Inflation 15

When he opened his eyes Doris was on the porch picking up broken glass. She looked annoyed. I left my keys on the kitchen table. I need to open a window.

Thomas Ord-Lees and Sergeant Newall about to parachute from an observation balloon, 1 July 1929
Reference Number: 1/2-020064-F

Inflation 14

Something fell from the branch above him. A small blue egg broke on the path. Reaching for it, Digby toppled into the hydrangeas.

Flares being fired in celebration in the New Zealand Division area near Trieste
Reference Number: DA-03307-F

Inflation 13

Hey, heard of Madame Blanchard? Digby shouted to her. Hey, how about setting off fireworks from a hydrogen balloon! Hubris! Doris shook her head and walked on.

Gondola-type ride at Christchurch International Exhibition, 1906-1907
Reference Number: 1/2-049706-G

Inflation 11

At least she had her Moment d’Hilarité Universelle, he nodded, stroking the cat backwards. Good on her. Euphoria. Spiro jumped down and stalked away, stiff-tailed.

Piece of K.M.'s yellow silk dress
Reference Number: D-014-030

Inflation 10

The overgrown lawn glowed bright green. Spiro jumped up on his knee. Beyond the line of poplars to his right was the old water tower. See that? he asked Spiro. Just above that height Minnie Viola hit the cold air, poor girl, knocked the heat out of her.

South of France, 1947-48
Reference Number: C-127-001

Inflation 9

Pearled with dew, he thought, drawing on the cold glass with a fingertip.

Interior of an NZR railway carriage, c1920s
Reference Number: APG-2093-1/2-G

Inflation 8

He opened the fridge, shaking his head. Poor old Fossett. Bones, shoes, driving licence all over the Sierra Nevada.

Upper Clutha Plains, ca 1860
Reference Number: E-208-q-008-1

Inflation 7

Hot Air Egg. Blow the egg. Plug the hole at the little end with a dot of wax, enlarge the big end hole to admit a flame and voilà, up she rises, bobs against the ceiling.

Activities at Massey College, December 1951
Reference Number: 114/408/16-F

Inflation 6

The early Montgolfière was made of silk and paper, Digby pleasantly recalled, and held together by one thousand eight hundred buttons.

Sewing kit for every WWII soldier enlisting from Wadestown, 27 April, 1940
Reference Number: PAColl-8557-71

Inflation 5

Seized by the thrill of serendipity he ties the bloomers tightly at the knees and holds them upside-down above the heat. His thighs begin to scorch. As the bloomers fill with hot air he appears to be grasping by the waist a stout woman falling head-first down the chimney.

Stereoscopic photograph of a hot air balloon over the Domain, Auckland
Reference Number: 1/2-077688-G

Inflation 4

Leaning forward, suddenly alert, to scrutinise a fine thread rising from the hand-made lace on Madame Montgolfier’s lingerie.

Chair and divan, exhibited at the Great International Exhibition of 1851
Reference Number: PUBL-0164-05/06

Inflation 3

Wavering upright in the draught a white thread loose from a buttonhole caused Digby to imagine Jacques Montgolfier musing by the fireside at Annonay, smoking his pipe, tendrils of smoke drawn up the chimney.

Chateau Tongariro, and Mount Ruapehu erupting behind, 1945
Reference Number: 35mm-00702-a-F