Blowing in the Wind

I had my Spin class today and my friend felt well enough to go today. She hadn't seen me since my new look and said she liked my hair as it made me look younger.. nothing much was said about my glasses so she may not have liked them!

On the way there I missed our turn and went down a street I haven't been down before and we spotted this corner shop with all the washing blowing in the wind. We didn't have time to stop on the way to the gym. 

After class we made a detour so I could get a shot of the building with all the washing blowing in the strong wind. Pity the power lines were in the way. I did take a few more shots from different angles but this one looked the best. This shop would have been a corner dairy before it was turned into a cafe.

As were we leaving we noticed what we thought was a school class having lessons riding their bikes on the road...but no, as they got closer we could see they were Posties in full uniform and Post office bikes in training. They did look so funny with eight of them all in a row doing their hand signals. The stop sign first then the signal to turn right. We couldn't stop laughing as it was such unusual sight. I would have like to have got a shot of them but there was no place to pull over and get my camera out.

The day has been rather cold and it was overcast for most of the day. The sun did show its smiling face later in the afternoon to brighten things up a bit.


About the Corner Dairy
In New Zealand a small mixed grocery shop is known as a dairy. Many are on street corners, so they are often referred to as the ‘corner dairy’.
From the early 1900s small shops called ‘dairy produce sellers’ sold milk, cream, cheese, butter and eggs. They were the only shops allowed to sell these products and were also allowed to open on Sundays. During the depression of the 1930s many people built a room onto the front of their houses – or converted an existing room – and set up a shop selling a few grocery items, confectionery or other easily handled goods.

The term ‘dairy’ only became commonly applied to small grocery shops from the late 1930s. Before then a small shop selling groceries would have been called a ‘cash grocer’.

In 1945 a law was passed that put an end to most grocers opening on Saturdays. Dairies, however, were allowed to be open outside of normal trading hours (on Saturdays and in the evenings). They also expanded their range of goods – although there was a list of goods they were legally allowed to sell outside normal trading hours.
For more information on the Corner Dairy