Pāhonoa te oro

It is early evening in March. The drizzle has been coming and going since mid-afternoon. Not heavy enough to send anyone indoors, just enough to make the pavements shine and the air smell of wet stone and exhaust and something underneath those things — something older, harder to name. You are standing in Victoria Square. The Council House is in front of you. It is enormous. You knew it would be large, but standing here, it fills your vision in a way that photographs don't quite prepare you fo