A happy place for all the sarcastic displaced kiwi's of the world.

  The School That Taught Me About Life (and Marbles) Celebrates its 50th Jubilee

To my fellow school mates, ex teachers and everyone who has spent time at Murrays Bay School. I have fond memories of my six years at what was then known as Murray's Bay Primary (1969 through 1975). From "riding" the immobilized old red farm tractor, to the open-air assemblies in front of the original library, the opening of the first "tuck-shop" next to Room 4 and the dreaded visits to the school dental nurse - especially one excruciatingly long lesson in proper dental technique (I think pliers were involved.)

When I have visited the school since those times I'm glad to see that not everything has changed, although some of the old temporary (baby boom kids kid's) classrooms were replaced. I still dream about my solitary mile long walk from Rothesay Bay (many of my friends went to the closer Browns Bay School instead.) It boggles the mind now, that from about the age of six I walked to school by myself. Up hill, down dale, up hill again, and then the long walk up the Aotearoa Terrace path to the school itself. How I schemed to install an express lift/escalator from the shop at the bottom of Lyons Ave to the shops at the top! It doesn't seem such a long walk now, but to my little legs back then every step up that steep, steep hill lasted forever. There are only so many stones one can kick, or sticks to be thrown to break the monotony.

In 1970 or so, during construction of a new house on Aotearoa Terrace, a rich seam of Kauri gum was uncovered under the old clay-packed driveway. These days it's hard to imagine the joy this discovery brought for a few short days as we all blissfully dig up the gold before the new concrete drive was laid down. Those were good times and I hope there are still treasures aplenty left for today's generation to discover before, after and yes, even during school time.

If any of my old friends still remember me I would very much like to hear from you. Maybe during one of my next visits *home* we can share some memories and a few drinks.

Happy Jubilee and I hope everyone has a fun evening!

Nigel Rowe (class of 1975)
also on oldfriends.co.nz

Labels: dreams, memories, New Zealand, school

Share on Facebook
posted at 1:28 AM 0 comments

 
New Zealand Cinema (finally) Comes of Age!

Later this month a true Down Under horror film hits the big screen and it's all about killer sheep. With its population of just over 4 million people and 40+ million sheep this is a Kiwi's worst nightmare come to life. Thanks to Weta Digital it's about as real as you can get. At least we can get even, order NZ lamp chops next time you're eating out ...

Check out the user submitted jokes section:
Q: Why do Scotsmen wear kilts?
A: Sheep can hear zippers.

Labels: horror, movies, New Zealand, sheep

Share on Facebook
posted at 11:48 AM 2 comments