Boy racer red...

There's a bit of an accidental theme on the blog in the last few weeks or so...  I'm not obsessed with red but obviously I do rather like it. It's a great improvement on the before which might look rather shabby and chic to some of you but actually just looked rather 'kicked around' shabby. Isn't shabby a rather silly word when you look at it too long?

I decided not to distress it. Putting it in the bedroom of a five year old boy is quite distressing enough...

R is for Rrrred....

Couldn't you just eat this? Obviously not... but I do LOVE red and nothing is better than fire engine red. These engines are on display at Auckland's best destination for boys young and old - MOTAT - the Museum of Transport and Technology. We went a few months ago. 

This engine was built in 1937 and raced the streets of Waverley in the Taranaki region. 

 The one below was built in 1907, it's a Merryweather and is believed to be the second oldest surviving fire engine in the world - there's one in London that's three years older. This one was put to work in Sydney and eventually brought to NZ by a collector.

This next carriage was the earliest fire engine used in New Zealand, pulled by a horse with three firefighters balanced on top it needed another eleven men on each side to operate the water pump.  Hard to imagine but the Wellsford Fire Brigade was still using this in 1955.

I really would have liked to take one home and put it in my son's room. Obviously not the most practical idea so instead I found my fire engine in a can and yesterday started painting.

Resene Red Berry. A dollop of this in my boy's room should go rather well with this. Despite the best efforts of my two year old 'helper' I'm nearly done so I'll show you more in a couple of days.