Kaiapoi

In my innocent years—all eleven of them before lust visited—I had a healthy respect for authority. Authority meant my parents, my teachers, Community Constable Jack Highstead and everybody over the age of 12. Of course I was brought up in Kaiapoi where innocence and respect were the norms and a rebellious streak in me meant I soon lost mine. But Kaiapoi never did. It retained its innocence and its naïveté through decades and generations. People who were conceived there stayed there, made love there, married there, had children there, and not necessarily in that order. Generations of families attended old schools there—and even, nowadays, the brash “new” secondary school. Employment was mostly mundane—Kaiapoi is not exactly replete with hit men and theatrical types—and a man could rise to prominence as a pharmacist. That was Kaiapoi’s charm and its innocence, but almost fifty years after I lost mine, it lost its. The earthquake of September 4 destroyed literally and figuratively much of what Kaiapoi stood for. Ironically it wasn’t the epicentre of the quake but it was the centre of devastation and the people of Kaiapoi have a right to be aggrieved at the unfairness of it all. I am told that many of them are still in shock and the television pictures don’t do justice to the injustice. But if Kaiapoi has lost its innocence and temporarily its charm, it has not lost its resilience. The people of Kaiapoi are bouncing back already, determined to rebuild their town and their lives. And if Kaiapoi is now to be forever remembered for its quake rather than its woollen mills, I hope it will also be remembered as the little town that rocked, then came back.

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Please Miss

One of the effects and benefits of growing older and becoming a curmudgeon is one holds teachers in less awe, respect and reverence. Not that I have anything against teachers per se, it’s just that those sentiments, stemming back to childhood when teachers were the primary authority figure, are as hard to shake as Bill English and just as irrelevant. For example and until recently I would in the unlikely event of recognising my Primer Two teacher in the street likely still address her as Mrs Grimshaw and no doubt fawn upon her by reason of her being my erstwhile teacher rather than her being something in the order of 127 years old. That’s teachers for you. They command respect. Until you reach my age. Until you read, as I did this morning, that they are bemoaning the fact that they earn on average and after 15 years experience $52871.00 per annum. And what is the reason for this bemoanment? The sum? No. It is that Australian teachers earn more ($63447.00). So? Listen teachers, there is hardly a profession in which Australians don’t earn more. Live with it. The rest of us do. Stop whinging. And while we are at it, where do you get off publishing self-authored reports stating New Zealand teachers work harder for less pay, without presenting any evidence to support that dubious contention? I am sure that kids are just as obnoxious in Australia as they are here, so I am not sure why you work any harder. And while we are at it (2) what’s with the name of your union? NZEI Te Riu Roa? Oh so very politically correct. Why not something more simple and apt such as Consolidated Union New Zealand Teachers? Now, that I like!

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Plumbing the depths

As spring has so patently sprung it is hard to write about serious subjects. So I won’t; I’ll write about Hamilton. One cannot read Hamilton’s Facebook page without falling into the full scathing scarring morass of deprivation. We in Auckland just can’t hack it with Hamiltonians when it comes to excitement. Look at what our southern neighbours are occupying themselves with this week:

• Wie Waikato Free Children Chinese (Pin Yin) Course http://www.facebook.com/ChineseClass Waikato Chinese School (WCS) will provide a perfect opportunity for children to study free Chinese
• Lainie Poon Hamilton Club Pro Shop - we are a NZRA TOP SHOP FINALIST for the Waikato!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!
• Rebecca Boulton Hoffman We are a finalist too - Bakers Delight Hamilton East Yay, yay. Woo Hoo!!!
• Sustainability divide emerges in wake of recession: University of Waikato
www.waikato.ac.nz
The economic downturn has created a growing sustainability divide, separating New Zealand businesses which “get” sustainability from those which see it as “nice to do”. That’s the key finding from a new survey by researchers at the University of Waikato Management School.
• Cameron Kay Hi Everyone Try this exercise to increase the amount of compassion in your life and the world. The expected result is a personal sence of peace. http://www.avatarjournal.com/en/home/exercises/37-ex-17-compassion.html If you enjoyed that, try these other exercises...
http://www.theavatarcourse.com/en/experience-avatar.htm...l
• Roberta Campbell Just wondering or curiosity's kills but id any1 know's Levi joey olsen just wondering if any1 could check up and see how he is or wot he's up to des day's.. hope he is welll kia ora
• Mediarts Wintec Puppetry exhibition 'Strings Attached' opens on Tues 7th 5.30pm at Ramp Gallery, Collingwood St - all welcome.
• Plumber sets sights on teaching: University of Waikato
www.waikato.ac.nz It may seem like a radical change of professions to some, but James Thomlinson says training to become a primary school teacher after five years as a plumber feels like a natural progression.
• Hamilton NZ feels like wrapping up with a nice fresh scone. Suggestions as to where to find the best scones in Hamilton...?

It was not Fryday’s intent when composing this to make you miserable. Of course not. But now that you are, because you don’t live in Hamilton, I can hope only you can make the best of your Auckland or elsewhere weekend…anyway.

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