waikumete had mass picnics. It’d actually be nice if Governor Hobson was tidy and clean and we were responsible and respectful enough to have a beer with him and all the others buried on that slope, under the bridge. 

I’m not sure about the culture around Taupiri and all, but I’ve got a feeling it’s probably not okay with tikanga. Pretty sure everyone here is cremated. 

Kampai! 

Sounds peaceful, despite the number of people. 

Yeh was pretty decent! Here it’s a grave yard, so mostly only people visiting there so it’s not mad crowded like a place like Ueno or something. It’s fairly spread out. There’s a couple of places with a couple of food trucks only. I guess that’s part of the attraction there, like Piha or whatever. 

Though I did find out that it’s not that common a thing to ohanami at a place like this, but perhaps this particular location planted the trees to line the way and left some spaces open to picnic. 

They put some food and drink out for the couple that’s there, kinda like people who have home shrines do. 

The other way to do the season is at the festivals along rivers like Meguro, where you walk along, take pictures at the bridges and all the local places have stalls along the way so you can eat and drink well too. It’s really good as a night out. Everything’s all lit up.

If you’re a tourist you can follow the blossom and festivals as it comes in season in the south-west through to the last blossom in the north. 

Hey sorry was going through old Nix stuff and realise myself and the missus met you a couple of times around Nix games 8 or 9 years ago! It’s all these new avatars and all. Can’t keep up with the pace of change.

Hope things are going a bit better than the Nix men and at least as good as the WahiNix. 

Thanks for reminding me, I had to go through my messages...that was sometime ago!  You must have left NZ not too long after that.