There's no time for us, Wellington

Apples on Brougham Street, on the way home from whipped cream.

There's no time for us, Wellington.
Well, actually, there are two weeks.

But today I went for a run jog, and it felt for a while like part of a slow, bittersweet, already nostalgic farewell. 

The Town Belt begins at the top of my street, just above my house. I went along the dirt tracks, through the pines, slowed at the view over the city and harbour then headed down the steps and down Oriental Parade. The sun was warm but it had only really just come out, and it was looking out from behind a layer of late autumn. And I was listening to this:

It's just a great song, from one of the best movies ever made. Make sure you listen to it right up to the end. Close your eyes for that bit. (Not if you're jogging, though - there are lots of people on Oriental Parade on a Sunday, and some of them walk in self-righteous, indignant gaggles).

A view of Oriental Parade

I stopped where the railing breaks to let you down onto the stones when the tide's low, while Freddy asked An oyster catcher glared at me and took off over the grey harbour, and I looked back towards the city which looked like it always does, but a little more poignant. I've lived here for six years now, and I know Oriental well. I hide on the beach with books, and stand on the ocean steps in the wind, and walk beside the water every day to work, even when it's raining.

Maybe it's not as dramatic as Connor watching his love age in a heart-wrenching montage, which perhaps looking back it came to seem to him in his lonely immortality. My jog certainly doesn't involve the same impress level of skill or athletic prowess required in a sword fight to the immortal death. But it was nice to apply a little bit of melodrama as I ran along the concrete, mouthing the words and confusing a poor old lady who thought I was talking to her.

I ran home. Then I went down to the bakery my end of Courtney Place and bought a cream-filled pancake (the cream donuts were gone) and sat by the mechanical spider camera in the sun while I ate it. It was pretty good.

A few more things I want to do

• Ride a red fox 'cross the moors
• Actually make it to a spot where they did filming for Highlander on Skye
• Visit the Devil's Causeway
• Scale the Sagrada Familia
• Have dumplings in Singapore
• Continue practising basic German so I can test it out in Germany
• Drink Earl Grey in a badger's sett (he is welcome to join me; otherwise, I'm happy to lock him in the cellar)