Public Address | Cafe | Southerly: A Little Voyage Around My Grandfather

Jackie Clark

Fri, 25 May 2007 19:05:21 +1200

Made to live in the distant past? Obviously it didn't suit him at all, which may be why he went to Canada. It suits me and I have to say that quite often I wish it was still like that. The innocence, the utter geographical isolation from the rest of…

dyan campbell

Fri, 25 May 2007 15:27:41 +1200

David Haywood wrote

Would it make it even weirder if I told you that this recollection comes from 1974? Back home my mother was tie-dying clothing, baking her own bread, and doing leatherwork. My dad spent his weekends making pottery.

Yipes, I am much older than you are... in 1974…

jon_knox

Wed, 23 May 2007 08:20:40 +1200

3. If I have anything to do with it, Jon's soul will go to hell for posting that link. I am already drafting a letter to the Pope.

A PAPIST eh!?

If there is a God in the Christian sense, save yourself the paper & postage, I'm already on that list.

David Haywood

Wed, 23 May 2007 00:25:09 +1200

Jon Knox (and others):

Very sorry — I've been rushing round trying to make the science radio programme today... Er, yes, and dealing with proper media types set upon me by a certain Mr Russell Brown (or, as I tend to think of him now, my former friend Mr Russell…

jon_knox

Tue, 22 May 2007 22:09:41 +1200

You're famous au. Prolly too buzy on the tv today to respond to your responses....that and practicing for Dancing with Stars. Gawd let's hope it hasn't gone to your head being both on TV and NZ's (or is it Fiji's) "Blogger's spokesman".

You were a lot more youthful looking [[http://www.tv3.co.nz/default.aspx?tabid=252&articleID=27512#vidlist27512|on the…

Jackie Clark

Tue, 22 May 2007 19:13:28 +1200

Oh David, you really do write so very well. How evocative indeed. I hope that all of us had a childhood imbued with as much grandfatherly love. I certainly did. I really miss my grandad.........

Tony Kennedy

Tue, 22 May 2007 16:05:45 +1200

there is something in the conspiratorial grandparent stories that always makes me smile, for me it was the "we will just go for a walk" and somehow include an icecream from the dairy.

In my case it was a visit to the pub, When I was 4 or 5, my…

Joe Wylie

Tue, 22 May 2007 13:33:57 +1200

Canadians will spend a fortune on their kids' teeth.

That and maple syrup.
Sodium bicarbonate powered submarines were the best-ever Weetbix freebie, I collected all the colours.

dyan campbell

Tue, 22 May 2007 13:25:30 +1200

The concept of The Murder House will horrify and alarm any Canadian... we had hygienists come to the schools and clean our teeth, give us toothbrushes, dental floss and those groovy little prizes – sodium bicarb powered submarines, water pistols and sparkly glass rings and necklaces... but the idea of…

Joe Wylie

Tue, 22 May 2007 13:00:24 +1200

Paul and our NZ friends describe a very different era in the 1960s with terrifying dentistry with foot powered treadle drills . . .

Lordy. The only time I ever saw one of those drills was in a display of an army field hospital at an open day at Linton…

dyan campbell

Tue, 22 May 2007 12:04:43 +1200

That is a beautiful and evocative piece of writing David, thank you.

One thing that has perplexes me though is that my contemporaries in NZ seem to have grown up in a different century than my contemporaries in Canada. I'm probably older than David, but I've compared memories and photographs…

Lee Wilkinson

Tue, 22 May 2007 10:33:34 +1200

Nice post David,
there is something in the conspiratorial grandparent stories that always makes me smile, for me it was the "we will just go for a walk" and somehow include an icecream from the dairy.

jon_knox

Tue, 22 May 2007 10:02:50 +1200

Thanks David! For a minute the dark angel looming was forgotten as I visited a slice of childhood paradise. There's not much in life that's better than sitting on a (Glaswegian) grandparent's knee singing as little 'un...Even sitting in an office recalling this is pretty damn good!

Michael Stevens

Tue, 22 May 2007 09:30:52 +1200

beautiful – thank you

Megan Clayton

Tue, 22 May 2007 09:05:59 +1200

This is a joyful post and one that recalls for me memories of my own grandfather, by whom I was similarly loved. What satisfaction to live in a world with adults who understood that pudding was where the true nutrients were, and that voyages were best made on a self-designed…

andrew llewellyn

Tue, 22 May 2007 08:42:14 +1200

Glaswegian? Why did I imagine your forebears would be German?

Public Address

Tue, 22 May 2007 08:42:13 +1200

Discussion from blog post.