Pollyanna take off those rose colored glasses

 There are problems in paradise.  They aren’t insurmountable but they are there.

Beer bottles discarded carelessly

Walking back from the Village I took a picture of beer containers discarded by the side of the road on a lovely grassy area.  This brought to mind that as much as I appreciate NZ for all of the good things here, there is still a ‘soft underbelly’ of problems.  There is the Maori complaint of inequitable treatment, the influx of money from other countries which is driving up the house prices in the Auckland area and the controversial synthetic cannabis vs the use of regular old cannabis issue.  There was a UK report showing the positive correlation between income inequality and poorer health and social conditions among developed countries.  NZ was better than the US, which had the worst inequality and worst health and social conditions, but was worse than say Canada.  But then NZ has a smaller population, wonderful natural resources and hopefully will come to grips with the problems it faces.

Further readings of the index can be found at:

http://www.closertogether.org.nz/inequality-in-nz/index-of-health-and-social-problems/

 

Fresh water for local pets

Flannel shirt uniform

 How can you not love a people who leave bowls of water by the sidewalks for the 4 footed friends of strangers.  There is still a sense of well-being when we see a stranger at the market, flannel shirt, casual slacks pushing a trundler (Oh I love that name for a grocery cart!) and that wonderful woman with permed grey curls, flowery blouse, mid-calf tan skirt, green home knit wool cardigan, ankle socks and sensible pumps squeezing the vegetables before choosing the best for dinner tonight.  We all exchange smiles and good will as we go about our marketing.

Picton St. Howick Village today

Early 1900s Picton Street

Old Howick and new Howick had and have growing pains.  The goodwill, hopefully, will help to resolve these and other thorny issues.

Sunny day, J

Anzac Day Commemorations

The Howick and Pakuranga Times 4-24-14

The cover of the weekly local newspaper, The Howick and Pakuranga Times was dedicated to past flyers and news headlines depicting WW1 and WW2 publicity.  This pretty much illustrates the importance of the Anzac Forces in NZ history.  The 'lest we forget' gardens and monuments are a tribute to the sacrifices made by this country in the wars. The newspaper gave information about where and when we could attend the commemorations of Anzac forces.

Walk up Stockade Hill

Although we passed on going out to march at sunrise (0530) we did attend a later remembrance. We walked up Stockade Hill to view the 11am commemoration of Anzac Day here in Howick.  There was a large cluster of locals gathered around the stage.  Interspersed along the walkway to the hill top were red poppies. There was a feeling of camaraderie, festivity, solemnity and goodwill amongst the onlookers.  We had decided to honor our parents who lived through WW2 making the best of a very bad situation in the Philippines, the Aleutians and mainland US.  Neither of us glorifies war but we appreciate what soldiers have done.

Crosses, some with names all with poppies

NZ, Australian and UK Flags

3 Harvards flying over

The spokesperson began the ceremony by asking all to rise and sing God Save the Queen. I was forced by my heritage to quietly hum My Country Tis of Thee, which, of course, has the same melody.  In retrospect My Country Tis of thee was written in 1831.  I do believe God Save the Queen/King has a longer heritage; 1744 is the original I believe.  We then listened to the brass band play a few other patriotic and religious songs and then meandered around getting a feeling for the people who were in attendance. 

5 Harvards

At various times a cluster of 3 and then 5 aircraft would fly by in formation.  I asked a local man what type of airplanes they were.  He said they were ‘havads’, “Harvards?” I asked.  “Yes, Havads, which were used as training aircraft in WW2.”  Known in the US as the T-6 Texan, it was originally built by North American Aviation. The RNZAF and other commonwealth military pilots used this aircraft for training, calling it a Harvard. They were impressive flying over with loud engines announcing their presence before they came into sight leaving contrails in their wake.

After about the 3^rd speech we decided to quietly leave the hill and head home.  It is always a very pleasant walk through the quiet neighborhoods.   We walked in our door two minutes before the skies opened up and we had a terrific deluge.

A quiet and interesting day, J

American behavior? & Anzac Day

Corner of Picton

I was just listening to the NZ public radio station when the interviewers were discussing the rash of brute behavior on the transit system in Auckland.  One of the radio readers said, “Why are we seeing this rash of American behavior.”  The other personalities did not question this description in the least.  They continued to discuss the problem and accepted the “American behavior” remark as an apt description which all understood to be brutish, criminal acts of violence. 

This is what I love about traveling out of the US.  We see our country from the prospective of others.  I told this to a friend here and her first reaction was to say, “I’m sure you got right onto the phone to let them know what you thought.”   I said, “No, this is what I find interesting about traveling.  The description is apt for certain areas in the US.”  “Oh yes,” says she “we got lost in our camper in Los Angeles and ended up in a very dangerous area.  I think I saw what they call ‘Camper People’ all living in a terrible place.”  I replied, “Oh, that horrible descriptive ‘trailer  trash’, which is another name for the poor.” “Crazy isn’t it?” she says, “Richest country in the world and such poor areas.”  “Yep” says I, “but that’s another longer conversation.”

Crosses on Stockade Hill

Lest We Forget
Obelisk

Tomorrow Anzac Day is celebrated, or rather commemorated.  It’s been 99 years since the 25^th of April, 1915 when the Australian and New Zealand forces fought and died in Gallipoli.  8500 Australians and 2721 New Zealanders died in WWI. The Kiwis lost the most soldiers per percentage of population by country in that war.  Everyone wears a red poppy and remembers family members and friends who died in war.  A small local group tried to sell white poppies in contrast to the red to promote peace.  They are not very well received by the general public as they are seen as dishonoring the fallen soldiers. 

I have never been a promoter of war, but I have always respected our soldiers.  They have been given horrendous jobs to be done by, in my opinion, our dishonorable leaders. 

View of water and Howick from Stockade Hill

So tomorrow there will be many people on the hill in the Village watching the sunrise service.  There are crosses planted on the lawn to commemorate the Howick men lost in battle.  Some of the

crosses have a name, all will be remembered.  This I believe is honorable.

Rain here, as April is October in the northern hemisphere and May (November) will be here soon.

All good, J

Playing for a year’s worth of meat and the Holidays keep rolling on!

Howick Village Lawn Bowl Fields

Howick has many parks for such a small village and one of the most used contains the Lawn Bowl Fields. Lawn bowling in NZ is usually an outdoor sport  played on a well-tended green.  

It came to our attention that those white clad denizens of the green fields actually get more than exercise and a social outing.  One veteran player of lawn bowling said that he and his wife are pretty good and usually win all of their yearly meat supplies, but they don’t really care for the lamb.  We quickly said, “We love lamb!” but apparently some of their other friends love lamb too and were in line before us.  I don't know if the meat prize is an official part of the game or if this is for personal wagers.  Also of note is that most of those people tossing balls onto the green fields are somewhat mature.

Walking with a neighbor, who is 10 years my junior, I inquired if she had thought of taking up lawn bowling.  I said this only to enjoy her disquiet and amazement that I would insinuate that she’s ‘mature’ enough.  “I’m not THAT old yet!” she replied.  I laughed but was later informed that people lawn bowl here in NZ at all ages.  The sport is used to foster team play and good sportsmanship among young players. I do admit that most of the players have hair as white as mine and appear to be ambling about on the field.  But we are told that the competition can be intense and the winning quite fulfilling. 

Here in Howick Village there is a sign posted stating that a cobble path from Selwyn Avenue to Uxbridge has a stone embankment built to retain the lawn for the public lawn bowl field used in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

I have played bocce ball in the past and the robust Italian fervor was wonderful to experience.  So at some point I may join those ‘old folks’ and try the game.

Lovely Easter Monday here today.  Yes, there is Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday and then Easter Monday and in Australia there is even an Easter Tuesday.  Oh these people in the southern hemisphere know how expand on and enjoy the official holidays.

All is good, J