Year of the very loud rat

It seems today is the day assigned for the main celebrations of Chinese new year in Wellington, complete with parade and all that. In the spirit of that, a group of us did yum char. For the new year, there was a dragon dance performed in the restaurant. Loud drums were used to scare away the demons for the upcoming year - fireworks being a no-no these days. It took a few minutes only.

There won't be any demons near the corner of Manners and Cuba streets either. As I approached in on my post-meal way to Arty Bees, I could hear the wail of bagpipes. You could see the streams of people diverting to keep away from the noise. Arty Bees were keeping their doors closed but it didn't help - the noise permeated everywhere. Before running away, I asked Imogen about it. She has 8 pages of reference numbers for all the noise complaints lodged against the piper. All the other businesses around this busy corner have lodged similar numbers of complaints. And yet there the piper remains every weekend. No wonder British regiments included pipers and many still do. What an effective and resilient terror weapon of war.