Wally's tales

Gambling has never been a problem with me. Sure I like the odd flutter, as does everyone, but I’m always well aware that the odds are stacked against me right from the start, and if I keep playing, the tables, slots, or horses, will win in the end. It must, as everyone, including the Government is busy skimming. We have lived ten years now in Christchurch, and I’m yet to make my initial inspection of their Casino. We have often intended to make a visit, but to date have never got around to it.

I find too that these establishments are full of sad people. But this doesn’t stop us when on visits to Australia, and joining a Sports Club while over there. Where else can you eat so well, and cheaply? It doesn’t seem to have got through to the average punter, that the bank upon bank of slot machines are not there, solely for their amusement. These slots coupled with liquor sales, are there to subsidise all the clubs other activities. And they do this very nicely. I said earlier, that I find anywhere that there is gambling, for some they become a very unhappy place. You would think with all the hype, they should be happy places. But there you will find many people with a gambling addiction, and it effects them every bit as bad as alcoholism. One of the things that forms my opinion is the sight of people buying pot after pot, all filled with coin, to feed it mindlessly through the slots. They seem to be completely mesmerised by the process, and oblivious to everything else in their surroundings, only machine they are playing commands their attention. These people are completely hooked, and require help.

I can’t stop myself wondering, Why are these people so stupid? And is their families food money, rent, or whatever that’s being poured down into the slot. Don’t they know they can’t possibly win?

The Australian Government has an embryonic bill waiting in the wings to get passed that has sent a shiver of fear down gambling establishment’s spine. Broadly the thrust of the Bill is that the Club or Establishment must declare up front just how much each punter is prepared to and allowed to lose. In the past people have gambled away colossal sums of an employer’s and families money, with no possibility of ever recovering any. So I can see from where the Government is coming from.

So far I have only been speaking about coin machines but the heavy gambler goes for the more traditional and sophisticated games. With these games your money is turned into tokens or chips before the start of any game such as Roulette or Blackjack. Poker too has always been popular, but luck seems to be a more necessary requirement, as well as any skill you can bring to the table. You can’t be too clever gambling, or wining too often either. If you have the ability to ‘card count’ playing Blackjack, the establishment will soon deny you access to their tables. You need to remember their motto. ‘Never give the sucker an even break.’

Our whole society is riddled with games of chance from simple club raffles to lotto probably the largest. Every factory always seems to have someone running ‘Rat’ doubles. These if you don’t know what these are, they are based usually on two premium races on a card. These are set out together on two sides. If there are twelve horses in each race you have 144 choices. Fine if you get in early as the odds are good, but the ‘Book’ usually makes sure the favourites are sold or taken by the time the mug gets a chance to make his pick. The book pays out the same price no matter who wins.

In the services gambling was rife. On a troop ship we came in contact with Americans and cheats. They introduced us to ‘Crap’ which was played with dice. They always seemed to win until we discovered their ‘Honey Dice’ These dice were partiality filled with clear honey and were a great aid to making a point. We retaliated by teaching them to play Crown and Anchor. This time we only played with two dice, so they learnt a lesson too.

I occasionally buy a lotto ticket and I know I have as about the same chance of winning as being struck by lightening. I’m allowed to dream how I would go about spending my windfall.

Years ago many things were very different than they are today. One simple item that quickly jumps to mind and that’s matches. One very popular make of the time, was manufactured at a factory in Dunedin situated at Forbury Corner. They were the Wax Vesta, and their main component was made from a wax taper, and this alone, made them one of a best sellers, particularly with the ‘Roll Your Own Brigade’. As soon as they had rolled their cigarette and lit up, they then waxed the tip of the cigarette with the still burning wax match. By this action it ensured that the tissue paper was waxed, and it meant that it didn’t stick to their lips. I don’t know why they suddenly sold up the business and closed it down, as it was very popular item. Perhaps it was the action of an competitor.

Many smokers rolled their own, mainly because of the high price of ‘tailor made’ so it was cheaper to roll your own. The skill required to roll your own was something most, soon mastered. This technique has now been passed down now to the hemp or marijuana smokers. I’ve never had that much to do with drug smokers, but from what I’ve observed on TV. Marijuana when rolled into a ‘joint’ seems to consist of a very dry loose type of material, and the contents it seems would fall out if the ends were not twisted to contain it. Maybe I’m old fogey, but to the best of my knowledge I have never yet even smelt a joint, or if I have, I’m unable to identify it as such. However I have observed it growing in a neighbours garden.

I have A private opinion too, that when Basil Spence the English Architect responsible for the design of the Bee Hive design for parliament. And when asked to come up with a concept design, he was playing with a box of Bryant and May matches, which features as it’s logo a Bee Hive, and he just happened to look down. Anyway that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

The roll your own brigade had a wealth of gadgets produced over time to assist in the production of their cigarettes. During the War when I picked up the smoking habit, I wasn’t much interested in rolling cigarettes as I could buy packs of 20 cigarettes for only 5 cents a pack. The tobacconist shops, a rare item today. but yes we had tobacconist shops back then, and they also sold a wealth of material relating to the habit of smoking. One gadget was like a pen that broke, open to take the loose tobacco and filter if required. The tissue paper was like a sleeve that slid over making a perfect cigarette. Another I remember was like a roller blind. Just perfect if you were even a little inept. One other observation was that the sale of tobacco always seemed to be coupled with Hairdressers, and Barbers. Getting a haircut could be a prolonged affair with the barber stopping the haircutting every so often, to attend to his cigarette sales.

I never mastered the cowboy trick of striking a match on the backside of my jeans. That was until I got to America and discovered that their matches had a special ignition tip. However the height of cowboy achievement, was to roll a cigarette from a bag of Bull Durham which was held in your teeth. While this operation took place mounted on his horse (only 5 Cents a bag, tissues included) all this was carried out with only one hand.

I was born too late to experience Snuff. Possibly some speciality shops still sold it, but I never found it, or tried it. One tobacco habit that has persisted even to this day and that’s chewing tobacco. You won’t get lung cancer from this habit, but I wouldn’t rule out the damage it could do to your mouth and throat. Possibly it’s affiliation with baseball which all the players have adopted.

Chewing tobacco or a wad, was still practised widely when I was a boy, and there was permanent evidence of this when travelling by rail, especially in smoking carriages. Several Brass or copper Spittoons were fitted flush to the floor. Of course there were always spittoons available in Bars and Billiard Rooms.

If there was ever a section of our traffic that has a death wish, for certain it’s our cyclists. I know I have written about this before, and their behaviour has not altered one iota. Now with winter weather and darkness coming earlier, in fact the cyclists too are part of the evening homeward rush. Would you believe, many haven’t even changed their dress mode and are still riding around in dark clothing, head down, bum up. Sometimes even two or three abreast.

They must also have a very powerful lobby too. Where else in the world would you find a council or local authority that builds at great cost a two lane highways running eachway. Then sets out and paints off a metre on so each side, turning it back into a single lane. This absolutely crazy, it must now be the most expensive highway in the world, and it’s not doing what it was designed for.,By default it’s now a dedicated cycle lane for the cyclists to practice their racing and anti social techniques, alongside the highway that cost millions. All this to give the occasional cyclist room to ride to work, hidden amongst these riders there are some who think they all involved in a ‘Southern Tour de France’ race. Note that I said, the occasional cyclist, that’s all that there is ever on the roads at any given time

Also many cyclists do not bother to wear high visibility clothing that’s available, it’s cheap too, all designed to make them highly visible, in the Winters bad and poor lighting conditions. This is all it takes to perhaps save their lives. As I said In the main they tend to wear normal street wear, when dressed in dark clothing it makes these riders ten times as hard to see.. Many carry no lights at all, and those that do, it’s only a token two candle power, flashing a red light under the saddle. High visibility or reflective clothing is a must, if only to give the motorist a sporting chance of spotting them, but this is only worn by the odd cyclist. Many however are more concerned to be seen to be wearing more fashionable clothing

We live on a large steep hill about three to four kilometres top to bottom. My cycling friends treat this too as a race track They hurtle down this road overtaking everything. I would estimate that their speed is around 80KPH. The day is not far off when I will be picking one who has misjudged his speed out of my radiator grill

Rod an Hills live in the Selwyn District, as do Roger and Beth. Being a farming district, most kids from this district are ‘Bus Kids’. A child out Rod’s way was killed by a passing motorist while alighting from a School Bus. His Grandfather then formed a trust to supply every Selwyn kid who rides on a bus, with a high visibility vest. It’s design is not unlike what you see the South American Indians wearing. A poncho I think it’s called. Simply an oblong of high visibility yellow material.. Hole in the middle for the head to pop through. Ties at the side and stripes of reflective material front and back. Normally a kid wouldn’t be seen dead in something like this, but seeing everyone is wearing one it’s not a problem. Granddads are of some use after all.

These days the centre of the city is full of high visibility vests and has been so for six months. Most belong to Civil Defence and initially their main task seemed to be keep people away from their businesses to protect them from getting hurt. In most cases I disagree with this stance. Most if not all people are naturally cautious, and they only want to retrieve vital components of their business. Keeping people out of the CBD may have worked well for Civil Defence, but they failed miserably when it came to keeping out thieves, who it would seem were able to wander at will around the rich pickings that were there to the taking. Civil Defence have moved on and now handed over control to CERA. Perhaps they are gifted with a little more common sense. Certainly they couldn’t be worse.

I wonder if if the area is so unsafe? If this is so why have they over the past months given a stream of celebrities, all decked out in high visibility vests and hard hats, guided tours through the worst hit areas? At the same time keeping the owners of the properties locked out.

Is it any wonder business folk from the CBD are annoyed,

,

Once upon a time when a ship arrived on our shores from foreign parts. Would you believe that the passenger lists were actually published on a prominent page of our News Papers? Same treatment later for the flying boat service which preceded the Air Lines . As well, the fashion editor from the News Paper often turned out in person to meet the vessel, and describe to her eager readers after interviewing what these lucky folk were wearing. And further more, describe in detail their current hair and shoe styles, which were relayed to a fashion hungry country. Not so today, for a start, no passenger lists are available, nor will any Airline give out any information regarding who is travelling, or for that matter where or when. In fact today people tend to dress down with track suits being the most popular item of fashion. So I cant see any fashion editor turning out to view that sartorial fashion article.

It never seems to amaze me as well ,that there some very, very, large sized woman who also wish to follow the trend, and squeeze themselves into a track suit which does absolutely nothing for their figure..Maybe too they dress differently in the First Class these days, but then again, I don’t travel First Class. So if there is a fashion statement being made in that pampered area, I’m sorry, but I’m unable to study it.

I hate going to the Air Port these days to pick up family or friends. Drop off’s are much easier, as we are no longer encouraged to wander into the ‘Check In’ area with the departing Friend or Family. Arrivals today are however a much different kettle of fish, Even to get this information it’s a stab in the dark. I have over time come up with my own system which keeps frustration down to a minimum. I drive close to the Air Port, park and read my book or paper that I have brought along. I then wait on the call from whom I’m meeting. This will only come when they have cleared customs, immigration, and security and retrieved their baggage. I then drive into the airport pick up point.

Oh! For the days gone by, when departing or arriving was a most memorable occasion. I can still remember going down to the wharf to wave goodbye to the SS.Maheno and her passengers. She had just been refitted and restored to her former elegance as the Union Company’s premium passenger liner. Resplendent in green, pink colours, after being rescued from rotten row. This was where a raft of idle ships, that had all been moored together in the lower harbour for some years, all waiting for work. Half the town was present, on the wharf, as well as the local Band, to give the Maheno a fitting send off. It was more than an occasion, perhaps even a sign that good times were just around the corner, and that the depression was over. Streamers and confetti were thrown from the ship to shore, and I seem to remember too the price of a return ticket to Australia was was around ₤5 pounds. That’s $10 in today’s money. Dirt cheap I hear you say? Well not quite, as a the pay for a week’s work back then, was only ₤5. So when you equate that to an average weeks pay of today, perhaps not so cheap. These fare figures may be inexact, but they are what has stuck in my mind over time, and it was a long time ago.

There is one Air Port that I know more about than any other and that’s Queenstown’s. When we first arrived there to live, their terminal it wasn’t much more than a glorified tin shed. In fact the hangers for private air craft storage were much better installations. I seem to remember over the thirty five years that we lived there, they had at least five or six major rebuilds. Always the same, always rebuilding for today, never tomorrow ,and when the terminal when completed, immediately it was out of date. I can’t be too critical, as the Bank had the same problem. I couldn’t seem to get through to the architects, we were always running from behind, and always cramped for space with the growth we were experiencing.

. .

.

I have just finished reading a newspaper report about a serious accident on the Port Chalmers/Dunedin highway. What was so upsetting about this crash, was the behaviour of the Police, The police over recent years have been getting bolder and bolder the about liberties they take regarding the time they require to reconstruct and record any serious accident scene. I have noticed that whenever there has been an accident bad enough to involve the police. It has now reached the stage that they now treat the public with absolute contempt. Whenever they have found it necessary to report on an accident, for them to carry out their duties, the public’s welfare doesn’t seem to be part of the equation, What made me sit up and take notice was that this time the, Police went a step too far by closing the Port highway, for five and a half hours. Most of this time they were just waiting for someone to arrive and record the accident.

In this world there are smart cops and there are dumb cops. However this time I think there could even have been some political animals. It’s hard not to believe that this time, it was not an attempt to embarrass the government by dragging this affair out as long as possible. After all it’s election year, and if that was the reason and the prime motive behind this act of stupidity it’s unforgivable, or perhaps it was a very dumb attempt to force the authorities into paying them overtime rates for being on standby.

Do they not teach the Police these days how to think out of the square?. What with videos, cameras and road paint, any accident scene could have been preserved. But to shut down completely, a highway for half a day, a stupid and unforgivable action by whoever was in charge. No matter how you look at it, regardless of any excuse the police can come up with, it is a complete nonsense, and an abuse of their powers. Sure, it was a serious accident, and we are entitled to,ask, ‘Why so long? It seems the answer too is without precedent. Would you believe that a City the size of Dunedin didn’t have a police officer skilled enough and rostered on to survey any accident scene.

However It seems after questions were asked, the Police replies were so astounding I’m prepared to bet that there will be many more, and someone is going to get a reprimand over this incident. This was a gross error of judgement

Their excuse is equally hard to believe, that a responsible governmental department could behaved in such a stupid manner. It seems they didn’t have an officer available or on duty to record and map the accident. To solve this problem they found it necessary to have someone come down from Alexandra (by road) to carry out this task. While this farce was being enacted, the traffic was patiently waiting, twiddling their thumbs and thinking dark thoughts. I imagine especially after they found out the correct reason for the five delay. Goodness me. they could have flown someone down from Auckland, or for that matter across from Sydney..

OK, they (The Police) are saving money by not roistering someone on that duty competent enough to carry out this task. Did it not also come into their calculations, that the queue of heavy trucks and people going about their normal business and not earning and cooling their heels for half a day? Did they even give a toss about what it was costing everybody else, regardless of the Police overtime which I imagine was their worry? I’m sure the amount of money lost by the gridlocked vehicles would be a thousand times higher than the police paltry savings

Of course, once you got into the queue you would be stuck and no way to return and take advantage of the alternative routes to get to Port Chalmers, or Dunedin, if you are coming the other way. Did anyone think to post a detour notice? You could travel down to Normanby suburb in Dunedin, turn off at Brown House, and then drop down into Sawyers Bay. Or alternatively take the main North Road out of Dunedin, turn off when over the top of Mount Cargill, heading for Port Chalmers. Both of these roads are what we considered normal, in the good old days, but now they would be definitely second class, OK for cars, but not what a thirty ton truck and trailer would find acceptable

Should you wish to read he Otago Daily Times article I have listed the file address below

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/161500/closure-road-defended?page=0%2C1

After reading the ODT and the Police’s pathetic remarks in defence of their actions they still seem to think that their actions were justified. Someone with a little more clout than I have will have to give them the message

I would like to think that the Minister of Police would stumble onto this letter.

The other day Beth and I were doing some Mall Shopping. We were in the Grocery section, in a hurry as always to get the staples into our trolley, and impatient to join the queue and get over to the checkout. As we then had to pick up Rhys from his school and we were already late. It seemed too that we were going to be much later than we had planned, as there was a woman at the head of our queue. She didn’t have a trolley or a basket, but just armfuls of purchases. She was holding up our orderly progression. I couldn’t see all that well from where I was situated, but she seemed to be having problems with her card, as she kept on swiping it again, and then again without any success. Her day may have been bad up to that point, but it quickly turned to custard from then on.

Not being close, I could only glean from what was happening from the pantomime being acted out in front of us, and of course everyone else in our immediate area, However from what we could observe, the store checkout operators, were taking items from her, one by one, to match the little credit she had in her account. I was able to piece all this together when we got closer, and I was able to ask Beth some questions. I wondered if she was so desperate for money, why didn’t she head straight for one of the food depots as in this City. We have several all eager to help. The City Mission and the Salvation Army are both heavily involved in this work, and I’m sure there are others. I know that they are still active, as one has the loan of one of Rod’s trucks and they haven’t returned it to date.

How degrading it must be to be put through something like this? How does someone get themselves into such embarrassing situations? Do they have a gambling problem? Or a mate perhaps, who spends, or drinks away the families food money? I came across many situations where people are living hand to mouth while we were living in the country. This is where you can get closer and know people. However, there is always an underlying cause to their situation. I know also it’s much the same in the city where there are other signs of the general population’s well being. For instant, it’s not a good day to go shopping on ‘pension day’, as the supermarkets are packed solid with pensioners and benefit recipients. Their drought period has just ended, they all have money and can shop again. The queues are long, trolleys unavailable, I sometimes play a game by guessing and looking in their trolleys, who some of my fellow shoppers are. Ten two litres of milk, ten large cokes, ten loaves of bread must be a Dairy owner. Cheaper for them to shop at the Supermarkets rather than the wholesaler. Trolley loaded to the hilt, nothing but staples and topped off with plastic nappies. Must be a young family.

Every day you find out something new. I came across a very wealthy couple one day in the market that I knew. He had both arms full and was struggling holding everything. I said in all innocence and being ever helpful. ‘Can I get you a trolley? He replied, ‘No thanks, I’m only allowed to buy what I can carry’.As the General Manager of a large National Company. In my mind they were carrying their canniness a little too far.

Certainly I notice things are costing more when I shop. Daily prices for most food always seem to be on the increase. This can directly be put down to the fact that the recent petrol price is now above $2. a litre and is inching up. This cost is slowly filtering down to most food items as this expense is being factored through. Even starting with farmers and transport, both are the biggest users of fuel and fertiliser. We have just been warned that breakfast foods will rise another 10 to 15 cents because of the wheat price, so bread can’t be far behind, as also it’s ninety eight percent wheat.

We were watching a movie the other night when it was interrupted by an advertisement for packaged mashed potato. Surely this is taking packaged food a step too far. You will have guessed by now I’m not a fan of packaged food, but what is happening to us when folk around us are too tired, or unable to boil a potato and mash it up with a nob of butter? Convenience foods in some cases, are ideal, but they are expensive. I once had a neighbour with a family, She was completely inept in the kitchen. Her family would have starved had it not been for takeaways and pre-packaged food. She once told me that she really liked my home made soups, that I gave her from time to time. ‘What kind of a packet do they come in’? I would like to buy some. When they ceased teaching young girls cooking at school, they did the Nation a serious disservice,

I heard tonight a further report regarding the progress on the eviction of three female Maori Tenants from their State Homes. This was brought about by their reported misbehaviour and conduct which was bad, so bad that the Housing Corporation was forced to take action. Goodness me, I thought this affair, which according to the media started over two years ago and it was well and truly over. It’s seems to have gone on forever. How much longer is this ‘argy bargy’ which involves Gang members, who are the part of the problem, is going to be allowed to continue? It would seem too as reported, that the gang members are more than close friends of the tenants, who by this association, it would seem that they have been intimidating all other tenants, and making their lives a misery. These tenants in turn are pressuring the Corporation to correct the situation

By their action of getting a court order, the Corporation thought they had the situation under control, when they were given permission to evict. But they didn’t count on the series of appeals and hearings brought about by the women’s legal representatives. These lawyers have succeeded in delaying their eviction for some two years or more, and in my mind, by doing so, have now brought the Law itself into disrepute. This is not Justice as I know it. It has turned what was a clear case of domestic nuisance, into a three ring circus. I imagine their legal team are sitting back congratulating themselves, and thinking how clever they are. But from where I stand, and if they were to ask any man in the street, just what they thought of these legal manoeuvres. They would soon tell them by prolonging this matter, they are not smart, not even a little clever, but only showing that the Law is an ass by even to allow this carry-on. This is not how these disputes are meant to be resolved. I’m not that well versed in law, or the games that lawyers play. But in this case I hope we are not paying for all these series of rehearing, and appeals, by picking up the tab from a legal aid grant. That would be too much. This whole situation must be getting close now, to turning it all into a farce, and that the women in question being declared a vexatious litigants.

This situation I was alluding to is when I wrote in an earlier letter about the redevelopment of Christchurch, and to avoid high density housing, when a small minority can control areas in spite what the authority and their neighbours would want.

We live with one section of our community who now seem to want to deface, or despoil any sign, or clear painted space, with their graffiti. What can we do about it? Well the most obvious solution would be to tax the spray paint about four times it’s actual cost, then use this money to restore the the defaced signs and property. I find it so annoying to look at every other sign defaced, as you drive into town all smeared with white or black paint,

It has happened at last, I suppose it was inevitable that sooner or later someone would find Osama bin Laden and have him terminated. What hatred this man harboured against the Western World. What’s more, how was he able to coerce his followers, to hijack several commercial aircraft all at the same time, then fly them into the Twin Towers in New York. Immediately the people working, and visiting these two Skyscrapers were doomed, with no possible escape. This act as intended resulted in killing of some thousands of innocent people, plus those occupying the planes, by this senseless and deliberate act, and as well as sacrificing their own lives. This party of terrorists in their minds became instant martyrs, In my opinion I’m sure that on their arrival in paradise would have been a disappointment, by not being greeted by some 72 virgins. If paradise was where they intended to end up. It puzzles me too, how their woman folk allow them to get away with these denigrating beliefs towards them. How do you convince such a large group into carrying out such a collective heinous act, and at the same time not include yourself?

The price he had on his head some $30 million dollars made a tempting reward, and ensured that someone one day would weaken and betray him. Many would betray their own father or mother for that kind of money.

What drives these people that they are prepared to take such extreme action. For sure they must be control freaks, and really what’s their ultimate aim? For any Cult or Sect, or whatever name they are given, is it to take over and convert us, to their way of life, or acceptance of their religion by either force or terror. If that’s what they are trying to achieve. The circumstances too have to be just right for them to succeed. In the case of Hitler, he made no secret of his aims and ambitions. He even wrote a book setting them all out. However at the time Germany was in a very poor state economically, endeavouring to meet the extremely harsh repatriations being demanded from them by their former enemy’s, the Allied Nations. As well the German population were largely unemployed, and hungry, more than ready to blame, someone or anyone else, for their predicament. The Jews and Gypsies at the time seemed to be the perfect choice. At any other time, common sense would have prevailed, and his rantings would have been ignored.

Where does the hatred of America by the Arabian Nations come from? I really have no idea? Their media pours out a constant stream of poisonous comment, and ‘bad mouths anything and everything about the Western Culture..But strangely they are happy to buy and even depend on the use of the Western technology, computers, aircraft, motor vehicles, medicine, GPS Systems, weapons of war, ignoring the fact that all was manufactured and provided by the ‘Great Satan, as they call it. Yet Americans as far as religion goes, would be as every bit as strict as any Arab in their observance and respect to their religious beliefs.

The Arab Nations and especially the Palestinians have been squabbling over the ownership Holy Land with the current claimants of the Israeli Nation, for some for two thousand years. Each race has been capable of employing terrorism, and even carrying terrorist acts against one other. However If they employed half as much effort to finding a peaceful solution as they do to make war, I’m sure their troubles would soon be over.

If you think by the removal of this master terrorist will end terror as we know it . Think again. we will never be free of this curse we will always have some trying to get their way to power by force if necessary.

I came across some old pennies and half pennies in a box at home while I was tidying up. Goodness, they were heavy clunky coins, What’s more when we were young, they could actually buy something. A licorice strap, a chocolate sante bar, or half a dozen aniseed balls or boiled lollies. The large penny was superseded by a small one cent coin which today has also gone, it’s presence now only exists in the electronic world, or in the written form. What’s more, this invisible one cent coin today would buy you almost nothing. I read once about an experiment, where they placed a six pence coin on the ground, just to see if the young folk of today would even bother to pick it up. It was ignored as valueless. Once it would have bought a glass of a beer, or even a packet of woodbine cigarettes.

Personally I can’t come to grips with a lot of the changes that we have gone through during our lives, When I read a report on a motor vehicle that does 7 Litres to the 100 kilometres. This means absolutely nothing to me. I have to turn it back into miles to the gallon to make any sense of the comparison. Same with somebody’s height. I can’t vitalise someone’s height at one metre seven hundred. I have to convert it back to feet and inches. Exactly the same with weight, I know I weight 81 Kilos, meaningless, I have to have it in pounds, or so many stone and pounds.

Do you remember how difficult it was to multiply divide or subtract in pounds shillings and pence? I have to admit working in decimals is so much easier. Especially in the Bank back when we didn’t have the use of computers or for that matter, even calculators. Especially when jumping between currencies. I received a lesson once that coins and money only had a value when we say it’s so. I was the accountant of the National Bank Oamaru when we changed over into decimal currency. We were responsible to collect and hold all the notes and coin that been made redundant by the change for the area. We had in our vaults all the pooled money that had been in circulation, all collected from other local Banks. This money was looked after, counted religiously. However one day a truck called from a fertiliser company. The driver had the proper accreditation. He said, ‘I’m here to pick up your old copper coin’, ‘How much do you have’? I told him the exact amount to the penny. He then casually tossed all the five pound or ten dollar bags into 45 gallon drums without any count,, He then gave me a receipt. The penny as we had known it,as well all the joy it represented to millions of kids, was gone, possibly to live another life as a trace element in a fertilizer.

I suppose a visit to a doctor sums up exactly what I’m saying. ‘Stand on the scales please’. ‘Eighty one kilos’,’ I knew that’. It was what I weighted on my last visit. But I don’t know if it’s too much or what. Out comes the thermometer. I wonder where are they going to stick it this time? Has there been any advances in this medical field since my last visit? The thermometer scale is now in centigrade, meaningless again. The Fahrenheit scale it would seem is gone too. Stand against the wall please. Height is now in metres and millimetres, means nothing again.

Have thought back about our currency that’s now missing in action. Ten shilling note turned into a dollar bill, then a coin. Pound note did the same. A Guinea as far as I was concerned, never actually had a physical presence, but something professional people wished to be paid in. It was valued at One pound one shilling. Half-crown and three pence coins both causalities of the change over. There was a time too when coins were made of silver. At one stage late in the changeover the amount of silver in coins had a value greater as bullion rather than it’s monetary value. The Reserve Bank and the general population woke up about the same time. The Reserve Bank began issuing all the new coins in nickel or copper plated steel. People were calling to buy five hundred bags of coin to sort and pick out all the silver ones to be sold as bullion. This wasn’t popular with the bank employees as each time the bags were returned they had to be counted again.

For the future, I can forecast the end of money as we know it.. Money I can see will be loaded onto smart cards which can be reloaded any time similar to some phone cards. You only have to look back to the ‘in roads’ current plastic cards have made to make payments for normal trading against both cash or cheques, even in the past decade. Personally I have just issued my last cheque from my current Cheque Book, and I have ordered a replacement. The last book was issued to me ten years ago.

As you may know I don’t travel much these days, but I made an exception last weekend and travelled up to Blenheim to see the Omaka Veteran War Birds Air Craft Display, this took place over three days of the Easter Weekend.

Mark had given me a Gold Pass to the Omaka Air Show, As well as the transport and accommodation, to see and enjoy the three day display. The reason for his generosity was because it was combined Christmas and Birthday Presents. A a bit over the top I thought too as presents go. But he was also keen to attend, as his father was a pathfinder pilot in World War Two, flying mosquitoes. Unfortunately its rebuild wasn’t completed in time, so it didn’t show up. Not only all of the above, Mark managed to secure our accommodation, even when the town was booked out solid, for at least six months back, maybe even longer. I know this for a fact from talking to a lady alongside me in the stand. She had come across from Perth and she told me she only found out, that a room had been obtained only two weeks ago, when she received a call from the accommodation people due to a late cancellation. She wasn’t bothered at all that her bed was over in Picton.

I knew from news reports, that the wine industry everywhere, is having a bad time, with overproduction. I didn’t need the news reports to tell me what was happening, as anyone with half an eye can see the stacks of cheap wine for sale in our Supermarkets. All being dumped over here by Australian growers. There was also more than a few empty shops in and around Blenheim So this little accommodation enterprise that Mark had found, was Mum’s operation. And I suppose it made more than a welcome boost to the families income.

Anyway we ended up in a very ‘swept up’ bed an in a bed & breakfast home, that was situated in the midst of their vineyard. This was all thanks to the internet, which Mark had scoured. We enjoyed a bedroom, with an en suit. Plus a lounge, dinning room, As well as every home comfort you could possibly imagine. Someone must have thought too that they had a couple of captive bunnies too, as there was also an invitation sent along with our tickets to the Airshow inviting us out to another vineyard with a restaurant, to partake in a four or five course dinner at $150 each. Or possibly I’m out of touch what fine dinning costs these days. To keep our feet on the ground, we enjoyed a Thai Green pork curry, plus a large bowl of rice, in Kaikoura all for $10 each. It was so good we stopped on our return trip, and did the same again. It was worth three times the cost. We did dine out at a very up market restaurant for dinner one night and enjoyed that meal very much.

The Gold pass entitled us to a seat in the special stand, access to real toilets, with hot water and towels, certainly not the Port a Loos of which there were large stacks of them for the multitude, plus an entry into special dinning areas. However the whole area was well catered for, with many concessions serving food and other entertainment. The Air Show its self was brilliant, and spread over three days. I would say, that now it leaves Wanaka’s Air Show in the shade. For something like this you require someone with deep pockets as Wanaka had in the past. Sir Tim Wallace was the catalyst and the initial main sponsor, but he seems to be withdrawing from active involvement mainly because of ill health. And further, he has sold off some of his feature aircraft. Omaka now has Sir Peter Jackson, who owns about ten World War aircraft, both German and Allied, Fokker, albatross, triplanes, which were actually flying, as well as being on display

The Air Show featured many of the Air Force’s training Aircraft that all New Zealanders who trained as pilots are familiar with. As well there were all of the fighters our squadrons were equipped, with. Kittyhawks, P40’s, Corsairs, Mustangs, Spitfires, Hurricanes, even the lumbering Catalina. There were also many WWII German Aircraft, such as Focke Wulf, and the deadly Junkers and Meserschmitte. As well Russian and Chinese also well represented. They had as well static displays of ten times more aircraft. Another feature was all the flying was carried out in your face, we were situated only 50 yards from the strip. I was talking to Mac’s mechanic, while seeing him off from his last inspection visit.. He too had been to the show and said that when he went to an American Air Show, certainly there were more aircraft to see, but everything shown was in the far distance.

The most impressive aircraft in my mind was a high performance glider that had belonged to the late Steve Fossett. It had a small ‘pop up’ engine which enabled it to take off right under our nose. When the engine was retracted it made several silent passes back and forth at speeds of up to 240 knots, with no further assistance from any power source. No wonder he broke so many gliding records with this machine.