Wally's tales

The Green party are undergoing a change of leadership brought about by Janette Fitzsimons stepping down from the Co. Leader’s position. I wonder who will fill her shoes? She has been a very moderating influence on the direction that the party has taken. This Party is not all what it seems, whether you are aware of it or not, it’s political attitude is more to the extreme left side of the political spectrum. Over the years it has earned the name of the closest thing to a water melon, you will ever meet. That’s Green on the outside and Red on the inside. Someone once said, that it’s better to regard them as traffic lights red one minute, and green the next, except when Sue Kedgley eats a food additive, then its a funny orange.

They could if they wanted, become the most powerful force to be reckoned within our political scene. Everyone has some green leanings whatever their party affiliations and would vote green, but many are unaware and unsure exactly what is the make up of this party. But for the left affiliation they would give them a party vote, as it’s a popular thing, as I said to think Green. There is another thing that stops an automatic donation of a vote and that’s the fact that several of the politicians in the Party, have, or have had in the past, very Marxist views. That fact alone, has cost them dearly at the poles, ever since they evolved from the old Values Party.

Recently it has been discovered that at least one of their  politicians has been under surveillance by the SIS. He is very upset about this but must have done something to warrant such close attention. Apart from their leader, none represent an electorate

There was talk during the election run up that perhaps that could join up with the National Party. People who said that hadn’t looked too hard at their members, or what they stood for, I can say without any worry about contra diction, they would never affiliate with any National Party in a month of Sundays.

As King Makers with the Labour Party they have forced through several stupid laws. These were the price the Labour Party has had to pay for their support. Not surprising this played a large part in the Labour Party losing the Last election.

When we were kids, and the Winter and Summer school holidays came around. Remember that this was during the depression, so holiday trips were out of the question. We were lucky enough to be farmed out with all our cousins, en mass, to our Grandparents who were living in a small batch out at Murdering Beach. Very comfortable living it was to, but very basic. How they put up with such an ill disciplined bunch of brats numbering some ten or so, I will never know, but they did, and they did it well. It was a lonely spot and the reason for this was it was necessary to walk the final three kilometres from where the road ended. Of course it was necessary as well, to carry all our food clothes and stores in as well. Perishables, such as Butter, Milk, and Eggs, all came from a farm, also sitting in the middle of nowhere. To get there, another long walk across paddocks, stiles, creeks, but we treated it as another outing. We regarded these farmers who would today be called subsistence farmers as our friends, and we used to assist them at harvest time as there was little, or no mechanical help available and it was a case of all hands to the pump.

There were other ways to get to the Beach, but they all meant a long walk. We sometimes Caught the train at the Port Chalmers Upper station, got off at he first stop, Mihiwaka. Then walked to Long Beach, carried on to the end of the beach. Up the Maori Track, around the cliffs, to drop down into Murdering Beach. A feature of the Maori Track was it was formed a huge slip eons ago, it was so steep it was only negotiated on hands and knees. All this helped to guarantee solitude. Or, you could do as the Lewis and Hills families did, that was to walk over the hill from Deborah Bay. On arrival they camped in some old derelict. buildings A taxi ride to the top of the Hill cost one pound, at a time when the weekly wage was five pounds, this wasn’t really an option to taken very often

The crib was well stocked but basic, but they had enough of everything to go around, until once a year they used to get the local farmer to sled in bulk supplies of kerosene and other heavy gear. Sleeping arrangements were tight as you would expect with so many kids. Bunks were top and Tailed. Couches and settees were also pressed into service. There was no electricity, a wood range was the only form of heating and cooking. To drive this, Wood was collected from the surrounding hills as there were many logs from the forests that had been burnt when the country was clear felled to open up the country to provide grazing. Yes, the large logs and wood were there for the taking and once a week excursions were made with a cross cut saw and axes and wedges. This wood came in all grades and varieties. Rimu, Black and White Pine, Totara, Broad Leaf, with many other logs with our limited knowledge we couldn’t identify. Another source of fuel was coal, this arrived to the rocky points after being dredged from around the wharfs in Port Chalmers where it had be dropped while bunkering ships a hundred and fifty or more years ago. After being dredged up with other spoil, it was taken out by the dredge to Blue Skin Bay and dumped. After another fifty years or so, it found it’s way to the point close to where our Batch was situated. It was a very hot coal and tended to burn the bum out of the grate, as did drift wood we collected on the beach, mainly too because of it’s high salt content. We relied on candles and kerosene lamps for lighting.

We supplemented our rations by fishing, rabbiting, and the collection of shell fish which was abundant on the rocks and on the beach at low tide. Anther perk was to rise very early on winter mornings and walk the beach looking for Frost Fish which had cast them selves ashore or were in the process of, especially on full moon frosty nights. I have recently seen them again in the local fish shops where they are sold cheaply as a ‘by catch’ from trawlers. They were a strange fish with a big head and very large eyes and no scales

Our aunts who were still living at home and used to take us out on foraging expeditions to the surrounding bush or over to Kaikai an adjoining beach. Nobody lived there but there were traces of earlier Maori habitation long ago. They had left huge middens and green stone chips which meant they must have worked greenstone there. We gathered potatoes growing wild and looked out for gooseberries. The bush was full of self sown gooseberries being spread by birds. For some reason they seemed to have an affinity to grow the biggest and the best, alongside stinging nettle. So in season we made jam, and had many gooseberry tarts and pies. When our meat supplies ran low there was always the rabbit. It was served up braised, stewed, curried, roasted, and for those hard to please, it was renamed chicken or underground mutton. We didn’t know then about seaweed and that there many varieties that were good to eat.

The family were very resourceful and I can remember them making soap on an outside open fire where some of the cooking was carried out. The soap was made from the fat collected from roasts. The toilet however was a disappointment it was the classic long drop at the bottom of the garden, and there was noway that the girls were going to make a visit to this in the dark alone. They demanded and got someone to stand on the track with a storm lantern

I’m sure all the kids who took part in this holiday experience will still have very fond memories.

Where do we all come from? It’s a very basic question that’s getting plenty of attention these days. People have been asking or wondering about this question since time began. Anyway, all today’s papers journals and news sources are full of this topic, all because Charles Darwin was born Two Hundred years ago. If you don’t know, he was the gentleman who gave us a partial set of facts and answers about our origins. Of course at that time his observations and findings was in direct conflict with the accepted Bible Story of Genesis. He was worried, and rightly so, just how his discoveries would be accepted by the Christian World. In times past it didn’t do you much good to get out of line with the established thinking. Religious Fundamentalists back then were not the kind of people to be trifled with, for that matter even today. More people have lost their lives and ended up on a stake by proposing something different other than the accepted ‘Truth’ as laid down by the various Church Doctrines than any other method. ‘We know the truth, they cry there is only one truth, recant your beliefs, or accept the consequences’.

And what do I believe? Well for a start I don’t believe in the story that the Earth was made over a week as described in Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament. Nor do I believe ‘fully’ in Natural Selection, as proposed by Darwin. For me, to believe that, some of the more sophisticated forms of life such as Brains, Sight, that popped up in the course of Natural Selection as prosed by Darwin’s Natural Selection theory. In my mind it’s too great a leap of faith to have arrived just by chance. One has to wonder, perhaps Natural Selection as proposed by Darwin maybe in my opinion may have got a nudge forward from God, or a like Deity. As by whom, well may you ask as there are plenty to pick from. Man for as long as he could reason, has worshiped who or what they considered responsible for our arrival on earth. Even today there are some 4,300 Faith Groups, all claiming they have the answers, so there is plenty to pick from. Should you want to go back into the past we have Greek and Roman gods which fell by the wayside. As well Egyptian and Aztec Sun Gods. Budderisium, so all men since the dawn of time have spent their lives looking for their creator to worship and pay homage to.

Through our last trip through India and Asia we saw simply dozens of temples, each with a fresh set of values and beliefs. Such as Jainism which boasts of many well educated Indian adherents, all of whom believe that plants and vegetables have souls, because of that, they eat nothing that grows under the soil.

Further to my beliefs, I was brought up a Christian, and I accept their laws on behaviour. I try to carry these out to the best of my ability. I don’t attend Church, as today’s services are composed of in the main the singing of Hymns. I can’t sing more than two notes in tune, so when I do attend a service I just mime the words. I get no pleasure from that exercise. I also resent being harangued for 30 minutes in the sermon, as get the feeling that the minister is talking at me. I accept that two thousand years ago a man called Jesus walked this earth, and met an untimely end. But there are many stories in the New Testament in my opinion that are more or less parables. The fact that there was such a long delay, one to two hundred years, getting the Testament transcribed will have allowed errors to creep in, and the scribes at the time perhaps fudged the facts.

Since his election win, John Key has been quietly beavering away, ridding us of many of the irksome laws that Labour had earlier passed. Many of these were a pain in the butt, and the Green Party had many more in the wings should they retain their position of support. These were part of the price and trade off that Labour had to pay for retaining power. These laws and legislation were all related to deals cut with the Minor Parties, as payback for their support. These quirky and mainly unpopular laws, were what had enabled Labour to form a Government, conversely, these were in main the same laws that got up the noses of the public, and what really what defeated them in the end. Power at any price didn’t go down well with the Public.

School Tuck Shop edicts to what they must sell, was an ‘over control’ as well, and it was proving to be difficult to administer. This also resulted actually in the actual closure of many facilities, as the operators or franchisees faced such loss of income, reached the point where trading was no longer an option, all the while watching their former customers march on by to the nearest Dairy.

The latest law to come under the spot light and revision is the Resources Management Act. If there has ever been an Act that has been misused from what it was designed for, this is it. While it’s principals are exemplary, some of it’s provisions and loopholes were eagerly used and exploited to frustrate many enterprises and delay projects for years, or even hold up something to the point where the proposer, just gave up and abandoned his proposal, rather than struggle their way through expensive appeal, after appeal.

In some cases it was used as a blatant restraint of trade by a competitor, stopping any idea or ambition of commencing a similar business on main street, which clearly is not what the law was designed for. Property Council Chief Executive Connal Townsend said, ‘For nearly 20 years, projects and developments that could have provided thousands of jobs and added to our Nation’s wealth had been chocked to death by never ending objections, and counter objections’. Appeals, and consultations. Thank goodness for Prime Minister Key bringing a little common sense to this expensive red tape operation. I hope at the same time those who bring these many these mischievous and vexatious appeals, are prepared to pay a little more too. It has been proposed that filing fees be increased to $500. It will interesting to see the detail of the Bill, if John Key can get it passed through Parliament. I don’t how he is doing it, but the usual hostile press, TV reporters, are giving him a free run. Maybe he is moving too fast and of course, the commentators must think we are all on holiday, as they have been for the past month or so.

There are subtle signs that things are changing in New Zealand, I have noticed the odd placard sign on the street advertising a Carpenter available for work. Able to commence work immediately. Normally you couldn’t find a carpenter here for love or money. Another strange thing that’s noticeable is that there is a spate of new fences being professionally built and other small domestic work being carried out on homes here. I pass on my way cross town at least eight new fences being constructed, that are clearly the work of tradesmen.

I think too that shortly we can expect the migration flow to Australian to stop, and reverse, as jobs over there dry up. It will effect many of those employed by the mining sector enterprises, who are already struggling with cancelled orders. What effect this will have on our housing and job markets here we will just have to wait and see.

I had a cardiac specialist’s appointment today, the various tests I had to undergo were prolonged and concluded about 4:30pm. Unfortunately this time puts me right into the middle of Christchurch peak traffic period. I didn’t think the medical procedures would take so long, and keeping me so late. I wasn’t even feeling ill to have these exams, it was just a routine check up. Anyway, I would have preferred not to be travelling down Papanui Road and into Central City at this hour of the day. At this time it means you meet up with School retrieval runs, plus early commuters, all hell bent in returning home. Adding to the congestion there are many schools in this area. All travelling on road at this time seem to be grumpy, and a very short tempered lot.

My tests must have been important to take so long, anyway when I left I was some $850 lighter. What exactly are these tests? I hear you say why are they so expensive. I don’t know but they didn’t seem all that different to the tests the medical centre in Queenstown used to carry out. I can’t really complain, these are the people who are extending my life.

Well the details of the test are,

A follow up Consultation 19^th Dec $150

Then an Echocardiogram $340

Bruce Protocol $210

Second Follow up 4^th Feb $150

As I exited St George’s Hospital, I discovered that I had escaped yet another charge, that was for parking on their site. They have now introduced toll gates in and out, you are issued with a time ticket on entering the Area. but the official ‘Take’ commences next week. Also, I would have still been standing in a queue outside St Georges Hospital had not some kind person let me join the traffic flow by making room for me. I was grateful for this gesture. I will never meet them to offer thanks, but it’s something I practice too whenever I can, after experiencing this curtesy in Australia.

Having lived in small towns most of my life, never having to bother with such things as traffic lights and all the other controls that abound in Cities. It’s been quite a shock to get used to peak traffic and ‘grid locks’. Not that locals take much notice of the many rules anyway. Compulsory Stops, for example, without exception they just cruise through those. Round Abouts, there is a protocol, but not many know what it is. No one bothers to signal. Show any hesitation and you will be ‘Cut Off’ in a flash. And how is I’m such an authority? Well I had to learn the road code again at 80 years of age, when I resat my drivers licence, and again at 82. I nearly failed my first test, I stopped at a compulsory stop a metre past the yellow line. ‘I will have to fail you’. Cried the examiner, ‘Why did you do that’? I replied, ‘Because there was a tree blocking my view and I stopped where I could actually see any on coming traffic’. ‘You should have still stopped on the yellow line then moved forward’. You have to admire the way these examiners cling to the official line, no matter how stupid it is. I passed, but more than a little annoyed with official attitude. I returned home and immediately wrote a testy letter to Ruth Dyson, Minister of Transport, inquiring why were we, the ‘Oldies’ being picked on. Statics relating to accidents show we are no different than any other age group. Why do we have to be retested every two years? It’s not because of the number of accidents we are involved in? Figures do not support this. Actually as a group, the Police have more accidents. Shouldn’t they be retested also? Anyway, she replied with a polite note saying she was pleased to say the requirement of retesting would shortly be looked at, and it’s since has. She wrote again when the requirement for retesting was actually repealed. I was pleased about that. But I must have got under her skin for that to happen.

The one group here that really do annoy me and they are the cyclists. About 20% of these have a death wish as they weave in and out of the lines of cars. Especially at the crossroads controlled by lights. Then they weave up to the front of the queue while the traffic is stopped, then when on the ‘Green’, everyone moves off at their speed. We spend millions in making roads which could be a ‘double’ carriage way. Then they mark off a metre or so on each side for the ‘occasional’ cyclist to use. Overseas they have cycle lanes but they are not carved off the existing highway. Another annoying habit it that a cyclist can turn into a pedestrian in a flash. They leap off their bikes when they come to a crossing, then commence walking claiming the ‘Right of way’. Also with the cycle lanes, people can and do park on them, a cyclist is then forced to go around the vehicles. This means at times they are obscured from view, if you are not careful you can have a cyclist on your lap when you open your door. Several have been killed by this action, being thrown into the path of another passing vehicle.

All my life I have been savings oriented, fat lot of good it has done me. I started off by buying a very large Life policy which at the time I could ill afford. This was to take care of me in my old age and dotage. Fat chance, I hadn’t taken into account meddling politicians. These folk by their muddling generated sufficient inflation to take care of my policy and rendered it’s value, as far as I was concerned, next to useless. The generous sum I had arranged to be delivered to me at sixty years of age, had now been reduced to a pittance. This didn’t stop the ‘suits’ to stand up and tell the Nation. ‘What we need to correct the current financial situation is for all to get more involved with saving’. I agree as a Ethnic Group we have a dismal savings record. Really why should you even bother to save? Just carry on Boozing, Gambling, perhaps Wild Women, and generally spending up large. When you require it the State will rush in and save you, even give you a Card that ensures you don’t pay for anything in the Health Area. Including a place in a retirement home, as well many hospital benefits. Save an ‘Nest Egg’, you Silly Billy, the State will soon rip this from you until you too reach the destitute status. Anyway after the Insurance debacle I took a deep breath, and started out again, determined not to make the same mistake again. I’m now convinced no matter what direction you take, every route is full of traps and hazards. Those who chased higher interest returns with Financial Companies, ended up with little or nothing as the Institutions they trusted their money with, one by one fell over and all their money just disappeared. Meanwhile the principals sailed off in their high priced yachts. Or pointed at their wife and million dollar mansion, stating, ‘Sorry I have no money. Unfortunately for you, it’s all in my wife’s name, or a family trust that can’t be broken’.

This brings me around again to the people in charge of our Money and Country. What qualifications do you really require to be a politician? None really, normally you are required only to look the part, as well our system is flawed by ‘List System’ which has allowed some unlikely candidates who would never have the slightest possibility of ever obtaining a seat in Parliament if they had to arrive under the system of having people actually voting for them. They with the list system they have bypassed this obstacle, and just slid into a position of power. In the past when you looked over the calibre of what arrived via this path to govern us, were breathtaking inadequate. Truly, this adopted election system is absolutely outrageous.

I have some money invested in ‘Bank Fixed Deposits,’ up until recently the interest stream was sufficient for us to live on and it was safe. With the Reserve Bank coming in with their low rates to protect the Business World and Trading Banks to save them from their stupidity, while this is fine and generous for them, but what about the folk in retirement who are relying on this interest and a reasonable income stream. We didn’t stuff up the current situation with stupid behaviour and suspect loans. Anyway are the banks passing on this largess to Card holders? So far they have shown no inclination to drop their rates from 21% pa. which is close to usury. I have also regarded the people who rack up huge debts with their cards, and pay this expensive interest as the idiot fringe, and they are completely irresponsible in most things. I don’t know what action should or can be taken, to protect these folk from their weakness and stupidity.

One sector of our troubled public have received an unexpected bonus. Any that went in over their heads, borrowing to the hilt to finance additional homes, have had a lifeline tossed at them in the form of these reduced interest rates. Seeing we haven’t seen the worst of this yet, and the result will be that many are going to lose their employment. When this happens, some of these folk can still fail as you also need a money stream to service any loan. I can see these things without the aid of any crystal ball.

Do you think that the cell phone companies have given up erecting new towers? Just because there is no longer any clamour against building them. Think again, their coverage as time goes on, just gets better, and better, so they must carrying on with their programme of erecting towers to get this coverage. Well what have they done? For a start, they have become a little more subtle and devious. In the City daily, I see signs of them being hidden away even in street light poles. And anything that is sticking into the air and has a suspicious bulge in it, ten to one it will mask a cell phone tower. Overseas, they are being disguised as palms and trees, and all manner of things that we are used to seeing daily, and doesn’t raise suspicions. This hides the fact that there is a Cell tower concealed in all manner of things. Should they get found out, they just shrug off their deed, and say, they were only trying to beautify the installation. In one way I suppose we are lucky to have these self imposed guardians who do the complaining for us. But in my opinion they always go too far, and only a couple, providing they are vocal enough, can stop all manner of things which could be for public good. Such as fluoridation of our water supply. I remember a long time ago when Port Chalmers was considering fluoridation. A very small minority mounted a campaign to prevent it, and they did just that, and stopped fluoridation in it’s tracks. We for one family really wanted the fluoridation to proceed, but knew it was never going to happen. So we went out and obtained tablets from the Chemist to make up one of the many missing trace elements, that we are unfortunately lacking in New Zealand. The lack of this element caused most of our Nation’s population to lose all their teeth by the time they were twenty years of age. Or the many campaigns the medical people mounted to eradicate many diseases; say with mass inoculations of the population. Some will always see harm in this, and everything else since their relations, the ‘Luddites’ first arrived on the scene.

Cell phones themselves even came under severe attack, they were said to be the prime cause of brain cancers, tumours. If you think about it, there is no need really to have the phone pressed against your ear. An ear piece which is allowed and if used will remove the perceived danger. I notice no one doing this, although most phones provide this facility. There is no end of the functions today’s phone is able to support. Now they can take a photo, and transmit same. Tell the time, give Internet access, TXT messages, send Emails, act as a radio, some even have GPS ability, and of course it can act as a phone. So long as you have your phone turned on it will receive messages, and if you don’t, your mail box will store them. When turned on it is also silently tracking you, whether you are walking, riding in a car, or flying in an air craft.

I do, so help me, see harm with the amount of noise the young folk subject themselves too. Currently, it is considered real smart to play any appliance or sound system at full blast. There is a real danger in this. On one occasion Laura and I were forced to leave a function because of excessive noise levels. The people in charge wouldn’t turn the amplified noise level down, in our opinion it was so loud that it was offensive, so we just up and left. Maybe the smart thing to do today is to go out and invest in the ‘Hearing Aid Business’ because in the future that’s where the money will be. Many of today’s young people in the future are going to be deaf. In traffic while stopped at the lights I have at times been able to hear a base thump, thump, from an adjoining vehicle which is so loud, it beggars belief, only the base notes are apparent and coming from it’s sound system. So loud that one would think that it would be possible to observe the car’s body actually moving in sympathy. I have been told that I would be eligible for a pension as many of my fellow fliers have been deafened with Aircraft engine noise. I don’t think personally qualify, sometimes it’s very handy to be just a little deaf. As Granny once said. ‘There’s none so deaf than those who don’t wish to hear’.

We do have another source of youth noise, and that’s from our so called ‘Boy Racers’. The police and council seem unable to do much about it. It’s back to the old ‘saw’, They have their rights and everyone is ‘pussy footing’ around to protect these clowns, who with their mates the taggers, seem to be hell bent in destroying our way of life. While the police are busy rushing to the site of their latest outrage, they have already arranged another meet via their cell phone flash messaging ability.

This past weekend I was returning from visiting Laura at ‘Wesley Care’ a Methodist hospital situated over in the Northlands area of Christchurch. If you didn’t already know this, it’s where Laura is currently a patient. When everyone who worked at Princes Margaret Hospital, had returned from their Christmas leave, they decided that they had taken Laura’s treatment as far as they were prepared to work on her, it was now time for her to go and seek somewhere where she could receive 24 hour care. We did this, and she was found a room at Wesley Care Hospital

On Sunday after visiting her. It was about 5-00pm, and there was some light rain falling as I left the Hospital. On looking around I could see nothing but towering Classic Cumulus Nimbus Clouds. Bad weather had been forecast, but in reality what I saw looked very ominous indeed, the sky was getting blacker and blacker by the minute. I could also see many lightening flashes coming from the clouds. This is another bad sign, and normally a precursor to heavy rain and hail. What happened to me next, was an under statement.

I had been wondering if I would make it home before the bad weather really got under way. Rain we badly needed but only when it’s the gentle kind, and means only a damping down. Heavy rain the kind you can get from CN clouds generally means, heavy rain that can come bucketing down and cause flash flooding and really serious bad weather. That was exactly what I ran into in when crossing the Center City. Waist deep water at intersections all in a matter of minutes. This caught many motorists unawares as one by one their cars ‘puttered’ to a stop in the deluge. Nobody it seems, had told them that the water on roads is the deepest alongside the gutters, and the shallowest part is on the crown which I clung to. Add to this situation, several dozen clowns that I encountered in their SUV’s driving around at high speed making huge bow waves. Behaving just like kids in their paddling pools. The authorities who arrived on the scene quickly, they were busy diverting cars to alternative streets, away from the deepest water. This only kept moving me further and further from where I wanted to go. I finally made Cashmere Hill to find sheets of water cascading down the roads and rafts of hail on the road side. I have no idea how much water dropped on the area in under an hour, but it must have been a couple of inches or more.

Laura and I had a similar experience that very nearly cost us our lives a few year back. We had been returning from Wanaka where we had been to attend a Bank Dinner. A hot dry day, we were driving along in the dusk, not a care in the world having enjoyed a great day out. That was until we reached Lowburn. A cloud burst up in the Mountains miles from we were, and several thousand feet above us as was about to change all that. It had sent down a huge wave of water and slurry which I drove into, unaware of it’s presence until I was it the middle of it. It was so thick and deep that our headlights couldn’t shine through, as it actually covered them. You could say I was up to my neck in trouble before I realised what was going on. It surprised me as it wasn’t even raining where we were. Laura didn’t help when she said, ‘There are trees going past my window’. We were being swept relentlessly towards the river, which was not far away, then the engine cut out. I said, ‘I have one more trick to try’, and I turned on the key which controlled the starter. This kept the car moving again albeit slowly, and hopping like a rabbit from time to time when the engine occasionally fired. I could also see the tail lights of a car who had also struggled through earlier, parked at the side of the road and it’s occupants were now watching our progress. I aimed for their tail lights and safety. The driver greeted us with the words when we struggled clear, ‘I thought you were going to be swept down the river, you were very lucky.’ We thought so too, but our number wasn’t up that day.

I was lucky on another occasion when out in the family’s dinghy off Purakanui with brother David and Tony Trotter. The sea was as calm as a mill pond and we were out at sea and ‘puttering’ along side the point with the cliffs towering above us, looking at the wild life perched there. I heard a strange whispering sound, and looking out to sea I was horrified to see a huge wave heading our way curling and preparing to break. Had it broken before it reached us, we would have been swept onto the nearby rocks and the boat turned into matchwood. I immediately turned on full throttle and headed for the wave and deeper water. We arrived there before the wave broke, the boat stood on it’s end when we met. Once over the top and surfing down the other side which seemed just as steep as the waves front, we half filled with water, but we had escaped. I once attended a course on boating where the lecturer in response to a question, said, There was no such thing as a rogue wave.

I thought, ‘Little do you know’. As far as we are concerned they do exist. Let your guard down and they can be deadly.

The other day a truck from the local council dropped off another wheelie trolley. It’s a large trolley too, being part of the new garbage salvage system that’s being implemented here, and in most other parts of our City. It’s all part of a rubbish salvage scheme that the city is entering into in grand way. A huge specialist sorting building and machinery have been constructed. Unfortunately it would seem they may have left their entry into this up market salvage campaign a little late. Possibly the produce from the multi million sorting machinery will have to be stock piled or dumped. The market to where we once sold our recovered plastic and metals has collapsed. Further to our recovery of material, Bunnings the Building Supply Store, have stopped giving out plastic bags. I suppose it’s a reaction to the plaintive cries of the do gooders, who never stop trying to save the planet, then push their kids in their gas gobbling vehicles, and drive them to school. Sometimes I wonder if today’s kids actually have legs. The absence of plastic bags for me is damned inconvenient, some merchants will give you an empty box, which only ends up cluttering the garage at home. We require a supply of plastic bags at home for our own rubbish recycling.

Well what ever happens now is going to be interesting, the market for all recycled material seems to be going, or gone. Recycled aluminium cans used to bring in up to $200 a ton. Today’s price I’m told, is only $10, when freight is factored in. At this price it’s no longer worth the effort. People in some countries in the past actually made their living by picking up cans. I noticed in India, a Bar where we were drinking a beer, wouldn’t let us depart from the bar with the ‘left over’ can to finish out in the street. China has been until recently in the market buying recycled metal and paper. They until recently had been a main player, but have announced that shortly they will be self sufficient in this area, sadly no longer interested in buying product overseas.

Thieves too will be having a hard time. Nothing was sacred here when salvaged metal prices went sky high. They stole and plundered copper and lead off Church roofs. Copper guttering and down pipes from domestic homes, metal names and dedications were chiselled off tombstones, manhole covers lifted from roads, in fact, nothing was safe from these villains.

May I add more to the current financial upheaval, someone once asked me what did I think of investing in Wine? This was about two to three years ago. My reply was that even back then, I could see signs of an ‘over supply’. People everywhere were then scrambling to get into this latest stairway to financial riches. All in the know were busy buying blocks and planting vines. I replied, it would not be an area that I would want to put my money into. I also remembered three years back when we had dined at a Winery Restaurant, just out of Fremantle. I was talking to the owner, when he told me he had three years supply of wine on the property that he couldn’t shift. He had a one season’s crop in bottles, another year in the vats, and yet a further crop unpicked on the vines. Once, he declared until recently he could sell the crop on the vines for $2000 to $3000 a ton, but with the Australian over supply, the best he could do was a pitiful $200. This is further reinforced by what is going on currently here and reflected in our Super Markets where you are greeted in their discount alley as you enter, huge stacks of Australian wine. All selling for $5 to $6 a bottle. This please note is not rubbish wine but good product, I know the Australian grower can’t be making a large or any profit at these prices. This naturally is also effecting the sale of our local product. Sure loyalty is strong, but price speaks louder. I also know a lot of New Zealand wineries are already in financial trouble as well. It’s common knowledge that some are finding that paying their bills a problem. We could be in for interesting ‘shakeout’ in wine. We should be used to these boom and bust scenarios. We have gone through many, do you remember?

Ostrich Farming,

Black Currents,

Gooseberries,

Dairy Beef,

Grass seeds,

Mohair Goats,

Fitch or Ferret Farming,

There must be many others that I have missed. All those many dreams that have crashed and burnt.

As promised, I will now resume my story of my initial War Time Journey to North America, and our Service Flying Station in Canada. Our visit to Los Angeles could have been better, we were very much disadvantaged in that no one had any American money, or for that matter any money at all that anyone would recognise. No one it would seem, had given this small matter any thought. This meant we were, ‘On the Town’ and reduced to looking for anything and everything that was free. Fortunately for us during War Time, there were a lot of facilities available and free, catering for troops, such as the USO and other allied organisations. These even went as far as supplying a bunk at night to doss down in. For hospitality the Americans were simply wonderful, very generous with food and tickets to events. One problem that we had to contend with, was that we ‘talked’ funny. No one even knew where New Zealand was, or where we came from. The ‘Zealand’ bit had them ‘Foxed’, they placed us from somewhere in Scandinavia. Unfortunately by the time we had come to grips with what we could get from the entertainment system and exploit it, it was time for all to Marshall at the Rail Road Station, and move on.

Their Rail system was fascinating, the gauge of the rails was very large by our standards, even the rails seemed double in height to what we were used to back home, but when you considered the weight of the Locomotives they employed to haul their trains, that was what was required. We travelled in ‘Pullman’ cars, the height of luxury at the time. This meant at night your double seats were turned into beds, stacked two high. Privacy was taken into account by a curtain screen. You required this degree of comfort, as your journey could take four to five days. I understood that on some trains there were also ‘Day Coaches’ and in this ‘Class’ you slept where you sat, much like the over night express trains back home. It would seem in our War Time travels we were to experience many modes and degrees of accommodation. This ranged from the very basic bunks in the dark hold of a ship, to the very swept up. I think Forrest Gump put it very well when he said, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get’. A dining car was attached to our train, very posh, even down to a linen and silver service. Here we ran into another problem. We still had no money, and to pay for our food we were given coupons, which turned out to be the minimum for any meal. Our appetites were larger that what the Rail Company regarded as a normal serving. After one small meal I did an ‘Oliver Twiss’ and asked for a ‘Return’. The waiter said he couldn’t comply, but if I wasn’t satisfied, go and ask the Chef for more. I did just that. and when I approached him, he saw my shoulder flashes, and inquired what part of NZ did I come from. I replied, ‘Somewhere you will have never heard of, Port Chalmers’. He replied, ‘I know it well, having been a cook on the New Zealand run’. ‘What is your name’? As he persisted with his questioning. I replied, ‘Really, my name wouldn’t mean much to you, but my Grandfather was Duncan Mackenzie who owned the Provincial Hotel’. Sometimes, it’s much better to have generous relatives who have helped many seamen down on their luck, than cash. From then on the food situation was taken care of. I’m of the opinion no matter where you go in this world, things keep on cropping up, proving to you just how small the world actually is. Another time I was in Cape Town in a South African Customs Office, trying to claim back some VAT when I met another woman doing the same thing, she said, ‘I can’t remember when I arrived here’, I told her just copy my form we arrived together. She exclaimed, ‘You are a New Zealander, where do you come from?’ It turned out she was Mrs Parsons who owned the New Orlean’s Hotel, Arrowtown, and soon we discovered, we had many mutual friends. At one timeI actually ran an agency out in Arrowtown once a week.

I’m sure we all enjoyed our trip through the Rockies, the scenery was really spectacular. The one thing that was brought home to us was the sheer size of North America. All too soon we arrived at our destination, Edmonton. My memory of this place was, that it’s one of the coldest places in the world. It’s the only place in the world where I have lived that you even planned your journey before you stepped out doors.