While today's gale-force winds and rain isn't much fun, there was much water-related fun last night on Abel Smith Street.

Late last night a water main on The Terrace burst, sending a torrent of water gushing down Abel Smith.

Rather than snuggling up under their duvets, local residents instead leapt out of bed and turned the infrastructure malfunction into an inpromptu waterslide, using recycling bins, deckchairs - anything they could get their hands on - to slide down the street. Awesome!

Even better - a video was made!

Thanks to _june's Twitter Tweets for the reportage.
Video by MrJudkins.

Here's another one of the wee guys in this series of temporary sculptures:

Quite an appropriate location, atop the long-abandoned toilets and amid the construction of the new Courtenay Place park.

...there's a bar in Cuba Mall. Okay, so that doesn't swing quite as well as the original, but those with a longing for outrageous costumes and hard drinking, but who can't stomach the Sevens, ought to know that it's Tiki Bar weekend at Matterhorn.

That's right: you have one more night to savour concoctions based on classics by Trader Vic and Beachbum Berry; bar staff dressed as Hawaiian deities; bubbling cauldrons of lethally refreshing punch; and some of the cheesiest slices of lounge exotica ever committed to vinyl.

Our very own Anti-Fascist Protective Rampart has been up for months now, and remains as ugly as ever.

Looking south towards Friedrichstraße *cough* I mean Abel Smith Street:

... and north towards Ghuznee Street. In the distance, over the wall, we see the symbols of capitalism brazenly and proudly flaunted:

All we are really missing are some sentry towers, razor wire, and anti-personnel mines. Somebody really needs to finish this damn "bypass" already.

Down at the City Gallery on Friday night they are running another one of their Late Night Sessions, where you get to cruise around the big exhibition (this time it's the biennial Prospect show) in relative peace and listen to lovely live music while you do so. And all for free.

City Gallery's popular late night Friday returns. Wander through Telecom Prospect 2007: New Art New Zealand to a backdrop of independent and electronic sounds by local performers. Featuring Peneloping, Tc Wedde with Luke Buda, and Aspen.

The lovely Luke Buda is of course in The Phoenix Foundation, as is (the equally lovely) Tc Wedde. Aspen is also lovely and also known as Signer, and is one half of Over the Atlantic and one half of Skallander. And the "medium-core girl-boy plinkpop!" Peneloping also have a very good reputation as a live act.

Having experienced Late Night Sessions many times before - from the point of view both of a performer and a patron - I can heartily recommend this event.

At Happy tomorrow night you can hear three of New Zealand's rising stars of minimalist electronic music:

• Sam Hamilton
• Angeline Chirnside aka Jane Austen
• Nigel Wright

These artists are described in the media release as "wonderful and amazing; think the magnificent beauty of Rosy Parlane, Minit, and Rachel Shearer's Lovely Midget project. Hell, think of the internationally reknowned Fennesz, Tim Hecker or Keith Fullerton Whitman, if you like."

Want to know what the New Year holds? Well, come along to What's UP - 2007 on Thursday the 24th to hear predictions for 2007 from a group of infallible experts: or "bloggers", as we like to call ourselves.

A group of more-or-less well-known local bloggers (including the (in)famous DPF, Tom "WellUrban" Beard, techno-prophet Hamish McEwan and Mr Geekzone himself, Mauricio Freitas), will make rash forecasts about the Internet, gadgets & games, business and telecommunications, technology and (my particular field) Wellington & NZ.

Posted in the window of a certain shop in Cuba St:

I guess he won't be trying that again.

Here are a few things to keep your mind off the weather this weekend.

The World Press Photo '06 exhibition kicks off at Shed 11 today. It's been interesting to see that the publicity around town has taken a very political angle this year.

Just along the waterfront at the Museum of Wellington City and Sea (I wish they'd find a shorter name!), they're already two weeks into the month-long Wellingtonia LIVE event. The word "eclectic" doesn't even begin to describe the range of things going on there: there's a performances from the Tinakori Handbell Association, a Matariki celebration with Toni Huata, hurdy-gurdies, shanty singers, ghost tours, kete weaving and a debate on the controversial Marine Education Centre. My main interest will be in the series of talks organised by the Architectural Centre entitled "Why I do architecture". These kick off at 1pm tomorrow with Anna Kemble-Walsh and Martin Hanley of Red Design and John Mills of John Mills Architects.

From eclectic to electric: new synth-pop band The Blush Response have their debut gig at Sandwiches tomorrow night. The band may be new, but the musicians will be very familiar to Wellingtonians: Jeramiah Ross (aka Module), Rhian Sheehan, Raashi Malik (of Rhombus, among others) and Paul McLaney of Gramsci.

Finally, you could always try to figure out the location of the current Mystery Bar. If you do, you'd better get looking tonight because it's closed on Saturday nights (that's a clue). It also has something in common with Sandwiches.