Wally's tales

The Traffic Authorities are busy crowing this Christmas that the recently released figures for road Deaths and Accidents which are the lowest for several years. This pleasing fact they say, is because of their increased policing activity, Speed traps, and of course the intensive campaign against ‘Driving while under the influence’ and not forgetting for a minute the recently introduced penalties for using mobile phones while driving. My own opinion regarding drunks, which has been formed after living close to several of these, with of course close observation of their behaviour over many years. I couldn’t help but notice their regular pattern of returning home after a night out, often so drunk that on arrival home, they just fell out of their vehicle. There they lay on the ground, until one of their family took pity on them, assisted them inside or just covered them where they lay. This wasn’t just a ‘One off’ observation in Queenstown. There, three of our immediate neighbours were all hard drinkers and chronic alcoholics. On a regular basis they drove home drunk, always arriving home without incident. The only difference that when drunk, they drove very slowly, and very carefully. We only employed a couple of police in our town back in those days. Their policy then was, they only seemed to react to any situation was when complaints were actually laid.

However we had another immature group of young folk who were also paid up members of the boozing fraternity. These were mainly the young and stupid, and recent recipients of driving licences. They unfortunately hadn’t matured enough to exercise any judgment or restraint on their behaviour. As well, they thought that they were bullet proof. Unfortunately they were a danger to themselves, and all other road users. I remember John Guthrie another Queenstown resident once telling me, that he was brought up in the Balclutha. This was an area at the time that was enjoying the fruits of very high wool prices. All sheep farmers in the area were ‘Loaded’ with large sums of discretionary spending money. They tended to indulge their children and family with expensive gifts, namely high performance Motor Vehicles. He said he was shocked when he looked at his high School Class photo, half of his fellow students had been killed or injured in motor accidents.

In my opinion the main reason of today’s lower Road Deaths is that cars of today are now better engineered, all fitted with Air Bags. The Road’s Board too is slowly but surely improving our highways, as well making more passing lanes which makes it safer for those who just have to be in the front, and will pass any and every vehicle on the road. I also feel that the authorities could reduce the death by motor car accidents by a factor of 5o% if they paid more attention to the wearing of seat belts. Hardly a day goes past when you read of young folk being killed on the road by he not donning their seat belts. I can only assume this, as the ones being killed are always the ones who have been tossed out of their car.

A factor that reinforced this theory was when Marilyn Maxwell recently drove into the path of the Excursion Rail Train at Hyde which completely chewed up her vehicle, to surprised observers she was able to step out of the wreckage unharmed. The she said was due to a safely engineered vehicle and air bags.

Give the local bodies a pot of paint and you never know just where they will stop. I drive down Papanui Road every day, it has now been reduced to a narrow lane each way. A lane on each side a metre of so wide has been painted red, this is very seldom used and set aside for cyclists. Then another green lane on each side of the road painted green has been set aside as a dedicated Bus Lane. This now only leaves a narrow strip for the motorist who is paying for the road in the first place. As well they have placed additional hazards of islands all guarded with metal hoops at regular intervals along the route. They are hard to see in times of poor visibility and many motorists are finding this so as many mornings I note that they have been struck by motorists overnight and broken off. Their existence must delight panel beaters.

We have been lucky for most of our married life in that we have been able to access cheap meat. For much of our early life we lived in towns where an exporting Freezing Works was located. Then, we were able to buy meat directly from the Company, however sometimes you were required to be a Supplier of lambs to obtain this privilege, but that directive was easily overcome. Many times, carcasses were being rejected as ‘unsuitable for export’ material. This criteria could be because they were too fat, or because the carcass had a bruise somewhere, probably caused while being rounded up and transported. At two dollars for a whole side of lamb it was excellent buying. As well, when we lived in Milton, a side of ‘Mutton’ was only One Dollar Fifty. The down side of this was, you had to do the butchering yourself. These dollar fifty sides of mutton were what was known as ‘culls’ from the local farms, and only one step above ‘Dog Tucker’. So long as you knew how to cook these ‘Mutton’s’, (Long and Slow), they were also cheap eating. I soon kitted myself with all the necessary tools for butchering, such as a Butcher’s saw, cleaver and boning knives. With these I could cope with large sides of meat with ease, all cut up on the kitchen table. I could handle a side of pork or mutton, but had to admit defeat when it came to a Cattle Beast. A local Farmer and I used to slaughter a large Cattle Beast every Winter. We managed this task with the aid of a front end loader, plus our two families pitching in with the cutting up, bagging, and labelling for the Deep Freeze. Not a good idea, for this task you really required the skills of a butcher which we didn’t have as you tended to lose many of our the prime cuts. We also found without skills you tended to end up with too much mince and stewing steak. We quickly realised our limitations and called in the services of a butcher who only charged a few cents a pound.

As a very young man eight or nine years of age, I had been used to hunting, and the taking of wild game. Very soon I was able to dress game out for the table, rabbits, ducks and any other water fowl or game that fell to my gun. All this was a very welcome addition to the family’s larder. Deer and goats came later, you needed a vehicle to get to where they were. So what I was doing in later life with domestic animals, was only an extension of what I had been doing since I was old enough to carry a rifle. I was lucky with my Aunts and Uncles who depended on me and they passed on their skills of how to catch fish, and harvest the sea to provide for the family as a hunter gatherer. One thing I wonder about now, is why we ignored seaweed. This, we only dragged back home for the garden. Our forbearers back in Scotland were possibly crofters, they as well as their animals exploited various kinds of seaweed as they lived close to the sea. As well there doesn’t seem to be any variety that’s toxic and needed to be avoided. Then again when it came to mushrooms that was a different story, you always had to be on your guard. We actually passed over some varieties as we didn’t then have sufficient knowledge.

As a family we quickly learned too that in the country that there is a lot of food that had been forgotten or overlooked. In Queenstown there were many huge walnut trees actually located in the town itself. These we never bothered with, until we had a storm, then the nuts would be shaken from the trees. That was the time to move in. We gathered Asparagus growing wild, and quickly found that it only seemed to grow near water such as a creek. Jim O’kane taught me how to find it by looking up gullies for last years dried fronds. ‘Horse Radish’, not a native, and probably planted by settlers long ago also grew near water, so that’s where I went to look for it. More so, I propagated it as well where there were no animals to eat it. You soon got to know other gourmets as we all knew our favourites spots and often met while out garnering. In Central Otago especially in the ‘back blocks’ there were many abandoned orchards or even individual trees of stone or pip fruit. Small ‘wild’ stands of Raspberries, Black Berries were everywhere. and their existence was noted when out and about for when harvest time rolled around. Unattended, the fruit was not of export quality. but Hey! it’s free.

I never bothered with clams or Cockles in the Otago Harbour. Hundreds of tons were there for the taking. Being filter feeders, and during my youth I knew all the City’s Sewerage was piped untreated, straight into the Harbour, Even then I knew enough not to risk eating them. Strangely, they are only now being exploited, as I see them for sale in the local stores.

Some parts of Central Otago have proved to be perfect growing conditions for some food sources. Rose hips the bane of Run Holders, have taken off and spread since the rabbit and goat population came under control. The popular herb Thyme also likes Central, hundreds of acres of the ‘Central’ Hills are covered by it, many today would drive past not knowing what it was.

I have always been close to and enjoyed the Movie World. We were lucky as a family as our parents owned and operated a Cinema dating right back to the days of silent movies. My father actually closed his first theatre which he ‘Moth Balled’ so he could volunteer for Military Service in World War One. After he returned from the War, he resumed his business and then he constructed a purpose built theatre. The movie business over the years changed greatly with innovations, yet many of its standards have remained constant to what had been set initially. These were still in use until recently. The frame speed of 24 frames per second, are still the same today. Also the Film stock that is still being used, is 35 Millimetres, although some electronic mediums are creeping in. Just take for instant what has happening to the families cameras, starting from the Box Brownie. The photographic technical leap forward into electronics is mind boggling.

In many theatres the light source was created by carbon arcs. This was always a worry as the early film stock was Nitrate film, this was also the reason for many of the regulations as this type of material was very dangerous, even more so when used close to the intense heat of the Arcs. Most of the early projectors were German precision machines, actually dating back to the ‘Silent Days’, but they were easily converted to ‘Sound’ when it arrived. In the ‘Silent days a film performance was enhanced by a pianist whose playing followed the action on the screen. My mother was one of these pianists. She was a very accomplished musician and had a large repertoire of ‘mood’ music. This ability carried over to later in her life, and we enjoyed listening to her at home before wireless sets arrived and everyone became fascinated with the new household toy.

The initial ‘Talkie’ set up was very similar to a gramophone except the disk employed was much larger. This was difficult to keep in synchronisation because there was nothing to tie the two mediums together, but it didn’t really matter as it was soon superseded by an optical strip down the side of the film.

Firemen were always in attendance for every performance and manned the doors. In our town, similar to many others we had a Volunteer Fire Service, although they didn’t get paid, we did give their brigade a donation and they saw all the movies for free. They were worth their weight in gold, and easily controlled any unruly element. Some patrons were regular attendees and in spite of some 600 seats being on offer, if they didn’t get their Special Seat they preferred to go home, or wait until we shifted out the claim jumper. For these people, and there were more than you would suspect, we kept permanent ‘reserved’ labels on their seats.

On Sundays we screened Chinese films which were supplied by the local Chinese community in Dunedin. These could be films sourced from China, Japan, India, in fact anywhere in Asia but to make it ‘watchable’ some enterprising chaps had dubbed Cantonese dialect onto them. Patrons too travelled long distances for the screenings. Some as far South as Gore, and Oamaru in the North. One very amusing episode happened once when I was screening a film for the Chinese Community. An Uncle and the Chinese official were talking in the Projection Box about the current film I was showing. I overheard the Chinese mention to my Uncle that this film was an old ‘Chinese classic’, many hundred years or so old. However after some time, I recognised that this was no Chinese Classic, but an adaptation of the English Classic ‘Little Women’ by Louisa May Alcott. It as too good a chance to give a leg pull to my guests in the projection box. Immediately proceeded to pre-empt everything that was being disclosed on the screen much to the astonishment of my captive audience. My Uncle went home and told everyone in the family what a wonderful grasp of the Chinese language I had obtained just by screening their films. It was good to put one over my uncle as he himself was an inveterate practical joker. He never stopped playing tricks on all his nieces and nephews during our growing years, but we all adored him. I have no idea what the Chinese fellow made of my ability to preview his Chinese Classic accurately as I never disclosed my secret.

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I opened a letter this week from the Canterbury Rugby Union. Straight to the point it said, ‘We haven’t forgotten you’. We have missed you, and we would like to welcome you back to future games. Further more, our Stadium rebuilding programs have now been completed and we would be delighted to see you back in our Stand again. To explain, we have been absent for some two years for a multitude of reasons. However there’s a fat chance getting us to change our minds and return. They treated us so badly over the last year or so when seats in the Stand were at an premium, that we now prefer to stay at home, further I have let our three seats lapse. In the future we will now watch any future matches in the comfort of our lounge on the wide screen TV.

At one time we had it so good, this also included our allotted parking right at the ground,. This facility meant a lot to us, as we were finding it difficult to trek for the mile or so to get to the game from the nearest available street parking. Large crowds were at this time were in attendance. Sure some patrons consumed large amounts of liquor which was being sold freely by the ‘Union’ from their ‘Official Vendors’. Dispensing beer freely from their large pack packs right at your seat. Some patrons were heavy drinkers and if you wished you could easily measure their consumption by counting the number of empties rolling around their feet. In spite of this heavy consumption they were still a good natured mob, Most of their displeasure was being directed in a very vocal fashion towards the referee. This of course is what is referred to as ‘Atmosphere’.

About this time when the Union commenced work on the wing of the old remaining stand, at same time they instituted the controversial policy of ‘Bring a Child’ to Rugby. I can’t think of any place worse to bring a child except perhaps on a Aircraft where they proceed to kick the back of your seat for whole of the journey. They ran wild in the stadium, waved promotional swords in your face, hooted plastic trumpets. They had no interest in the game except for constant trips out for more chips and soft drinks. Further, when the Rugby Union actually commenced their building programme, they took away our allotted parking. We were then told we wouldn’t be getting it back either as it had now been transferred over to the patrons occupying the ‘Corporate Boxes’, which were to be included in the new stand. Another gripe was when the Test came around, our three permanent seats were taken from us to be sold to the ‘English visitors’. To keep us happy we were then given three of the worst seats in the house all located in the top corner of the base line. Later, when they found they couldn’t sell our seats I received a telephone call to say with the greeting. Hello. ‘We have ‘Good news for you’, we can now have our seats back for the small sum of $600. I replied, ‘I have bad news for you’. I have spent the money on a couple of top line ‘Cortex Jackets’ for Laura and myself, further, we would now be watching this particular match in the comfort of our home.

As well as our family, many more must have also voted with their feet as the latest news letter said the new price was only $3-65 a seat per week, which is dramatically cheaper than it has ever been. Maybe the new large flat screen TV’s are playing their part

On the credit side they have been wonderfully helpful to wheel chair patrons. They have ripped out rows of seats to make room for these people. I was fascinated by watching one fellow who controlled his chair and its movements by only blowing into a pipe in his mouth. He was dropped off at the gate by the handicapped taxi, and he did the rest without assistance. Some people don’t regard a wheelchair as a handicap.

The union does have a current problem with attendances to its events. Patrons could be upset by all of what I have mentioned in the about list of personal gripes. Or perhaps it’s their policy of grabbing all the ‘Star’ players for he ‘All Blacks’. Taking our good players is one thing, but parking them on extended rests is another while they decide whether to give them an outing or not. We loyally trek along week after week to watch other teams play our depleted team, then take home all the Silver. We may be one eyed, but every one likes to be a winner.

Dame Margaret Bazley really put the cat among the canaries when she tabled her report concerning the rorting of some of the Northern lawyers from our ‘Legal Aid system’. ( If you don’t know what this system is, it’s a large pot of money provided by our Government to finance the defence and appeals by our criminals. As well it also supports a large group of legal people who would have difficulty in getting by without its financial support). Even if only some of the bad behaviour reported by these lawyers is true, one has to wonder how is it that they have gotten away with so much bad behaviour for so long. Some of these legal people it would seem, don’t even have an office or an address, but are working out of their car boots with only their cell phones. The time has now arrived to put aside all the pussy footing around this problem, as well ignore all their bleating and cries of unfair, discriminatory, from some who are only trying to deflect attention. As well the other ploys they will immediately bring into effect. This is something they are past masters at being lawyers. Just because they are members of the Bar, they are not above the Law and shouldn’t be afforded any protection from prosecution. No other section of the community expects it. Even when they were students this group have been handed out lenient treatment, because a prosecution would effect their future.

The whole judicial system over time has descended and evolved into a bad joke. Many of the trials today are no longer about justice, but a spectacle in which many involved in would do well on the stage with some the performances they put on in the court. It takes now three to four months to hear some Murder trials. No wonder some of our juries doze off. This prolonged procedure is after many preliminary events. Surely if a little common sense was applied, some of these time wasting procedures could be reduced. Some trials of today are a joke, and a expensive ones at that. Recently in one particular trial the defendant never even bothered to take the stand. He sat in court day after day impassively in the dock through the many weeks of arguments, taking no part in the matter on hand. At no time was he called on even to say a word, except for his preliminary ‘Not Guilty’. He may as well never even bothered to attend the daily event, which was all about him. In this particular trial which I followed closely there was another annoying fact, it was that some very pertinent evidence was also denied from the Jury hearing as it was considered in someone’s opinion, ‘That it wasn’t in the interests of a fair trial’. If I had been on the Jury I would have been very annoyed about this, and I wonder how can you possibly come to any fair verdict when large lumps of evidence is being filtered out.

The judiciary today seem to think they only the ones capable of making decisions, especially when it comes to deciding right from wrong. Yet in these same proceedings hearsay evidence was allowed. To my mind nothing seemed to be fair or make sense. The whole system today has evolved into the state where the common man is being deliberately locked out when it comes to administering Justice. Over the years we seem to have been forgotten and trampled on by the, ‘We know best’, people .

You would think that should the defendant be found guilty, given a sentence of say ten years, that would be the end of the matter. Not so, there just happens to be another layer of Justice that comes into play. They can shave off a large slice of the term given without consulting anyone. Makes you wonder why we went through the charade of the trial in the first place, when someone can come in without any of, by your leave, and slice off a large portion of the sentence.

Another annoying practice and that is the suppression of names. This is granted in many cases depending who the accused is. Their position in the community. Need to advise relatives. Some of the family must live on another planet as today it doesn’t take weeks to contact anyone. More to the point the Family in question, probably already know that their family member who is in trouble has been a pain in the butt for years, been on the wrong side of the law many times before. I say this because of a recent trial of an offender who had in the past been convicted some sixteen time for the same offence, ‘Drunk in Charge of a vehicle’ He must have been a slow learner or the previous penalties too light. However I’m a believer in the Scandinavian of mandatory weekend Jail system. It works two ways it keeps them off the streets when they would usually active boozing and really this penalty really hurts as well as being effective.

Then we come to ‘Rights’. Every feral member of our society when arrested for some bad behaviour suddenly has at his disposal a bucket full of these. Should the police get any one of these wrong the whole case is tossed out of court on a technicality. Today with our education every one knows their, ‘rights’. A hard look at these and in the main tossed out so that charges being brought will stick

Today everyone it seems is obsessed with the need to be given an apology no matter what or when the hurt or slight took place. It doesn’t even matter how long ago the perceived offence took place, or whether it can be proved that anything in fact actually happened creating a need for an apology. Or if it’s even required after so many years have past. In some cases would you believe the offence took place greater that 150 years ago. Perhaps it’s only a desire to rub the noses of today’s people in the dirt.

The Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd has been very involved with the many Australian apologies. If anything, his activity has devalued the act of apology it’s self. Past behaviour of the many claimants if they all can be believed, they are many times worse than our list. Prime Minister Rudd has been a very busy budgie indeed, handing out apologies to all and sundry. To the Aborigines for the stolen generation. For their land grievances, their stolen Children. Perhaps with hindsight the children should have been left with their abusive, drunken, parents, I’m sure the authorities didn’t take this serious action just to be mean and vindictive.

Then we have apologies to the hundreds of Children shipped out from England during the War. And again children’s treatment by Religious Homes and Foster Parents to those in their care. It’s taken a long time to get around to some of these apologies. Never fear, we too have our own active apology industry over here in New Zealand, it’s being exploited to it’s full as well. Firstly we have the Maoris. They have a list as long as your arm of grievances, of all these perceived bad treatments that were perpetrated by the new settlers. However all this seems to be one way. The Maoris certainly are not paragons of virtue if their behaviour today is anything to go on. Our prisons today are full of scallywags and 80% of them are Maori. I have yet to hear even one single mumble of thanks for the largess we have heaped onto them in retribution. Also, it couldn’t have been all that bad, as so many have intermarried into the white Pakeha Race, so much so now it’s getting difficult now to find a ‘full blooded’ Maori. The lot of the Maori in the early days when we first found them their life certainly wasn’t idyllic. Life expectancy was under thirty five years. Nor were they all leaders, Chiefs, or warriors. As well nor were all their women folk, Princesses. Many unfortunately were just an under class of slaves, and their life was even more miserable. Ordinary folk also carried on life under constant threat of raids from their neighbouring tribes, some of these were very aggressive. Should any given situation degenerate into conflict, no quarter was expected or given. It was a case of winner take all. This was the treatment dished out to the Moriori Race on the Chatham’s, they were a peaceful tribe, for them and saddled with their idealistic principals it ended up as Genocide! It would seem that after the English settlers arrived the Maoris have thrived. I once heard a talk given by Rex Austin a Maori Politician. He said in the South Island back in 1840 there only 1500 Maoris total in the South. Today Ngai Tahu covering the same area have 59,000 registered members. For their grievances and recompense, this group have done very well indeed in the compensation stakes. Some six hundred million dollars in fishing assets. I saw in Queenstown alone where they never lived, they were given from the Land Bank, the Post Office, police Station and Fire Station and as well as prime waterfront. In Christchurch a prime site that was formally the Railway Workshops. Wonderful gifts totalling many millions. Politicians wanting to look good have no trouble doling out huge sums of money, it’s not theirs.

Medicine and Hospitals haven’t escaped the apology saga either, people are now demanding huge sums for bad treatment received over the years, which at the time was the accepted as the norm. Of course a monetary gift is tacked on to the demanded apology.

We have too Apologies being demanded from Church orphanages as well as financial compensation. In spite of their ill treatment as a group they seem to have thrived too. However all our recent generation are a miserable lot. They are so busy looking after themselves they have no time for anyone else. I may have mentioned this before but at one time I used to audit the books of the local Red Cross. One fact that stood out and had nothing to do with their accounts, and that was that every member was over seventy years of age. These were the people who were carrying out all the duties they were usually involved in such as Meals on Wheels, Fund Collections. I thought, these were the people who should have been the recipients of these services. I inquired, ‘Where were all the young folk’? ‘Too busy’, was the answer. I have news for them, and it’s all bad. We all get old and require help sooner or later. Sorry our lot won’t be around to hear their call for help.

Some young folk recently inquired from me, just how did we entertain ourselves prior to the arrival of Electronic entertainments such as Radio, Cell Phones, Cinema, and television? Were we ever bored? The short answer is no, not even a little bit. Then, we were very adept at entertaining ourselves. For a start, we got out and about more, enjoyed outdoor picnics, visiting within short walking distances, say 5 kilometres. As well, there was an excellent Railway service. Later when older, Fishing and Hunting were alway possible. There was alway something to do. Some games at school came and went, such as knuckle bones, hop scotch, marbles, spinning tops. Then as now we enjoyed excellent Libraries, I must confess then I always had my nose in a book. As a result of this I scored very high in an University Intelligent Examination. I don’t think I was brighter than the other average students; just better read. As well in towns, even small villages there were many Clubs catering for every conceivable need, be it Sport or Entertainment. I remember back to when we arrived on transfer to Milton, there were some 200 clubs that you could join catering for every pleasure or interest. One difference with today that I have noted, when we wanted something to happen, we didn’t sit around waiting for someone to do it for us, we did it ourselves. Say, we decided that we would like to have a local dance. With another cousin Charlie Smith, we organised it ourselves. All we required was ten shillings for hall rental, and another ten shillings for a pianist. A quick run around town to nail posters to Lamp Posts, and we were in business. We weren’t interested in making a profit, as that wasn’t the object of the exercise, all we wanted to do was to break even.

Mainly in the winter the Returned Soldiers or similar Clubs, ran card evenings where they played ‘Euchre’, or ‘Five Hundred’, these were very popular. However of all the card games we played back then, only Bridge and Poker seem to have retained their popularity in the face of competition from Television. However ‘Solitaire’ card game has enjoyed a revival because of the fact it is one of the games provided by ‘Windows’ on their computer operation system. There were also Places in New Zealand where regional Card Games were played, especially on the West Coast. There the miners played a game called ‘Forty Five’, I came across the same game in New Caledonia, still being played in small settlements. Another card game that was very popular was Cribbage. Every home would have a cribbage counting board, or one made from a large bar of soap. Every home too of course had their large selection of board games. Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, Drafts, Chess, and Monopoly were the most popular. One thing I learnt from playing these games that the true ‘makeup’ of anyone quickly came to the surface. Bad losers quickly signalled that they would be difficult people to live with, you didn’t need to be a phycologist to work that out.

As young children we all played out on the road, should a motor car happen to come past, we would move onto the side until it passed and waited until the dust cleared, then carried on. My father about this time purchased a car, a new Model T Ford. The fact he couldn’t drive didn’t bother him, or the fact that he didn’t have a licence to drive it. He had owned a motor bike sometime in the past so had a good understanding of the principals of being in charge of a motor vehicle. After all, they did supply with the car, an instruction manual. This was frequently referred to on our initial outing, with the whole family on board we took off to Murdering beach. The car ran out of puff on ‘King’s Hill’ the steepest part of the trip. Out came the manual to read up on the instructions. I can remember another strange character-istic of this model. It went up very steep hills better in reverse. It seems that the car had a lower gear ratio backwards. Alas, it’s not the same today, there just isn’t the excitement and romance we had then on any journey.

Another form of entertainment that has passed us by, and that was a ‘Community Sing’. These were normally held in Movie theatres and the song sheet was projected onto the screen. They bored me to tears, but they were every popular with the public. On occasions as well, some of the ‘Shorts’ at the cinema during a film screening were also ‘sing along’ short films with a bouncing ball marking the place on the screen. I didn’t like these either.

Yes I know that I have strange eating habits, well some people consider the food that I eat is strange. I’m really fond of all offal which some years ago would have been considered normal. If you don’t know what it is, it’s the odd bits of animals, that most other people won’t or don’t eat. I really like Tripe, Sweetbreads, Ox Tails, Liver, Kidneys. Goodness, we even had Tripe Clubs in several of the Towns where we lived. Not only that, they were very popular with a large following. So it’s not just me that has a taste for offal. Offal properly prepared, is one of the gastronomic treats for the table. But today sadly in this country, it’s getting really difficult to even source offal, particularly Tripe. For most Supermarkets it’s just a No, No. As an aside, I have no idea what’s happened to another delicious item, Lamb Tongues. They have just completely disappeared from the food scene. They were mostly supplied processed in cans with a jelly meat. Simply delicious when served up with a salad. Slowly over time they changed in their presentation. Once they were skinned, then they came with the skin on, then in a very small can at an exorbitant price. Then no more, gone, maybe they were just too expensive to process? A marvellous tasty food that is no more. Something we have enjoyed for over 150 years.

Once the Bourgeoisie, and the Lord of the manner, ate the meat roasts and steaks, in fact all the prime cuts. The serfs, and other disadvantaged, had to make out with what was left. People then were so hungry, they didn’t look too hard at what was being dolled out. Thank goodness for Alison Holst, her cook books are full of old traditional recipes for such dishes as Brawn, Liver and Bacon, and various Pates. With her help I know that I’m not barmy after all. Today if you purchased a few attractive slices of Brawn for a salad from the local Delicatessen, and were unaware where it comes from, you would never guess it was made entirely from a pig’s head. If many knew this today they would refuse even to taste it, let alone eat it.

Many people I know don’t like certain offal. These folk know this instinctively, never having tasted any of these foods. I have arrived at the ‘check out’ when shopping and I have been lucky enough to find some offal such as tripe from the meat section of a Supermarket. I have without fail heard the operator say, ‘What’s that’? And on being told, ‘Oh Yuck’! I ask, ‘Have you ever tried it’? No. Many today know instinctively they are not going to like something without even trying it. Yes I also know with tripe while cooking it smells a little, but three or four changes of water soon fixes that. I observed while staying at a farm in my youth another young guest from the City wouldn’t eat the farm butter. However he was quite happy with when it was served up to him wrapped in a commercial label. A neighbour too, wouldn’t eat ‘store bought’ Fruit Cake. He demanded his wife bake cakes especially for him. His wife dutifully went through the charade of taking it out of the oven under his nose making him very happy. (once of course that she had removed the commercial baker’s wrapping). So a lot of perceptions and taste are all in the mind.

My son has a small farm and on occasions uses the ‘Farm Kill System’, this is where a Mobile Butcher calls and quickly turns a cattle beast into meat packets ready for the freezer. I’m alway on hand to gather up Ox Tails, Tongues, Kidneys, livers. The butcher said, only one in twenty of his clients bother at all with the offal. These valuable bits are always thrown out, or given to the dogs.

I have had a lot to do with the French, Japanese, and Chinese communities over my lifetime. I find with food I’m completely in step with all of them. They are all very down to earth when it comes to harvesting meat from any animal. But these cultures continually surprise me. They also throw very little away when it comes to food. Sometimes if you didn’t ask, you would never guess exactly what you are eating. However things can change. Surprisingly now. it’s not unusual to see items such as chickens feet being packed for sale in the Supermarket. Maybe we have turned the corner with this acceptance. I have eaten this food in a restaurant, but I’m convinced that it’s more their batter that’s the tasty part, not the feet.

Some today are vegetarians, they are lucky with many foods being sourced from all parts of the world so it’s easy now to get many of the protein your body requires. But I’m puzzled when I see today’s ‘Models’ strutting down the ‘Cat Walk’. How skinny they are. Is this a result of being starved of protein? Or is it how we want our girls of today to look?

We human beings are a strange lot. We consider that we are intelligent, clever, more than able to figure out all manner of things for ourselves, even the simple things, even knowing right from wrong. Full of compassion; yes that too, However with all these things in our make up, we always seem to be overlooking something. In fact there must be an alarming discrepancy in a large part of our brain, it could be that somewhere there is a empty blank screen, waiting to be filled with some nonsense or other. Possibly a reason for this is that we have descended from pack animals and retain some of their characteristics with a built in need to be led around. I have observed that we are prepared to elect and follow leaders mainly by their physical appearance. If they are big in statue, look strong, attractive, and look what we consider a leader should look like, then we assume, that they must have the brains to go along with their physical appearance. Are in fact leaders? In many cases they are not. Some I have found when tested by events, in fact have the mental age of children. And you don’t have to look hard to find this condition, you’ll find it in all walks of life, whether it’s the Military Services, large organisations, or Politics. Far too many have this built in fault. We have over the years had some very narrow squeaks in believing and accepting this factor, especially with the military sector. God knows what mistakes this hidden ineptitude can be sheeted home to our political leaders. Over time we have been blessed with Military leaders who are actually dressed up dummies. In peace time, slowly but surely they have ingratiated themselves into positions of power. None it seem have ever been tested in combat. It doesn’t seem to matter, they strut around giving to all and sundry the feeling of security. But when actually called on to act, seeing that the moment of truth had arrived, they were found to be wanting, but sometimes fully conversant of the tactics of how to fight an earlier war. When we needed to call on them, thinking that all would be well, to our horror of we found these Guys unfortunately were only equipped for pomp and ceremony. They didn’t have a clue of how to fight a war. They loved to line up the military equipment in rows, which as it turned out, made to make it easy for the enemy to take it all out in a pre-emptive strike. They had been so busy over time painting stones around military buildings and other spit and polish exercises, and they seemed to have forgotten or didn’t understand the real purpose of what their job entailed.

America too had their share of these Sunday soldiers who did all of the above and worse. They scorned the use of technology that they had available. Once you start to read History you see just how stupid some of these folk have been. In world war I we had Generals still believed in and well versed in Calvary Tactics. That there was still a place for the horse. They persisted in this outmoded form of warfare; ignoring the fact what machine guns were doing to their troops. Killing hundred and thousands of troops under their command, refusing to accept what was happening in front of their eyes. Again with World War II, these folk were around again in many theatres. One that engagement that stood out, was that of the defence of Singapore. What a disaster that was in every respect. Our main heavy guns pointing out to sea, only problem with that was the enemy came in through the back door. Heavy reliance on Battleships with no air cover, no one seems to have told he Military that things had moved on, and what Aircraft could, and did do. Battleships at Pearl Harbour had had their day. The Japanese pointed out this mistake. The ‘experts’ wouldn’t have listened to any advice then, even if had they had been told. The Americans were lucky that they were able to rid themselves of these spit and polish warriors early in the War, replacing them with real leaders.

This eagerness to fill this blank section of our brain manifests it’s self in other areas. It’s apparent with our willingness to join and follow Cults, and other equally strange religions. Once accepted and imprinted, the doctrine or belief no matter how strange soon after people have been recruited, it would seem there is no escape, it’s also very difficult to reverse damage the brain washing has done. Some are even prepared to even prefer death rather than change their beliefs.

In my youth, Railways and Trains were King. Yes, there were bus services, but they were not popular unless you happened to live along their route. At that time all our roads were sub standard, just plainly bad. They wound around every obstacle in their path, which didn’t make for an enjoyable ride, even for a short journey. We at this time were very familiar with and the accepting of rail Transport. It was fast, and shifted a large number of people with ease. Also, we were introduced to it at an early age. Because once we arrived at secondary school age, it was now necessary to travel to complete our education. We then all travelled into the City in ‘Special’ School Trains to attend the various Secondary Schools. At this early age all carried in our heads the rail timetables. We also knew just how long it took to walk from any part of the City to catch our conveyance. Even if you attended an evening movie, you knew exactly what time to leave the theatre to catch the ‘last train’. As a ‘school boy’ the travelling time was sufficient, if you were smart to complete any home work.

Locomotives at this time were fuelled by coal, which was plentiful and cheap. This fact alone gave the service an edge. The Railways were also a wonderful asset for Governments, in that it gave them a perfect tool and buffer to keep the country in full employment. There was always room for a few more bodies in the repair workshops, or maintaining track. The city too was well serviced by electric trams which were also cheap and efficient, so getting around was possible and not a problem

The engineering to build or maintain rolling stock was relatively simple, well within our engineering ability at that time. The Locomotives at this time were kept meticulously clean, their paint work and brass and copper fittings bright and polished. No easy task considering their constant proximity to smoke and grime. An engine ‘steamed up’ smelt of hot oil and paint, it also gave the impression of immense latent power. No wonder the American Indians called locomotives on their arrival an ‘Iron Horse’, steamed up, they gave the impression of being alive and a never ending source of wonderment for boys of all ages.

Our School trains were made by adding four or five carriages to the 8-15am morning train, same again for the return journey after school. The carriages supplied were usually very ‘Old’ possibly vintage, even nearing the end of their service life, quaint too, with copper spittoons fitted into the floor along the length of the car. Gas lights with mantles were fitted, but they were devoid of any form of any heating. Sometimes, these carriages were pressed into service when the local Church or School arranged a ‘Special Picnic Tour’ by train to take the locals to say Middlemarch, or Wingatui or perhaps Warrington beach. Hundreds would take advantage of these outings. All armed with rugs, hampers of food, and the other requisites of comfort that could be easily carried by hand. A this time only a few were fortunate enough to own a motor vehicle. A chance to enjoy a special outing by train, was something we all eagerly looked forward to. One disadvantage was that a train couldn’t drive up close to the beach, or a riverside picnic spot selected for the day’s outing as we do today in a car. So some walking was always called for. But given a fine day we would still have a wonderful day away.

Seeing the railways played such an important part in our lives, it was only natural that the Railway Stations also had their place in the smooth running of the system. They controlled the departure and arrival of trains with a ceremony that involved ringing the station bell blast of the guards whistle and a wave of a green flag signalled all was OK. Then a blast from the engines whistle. The stations were also depots that received freight, and sold passenger tickets. This operation was under the care of a Station Master, and officers right down to the lowly porters. They as well, all seemed to contain a ‘Waiting Room’ it was always full of black over stuffed uncomfortable chairs, a dreary place, and most noticeable by the fact that they were never used. As well, in a Station you could dispatch or pick up a parcel. This was in direct competition with the Post Office, but it was an exercise in frustration. We often used the system as they were cheaper, but didn’t deliver. They also employed a most archaic dispatch system, surrounded in ‘red tape’. To send a parcel no matter how small, it was necessary to fill in a dispatch form, (in quadruplicate) which was full of large words, such as Consignor, Consignee. To be fair, they had no way to differentiate the difference between a small package or 10 tons of coal, the procedure was always the same.

Steam Locomotives had drawbacks, one failing was they didn’t condense their exhaust steam as a marine steam engines did, so they had to make frequent stops to replenish their water supply. This water was mostly carried behind in an tender with their coal. Some engines had huge saddle tanks strapped onto each side of their boilers. In country areas each station had a massive circular wooden water towers. All of these were of the same design and carried more than enough capacity for any locomotive to quickly replenish its water. Some are still standing today.

Sadly the era of steam train has passed, but not the concept of rail travel itself. High speed magnetic levitation trains for medium and short hauls will shortly be a threat to air travel itself. Aerodromes are being pushed to the outskirts of towns and cities, where trains are able to start and finish their journeys from the City Centres and can travel smoothly at high speed.