not the orange day parade you might think

orange day celebrates school patrols and the essential work they do. it's a council run even where 1200 children from 40 wellington schools march through the city, ending with a celebration to thank school patrols for their dedication and hard work.

i hadn't been to an orange day parade for 6 years and was very upset to miss last year's as i was laid up in bed with the worst stomach bug anyone in the world had suffered EVER!!!

field trips are so much fun, but they are entirely EXHAUSTING! while we marched through town, 1200 children chanted (loudly and with great monotony) BOTH of the following:

1-2-3-4! school patrols for evermore!

5-6-7-8! school patrols are really great!

aaaaaaaaaand

what do we call?
signs out!
what do we say?
check!
what do we do?
cross now!

oh - and that was just OUR school's chants. the schools in FRONT of us and BEHIND us had their own chants. stereo if you will.

the last orange day parade i was at. recognise these two?

i'm assuming kids the world over do this! there are 5 tunnels between our stop and the city, so we did get SOME peace on the trip! love the poor unsuspecting guy on the left who's wishing he got on a different carriage!

hundreds of college and intermediate kids use these trains every day, and some of them even think they are funny...

sir richard john seddon, new zealand's longest serving prime minister (1845-1906), outside our old parliament buildings.

that's the beehive on the left - our 'new' parliament buildings. it was designed by scottish architect sir basil spence on the back of a napkin in 1964 and completed in 1979.

much of its early history was controversial as no-one had ever really seen a design like it before and the traditionalists thought it quite ridiculous. some of the offices are wedge-shaped and not at all practical, but it's unique and very much part of the landscape of the capital now.

this is the sum total of security at our nation's seat of power
(which is why i love living here so much!)

huh. i guess he went on a break

me and my girl

getting ready for the parade. each school was asked to design a banner

i think this guy's meant to be a zebra (as in zebra crossing),
although when miss 16 saw this picture, she thought he was a racoon!!!

and we're off! i'm a sucker for a pipe band! (who isn't?)

snaking our way down the path onto the street.
i can say i stopped traffic!

that's the michael fowler centre on the left (our 'new' town hall) and the old town hall on the right. you can be forgiven for thinking we're big on our circular buildings here in wellington. michael fowler was mayor of wellington 1974-1983 and the 'new' town hall was his idea. it is built on reclaimed land (like much of wellington city).

when we arrived at the town hall, i volunteered to go 'do the coffee run' for the teacher and other parent helpers, and got back in time to see ngaio win the 'best banner design' competition.

this news was greeted with much joy

although not everyone shared our enthusiasm
(check out the sad sacks in the back row)

as we all filed out of the town hall, the kids were each given a complimentary brown bag lunch (which was mostly healthy!) ronald mcdonald used to be the mascot for this parade. his 'make it click' campaign for seat belt safety meant he was included in this event, but the powers that be finally realised that making a fast food restaurant icon a role model for these kids was a DUMB idea.