Auckland, as I’ll always imagine it

This week I’ve been a sort-of tourist in my home town. Taking photos. Buying ironically tacky souvenirs for people in England. Visiting the museum. Nothing seems to have changed very much here. Lots of old friends, extensive amounts of food and too much coffee.

I drove out to Remuera and took a walk around one of my old schools. There’s a lot of new buildings since my last visit, but every corner of the place still is full of stories. Some places play crucially in forming our concept of the world, and for better or worse, “KP” (King’s Prep) is for me one of those places.

A fantastic wedding on Saturday night featured the Lex Pistols, lavalavas and lamingtons – they sure don’t get married like that in Oxford! Then the evening finished at Rakinos, one of those old Auckland venues that never changes, to hear Tangent play their final gig. And that’s before catching up with Bruce, Karl and Tash. All in all, I didn’t expect that coming back home would be quite so exhausting…

Nick Atkinson sits in with Tangent, Rakinos – May 24th 2008