Yo, waddup Auckland? I gotta lot of love for you. But this one I don't know (Master MC)

View from Mt Eden

Wie geht's?

You find me in Auckland and my mate Kevin Simms' place while Jacky spends time recuperating in Gillies Ave.

Auckland is my hometown, and I love visiting. I lived here from 1957 to 1983 and then returned a few times with Jacky and the family for teaching jobs at Macleans College (1986 -1989) and my old school - Mount Albert Grammar (1995 - 2000). 

I support the Auckland Blues, Auckland F.C., Eden F.C. Marbecks' Records, Real Groovy Records, and the Royal Oak/Greenwoods Corner/Mt Eden area will always be a part of me.

My best friends live here, too.

But, I don't think I could live here again. The family house at 18 Korma Ave became a green space many years ago so Auckland no longer feels like home (if you know what I mean).

Win the rat race and you're still a rat.

Love and peace - Wozza

Yesterday we did what we were told but now we are Billy Bold (Graham Brazier - a local boy, from Mt Eden)

Auckland International Airport terminal. Flooded!

Wie geht's?

The wild weather in Auckland recently made me consider the safety and well-being of my Auckland whanau and friends. I was surprised, shocked even, to see how many Auckland dwellers there were when I went to Facebook and did a search of my friends.

A huge proportion of them!

Ich bin ein Aucklander in that I was born there (on Maungakiekie) and grew up there (close to Maungakiekie in Royal Oak/One Tree Hill and Mt Albert). I left for the wider world (New Plymouth and beyond) when I was 25. From time to time I enjoy going back there and catching up with mates.

I have returned a few times to live (the last time was 1995 to 2000) but I'm not sure I could live there again. Although, Jacky has been making noises about wanting to live in a city again, so I wouldn't rule it out necessarily. 

The flood damage was vast and confronting and my heart went out to all of those whose lives were affected. Kinship. A bond. 

Aucklanders! Kia kaha!!

Love and peace - Wozza

Do you think you will be happy, buttering the toast of your semi-detached suburban Mr. Most (Manfred Mann)

The Royal Oak roundabout,
ten years before I arrived

Wie gehts?

A while ago, I mentioned Tracey Thorn's wonderful book about her roots in suburbia, Another Planet. Specifically I alluded to her need to get in touch with her easy childhood and testy teenage self who lived in 1970s Brookmans Park (an hour train journey north of north London).

During the book, she goes on a pilgrimage of sorts, a 'day trip into the past', back to that small suburban commuter town and finds a lot of things unchanged. Except for her self. Like all of us, that's a person from another planet.

Where would I go if I was to follow her example? Because she's right:

So many of us live in some version of suburbia, the majority of us I suspect, yet we heap scorn upon the place, and what does that do, I wonder, to our sense of self. 

As they like to say in dramatic TV programmes, 'it's complicated'.

In the UK it's easier because it's not tainted with rosier childhood/ testy teenage memories. 

My history there isn't at touching distance - it skips two generations back to my grandfather who emigrated to New Zealand from Rochdale with his brother and parents in the 1900s. My father and I were born in NZ.

In NZ though, a pilgrimage back to my suburban roots/routes would take in a very small part of Auckland where I lived from zero to mid twenties (I lasted longer in my home town than Tracey did as I didn't travel away from home for University).

Here's a list of things I'd be able to walk to if you dropped me off at the Royal Oak roundabout, Auckland:

• Seymour Park (football from age 4 onwards)
• Royal Oak Primary
• Manukau Intermediate 
• Oak Street (my first house from 0-2)
• Korma Road (our house at number 18 was demolished some time ago, I lived there from 2-15)
• One Tree Hill (where I was born and roamed as a kid and teenager)
• The Royal Oak shops (like Brookmans Park, some are still there, like Ollie's Ice Cream)
• Greenwood's Corner
• Fernleigh Avenue (tennis club)

A short bus ride in a variety of directions would mean visits to:

• Auckland University
• 4 Ramelton Road, Mt Roskill (my house from 16-25)
• Mount Albert Grammar School
• Queen Street, Onehunga
• K Rd and Queen Street, central Auckland (where Greg and I walked and visited record shops)
• Shackleton Road, Mt Eden (where Greg lived)
• Disraeli Street (where I had football practice)

The universe was very small and comforting in suburbia days. Eventually, like Tracey's version, it would also became stifling. I've explored a bit more of the world since then.

That exploration is now over, and I'm ready for a smaller part of the planet again.

Love and peace - Wozza

Stop me if you think you've heard this one before (The Smiths)*



Adam, Ollie, SWMBO and Teenie

SWMBO and I visited another old friend this week - Tina and her husband Adam with their two year old son, Ollie. Tina very kindly provided us with lunch and even took us to and from the ferry building. She's a great girl is Teenie.
Ollie provided the entertainment and we had a wonderful afternoon catching up. Last time we saw them Ollie was in a pram, now he runs about shouting 'abuse' (thanks to his grandma), 'lady Yacky' (to SWMBO) and emptying the cupboards.

Jade rang me during the visit and asked if it brought back memories, and blow me down if after a while it did. Most involved a two year old Adam eating weird stuff after escaping from his cot in the early hours of the morning (sitting on the floor eating flour from the container in the kitchen with a large amount on the floor as well as in his mouth is a vivid memory).

After our visit we headed back to Waiheke Island where we are staying with the Minister of Defence (as my Arabic mates would call him), my father-in-law - Brian Smith.
  

The beach at Oneroa on Waiheke.

Life on Waiheke (unkindly but not inaccurately called the Cadbury Isle by Aucklanders) is...different. If you ever wondered what became of the Woodstock generation - 8,000 of them ended up on Waiheke!

It's slower in general, maan, although the jalopies still hurtle around the corners at times, friendlier, and much more alternative than life on the Auckland mainland (about 35 minutes away by ferry).

SWMBO and I are walking a lot each day - part therapy, part adventure, part necessity (we don't have our own car on the island), and it feels a little like walking in Dubai at times - a real lack of pedestrian friendly roads, a place out of time, and plenty of sand.

It does give us an opportunity for sightseeing though. I have been impressed by the variety of letter boxes on display and so I decided to compile a bit of a portfolio (I hope you are impressed Jesse).

Somehow the home made, quirky, innovative, humorous, weirdly creative letterboxes sum up the Waiheke experience quite nicely.

And my favourite on what appears to be an empty section of land (as in there is no house attached to the letterbox)

Love and peace maan - Wozza

* The title this week is an in joke that only my children will fully understand - SWMBO's maiden name was Smith and 'Smith humour' has legendary status in our household.