Tag Archives: Waiheke Island
I remember the day I came home from school, and the shock I felt when I stood in the kitchen entrance and saw Arthur, plump and naked on the kitchen table. I was twelve years old and really distressed to see Arthur, headless and denuded of feathers, sitting there, waiting to be put in the oven. Dad had warned my brother and I that if Arthur defecated on the back steps once more, he was for the chop. Yes, Dad…..
My brother Neville and I went to Ostend Primary School on Waiheke Island. The headmistress, Miss Ponsonby was a middle-aged spinster with permed hair and a sour face. I never saw her smile. She strutted around abusing and accusing. She used sarcasm and a heavy leather strap to keep the children in line. My brother was always being accused of doing things he had not done and would get ‘six of the best’ although he protested his innocence. One day,…..
I could see the shark fins. The sharks were swimming in a circle around our small dinghy. “Stop snivelling,” said my twelve year old brother, Neville. “Stop now, or I will throw you overboard.” “I want to go home,” I cried. It was the first Monday of our summer school holiday and our mother was busy doing the washing. We did not have electricity and so there was no washing machine. Instead Mum used a copper, which was in our backyard,…..
For all of my childhood I lived at Onetangi Beach, on Waiheke Island, New Zealand. When my brother was fourteen he went out with a local fisher for the day. My brother dived and caught four good sized crayfish. When he arrived back at the beach, the local man said to him, “See you later.” “Wait, don’t I get my crayfish?” asked Neville. “No, I am going to sell them.” Neville went home and told Dad he had caught four crayfish……
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