Wally's tales

As I remember back to when I was young, ‘Old Age’ didn’t seem to be a problem. Every other family had a parent, or even two living with them, and this for that time was an accepted norm. There was certainly no need for Retirement Homes, or Rest Homes, which today have been turned into a major industry. Mostly Granny or Grandpa were parked close to the stove, and were part of the extended family. A few Churches and Hospital Boards recognised a very small problem back then for those who didn’t have any family support. And they came up with Assisted Living Homes, or Eventide homes, or whatever you wish to call them. They were generally attached to a General Hospital, as were the Homes for Nursing Staff.

The situation which today seems to have started from a small beginning, has grown today into big business. It’s now even recognised as a serious investment prospect, and large Retirement Homes complexes are now listed on the stock Exchange. Entrepreneurs have pushed aside the earlier concept of a Non Profit operation, into a blue Chip Investment, and making money for their investors. Retirement Homes today and their growth is equalled to that of ‘Motels’ which are another recent innovation. There were none of these around sixty years ago either. They are a recent phenomena too, built to cater for the travelling Public, who today have more leisure time through living longer, and are much more mobile these days. It’s something that seems to have taken place after World War II. In days before the War, there were only Boarding houses, as well Licensed Hotels, to take care of travellers. But the truth was people didn’t travel much back then. Or if you did, often you were given a bed in a friend’s home.

People today are not being very cooperative and ‘popping off’ after their three score and ten years, or even earlier as they used to. Today with better nutrition and Medical care. Also with most of the heavy manual work being taken over by machines, we are living to eighty and ninety years of age, and still reasonably active.

Even on the Home Front today’s housewife has an easy life compared to what our parents did in the past. Drudgery for the housewife has gone, and most homes now have washing machines, vacuums, electric stoves, micro wave cookers and many other labour saving devices. With all the free time these machines have brought into the lives of our young, they should have loads of free time and be happy. Not so, the young seem to be busier than ever, Far too busy to allocate time to care for the Old aged or infirm, or volunteer for anything. Should today’s housewife wish, she can even buy most meals already prepared, and all they needs to do, is unwrap it, and heat.

And what kind of care do these Homes provide, pushing aside all their Glossy prospectuses of care provided? Well, it not a lot of different to other public service providers such as Banks. Your main contact and is sometimes with the lowest paid Nursing Aid, or a Teller. And the kind of service is dispensed, is directly related to their work load.

I know now from close inspection of the Service and care that’s provided, that should I be unfortunate enough to be struck down by a Stroke or heart attack. I would want no medical intervention what so ever, and I be allowed to be consigned to my maker with the minimum of fuss. To be consigned to Rest Home and cared for in my twilight would not be my choice at all. As I see it, it’s a form of institutional torture.

Nations today are all busy searching our heavens with Radio telescopes, as well as the plain conventional optical kind. They are looking for the same thing. Signs of intelligent life elsewhere in the heavens. All have the same concerns. Are we alone in the in this cosmos or do we have company? As far as I’m concerned, the chances are good that we are not alone. If you take into account a billion or so visible stars, together all their planets. The chances with these figures, there should be a high probability that there must be some planets similar to our Earth, and with similar environments. That being so they could support Life, even it’s not based on Carbon. Conditions need not be exactly the same, as we have recently discovered. Scientists have been astonished to find life thriving in some of the earths most extreme environments. Not long ago we considered nothing could thrive in such hostile places. But recently they have found advanced life forms existing and thriving in deep oceans, alongside active volcanic vents together with their high temperatures. This fact not so long ago would have been dismissed out of hand as improbable until advances in technology have made it possible to explore these places.

So if it did happen, that we actually met some Aliens in whatever form they would have evolved in? In spite of our eagerness, I would forecast that it wouldn’t be a pleasant meeting. Certainly it wouldn’t be an occasion similar to the meeting of Stanley and Livingstone in the Congo. I can’t imagine what various forms life on another world would evolve into, but I’m willing to bet it wouldn’t look any like our race of humans. You only have to look around on this planet to see the myriad directions life here has taken. Even the bewildering life forms that have evolved in the sea is staggering in it’s diversity. This area is still largely unexplored. Yes, there are some species with large brains, but their intelligence only seems to be used in their hunt for food. Cephalopods have displayed a remarkably ability to solve problems when observed in captivity. Some of these species can be extremely aggressive and regard every other form of life including their own as dinner. The same goes for whales and dolphins. Very intelligent, and they are all social animals, able to communicate with one another, and as well find their way around the world. There is even a species of tree in Africa that can warn it’s neighbours of an attack by insects. This is carried out by the release of a chemical scent.

Should Aliens actually find their way here I’m willing to bet that their reception would be hostile, even if they were clutching an olive branch. None of the nonsense, ‘Take me to your leader’. We treat even our close neighbours with aggression, when they arrive on our shores uninvited, and without the correct documentation. I can’t imagine any arrival from space being greeted with open arms. More likely to be greeted at pistol point. As well they may even regard us as dinner.

However I think we are stuck here, as we would not live long enough to travel to the nearest likely planet, as they are just too distant. So we will just have to wait for them to travel here.

Yet another clown has tried to outrun a Police pursuit, in doing managed to killed himself in the process. This proves that he was not the skilled driver he considered he was. It was inevitable that sooner or later he would come to a sticky end. This brings us to the disgraceful total to date of some 18 Killed. Of course, some of these were not being chased, only followed by the police. But today Of course everyone has an opinion. The liberal section say. ‘Just give up, as soon as you are able to identify the offender being chased’. Fat lot of use that would be, with an army of tricky Lawyers all waiting to leap to their defence. All armed with some obscure technical aspect of the law, when the alleged culprit is caught and paraded before the Court. Many of these people are happy to allow these stupid people flout the law, in doing so they endanger all other road users. They are treating their juvenile behaviour on the road as a game, too late many realise that the motor vehicle is not a toy, in the real world where we live it can kill you. The media again are guilty of making news, or to put it another way, Slanting the story to make it sound good. Have they ever reported that the Police were engaged in some 2060 pursuits that didn’t involve an accident or result in a death. Possibly the penalty for people doing a ‘Runner’ is too light. A much heavier one may just cause them to think again.

I’m afraid I belong to the chase school, in saying this, I consider that it’s also necessary the media to get their fact correct. People who crash and are killed are not always being pursued by the Police. As I see it ‘They are fleeing from the police’, ‘Or just flouting all the rules of safe driving’. Many Countries have a different attitude towards these law breakers and provide their Traffic people with high powered cars so it’s very difficult to outrun them.

We in Christchurch harbour more than our fair share of bad drivers. Nobody anymore takes any notice of Compulsory Stops. It seems to me when they arrive at a stop, they slow down and just drift through. Many never bother to signal their intentions any more either. You are expected to guess what they are up to. I’m talking about people who just jump into their vehicle, and take off, no signal, they consider there is no one close by, why bother. Another pet hate of mine and that’s the tailgater. Whether on the highway, or just driving around the city I get very annoyed if I’m driving at the posted speed limit, to see nothing but someone’s radiator filling my rear vision mirror. I immediately slow down to get rid of the impatient one. I have no desire to be part of a tail end accident which happens far too often. Especially in this City, I come across several cars who have ‘tailended’ one another and they all have the nerve to call it an accident.

Then we come to ‘Round Abouts’, many drivers have no idea of what to do and what the rules are, and just freeze when they arrive. Holding up everyone up while they work it out. Last but not the least we come to red lights. There is one group, and it’s the Cyclists who just ignore them, and most other road rules as well. Maybe I missed something here, are they allowed to weave through on red if the way is clear? You would probably guess from that statement that I don’t like cyclists, well it’s true. The idea for putting two completely incompatible types of vehicles into the one traffic stream is just asking for trouble. Many Cyclists it seems, also belong to a Cult. Dressed in the latest ‘Velcrom’ cyclist fashion, they ignore everything else on the road, they are an law unto themselves, when you come to an intersection, they weave their way to the front of the line of cars, you have to negotiate your way past them once again, as they weave about, head down, ignoring other traffic, claiming their rights and space.

I live on the Cashmere Hill and watch with horror while these same people whose top speed on the flat would be perhaps 40km per hour. These same cyclists hurtle down the Dyers Pass road passing one and all, at breakneck speeds exceeding 80 Km. The surprising part of their journey down hill is that they are relying on a road contact, all of two square inches should they need to slow down or stop. The Gods surely smile on these people.

I had an occasion the other day to get an important paper signed, advising the company that pays my pensions, that we are actually alive and kicking. The is an annual requirement. After a lot of searching to find someone close to where Laura is resident, and fitting all the all requirements and who actually meet the criteria demanded who can witness our signatures. I finally settled on a Retired Chaplain who occasionally visits Laura’s Nursing Home. As well as the rules, they are also supposed to have known you for a year. This was easy in the past when we lived in a small town and knew everyone. In fact, I also fitted the description of one who could witness, but you can’t do that for yourself.

To complicate matters the ‘Post’ just happened to lose my letters. I don’t know if you are aware of what’s going on these days, but the Post Office today is at a cross roads, and is engaged in a crusade of slowly removing from our streets, the handy letter boxes, including the two close to where I live. These street boxes have been part of our infrastructure since the days of penny postage. Mine just vanished overnight, not a word to say why. I know with all electronic aids for messaging, that we have at our finger tips we are spoilt for choice. What with the fax machine, computers, and our teenagers favourite, TXT. It’s a different matter when it comes to paying the occasional accounts, and when you are sending a cheque, or you wish to enclose something. The ‘Post’ is the only suitable method. Yes, I know I can make an electronic payment, but I don’t want to clutter up my machine when the payments are only a ‘one offs’, employed perhaps only once an year. I have my power accounts, Rates, News Paper, payments all paid by a ‘Direct Debits’, but then again I still receive advice of each transaction. I know there is also another alternative, the Courier System, but that’s expensive, and as well operates only within office hours and here in Christchurch it’s necessary to call at one of their designated officers.

Parcel and package charges have jumped in price too so much so that sometimes the freight charge exceeds cost of the item being sent.

It would seem too that the art of letter writing is a dying art. Too often people today resort to the easy way, and are prepared to buy an expensive card with some else’s message to convey their sympathy or congratulations.

How the mighty have fallen. In my youth the Post Office reigned supreme. It was the interface to most Government Departments. The sole provider of all telephone business. For the mail and telegraph Systems, the Post Office was again the sole and only provider. They also operated a Savings Bank across the Nation which at the time was invaluable. They even controlled access to the Air Waves by virtue of the fact that they issued licences to transmit of receive.

Today your hardest task is to find a PostOffice or agency. Many of their premises have been sold off as Museums or Restaurants.