Grandparents’ Delight by Angela Caldin
Bucolic Idyll Envisaged When my lovely son-in-law asked if we could look after our three delightful granddaughters for a day, while he and our daughter enjoyed a wine tour on Waiheke Island, we agreed with alacrity. What a blissful win-win arrangement, I thought: we would have the three little ones all to ourselves while their parents had a well-deserved and happy day-out together. But as the day drew nearer, the attractiveness of the prospect began to wane ever so slightly, mainly because the uninterrupted summer sunshine of the last few months was… Read More
It’s Good to Get Away by Trevor Plumbly
Getting Away New Zealand Style One of the oddest things about New Zealand is the enormous enthusiasm most people have for ‘getting away’. Given the size of the country, it’s pretty tough to get really far away from whatever moves you to flee the nest several times a year. I tend to be a bit cynical about it all really; it seems to me that most people getting away from ‘it all’ want to pack most it of ‘it all’ in the car with them, before heading off with thousands of fellow… Read More
The Older, the Better by Angela Caldin
A while ago I wrote about Frankie Valli, Englebert Humperdinck and Diana Gould, older people who are playing a joyously active role in the world. Now, I’d like you to meet Beryl Renwick, 86 and Betty Smith, 90 who have recently won the award for best entertainment programme at the Sony Radio Academy Awards, beating off the competition from the likes of Frank Skinner and the BBC’s Adam & Joe.
Tired of London, Enamoured of Life. By Angela Caldin
“Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” Samuel Johnson Dr Johnson’s words, so often quoted, darted into my mind when I had my recent Damascene moment. This came as I turned down a road high above the city of Auckland where a splendid view unfurled before me in the sunshine, sweeping down to the Skytower and the sparkling waters of… Read More
Mind and Matter Over Time by Angela Caldin
It’s April the world over and that means that here in the Antipodes we’re moving inexorably into autumn. Not for us white and pink blossom foaming on the trees and showy daffodils trumpeting their yellow gaudiness under trees and on grassy slopes. We can’t rejoice at new shoots poking their heads through the soil to reach for the gentle sun and we don’t enjoy lengthening days with light balmy evenings and the smell of barbecues in the air. We have violent winds and driving, teaming rain and daylight saving bringing darker evenings… Read More
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