Public Address | Cafe | Great New Zealand Argument: No Fretful Sleeper

Heather W.

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:25:20 +1200

Didn't they have science back then?

Wikipedia has a page for the i before e except after c rule.

ChrisW

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:53:10 +1200

he informed the class that there was only one word that broke the "i before e, except after c" rule, and that was "seige"

Would it be carping or carpe diem to point out that would be seize rather than siege, but then again weird etc. as well :-)

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:34:27 +1200

I guess the legendary leg-slapping Miss Ellie Moore was gone by the time you got there. She features in Pearson's story 'Sins of the Fathers'.

She must have departed by then.

But I was taught by the ancient Ces Murley, who may well have crossed over with Pearson — he…

ChrisW

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:10:59 +1200

Thanks Paul – it says something of NZ that Bill Pearson in 1951/52, while enjoying the anonymity of London, thought

It is possible for a South Islander in Auckland to feel uprooted in the indifference and hostility of the people.

to be a worthwhile observation, something new perhaps that his…

Paul Millar

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:00:15 +1200

You were a Grey Main lad too?

I guess the legendary leg-slapping Miss Ellie Moore was gone by the time you got there. She features in Pearson's story 'Sins of the Fathers'.

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:53:45 +1200

Getting back to the original topic, I think Bill Pearson had a much, much happier time at school than I did. Greymouth Technical High School gave him some of the best times of his life and that's why he asked that some of his ashes be sprinkled there. I heard…

Paul Millar

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:16:31 +1200

On the Christchurch-Auckland culture shock, one of the many notable lines I noticed in “Fretful Sleepers” is –
It is possible for a South Islander in Auckland to feel uprooted in the indifference and hostility of the people.
And I wonder whether this was Bill Pearson expressing a totally genuine…

Paul Millar

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:03:35 +1200

welcome to Christchurch. I presume you're at UoC? If so, I pop into the English building most days.

I am at UoC David, based in the English building. Thanks for the welcome. I'll look forward to catching up.

"Hi Paul" from another UoC inmate. Recently enjoyed the Baxter doco I…

Rob Stowell

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:02:06 +1200

I did :) (At least close by)

Islander

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:09:56 +1200

Rob Stowell – try growing up in the place-

Islander

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:08:47 +1200

Peter A- CHCH's school zone obsession is real, continuing, and been around since, o, 1850? Think Wakefield settlement plan, and nothing to do with Edinburgh-

Peter Ashby

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 21:49:28 +1200

@Paul Millar

Christchurch's school zone obsession sounds just like Edinburgh's, which is curious with ChCh being an 'English' colony.

Rob Stowell

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 15:06:38 +1200

I guess I don't get out much, 'cos the Chch schooling conversations seem a little over-egged. I suspect it matters a lot to a fairly small proportion of inhabitants.
And "Hi Paul" from another UoC inmate. Recently enjoyed the Baxter doco I think you wrote :)

ChrisW

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 13:26:03 +1200

(Acknowledge my early exit from conversation last night for reasons involving short but sound sleep in confident expectation of Germany reaching its full quota of goals)

I’m pleased to hear from several sources of Noel Hilliard’s writing being so highly regarded then and now – for some reason I retain…

giovanni tiso

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:57:48 +1200

I've overheard conversations that seem to consist of nothing but school decile numbers.

I was asked by an Aucklander what high school we were planning for our oldest child when he was two. That puzzled me some.

David Haywood

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:54:24 +1200

Paul Millar wrote:

Never before have I lived in a city where so many adults who should know better judge children by the school zone they live in.

Yes, it's astonishing! I've overheard conversations that seem to consist of nothing but school decile numbers.

At any rate, welcome to Christchurch.…

Hilary Stace

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 22:21:53 +1200

We never paid attention to her poetry, but after she died we realised she had been published occasionally since the late 1930s, totally unappreciated by her family. There is a clutch of them in Landfall around 1979-1980 and others scattered over the decades. After she died, we published a book,…

Paul Millar

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 22:14:03 +1200

I'm pleased my revised introduction to 'Fretful Sleepers' has generated such an interesting discussion. It's completely appropriate Noel Hilliard should get a mention. He and Bill Pearson were very close for a number of years and I drew heavily on their correspondence for the early-60s chapters of 'No Fretful Sleeper'.…

Islander

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 21:11:08 +1200

Dunno Hilary- hidebound I aint, and wasted I can be – but I am open & never been tatty-

now, just off on a mission to find your mother & her poetry- arohanui n/n Keri

Hilary Stace

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 20:11:09 +1200

I inherited an almost complete run of Landfall, 1947 to 1997. Lovely to dip into, and occasionally I find a poem of my mother's. Just checked on the first issue from 1947 and it's obviously been much read over the years, as it is now coverless and a bit tatty.…

Islander

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 20:00:07 +1200

Excellent recollections ChrisW!
Jane Fulford (one of the more illustrous alumni of Aranui High School) & I were in the same class – and it was she, of course, who made "Formerly The Blackball Hilton" (and her brother who makes ANZ's best salami.)
I once was a card-carrying journalist (with the…

ChrisW

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 19:44:37 +1200

That was an auspicious birth sign too then Islander!

Noel Hilliard was my best and most memorable teacher at primary school, 2/3rds of my Std 1 year as well. In Std 3 he covered a huge range of curriculum material well but still had time to read to us, about…

Islander

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 18:17:37 +1200

ChrisW – double wow! with Hilary-

I loved Noel's "Maori Girl" (I read it in 1963) – some of the social jousts it describes echoed experiences of the browner members of my whanau. I have it, and "A Night At Green River" (which was sooo good) and "Send Somebody Nice"…

Russell Brown

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 18:07:56 +1200

But really, the insightful description of the New Zealand society I was born into is fascinating and revealing. I may be biased but it seems to capture a moment in time just before so much rapid change kicked in.

One of my particular (lay) interests is predictions and premonitions of…

Hilary Stace

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:35:39 +1200

Wow, Noel Hilliard was your teacher! The first two Netta Samuel books were probably my earliest introduction to adult NZ fiction, discovered when I was a young teenager. I was very surprised to later discover Noel was not himself female.

ChrisW

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:11:49 +1200

Well, I for two am interested ...

I was pleased to find Bill Pearson's essay "Fretful Sleepers" on PA last year – one of those many things heard of and recommended but unread until then. Now it's good to find out more detailed context of its writing and publication, and…

David Haywood

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:07:24 +1200

Lovely work, Paul!

Public Address

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:07:24 +1200

Discussion from blog post.