As readers of this blog will perhaps have noticed from a few subtle hints, I’m a bit of a Tolkien fan.
Wellington has been in The Hobbit buzz for a while. It’s been dubbed the ‘middle of Middle Earth’. Visitors arriving at the airport walk underneath Gollum diving for fish; and the baggage conveyor door looks like Bag End. There’s a Nazgul rampant on horse in a bookshop down Lambton Quay. And a lot of other stuff.
Yesterday I hastened with She Who Must Be Obeyed to check out the Hobbit Artisan Market in downtown Wellington.
I had to go prone to take this picture. ‘Get up,’ She Who Must Be Obeyed insisted. ‘People will think you’re dead.’
Yes, like a geeky Tolkien fan I had to pose in the entrance, such as it was – you could circle it, just like the door Aslan made to get rid of the Telmarines in .Prince Caspian’.
We were looking forward to this market. Well, She Who Must Be Obeyed was, I’m not entirely into ‘crafts’, evidenced by my idea of looking for an Elven cloak that could render the wearer invisible against green grass, green sky, green rocks, green water and green desert, etc. But there was promise of other stuff and I’m a bit of a sucker for Tolkien’s world. Not that I might have revealed this before.
We found the market in the shadow of one of Wellington’s best streamline moderne buildings – the 1940 Post Office headquarters, now converted to apartments.
The giant ring marking the entrance to the market was on its lonesome in the corner of the park, attracting people wanting to be photographed. Ahem…including me…cough cough, I am not a fan geek, cough…
Possibly Smaug. Possibly not.
Apropos the foreshadowed glories within? Not so much. Even as a craft market, the place lacked wow factor for us. There were stalls selling food, with long queues. There were tents with people selling jewellery, figurines, wool and nicknacks.
There was a Weta Cave tent, selling Hobbit-themed 3D glasses, Dr Grordbort’s books, and a few odds and sods.
There was entertainment-for-kids with remote speakers blasting inane commentary across the park. A big screen was displaying The Hobbit trailers which we’ve had around on YouTube for the last millennium. And – uh – that was about it.
This was the best aisle of craft stalls. That’s also because it was the only aisle…
These people are all talented artists, no question – but something had come adrift in the way it was set up. We left after about half an hour and went to see the latest exhibition in Tracy Island Te Papa, the national museum.
Roll on the movie.
Copyright © Matthew Wright 2012
My regular ‘Inspirations’ series returns next Sunday.
“The giant ring marking the entrance to the market was on its lonesome in the corner of the park, attracting people wanting to be photographed. Ahem…including me…cough cough, I am not a fan geek, cough…”
I would have had my picture taken by the Ring too. You are not alone in your neediness..
Best,
S. Thomas Summers
Pushcart Nominated Author of Private Hercules McGraw: Poems of the American Civil War
It was a pretty cool feature. The issue was the promise of the artisan market didn’t quite live up to the hype, but oh well. Premier’s next week. Last time they had 120,000 people jammed into central Wellington, I expect the same this time – public transport’s already being reorganised to cope.
I’m glad you risked underwelmedness–and gave in to your Hobbit geekiness–to bring a little Middle Earth magic to those of too far away to experience it first-hand. Counting the days to the movie…
Thanks. Yes, four days to go now. There’s a count-down board on the cinema. Last time (‘Return of the King’) the parade started in Parliament grounds at the other end of town, and I expect this will do the same – for us it’s tied in not only with general Tolkien enthusiasms (of which there is a LOT here) but also the fact that it’s being done right here, with Kiwi know-how and ingenuity.
I had to laugh at the caption, “Possibly Smaug. Possibly not.”
Hopefully the movie won’t be underwhelming at all!