Some highlights from Palmerston North

Apart from the motorbike races, there was the guy …

… who sells freshly roasted …

… chestnuts at a street stall in George st:

On Sunday mornings he's at the Farmers' Market just around the corner in Coleman Place, where there is also a gorgeous French patisserie/chocolaterie where you can get a set menu petit déjeuner of half a baguette with butter and jam, a croissant, a pain au chocolat, a freshly squeezed orange juice, and a coffee of your choice for $14. Magic on a hangover.

Back at the farm where I was staying, this peacock spent most of his time tromping over the roof of the house …

… he sounded as though he was wearing hobnailed boots.

Various other birds and animals seem to get on well together …

… the cat is called Manx. He isn't one, but he was born minus a tail.

Here is Goosey:

And this is the typical storybook chook family:

There are also quails, lovebirds, parakeets, a sulphur-crested cockatoo, a gorgeous budgie that kept biting me, dogs, more cats, and miscellaneous other livestock, all of which are pets. When I used to live there 30-odd years ago we had two cats, a dog, and a cockatoo and that was it. Apart from the farm livestock that is - a pig, some horses and a few sheep.