Chapter 19 This is the final chapter of the book. Hemi hacked his basic, alright, he excelled at it. He was fortunate, as Guy had told him what to expect, also, Hemi […]
Chapter Nineteen. The Parcel.
Chapter Eighteen. Fencing with Mr A.
Chapter 18 Fencing with Guy’s dad was a different kettle of fish to the gentle rolling country Hemi had been used to fencing on. Guy’s dad was a high-country fencer. The really […]
Chapter Seventeen. Making Plans.
Chapter 17 Guy and Hemi had grown apart as their lives diverged, but they’d grown up together, talked about loads of stuff when they were boys. They had shared the same interests, […]
Chapter Sixteen. Like Starsky and Hutch.
Chapter 16 Hemi didn’t end up at the freezing works. The father of one of his teammates in the 1st XV worked for the local council’s roading division, they were always after […]
Chapter Fifteen. Basic Training.
Chapter 15 Guy joined the army after his last summer holiday with some mates from School up in Taupo. When making their way home across the desert road, Guy was confronted with his future. […]
Chapter Fourteen. Finishing School.
Chapter 14 Guy didn’t know what happened to Hemi when he left school; they lost contact. He assumed he’d have gone to work in the freezing works with his mum. Guy did okay in […]
Chapter Thirteen. Prize Giving.
Chapter 13 Hemi did ride with the gang again, he couldn’t say no. He learned to say no soon enough when his dad found out about him riding with the bros again. Word gets […]
Chapter Twelve. Gang Associate.
Chapter 12 A few weeks after his encounter with the Bros, Hemi and a mate were walking in town at lunch time. School kids often went downtown in the lunch hour. You had […]
Chapter Eleven. Changes.
Chapter 11 While Guy was away at school, his home got sold again. The farm owner had decided to sell the farm and the guy who was buying it was going to […]
Chapter Ten. Good Fulla’s
Chapter 10 By now, the Bros had a joint being passed round and were knocking back the ‘crate piss’. Hemi had caved in and accepted a beer off them. There was no way […]
Chapter Nine. Being Forgotten.
Chapter 9 Hemi enjoyed his footy. Luckily, because his mum worked at the freezing works on the other side of town, he could get to practice during the week. Footy practice was […]
Chapter Eight. The Crossing.
Chapter 8 Soon enough, the town boundary appeared and Hemi and his mother were cruising down the main street. Hemi enjoyed watching the Charger’s reflection in the shop windows, thinking, man, this […]
Chapter Seven. Driving to Town
Chapter 7 One of the down sides of living so far out in the sticks, is how much of a mission it is to get your supplies. Sure, you can grab groceries […]
Chapter Six. Hemi Finds His Place.
Chapter 6 Hemi set off for his first class. The environment at his school was completely different to Guy’s though, half the size, co-ed, less rigid, friendlier. This was a small-town high […]
Chapter Five. School Daze
Chapter 5 Hemi got off the bus as quickly as he could, not daring to glance back in case the stink sheila tried to talk to him out here on the footpath. […]
Chapter Four. The Hostel
Chapter 4 While Hemi was having his school bus conundrum, Guy was standing at the gates to the boarding school hostel. Richard had already gone after a parting piece of encouragement: ‘You […]
Chapter Three. The School Bus
Chapter 3 Hemi didn’t get to go to boarding school. He didn’t know anything about where Guy had gone to school. Only that he had gone away. Hemi was going to the […]
Chapter Two. The Wrong Place
Chapter 2 That summer was the last time they spent any meaningful time together as boys. They had to go off and grow up. That’s the problem with being boys, young mates—sooner […]
The Far End of a Long Road.
So, I finished my ‘novel’ after about ten years of prevarication since I started it. I can’t get anyone to publish it though because I don’t know enough about editing and my […]
The Roads Less Travelled
This will be a post with more pictures than words. There’s been a bit of an illness out and about in the world in 2020 putting paid to most people’s travel plans. […]
Brexit’s Cabbie
The British have just had a general election. One of the worst possible people ever to hold a position of power was elected, over the other worst possible person to be in […]
The Olive Tree
I’m glad I started my blog all those years ago, it was a kind of therapy for me to jot down my views, memories, observations and so on, after the sudden death […]
Sunday Morning. 17.03.2019
It’s 7:30am on a Sunday Morning, Sunday 17th of March 2019 in New Zealand. Two days after an Australian White Supremacist terrorist murdered 49 innocent people in a Christchurch Mosque. Another has died […]
Are We Sitting Comfortably?
It’s 4pm on a sunny Tuesday, January 1st 2019. Amazing to think just a few short years ago, or nearly twenty years in fact, yesterday, we were all concerned about aeroplanes falling out […]
Surprising New Zealand
Let’s talk about New Zealand again! My wife and I love a road trip, we have just finished one around the central South Island, a short 4-day epic. There are images from […]
Retail Therapy
The title is ironic, if you really did need therapy for anything in New Zealand; one of the worst things you could do is go shopping. I was watching the television news […]
Eating Out
There’s an awful lot of, mostly awful, advertising on New Zealand television. Much of it the sort of thing you’d see on QVC in other countries. One of the most common phrases […]
Superlatives And Other Things
If I had a dream job, it would be working with words and pictures, improbably as a roving blogger and photographer for Tourism New Zealand. I’m not greedy; they could just pay […]
The Deep South
This should probably go on my photography blog, but there is a bit more explaining to do than on the usual photography post so I’ll wheel out the words blog for this […]
20 Tips For Surviving Driving In New Zealand
It seems an awful lot more people are visiting, or moving to New Zealand these days. Either because of Brexit, or Trump, or cheap airfares and new aeroplanes, which can fly further. […]
The Living Is Easy
We have an iconic New Zealand comic character from the 1970’s called Fred Dagg. We were big fans in my home when I was growing up. Fred Dagg was an archetypal Kiwi […]
Road Trip
This can be a travel post of sorts. Well it’s not even of sorts; it’s a travel post. I went for a drive. I know I don’t write much anymore. Not sure […]
Driving south in the North Island
I’ll get straight to the point for once. I said once upon a time that only two towns in New Zealand were worth making a special trip for. Russell and Queenstown. I’d […]
A River runs through it
This is a bit of a travel post. I’m going to talk about a place plenty of people on their New Zealand holidays travel through, but not many travel to. I’d venture […]
Our ‘other’ stuff
Look, it’s me again! I’m like a bus, or something. A British bus, not a New Zealand one. The adage in London is that buses don’t appear at all for a while […]
The Fencers
I’m not a poet, I don’t write poetry, well hardly ever. It’s outside my comfort zone so I don’t go there, much. However this is quite a cool little story about a […]
Somewhere else
This is a tale that goes nowhere, what’s the point then you may wonder, why does there have to be one? I might respond. It’s kind of like an open discussion, designed […]
The nature of New Zealanders
So here’s a thing. well two things. This is about us, not our nature, but our nature. I’m also going to put a couple of images of the incredible New Zealand scenery […]
An open letter to Emirates Team New Zealand, from Team New Zealand
G’day Deano and the crew. This is from us back home. You’ll be having some strategy meeting. Knocking around a few ideas. Hell, you might even be asleep. Us at home? We’re […]
Going for a drive
I’ve been back in New Zealand for just over a month now. For three weeks of that month I went for a bit of a drive, just to have a look around, […]
The trip home
The 2nd of July 2013. 8:30 am on the 2nd of July, my dear friend Dawn, my colleague, the person who does what used to be my day job in another part […]
The Extinction of the Falcon
As you probably know, I’m off back to New Zealand in a month or so. When I say a month or so I mean I set off a month today. At the […]
Going home
Momentous day today, it’s worth a note. Friday 17th of May 2013. Sounds non-descript, a day like many other days in mid-May. However, it’s my own May Day, nothing to do with […]
New Zealanders at War
NZ Memorial to the lost in the battle of the Somme I was in the New Zealand Army for a while and take quite an interest in NZ military history. There are […]
East Cape, revisited
This post is special. It’s about an amazing part of New Zealand. I wanted to get some proper images up of the location this story is about. It’s an incredible area and […]
The games boys play
I have friends who have boys. Young men, little chaps, whatever they call male children. It appears there is no consensus but little bastards seems a common description as well. My friends […]
Waitangi Day
The 6th of February is Waitangi Day in New Zealand. Also known as New Zealand day. It’s sort of our little version of the American 4th of July but with an awful […]
Guest post ‘Droving days’ (by my late father)
If you have read my last post you will know I talked about the importance of recording your own corner of history, writing down what you’ve done for those that come after […]
A Hero
A couple of simple numbers inspired me to write this particular post. They are the numbers 102 and 116. I’m writing it because it is nice to have a positive tale of […]
A quick trip down New Zealand
If you come here a bit, you’ll know I am from New Zealand but live in England. People ask me about New Zealand a lot, so, now that I can write it […]
