In 1985, the movie Back to the Future imagined the date October 21, 2015, as a glorious time of flying cars, hoverboards and robots that walk dogs.
That was the day to which Dr Emmett ''Doc'' Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travelled in their flying DeLorean time machine in the second instalment of the trilogy.
It is also today, and fans of the comedy-science fiction franchise are celebrating the space-time continuum having caught up.
Back to the Future Day is a worldwide phenomenon saturating the media with comparisons between the technology of movie-makers' imagination and that of the 2015 reality.
But what comparison can we make with the reality of life in Dunedin on this auspicious day?
Flying cars
Flying cars were a feature of October 21, 2015, as imagined in the 1980s.
Their benefits include speedy and more direct travel to your destination, without the annoying restriction of roads.
We don't have flying cars in Dunedin.
But we do have cycleways.
Cycleways are seen by many as a very good way to get about.
Yes, one is subject to cold, wind and rain; cannot impress a prospective partner with a ride in a cool flying car; may take up to 50 times as long to get to a destination; has a seat 100 times less comfortable; risks an unpleasant meeting between knees, elbows and tarseal, and runs the risk of being seen wearing bicycle clips - but look at the health benefits.
Hoverboards
Hoverboards are a form of levitating board used for personal transportation in Back to the Future, very much like a skateboard without wheels.
Hoverboards would offer the opportunity to fly untrammelled through the streets of our future city, swoop gracefully round corners and reach incredible speeds in an instant.
We don't have hoverboards in Dunedin.
But we do have the next-best thing - a well-thought-out set of bylaws for skateboarders.
These include rules against skating anywhere but the road itself in most of the central city or at St Clair Beach.
Certainly, sticking to these bylaws is less exciting than riding hoverboards.
But the self-discipline of respecting bylaws agreed to by elected officials put in power in democratic elections is surely a lofty aspiration for the young, and will provide life lessons to help them as they mature to become useful citizens in a civic society.
That's just got to be better than riding a hoverboard.
Robot dog-walkers
In Back to the Future, robot dog-walkers take dogs for walks without any input from humans.
They are clearly just one of a raft of labour-saving devices in this imaginary future, allowing humans more time for rest or recreation.
Vacuuming, tidying and mowing are probably all tasks fully taken in hand by robots in the 1980s version of 2015.
We don't have robot dog-walkers in Dunedin.
We do have small-dog parks.
Small-dog parks allow a safer option within dog parks for those nervous their chihuahuas and miniature poodles might be attacked by larger, less delicate breeds.
The fenced-off areas allow these tiny animals to skip and play with a quiet security.
For the Dunedin teenager whose job it is to give the dog regular walks, the small-dog park does not ease that responsibility.
It does, however, show that teenager how civic action at a community level can find solutions to the problems that owners of smaller breeds face.
And once they get older and settle down themselves, those teenagers will certainly reflect small-dog parks were a better way to go than robot dog walkers.
Especially in Dunedin.
