HOLIDAY MORNINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19916, 9 April 1928, Page 11

HOLIDAY MORNINGS.

QUEEN STREET CROWD. lURE OF THE OPEN AIR. GREAT EXODUS FROM CITY. « SCENES OF ANIMATION. •

Holiday mornings in Queen Street have an atmosphere entirely their own. Sun-

'day mornings must now, of course, be included with them, for Sunday is the - regular outing day of many people, and a substantial portion of the population no longer accepts the Sabbath restraints of former days. If the Englishman takes his pleasures sadly the Aucklander takes his out of doors, and on these bright mornings the crowd is not the crowd of any other time. Queen Street crowds present remarkable contrasts. The Friday night crowd, the Saturday morning crowd, the Sunday night crowd and the crowds of holidays ail have a distinctive character. The crowd of holiday mornings is the eno that is out for an outing. To it the shops, so absorbing as a rule, have no existence. They are merely walls. The tasks of the morrow do not find any place in its mind. One is tempted to say that it has not a care, but such amiable fictions are no longer convincing. Many a grin camouflages a gloomy outlook on life or disguises a strong inclination to wonder if outings that involve early rising are worth while. One would not be surprised to learn that there was a good deal of forced gaiety in the air and a bit of boredom over this expenditure of energy to avoid the same unpleasant complaint.

The Main Cross-roads. However, why reflect upon these things. Let us take ths crowd at its face value and assume that tho "glorious morning face" of the dainty little witch iu green is typical of the heart of the mass. The part of Queen Street with which we are concerned is the great cross-roads of tho citv, the general point of assembly and departure known as the post, office area. As soon as the trams begin to arrive so does the crowd. It. comes with bags and baskets, blazers and jumpers, flannels and abbreviated skirts that display impudent knees and occasionally garters of many colours. It is always in a tremendous hurrv, never being quite sure of Us timepieces or of the eccentricities of boat and bus people. Of course there is a good deal of waiting for the others to turn up. Among the waiters can be discerned patience, pain and panic, according to tho clock and the plans ahead. Here is a group of three, two bright youths and one girl, who is becoming a little pensive. The oiher girl has not yet appeared and the time of the departing boat or bus is drawing near. As a matter of fact each one of the three is becoming anxious because no girl wants to go away with two men, and certainly no two men want to go awav with one girl. It does not matter whether the urge is love or friendship. Neither youth would bo happy unless he were the only pebble on the beach for one girl. Otherwise the two voulhs would succumb to the inevitable effort to contest the field of the one lady's fd-our. A Couple of Pairs. Thev fidget, and gaze at every tram and trv to' hid* their anxiety from each other. Smiles. Great sense of relief. There she is. Sin has cut it a trifle fine, but, as she explains, the tram stopped everywhere and took longer than usual. There is no doubt which of the lads is to be her knight tbie> day. Of course she makes a great display cf being chummy with the o'her girl, but she. succeeds in flashing a very meaning look to the tall boy with the" famous 'blazer, and oft' go the four very prettily. And how these two young damsels can walk! But w-hy not? Ihey have every incentive to free movement. There is a lilt in their walk which, if partly duo to happiness, is also partly due to the absence of high heels and oilier restrictive influences. Here is a man who might be someone's Uncle Joe nearly pawing the pavement in an excess of impatience, but he is a practical sort of person, and asks the bus driver to give him two minutes. Within that two minutes a man and woman and three children arrive, and away they go, Uncle Joe puffing a pipe and " evidently refraining from referring to the time. How easy it is for these wellfed bachelors to go through life philosophically ! Scouting .About. There is always the bfither about when the bus really leaves and where it leaves from. Some folk are scouting from the Ferry Building to Fort Street and back again. Stout men with weird-looking satchels develop a hopeless aspect and now and again are angry. The question is, Has the regular bus gone? The hatchet-faced driver of the bus to an entirely different place says he does not know. ISobody seems to know anything. A nice beginning for the day. But what's this? An all-day sight-seeing bus. Well, thank goodness, even if the fare is more. Another problem solved, another crisis over.

Away they go up the concrete incline and through the region of boarding houses and flats. The boarders, having had breakfast, are sunning themselves on the verandahs, the sexes strictly grouped. The elderly male boarder, with his usual sense of well-being, is walking the verandah as if it were a quarterdeck, but the girls are not admiring him. They know him of old—the sort of male who is a hermit at, heart and has a. nasty, fcrieering look for giggling girls. Much more interesting is the girl in the hammock on the balcony and ithe family man who is endeavouring to read the story of the "Easter," while a couple of children climb over him. The Improvised Bus.

Anxious folk are grouped along the bus route, hoping that plans have not gone wrong. The elderly lady with the old-fashioned umbrella seems to be signalling each bus with it, on the chance that it might be the right one. Here aud there private buses are collecting their loads. Often they have been motortrucks during the week anji have been fitted np with a couple of seats for the day. Sometimes they arc ice-cream vans or the like. But they belong to the broad highway and their passengers are just as likely to have as happy a day as those who roll by in luxurious cars. The. fields of the outer suburbs begin to fly by. There is a fine sight—a. group of a score of draught horses having a jolly good holiday. They do not sigh for the highway. For one day in the week they feel turf beneath their feet and have somo green grass to cat. and with that they are content. Perhaps they mildly wonder why the motors go bumming by with their loads when a quiet is possible. Baldy is move than half asleep, while his two team-mates nibble at each other's necks with great amiability. It is a great exodus from the thraldom of the pavements to the liberty of the countryside, and (here is much rejoicing.