Island Life by David Slack

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Island Life: Bring Out Your Dad

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  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    The disease was very well publicised during the polio epidemics of the 1950s, with extensive media coverage . . .

    Sounds like a load of hysterical media hype to me.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    There is theory that those over 60 have a natural immunity to H1N1 due to a similar but forgotten epidemic in the 1940s. It could possibly be related to the old outbreaks of whooping cough which were everywhere in the 1940s.

    One of the worst things about the polio epidemics, from those who remember them, is that you weren't even allowed to play with the neighbourhood kids.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Joanna,

    One of the worst things about the polio epidemics, from those who remember them, is that you weren't even allowed to play with the neighbourhood kids.

    Yeah but Michael Jaclkson's been living with that law for many years now, the rest of us can probably handle it too...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 746 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    Forced to stay inside, with nothing but a computer to look at. What will I do all day?

    Hacking monsters to bits would be a good start. Although there was a particularly infamous incident on there a few years back.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    There is theory that those over 60 have a natural immunity to H1N1 due to a similar but forgotten epidemic in the 1940s. It could possibly be related to the old outbreaks of whooping cough which were everywhere in the 1940s.

    Not a theory I'm terribly keen to test out on my 63 year old partner -- he gets inexplicably pissy about being used as a lab rat. :)

    Sounds like a load of hysterical media hype to me.

    Weeelll... I do think some sections of the media could do with a supply of chill pills, but I feel rather sorry the poor bastards at the Health Ministry who are damned if they do, damned if they don't. Primo head-desk moment at the end of Morning Report, when some furious correspondent was somewhat irate over the notion that perhaps you shouldn't head for the nearest A&E the moment you get the sniffles. The punchline: "It's called a PUBLIC health system, you know."

    Did I miss the new "stay home and drop dead" policy?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Whoops,

    Maybe the nice programers at one of the TV stations will do some re-runs of good shows instead of the usual rubbish? So that the plague-ridden shut-ins have something to do other than compete with me for bandwidth?



    ...

    Old Man: I don't want to go on the cart....
    Man: Oh, don't be such a baby.
    Cart-master: I can't take 'im....
    Old Man: I feel fine!

    ....

    Old Man: I feel happy! I feel happy!

    here • Since Apr 2007 • 105 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    There is theory that those over 60 have a natural immunity to H1N1 due to a similar but forgotten epidemic in the 1940s. It could possibly be related to the old outbreaks of whooping cough which were everywhere in the 1940s.

    The combination H1N1 hasn't been around since the Spanish flu.

    But to some degree the more variations of the flu your immune system has seen (either as vaccines or as actual sick in bed shivering hoping to die soon flu) the more likely it is to be able to provide some amelioration of the current H1N1 pandemic. So yes older folk will have somewhat less severe symptoms. But less is a very relative term.

    The thing to note is that last years vaccine will provide very little protection against H1N1 but it will protect against the seasonal flu that is also going around.

    Yes there are TWO flus this year and it is possible to get both at once.

    The new vaccine will protect much more against H1N1 but it will still be possible to get sick with H1N1 even if you get the new vaccine, it just should be much milder than otherwise. And of course the H1N1 vaccine will provide very little protection against the seasonal flu.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Ian MacKay,

    Durijng the 1947 thing, while the school was closed we were expected to do Correspondence lessons. Ha! The summer days were far too exciting to waste thus. Actually it was called Infantile Paralysis then and the understanding then was that you must keep your head and neck covered against the sun which "gives 'ya infantile pralisis." A bit scary when there was so much summer to spend.

    Bleheim • Since Nov 2006 • 498 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Let's hope the virus doesn 't migrate from human to computer!

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    "It's called a PUBLIC health system, you know.

    One suspects the writer of that email misunderstands the meaning of the word "emergency".

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    O. Hoppy Nick didn't get his long leg lengthened, that was a mistake on my part. It was his shorter leg that was lengthened to match the longer one.

    A Surprise for Little Bobby

    It was little Bobby's birthmark today and he got a surprise. His very fist was lopped off, (The War) and he got a birthday hook!

    All his life Bobby had wanted his very own hook; and now on his 39th birthday his pwayers had been answered. The only trouble was they had send him a left hook and ebry dobby knows that it was Bobby's right fist that was missing as it were.

    What to do was not thee only problem: Anyway he jopped off his lest hand and it fitted like a glove. Maybe next year he will get a right hook, who knows?

    John Lennon, In His Own Write

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • B Jones,

    What I'm quietly wigging out about is what a pandemic will do to hospital services for those who will otherwise be wanting to make use of them. I'm having a baby in August or September, and I really don't want to have to choose between a drug-free home birth or delivering a newborn in a hospital full of hacking infectious flu victims. I'd rather catch the flu now and hope that we both get the antibodies when our immune systems part company.

    And it will be way worse for people undergoing chemo or radiotherapy and are immune compromised without having the plan B I'll have.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report Reply

  • B Jones,

    I'd rather catch the flu now and hope

    On second thoughts...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    We should all stay at home and eat as much pork as we can, to eradicate this menace once and for all.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    What I'm quietly wigging out about is what a pandemic will do to hospital services...

    We are likely to see a lot more flu this year than previous years and that will put a load on hospitals. But it is actually the kind of thing for which hospitals prepare. Waiting lists for non-urgent surgeries will get longer but I doubt hospitals will be overwhelmed.

    I also don't think you should worry too much about the maternity wards being affected. However you will probably find that you won't see many/any visitors. Where possible I think you might see hospitals limiting the number of people moving around the wards, especially visitors.

    The big difficulty for the hospitals will be around staff illness. Hospital staff are exposed more than most but also have better hygiene protocols and will also be the first to be vaccinated. Losing say 20% of the nursing staff to illness would make any hospital run a bit chaotically.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • B Jones,

    Fair enough. In those circumstances I can see the value in being sent home early with a (gloved) pat on the back, a voucher for internet-delivered groceries and a roving midwife's pager number.

    I should never have read The Stand.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report Reply

  • Evan Yates,

    His name was Hoppy Nick, before he had it lengthened by modern medical procedure.

    What was it afterwards? Monopedal Periodic Ambulatory Nicholas ?

    I would have thought deed poll would have been more suitable than anything medical.

    Hamiltron, Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Nov 2006 • 197 posts Report Reply

  • Bruce Thorpe,

    It was my Endless Summer. Possibly the happiest and certainly the most personally formative time of my life.

    I was born December 1937, so I was turning 10, I had a dog,and I was not allowed to go to school, or mix with other kids.

    Nobody challenged a kid who kept his distance and avoided contact.I was free from a small town world that stigmatised my fatherless famiy.

    There was a housing shortage, my mother and five kids lived in two tents on a beach camping ground. We had a cold water tap and made cooking fires in cut down "kerosene tins." They rusted out in about six weeks then we would go back of the grocer;'s and take another one.

    My dog Gypsy was mostly kelpie, and taught me how much a human and a dog could share.

    And for good measure there was an invisible and very scarey ogre stalking the land called infantile paralysis. There were rumours and.
    precautions that changed almost nothing. Even the grown ups were afraid.

    The sun was always shining and I hoped it would never end.

    Hokianga • Since May 2007 • 52 posts Report Reply

  • David Slack,

    Bruce, that's an astonishing opening to a story. Have you written or spoken about this at any greater length? If not, would you like to?

    Devonport • Since Nov 2006 • 599 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    We had a cold water tap and made cooking fires in cut down "kerosene tins." They rusted out in about six weeks then we would go back of the grocer;'s and take another one.

    Salvation Army, saved from sin
    Went up to heaven in a kerosine tin
    The tin caught alight from an electric wire
    Down came the Sallies with their pants on fire


    Dodgy items at the best of times, those tins. Just as well they're rusted away into the landfill of history, along with infantile paralysis.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    Great story, or intro thereto, as was the one about the Woodville earthquake & the manuka clothesprop. Got any more?

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Striking coal miners (or M Thatcher, depending on your point of view) closed all the schools in Wales in 1972. We all stayed home making candles out of margerine, like they showed us during the couple of hours the power & TV were on.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Living in paper bag etc.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    We had power cuts in Kent. They would turn off the power for half the town one night, the other half the next. I was annoyed when the power was turned off just before Dr Who came on.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • David Slack,

    My uncle, Yorkshire-born, took his family back home around 73 or 74. All the news at the time was about short working weeks, power cuts, strikes, and the whole country grinding to a halt. I couldn't believe he wanted to do it. They were back here in about nine months, from memory.

    Devonport • Since Nov 2006 • 599 posts Report Reply

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