Great events if weather plays along

Now it is hoped the weather gods will take pity on us for longer periods and allow us to get on with the host of events Wairarapa stages at this time of year.

SOME people say this has been a typical spring - a euphemism I suspect for saying it like it really is, that is annoying wet and windy to the stage where sun-lovers like me are fed up to the back teeth with it.

Granted the last few weeks have, in the main, not been exceedingly cold but let's get rid of the greyness and welcome in some blue skies.

It has been doubling annoying for home gardeners and sages of the soil agree many plantings, especially of temperamental crops like parsnips have been delayed waiting for the soil to warm up, the end result being vege gardens are lagging well behind most other years.

But, at the same time there has been some remarkably lucky changes in the weather.

Toast Martinborough escaped a weather bullet by the skin of its teeth, being able to stage a festive Toast on Sunday only a day after huge gales and rain had swept through Wairarapa.

Likewise Wairarapa A & P Show, Carterton, organisers somehow managed to conjure up not one but three days of user-friendly weather for the annual show using a wee window of opportunity as the days leading up to the show had been anything but encouraging.

Now it is hoped the weather gods will take pity on us for longer periods and allow us to get on with the host of events Wairarapa stages at this time of year. The Mauriceville Fair is coming up on December 7 and I make no apologies for saying it is one of my favourite days out.

The Clarke Memorial Domain where the fair is held is the closest thing Wairarapa has to a natural amphitheatre, a gem of a location for a fair, and a picnic day.

It is one of the most under-rated venues in the district and would be a fabulous place for an open-air concert, weather permitting of course.

The award-winning Times-Age first XI cricket team turns out at the domain each February to play Mauriceville and it is always a great occasion with the match played on close to a first class wicket give or take the odd bump.

For a small centre Mauriceville is exceptional in that the community stages many fun events during the year, apart from the fair and the cricket. Just a week or so ago my wife and I attended the annual race night in the school hall, a wonderful time.