Neil Diamond. Even scarier if you can't hear what he's singing.The powerboaters, women cyclists and dragonboaters must have been ruing the choice of Wellington as the choice of championship venues as a, er, ‘brisk’ northerly blew in from the Hutt and across the harbour over the weekend.

The wind also caused havoc with the Saturday night Neil Diamond concert at the Stadium, where the poor acoustics of the stadium combined with the swirly winds to blow most of the ancient pop-star’s dulcet tones out of the Stadium before anyone had a chance to hear them. We can report there were many out-of-town souls commiserating with each other at the Cuba Street cafes on Sunday morning. $100 seats! To hear the Wellington northerly! Ah well.

However, there seemed to be lots of perfectly enjoyable inside and outside action to partake in, with the Fringe Festival wrapping up while the National Arts Festival for Children got under way. The Greek Food and the Newtown Festival were both on, and, to cap off the most perfect of windy Wellington weekends the Hurricanes won.

And, finally, what is the council up to with height restriction bylaws?