20 May 1982

Posted on May 20, 2012 by

Thur May XX

Played golf with Dad and Uncle Neil. Didn’t do too bad. 10 holes in 78. at that rate I would have been around an 18 hole in only 141!

Had lunch in a restaurant.

Went to the Aratiatia rapids by the hydro electric station. The to Woolies and –> Thermal Pools.

Anyone who has ever had the misfortune to share a three- or four-ball with me should know that my awful golf started at an early age. In fact, you might argue that it has been downhill ever since this day, since this was the first time that I swung a club in anger.

One thing that I remember clearly about that round was that one hole had a raised green, which I first chipped the ball over, and then chipped straight back over the other way. Part of the problem was that I couldn’t actually see on to the green at the height I was then, so had no idea how hard to strike the ball.

My third attempt soared almost vertically, but came down on to the green. I climbed up after it, couldn’t see it and assumed I had overhit it again. That was when Dad and Uncle Neil directed me to the hole, in which nestled my ball. Hmmm…

Aratiatia is quite impressive. It is a dam at the top of a gorge. The water is held back and then released a couple of times a day, quickly filling the gorge.

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19 May 1982

Posted on May 19, 2012 by

Wed May XIX

Went to the Thermal areas an Rotorua – what a long drive. They are really great. Got some honey from the honey centre.

There really is nowhere like Rotorua, at least in my experience. Geysers, bubbling mud, landscape streaked with sulphur and of course a less than delicate aroma of that gas. To a teenage boy that sort of thing is a golden experience and I embraced every moment of it.

I was starting to develop a love of honey. I remember it as one of Mum’s treats from childhood, one of the things that she would eat and we children would occasionally have. The person I really remember eating it, though, is Grandad, who would eat it on thick slices of buttered bread. I prefer mine on toast and, intriguingly, eating local honey really does seem to have improved my hay fever.

I’m pretty sure that Rotorua isn’t that long a drive from Taupo and I can only imagine that I was still a bit tired and grumpy from the half day coach ride the day before when I wrote this.

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Custody of the Friends

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

If you have ever been in a long term relationship with someone and then broken up, then this post should hopefully resonate with you. When Helen and I eventually split up for good, we managed to be quite mature about most things. There was no squabbling over the CD collection (even though she somehow ended up keeping hold of some CDs of mine) and very little over finances. Friends, however, were a different matter.

I suppose it is inevitable that some of our friends felt that they had to side with one of us or the other, which was odd because, at least so far as I was concerned, there was no need to do so. I don’t want to know what Helen is up to now, but who am I to tell anyone who they can and cannot be friends with?

For some, though, this was clearly a big issue and there were several people who I thought were good friends of mine who I have not heard from since we split. It isn’t anything that I have ever lost any sleep over, but it is something slightly strange.

What it does make me grateful for, though, is the friendships that endured through that time, the people that knew both of us and who decided that they could cope with still knowing both of us. Although all of my friends are dear to me, those people will always be especially so, because they are clearly the ones who liked me for who I am and not simply for who I was married to at the time.

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18 May 1982

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

Tue May XVIII

Went to Taupo. Up at 6am. Boring 5hr bus journey. Met by Dads Auntie Shelagh and Uncle Neil. The ‘Batch’ has an outside loo and there was a dead rat in there.* Went to some thermal baths

*Annotated by Mum: There was a dead mouse in it!

A ‘bach’ is basically a New Zealand holiday house and for years afterwards I had if not nightmares then anxiety dreams about this one. I’m generally a good sleeper and rarely dream, but this place gave me one of the two recurring dreams that I ever had.

The problem was that, nice though it probably was and generous though it was of Sheelagh and Neil to take us there, it clearly hadn’t been used for some time (hence the dead vermin). My bed – and possibly Kevin’s as well – was in the basement, amid all of the things which needed to be stored, alongside the boiler, but none of this stopped the dampness of the air and, particularly, the slightly damp feel of the bedding. I can believe that it was probably only damp for the first night but the only memories I have been left with of that place are of nights spent in that damp basement.

Fortunately, we went to the thermal baths, because that was something I fell in love with and a much better memory to keep with me for the rest of my life.

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17 May 1982

Posted on May 17, 2012 by

Mon May XVII

Gran rang up at 6.20. Guess who got out of bed! Went to the library at Mt A

Nowadays, it wouldn’t shock me too much if the phone began ringing at twenty past six in the morning. For one thing, my alarm clock now starts going off at 6.07 (long story, don’t ask) so I’d be at least semi awake.

In those days, the rule was that you didn’t get out of bed before 7am, even on a school day. Phone calls in the early hours were unheard of unless it was a dire emergency.

You might think, therefore, that the ringing phone brought the whole house running. That wasn’t quite the case. It was outside the room that Kevin and I shared, so I was the first there and, as it was Karen’s birthday, had I think already worked out that it must be someone calling from England to speak to her.

I remember that Gran was very apologetic about having got the time difference wrong and called an hour earlier than she had intended to. I loved – and still do – the irony of her having got Karen out of bed forty minutes early on her birthday, because Karen always was the worst riser of the six of us.

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16 May 1982

Posted on May 16, 2012 by

Sun May XVI

Lisa’s birthday. Up at 7.20 – not too bad I suppose.

Everyone knows that teenagers like to sleep. I never thought that I was particularly like that until I came across this particular entry. Either I was already developing an aversion to early mornings or I just didn’t want the frenetic bounciness of a seven year old’s birthday to begin too soon.

In truth, I think that I was a lot better than most teenagers. I never had trouble getting up to do my paper round (I overslept at least once, but that was due to forgetting to set the alarm clock) or for early morning shifts at McDonald’s. There was certainly none of the lying in bed until the afternoon that many of my friends bragged about. Aside from anything else, there was plenty of television to watch before then!

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15 May 1982

Posted on May 15, 2012 by

Sat May XV

PARTY – aargg!!!!

Stayed in my room watching Sport on One

There are upsides and downsides to having two sisters. One of the downsides is that birthdays tend to result in your house being filled with – whisper it softly – GIRLS.

One of the upsides, at least in my case, was that my sisters had the good grace to be born of adjacent days, meaning that joint parties were the norm and I only had to avoid the whole ghastly experience once a year instead of twice.

‘Sport on One’ was the New Zealand version of ‘Grandstand’ and my regular Saturday viewing whenever I could get away with it. I recall that we borrowed a portable television from someone – probably the Parkes’ across the street – so that I could hide in my bedroom for the afternoon.

You will note that I make no mention of the swimming trip that I went on that evening with the Rossgrove Youth Group. This is odd, because I enjoyed myself so much – it was the first time I had been to a pool with water slides, for one thing – that I spent the rest of the time that we were in New Zealand trying – in fact nagging – to go back again. Sadly, we never did.

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