#Wellington is one of my “grey area people

[hoppityhopster23]

Happy birthday to Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington! (May 1st, 1769)

[eph-em-era]

eph-em-era's guide to writing wellington like a wellingtonian (and NZ like you live here)

Welcome to this guide! WWDITS (the film) fic, as well as other... kiwi... things... seem to be getting popular at the moment, and honestly, I've read so many fics lately that totally ruin the immersion for me cause something's really off. No hate on y'all writing the fic, you're doing the lord's work, but I still scream internally. Thus, below is my guide to writing Wellington like you live here, as well as some cheeky tips on writing Kiwis in general. lessssshgooooo.

If you liked this, reblog it so others can see it!

THE CITY

This map is a smidge problematic but it's super true. If you're looking for an accurate suburb map, click here.

In the scheme of things, Wellington's 'main city' is made up of:

Te Aro - Cuba St, Courtenay Place, most bars, movie theatres and theatres. It's the 'entertainment district' of the city and where the majority of WWDITS is set. The place is usually full of people for the majority of the day and night.

Wellington Central - this is the business district. It basically shuts down after 4.30pm each night, and is super quiet on weekends, aside from a few bars and most of the city's hotels. If there was a quiet place for vampires to do some hunting in the middle of the night, it'd be here.

Aro Valley - an arty, hippie, residential area, Aro Valley is where there are a ton of students, craft beer brewers and damp houses. It's one of the oldest parts of Welly, and doesn't get a lot of sun. Artsy, liberal and very radical - tons of political protests have been born in the mouldy flats of the Aro Ditch.

Kelburn - this is where Victoria University (Vic) and the cable car is. Students mostly live here, though there's a fair amount of old wealthy people scattered about too.

Thorndon - where Parliament is and where most of the public servants hang out. Predominantly offices, though there's a lot of neat historical buildings up there too.

Obviously, heading further out you have Mt Vic, Pipitea, Northland, Mt Cook, Newtown and the like. Wellington is a city with very strict personalities per suburb (if you need to know I can always help you out, just message me!)

If you're writing anything movie-making-based, you'll be looking towards Miramar for the most part - that's where the majority of filming anything takes place, though most people who work at the studios do live in town (Miramar can be kinda isolating if you're a city person).

LIVING IN WELLINGTON

(Looking towards Mt Vic from Northland, dawn.)

Wellington very much is a city of contradictions.

People who live here tend to be employed in a few main professions: public servants (working for the govt), artists (visual, theatre, film, dance) or hospitality. We also have a ton of academics, cause we're basically based around two big universities - Massey University and Victoria University.

The weather can be very up and down. We get horrendous winds and storms (planes are frequently grounded cause of wind or fog), but when the weather is nice it's really nice. It's a beautiful place to live. However, if your characters are smart, they'll have a raincoat, rather than an umbrella. Umbrellas do not survive in our wind.

Rent can be quite high and most people don't live in the central city unless they're on a really good wage. Students/young people will only live in the central city (that's Te Aro usually) if they're living in kind of gross apartments for the most part.

Public transport, biking, walking and escooters are massive. Our trains are a bit shit and don't run that often, but buses are huge. Metlink, the company that runs them, is not amazing, but there are a lot of different routes. If you're living in Wellington, though, you're probably not driving places unless it's a fair bit away. Most people walk, cause the central city is flat. Buses in Wellington these days are lime-coloured but used to be yellow, grey or blue up until a couple of years ago. For escooters, we have Beam (purple) and Flamingo (pink) in the central city.

That being said, though - central Wellington is in a basin, and the rest of the city is on a hill. If your characters are venturing anywhere outside of Te Aro/Wellington Central, they'll be walking uphill or up steps. You get really used to it. Most people walk home from clubbing at night, though there's also the option of Uber, Ola or Zoomy.

For food shopping, we have New World, Countdown and (if you feel like travelling out of your way) Pak n Save. We also have dairies like Night n Day and the Four Square.

Things people do for fun are hiking, going to the movie theatre (The Roxy Cinema is my pick, but the Embassy is the biggest cinema in the central city), going to the theatre (BATS, Circa, the Opera House), going to comedy shows (San Fran, Fringe bar), going to the pub (my picks are JJ's, the Ivy and S&Ms), or just hanging out in their homes.

Our clubs are open every night, but are mostly busy Wednesdays (student night), Fridays and Saturdays. They're super busy between 10pm-3am, because students leave their hostels at 10pm to head into town (that's their 'have to be either in bed or out of the hostel' curfew).

Very few people have private medical insurance. Our medical care is heavily subsidized, and if someone is in an accident they're covered by ACC which pays out the time you're off work and any support you might need. Dentistry and optometry are super expensive. However, our medical procedures are fast and often free. My dad had significant open-heart surgery in a city my parents don't live in and all my mum paid while she was staying with him was groceries - the hotel, travel and medical care was free.

WRITING KIWIS

(Wellington's South Coast, looking towards the South Island).

Here's a few things you should know when writing people who live in New Zealand.

For the most part, people are really chill. Alarmingly so in some cases. We have a very 'she'll be right' attitude - meaning that we're calm in the face of chaos because we think it'll just blow over.

Our country is also very collectivist - we really come together in times of strife, and we do get a lot of it. Earthquakes, floods, pandemics - Kiwis turn up to support each other.

A lot of Kiwis, especially in Wellington, are quite politically-minded. There's protests in Wellington... every single week, it seems like. Most Wellingtonians are quite leftists too - the city is built on protest. The South Island tends to vote more conservative (for the right wing political parties like National and ACT), while the North Island tends to vote more liberal (for the centre-left party Labour and the leftist party Green)

Kiwis also swear. A lot. Not necessarily in professional speech - though I have literally used swear words in professional emails - but we're a colloquial place. Anything up to 'shit' is basically acceptable on the news.

We're working towards being a much more multi-lingual society. Māori is commonly used on TV, in print, and most places have a duo Māori/English name. I pepper Māori into my conversations. There's definitely people (mostly older people) who have trouble with that though. NZ can be very racist and there's a malevolent undercurrent of people who are angry that we're embracing Māori language and culture more these days.

SOME COMMON WORD SUBSTITUTIONS

(Wellington, from Kelburn).

Words you might use internationally, and how they're used here.

Convenience store = dairy

Grocery store/Walmart = supermarket

Swimming costume/bikini/bathing suit = togs

Flip flops = jandals

Holiday home = bach (they're usually just beach cottages, not that fancy)

Hiking = tramping

college = uni

SOME COMMON NZ WORDS/PHRASES

(New Years 2021 - over the Wellington waterfront)

Bro = friend, can be of any gender

Mate = as above, though can also just be used to refer to an acquaintance (i'd call a shopkeeper mate)

Munted = something's fucked or broken beyond repair

Stoked = pleased about something

Ae/eh/ay/aye = pronounced "ae" - something you'd say in agreement

Wops = middle of nowhere

Sweet as = no problem, no worries.

It's all good = as above

She'll be right = as above

Taking the piss = making a mockery of, eg: "You're taking the piss, mate" meaning "you're mocking me/this, friend"

On the piss = drinking/drunk

(you're such an) egg = you're being a dumbass (you can just call someone an egg too)

I hope you liked my guide :) If you have any additional questions, hit me up! I am super happy to help you write people/characters/stories set in NZ or Wellington!

[spinnovations]

Week 2 - Colonialism Research

‘cottagecore moodboard’ by user raspberrymornings on tumblr

The Problem with Cottagecore 

The ‘cottagecore aesthetic’ is described by Wikipedia as being an ‘internet fashion aesthetic’, as well as a Gen Z subculture, that celebrates an idealised rural life, simple living, and traditional skills and crafts such as baking, cooking, pottery and sewing. Its soft, sunny images of jam jars, lambs and white picket fences are peaceful and comforting - the prospect of swapping the rapid pace and grey smog of a capitalist hellscape for peaceful country living is an enticing one. 

I definitely have an appreciation for this aesthetic - I’ve never felt closer to some kind of god than I do when I bake a cake from scratch, I coo over videos of farm animals on the internet, and I want nothing more than to roam about the idyllic, fantasy-like farm retreat built for the queen in Sophia Coppola’s 2006 film ‘Marie Antoinette’. I know that a large reason I chose Nairn Street Cottage as my site to focus was because of my affinity for the aesthetic - I knew it would mean I could easily incorporate my favourite mediums of collage and needlework, and that I’d enjoy researching it because of my passion for history. 

However, I want to ensure that I am not blindly romanticising the home and lifestyle of the Wallis family settlers, and ignoring the darker political history at play. 

A desire to lead a wholesome existence and be more in-tune with nature is not inherently bad - however an uncritical appreciation of the cottagecore aesthetic can lead to a romanticisation of settler colonialism - because the practice of establishing rural dwellings is largely connected to the legacy of homesteading and farming on stolen Indigenous land (Ollivain). This aesthetic that promotes a life of self-sufficiency in rejection of the city carries with it the colonial assumption that land is “up for grabs”, as well as the danger of encroaching on indigenous country when Traditional Owners are not consulted (Ollivain). 

“Fighting for Indigenous liberation and being conscious of whose land we are on is something we should all strive to do and we must be open to criticism; lest we allow our escapist fantasies divert us from the important work of transforming reality” (Ollivain). 

Colonialism in New Zealand 

- Māori originated with settlers from eastern Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of waka voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350.  By the time the first Europeans arrived, Māori had settled the land, every corner of which came within the interest and influence of a tribal (iwi) or sub-tribal (hapū) grouping (A History). 

- After Abel Tasman became the first European explorer to reach New Zealand, it would be another 127 years before the next recorded encounter between European and Māori - British explorers arrived first, with French not far behind (A History). 

- Over the next 60 years contact grew, with majority of interactions between Māori and Europeans passing without incident - but when things did turn violent, much was made about the killings of Europeans, with little mention about the considerable loss of Māori life that did occur (A History).

- Whalers and sealers made regular visits to the colony, and by the 1830′s the British government had decided to “curb the lawlessness” of the land and establish a colony (Alves). In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by more than five hundred chiefs. The Treaty is a highly contentious document that still carries a lot of weight in present-day politics - briefly, both the English and Maori versions stipulated different things: the former mandated that the Crown would have full control over New Zealand’s territories, while the latter indicated that Maori would have full sovereignty over their tribal lands (Alves). These deviations led to a series of conflicts and forceful land grabs by the British (Alves).

- The Wallis family arrived in New Zealand in 1857. Seventeen years earlier, in 1840, was when the first settler ship - the Aurora - arrived in Petone (European). The town was named for the Duke of Wellington, winner of the 1815 battle of Waterloo, and was part of the New Zealand Company’s systematic model of colonisation (European). By the end of the year, 1200 settlers had arrived in Wellington (European). 

-  In 1859, Governor Thomas Gore Brown’s purchased a disputed block of land at Waitara, which set the government on a collision course with the Kīngitanga movement. The government interpreted the Kīngitanga response as a challenge to the Crown's authority - Governor Gore Browne succeeded in bringing 3500 Imperial troops from the Australian colonies to quash this perceived challenge, and within four years a total of 9,000 British troops had arrived in New Zealand, assisted by more than 4,000 colonial and kūpapa (pro-government Māori) fighters as the government sought a decisive victory over the "rebel" Māori. The use of a punitive land confiscation policy from 1865, depriving "rebel" Māori of the means of living, fuelled further Māori anger and resentment, fanning the flames of conflict in Taranaki (1863–1866) and on the east coast (1865–1866).

-  In the period between the first European landings and the First World War, New Zealand was transformed from an exclusively Māori world into one in which Pākehā dominated numerically, politically, socially and economically (A History).

Effects of Colonisation on Māori

- A major decline in life expectancy - from about 30 years before European contact to 25 for men and 23 for women in 1891 (Pool). 

- A major population decline - from around 100,000 in 1769 to 42,000 at its lowest point in 1896 (Pool). 

- Impact of introduced diseases - this was the major reason for the population decrease, and had devastating results. The decline began accelerating after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, as settlers began arriving in greater numbers (Pool). 

- A loss of land -  The influx of settlers led to a demand for land, and from the 1840s Māori were under great pressure to sell their ancestral territories (Pool). Loss of Māori land – through confiscation following the 1860s wars, Crown purchase and the Native Land Court – led to the displacement of large numbers of Māori (Pool). Deprived of their land, tribes were in many instances reduced to poverty, with no option but to live in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions (Pool). Losing land, they also lost access to traditional food sources (Pool). Lack of resources, overcrowding and poor diet helped disease to take hold and spread (Pool).

Nairn Street Land

- The land around Pukeahu was occupied by ngakinga (gardens) for the Te Akatarewa pā. This was a major pā for the Ngāi Tara iwi, so they developed numerous garden sites, including on Pukeahu.  Ngā Kumikumi clearing was an old cultivation area in the bush around what is now lower Nairn Street. Nearby, around Central Park, was the Te Āti Awa kāinga (village) known as Moe-i-te-rā or Moe-rā (Pukeahu). 

-  There are few, if any, known wāhi tapu (places of spiritual significance to Māori) directly on Pukeahu. However, because of its height and proximity to Te Akatarewa pā, it is likely that burials were conducted somewhere on the site (Pukeahu).

-   Te Aro pā was established around the 1820s, and covered about 2 hectares in the 1840s. It was divided in two, with Ngāti Ruanui people living in the eastern end and Taranaki people at the western end. As Wellington grew, British colonists called for the pā to be sold. The residents resisted, but the settlers forced the issue and by 1870 it had been subdivided and sold. In 2005, archaeologists uncovered the remains of three huts ( Norman).

-  On a map of the courses of Wellington streams from 1940 - 1949, an un-named stream is marked running from the vicinity of Nairn Street via Cuba Street to Te Aro (Wellington Streams). The Te Aro Pa site at the mouth of this stream is marked (Wellington Streams).

I can’t seem to find any information online regarding the stream that would have run across the Nairn Street Cottage section - I will look into this further, as I’d like to know its name if I could, and its significance if it had any. In the Māori at Pukeahu article, it mentions a swamp in the vicinity, which was a mahinga kai (food-gathering area), where eels and other fish from the swamp streams were gathered - it could well have been one of those streams. In Māori culture, many tribes directly or indirectly consider water as the source or foundation of all life - in this case, the stream would have been important for sustaining life and providing nourishment. 

Bibliography:

Alves, Thalita. “The Story of Colonisation in New Zealand.” Culture Trip, 28 June 2018, theculturetrip.com/pacific/new-zealand/articles/the-story-of-colonisation-in-new-zealand/.

“A History of New Zealand 1769-1914.” NZ History, nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/history-of-new-zealand-1769-1914.

“Courses of the Wellington Streams.” National Library , natlib.govt.nz/records/22612149.

“European Settlers Arrive in Wellington.” NZ History, nzhistory.govt.nz/wellington-anniversary-day.

“Māori at Pukeahu.” Māori at Pukeahu, mch.govt.nz/pukeahu/park/pukeahu-history-4.

Norman, Edmund. “Te Aro Pā.” Te Ara , Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga, 20 Oct. 2015, teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/13194/te-aro-pa.

Ollivain, Claire. “Cottagecore, Colonialism and the Far-Right.” Honi Soit, 8 Sept. 2020, honisoit.com/2020/09/cottagecore-colonialism-and-the-far-right/.

Pool, Ian. “Effects of Colonisation on Māori.” Te Ara Encyclopedia , Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga, 2 Feb. 2018, teara.govt.nz/en/death-rates-and-life-expectancy/page-4.

[nottonyharrison]

so i just realized you're from new zealand and i haven't met anyone on here from there before! where in nz are you from? I visited Auckland a few years ago and I loved it!!

Oh hey there! Sorry for the delay in response things have been a bit all over the place for me this week (first week back at school, I’ve been very tired from all the human interaction)

YES! I am from NZ and there are a surprisingly large number of us floating around, I’ve even managed to find some fellow kiwis. I’m from Nelson which is basically where people either have babies at 19 and get stuck here, come here to retire (more rest homes per capita than anywhere else in the country - allegedly), or return here in their thirties when they decide they want to raise their kids somewhere that doesn’t have miserable weather and a relatively low crime rate. I’m none of those, I came back here at thirty just for the weather (its bomb, we get a lot of sunshine)

TBH not an Auckland fan, it’s too humid and grey and BIG for my liking but the bar scene is great and there’s a LOT of beautiful spots so nearby. If you ever make it back definitely visit the South Island, it’s very sparsely populated and there’s everything from tropical beaches and rainforest to ski areas and windswept coastlines, all within two hours of challenging drive from one another. Wellington is also amazing, but five years of sideways rain was enough to give me flashbacks every time we get some drizzle 😂

[lindoig7]

Tuesday-Thursday, 1-3 September

Tuesday

Spring has spronged and what a fantastic start to the new season!  A tad cool in the breeze, but looking glorious with the sun shining and the birds enjoying the day as well.  I had a magpie visit me while I was doing the dishes after lunch.  He was looking for his lunch in the small patch of grass outside the van so I chatted with him and next thing, he was on the step about 30 cm from my feet. Lovely! We had 6 Eastern Rosellas chasing each other and squabbling almost all morning low in the trees behind us, and our friend the Grey Butcherbird has been carolling in his crystal-clear melodious voice on and off all day.  Even the wonderful Blackbird got into the act first up this morning.  We got a great rendition of his complete repertoire in the tree immediately in front of the van last night, but he was back there again practising for a while early today too.

There are some birds that evoke special emotions and memories of times and places for me (some described in my Birding Blog at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lindoig6) but the sounds of Currawongs, Butcherbirds, Blackbirds, Galahs, Lapwings, Magpies, Australian Ravens, even some wild ducks, are particularly evocative for me, albeit for several quite different reasons.  They take me back to times and places of great significance in my life.  Very nostalgic and sometimes emotionally disturbing in a mainly pleasantish way.

We finished watching Series 1 of True Detective last night. It was not the best series we have seen (quite violent, often a bit hard to follow, not always quite credible, and with no likeable characters), but there are two more series in the set and they appear to be self-contained with entirely different characters so I hope we will enjoy them more.

We have been around the van all day. Heather did some light washing, I had a couple of small jobs to do on the car, a few bills to pay and emails to send, but with no real incentive to do much.  We even got to read a bit during the day and watched another Brad Pitt movie at night.

Wednesday

We had a great day driving around south-central Gippsland today.  We topped up with fuel in Traralgon again at 105.9 c/l – even cheaper than previous times with other servos in town still offering the identical product at 131.9 c/l!! Ah, the power of vigorous competition….!

We followed the highway to Sale then turned slightly south-east to a place appropriately called The Heart, and just past that we found the Heart Morass State Game Reserve on the shores of Lake Wellington.  We spent an hour of so exploring the area, avoiding the dozens of 600 mm deep boggy patches.  It was a really interesting area, partly wetland, partly woodland, partly grassland – all of it very muddy, but with quite a few birds.  We actually visited a few Game Reserves on the day (and have seen others previously so there must be quite a few around) and fortunately saw nobody else there at the time.  It seems odd that such easy access is available for shooters and birders who might well get in each other’s way.  (They also have quite a few Morasses around too – several of the Game Reserves and rural localities have Morass in their names too. Probably makes sense given the amount of water laying around.)  On the other hand, they seem to be really great places to find birds, including many that would be of no interest to shooters, so we will continue to look for them and explore them whenever we can.

(Many years ago, I was caught out in a shallow lake with half a dozen drunken shooters blasting away at ducks that may or may not have been near me and my brother-in-law.  We hid behind a dead tree with bits of branch falling all around us.  We shouted at them to cease fire until we got out of their way – to no avail – and had to make a run for it when there was a brief lull in the fusilade.  I would not like to be in that situation again so I was a little surprised at the likely proximity of shooters and birders at certain times of the year.)

We tried exploring a few roads that turned out to be impassable tracks or dead end lanes, but we also explored quite a bit of country in that isolated corner of Gippsland. There are a few quaint names around the area – Perry Bridge and Eagle Point are OK, but Meerlieu, Bengworden, Goon Nure…….  All very rustic and most attractive to us.

We explored a little at several places around the edge of Lake Victoria and eventually arrived at Holland’s Landing.  Not a lot to see there, but there is a very narrow peninsula that runs out from there for several kilometres separating Jones Bay from Lake King. It has a single road, Rivermouth Road, (presumably named for the mouth of the Mitchell River that appears to be no more than a small billabong nearby) that runs straight out with water within a few metres on both sides of the road.  It seems that the tip of the peninsula may recently have been purchased by someone because it is now a building site and the road is closed a little short of the point.  It was a very quaint little drive out there and back and a pleasant drive back into Bairnsdale.  We actually bypassed the township and headed straight back along the highway, arriving back in Warragul just after dark.  It had been a wonderful day exploring a less known (we think) corner of Gippsland.  We cruised country lanes with minimal traffic, avoided anything that looked like a town, and had a wonderful day, notwithstanding that some of the morasses were very hard to navigate and we were thrown all over the car when we lurched in and out of potholes, ruts and other obstacles in the mud.

Thursday

It was a beautiful morning, warm and sunny, and we did a few jobs outside. Being so lovely outside, we decided to walk into town to the supermarket for a few essentials.  On the way in, we called in at a florist to send some flowers to our wonderful travel agent whose father had just died.  Really feel sad for her because with the lockdown, funerals must be absolutely horrific – they always are of course, but that just makes it so much worse.

On the way home, we bumped into my former wife and her husband and stopped to have a chat for a few minutes.  They live in Drouin, ten minutes from Warragul.  It was odd because we were all wearing masks and as we walked past them, I thought the woman had an odd frown (a mannerism rather than a surly frown) that reminded me of Colleen and as we walked a few steps further, Heather said that she thought the woman looked a bit like Colleen and should we go back to check?  We turned around just as Colleen recognised us too and we spent a few minutes chatting about the vagaries of life under current restrictions.

Back at the van, I hosed the worst of the mud off the car.  It had rained again overnight and there was a vicious wind that had caked dust all over everything. It still looks pretty dirty, but more rain was promised (and the wind howled ferociously all day and half the night after we got back), so there was no point in doing more than simply hosing the worst of it off.

We had another Zoom session at 6pm – this one was the Annual General Meeting for our Owners’ Corporation at home.  It was a surprisingly quick meeting, much more formal that usual, so perhaps people were inhibited a little by the technology although most of those participating had been in Zoom sessions with the Committee before.  I was elected to the Committee again for my 18th year, but that was not unexpected.  The Committee rarely changes greatly from one year to the next and there are never enough nominations to cause us to have a vote anyway.

After dinner, we started a new series of True Detective.  It looks like being as obscure as the previous one with constant time switches and mid-sentence scene changes – obviously clever arty devices that the director imagines will win him some sort of accolade – but not from us.

[luckylq11-blog]

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[bananashemmo]

Committed The Robbery (Part 5)

Pairing: Y/N/Gangmember!Ashton

Rating: NC-17

Request: Yes

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Summary: On a scale from 1 to shit, how fucked would Ashton be if he ended up banging the other gangmember Luke’s little sister Y/N?

Read Committed The Robbery on Wattpad

Footsteps from the hallway were faint, but still loud enough for you to hear. You had no idea for how long you had been laying in bed not wanting to wake up, or at least trying to open your eyes.

You felt too tired, you weren’t sure how many hours you had been sleeping but it didn’t feel like it was enough. You felt dizzy, probably from the many painkillers and last night’s events hunting you.

God, you felt like it all was just a horrible nightmare.

You fluttered your eyes open, just wanting the confirm of what happened wasn’t just in your head.

The curtains to Luke’s room was off so the grey skies from outside gave the room light. You looked at the cushions where Ashton had been sitting but he was nowhere to be seen. You hadn’t even noticed he left.

You a rand through your hair which was pretty messy. You didn’t have anything to get it away from your face so you settled with using your fingers as a comb.

When you sat up in bed after taking another look, you couldn’t help but grimace.

The pain was obvious, almost like a pounding migraine but on the skin. Your hand came down instantly to the hurt spot, feeling the bandage with spots of blood coming from the stitches.

God, you had almost forgotten. You didn’t want to remember now when you were being honest. You didn’t want to think that this was going to stay with you for the rest of your life.

It wasn’t big, it was easier to see how large the area was when lights were on and you weren’t affected by adrenaline or a pounding bass from downstairs. In fact, it was all so quiet, you could barely hear voices.

You weren’t even sure if the party was still going on. Sometimes you had caught Luke still partying at 8 am. A party never stopped until the host went to bed and he usually just stayed awake to the early mornings.

9:30 it was. You noticed because of your phone still having the battery on. It was only at 2% so it wouldn’t be surviving for long. You decided to put it into Luke’s charter before settling with investigating what was going on downstairs.

The long hem of Luke’s band tee folded to the edge when you stood up from the mattress. It almost hid your shorts and made it seem like you were just in your underwear.

You didn’t want to change, it didn’t feel like it was needed. They knew you had been sleeping in your shorts so you didn’t assume they would misinterpret the situation.

The voices from downstairs suddenly sounded downstairs and you concluded the party was over. You could hear Luke and his raspy voice, something he always adopted when drinking. That, along with his eyes turning a bloody red.

Sometimes he was mistaken for being on crack. You didn’t judge dem, he dealt with drugs daily and it was easy to conclude. But he knew better, he would never take time in using that on himself. He only sold it because of the money sometimes when he wanted to.

It was mostly Michael who spent time in that department. It wasn’t just once the police had taken him to the station overnight when they were catching him illegally selling on parking lots.

”Wait but no, as fun as it sounds I have to stay home. After all the stuff that has been going on the past few days, I don’t want Y/N to be alone now.”

You stopped in track by the end of the stairs because of Luke’s voice.

“I can stay behind if so?” Ashton suggested, maybe a little bit too fast for his liking but he couldn’t control his suggestion. It was the first thing that came to his mind and he said it out loud instead of thinking.

You could see the two of them by the kitchen island with Calum. The house looked like a scattered mess but they had black plastic bags standing by the counters so you assumed they were in the middle of cleaning.

That was the thing with them. They always seemed to mess like crazy, especially during parties. But they always managed to clean everything and usually when you would visit after a party, it looked cleaner than it did on a normal basis.

“You sure about that? You’re usually the one handling the business, let alone the one who’s perfectionistic. You don’t usually like when we handle your tasks.” Michael questioned before Luke got the chance to say anything and he looked over at Ashton a bit astonished.

“I mean we’ve all agreed to take care of Y/N individually.” Ashton shrugged, not really knowing how to save it, “I guess you can just say my duty is calling. I don’t mind, to be honest.”

The boys looked between each other skeptical at first but then Luke shrugged it off and threw his jacket over his shoulder.

“You are the one that gets with her the best.” He admitted and took a look in the mirror to check his hair. Even with battles, he wanted to make sure he looked good during it.

“But you promise me one thing.” He suddenly warned and Ashton held his breath, thinking worst case scenarios.

“Don’t let anyone in unless it’s one of the three of us.”

Ashton hadn’t realized he had been holding his breath but once he realized Luke wasn’t, in fact, thinking the same thing as him he let out a sound of relief. He nodded his head in agreement and watched the boys head towards the door, waving lightly at them as they left.

He turned around the corner to see you come down from the stairs with a confused gaze on your face.

“What is going on?” You questioned confused once you were down to the last step and looked around, “Where did Luke go?”

“The usual,” Ashton replied quietly, his lips tightening.

You nodded your head in agreement but not because you understood what he was referring to. You never had, you had never asked and to be honest you were better off not knowing why. They had always been referring it to ‘the usual’ or ‘business’ when talking about stuff they wanted to keep you out from.

“Why aren’t you with them?” You tried not to pretend you had been listening all along. You didn’t want to realize that they were switching places in order to keep you safe.

He shrugged his shoulders and headed over to the fridge, wanting to change the subject and avoiding giving you an answer.

“What do you want for breakfast?”

“I’m not hungry.” You shook your head and scratched your arm out of habit. You weren’t sure if it was because of the many painkillers you felt nausea. It gave you a headache, you honestly couldn’t manage the law class later.

“You have to eat something,” He carefully said and grabbed a few buns from one of the drawers.

“Isn’t that just a myth?” You crossed your arms and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“I know what you’re trying to do.” He let go of the bag and took the few steps to stand in front of you.

“You’re on the path of war because I didn’t answer your question. If I know you well enough I know that you already understand what is going on.”

You looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, not really knowing how to handle the situation. It wasn’t often you looked at it that way. Ashton was probably used to handling you.

“We’ve all agreed to take care of you. It came along when your parents moved to Wellington.”

He reached to grab the buns and put three in the oven. 2 for him and one for you. He wasn’t going to stop until you had put something in your mouth.

You sighed carefully and nodded your head in agreement.

Most of your life you were raised with your parents. It wasn’t often you saw them, considering they were in the same industry as your brothers. Not just Luke, but also Ben and Jack. They all took a part in the bittersweet life and you were the only one they prayed would turn into something great.

You actually believed that if it wasn’t for James constantly trying to ruin it.

Growing up was kind of harsh. The house never looked clean, nobody was rarely home and if they were, it wasn’t someone you knew off. Luke always made sure that if he wasn’t there to take care of you, some sort of babysitter would.

It wasn’t that you were all wrapped up in bubble wrap. You understood what they were doing, you knew they were handling weapons and you also knew in between the lines there were drugs. But you also trusted Luke. You knew he wouldn’t do such thing like that.

You had always tried to take a distance. It wasn’t easy considering they always had one eye on you. You couldn’t even walk out at the age of 14 without Luke needing to know where you were heading.

He could be an embarrassment at times. He couldn’t keep a barrier between being the overprotective big brother and also being the fun one. He was definitely the fun out of the four, always doing random shit you couldn’t imagine.

He was the one forcing the bullies to apologize, even if you were only 8. You didn’t understand where he got the power because he wasn’t tall until his late teens. It was like one day he woke up and was suddenly 6’3.

Not even the teachers in middle school wanted to call him out for things. You had no count of how many times he had tied someone to the sinks in the bathroom or something along the lines of that because they had said a mean comment to you.

You almost feared he would find out because you knew it would end up ugly. Just like with James. It was like nothing had changed.

You had always lived your life close to Luke. You had been staying at the same apartment since you were 16 and you always knew you could come to him when you needed it.

He always had the apartment full but only with people you knew of. He wouldn’t drag someone home and he definitely wouldn’t drag a woman home. The only girl in his life was you, and he wasn’t interested in anyone else.

You honestly thought you were going to stay at the apartment for the rest of your life. College was what changed your everyday life upside down.

When you tried to float the idea about moving out and into a dorm when you started college, it was like nonsense to Luke. How was he going to protect you, if you were miles away from him?

He didn’t want to admit it but he loved just walking into your room and sitting by your bed. Not saying anything but just enjoying watching you study, seeing whatever programme was on the TV or listening to the music that was blasting from your pink speakers.

You sometimes thought he was bored and doing it out of boredom. But the truth was he enjoyed just watching you be happy. It helped him knowing that you were on the right path.

In the end, he knew he couldn’t keep you inside the walls of the apartment. If you needed to continue the path he needed to let go and give you freedom.

You almost believed he had commitment issues because the second you made the deal and you got into a dorm at Sydney Falls College Campus, it was like he had to move out as well. He didn’t want to stay at the old apartment and the boys had been venting the dream of living together.

It also meant that they didn’t have to leave every single day to see each other, they could just walk into the other room and say hello.

It was in the middle of chaos because just the second you had gotten your acceptance letter from Sydney Falls, Luke came home to announce they had been expelled.

For what, he couldn’t announce. You neither wanted to ask even though you were dying to know. So many things had happened at that college before and you didn’t really understand they were suddenly expelled for good.

Sometimes Luke would come home and announce he was kicked out of class for either violence or similar activities. But that wasn’t expelled where they weren’t allowed to be on the school’s ground.

You weren’t even sure if they were allowed in your dorm. You’d lie if you say you weren’t about to have a heart attack when you were about to move in because the four of them were helping you. You were having a glance over your shoulder every other minute because you needed to make sure nobody was seeing them.

Everyone had heard the news that they were expelled. They weren’t a high topic but it was a relief to the ones who were scared. The boys never had a great reputation and you weren’t surprised by that.

They seemed pretty intimidating when they walked down the hallway as a pack that couldn’t be broken. In their leather jackets with a cigarette between their fingers and black leather jackets.

You had tried asking Luke once but he was rejecting. You didn’t know if it was because you had moved out you were suddenly let out of the information. He didn’t want to answer and told that you were safe without the information.

That was when they announce they were going to be away for a while. You had no idea why, how or where they were going but they had to leave. You were protesting at first because not living near Luke kind of scared you. But in the end, it was a great choice because it meant you got a great start at college without someone watching you behind your back.

You got the start you wanted and three months later the boys were back. It was like everything was back to normal, yet it was some sort of new start.

But as soon as the boys were back, it was like you had become a target. For no reason, you had never done anything to hurt James. You even tried to help him back in kindergarten when Luke was forcing him to eat sand.

“Why are you so afraid something is going to happen to me?” You sat down on one of the white chairs in front of the wooden table.

There was a large purple orchid standing in the middle of the table next to a salt and pepper set. You assumed it was a host gift from last night.

Ashton couldn’t help but chuckle by your question. He was hovering over the buns, watching them finish until they were warm and crispy.

“Because you’re Daphne.” He answered simply and you furrowed your eyebrows, “Daphne Joy?”

“No, no not her.” Ashton was quick to shake his head, “I’m not talking about her. I’m talking about Daphne Blake.”

“You’re seriously comparing me to a Scooby Doo character?” You tried not to sound a bit insulted but you were, “Michael used to call me that when I was younger. It’s not like I’m getting stuck in trees anymore when playing.”

Ashton laughed again and stopped the toaster before he burned the buns.

“I’m not saying you’re a cartoon character,” He hummed and opened the fridge, “I’m just saying that you’re very fragile and the chance of you getting kidnapped is pretty high.”

He grabbed a package of butter, lifting it in the air as an invitation. You nodded your head in agreement and watched him place the butter in front of you.

“Is there a chance I will be kidnapped?” You lowered your voice, feeling a bit of anxiety just by the thought. It had crossed your mind before but the chances were in fact real.

He leaned his long body against the kitchen counter and crossed his arms. His mouth twisted and he looked down at the ground trying to come with an answer.

“We will try our utter best to avoid it. As long as you’re with me I promise you nothing will ever harm you.”

If there was one time where Ashton seemed serious, it was moments like this. Where you could see through his hazel eyes that he would never forgive himself if he managed to hurt you in any way that could have been prevented.

“Ashton, can I ask you something?”

He flicked his curls away from his eyes to look at you and nodded his head. You rubbed your hands together, not really knowing if you were going to catch an answer now.

“What happened?”

Silence fell upon the kitchen. Ashton looked at you with no expression on his face. You didn’t know if it was because he didn’t understand your question or if he was reliving the moment you just asked. Whatever was going on caught all his attention and he wasn’t saying anything.

“When?” His tone went serious and he lowered his voice.

You shifted in your seat and folded your hands together again. His eyes weren’t flicking away from your form and you were trying not to get red cheeks.

“I was just trying to understand-, I mean,” You were fumbling over your words suddenly becoming nervous. Maybe this was a bad idea after all.

“Why were you expelled?”

Silence came again but this time a little less tense. It was like Ashton had imagined you would ask something else because he seemed relieved.

He loosened his body from the counter and grabbed a chair to take a seat.

“It seems to me you’ve heard something?” He asked just to be sure but you were quick to shake your head. You knew nothing.

“And you haven’t heard anything from college? I mean, it’s the source of gossip.”

You shook your head again. The only thing you had been hearing was it was a collision between the boys and James’ big brother. You had never actually met him and if you had it was many years back.

“Okay.” Ashton nodded his head and folded his hands together.

“You know Marc, right?” He asked and you shook your head, “Marc Walker? James’ big brother?” By the added question you nodded your head in agreement. You had just forgotten his name.

“He has always been a manipulating ass. Never the one to trust, the blond haired gorgeous idiot who’s only purpose on life is to make everyone else’s end. He’s part-time leader of the gang down by the West. We don’t get near that because it’s too dangerous for any of us.”

You nodded your head wanting him to continue as you intensely ate your bun with butter.

“We’ve always been on bad terms. Ever since high school we’ve hated each other, bloody hell I can even imagine it like it was yesterday. If I had to make a list of all the bad things he has done in his life I don’t think we would have the time.” Ashton took a bite of his own bun.

“We’ve collided many times. I don’t want to get into details with that but Marc did something that was, against all laws. Even in the gang world, you don’t break the rules. Even if we hate each other and want to kill each other we still respect the rules. That’s rule number one.”

The rules didn’t seem like something you had heard off before. You remembered Luke mentioning it a few years back but you assumed it was just a lame joke.

“What was that girl?” You lifted an eyebrow and Ashton replied it with, “We’ll get to that.”

“The boys and I were trying of a way to come up with something back. I mean, it wasn’t easy and it took at least two months before we were even feeling like normal people again. What Marc did was so terrible I honestly don’t think he would be able to survive if he was within my reach.”

You just wanted him to spill the beans, why did you need all these details.

“Luke was the one coming up with the plan. We had to do something that was going to hit James’ the hardest way possible. Without breaking the rules of course.” Ashton ran a hand through his locks, “I didn’t think it would be a great idea at first because it was risky. But we had to do something because he needed something back. He couldn’t just walk free with the things he had done.”

“But I can’t tell you what we did because it will one, cause you danger, and two, put us all in a risky position. Only the four of us can know. It has to be on my dead body if it slips out between these walls. They don’t talk.”

You honestly couldn’t feel more disappointed. He literally told nothing. You could easily have figured out yourself not to mention find out by just asking someone at campus.

“But you have to promise me one thing.” He looked at you seriously and you nodded your head in agreement wanting him to continue.

“If you ever see Marc Walker as in ever there’s one thing you’re going to do. Run.”

You didn’t want to know how dangerous he actually was. By the way, Ashton was talking about him you could just sense he was dangerous. He wasn’t someone you wanted to run into.

“He’s currently underground not wanting to be seen by anyone. So the coast is clear as long as he isn’t in Sydney. He disappeared once we all were expelled. He was supposed to be in jail but left before it happened. We haven’t seen his face since. You can kind of say our secret plan worked.”

Ashton shrugged his shoulders and grabbed your plates to put it into the sink. He was, after all, the neatest out of the boys. He hated when dirty towels were on the floor, good thing it was him and Calum sharing bathroom and not with Luke.

You watched him hover over the sink with a sponge, trying to think everything through. He was definitely leaving out details that seemed important to the story.

You didn’t want to force him to speak though. You never wanted to be on the edge.

When you tried to stand up from the chair a shot of pain was caused by your stomach.

You couldn’t help but groan a little bit, catching Ashton’s attention.

“Oh yes,” He dried his hands in a towel, “I promised Calum to take a look.”

You leaned back on the chair and lifted up in Luke’s shirt for Ashton to see. You didn’t know if he was an expert in wounds but it seemed okay when he removed the patch gently.

“Well he did a pretty great job that Kiwi boy.” He hummed in satisfaction and walked over to one of the cabinets. They had a place where they kept a first aid kit, he probably just needed a new patch.

As long as you would be wearing clothes you couldn’t just have the scar free in case of blood or secretion.

“When can we take the stitches out?” You leaned your head to the side and watched him clean the wound.

“I don’t think until a few weeks. It needs to heal probably. But I’m not a doctor. Ask Calum.” He couldn’t help but laugh a bit. Neither were Calum but he had interest and probably new.

You nodded your head and looked down at your phone. You couldn’t help but sigh heavily and Ashton noticed.

“What?” He nodded his head down at your phone, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just that…” You looked down at the phone again, hesitantly, “I just have a class here at 12. I just don’t want to go because…”

“James is there?” Ashton finished your sentence and you nodded your head in agreement.

You knew this wasn’t supposed to ruin your classes but you honestly felt so weak. There was no way you were ready or able to do an argument with him. You just wanted to be invisible.

“I have an idea.” He announced and you furrowed your eyebrows.

“Come with me.”

“Ashton I don’t think this is a good idea.”

You looked up at him with wide eyes, your teeth digging into your bottom lip.

He looked into the mirror of the window and wrapped his gray beanie over his curls so they were only sticking out at the top and by the ends.

He turned around to look at you with a smirk and furrowed eyebrows.

“What do you mean this isn’t a great idea?”

He was wearing a dark purple/blue and red flannel, a white tee under it and his black skinny jeans. You had never seen him wear something like this before but it wasn’t like he looked like someone who was suddenly in disguise.

You didn’t know if you were supposed to answer or not because he seemed to have settled his mind.

“You know he won’t touch you if you’re near me.” He placed his hands in his jean pockets and looked at you with a smile.

“Yes,” You nodded your head in agreement, “But you’re expelled. They will take you to the police station if they find out you’re in one of my classes.”

“They’ll need to catch me first.” Ashton winked and opened the door, “Ladies first.”

When you meant everyone you meant EVERYONE was staring at you. You weren’t sure if it was because people had the expression you had a new boy at college with you or if they did see it was Ashton. He wasn’t that hard to recognize.

You didn’t like the attention you were getting but Ashton seemed to enjoy it. He was smiling all over his face pretty amused.

You walked into the classroom with Ashton right behind you, wanting to get to the top of the stairs and take a seat on the back row. You never liked being up front.

As you placed your books on your seat you felt pokes on your shoulders. You couldn’t help but feel goosebumps up your spine.

“Well look who was brave enough to show up today?” James grinned by the sight of you, “Surprised you didn’t breath to death. There’s still blood on my knife.”

“That’s funny because there isn’t blood on my gun, yet.” Ashton showed up from your behind, placing an arm on your shoulders.

With instinct James took a step back, watching Ashton smile all over his face.

“And before you say anything,” Ashton nodded down at the lector, “Remember I never miss with a bullet.”

James swallowed deeply and hurried to take a seat in front of you, feeling his long legs disappear under his table.

You looked up at Ashton and couldn’t help but smile just a little bit, a warm fuzzy feeling in your stomach when he took a seat next to you and waited for the class to start.

[monthlyshonenheartmagazine]

An ode to Asian grocery stores: A commentary by Rakesh Bhula (April 17)

I would like to preface this commentary by mentioning that when I use the term ‘Asian grocery store’, I am referring to convenience stores owned by people of Asian descent or, stores that specifically stock Asian goods and foodstuffs; which may or may not be owned by people of Asian descent. Sometimes, I may be referring to both types of stores at the same time. Feel free to interpret this as best as you see fit. There is no wrong answer here.

I have always held a strong affinity for Asian grocery stores from a young age, that is because I grew up in two of them. They carry a powerful childhood nostalgia for me. These stores were, firstly, a place to learn a strong work ethic by watching my parents grind out a living working long hard hours behind the counter, and, secondly, by doing chores like stocking the shelves and pricing the goods with a price gun; which seemed more fun than it really was for a young child. My brother and I used to fight over whose turn it was to use the price gun; quite a similar story to Tom Sawyer and his fence painting escapades.

The first grocery store I grew up in had the living quarters attached directly to the back of the shop. All that delineated the shop from the home behind it was a sturdy wooden security door. It did make for a very short commute to and from work for my parents, and it also a blurred  work and home life. This is likely something that many people may now be able to better relate to in recent years, with the COVID-19 related ‘working from home trend.’  

Some of my earliest memories were of playing as a kid in the backyard of the first shop in Wellington, New Zealand, stomping the numerous cardboard stock delivery boxes flat so they were easier to be collected by the trash man, as recycling was not really a thing 30 years ago. I watched my brother learn how to ride a bicycle without training wheels by leaning the handlebar against the garage wall and pedalling it along. We also caught a couple of stray cats that had taken up residence in the crawl space underfloor of the shop. They were trapped using the trusty laundry basket and propped up with a stick, which was promptly yanked away with string from a distance trope (it actually does work!). I don't exactly remember the food bait we used at the time, but it may have been KFC leftovers. There were two cats, a black one and a grey tabby. Unfortunately, even after much pleading with our parents, we were not allowed to keep the cats and they were eventually handed over to the SPCA.

Fond childhood memories aside, these stores put food on our family table and over time, became a way for my parents (along with other migrant families whom I knew were also in the same boat) to meet, interact, polish their English skills and eventually become friends with the local citizens in the area.

    A few of my favourite products found in these stores.

I had an ex-partner  introduce me to the world of three and one instant white coffee premixes. These actually originated from her hometown in Ipoh, Malaysia. It was a place I was able to visit and see where the factory was for myself. Now, whenever I drink that brand of white coffee, it triggers memories of past happier times and of my trip to Ipoh. I was bemused to learn that the drinks were called white coffees, not for the creamer added to the powder mix; but for the fact the coffee beans were roasted with margarine giving the beans a ‘whiter’ appearance.

I stopped drinking alcohol over a decade ago for wellbeing reasons. As such, I am always on the lookout for liquid replacements at social events. Lately I have become rather fond of ‘fever tree’ ginger beer. I really like the sharp ginger kick in the mouth and the fact it is not overly sweet. This drink is often found in Bottle-Os, but there are other beverages that I have come to fancy that are almost exclusively found in Asian grocery stores. For any cola drink fans, I can strongly recommend ‘Thums Up’- it is the Indian version of Coca-Cola. Disregarding the fact that Coca-Cola now own the brand, it tastes very different to coke as well as to Pepsi. It is not too sugary sweet but it also has a very subtle and significant spicy tinge to it, which I think makes it rather refreshing, especially on a hot humid day. This might partly explain why this drink is so popular in the subcontinent too. I drink tea every day, and my beverage of choice here is ‘Wagh Bakri’ masala chai tea. I buy the teabags as honestly, I do not have the time nor the patience to make loose leaf chai. I also lack the skills to long pour the tea at arm's length so that it becomes nice and creamy. The teabags are a great substitute. There is an extensive array of unusual soft drinks to be found in these stores too- ones that I have tried and did not mind- lychee, roasted coconut, soursop (had to google what these were), rambutan, sugarcane, grass jelly and tamarind. I have barely scratched the surface here. At the closest Asian store to me, this is honestly not even 10% of the range of a single brand of soft drink they stock. Such incredible diversity!

 I do also like the extensive range of different types of instant ramen noodles typically found in these stores. Such a diverse selection, with so many interesting flavour options to choose from. It is a literal lucky dip! Often, I’m unable to read the label as it is in a non-English language, so I have to choose solely by the illustrations on the packet as to what the flavouring is inside ( I think looking at the ingredients list spoils the fun, unless you have any specific allergies/dietary requirements).  The quality of some of these ramen is also impressive , with so many separate flavouring sachets to add to the noodles and enhance the taste. I remember one of these instant ramens came with whole dried baby abalone! So fancy. For the masochists among us, there are also those extremely spicy ‘volcanic’ Korean fire ramen to test your spice tolerances against. I have seen these ramens gain notoriety online, on various social media as “challenge/reaction” video clips.

I prefer to use Indian ayurvedic soaps for my bathing needs, as I am prone to greasy and oily skin. These soaps tend to cut the grease well, leaving me with a nice cleansed feeling. They have a refreshing herbal scent and do not dry out my skin excessively. Typically, they are made with such exotic ingredients as turmeric powder and neem oil.

It should not come as any surprise that these Asian stores stock Asian toothpaste. Not joking here, but I actually collect toothpaste. These toothpastes also have exotic ingredients in them ranging from clove, cinnamon, neem, myrrh, sage, eucalyptus, chamomile, lemon, honeysuckle and honey. They come with a different kind of taste, but I do not find it unpleasant at all. A nice change from the usual minty fresh flavours most people are accustomed to.

Not being able to see my family for the last two years, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, has been extremely difficult.  Not only have I missed the people themselves and important milestones, I have also missed the taste of my Mum's home cooking a lot. This is where the ready-made curry mixes, both the powders and the pastes, come in super handy. It is a very convenient, quick and easy way for me to make a spicy meal, that also  gives me a ‘Taste of Home.’ Obviously, it is not a match on any dishes made with my mother’s love and care, but a reasonable alternative in these troubled times when overseas travel is not currently practicable.

 There are a diverse and varied range of snacks and side dishes as well. Dried seaweeds, unusually flavoured biscuits and sweets. Mochi (sticky rice cakes filled with plum and soybean paste), frozen durian desserts, kimchi (Korean fermented cabbage pickle) and natto (Japanese fermented soybeans). These are all things I have grown to like only because I decided to try them out on a whim. Variety is the spice of life as they say.

In addition, an Asian store I shop at just across the NSW-Qld border has an extensive selection of hot sauces. I did not think it was humanly possible to have so many variations on a theme  and they all really do taste slightly different. This store proved to be a lifesaver when the initial COVID-19 shopping panic hit the regular supermarkets and staples such as rice and toilet paper ran out. I was able to buy rice from this store and source scented TP, made in Fiji no less, from another store in Logan. Having a Fijian-Indian colleague who grew up using this particular brand in Fiji, who was now using it again out of bare necessity in Australia, was ironic to me and no doubt nostalgic for him. It even had a ‘tropical’ scent which likely reminded him in some part of his youth.

I visited Singapore in early 2020, right before the pandemic hit and international travel was shut down globally. During my time there, I saw a museum exhibition about shophouses and their architectural history and evolution and how they form an integral part of Singapore’s national identity. Many of the shophouses are now heritage protected buildings of historical importance. I found it incredibly fascinating, so much so, that I bought a couple of DIY craft books in the gallery shop; they were 3D cardboard cut-out models of shophouses that you assemble yourself. Writing this piece reminded me that I’m still yet to put them together.

I like to patronise these Asian stores as, more often than not, they are a family run business and I see it as a kind of duty to pay it forward, so to speak. Other people patronised my parents store and this helped put me through school, so I like to think I'm helping someone to do the same in turn for their kids. The people I have met in these stores over the years come from countries all over the world: Singapore, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam just to name a few. I feel that they have enriched our lives and society in general so much, just by being here in Australia. This point is not lost on me now that I am currently writing this paragraph on National Harmony Day (21st March 2022).

   Upon reflection, I was somewhat surprised to realise the extent as to how much these recollections of the humble Asian grocery store have influenced my early works as an aspiring poet, which I will further outline below.

 The following poem was written in early 2020, when Australia and the world were first discovering the seriousness of COVID-19 and supermarket panic buying became widespread, especially for toilet paper. Hence, how it ties back to my Fijian-Indian friend and that orchid scented  toilet paper.

 T.P.

A hallway closet stokes my piles the secret source, is equal parts pride and shame 56 rolls, ready to roll. The girthy dimensions stack up well to the test at hand. Bleached pure white hypoallergenic strong and soft lightly scented. Desirable qualities to be found in any prospective lifetime partner. In a World gone mad, all is topsy turvy amongst the hurly-burly. Clean-up in aisle three sweep away your broken desires and cat scratched yearnings. Try again tomorrow at 7am. Two ply dreams descend into one ply nightmares. Ill world constipated of kindness and caring. Diarrhoeal discharges of hate and selfishness abound, as greed leaches freely. Those assholes worried about their arseholes fight for you screech and wail for you. What goes in must come out maligned and malformed. Bristol was right, you are one type disparate, nuts and harder to pass. Keeping up with the Joneses has you unravelled to your core. A consumerist idiom keeps our global economy kicking~ Bought another pack this morning bhai, buying more than using.

  As for the poem below, I got the inspiration from a trip to Singapore in 2020. Walking around the Little India district, I saw a lot of the Asian grocery stores had tuned their radios, which were placed near the checkout counters, to Indian stations and that they were loudly playing Indian songs.

 The Voicesmith

Oral to aural He rides his flaming chariot across the airwaves. Harnessing cadence,                       tonality,                                               enunciation.                                                                         A richly refined sound                           Finely grained                                    deeply polished                                    like hundred-year-old smoky cedar.              A Master Craftsman honing honeyed words pervasively persuasive.     Doppler                                          affecting                                              us all deeply within. Creatively breathing vitality into etchings.    Resurrected     words leap from paper to life.  Pixies dancing through the air pirouetting along soundscapes tickling our ears.  Fizzing softly drinking speech bubbles.         The human gramophone.     His name?                                      Shall remain unwritten, but not unknown.

 I will not name this place outright, but for those of you reading this who may be aware, there is an Indian supermarket in Woolloongabba. It also has an upstairs street food vegetarian restaurant. As a currently single man of Indian extraction, I have found this place to be a most excellent date venue. It serves cheap and cheerful tasty Indian vegetarian street food, with an extensive range of dishes to try. The informality of the place coupled with the fact that it’s always buzzing with people and that it’s often easier to eat the food with your hands seems to help put my dates at ease. A very low stress, low pressure environment. It also allows me to introduce a part of my culture to the other person, which is a great topic for ice breakers and conversation. It is an all-weather venue that is open late every night, with plenty of free off-street parking. Another big tick for this place is that you can wait for your date downstairs in the store if they are running late. There’s plenty to occupy your time with down there, peruse the shelves checking out all manner of weird and wonderful Asian products. I have the feeling that by now, a few of the supermarket and restaurant workers are beginning to recognise me and what I’m up to. Why do I suspect this? The warm friendly all-knowing smiles they flash me when I’m there with yet another date leads me to make this assumption.

The following poem is somewhat loosely based in part, on five very different dating experiences I have had at this place.

 Lustrum

I

The longest night has passed it can only get better from here- as if daylight holds such extenuating power over us. We steal light from our Northern brethren  a favour to be returned in a year's time

a spinning top in constant flux. Such is life on the Antipodes.

Solstice 

 II

Waiting for the right  defibrillator fingers to strum dulcet tones and revive this cold old steel heart. Hear us then make beautiful resonant music                          together.

Dobro

III Together we shall stand,  inviolate. In the calm before the storm of our lives approaches. Savour this moment, for it is fleeting and will not pass us by ever again.

Tempest

 IV I have no regrets dying here next to you. Our undersized hearts, gutted nourished Aphrodite herself.                      We swam through life side by side                                    upstream through turbulent tides. I do not regret a moment of it. My love.

Pisces

V 'Tis only a strong memory I carry etched deep within me softly tinged with nostalgia and peppered with melancholy.

Four bhais ayes only

  These final two poems were initially inspired by a shaving accident that resulted in two nasty gashes on my head. This was the result of trying a different brand of shaving gel and razor blade to what I am normally accustomed to using. I picked up these items at a local Asian grocery store. There was no fault in either the razor or shave gel, just a moment of carelessness on my part that cost me a chunk of my scalp; experimentation gone awfully awry. The scars still remain, but have healed enough to no longer make daily head shaving such an onerous and painful task.

 Trials and tribulations I wear this crown of scars not with pride, or shame shame shame. Rather, emburdened with the weight of significance it carries. It speaks of words unspoken, a life lived on the edge. Scalped by a razor-thin red bloodline of insanity, crudely routed into the finest blue scum line of a bigger brother. Watching us, treading awfully, carefully. It made Drowning Deadweights of us all; Time to swim or sink? The biggest boldest line however reserved for the Qld-NSW border. Flaying lives and shaving incomes into two. Now, Turn To The Two Twin Towns, Siamese siblings separated at birth. First cleaved in 1859. A beating heart, bald-faced lies prostrate, and long since bypassed. A cruel mind blown, straight to the dome.

Cutting loose

Only two swipes left, have I petered out? I'm bleeding my love. Keep bleeding, keep, keep bleeding love. You cut me open oh yeah. Me, acquiesce? No way King hit, buy the most majestic of royally close shaves. Only acquired by a jaundiced eye. Won on yellow stickered special. German engineered technology ingrained reputations that serve to dig deeply. Blunt words kindly severed dazed and confused. A stainless steel plows and hoes. To slice and dice, fallow and gouge, scarring the dome inside and out. A scary proposition. Markers of these Pyrrhic wars I fought, haughtily against myself. Fraught with a thin skinned ephemeral epidermis. So slather moisturiser, only the best lathers, hopes and yearnings. Increasing greys number in severity to mark the days of life's essences stonily skipping away. Aesthetics lie, and owls do cry #ruined. Along with the discarded detritus of wheatish-brown origins on a damp bathroom floor. A muscle's memories, weakness loss of motility surely, it does unjustly, indeed and in deed, cut deep. Trying vainly to staunch the ebb and flow of time.

[ebenvt]

Introduction to Bacon & the Art of Living

The quest to understand how great bacon is made takes me around the world and through epic adventures. I tell the story by changing the setting from the 2000s to the late 1800s when much of the technology behind bacon curing was unraveled. I weave into the mix beautiful stories of Cape Town and use mostly my family as the other characters besides me and Oscar and Uncle Jeppe from Denmark, a good friend and someone to whom I owe much gratitude! A man who knows bacon! Most other characters have a real basis in history and I describe actual events and personal experiences set in a different historical context.

The cast I use to mould the story into is letters I wrote home during my travels.

C & T Harris in New Zealand and other amazing tales

June 1893

Dear Kids,

There is a Māori proverb that says, “A grey hair held between the finger and thumb is an infinitesimally trivial thing, yet it conveys to the mind of man the lesson of an everlasting truth.” Such is the wisdom of the Māori. They have their own unique set of proverbs; a strong and proud race with sophisticated laws and customs which rivals the modern cities of Europe in complexity and detail. These existed since long before there was any European contact.

New Zealand is an exceptional place to be with a beauty that is unimaginable. The developments from around the world of refrigeration and the production of bacon by the most modern ways reached these far shores of the earth. The three ways that I see this happening is in the quick development of refrigeration storage facilities at all major locations on the Islands, in the fact that I suspect C & T Harris to be looking to establishing curing works here and in the local pig breed I found in the Island, very popular among the Māori people.

Cold Storage in New Zealand

The Dunedin works of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company is the first cold storage installation in operation on these shores. The Dunedin works are only a bit larger than those in Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, Auckland, Timaru, Oamaru, and Invercargill. In total, there are 21 works in the colony. The business was only started in 1882 in a small way and has since then increased tremendously. Currently, they are responsible for the export of a million carcasses of sheep and lambs per annum, with a total stock of about eighteen million.

The shipping companies could, in the early day of the trade, insist that a required quantity of sheep be supplied to their steamers. The freezing companies set up agreements with farmers on the back of the requirements from the steamers to take up the bulk of the space.

Since those early years, speculators stepped in, at least here on the Middle Island, who started buying the sheep from the farmers for cash which obviously suited the farmers better than having to wait for the steamers to take up their stock from the freezing facilities who only stored the goods. The shipping companies lost the constant supply from the farmers and the farmer is now shielded from the risk of competing with the English market. I heard from farmers that the bulk of the sheep sent from the Middle Island was sold in this way, especially in Christchurch and at the Bluff; and as for the farmers, they got their cash sooner and was able to negotiate good prices with the traders.

New Zealand has then, like Australia and South Africa became part of the New World, which is able to supply the old world.

C & T Harris in New Zealand 1

As is the case around the world, pigs are a very useful dance partner of the dairy industry. Berkshire is the most popular breed in the colony. The large and small breeds of White Yorkshire are also bred, but they are not as popular as the black pigs. Many farmers don’t breed the pigs; they only rear and fatten them which has proved to be a very lucrative business. The New Zealand pigs are heartier than those from England and unlike the English pigs, they only need a good grass paddock, with an abundance of roots, a small quantity of unthreshed pea-haul for finishing them a few weeks before killing, and of course, lots of water with good shelter from the sun during the warmest summer months.

Minette and I visited a few large pig farmers who farm close to Cheviot and Gore Bay. I was pleasantly surprised to meet an old friend from South Africa working on a large pig farm very close to Cheviot. We visited Brendon and his lovely wife, Belinda. Their children are a blessing, not only to them but all who know the Buckland family. The amazingly gifted poet and artist, Rachel is the oldest, then the very unique and beautiful Ruth, Hanna who if spontaneous and joyful, 3rd; the super energetic and joyful Hezekai is 4th, followed by the completely unique and lovely Asher and finally, Anastasia who is still a baby – uniquely adorable. Of all the people I have met on earth, this very amazing family perfectly exemplifies what we have been taught a Christian should be and we count the time spent with them as one of the biggest highlights of our trip. They don’t walk around preaching but their lives are worth imitating in every respect!

Bredon tells me that there is a very definite expectation among farmers that the trade of raising pigs will meet the demand of local meat curers and the trade is expected to increase rapidly. Brendon is the kind of man who keeps his word and I suspect that his source asked him not to divulge the name of the firm involved but he told me that one of the largest suppliers in the UK of mess pork to the navies of the world and the mercantile marine operations, sent an agent to New Zealand in order to investigate the viability of setting up a branch in the colony. The agent has been here for some time now, a couple of months at least, and is making inquiries as to the prospect of opening up branch establishment. He ran a trial to test the quality of our pigs for their purposes. The trail was done by preparing some carcasses by a process patented by the firm. He then shipped these to his principals in England. He received a cablegram which stated that the meat and the curing were done to “perfection.” As a result of this, arrangements are being made for extensive trade throughout the colony. The English firm is prepared to erect factories at a cost of £20,000 each in areas where they have a reasonable expectation to secure 2,000 pigs per week. (The NZ Official Yearbook, 1893)

Even though I don’t know this for certain, C & T Harris is obviously a very strong candidate for the “large English firm”. The only company I know in England who used patented technology and is financially strong enough to fund such an operation is the firm, C & T Harris (Calne). It is of huge interest to me that the firm mentioned, possibly Harris, set curing operations up around the world to supply the shipping industry.

We have seen that pork industries are very beneficial to dairy and brewery industries since it provides a way to dispose of low-value by-products such as whey protein, a by-product in cheese making and brewery waste which otherwise has to be discarded. Another reason why a healthy pork industry is a benefit to the farmer is that it provided an effective way to deal with inferior grain which may be converted into mutton and pork. It is not a good practice to pay freight on inferior samples of grain; it will pay far better to convert it into mutton and pork, which may be driven to market on four legs, instead of four wheels. The rule applying to our dairy produce—namely, that it should be of the finest quality—applied with equal force to grain intended for shipment.

The Kunekune

To my great surprise, we found a pig breed on the Islands, very popular amongst the Māori, that looks almost exactly like the Kolbroek breed of the Cape. Kunekune is a Māori word meaning “fat and round” and it perfectly describes this adorable and mild-tempered animal.

Let me first show you what I mean when I say that they look exactly like the Kolbroek.

-> Compare the Kune Kune photos, courtesy of the Empire Kunekune Pig Association of New York (https://www.ekpa.org/).

-> Compare these with the Kolbroek, photos with the courtesy of Zenzele Farm in South Africa. (http://www.zenzelefarm.com/Kolbroek.html)

I wonder if the Kolbroek which came to the Cape of Good Hope is, in essence, the same pigs (group or breed) that also arrived at the shores of New Zealand? How does it happen that these pig breeds look so strikingly similar? I wonder if I, as a foreigner and not a Kunekune, Kolbroek or pig breeding expert can venture a guess how it could have happened that these animals look so similar.

Form of the Kunekune Compared with Drawings from England

Kune Kune Sow and Piglets by Elisabeth Sequoia

Large White

Berkshire

Compare the form of the Kune Kune with the Berkshire and Large White’s.  The similarities are very interesting.

Uniting the Kolbroek, the Kunekune, the English East Indian Company, and China

We know that the Kunekune has Chinese genes. An obvious link between the Kunekune, the Kolbroek, and China from the 1700s is the English East Indian Company and possibly the English navy. The English East Indian Company is the most obvious organisation of that time who facilitated trade between England and China. It makes sense that they were responsible for populating England with Chinese pigs. It also stands to reason that it was an English East Indian ship that was responsible for ferrying the fletching nucleus of pigs of what would become the Kolbroek to Kogel Bay at Cape Hangklip where runaway slaves possibly took over the small herd which swam ashore off the sinking Colebrook and were responsible for initially preserving them.

If the Kunekune came to New Zealand around the same time and also from an English East Indian ship or from the English navy; if the New Zealand pigs were also taken on board from Gravesend as the evidence seems to suggest was the case with the Kolbroek pigs; if the pigs were not breed-pigs like the Berkshire or the Buckinghamshire but, as I suspect, village pigs from Kent; this will explain the Chinese connection and how these seemingly very close relatives made it to both South Africa and New Zealand. One would expect to find evidence in the genetic makeup of the breeds, both Chinese and European origins.

Considering the facts before us leads to this very intriguing and neat conclusion and would settle the matter of the origins of the Kolbroek based on the strong similarities between the Kolbroek and the Kunekune. It would preclude the possibility that the Kolbroek “evolved” through a complicated cross bearding of Chinese or Portuguese, Spanish or Dutch breeds with South African wild boars or even warthogs. Let’s delve into the facts.

China

I have written to you previously about the development of the English Pig when Minette and I met Michael in Liverpool while we stayed at the Royal Waterloo Hotel. I do not wish to repeat myself except to remind you that around eight thousand years ago, pigs in China made a transition from wind animals to the farm. They started living off scraps of food from human settlements. Humans penned them up and started feeding them which removed the evolutionary pressure they had as wild animals living in the forest. They were bred by humans instead of being left in the forests to breed naturally and to fend for themselves. This led to an animal that is round, pale, short-legged, pot-bellied with traditional regional breeding preferences that persist to this day. (White, 2011)

In contrast to the Chinese custom, in the West, the scavengers were treated differently. There is evidence that pigs were initially exploited in the Middle East around 9000 to 10 000 years ago. These denser settlements of the Neolithic times in the fertile crescent did not pen the animals up but ejected them from their society. The pigs may have been a nuisance or competed with humans for scarce resources such as water. Genetic research shows that the first pig exploitation in Anatolia (around modern-day Turkey) “hit a dead end.” (White, 2011) The pigs that were domesticated here all died out.

The pigs in Europe and England were kept in the wild for extended periods of time. Various European populations developed techniques of mast feeding (Mast being the fruit of forest trees and shrubs, such as acorns and other nuts). Herds were pushed into abandoned forests and feeding them on beechnuts and acorns that are of marginal value to humans. (White, 2011)

The practice of pannage, as it is called, is the releasing of livestock-pigs in a forest, so that they can feed on fallen acorns, beech mast, chestnuts or other nuts. One of the requirements for a Chinese/ European pig breed to have survived either in South Africa or New Zealand as a distinct breed is that the pigs did not become part of the general pig population, dealt with according to European custom, but, instead, was kept according to Chinese traditions in pens. The “pressure” to keep them in pens instead of letting them run wild as was the custom at the Cape, I believe was that the pigs were received by runaway slaves who knew pig husbandry and kept the pigs penned up as they did with other domesticated animals on their hideouts as a way to keep them “close” and out of sight of the general farm population for fear of being detected by authorities and the slaves be re-captured. The question is if there existed similar pressure in New Zealand.

The most likely candidate to have taken the pigs from England to the Cape was the Colnebrook in 1778 and Captain Cook, who is known to have released pigs on islands he visited, is the most likely candidate to have ferried the ancestors of the Kunekune to New Zealand. The pigs that he released on the middle Island who was not penned up but roamed the forests became feral and their characteristics changed to revert back to the wild state. We know that crossbreeds between Chinese and European breeds appeared in England well before the 1778 sailing of the Colebrook for the Cape of Good Hope and the three visits of Cook to New Zealand, in 1769-70, 1773 and 1777.

Kunekune

We have already seen that the Kunekune and the Kolbroek can be one pig breed for all intent and purposes. What is there that we know about the genetics of the Kunekune? A paper was presented by Gongora, et al., at the 7th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, Montpellier, France, (2) entitled Origins of the Kune Kune and Auckland Island Pigs in New Zealand.

They introduce their paper as follows, directly addressing the matters of interest to us. “Migrating Polynesians first introduced pigs from Asia to the Pacific islands (Diamond, 1997), but it is not clear whether they reached New Zealand. European sailors and settlers introduced pigs into New Zealand in the 18th and 19th centuries, many of which became feral, but few records were kept of these introductions (Clarke and Dzieciolowski, 1991a; 1991b). It is believed that the European settlers introduced contemporary domestic animals originating either directly or indirectly from Europe (Challies, 1976).” (Gongora, 2002) It is this last possibility that is of interest to us. If the DNA evidence supports this possibility, it opens up the link with the Kolbroek since both pigs have prominent Chinese in their DNA and both possibly originating from Europe.

One must be careful here since Cook got pigs from many parts of the world and others are known to also have sent pigs to New Zealand. The possibility, for example, that the Kunekune came from pigs that Captain Cook released on the South Island in 1773, obtained from Tonga and Tahiti, and, therefore, undoubtedly of Polynesian origin (Clarke and Dzieciolowski, 1991a) remains. (Gongora, 2002)

Gongora, and coworkers et al. (2002) reports that the “unequivocal Asian origin of the Kune Kune mitochondrial sequence is consistent with the pigs being taken from Asia to New Zealand by the Polynesian ancestors of present day Maoris, but may be better supported by the well documented introduction of Polynesian pigs into New Zealand by Captain Cook in 1773.” (Gongora, 2002) This is, of course, the most obvious conclusion.

However, the possibility of the introduction of this Asian mitochondrial sequence via a European breed, which acquired Asian mitochondria by introgression in the 18th century in Europe is as good a possibility as the aforementioned. (Gongora, 2002) Gongora says that “such introgression explains the clustering of the Large White and Berkshire sequences with Asian pigs” as can be seen from the graph below.

Nucleotide substitutions and gaps are found in 32 porcine mtDNA D-loop sequences. The Kune Kune clusters with Asian domestic pigs are most closely related to Chinese and Japanese breeds. The Auckland Island sequence clusters with domestic European breeds (Gongora, 2002). Auckland Island is situated south of New Zealand and it is thought that the pigs that were released there may have the same origin as the Kunekune.

“Analysis of additional Kune Kune sequences as well as more Polynesian sequences may help distinguish the first two possibilities from the third. Finding unambiguous Polynesian sequences may be difficult though, as Giuffra et al. (2000) found that a feral pig sequence from Cook Island in Polynesia clustered with European domestic pig sequences. Analyses of nuclear gene sequences in conjunction with mtDNA sequences will also help in discriminating between European and Asian origins as for the porcine GPIP gene in the study of Giuffra et al. (2000). Analysis of microsatellite marker allele frequencies using the standard ISAG/FAO marker set (Li et al., 2000) will also assist in deciphering the relationships of these populations of pigs and are already underway for the Auckland Island population and are planned for the Kune Kune pigs. Jointly these studies will illuminate the history of Pacific island pigs, their geographic origins and genetic diversity.” (Gongora, 2002)

They conclude by stating that “Kune Kune pigs have Asian mitochondrial DNA but at this stage we cannot distinguish between i) Polynesian introduction of Asian pigs, ii) European introduction of pigs from Asia/Polynesia or iii) introgression of Asian mtDNA into European pigs in Europe in 17th century and subsequent introduction of these “European” pigs into New Zealand.” (Gongora, 2002) The link with the Kolbroek may give a hint of what actually happened.

Links with Captain Cook

A cursory survey of Captain Cook and pigs confirm the fact that he released pigs on the islands. He did this at more than one time. The pigs could even have been from the Cape Of Good Hope. On this 3rd voyage to New Zealand in 1776, he was met by a ship in Cape Town who accompanied him to New Zealand. The ship was the Discovery, commanded by Charles Clerke. “The Discovery was the smallest of Cook’s ships and was manned by a crew of sixty-nine. The two ships were repaired and restocked with a large number of livestock and set off together for New Zealand [from Cape Town] ( December).” (http://www.captcook-ne.co.uk)

We also know that pigs were sent to New Zealand from Australia. In 1793, Governor King of Norfolk Island gave 12 pigs to Tukitahua, one of two northern Māori chiefs who had been kidnapped and taken to Norfolk Island. By 1795 only one animal was left. King then established relations with the northern chief Te Pahi, and sent a total of 56 pigs in three ships in 1804 and 1805. It is probably from these, and from being gifted between tribes, that pigs became established in the North Island. From 1805 Māori were trading pigs to Europeans.” (https://teara.govt.nz)

Still, it is unlikely that the Kunekune came from animals that were merely “released” on the islands. These animals reverted to the feral state. I also suspect that, as was the case along the South African coast, pigs that were given as a gift or traded were probably consumed. There must have been a reason, planning, purpose and some instruction that accompanied the exchange of pigs into the hands of a leader who could command the breeding of the animals. Such an example exists, and as we will see later, it relates to the one voyage of Cook that started at Gravesend.

“Two pigs were gifted to Māori by de Surville at Doubtless Bay in 1769. During Cook’s second and third voyages, a number of boars and sows were released – most in Queen Charlotte Sound, but two breeding pairs were given to the Hawke’s Bay chief Tuanui.” Cook’s first visit to Hawked Bay was in 1769 sailing in the Endeavour as part of his first Pacific voyage (1768-1771). We know that he released pigs on the South Island. “Wild pigs, in the South Island at least, may have originated from Cook’s voyages, and are generally known as Captain Cookers.” (https://teara.govt.nz)

Below is a portrait of Tuanui (also known as Rangituanui), principal chief of Ngati Hikatoa. The drawing by W. Hodges. Engrav’d by Michel. Published Feb 1st, 1777 by Wm. Strahan New Street, Shoe Lane, and Thos. Cadell in the Strand, London. No.LV. 1777

Cook gave him breeding pigs, a very interesting fact. There are accounts from New Zealand where Māori’s tried to pen up wild animals with no success. A leader such as Tuanui is exactly the kind of exchange one would expect to develop into the Māori-pig or the Kunekune.

Oral Tradition

I have great respect for oral traditions. Over the years I have seen how tenacious phrases and stories are over time, persists. It seems to me that the shorter the phrase, the simpler it is to pass on and, oftentimes, the more revealing it is of an actual event. This is more or less my approach with the Kolbroek and I was eager to see just how entrenched the theory is that Captain Cook released, not just any pig, but pigs from England on the shores of New Zealand that could have been the start of the Kunekune.

Searching through old newspapers yielded the following. From The Age (Melbourn, Victoria, Australia) (3) it was reported that “when Captain Cook landed in New Zealand during one of his great voyages of discovery, he set free on the shore several pigs which had been brought all the way from England to provide fresh meat on the voyage.” The wild pigs of New Zealand are according to the author, also descendants of the pigs that Cook released here. The link with England is of particular interest.

The Courrier (Waterloo, Iowa), 7 April 1886 calls the Māori Pig, “a descendant of one of Captain Cooks Pigs it may be – a swine, black but not completely, ill-shaped and clumsy, but apparently a perfectly happy pig leading, as he does, the life of a free and independent gentlemen, as does his mater, the Maori landowner and rejoicing in the grubbing up of abundant and gratuitous fern roots.” There is no reference to the pigs being from England and the author mentions the link between the Māori pig and Captain Cook as a possibility, but there can be little doubt we are talking about Kunekune here.

Studying old drawings can assist us as it does in our study of the development of pig breeds.

(King, 2015)

The image above can easily be a young Kunekune but then again, it could be any one of a number of smaller Chinese breeds.

The Gravesend Connection

The diary of events leading up to Cook’s first voyage gives us a connection with Gravesend.

Jul. 18 Mon. Pilot arrives to take Endeavour to the Downs. 21 Thu. Sails from Deptford for Gallions Reach. 30 Sat. Sails from Gallions Reach to Gravesend. 31 Sun. Sails from Gravesend. Aug. 3 Wed. Endeavour in the Downs. 7 Sun. Cook joins Endeavour to commence Voyage. 8 Mon. Sails for Plymouth.

(from https://www.captaincooksociety.com)

Cook’s second and third voyage was undertaken, not from Gravesend, but another location in Kent, The Downs. This means that in 1768 Captain Cook took pigs on board the HMS Endeavour, and in 1778, a mere 9 years later, the East Indiaman, Colebrook, took pigs on board from the exact same location in Kent. Could these have been Chinese Pigs, crossed with the same large English breed, possibly from the same boar resulting in the Kolbroek and the Kunekune?

Here is a possible reconstruction of events from my imagination. Village pigs at Gravesend in Kent, during the early 1700s, received a dominant pig boar that the villagers used to service their sows. This boar was probably owned by a wealthy local landowner. Beginning in the 1700s, Old English pig breeds were crossed with Chinese pigs, probably brought to English shores by the English East Indian Company. The navy used Gravesend to stock their ships with livestock, as did the English East Indian Company. Captain Cook took on board some of these pigs that managed to survive the journey without making it onto the sailers menu, all the way to New Zealand where they were given as a present to a powerful Maori chief who bred them. They later became the legendary Kunekune pigs.

It was the same kind of pigs that went aboard the East-Indiaman, the Colebrook, who sank off Cape Hangklip. Pigs from the sinking ship swam ashore at Kogel Bay, was taken in by runaway slaves (drosters) and became the legendary Kolbroek breed of the Cape of Good Hope.

The breeds, as they exist today, share so many similarities that if one would simply look at them, one would say it is the same breed. Much more work remains. Evidence may prove reality to be far removed from my imagination, but look at what we learned!

The Harris Family of Cheviot

My theories about the origin of the Kunekune may or may not be accurate, but what is certain is that New Zealanders are “salt of the earth” kind of people. No wonder the Buckland family loves this place. It fascinates me that the largest employer in Cheviot is the Harris family has been instrumental in the establishment of the biggest bacon curing operation in New Zeland. I can find no obvious link between the Harris family in Cheviot and the Harris clan from Calne. We had the privilege to get to know Nick and his brother Bryan Harris from Cheviot. Bryan showed me the best way to kill a pig. I showed up unannounced at their abattoir one day. He told me he was insanely bussy, but he has done exactly what I did by showing up unannounced at meat plants in many parts of the world to learn from them and he has never been refused a tour or an audience with the right people. Based on his own experience he paid it forward and spend an entire morning with me, despite his tough schedule, showing and teaching me. He introduced me to the work of an American lady who designs abattoirs in such a way as to ensure very little stress for the animal. His energy and love for his work are infectious. Nick, like Bryan, worked in their butchery in the town of Cheviot that was started by their dad while he qualified as a chartered accountant. As such he is uniquely gifted to teach me about accounting and the pork business. From Nick, I learned the basics of accounting applied to the pork industry and how one links what happens on the floor to the accounting records in the office. More than that, he is an excellent farmer with loads of top management experience. I wish I met these two brothers when I left school! They are an amazing wealth of information and reminds me of the Māori proverb I started the letter with which says that “a grey hair held between the finger and thumb is an infinitesimally trivial thing, yet it conveys to the mind of man the lesson of an everlasting truth.” Such is Nick and Bryan Harris!

The largest pork producer in England is C & T Harris. The largest bacon producer in New Zealand is closely connected to the Harris family and, as you will see later, the Harris family of Australia is responsible for a massive bacon curing operation in Castlemaine. The coincidence is staggering and the tale of the Harris family of Australia I leave for a future conversation! Whichever way you look at it, in the world, no other single surname has been as closely associated with bacon as Harris!

After Cheviot, we spend time with Stu and Simon who are senior managers at Hellers. Stu runs production and Simon manages the operation. They too are salt of the earth kind of men. It was Easter Friday when I showed up at the Heller factory for the first time and both Stu and Simon gave me an amazing welcome. Since then, they became good friends and confidants. People that I have the freedom to discuss our Cape Town plans with and who always give clear and unbiased advice.

Minette and I fell in love with New Zealand as we have never experienced anywhere else in the world. The biggest reason is the people of this amazing land even though the land itself is of a beauty that is unrivaled. It was an honour to have married here and to forge a close connection with the people of this land. New Zealand has a unique place in the world community who have contained on its shores, the basic ingredients of bacon curing and living life to the fullest. We are stunned by the experience of the land and its people. I am excited about the prospect that one day you guys will visit these shores and have your own amazing experiences. I think we are building up a set of confidants around the world who will assist us to face any challenge that may be thrown our way at Woody’s.

Lots of love from Christchurch,

Dad and Minette.

Further Reading

Chapter 03: Kolbroek where the story starts.

Read with Chapter 09.15 The English Pig where I deal with the source of pigs for Gravesend where live pigs were loaded onto ships.

(c) eben van tonder

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Notes

(1) The source does not state that the firm from England who set up the New Zealand operation was C & T Harris but considered at face value, they are certainly the best candidate.

(2) Publication date, August 19-23, 2002

(3) Publication date, 14 July 1939.

References

Sinclair, J. (Ed). 1897.Pigs Breeds and Management. Vinton and Co, London

Harris, J. (Ed.). c 1870. Harris on the pig. Breeding, rearing, management, and improvement. New York, Orange Judd, and company.

The New Zealand Official Yearbook, 1893.

http://www.majstro.com/dictionaries/Afrikaans-English/Slams

https://teara.govt.nz/en/kai-pakeha-introduced-foods/page-1

https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/search/imagedetail.php?id=260

http://www.captcook-ne.co.uk/ccne/timeline/voyage3.htm

The Age (Melbourn, Victoria, Australia) of 14 July 1939, p 5.

Biology online. Retrieved 15 February 2013.

The Courrier (Waterloo, Iowa), 7 April 1886

Gongora, J., Garkavenko, O., Moran, C.. 2002. From the 7th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, August 19-23, 2002, Montpellier, France, Paper entitled Origins of the Kune Kune and Auckland Island Pigs in New Zealand.

Green, G. L.. 1968. Full Many a Glorious Morning. Howard Timmins.

King, C. M.., Gaukroger, D. J., Ritchie, N. A. (Editors), 2015. The Drama of Conservation, Springer.

Yu, G., Xiang, H., Wang, J., Zhao, X.. 08 March 2013, The phylogenetic status of typical Chinese native pigs: analyzed by Asian and European pig mitochondrial genome sequences. Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology volume 4, Article number: 9 (2013).

White, S.. 2011. From Globalized Pig Breeds to Capitalist Pigs: A Study in Animal Cultures and Evolutionary History, Vol. 16, No. 1 (JANUARY 2011), pp. 94-120, Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23050648

Photo References

https://www3.stats.govt.nz/New_Zealand_Official_Yearbooks/1893/NZOYB_1893.html

http://mfo.me.uk/wiki/index.php?title=C%26T_Harris_%28Calne%29_Ltd

Chapter 10.02: C & T Harris in New Zealand and other amazing tales Introduction to Bacon & the Art of Living The quest to understand how great bacon is made takes me around the world and through epic adventures.

[222258-ihiwehi]

Why are universities such a magnet for sexual assaults?

By Jai Breitnauer

Research Article

Why are universities such as magnet for sexual assaults? The Spinoff

There’s something about universities that make entitled young men feel safe pushing the boundary between consensual sex and rape – and it has to change, writes Jai Breitnauer.

Admittedly, when I saw my old higher education institute, the University of Warwick, hit UK headlines earlier this year over a group rape chat scandal, I wasn’t surprised. It’s 20 years since I graduated, but apparently not much has changed. When I was there, sexual assault was much more common than anyone working for the university would’ve been comfortable admitting. What made this recent chapter so repulsive is that not only were the victims made to feel “on trial” (their own words), but that two students initially banned from campus for 10 years had their punishment reduced to one year, after Mummy and Daddy made a complaint. This meant that, theoretically, they could return to their studies almost immediately. In some cases, on the same course as the women they had been talking about harming.

Across the world, women are protesting about the inadequate way sexual assaults are handled by universities where the focus is often on minimising damage to the institutions’ reputations rather than caring for the victim. A recent UK survey suggested a quarter of female students had experienced some sort of sexual assault, but only 2% made a formal complaint through concern over how it would be handled. Institutions now need to take a stark look at their statistics and ask themselves, is this a monster of our own creation? The way that officials handle sexual violence within the cradle of university life sends a clear message – and unfortunately, that message in many cases is, “don’t worry, lads, we’ve got your back.”

Although I’m quite sure it’s unintentional, this seems to be the atmosphere created at the University of Otago’s Knox College. Knox has hit headlines after student magazine Critic published an exposé on the unforgivable way many sexual assault complaints had been handled there. Not only does Knox reportedly have a high incidence of sexual violence, but it also seems to have a leadership unwilling to admit the severity of the problem. The result is, at best, minimising of the issue. At worst, it’s directly damaging to the victims (making a student pay for bedding used as evidence? WTAF?)

This isn’t about Knox College alone: from 2016 to 2017, Otago University as a whole had 14 reported incidents of sexual misconduct in halls of residence. Victoria University in Wellington had eight, while AUT, Massey, Lincoln and the University of Auckland had just seven reports between them in the same period (although, in all honesty, even one is too many).

The difference is often in the way the offences are treated. If a university goes in for what I now like to call ‘The Warwick Method’ – minimising, victim blaming and generally arse-covering in an old boy style – then what they’re actually doing is creating a safe space for sexual violence to flourish. Universities and colleges need to take a harder, no-nonsense approach to foster an environment of respect and equity, a flat hierarchy where entitlement doesn’t play a role in how you’ll be treated if and when you fuck up.

This latter point is important because university is still a place of privilege, but it’s also a place of learning. The learning at university doesn’t just happen in lectures and seminars; the majority of enrolled students are very young, teenagers in many cases, and living away from home for the first time. Perhaps they’re learning how to make an omelette, balance their studies with a part-time job, or navigate a new public transport system.

They’re also learning who they are and how they relate to others in their new adult world, away from family and childhood friends. The university then is also acting in loco parentis. Halls of residence should be expected to be a safe cradle where minor to mid-range errors are rectified without being too harshly judged. But it should also be a place where duty of care has to be exercised in earnest. A place where a clear message needs to be sent that some mistakes lack a grey area (like sexual assault) and that they’re as unforgivable at university as they are in the “real” world.

Feminist author and journalism professor Barbara Kelley from Santa Clara University says that many universities give out a backward message about sexual assault that might unintentionally fuel that sense of male entitlement.

“On most campuses, the message is directed toward women; walk in groups, don’t leave your drink unattended, blah, blah, blah,” she told me over email. “The real message should be directed toward the males and it’s very simple – don’t rape. End of story.”

Emily Reynolds for the Guardian reported last year that a study had found 63% of British students are victims of sexual violence at university, with 8% of female respondents reporting they had been raped. Reynolds recommended that universities introduce an anonymous reporting system, like the one at Cambridge University, and that student counselling services are more adequately resourced to support victims. Crucially, she said that education around appropriate behaviour and conduct should start before students arrive at university, with higher education institutions partnering with schools to deliver this programme. All new students at Cambridge now have to attend a compulsory consent workshop, and Reynolds believes this work should be carried out among students while still in school. Apart from making sure that all students understand the rules when they arrive on campus, it sets the tone and sends an obvious message that sexual violence will not be forgiven.

Caitlin Barlow-Groome, national coordinator of New Zealand’s Thursday’s In Black (TIB) campaign agrees with Reynolds. TIB was launched in the mid-90’s by Green MP Jan Logie as a lobbying and support group around issues of sexual violence on campus. It was resurrected in 2016 and conducted research released as the ‘In Your Own Words’ report. It shows that 83% of respondents had experienced sexual harassment on campus, and 53% had experienced assault.

“It’s really disappointing many universities haven’t worked to rid campus of traditions that objectify women, that encourage a belief there is a place where sexual violence is OK,” says Barlow-Groome. “University College halls, which are owned by Otago University, now offer training around consent but it’s optional. The issue here is entitlement, how many of the people that need it are going to opt in? Being naive should not be an excuse.”

Barlow-Groome would like to see compulsory consent training rolled out across year 13 high school students, and supported by tertiary institutions.

“This training should be for all young people, not just those going on to university,” she says, noting that university is a place where support is on offer, but for many high school leavers who go straight into work that type of support is not readily available. “We also need to understand that no single route to education and support works for everyone, we need to provide options for those from different cultural backgrounds, for example.”

Barlow-Groome says that what is clear is that universities are so concerned with their reputation they’re not supporting victims or making change. In the case of the University of Warwick, a backlash from staff and graduates forced them to take a second look at their practices. As well as employing an independent team to review their outdated disciplinary procedures, they’re working towards improving student support and making their Independent Sexual Violence Counsellor a permanent role. The students who were allowed back now won’t be returning – not because the university said they couldn’t, but because the student community sent a clear message that their behaviour was unwelcome.

With that in mind, I would urge all New Zealand university graduates and staff not to wait for your institution to take the lead – send a clear message yourself. Sexual violence on campus is not OK, and the time for change is now.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reflection

When researching some initial thoughts towards Inequality in NZ, a huge portion wanted to focus on women's rights and a subject that in my Wehi I can respond to personally as a designer, In correspondence to this when researching how to narrow down my subject matter,  another big point of inequality in which we had discussed in class was that of Education.

This article focuses and highlights the issues of Sexual Assault and Harassment within New Zealand Education Providers. Both a powerful and concerning message can be seen here, with myself as a student and no previous knowledge of whom to speak to or ask for help for in this situation. Both impactful in its Ihi but also its emotional response in its Wehi has caused a reaction that I would like to further pursue in my assignment research.

[aprille-spatial-design]

This project addresses the psychological impacts of the hospital’s physical environment on patients and their families. It seeks to enhance patient experience and well-being through considered design of hospital spaces, through the implementation of a care-guiding system that utilises elements of colour, texture, nature and positive distractions. The site that I have selected is the Wellington Children’s Hospital. The design will be implemented initially in the waiting room area as it is one of the main transitioning points in the children’s journey from home into the hospital. Through thoughtful design, there is an opportunity to create a nurturing environment where children and their families feel a sense of belonging and control, and enjoy a more positive and healing experience. 

Hospital spaces need to be designed for children so that they are easily read and allow them to find their way around and remember routes. For my design, and beginning with the waiting room, I will construct a narrative which will act as a care-guiding system for families and their children to find their way around the hospital through different touch points. Colours, texture and symbol referencing will be used in certain areas to differentiate and identify zones and functions. Colour referencing can be used on furnishings etc to define an activity of the space. By combining the colours with landmarks, children can have enhanced memory of routes and spaces. This can be a great help to help children feel a sense of place, safety, reassurance and belonging.

Connecting children with the architectural features through physical participation and natural landscape elements enhance the satisfaction of the experience within the space and helps stay in their memory. Visual playful elements will be used to stimulate children’s imagination, providing positive distractions, keeping occupants in good spirits, while also helping parents stay calm. 

My project will be investigating the links between the built environment and the attitudes of the patients. Addressing the areas which had the most impact on themselves and their families. When patients were asked to describe a patient friendly environment, Most responses had common themes of : 

- Accessibility

- Privacy 

- Personal space 

- Something to occupy their minds 

- Sense of security and comfort

Negative feedback included an environment where :

 - facilities that were not easily accessible

- where the physical layout of the hospital lacked communication and connection with others. 

Loss of independence and a lack of control within the space was an issue, highlighting the importance of the layout of the wards. One of the most important aspects was being able to feel at home. 

For this project I am creating a care guiding system with the waiting area being my focus area to address these issues, allowing people to engage with the space and with others, to have a sense of control over their actions while also providing positive distractions for children and their families creating a comforting and welcoming environment to help children adjust from their home into the hospital. 

The physical environment factors of health care systems have a huge impact on a child's wellbeing “Physical attributes contribute to the meaning of place by supporting or inhibiting the individual's ability to control, personalise and have meaningful relationships in the space. Having a major affect over the child's feelings and behaviours. “Children seek adventure and challenge, they explore places and enjoy transforming spaces to create imaginary worlds.” (Tovey, 2007). Within health care environments children need space where they can play but also smaller, quiet spaces for their own privacy providing opportunities for independence but also a place where they can return to when necessary. The use of colour and lighting has a huge impact on the atmosphere of a room having a great impact on children. “The sense of touch is directly related to cognitive development, and colour has far-reaching effects which influence behaviour.”( Maxwell and Evans, 2002). Cool colours tend to have calming effects and warm colours create warmth and excitement for children. This research shows that children have positive reactions to bright colours such as pink, blue, yellow and negative emotions for dark colours eg. Black, brown, grey.  A hospital should be a nurturing place that encourages positivity, the use of colour can create energy that is uplifting and positive energy. Colours offer opportunity for positive distraction and can be used to highlight points of orientation.  

It’s important for children to be able to navigate their way around the hospital, spaces, corners, directions can be designed to attract their attention so they will recall the spaces easily. Memory of space is the critical link to connecting us to the place. In a hospital environment things can seem disjointed and overwhelming for children when there is a lack of communication and connection within spaces. “Children struggle with a limited collection of memories and fail to connect places to each other.”(Ibrahimi, Nada & Cuedari, 2019 ) This makes it difficult for them to find their way around and remember routes. When we are connected with the site we know the directions and feel comfortable and feel more in control. Hospital spaces need to be designed for children so that they are easily read. Connecting children with physical participation with the architectural features and natural landscape elements enhance the satisfaction of the experience within the space and helps stay in their memory. 

A way to achieve this can be used through using colours, textures and symbols on certain floors is a method used in hospitals to differentiate each space to help identify each zone. Using different colours referencing an activity of the room including the furnishings can help children find their way. Combining the colours with landmarks can be a great help  to help children feel a sense of place. Elements of the physical environment that children are using can help increase their perception of the space therefore creating more of a comforting atmosphere, helping the process of recovery. An “enriched environment also serves as a distraction from pain helping to concentrate on other activities.”( Ibrahimi, Nada & Cuedari, 2019 ). This care guide system will use colours making the differing environments recognisable, creating connection with the spaces, it strengthens the position in the mental map of the children’s mind and stimulates the memory. 

The use of nature elements can speak to children and help provide a therapeutic atmosphere for those visiting the hospital creating an enjoyable experience. Built environments infused with the experience of nature can speak to children and help provide therapeutic benefits for those visiting the hospital and help with the healing process. One major response from families who visited the hospital empathises the importance of privacy for themselves, intimacy with their family and faculties for visiting children. A parent stating that children get bored easily and can start to get restless which may cause distress to other patients and surrounding families. ( Douglas, Calbert H 2004.)  

  The Royal Children’s Hospital is a great example of a healthcare system that meets the needs of children and their families through design. Using elements from the natural surroundings of the site such as natural textures, forms and colours of the park create an enriching and restorative environment for children, families and the staff. Inviting the human touch, de institutionalising the hospital genre. Colour is used as a wayfinding strategy which carries a narrative of the many landscapes that make up the state of Victoria. Each colour is used to define each level representing a different environment through graphics, paint, joinery, vinyl, furniture and soft furnishings. Using this coordinated approach results in engaging uplifting ranges of interior, providing patients with positive distractions. The Royal children’s hospital in Melbourne has a wide ride and positive distractions linking the hospital together inviting the community together through a variety of public spaces to meet and eat, performance spaces, playgrounds, meerkat enclosures and aquariums built within the building, large scale artworks and interactive video screens. These elements all act as positive distractions for all age groups, with various activities and visual stimulation it engages with the children and families coming in and out of the hospital. Drawing inspiration from The Royal children’s hospital in Melbourne, the internal spatial experience has been assembled to promote a restore and healing environment for children and their families. Using this information I will be looking at how I can bring in colour, light and texture through a narrative which will act as a care guide-system for children and their families through the hospital at ease. I will be using the Royal children’s hospital as a framework for this projects, creating a narrative which will help guide children and their families through the hospital, separating each ward with an altering environment which conveys a story .I am particularly interested in the use of positive distractions within hospital environments and will use this throughout the points in the hospital.

I have chosen the waiting area as my focus point for this 2 week project as it acts as one of the main transitional stages for children and families entering the hospital. The waiting room should be equipped for the children’s and families wellbeing, accommodating care for children of a range of different ages. “The connection of wellbeing and how the rooms are equipped suggests that children’s well-being relates to the activities the premises allow and invite, such as play, relaxation, being entertained or distracted from the issue at hand.” (Olsson and Kläferud, Chap. 3). The layout of the waiting room interior, placing of furnishing, colour and lighting allows different functions in relation to each other. When reviewed, the perceived waiting time was found to be more determined by the patient's experience within the spaces than the actual amount of time they were waiting. Within these waiting areas the perceived wait time can play a huge factor on one's emotional state, contributing to feelings of stress,  fear, anxiety, and pain. 

Having visual interventions within waiting areas has revealed to have significant behaviour benefits, decreasing restless behaviour and socialisation increasing. Having a screen which attracted the patients attention decreased the number of people staring at each other which is a common issue within waiting areas as it has implications for one's privacy. Having a positive distraction such as a video playing creates a more calming environment.Cabrini Hospital in Melbourne, uses led characterful wall art to greet visitors bringing a warmth and a moment of happiness to patients during difficult circumstances. Situated at the entrance of the hospital ward the graphics move with the movement and touch of children, patients and staff, triggering animations of landscapes and animals to bring joy to children. This mural was designed to positively affect the mood and ambience of the hospital, specific demographics require a unique space, this is achieved through brightness, a slower speed of animation, refined colour plays a tribute as well. 

My project will consider these physical environment factors, focusing on the children and their families at the heart of the design. Focusing on the waiting area as a key point of my caregiving system, I have identified the importance of the use of colour, layout, furnishing, positive distraction and privacy within the hospital environment.

My design : I have designed seating pods which are carved into the walls. This provides privacy for families and can be a safe place for children to nest in if they’re feeling overwhelmed. Tables can be used for a variety of activities, kids can sit, play, draw within. Colour lines these pods to create a friendly atmosphere softening the space. I’ve used organic shapes for the hallows as I didn��t want to use harsh lines to disrupt the space, creating a natural theme to the room. In the centre of the waiting room has a varied range of seating which are all curved and smooth creating comfort for families and to offer freedom to move around the space. On the far wall is an interactive screen which has natural elements such as plants and animals which are activated with movement in touch offering patients positive distinctions. As they wait for their name to be called they can watch and play with the characters on the wall, forming a positive connection with the room. 

References :

Tovey, H. (2007). Playing outdoors: Spaces and places, risks and challenge (debating play). Maidenhead: Open University Press. 

U.S. General Services Administration Public Buildings Service. (2003). Child care center design guide (PBS 3425-13). Washington, DC. 

Olsson AM.E., Kläfverud M. (2017) To Be Summoned to Barnahus: Children’s Perspectives. In: Johansson S., Stefansen K., Bakketeig E., Kaldal A. (eds) Collaborating Against Child Abuse. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

Douglas, Calbert H., and Mary R. Douglas. “Patient-Friendly Hospital Environments: Exploring the Patients’ Perspective.” Health Expectations 7, no. 1 (March 2004): 61–73. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1369-6513.2003.00251.x.

Ibrahimi, Nada & Cuedari, Ani & Nepravishta, Florian. (2019). NEURO-ARCHITECTURE AND PLACEMAKING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND BRAIN. 

“Https://Www.Detail-Online.Com/Article/Nature-Inspired-Design-the-Royal-Childrens-Hospital-in-Melbourne-16520/),” n.d.

 (https://www.batessmart.com/bates-smart/projects/sectors/health/the-new-royal-childrens-hospital-interiors/) 

[justandersons]

paragraph 010 - wellington prep

WHO: Alexander Smythe and Blaine Anderson

NOTES: Blaine and Alex attend a small gathering with some of Alex’s friends. Blaine drinks a little too much and makes a new friend, and Alex decides to use Blaine in a way he hasn’t before. 

Blaine Anderson

Alcohol had always been something of a mystery to Blaine. He'd never been allowed to drink it before Wellington, and if he had, he was sure he'd be beaten. And while he was at Wellington, he didn't touch any either, mainly due to Braxton. The only opportunity he'd really had was a glass of wine at the headmaster's party, but he'd spent most of the time at his brother's mercy and didn't have time for something as simple as drinking. So when Alex had suggested they go to a small gathering, not unlike a party, with some friends of his, Blaine wasn't really expecting to drink.

They spent most of their night with a claimed pair, Master Olivier and his slave, Gabriel (who everyone referred to as 'Pet'). Blaine had liked them immediately. They reminded him of himself and Alex in their love for one another. It was clear how much they cared and their relationship was wonderful. Blaine had immediately gotten along wth Gabriel, especially when he was told he could refer to him by his actual name rather than 'Pet', and they'd spent most of the evening kneeling at their Masters' feet, talking enthusiastically about the newest Star Wars movie and what it could involve.

The drinks had flowed nicely and Blaine's words were becoming more and more slurred by the minute. It wasn't until they were in the car back to their apartment that Blaine realised he wasn't sober and there was definitely some alcohol in his system. He pressed close to Alex as their driver took them home, letting his fingers dance over his jaw. But he didn't speak, not until they were at the door to their home, Blaine stumbling inside and giving a snort of laughter, leaning against the wall.

"I think Gabriel gave me a little too much to drink," Blaine said to his Master, grinning at him. "Because I can't walk in a straight line, Sir. And all I want to do right now is get on my knees and suck your cock. But I'm unsteady and wobbly. It's like my legs are rubber or something." Blaine was hardly aware of his rambling, running a hand through his loose curls and grinning again. "We should get pizza!"

Alexander Smythe

He had been looking forward to introducing Blaine to Olivier and pet for weeks. He and the other Master had grown up together, had a secret promise to claim the other if one ended up a slave and he was the closest person to him. They’d gone their separate ways as young adults with Alex opting to travel and Olivier heading straight into school. Truth be told, seeing how happy Olivier and pet were had been one of the driving forces behind his own enrolment and now that they were back in the same city on a permanent basis, he wanted to show Blaine off.

He hadn’t monitored his alcohol intake; engrossed in his friend, and content to leave Blaine talking away with pet after he’d seen them gel so quickly. However, he was regretting that decision slightly now. Blaine was clearly drunk and while it didn’t bother him, he didn’t want him to wake up feeling sick tomorrow. ‘Are you suggesting you don’t always want to get on your knees and suck my cock when you’re sober?’ He asked, a teasing lilt in his tone.

He wrapped his arm around him and guided him through to the sitting area where he helped him plop down on the couch. ‘Blaine, you can’t be hungry. We just ate so much food at Oli’s house.’ He pointed out, threading his fingers through curls that had long come loose. ‘You’re clearly too buzzed to go to bed yet.’ He hummed. ‘We’ll stay up if you want; watch a movie or something.’ He suggested. ‘Pet spilled red wine on my trousers earlier so let me go shower the stickiness away and then we can curl up, get some water into you yeah?’

Blaine Anderson

"I always want to be on my knees with your cock in my mouth, Alex. I'd be a cock warmer for you if you asked," Blaine grinned at his Master, giggling as he was guided through and sat down on the couch, leaning back against it immediately. "You ate so much food at Sir Olivier's house," He corrected with a grin. "I drank whatever Gabriel gave me and spoke to him about the upcoming Star Wars movie!" He hummed happily at the touches to his hair, sitting up a little straighter so he could be close to Alex.

"Okay, okay, we can watch a movie and then you can cuddle me and I'll try my best not to accidentally start sucking your dick," Blaine said with another drunken giggle, watching as Alex straightened up and gestured to his pants, wrinkling his nose. "I'm glad you didn't let him clean you, that area of your body is mine," he mumbled, a hint of possessiveness to his voice. But it was gone as suddenly as it came and Blaine grinned up at him. "Okay, Sir, if you shower I'll find a movie for us to watch. And I'll get a drink of water!"

Alexander Smythe

‘Is that so? I think you’d look quite pretty kneeling with your mouth ajar and my cock on your tongue. Perhaps I’ll have you do that at our next dinner party.’ He suggested entirely seriously. ‘Mm, I seem to recall a certain someone having a fondness for all the bread and cheese on offer. pet knows how to serve a French dinner.’ He remarked, reaching out to brush his fingers against Blaine’s stomach.

He shook his head fondly when Blaine talked about accidentally sucking his cock. He was an out and out slut for him and the drunkenness only seemed to magnify that, as well as giving him a dirty mouth.‘‘So I suppose you’re not interested to know that Olivier and pet want to play with us sometime, my possessive boy?’ He asked, arching a brow curiously. That side of Blaine came out so rarely and it always both amused and aroused him when it did. ‘Good boy.’ He praised softly, kissing his hair with a fond smile. ‘I’ll be right back.’

Blaine Anderson

"I don't think you would be able to stop yourself getting hard," Blaine shot back, grinning at him and nodding. "I'd be more than happy to let you use me as your cockwarmer. My body is yours, remember? I'm your property." He let out a laugh, sitting up to kiss Alex's jaw gently before flopping back on the sofa. Olivier and Gabriel wanted to play with them? That was unexpected and it had him frowning a little. "Wait, they want to play? But you're mine," Blaine said with a pout. "You're my Master and I'm your slave."

Blaine didn't dwell on it though, smiling when he was praised and his head was kissed. He watched Alex leave and heaved a sigh, sitting back on the couch. For a while, he simply sat and looked around their lounge contently. It was their home and he was incredibly proud that they'd managed a relatively normal life together. But Blaine was growing bored and he got to his feet, shuffling through to the kitchen and rummaging the cupboards. In the end, he ended up taking the last three cookies in the jar, as well as an apple, and moved back through to the lounge, tugging his pants off and settling back down on the sofa to wait for his Master, nibbling on the final cookie as he did so.

Alexander Smythe

He thought about pushing the idea of inviting more people into their bubble on a short term basis but knew that it wasn’t a topic that could be properly discussed when Blaine’s judgement was impaired the way it was. He headed to the shower, finishing off quickly and dressed in a pair of light grey sweatpants before heading back out to Blaine.

‘What are you eating?’ He asked, watching Blaine wipe something away from his mouth. He knew drunk equalled hungry but he also knew eating too much when he was drunk would definitely make him throw up; which was definitely something he wanted to avoid. ‘Did you get water?’ He continued, making his way into the kitchen. He filled two pint glasses with water and after a beat, pulled the cookie jar down deciding if he was denying Blaine pizza, the least he could do was give him something as a treat.

‘Blaine, did you eat the last of the cookies?’ He called out, moving to stand in the doorway between the two rooms, empty jar in hand.

Blaine Anderson

Blaine said nothing at the question, simply grinning at Alex as he walked past. He made himself comfortable on the couch, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "No water yet, Sir," Blaine told him, huffing as he waited impatiently for his Master to come back so they could cuddle.

Then Alex appeared, empty cookie jar in his hands and Blaine looked up at him, eyes wide when he realised Alex knew he'd eaten the last of the cookies. He didn't say anything, but knew deep down his reaction gave him away. "Maybe..." Blaine said slowly. "Would I be in trouble if I did?"

Alexander Smythe

‘Not in trouble per say but I thought I was pretty clear about what you were supposed to do while I was in the shower. I also thought I was pretty clear on the fact that we’ve both had enough bad food for the evening.’ He pointed out, setting the empty jar on the counter.

He couldn’t really be mad. He’d been in Blaine’s state many times himself and he knew Blaine currently didn’t have total control over his actions. He joined him in the living room and handed the glass of water over. ‘Drink up sweetheart. Your head will thank me in the morning.’

Blaine Anderson

"But I did that as well, Sir!" Blaine said, grinning drunkenly at Alex and reaching his hands up, as though to urge him closer. When he'd crossed the room Blaine's face lit up but his smile fell when he simply handed him the glass of water first. He wrinkled his nose and took a sip of the water before curling against Alex.

"I'll go out and buy you a whole box of cookies tomorrow, Sir," Blaine said softly, resting his head on his lap and sighing happily. "Is this what being drunk is like for everyone? I just have the feeling that I'm not the one in control of my body. My arms feel really heavy and it's weird, you know?"

Alexander Smythe

He trailed his fingertips down Blaine’s arm, over his side and a content smile crossed his face as he settled against his lap. ‘A whole box? Are you sure you won’t eat them all on the way home?’ He teased fondly. ‘Mm, I don’t think anyone does drunk like you sweetheart. The not feeling in total control is completely normal. I really should have monitored what you were drinking more carefully but you seemed to be so engrossed I hated to interrupt you for anything.’ He confessed.

Blaine Anderson

Blaine shivered beneath the light touch and pressed himself a little closer to his Master. "I won't eat them on the way home! I couldn't eat a whole box, I don't eat that much." He pouted a little, hand moving down to poke at his stomach, frowning. "You're not mad at me for drinking are you, Sir? I've never really had alcohol before. And I've never been drunk. I kind of just want to sleep forever now."

Alexander Smythe

‘I’m teasing Blaine.’ He laughed, shaking his head. ‘Although I do like your cute little tummy.’ He remarked, his hand following Blaine’s to press against his stomach. He leaned down and kissed him soundly. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you in the slightest. Olivier and pet are important to me and all that mattered to me tonight was that you have them a chance and you did that. The fact you got along so well is a bonus. If I didn’t want you drinking, I would have told you as much.’ He said firmly. ‘pet actually asked me before he gave you anything. He knows I have a strict rule about sex and alcohol and he didn’t want to infringe upon any plans I might have for you later.’

Blaine Anderson

Blaine only pouted again when Alex's hand moved to his stomach. Did he have a tummy? Huh. He wasn't sure if he liked that thought but said nothing for the time being. He tilted his head sideways, curious. "No drunk sex?" Blaine questioned. "Cooper once told  me drunk sex is the best sex.  I disagree, Alex sex is the best." Blaine grinned and leaned closer to Alex, knowing he would be awake much longer. "I loooove you," he said in a sing-song voice.

Alexander Smythe

‘No drunk sex.’ He’d always been firm about that rule. He dabbled in too much kink, was too much of a sadist to ever let himself play when his brain was impaired by alcohol. He didn’t mind a little fooling around if they were both tipsy, but only when he knew he could kept some element of control over himself. ‘Is that so; Alex sex?’ He shocked his head with a laugh. ‘I think you should tell your very handsome brother that; see what he thinks.’ He returned to petting through Blaine’s soft curls, looking down at him with a soft expression. ‘I love you too little one.’

Blaine Anderson

Blaine nodded when he mentioned Alex sex, a huge grin on his face. It was true that having sex with Alex was his favourite and he moved to cuddle in closer to him, sipping at his water again. But then Alex called his brother handsome and Blaine moved so quickly, he slopped water down his front.

"Cooper is not handsome,” he protested, frowning at Alex. His possessiveness had appeared again and he looked upset. "I haven't spoken to any of my family since last year. Including Cooper. It's like I don't exist to them anymore. No one wants to know the slave of the family." There was a definite hint of bitterness in his tone and ducked his head, ashamed.

Alexander Smythe

He was torn because honestly he enjoyed the little spark of possessiveness Blaine showed towards him on occasion but he hated that he had inadvertently upset him to cause it. ‘You’re not part of their family remember? You’re part of mine. You and me; and I’m very interested in knowing everything there is to know about you.’ He soothed, stroking through his curls.

His fingers hooked in the new soaked t-shirt Blaine was wearing and he gently lifted it over his head. ‘That was insensitive of me little one. I’m sorry.’ He apologised genuinely. ‘Would you like free reign to remind me that I belong to you as much as you belong to me?’ He suggested, hoping physicality would comfort and reassure Blaine as much as pretty words.

Blaine Anderson

Blaine wrinkled his nose at the reminder. He wasn't an Anderson anymore and he couldn't deny that he loved it, loved knowing he completely belonged to the other. But, there was still that feeling of loss. His family had never exactly been loving, but Blaine knew deep down, there was still the little boy who tried so hard to please them, who worked hard in school and kept perfect grades hoping to impress them, hoping for something to let him know they cared. But it never came and instead, he had Braxton to deal with.

"I miss my mom," he admitted quietly, rubbing at his eyes. "Not my father's wife. But the slave who... who gave birth to me. She was always so kind and gentle and I never really understood why. She'd sneak me chocolate when she came to clean my room, or she'd put an extra spoonful of food on my plate when no one else was looking." Blaine sighed, looking up at Alex and moving closer to him again, curling into him. "It's okay," he said quietly, the familiar term of 'little one' relaxing him. "You said no drunk sex so I know that's off the table. Can we just cuddle? I need to know you're here, to look after me."

Alexander Smythe

He hated that there was nothing he could do to reunite Blaine with his Mom. He’d quietly inquired about her; through friends, curious if she’d even come up to be resold and this far, Anderson still seemed pretty attached to her. He pulled his boy back into his chest and cradled him tightly. ‘We can cuddle for as long as you need little one.’ He promised, laying back across the couch and pulling Blaine down with him. ‘I should clarify by saying no kinky sex when you’ve been drinking.’ He clarified, pressing his lips against Blaine’s shoulder. ‘I’m sorry I can’t fix this problem for you.’

Blaine Anderson

Alex's arms around him felt wonderful and Blaine let himself be pulled closer. He felt safe with his Master like this, like nothing could ever touch him and he let out a little sigh, tightening his own grip on him happily. "No kinky sex? Does that mean I still get sex?" Blaine asked with a laugh, though he knew it was unlikely, especially with how much he'd been drinking. "You can't fix all of my problems, Sir. Although I think you've done a pretty good job at helping me with most of them. I can't ever thank you enough for that."

Alexander Smythe

‘Not this time round. You’re a little too inebriated for anything. But I’m not gonna prevent you from drinking in future. Hopefully you’ll remember it turns you into a needy slut, and you’ll pace yourself a little more so we can fool around.’ He teased, whispering the word slut against his ear just for the sake of teasing him. ‘Logically I know I can’t but logic doesn’t stop me from wanting to. You don’t have to thank me for this, not ever. You’re mine. I enjoy taking care of you.’

Blaine Anderson

Blaine pouted at Alex but he didn't push it. Truthfully he was thankful his Master knew he was a little too drunk right now and he loved him for it. But he couldn't stop the low groan at the whisper and shivered, leaning up to kiss him gently, happily. "I love that you want to," he said. "But you can't. I just get a little sad when I think about her sometimes but there's nothing we can do about it. I'm going to thank you every day of my life and you can't stop me," Blaine said with a grin, moving so he was sat up again, rubbing his eyes slowly. "Can we lay in bed and cuddle? It doesn't work very well on the sofa and now I'm wearing too many clothes. I wanna be naked."

Alexander Smythe

He still hated the fact that this was an issue he couldn’t solve. He knew there would have to be times when Blaine felt sad but he didn’t have to like it. ‘I could always gag you indefinitely so you couldn’t talk.’ He remarked, shifting to sit up again. ‘You are very clothed for being in our apartment; normally you strip as soon as we get in.’ He laughed. ‘Get your clothes off Blaine; then you can crawl to the bedroom.’ He instructed. He didn’t think he was too drunk for that and he hoped an order, some obvious show of submission would ease his upset mind.

Blaine Anderson

Blaine pouted again but knew neither of them cared about him being gagged - and Alex would never stop him from talking, he knew that. They'd worked hard to get to this point, after all. The order had Blaine smiling immediately and he got up, pulling off his clothes and throwing them into the laundry bin. With a gentle kiss to his Master, Blaine got down onto his knees and crawled into the bedroom, though his actions were a little sloppy. He stopped by the side of the bed and stayed kneeling, waiting for Alex to come through.

Alexander Smythe

He watched Blaine crawl; an evident sway that he put down to the alcohol. He stripped slowly, giving Blaine a show before coming to stand in front of him. ‘Open the top drawer in the dresser and take out a condom for me little one.’ He requested, stroking his fingers down Blaine’s cheek. ‘Open it up and then hand it over to me.’

Blaine Anderson

Blaine watched Alex stripping, groaning a little as he did so. He could feel his cock growing interested at the sight but barely reacted, simply leaning in closer to Alex's touch and smiling a little at the request. "Yes, Master," he said softly, moving to do what he was told, opening the condom and handing it to Alex without a word. He didn't quite understand what was happening or why it was, but he knew now to question it and returned to his original position, waiting.

Alexander Smythe

He pinched the tip of the latex and rolled it down over his length. It was the first they’d ever done this but it had been something that fascinated him. Blaine had even brought it up recently and while he didn’t class this as a punishment; he hoped it would serve as a reminder to Blaine to remain in control of his alcohol consumption. ‘You’re going to be my cockwarmer tonight.’ He explained. ‘I have an essay to write; you’re going to lay between my legs with my cock on your tongue while I do. You’re not to lick or touch me. Just hold me in your mouth.’ He explained. ‘This isn’t a punishment so I don’t want you to think of it as that. Rather think of this as a reminder that your actions, your decisions have consequences. Yours is that you don’t get my cock little one.’

Blaine Anderson

Blaine sat up a little when he was told he'd be used as a cock warmer, though his face fell as Alex continued to explain. "I can't touch you?" He asked, almost sadly, glancing down at where the condom had been rolled on. "And you're wearing a condom so I can't even taste you? I thought you were going to use my ass as a cockwarmer or something, Master." Blaine pouted a little at him, shifting on his knees. Was he disappointed? Definitely, because there was nothing he loved more than serving his Master. But Alex was right - his actions had consequences and because he'd drank too much, he wasn't allowed his Master's cock. "Yes, Master. Where do you want me to kneel?"

Alexander Smythe

He walked towards his desk, and pulled out the chair; gesturing to the space underneath. It was high enough that Blaine wouldn’t be hideously hunched over; definitely big enough that he wouldn’t feel claustrophobic. ‘You can slot yourself in there little one.’ He grinned. ‘Make yourself nice and comfortable. He teased, knowing he would be anything but if only because he couldn’t have what he really wanted.

Blaine Anderson

Blaine pointed at Alex but nodded regardless, crawling over to the desk. He settled himself down underneath it, on his knees and waited for his Master. When Alex was settled he leaned forwards a little, taking him in his mouth and looking up, frowning when he realised he couldn't even see his face. Instead all Blaine could do was sit there, obedient, and wait.

Alexander Smythe

This was something he’d always been intensely curious about; and it had been talking to Olivier this evening that had really cemented the idea of trying it in his head. He wasn’t sure what enjoyment could be derived from it but Olivier had told him he was an idiot who needed to expand his mind. What had really sold him in the idea was the other Master swearing that pet got a great deal of pleasure from it too. He held back a groan when he first felt the wet heat of Blaine’s mouth envelope him; but he quickly relaxed at the familiarity and began to work on his assignment.

In all honesty, he knew he wouldn’t get it finished but it had seemed like the perfect excuse to use Blaine like this. He worked away, typing quickly; occasionally reaching his hand under the desk to brush against Blaine’s cheek. After an hour and a half, he closed his laptop screen down. ‘I think I’m finished for the night.’ He announced before slowly pushing his chair back and pulling his cock from Blaine’s lips. ‘Are you okay little one?’

Blaine Anderson

Alex groaning had Blaine mirroring it, letting out a low moan himself. But nothing else happened and Blaine heard typing at the laptop and knew this was how his evening was going to go. His own length grew harder the longer he lay there and every touch to his cheek had a little moan leaving him. His jaw was aching a little and it felt like forever when Alex pulled out of his mouth, looking up at him. He nodded at the question, glancing down at his aching length and shifted closer, so he was out from beneath the desk and in front of Alex.

"Yes, Master," he said softly, head bowed submissively. "Did you manage to get some work done, or do you need me to stay longer beneath the desk?"

Alexander Smythe

‘I got my work done.’ He answered, crouching down to press his fingers lightly against Blaine’s jaw. It was almost a massaging motion because he could only imagine how much he must be aching right now. ‘I think it’s late now. You and I ought to get some rest.’

[tomlenoelcommunicationformakers]

week 3 task 4

one issues i found i have with wellington is how urbanization of a such a compact area has resulted in a so many  dirty grey,dull,concrete and unnatural spaces. which i find ruins the central city Atmosphere. though wellingtons beaches and forest are not to far away , i have found my self feeling so disconnected and distant from such spaces when living in the central city without a car. With so many people living in such a small area i have found high density living has Emphasized the neglect for the environment in the city, for instance the destruction of the  Kumototo stream due to make space for buildings. i feel that such spaces that we have neglected could have been taken advantage of. even the introduction of trees or interactive spaces such as parks would create huge change which i feel would have resulted in a much more athletically pleasing and mentally beneficial space, adding so much to wellingtons Atmosphere.  i also feel that wellington city could improve its atmosphere by adding more creative spaces or places which express culture values of the people in this space . eg more sculptures, community art places , murals/colour , festivals to help this business based space feel like a more pleasant one and also reflect historic and the values of the people who live the space via making it visually interesting creating a uplifting  atmosphere.

I have found wellington has a large array of people from such different backgrounds which are living in such a compact area. I think it would be a great benefit to express these cultural differences and individualism through the use of creative activity. Introducing an increase of locally based public art spaces eg murals, sculptures and gallery’s. Also more culturally based events, festivals ext. i believe this would unify the city, resulting in a much more present sense of community. brightening the space creating a much more all inclusive uplifting euphoric atmosphere. another way the atmosphere in wellington city could be improved is through the integration of more environmentally friendly practices. Living in the C.B.D i noticed the ever present lack of nature for some time now and i feel it could benefit the space and the people living within it Greatly. i feel like wellington has missed so many great opportunes to make the city much more environmentally focused, for instance the destruction of the  Kumototo stream for high rise buildings. firstly wellington should have more sustainable rubbish practice ,the streets especially are fifthly so more Accessible bins , litter taxes, less car parks in the city reducing the use of cars roads could be reclaimed parks of public spaces. even an increase around trees planted about the city would make a huge difference Aesthetically and ethically.

[the-dragonwriter]

I’m trying to learn good Hobbits

I would like to claim that our Lord of the Rings tour today exceeded my expectations, but I had no idea what to expect in the first place so I’m not sure I can make that claim with any verisimilitude—but I can say unequivocally that the tour and our guide were absolutely incredible. It was a wonderful day with many surprises, a few frights, and lots of new things learned. Oh, and much movie geekiness, which is always fun.

Our first surprise was that the entire tour consisted of five people—Dad and myself, a mother-daughter team named Karen and Tiffany, and our guide, Todd. Again, I didn’t know what I had expected, but I hadn’t thought it would be so private and small. That was a lovely surprise. We drove around in an unassuming Kia SUV and covered so much ground that I think I’m more familiar with Wellington and its outlying areas now than I am with some parts of my own county in Missouri. Karen and Tiffany were from Minnesota, and indeed Karen sounded as if she’d stepped right out of the movie “Fargo”. Both women were friendly and pleasant and enjoyed laughing as much as we do, which made them perfect traveling companions.

Todd was a great deal of fun as well. He was a very easy-on-the-eyes fellow who, besides doing the tour guide thing, made his living as an actor. He was actually in The Return of the King as one of the Oliphant riders, so he was able to tell us some fun stories from that experience. So we all piled in the car and went on our way.

There is no way I’m going to be able to tell you everything we saw today; it would take several pages to describe all the locations and information we learned about them, so I’ll just hit a few of the highlights.

1. We had our picture taken in the hollow of earth where the four hobbits hid from the Black Rider between Hobbiton and the Buckleberry Ferry. The tree and roots were gone, of course, since they had been created out of styrofoam for the movie and subsequently removed, but the indentation in the earth remained.

2. We had a snack of tea and cookies at Orthanc—or at least the place where Christopher Lee and Ian McKellan were filmed for those shots. Todd told us that the shots of the orcs pulling down the trees was actually created from only two trees constructed on hinges. Jackson filmed the orcs pulling down the trees at many angles to make them look like a bunch of different trees.

3. We ate lunch in Lothlorien and stood on the place where Galadriel raised her hand in farewell to the hobbits as they left in their boats. The bridge pictured here had been festooned with much styrofoam decoration, but this was the actual bridge in the movie.

This was also the site where Smeagol and Deagol fought over the ring and Smeagol throttled his brother for it. We had two other guides at this location, as it was private land owned by a family who lives in a large manor house on the premises. I enjoyed our new friends’ company very much.

4. We visited a primordial-looking forest of old-growth foliage that was the site of Rivendell. Seriously, we looked over our shoulders for velociraptors as we went—it looked like something out of the Jurassic period with giant ferns and trees that grow from a thousand-year process of expelling vines that wrap around the trunk and suffocate it, thereby becoming a part of the trunk itself until a new set of vines folds itself around IT and so on and so forth until the tree is a humongous amalgamation of a twisted, ropy exterior and a dead and hollow interior. This site also had a suspension bridge that we had to cross. Now, I have a serious aversion to suspension bridges, mostly because whenever I go on them with my father he jumps up and down on them. So I refused to get on this one until Dad promised that he would be good—and he was, for which I was very grateful. However, once I and the others were off the bridge, Dad and Todd went back onto it and had themselves a grand old time swinging and jumping and generally doing things that would make me cling white-knuckled and ashen to the rope handholds. They had a wonderful time—the loons.

5. We saw the place where the Fellowship left Lothlorien in their Elvish boats, and Todd told us that Viggo Mortensen was so terrible at rowing the boats that Jackson had to put scuba divers under his boat to guide it in the right direction.

6. At the end of the day, we ended up at the Weta Cave in “Wellywood”, a store and little theater in the heart of the Weta Workshop area.

We watched a 20 minute video created by Richard Taylor and the other Weta workers—not surprisingly it was full of humor and silliness, but also lots of interesting information. Then we browsed the shop and talked for a while with the shopkeeper, who was a really sweet guy with a looooooong grey beard and a ponytail.

The day was punctuated with laughter and stories, jokes and silliness, which made it an enjoyable day indeed. I have two stories to demonstrate what a neat guy our guide was today. First, when he learned that I had missed getting a picture of the “Penguin Crossing” sign on the city tour yesterday, he made a point of driving down to the harbor just so we could pass the sign and I could get a picture.

I was absurdly happy about this, since it was one of my favorite sights from that tour and I was very disappointed that I hadn’t gotten a photo of the sign. And second, when he learned that I teach Shakespeare and early modern literature, he told me about a book he’d just read called “The Sonnets”, which is a fictional story about Shakespeare writing his sonnet sequence. I said that the book sounded interesting and that I’d have to check it out. However, while we were watching the Weta movie, he must have quickly run home because when we piled back in the car, he handed me the book and said I could keep it. He was just a sweetheart, and he made the day a lot of fun.

As did our tour-mates. Dad and I just came back from having dinner with Karen and Tiffany, and we had a lovely time. We closed out the restaurant talking and laughing and telling stories, which is always a good way to end a really wonderful day.

[anniversary-magazine]

A Gentle Lens ⏤ In Conversation with New Zealand Photographer Derek Henderson

As a child growing up in Auckland, my parents would often take my brother, sister and I on annual road trips south of the city to New Zealand’s smaller towns. Each time, a ritual would occur. Once we reached Waikato, an hour or so out of Auckland, my parents would prompt us to look out of the window, and say, “Look - there’s Huntley power Station!”. Its red and grey chimneys emitting smoky plumes was a signal that our road trip was in full swing.

There is an image of the Huntly Power Station in Mercy Mercer (2009), a publication by New Zealand photographer, Derek Henderson, that could’ve been lifted from my memory of these road trips. It fills me at once with nostalgia, safety, and the excitement of impending adventures.

And yet Henderson’s photograph of this well-known landmark is rendered new to me by his lens; the beauty of the power station’s brutalism set amongst the grassy banks of the Waikato River’s native fauna.

It seems Henderson too had similar road trips throughout New Zealand growing up. Regarding his first book, The Terrible Boredom of Paradise (2005) Henderson says, “I was trying to recapture what I saw as a child in the backseat of my parents’ car when we went on holidays. Even though the car was moving fast the car window seemed to frame, isolate and freeze these moments which have stayed with me more as emotions rather than an image.” The body of work that resulted in The Terrible Boredom of Paradise began with a 13,000-km road trip he took around New Zealand in 2004, over four and a half months, armed with a view camera and some colour film.

Henderson’s latest body of work, entitled Circadian Rhythm sees him come full circle. This year he returned with his camera to capture the daily life in the small towns he visited in for The Terrible Boredom of Paradise. Ahead of the unveiling of his new works at Wellington Gallery, Precinct 35, we talk to Henderson about finding beauty in the over-looked, the continuing pulse of life and how much has changed since he first photographed the far-reaching corners of New Zealand.

SC: Looking over your works, your lens is equally at home in international fashion shoots as much as it is in rural parts of New Zealand or Patagonia. Although your subject matter differs, what is it about the way you approach each of your subjects that is the same?

DH: Probably just that, that I give it equal value. The subject matter, is no less or more important than anything else. I think they’re all of equal value, whatever it is I’m photographing. It’s having a democratic approach. I give them equal value, whoever they are and wherever I am.

SC: I feel like you have a very unique signature to your images. No matter what landscape or space you’re photographing, you can tell that it’s one of your images. I was wondering if you see yourself as having a signature, and if so, how you would you describe it in any way?

DH: It’s hard for me to see that, but it’s probably driven by the emotional, and partly intellectual and how you see the world and how you see the human condition. It’s about making observations of people and things. I try to simplify things. I take things away, I don’t like things looking overly complicated. I don’t want them to be obvious, I think I’m quite gentle in my approach to things. I don’t want to shove them in people’s faces. Some people call it photographing things that are the ‘mundane’ or something that’s quite obvious that you overlook every day, but I think they’re quite beautiful.

SC: I think that’s what I really like about your canon of work, you’ve got this juxtaposition of some very vast landscapes, but alongside them you’ve got these very focused details of that area.

DH: When you’re looking to take pictures and you have a rough idea of the working title of what you’re thinking about, you have a notepad of things that might interest you with the research that you’ve done. I keep it quite broad, so that I don’t cut myself off. But simply it comes down to observations of things that interest me.

In this exhibition [for Circadian Rhythm], when I was in Mohaka someone had kept what I think is a cow, and hung the skins over a rails on the side of the road. That to me is interesting, that somebody had done that and left it there. Why would they leave it there? Were they leaving it there to dry them? Or did they not want them? So often there’s this kind of message of - why are we here, what’s going on, what are we doing? There’s always a question in my images, that wonder. I just wonder what happened before I got there.

I think also you don’t have to take a portrait of someone to tell someone about that person, you can take a picture of the interior of their house and you might get more of an idea of who they are. I’m curious to see how people live and what makes the tick. I like to see other people’s perspectives on what it’s like to be a human being. If I go to a restaurant, I listen in to what people are talking about, I’m just nosy. And being a photographer, it’s kind of perfect.

SC: Tell me a bit about the background to your images for Circadian Rhythm...

DH: I called it Circadian Rhythm because I am interested in that rhythm of life. Circadian Rhythm is in plant, animals, fungi, phytobacteria, pretty much every single organism. It’s been around for a long time and it governs the way we live our lives. For human beings, in the morning, it gets us up and at night it makes us go to sleep. It makes us alert to things or less alert to things. It’s really got to do with a rhythm and a continuation of life. That’s what I’m interested in. I’m not too specific about my observations. As far as concepts go, I keep them quite broad for that reason. I just make observations as I go somewhere and I like to re-visit places too. This was a re-visit I did to some of the places in a book, The Terrible Boredom of Paradise. I wanted to re-visit some of those places and see what was going on.

SC: And what were your observations – how have these places changed?

DH: In 2004 and 2005 when I did The Terrible Boredom of Paradise, the small towns that I visited, the economy wasn’t as good, they might have been a little more depressed possibly. Whereas now, I’ve noticed they’re a lot more vibrant, there are things happening in small towns. I think it’s because tourism is getting bigger, even in those areas. I noticed that in the East Cape and obviously, industries such as dairy, produce, beef and wool – people are wanting those things now and it’s supplying people. It’s a pretty basic thing, people have work, they can support themselves, they feel independent.

Obviously, there’s still things that need sorting out, but at the same time, I travel around the world a lot and think New Zealand isn’t too bad a place to live and I think it’s only going to get better and better.

SC: That’s quite a unique perspective to have, to be able to go through to these more remote parts of New Zealand and really document them with your camera and then to go back and do it again.

DH: Yes, it is. I do it because I’m genuinely interested in those places, and I grew up in those places. That’s part of my practice as well, it’s about memory. I spent a large part of my childhood going to those places as well.

SC: Where did you grow up in New Zealand, and how did it inform your photography?

DH: I grew up in Hawkes Bay. A bit of my childhood was spent on an orchard my parents had, in-between Hastings and Havelock North. I suppose I am a romantic at heart, I pretty much idolised that growing up in those places and that’s probably what I go back to. A lot of my work is about memory and remembering those things that make you feel good. Most of the things I photograph I think are positive things, but they’re also questioning things as well.

SC: Whenever I’m not in New Zealand and I feel homesick, I always go to your images and they bring me so much comfort. Looking at them there is such a specific culture we have there and that you manage to capture in your photographs, that I can’t put into words, and I’m not sure if it should be put into words. Can you describe it in any way?

DH: I suppose it is hard to describe those pictures. It’s a comforting thing. A lot of the time it’s looking at life and form and taking something that is the mundane, and a thing that people don’t look at or appreciate. I guess that’s what you do as a painter or photographer, or a sculptor, is take something that’s ordinary, or everyday things, and just by using light and form you can make people take notice of them. It may begin to have a different value to people and maybe their appreciation of those things is understood.

There is a picture I took for Circadian Rhythm of two baches [New Zealand beach-houses] at Ngawai which is on the way to Palliser Bay, a fairly remote part of New Zealand. It’s just a pink and a green bach. All it is is those fibreglass baches. But it is actually really beautiful because they’re self-contained. You don’t need much more; you have the beach close by, you can get seafood out of the ocean, you can come back, cook it on your barbeque, you’re in a nice place. You don’t need a hell of a lot really, to be fulfilled.

It’s also escaping the materialistic world and the direction of consumerism that we head to and we look for pleasure in those areas when maybe we’ve missed the point that less is more. A walk along the beach is very cathartic. Looking at the natural world is a not a bad thing for human beings, I think it’s good for you. I like to tell a story about how we relate to that natural world or don’t relate to that natural world, and it’s a vernacular that I’ve developed through the natural world of New Zealand. Hopefully it talks to people who don’t just live in New Zealand.

SC: Apart from New Zealand you’ve photographed the South Pacific, Patagonia and Friesland, are there other places you’d like to photograph?

DH: There’s so many places I’d love to go and explore. I think it’s part of our Circadian Rhythm, as hunter/gatherers. For me and I think for a lot of human beings, staying in one place is stagnating. That’s why humans travel a lot, it’s part of our psyche.

Circadian Rhythm is showing at Precinct 35 in Wellington New Zealand until December 27th 2017.

All images by Derek Henderson

[courtenaychung]

Hobart, TAS, Australia

July 14-16, 2017

After a very early flight from Sydney to Hobart, Alex and I were able to check into the Backpackers Imperial Hotel early before heading back out to explore the town.  We walked around trying and failing to rent a car for the day.  Apparently there was an international underwater hockey tournament in town and all the rental cars had been booked (as Canadians, we were asked many times if that was why we were visiting).  So, after doing a loop of the main part of town and the waterfront, we continued walking to the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens.  After a long uphill walk, we arrived at the gardens.  Maybe it was the jet lag after the flight from Vancouver, but neither of us had put together the fact that it was the dead of winter and we were going to a garden.  Once we passed through the gates, our eyes fell upon dead, soggy flower beds and muddy grass fields.  We were disappointed, but the long walk there made us determined to see everything we could.  We wandered through the different areas of the gardens, chatting and taking photos of leaves in order to make the trip worth it.  We found one bush in bloom and you can bet that we took a ton of photos of the flowers.

One of the flowers on the only bush in bloom in the entire gardens.

A bridge in the Japanese potion of the botanical gardens.

After spending as much time as we could justify in the gardens, we caught an Uber to the University of Tasmania so Alex could get a hoodie for her collection, then we hopped on a bus back to the waterfront.

The whole reason we wanted to go to Hobart was to visit Salamanca Market, held every Saturday morning on the streets of Salamanca Place. Aside from that, we didn’t have any other plans for our time here.  So after getting back from the university, we went to the visitors centre to get some ideas for things we could do.  We ended up signing up for an Old Pub History walking tour that evening, which cost around $30 each.  The tour wasn’t what we expected, as we thought we would be hearing scandalous stories about past pub-goers.  Instead, we walked around the older district of town, entering a few of the pubs that are still standing, learning where others used to be, and hearing about settlement of the area.  It wasn’t bad, as the guide gave the tour lots of small-town charm, but it wasn’t my favourite activity of the trip.  That evening we had a “night out,” trying local wine (for me) and beer (for Alex) at a pizza joint on Salamanca Place before heading to bed.

Day two in Hobart was dedicated to the market.  We spent hours wandering through the market in the chilly winter sunshine, browsing the many different stalls.  There were over 200 stands, selling a variety of items such as coffee, locally distilled spirits, food, jewellery, clothes and art, interspersed by people singing or playing guitar.  It was really cool to experience as the entire market gave off vibes of a close-knit community, even though we came across many tourists.  The market also allowed us to pick up some unique souvenirs for ourselves and our families.

Having seen most of the town on our first two days, we were happy to finally get our hands on a rental car for the day and set off on a mini road trip to explore a bit more of Tasmania before our flight to Melbourne that night.  We started by driving up Mt. Wellington under pastel pink skies, only to be deterred by bad weather halfway up as the icy access road had been closed by park rangers.  We managed to get a few photos when there was breaks in the tree cover, then made our way back down the mountain and off towards Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary.

A view of Hobart and the surrounding ocean from halfway up Mt. Wellington.

Bonorong was one of my top experiences from this trip and I’m so glad that we were able to go.  It’s a sanctuary, meaning that they only have animals that are injured or are unable to survive on their own in the wild.  If the creature can be rehabilitated and released back into the wild, it will be.  Here we fed kangaroos and saw joeys in pouches, pet koalas and wombats, and watched Tasmanian devils run around their huge enclosures (sadly no petting - they bite, but man are they cute).  It’s worth noting that it is illegal to hold koalas in Tasmania, so if you want to do that you have to go to Queensland, South or Western Australia. We joined a short tour that is included in the $29 admission to get a closer look and learn a bit more about the animals and what the sanctuary does.  It also helps that only 10% of tourists to Australia visit Tasmania, meaning you get more time with the animals and much less of a crowd.  If you’re ever in Tasmania I would 100% recommend Bonorong; I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

While I was feeding this little guy he held my hand.

I took a selfie with a kangaroo and I’m pretty stoked about it.

Not impressed that I ran out of food.

The little joey was hungry too!

A baby wombat, almost ready for her release back into the wild.

The first of many koala sightings on this trip.

A Tasmanian devil running around. These little guys are now on the shortlist for my favourite animal.

After visiting Bonorong, we started back on the narrow scenic highways to Port Arthur in the Southeast of Tazzie (as the locals call it).  There we walked through the ruins of the old convict settlement, now an open air museum, as the sky turned grey and the sun began to set.  Neither of us knew much about the community that used to exist there, but certain parts of it were pretty, others slightly creepy, especially the solitary confinement cells in the prison (it probably didn’t help that the largest massacre in Australian history - the one that resulted in the country’s strict gun laws - occurred on the site in 1996).  It gave me chills that I couldn’t quite shake until much later that evening.  We only had a short time in Port Arthur as the museum was closing a few hours after we arrived, and we had a flight to catch that night back in Hobart (1.5 hours drive away).  

The inside of the old church in Port Arthur whose roof burnt down during convict times.

Part of the old barracks and watch tower.

On the return drive to Hobart, the welcoming canopy of trees that guided us in had turned into menacing giants casting long shadows across the narrow lanes.  This didn’t help with the chill that had been creeping down my spine since we had arrived, and I was more than happy to jump on the plane to Melbourne that night.

One of many narrow highways on our Tasmanian road trip.

Hobart, and Tasmania in general, has a vibrant culture and strong sense of community. Not a lot of people visit the island state, so it’s pretty cool that I can now say that I’ve been here.