http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/funonwheels/10/06/future_of_mini/index.html
This is a few weeks old, but I haven’t had time to mention it before – a story in CNN that I thought was just a little amusing – the announcement of a “new” Mini station wagon –
Somehow this seemed to ring a few bells with me. Here a young engineer models a 1966 version of the Mini station wagon, actually known then as the Morris Mini Van. 
This photo was taken somewhere on the Kapiti Coast, north of Wellington, NZ in 1984. Incidentally, if I’ve ever mentioned to you the story of how world famous guitarist Sharon Isbin was chaufeurred to her 1985 recital in Palmerston North, this is the vehicle that was used!
…all of which makes me feel a little nostalgic, so although this is a big tangent, since I’m talking about Ms Isbin, here are a couple of shots of her (then about 26 I believe, but already world-renowned) from the 1985 Classical Guitar Summer School held at Massey University, which was what had actually brought her to Palmerston North.
The folks in the shot above were participants in the summer school from around NZ. If you look hard you’ll see me standing behind the girl with the dark hair. The bearded guy on the far left was Wayne Cantwell (my great-aunt Meg claimed there was some family connection between the Cantwells and the Thomsons), the girl sitting on the step wearing a hat was Angela Hartsthorne and the guy in the green t-shirt was a crazy but lovable Italian restauranteur by the name of Mario – all were members of the Palmerston North Classical Guitar Society who I hung out with a lot. Apart from weekly lessons and ensemble groups, we also met monthly in a Society of Friends (Quaker) Hall. Here’s a shot of us hard at guitar practice…
