Posts by Jackie Clark
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Hard News: Floating the idea, in reply to Tamara,
The bad old days, Tamara. We always had pools when I was growing up, and since we were a yachting family, my father was very keen that we learn to swim as soon as possible. I believe - and this may be urban myth - that Dad would basically throw us in the deep end of our pool, and see if we sank or swum. I'm fairly sure, on reflection, that he probably got in the water with us. But either way, we started swimming very, very young, and were also sent to swimming lessons, basically to get our strokes right. (Hauraki Cnr, as I remember it, although I have no idea what the swim school's name was.) It amazes me, still, when I hear about adults being unable to swim. It's just one of those things that I have always thought was a key survival skill.
And as for Pt Chev beach....it's basically an inner city area and it affords families from central and west Auckland who would not otherwise have the opportunity, to go to the beach, where it's safe for kids, and where there's a fantastic park on hand for games and BBQs and the like. Why would that ever be a bad thing? -
Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 1: Beach…, in reply to Steve Barnes,
Oh, I look forward to coming up when you have an inside toilet. That is all, Sir. And @ Lucy, I wish I knew why vets were so expensive. We have the original $10,000 dog. (Probably more, actually). She used to get grass spurs in her ears that had to be removed surgically, at $200 a pop. And then there was the time two of her vertebrae crumbled - $5000 thanks. And of course, there were the aural haematoma (several of them) that required surgery. That was probably $300 a go, and it happened about 5 times. And then. And then, she was diagnosed - with the aid of a $250 blood test - with diabetes, (insulin - $80 every 4 weeks, test sticks $50, every so often, the syringes are free - and hypothyroidism (pills are $36 every 3 weeks) and possibly hypoadrenalcorticism. The last has cost us nothing yet, because there is a very expensive blood test - again, about $250 - and then if she has it, which we are pretty sure she does, the treatment is chemo every 6 weeks for the rest of her life. At which point - she is a 10 yr old dog in a 15 yr old dog's body is what the vet keeps telling us - we say enough. We know a bit about chemo in this house, and no animal of mine is going through that. All in all, I would have bought pet insurance when she was a wee pup. And next time, we will do that. But for now, we have our lovely old girl, and her cat-sister (who is coming up 14, and still bounces around like a kitten, and, btw who has cost us very little, except for vaccinations and the like, ) And we love them. Isn't that what it's all about? Expensive little bastards, that they are.
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Okay, here's something I know a wee bit about. Every year, there are drownings. Last year, there were 86. Water Safety NZ has the statistics, and breakdowns of those. But all I know is this: children make up a sizeable proportion of those statistics - about 25%. And all of them would be preventable deaths. Schools already do watersafe programmes, but what about kids under 5? Well, for those kids, especially in traditionally low-socioeconomic areas where people haven't normally had pools in their backyard, public pools are it. Many of my kids have swimming lessons of a Saturday morning, and many of them spend a great deal of time at the public pools in Mangere or Papatoetoe. (If we had a pool at the kindergarten, then we would be doing it there. But we don't. And going to the public pools as a kindergarten trip is sort of off the charts unmanageable - 1:1 ratios around water are the thing, and can you imagine trying to make sure all 45 kids at a time are ok? Even I am not that silly. ) And in middle class Mt Eden? Lots of the kids round here go to Maungawhau Primary, and that pool is teeming on weekends and after school in summer. I believe it's one of the last school pools still going, around here. So I'm all for making public pools free, or at least free for kids. And that's not to mention the fairly large numbers of PI men who get themselves into shit around the water. They, too, would benefit from free public pools. I would have said this was win/win all around.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 1: Beach…, in reply to Tamsin6,
You're never a stranger, Tamsin. It just takes a lot longer than a few weeks to get back into the stream of life wherever you are from. I would say it even takes a couple of years, or so. If, on the other hand, you have always felt a little like a stranger, then it is best to be where you feel most comfortable, I think.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 1: Beach…, in reply to sally jones,
Ian's my husband, Sally. He looks like he' s in ZZ Top - the ginga's edition - but really he isn't. Funny story - when he had leukemia, and was in hospital, toward the end of his year's treatment, one of the nurses was surprised to see that he had red hair growing back on his head. " I can't believe you're a redhead" she exclaimed. To which I could only look at her, and shake my head in wonder that anyone at all would ever mistake his irascibility - let's call it fierceness - for anything other than what it really is. They don't call redheads fiery for nothing.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Big hugs, my Sof.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Sam F,
Justement, Sam. Guns+rhetoric of fear=bad shit every time.
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I disagree, Ben. The best garment for actual swimming is your birthday suit.
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Speaking of your garden, Sally, I have some fantastic photos to show you of Ian's cucumbers and tomatoes....... right about here.
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Hard News: Behaving badly at the bottom…, in reply to andin,
I really enjoyed doing jury service. I was called once when I was 21 but never sat on a jury, never got out of the jury room. Then I did it a couple of years ago. At the AKA, we get full pay, and just send them the cheque that the Dept of Justice gives us. I did get on a jury this time - so basically I had the whole week off, and just went in for a couple of days. The case I was sitting on was simple and elegant, and the person concerned was obviously guilty so we had no trouble or argument about our verdict. It was a stupid crime she had been part of - no violence or anything, she was just the idiot driving the car. The one thing I have to say I was most impressed with were the defence's witnesses. One of them was a young boy who had been in the car with this person when the crime was committed. He had obviously been let off with a warning or something. The prosecution kept trying to trip him up - and their questioning of him made it very clear that they thought he was just another unintelligent, inarticulate young man on the wrong track. But he proved them wrong, just by being articulate, and very clear with his answers, and he was obviously telling the truth. He was so, so sure of himself. So indignant - and justifiably so - when they intimated that he was lying. They were so smug, and he blew everyone away with his complete lack of guile, and his openness. I was most impressed with him.