Fri, 12 December

RECIPE FOR A WALKING MEETING Ingredients: 3 hours, unbroken 1 coastal suburb, preferably salt-scoured 1 city centre, still remembering its earthquakes 2–4 minds, lightly caffeinated A sign, freshly hung (cadmium yellow preferred) Traffic cones to taste Phone twine, for the boundaries you won't keep 1 pub at the far end (amber, glowing) Method: Combine the suburb and the city by foot. Do not drive. Do not shortcut. The yeast is time. Begin with pleasantries. Let them curdle into honesty somewhere around the halfway mark, where the footpath narrows and one of you has to walk slightly ahead, speaking over a shoulder. This is where the real ingredients enter. Fold in the weight of leaving. Do not over-mix. Some lumps are structural. At the three-quarter mark, allow silence. Let the urban noise do the talking— a truck reversing, a blackbird's turf war, the particular Christchurch wind that knows the gaps between buildings better than anyone. Serve at Pomeroys. Pair with whatever's on tap and the 8% chance of rain that never came. Serves: the future, roughly.