It must be the year for vintage buses and birthdays. Outstanding in Madison Park on the weekend was a double decker bus posing for photographs and once again welcoming people to have a seat, if not a ride, after 60 years of retirement. The advertisements adorning the interior were as much a sign of the past as were the size of the seats and the staircase – digital age bottoms are clearly not a good fit for the past. But there were plenty of people to celebrate the 200 years of Madison Park in this now, again, very trendy part of NYC. Just over the road from the Flatiron Building, across from Eataly & Marimekko on Fifth, around the corner from Maison Kayser on Broadway, and home to the perpetually queued Shake Shack, the Park was full of people playing croquet, wearing period costume and learning how to skip rope.

Antique bottoms and buses have been on my mind. In October my primary school in Ungarra, South Australia, will celebrate 100 years. Looking at the picture of our old school bus, and we children in front, makes me feel about that vintage. Although it was only yesterday. I don’t know that the Yaranyakka bus will be restored for the October long weekend deadline, or that there will be skipping ropes included with the activities, but I do know there will be no need for instructions. We can thank R G Martin and a rich rural education for that…