Did anyone else see this impressive sight about 4pm on Saturday? Being a weather geek I had to get some photographs.
Those icy plane trails are not that unusual, but this one seemed out of place, both in an otherwise mostly cloud-free winter sky and also in the direction it was travelling.
New Zealand skies are relatively contrail free. But anyone who has been to Europe or North America will remember the white streaks that seem to take over the sky as the day progresses.
Whenever I see a trail like Saturday's, it takes me back to being ``home'', in the vicinity of London's Heathrow Airport.
The airspace there is extremely crowded, something you notice particularly when your aircraft is circling, waiting to land. There are planes above and below, crossing this way and that, and way, way up are the trails of dozens of other aircraft.
There can be so many contrails that, even if it is a cloudless day, by mid-afternoon, given the right conditions, the sky is almost obscured.
Did anyone else take any photos?
Memories of Kirk
I was pretty sure we'd reached the end of the ``where were you when Norman Kirk died?'' discussion - until I received an email late last Friday from Auckland journalist Gavin Ellis, former editor-in-chief of the New Zealand Herald.
It also dovetails nicely with my flippant suggestion we move on and talk about the late Sir Robert Muldoon next.
Gavin writes: ``I've been reading the recollections of Norman Kirk with great interest and thought you might like a recollection from the other end of the country.
``I was a reporter on the long-defunct Sunday Herald - the New Zealand Herald's original attempt at a Sunday paper in the 1970s - and on a memorable Saturday night shift the phone rang and I answered it.
``Muldoon here. Have you heard about the prime minister?''
``Norman Kirk was in hospital and I asked Mr Muldoon (we were more polite in those days) whether the PM's condition had deteriorated.
``I have to tell you that the prime minister is dead.''
``There was genuine emotion in his voice. He was deeply upset and it was obvious that, whatever the cut-and-thrust of politics, he had considerable respect for Norman Kirk.
``He then went on to give me a respectful statement about the man he had sat opposite in the House.
Thanks Gavin.
Cable cars
Don Mackenzie recalls the Mary Hill line.
``The Mornington scout hall was at the bottom of Argyle St. The Mary Hill cable car passed beside it.
``Us young kids - after going to cubs in the winter when it was dark - would run up behind it and drop the pram racks and get a free ride to the top, unbeknown to the grip man.
``That is until we finally got caught, when the grip man stopped the cable car and took off after us. It was fun while it lasted!
``Similar mischief happened coming home on the Mornington run, where the poor conductor had to swing round everyone hanging on by the straps and collect fares or punch tickets.
``When he came to us kids, we would tell him `Mum is in the front and she is paying for us'. By the time he got to the front and realised he had been conned, it was too much of an effort to go back to the trailer where we were.''
Sunshine resident and former ODT chief of staff Clarke Isaacs remembers the cable-car accident on November 5, 1952.
``As a reporter on the Evening Star, I was there soon after the mishap. So too was Star reporter Kevin Molloy (still alive and kicking) and my uncle and ODT reporter, the late Bill Morrison.
``Back at the Star office, editor Bill Noble consulted us and contemplated running an extra late paper, but decided not to do so.''
And Nola Harris of Abbotsford also recalled the lower High St accident, and said seeing photos again of the cable cars ``I gave a small shudder''.
``Having been brought up in Wakari, I rode the cable car to Nairn St often with my mother, but was never allowed to sit on the outside seats, something I always wanted to do so that, like many others, I could jump off before it actually stopped.
``The cable car on that line was stopped before I got to the age to be brave enough to defy her, which I intended to do, but at the time of the accident I remember being quite glad.
``Just to clarify things a little - on regular trips, the cable cars weren't overloaded as in the photos, but those sitting on the sides were still vulnerable.
``Also, there were fewer motor cars, and they had less power and consequently fewer major accidents, so we weren't exposed to cases of carnage such as are a regular occurrence today.''