Wally's tales

Last night we had had another couple of ‘after shocks’ around 4.5. I can’t say I’m getting used to them, we should be after some 600 or more. To be frank it’s effecting our general well being, I know in my case, I’m getting very jumpy, and I’m now finding it difficult to get a good nights sleep. We have been lucky, and so far, and have had little damage to our home, mainly glass and items that have fallen from shelves and cupboards to destroy themselves in a sticky mess. possibly helped by the fact we were sitting on the right kind of ground. Many have lost their homes which were completely destroyed. Many too have had no sewerage since the quake, and won’t for some time. They have been reduced to using ‘Port a Loo’ that has been placed in their garden. What they don’t realise that this was the norm back when I was small. Many towns then didn’t have the luxury of flush toilets or sewerage. This important function was carried out by the ‘Night Man’ who called on a weekly basis and swapped the Night Soil containers. Here today the owners are demanding the Council to ‘Do Something’, but it’s not the Councils fault that the sewerage drains are fractured beyond repair, and will require replacing something that will take months.

For some it’s a double disaster, their homes are badly damaged and as they have neglected to take out any Insurance, for them it’s a double whammy. The ‘Earth Quake and war Damage’ payments are linked to their Insurance Policy. If your home is not Insured for, fire and flood, then you are not covered for the QWD either, as a small part of you premium is paid to the EQW, and this in turn is invested for the ‘Big One’. According to the newspaper today, some 5,000 are in this situation. ‘Can’t afford’, is the main excuse, but I don’t believe this story, they can afford most of the other good things in life that everyone expects to have today, so it’s a matter of priority. Even those on a benefit. Some too have no idea about cash management, after doing a stint of volunteering for budgeting assistance, I was able to see first hand about how some folk set their priorities and what they considered impossible to live without. Many are so used to being spoon fed, and armed with the knowledge, that someone will rush in to help. A good dollop of commonsense is all that’s required. I wonder sometimes what exactly do they teach at schools these days. Nothing it would seem about the preparation for life. I wouldn’t expect too much from the bolshie mob of teachers I saw demonstrating on TV. What a bad tempered lot this is. Further it’s the same group we trust our children with, expecting them to be educated. Under paid well that’s nonsense too. Do they not know what the average wage is today? It’s about half of the $70,000 they earn. Headmasters start around $150,000 and these people, have a list of 40 further demands. The Government these days is actually borrowing ‘off shore’ to pay them.

You may have gained the opinion with that outburst that I don’t like teachers. Well you are half right, I don’t like some teachers, especially those who were involved and had set up my son to fail. He apparently was having difficulty with his reading. His teacher’s solution was to give up, with about thirty other pupils turn them out of the classrooms and to keep them busy had them tending school’s gardens. Not for a moment did it enter this ‘numb skull’ that the time had arrived to advise the parents and his superiors. When we took our lad to the Otago University to discover what the problem was with his learning difficulties, only to be told very little, he couldn’t read. We were given a list of remedial reading, but when his teacher was told what had transpired. He flew into a rage for going over his head. Give this so called teacher more money? Not a bit of it, the problem is that the profession now is riddled with these people who are teachers in name only, being carried along by the excellent people in the profession. We need some way to seek out and measure their performance to see if we can rid ourselves of these misfits, who are in positions to do so much harm to our children.

To end this letter on a positive note. I have been astounded by the support and help we have been offered. Work and Income, Mercury Energy, RSA, Neighbours. All were thanked, saying we are under control, now that all services are restored, but extremely grateful for their concern. However the experience was no fun, especially when you are alone.

I seldom watch the Television News these days. The ability of the current news teams to blow any small incident into a major affair, together with their muck racking making, turn many times their ‘scoops’ which are really small incidents, into what they deem to call, ‘Headline News’. This practice annoys me so much I’m turned off. Give this tribe of so called news makers, a wounded politician, or perhaps someone else with a high profile, these awful people set out to systematically destroy them. No quarter is ever given. I liken this group to savage, pack animals, snapping at their heels of their victims day and night. I am also very surprised that their victims even want to talk to them. They should realise that when you are in a hole, for goodness sake stop digging. One result that often does happen, it actually thrusts some of the their victims, people I have previously heard very little of, right into the spotlight. Especially some of our parliamentary back bench folk. The people who gave them their name. ’The Gutter Press’ really got it right.

Everybody has done things in their youth that they would like to forget. I was snatched up during the war  by the Military while I was still a boy, so I really did a lot of my growing up in the services, and didn’t have any opportunity to do much wrong. However, if you have lived in an University Town, you would know also how that Judges over the years have treated many students brought before them very leniently. Even discharging them without conviction for many of their misdemeanours. The reason given that in many cases, it might effected their future. I think this attitude is grossly unfair. And if you were wondering where some of our maverick legal people come from, now you know. When you weigh this kind of lenient attitude against ordinary folk, it doesn’t add up. Say, if you were an Apprentice Carpenter, indicted for the same misdemeanour, you need not think that you will receive the same treatment. Strangely this dispensation doesn’t apply to you. The system in my opinion is grossly unfair.

Now we have the recent case of Garrett the politician, caught using the identity of a deceased child to obtain a false Passport back in 1984. He must been reading Federick Forsyth’s, ‘The Day of The Jackal’, as this was part of the plot. He never used the passport for any purpose and in due course it expired, but when he was exposed, the Courts gave him name suppression, and discharged him without conviction. So they didn’t regard the act in the same light as the journalists now seem to. He also had a $10 fine relating to an incident in Tonga. Hells Bells, I thought everyone over their lifetime had racked up at least one $10 fine. Many people today steal identities and immediately set about using it by racking up huge debts in their victims name. That in my mind is a real crime. Especially now with the use of credit cards. Should this happen to you, it can mean a great deal of hardship expense and mayhem in your life.

The one area that I was guilty of bad behaviour and would now like to change if I could. That was the selection of a mate from the opposite sex. When one in my estimation didn’t measure up, I just moved on, with not so much as a by your leave. If it makes any difference now I’m truly ashamed of my behaviour. Before you get your knickers in a twist about my conduct, the females in my youth were just as bad. Most adolescents as a group are an unfeeling lot, and couldn’t give a toss about anyone’s feelings. One girl who I thought was the love of my life sent me a ‘Dear John Letter’ when I was overseas, to say she was pregnant, and getting married. Another sounded exactly like her aunt, in telling me that she wanted to time to think about the continuing of our relationship All in all and given the advantage of hindsight, I think now in that case, and some others I had a lucky escape. In case you were wondering, the young lady who wanted to think it over. In time she wrote a letter to say she had changed her mind, and wanted to be reinstated. Too late, I had taken her advice, and was doing the same.

We are now struggling to live with the aftermath of an earthquake. We are also congratulating ourselves that we were extremely lucky when it struck, and as well as 99% of our of our citizens who were safely tucked up in bed. Not wandering the streets of the City and making them selves prime targets for falling masonry, glass, and other material, that was being shaken, mainly from our ‘Heritage Buildings’. In fact the aftershocks have never stopped. We have now experienced some two or three hundred at least. However unless they are in excess of 4 on the Richter scale, they are being ignored. We all are getting very tired and exhausted. In fact we are all waiting for another ‘Big One’, and finding it difficult to get to sleep. My daily drive across town is something I have to do in order to see my wife who is ‘in care’ at Papanui. It is a most frustrating experience. The problem is you never know which road or street they are going to block off next. Constantly you are being redirected, what with our one way system, it all adds to the problem. You alway end up having a very long roundabout trip.

I’m constantly being reminded of a cartoon published during the War by Giles which has stuck in my memory. This was at a time when the UK populous was being terrorised by a German ‘Vengeance Weapon’ the flying ‘Buzz Bomb’. It showed a large crowd all looking skyward, they all had one very large ear. One was saying, ‘We are not bothered at all by Hitler’s latest weapon’. We are the same, all cracking hardy, but when each shake arrives we are all waiting for it to magnify into something large.

On my daily drive I come across some very incongruous sights. Like a church spire at Merivale, standing apparently undamaged along side the church in the parking area. Blocks of apartments where one wall had fallen away leaving the interior exposed and untouched, but a long fall if you jumped out of bed and wandered the wrong way. The companies who are doing well, are the ones who hire out red cones and portable fences.

The ferals have quickly adapted to the situation. One crowd who were discovered looting, were all decked out in Civil Defence Uniforms. Others have quickly reverted to type, when taken in after spinning a story of having no home that was habitable, they then quickly reverted to type and proceeded to burgle the good Samaritan’s home. Or just plain freeloading in the emergency centres. They are also very resourceful too, armed with a wheel barrow and disguise, it’s surprising what they can shift. The Mayor and the Police quickly put a spoke in their wheel by imposing a curfew from seven in the evening to seven in the morning. What’s more, they enforced it. The latest ploy that I have heard of is that they are now posing as Building Inspectors. The Borough workers have been wonderful. Water and power were quickly restored to most of the town. Anyone who neglected to store fresh water and some alterative form of heating/cooking deserve to stay unwashed and the eating cold meals.

Initially I didn’t think our current Mayor had a snowballs chance in hell of getting himself re-elected with the Local Body elections next month. Standing against Jim Anderton in a town that historically leans towards the left. Jim had declared that he would run both jobs. One as a leader of his Political party, a job he now has, as well, Mayor of Christchurch, ‘To save the Country the cost of an By Election’. Was his By Line. This statement has proved to be a very bad case of shooting himself in the foot. It took a large crisis in the form of a major earthquake to prove just how wrong this thinking was. He has changed his mind overnight, seeing how decisive the current Mayor has been. Some councillors are muttering, they would like meetings, something New Zealanders are very good at. But this was not a time for endless talk. When you have no water, electricity, sewerage, or phone, you want action and that’s what we got. I would now give Bob Parker better than even chances of getting himself re-elected. So in my thinking, Jim had better resign himself to another three years commuting to Wellington if he wants a cosy job.

If you are interested in finding out more about earthquakes their strength and origin, Mark has just given me this site.

http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/recent_quakes.html

These days in Christchurch when you met up with a friend or family member there is only one topic of conversation, and that’s, the ‘Earthquake’!. To be woken up from a deep sleep, in the dark as we were on Saturday night, at four thirty am, just to experience an earthquake, it was truly alarming. The shaking just seemed to go on and on. I don’t know which was worse, the shaking which was very severe, or the roaring noise, and crashing of falling objects that accompanied it. Of course, the burglar alarm was blasting, as well as the Grandfather Clock in the hall it started to chime endlessly. I had screwed many heavy items in the home that looked ‘topheavy’ to the walls, this included the clock and liquor cabinet and it paid off. However it didn’t stop bottles from falling out and breaking. No good turning on the lights as the power supply was now off, as was the water supply for good measure, of course no phone. I have been told that main quake only lasted one minute but it seemed much longer than that. What a sight greeted me when I found a torch and ventured out into the rest of the house. Everything than could fall down had fallen down, and then proceed to migrate somewhere around each room. Broken glass was scattered everywhere but we were lucky as most of our damage was minor. One half hour later Mark and daughter Lynn were on my doorstep to inquire if I was OK. I think what contributed to our luck in that we suffered no major damage, was due more to the fact our house was sited on volcanic rock, than was the rest of the town, which was resting on saturated sand. This immediately reverted back to a bog, the state it had been for thousands of years until the early settlers had drained it, and turned it into a city. The sand with the motion had liquefied and this phenomena has caused much damage to roads, homes, and the infrastructure. Power poles can’t stand ‘upright’ in watery unstable ground. I went for a drive around the side of the Halswell stream when I visited my son, the road that follows the stream’s contours was slipping into it. The bridges had remained intact, but the road had slumped six to eight feet on each side of the bridges, there was no way you could cross the water. Large sections of the road and surrounding country had huge fissures, and some just went through houses if they were in the way

It was wonderful how everyone rallied to assist. Something totally unexpected was a call from WINZ or an allied Government Department, They were checking up on every one living alone. Was I safe, and was there anything I needed? I thanked them for their concern, told them I was well supported by my family. Later I called the family out at the farm when the phone service was restored. I was surprised when my daughter in law, who is normally a strong character, burst into tears. I decided to make a visit if I could. Before I set out, I made a trip to the nearest supermarket to take out a food parcel. What a surprise that was. In the store, everyone and his uncle was there filling up their trolleys as if there was no tomorrow. I was able to pick up a cooked chicken, cooked ham, salad, fresh bread etc. I couldn’t have made a better gesture. Later, they had invited others in and had a meal on Grandfather. They called me at 9-00pm to thank me

This quake was the same strength as what had hit Haiti and Napier. Those quakes did massive damage too but had killed many hundred of thousands people, caused extensive property damage. It would seem that we owe a vote of thanks to the authorities, who over the years have forced us to conform to a very stringent building codes to protect us from seismic events. However we are saddled with many Historic Edifices, all of which all have protection orders on them, and what work on them you can carry out is restricted. It’s very nice to preserve the past, they give a city character, but these are an expensive indulgences. In another way, they can kill you. We were fortunate too that there was few people about, either at work, or walking the streets when we were struck at 4-39am.

Ever since the quake we have been getting reminders in the form of what is called ‘After Shocks’. These have amounted to some hundred or other. They could be described from a mild swaying to a very vicious shake. Someone said it was like the hand of God lifting your home and dropping it.

Years ago when we lived at Milton we actually witnessed an earthquake. We were eating lunch outside and suddenly my mother stood up and said she was having a bad turn and she clutched the table for support. Looking beyond her, and across the Milton plains, we saw to our amazement large ‘land waves’ coming from the North. These waves were made up from the paddocks, road, trees and the Tokoiti River. I have never been able to regard the Earth as something solid again.

You can’t but feel sorry for some people. Some have lost their all, and some come through completely unscathed. Beth gave me the best Father’s Day present ever, she spent the day cleaning the mess in the kitchen and pantry and lounge. Pickled walnuts, wine, porridge, make a real gooey mess. If it was made of glass it broke. After the last ‘after shock’ everything has fallen down again, but all the messy stuff was no longer around to compound the problem. I no longer take a glass of water to my bedside table. I now take a bottle of water with a screw top.

Our family from way back had been in the Movie Business. Not the production side, but in a small way as an independent exhibitor. Naturally as we grew up, we all contributed to film industry one way or another. We learnt I suppose by osmosis. How to work the projectors to give the best possible performance, sell tickets, usher, and control the front of house. There were a lot tricks to pick up, from how to bargain with the salesmen from MGM, Warner Brothers, and all the others that were constantly knocking at you door, all trying to sell you their product. The price or hire of a movie was one thing, but it was just as important to schedule your screening with someone else close by, as freight at times was equal to a hire cost. You never wanted to get stuck with a double freight, by having to pay freight both ways, or being stuck with the film at the end of the circuit, then have to return the film to the exchange which was in Wellington. The sales teams used many tricks, even to bundling not such good movies, with ‘Road Shows’ to shift product. The Big Chains of the City theatres had tricks of their own. If a money spinner they were screening was being held over for another week, and the movie you had booked hadn’t yet been to the City, it could just disappear in transit. Now who would do something mean like that?

My memory even goes back to the silent days when the ‘sceening’ only had sub titles. Mood music was then provided by a pianist. In the early days this was my mother, or Chris Pike. One thing that stands out was the noise and stamping of feet when the pianist walked down to where the piano was situated below the screen, the young fry then knew the movie was about to start.

The projectionist was licensed, and his job was under the control of the Government Department of Internal Affairs. You were required to sit exams for this vocation, as the film was considered very dangerous, being made of Nitrate. Later film stock was all Safety Film, and then the controls were relaxed. That was the reason that the film in the projectors or while in storage the containers were all called magazines, a name that came from explosive world. One thing, with the licensing system it ensured was that all projectionists were well trained, and capable of giving a excellent performance. Ticket prices compared to today’s was very reasonable. 1/6 for downstairs stalls plus 3’pence tax (Today’s money fifteen cents ) Upstairs 2/3 plus 3’ tax (that’s 25 cents). As an aside I went this week to a sceening of ‘Avatar’. Admittedly it was in 3D, but in my mind the $18 charged was prohibitive. The eight of us who watched the screening all enjoyed the performance. Perhaps the message would get through that it was overpriced. However for me there was a bad downside. I have suffered from vertigo ever since, and I am blaming the 3D projection. I won’t be going back.

There were many films that were ‘Old’ available for a ‘Song’, and often the exchange was unaware of their pulling power. One was Margaret Mitchell’s, ‘Gone with the Wind’. We brought it back every year, and we knew it would always play to a Full House. But it would seem that Wellington didn’t a clue. Whenever we called it back, my father was like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, until it was safely back in it’s container, and off again back to Wellington. This print was a ‘Nitrate’ copy being so old, but it was still a money spinner and guaranteed full houses.

During a performance there were always unforseen incidents happening, just to keep us on our toes. One pregnant woman sitting upstairs decided half through a screening that her time was near, decided to depart immediately, she only got as far the stairs where she collapsed. As luck would have it my wife who was a maternity nurse, and she was called on. It took time to get her attention as we were screening ‘The Third Man’ and she was totally engrossed in the film.. We were lucky as we were able to bundle the new mother and my wife off to the Maternity Home and the audience were unaware of what was happening in real life. I don’t think Laura ever saw the end of this film, and what happened to Harry Lime Another time while cleaning up at close to midnight. (We always did this after every performance to discourage rodents) we discovered a six year old sound asleep in the front row. Even back then some parents were using us as a baby sitting service. Another time I remember well when selling tickets. A drunken seaman got in behind me armed with a knife. There wasn’t a lot of room in the ticket booth for the both of us and to the best of my ability I ignored him. My son Rod saw what was happening and he said ‘Are you in trouble Dad?’. I replied would you go and get Mr Plod? He ran into a policeman outside the theatre, this policeman was a quick witted thinker, he grabbed an Alsatian Dog from a passer by, and they both came into the vestibule. The dog did the trick and the man was led away. Something that escaped everyone’s attention was, with our polished floors the dog couldn’t keep it’s feet and kept falling over.

Another source of revenue was advertising still slides. these were screened before the performance and during intermission, advertising local and National material. I got to know the girl from Dunedin who looked after all slides for all cinema’s. I enjoyed a great relationship, while we were going out together, all our entertainment was free, as she had a purse full of theatre tickets.

After the war when living space was just unavailable, we set up a makeshift flat in the void under the upstairs area. Sure, the walls were only tar paper made use of this space. They even looked solid unless you touched them.