Educating Mao ※

Subject: bad news

Subject: Lloyd replies to dawn

Dear Dawn
I have just received word. I knew Mum had a bad heart. She had hoped she would survive for another year. But the stress and weight of Dad's fall finally was too much.

If she had lived another day, I would have told her I have just been appointed until August to a Summer camp near Beijing. And from early August this year, I have been appointed to a University College as an English literature teacher for a one year contract. I hope that somewhere she is receiving that news. She was so used to my ups and downs that it would not surprise her.

I can not speak to Dad on the phone because of both our hearing. If someone wants to ring me, my number is ### #### 

I will contact Dad by email later. I will send you a longer email when I have time.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: Lloyd writes to dad

Dear Dad
It is with much sorrow that I have heard from Dawn of Mum's passing away. The weight of it is now sinking in. Mum lived for all her children and for you. All our hopes and pains were hers too.

I am particularly upset as tonight I was going to email you the news that I start on Monday at an english language camp near Beijing. From August 20 I commence as a full time College University teacher of English literature for a year near Beijing. Perhaps somehow the latter news could be told at the funeral.

I will email Dawn and Paul about more news.

I hope you are bearing. You are the last survivor of the young people who gathered around Mum in the 1940s. So much history has happened since. You started as a cow hand milker. Now you are an internet user.  I trust you and everyone else will remember the joy being around Mum.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: News sinking in

Dear Dawn and Paul
It is now starting to sink in. What exactly were the final hours?

I take it Dad is living still at Stout Street. I have just sent him an email.

Could you keep me daily updated with news reports?
Lloyd

Subject: Delay funeral

Subject: dawn writes to lloyd

Subject: dad writes to lloyd

Subject: dad's fall∼eulogy∼errant taxi driver

Dear Dawn and Paul,
I don't know if Dad has read my email yet. I had tried to persuade Dad to have hospital therapy on his legs. It was all free. But he had no memory of the time he was on a walker. Maybe he did it after all. If not, I reproach myself of not warning him that a fall by him could be fatal to Mum. It seems so clear now. The doctor had apparently told her she could live another six months or more.

I have to write a eulogy. I will try it tomorrow and send it to you. as an attachment.  

I have had my passport with shoulder bag taken by an errant taxi driver. I had left it in the cab while I withdrew money from an atm machine. Apart from the cost of replacement, it doesn't seem to be an exorbitant problem. It is planned I depart to my Summer camp job near Beijing on Monday morning.

Please keep me posted.
Lloyd

Subject: lloyd writes to dad

Dear Dad
I read both of your emails. I will write the eulogy tomorrow Sunday. On Monday I depart to the camp near Beijing.

I am looking forward to it. It is getting mighty hot here. I heard you were enjoying the sun in Gisborne.

It is a pity that only two of your children will be at the funeral. However this will be more than made up by your grandchildren.

I understand that Mum's ashes will be laid at Eastwood hill.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: Dawn replies to lloyd

Subject: funeral arrangements∼eulogy in email

Dear Dawn and Paul
I have sent the eulogy now in email format. I couldn't in the circumstances send it as an attachment. It is very short. I tend to shrink at public occasions. But very heartfelt.

The funeral arrangements sound excellent. Just one warning – as a pall bearer for Ophelia on the stage in Hamlet, even a frail person is very heavy to carry. So I suggest you check that the boys are positioned at the front and back.

I have moved for ten days to a lovely hotel on the banks of the local river. It is very quiet and I will enjoy my unexpected holiday. I have found a printer here in a near by shopping centre and will commence tomorrow morning the document preparations for the new passport. In my bargaining for the hotel, I was by circumstances as ruthless as Gordon Adiar. The hotel manager at one point chased me as I was departing out the door.

I was able to book in despite my lack of passport by showing a photo copy and the police report of loss.

I would choose the celebrant to read my message.
Lloyd

Subject: eulogy sent∼overseas calling∼chapel service

Dear Scott and Dad
I tried to ring you to say the eulogy has been sent to Paul and Dawn email. But I don't have overseas calling registration. Trust China to think of that. So I have also forwarded it to you. Could you confirm the eulogy has been sent to P & D. If they have got it, please don't print and read it as it is meant for the chapel service. What time does the service begin? So I can be aware of events.
Lloyd

Subject: Eulogy Completed

Subject: lovely funeral service

Subject: eastwood hill∼internet access∼forms printed

Hi Dad, Dawn, Paul, and Scott
I am so happy that everything went so well. Who is Trevor Rose?

No one has told me yet where Mother lies. I understand she was to be laid in ashes on Eastwood Hill.

I am glad that my eulogy went so well. It was delayed because of the disruptions I am enduring and difficulties accessing an internet cafe. The Chinese have this infuriating habit of springing rules upon you. Apparently it is not even strictly legal that foreigners can use internet cafes.

I am having a quiet meditative time. I have had several more offers of jobs. I managed to get the application forms printed out from the internet and find a witness to certify them. Tomorrow morning I plan to courier them to Wellington.

Fortunately everything is so cheap here. The hotel provides free breakfasts.

Eulogy by son Lloyd Gretton

Valmai Audrey Gretton

26th March 1927 – 2nd July 2010

Her life story as presented at her funeral in Evans Chapel.
Tuesday, 6th July 2010 at 2pm, by celebrant Dell Buscke

Valmai Audrey Mountier was born in Christchurch on 26th March 1927 but moved to Wellington at eight years of age.
At that time, her father, Harold took an appointment as District Engineer in the Post and Telegraph Department. Known generally as the P&T, this government department was the forerunner of today's Telecom.

Harold, his wife Aileen, Val and her younger sister Joy, all enjoyed happy times in the suburb of Wadestown with the friendship of tennis parties and communal social club dances. Val also took pleasure from her active membership of the Girl Guides.

All of this changed in 1943 with sudden death of her father at the age of forty-three. Aileen and her teenage daughters were forced to move to the then small village of Porirua where Aileen took up the position of Postmistress. Home was the back of the old Post Office premises. Aileen was a mother of great courage as following her retirement from the Post Office duties, and while still in her forties, she invested in rental properties. Exceptional surely for a woman of her time; even Sir Bob Jones would have admired her! She had grown up through an era when it was expected she would live the life of a lady, not a working woman, but when fate dictated otherwise she was still able to rise to her family's need.

In those days, Porirua was a settlement based around the huge Mental Hospital which was considered a place of shame. Indeed for many years the name Porirua was the butt of many unfortunate jokes. Because of the distance from Wellington they lost contact with all their Wadestown friends; in itself a situation that was a marker of the time. How different from today where roading, transport and ease of telephone communication have diminished distance into relative insignificance.

Also in 1943, Val passed her University Entrance examination thus qualifying for entry into Teacher Training College but at only sixteen she was too young to take up her chosen field. Instead she joined the Public Service as a clerk in the Social Security Department – which would later become WINZ.

The war was still on and the government's manpower laws were strict – meaning that Val could not change jobs unless she went nursing or teaching. She chose nursing and spent a very pleasant year back in the South Island at the Wairau District Hospital in Blenheim.

In 1947 she finally realised her original plan and entered Training College in Wellington. Here she met her future husband, Frank Gretton, also a teacher trainee. Frank was a returned serviceman, ex-Air Force, and impressed Val with his good manners. After a whirlwind romance they married the same year.

To go back a step when Val became engaged to Frank, she was summoned first by the headmistress and then by the principal, who told her that it was not policy to train married women and she would have to resign. So, not allowed to finish teacher training, she did what all married women did in those days – she produced babies, in order, Paul, Lloyd, Scott, Rebecca and Mary; five lovely, healthy children who were her pride and joy.

Frank was keen on remote schools and took his first appointment at Pohukura School, thirty miles inland from Stratford in Taranaki where Paul was born soon after their arrival. They spent three years in Taranaki ending with a short spell at Kaimiro School on the slopes of Mt Egmont but then a job at Tarawa, a well known school in the Gilbert Islands came up and Frank took it. So it was off to the Pacific, and a small coral atoll one degree north of the Equator, these days known as Kiribati, and it was here that Lloyd was born.

After three and a half years they returned to New Zealand where Frank took a position on the East Coast at Wharekahika School, Hicks Bay. It was 1955 and conditions were still very primitive with no electric power or tar sealed roads. Trips to Gisborne were hazardous and infrequent.

Such conditions meant that having babies could be more adventurous that anyone would like and many mothers of the time had stories to tell. And so did Val. At 2am one morning, Scott announced his intention to arrive. Frank and Val had little idea on how to find the Waipiro Bay Maternity Home, knowing only to head south, turn off somewhere and find a big house on the hill. No problem! Fortunately their neighbours came to the rescue with the wife baby-sitting Paul and Lloyd as arranged but her husband also appeared and said ‘I’m coming with you’ – surely much to Val's relief. Two and a half hours later, they reached the maternity home where Scott was safely born. On today’s sealed roads that drive from Hicks Bay would be about an hour less.

Rebecca's arrival was even more dramatic, beginning at daylight with a call at the Te Araroa doctor who sent them onto Te Puia Springs Maternity Home. Frank described the drive south as:

“a mad drive on a winding, tortuous gravel road, we reached Tikitiki where we met a ten year old Maori boy in the street who gave us clear and concise directions how to find the district nurse's house. She was just preparing to leave on her rounds and was not happy about our arrival; however she rose to the occasion and did everything that was required.”

Two hours later, with Rebecca asleep on a pillow they were welcomed at the Te Puia Maternity Home by the matron who said, ‘This is the easiest confinement we have ever had!’

By the time of Mary's birth they were much better prepared and she arrived without drama at Te Puia Springs. Val, like her mother, showed her own brand of courage throughout those years.

In November 1962, they moved to Gisborne and bought an eleven acre block of land at Manutuke where they would establish a citrus orchard. In 1963, Frank joined the staff of the fledgling Lytton High School. It was a transition time for Val; she learnt to drive and had to adapt to quite a different kind of social life. But with the children growing up a little more, she was able to rekindle her youthful interest in community activities and joined the Forest & Bird Society, with whom she enjoyed many pleasurable outings and camping expeditions.

Some twenty years on in 1982 Frank retired and a new life began for the two of them in Wainui. Val continued her interests; an important step was to join the 60+ group, which led to U3A – University of the Third Age, in which her favourite groups were music, history and poetry.

At one stage at U3A she tutored in te reo Maori; although by no means fluent she had studied enough to pass on a little to others. On the subject of languages, during some of her extensive travels around the world, Val discovered that her fourth form French hadn't deserted her either.

In 2001, Val and Frank built a new home at Stout Street where they have lived ever since. Val's later years were much enhanced by the friendship and activities at the Arohaina Centre. Also, she and Frank were members of the Eastwoodhill Arboretum; their visits even including the drive through the countryside en route, brought them great joy.
Val said of Eastwoodhill, ‘It was the best thing we ever did.’ They have trees for each of their family in Eastwoodhill's Millennial Wood. Trees were always a great love of Vals and she planted them wherever she went, favouring the English varieties like pine oak, claret ash, liquid amber or silver birch. Her plantings are still to be seen at the Manutuke orchard.

Val was a loved Nanny to her ten grandchildren and she followed their interests with a will. She was also known to many as ‘Queen Nanny’; always regal, beautifully dressed and looking a million dollars, she never dropped her standards in any way. She was a highly intelligent, well informed woman, who could conduct a conversation on any many subjects – from literature to art to films to rugby; Scott said, ‘You could never pull the wool over her eyes.’

Val described the latter years of her life as part of her ‘declining years’. I suggest that although they were naturally impacted by ageing, they were also years where she continued to be interested in life and in living it; where she was an organised and willing participant in all she was able to do, be it in her group activities, or a drive to Tolaga Bay or Mahia for example, or just a simple outing with Frank for an ice cream at the beach. And it's not too long ago, that Val drove to Napier so she and Frank could enjoy a garden visit down that way.
Declining? No, not really. Val just adjusted and faced the progression of physical life by getting on with what she could do, in her typically pragmatic style.

For her family as a whole, to review Val's life and the era she lived through is to make history real and personal; to understand a little more of the pathways that shaped her world and therefore yours. It is a privilege to know. Someone once said:

“ Every job is a self portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence.”

If living can be defined as a job, then, I suggest, Val has left a fine signature

Reflection to: “Send in the Clowns” by Judy Collins

Val liked the theme of that song for how it looks back at life.
She also liked the William Blake poem, The Tiger, and chose this verse:

Subject: Mother cremated yesterday∼the last two Mohicans

Subject: passport returned∼scatter the ashes∼Poor old Dad

Dear Dawn and Paul
I got my bag and passport returned. As I suspected the taxi driver had driven away because he was unable to park. I got a phone call about it and had to move fast to get my couriered documents back and a refund.

I think it is an excellent idea that there be another service with absent family members to scatter the ashes. I thing Mum had always looked forward to that moment.

I got today a posted letter from Mum written about a month ago. I did not keep it as it was quite cold. I think both Dad and Mum became quite bitter at how the world has developed in their lifetimes. I sometimes wonder if my stated opinions had influenced them. I was told several years ago that I should be locked up as I was getting an audience.

Poor old Dad. I don't think he will last much longer without the moral and physical support of Mum. When he fell and Mum passed away, was he able to activate his alarm bracelet? That is very worrying if he becomes incapacitated. Maybe he could join the Church circle around his old friend Frank Spencer. As Dad was brought up in the Anglican Church, he might return to it.

Perhaps you could contact Frank Spencer by telephone and suggest he befriend Dad. They are both war veterans. Frank Spencer doesn't drive. But he has a circle of elderly lady friends who take him on regular outings. He might be glad for a more balanced group.

It has been quite a cool day and I am enjoying my unexpected extended holiday.

Can I continue sending Dad emails when he is on his own?
Lloyd

Subject: Good news about passport∼Frank told he could drive

Subject: college liasion∼contract start date∼Dad's licence

Hi Dawn and Paul
I always say Paul because I assume he is reading them. Yes, that is good news, the bag and passport recovery. The loss had thrown me into a condition I call ‘descending into the mælstrom’. If that had not happened I would now be working full-time at a school camp near Beijing. A hellish thought, incidentally.

The University wanted me to go to the College this week. Jessie, the college liasion, was quite shocked that my passport was taken. She seemed to blame me for it. I have of course contacted her about its recovery. We have now agreed I depart to the college on the nineteenth this month. But my contract does not start until the next month August 20. I do not understand why they want me so early. However there is free accommodation. Maybe I can find some teaching in that month gap.

Now the College suddenly wants a work reference from my previous employer. Asian employers tend to do that sort of thing after they have employed you. I have two days work at a school at Harbin on seventeenth and eighteenth and have asked Edward, who is on leave there, to make up a work reference on the thirteenth when we first meet.
You see what I mean about ‘descending into the mælstrom’. 

That is dismaying that Dad has got his licence back. Knowing him he will be heading out on to the road. Maybe he has already done so. I recall an old driver in Dunedin who once did and repeatedly nearly did, knock me off my bicycle. Gosh I hated him. Maybe a quiet word to Doctor Smith before he sets the wheels metaphorically and literally in action.

I am not going to comment to Dad about it as it will only make him worse.
Lloyd

Subject: passport hassles∼Dad and driving

Hi Dawn
More hassles with my passport. A little bit of Lloyd deviousness will be required. I will report back later about it. Suffice to say I am now convinced the rednecks are right. The Government is the enemy!

Dad and the driving issue will have to be treated with great caution. Dad is to some degree in his second childhood. He has always, to some degree, never left his first. Still it is amazing how good he is at ninety one.

He may be scheming for Doctor Smith to complete the paper work to get the licence back. So always give the impression you or others want to take him out. Never mention the issue that he might be using the car but give the impression his driving is out of the question. Then the whole issue might fade out. One of his legs is twisted so even he may recognise the consequences.
Lloyd 

Subject: talked to Frank

Subject: internal affairs n.z.∼work contract

Dear Dad
Unfortunately not so well. I don't know whether you know. A taxi driver drove away with my bag that contained all my school books and my passport. In consequence I have been unemployed in a nice river hotel until this Friday.

I took immediate steps and alerted the local radio station. The bag and passport was returned to the school. But when I informed this to New Zealand Internal Affairs, I was given the shattering news that they had destroyed it. The rednecks are right. The Government is the enemy.

I will go on using my old – now invalid – passport as an ID in China. I have today couriered to Internal Affairs New Zealand for a new passport. I have instructed them to post the new passport to your address in Gisborne. Then you can courier it to my address in China.

I went to the Bank of China to see if I can send money to New Zealand to pay for the charge of a new passport. Not possible, as Internal Affairs does not have bank numbers and I do not have a credit card. So I will have to ask money to be wired to Internal Affairs from you or Dawn in Gisborne. It will cost $150 New Zealand. I can if you like wire the money to your account, when I am receiving income again.

I am of course very angry with Internal Affairs. In the meantime it seems I have signed the work contract for the University and plan to arrive there on the nineteenth this month.

Will write later as I will be disconnected any moment.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: John Key in Beijing∼busy writing letters

Subject: new passport∼How are you keeping?

Dear Dad
The charge is $150 New Zealand dollars. It can be made by Visa, MasterCard, Amex, or Money Order. Cheques and money orders are payable to DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS. Can a message be sent that it is for a new passport for Lloyd Geoffrey Gretton who has couriered the application documents to internal affairs passport office? They will be arriving in the next few days at Boulcott House, Wellington.

I remain greatly annoyed that Internal Affairs has put me and others into this totally unnecessary situation. But for the time being nothing can be done about it. I am going to email them a message that the documents are on their way and considering their act to expedite them immediately. They should arrive at your house after some days.

I am aware that I am in a hazardous situation. Fortunately everything is so cheap in China and teaching positions very easy to come by. Just as a thought don't let slip to authorities that my passport has been recovered. The bs might then demand it before they issue a new one.

Of course you understand I cannot leave China without the new issued passport. If I have further problems I am going to email the Office of The Minister of Internal Affairs. I have known that to get immediate positive results should the bs at the passport office be more troublesome.

If you have any difficulties, don't hesitate to ask Dawn for assistance. She has been overseas and knows all about these hazards.

How are you keeping with Mum's passing? I know it is difficult. I have an internal monologue with mother. She was a lovely person. We will all greatly miss her. I hope you keep on good terms with Frank Spencer. He can get very lonely too. So you find solace in each other's company. Have you thought of returning back to the Church? Through Frank I am sure you will find drivers to take you to their Anglican Church. It was there that you received your first Christian upbringing.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: Harbin traffic ∼employment visa∼Keep your chin up

Dear Dad
I am so grateful to hear your kind response. Mum tended to be tougher on my foreign mishaps. The loss of the passport was so unfortunate. It was a lapse. The traffic in Harbin is so dense that the driver felt compelled to drive on. I take some pride for initiative in getting it back. Then the twist with the knife from Internal Affairs. I will send you my communication with them.

My employment visa carries on until September 14. I fear that Internal Affairs will demand I send them the restored passport. The bs are not getting it. Unfortunately I dutifully reported to them it was found. I might have to claim a mental lapse.  I will keep its invalidity secret in China.

I was told America also invalidates reported lost passports. America is controlled by the maniac generals. But there is no excuse for this in New Zealand. When this business is over, I am going to make a public issue of it.

I am glad to see you are getting such good home help. Keep your chin up.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: posted cheque∼ladies looking after me

Subject: forwarded emails

Dear Dad
I have forwarded these emails to you. Unfortunately I imagine this Carol Thomas is a real bitch. That is my experience of professional New Zealand woman. Note her use of my first name. I also detest all that pseudo Maori stuff.
Lloyd

Subject: I.A. reprimand∼coldest here since records kept

Subject: Chinese regulations

Dear Dad
Because of Chinese regulations that forbid my use of internet cafes, I can't promise you an email every morning. However I will when I can.

I am at present in a country town near Harbin, I passed a lesson test at a school there. The principal said I am a great teacher. I have two days teaching there on Saturday and Sunday. Then I depart to the College with a work reference.

You are right about Carol. The passport has only been invalidated. It has no physical affect on my copy.

Must away as I have been given a dispensation to use this computer.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: Internal Affairs Passport Office

Dear Dad
It appears they will now move quickly. Did you post the cheque to Department of Internal Affairs Passport Office, Boulcott House, Wellington? Also the letter needs, at the back of the envelope, the return address. The new passport will be posted to you and I will direct you where to send it. I have made my correspondence with Internal Affairs more dire than reality. But these things can escalate.

Again this has to be a short email as I have to use the office computer.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: Lloyd Gretton application for new passport

Dear Passport Office
I have now forwarded to Guy Nathan the Internal Affairs Minister our email correspondence. I have also sent him a personal email asking for Ministerial action.

This is not at this stage a formal complaint. As the couriered package should be arriving in a day or two, I expect immediate issuing of the new passport and its postage to my father's address in Gisborne.

I am not normally of this nature. But this is very, very urgent. I must have it in order to take up a teaching position in China. If I do not get it in time, I will no be able to pay for the air ticket to return to New Zealand and will run out of money in China. These problems are entirely the fault of Internal Affairs Passport Office.

Therefore, in an old fashioned sense, I demand restitution for the hazard you have given to my life.
Regards Lloyd Gretton

Subject: passport photographs

Dear Mr Brown
Two days ago two new passport i.d. photographs were posted to Passport Office Wellington Internal Affairs. They should be at your office very soon.

When they arrive, could you please get on to it right away. Remember to post the new passport to Mr F.L. Gretton ∗∗∗Stout Street Gisborne New Zealand
Regards,
Lloyd Gretton

PS: Please call me Mr Gretton!

Subject: Dawn helpful∼coughing attack

Subject: college in Gongyi∼new service for Mum

Dear Dad
I will be taking the train to my new college in Gongyi City, Henan Province tonight at eight pm. I should be there by Wednesday morning. It is in south-east China.

It has been a quite stressful time because of language misunderstandings and the ridiculous restrictions on internet use. I found one internet cafe which has dared to permit me to use it.

After some issues, I received my full payment from my two days at the school in Achen Achen which is near Harben. I am now quite exhausted.

I have posted the new signed photographs to Internal Affairs. The previous posted photos were rejected by Internal Affairs as not passport size. It is possible my passport is not invalidated as I gave Internal Affaris the wrong passport issue. I just hope this issue does not bite me later.

How are you getting on? The day for the new service for Mum must be quite soon. I will be there in spirit.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: Chenggong College∼passport office

Dear Dad
I am now writing from the Chenggong College in Gongyi. The trip was a hell of an experience. It took me about thirty four hours!  The new apartment is as nice and large as the Oman College apartment. Tell Paul that and he will give you an idea.

I was a bit afraid I had antagonised the new College by my technical ineptitude with tele texting. I still can't do it unless someone does it for me. There was no one on the train with the language skill to help me and the College office kept sending me texts. The train was four hours late. I was able to ring up Jessie and relay that information. I thought she was texting but it was the foreign teachers coordinator, a Jackson. It all gets very confusing. Fortunately Jessie is very nice.

There are quite a few bears I have to cross. The passport office won't do anything until they have the new photographs I have posted to them.  The charge was one hundred and fifty dollars not three hundred. If you really did spend three hundred dollars, let me know.

My new apartment gives me free use of a personal computer and internet.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: nice apartment∼holiday time

Dear Dad
I seem to have missed a Saturday email of yours. I am now ensconced in my large nice apartment. The College has been very good about this. However this can't go on too long. I need two documents from my former school in Harbin. I will email Jessie and direct her to formally request them from the Harbin Top School. They are not nice people and yesterday did not respond to my email request. But a formal request byChenggong Collegethey will have to respond to as it is Chinese law. You may have to be prepared that I may have to return to New Zealand if these documents are not satisfactory.  I need them by Chinese law to be able to transfer to another school.

However I have that peculiar feeling I sometimes have that things will work out ok. That always then seems to happen. Perhaps I can come back to Gisborne and be your home help and companion in your lonely hours if I am wrong.  At that point there would be no more overseas teaching.  it is just too vexatious and expensive.

In the meantime this is holiday time. I got lost returning home as usual. More forgivable as it was pitch black. I now know my route back to my apartment. A College security guard took me back to my apartment on the back of his motor bike.

Yesterday I went shopping and I am now stored for a week. Alas, I dare not plan my purchases further until this is sorted out.

The College is huge and very well preserved. I have to be a bit cautious with my language just in case the College is reading my emails. I very much doubt it. I am using now my home computer which works very well.

For the time being I will spend my days on the internet. There is a student cafe a short distance from my apartment. I am not sure I am allowed to use it.

As regards the passport. I think we just have to be relaxed about it. Otherwise it would make us both ill. It does not affect my residency in China.

In extremis an emergency passport can be provided at extra cost and used until it arrives.

Internal Affairs is revenue gathering. The lost one hundred and fifty dollar cheque belongs to you. If it is a bank written cheque, the bank will eventually return the money to you. If it is your cheque, it does not appear in your bank records.

I will email Carol Thomas again and ask for information.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: computer acting the goat∼Internal Affairs have $300

Subject: nice apartment∼holiday time

Dear Dad
Don't wait around for the passport. Internal Affairs have been real ass holes. A letter from China to New Zealand takes about a week. I sent the new photographs on Monday.

Chinese regulations require these two documents. Jackie (the principal of Top School, my previous school) is a rather uncouth person – although he did express sympathy at Mother's passing. When I had my private interview with him when I started there, he said, Are you Jewish? I can tell by your eyes. When I said Yes but I have no attachment to the synagogue, he said he wanted to know because Jews run the world. He did say that with a laugh. But such thoughts are clearly circulating.

I was dismissed with a week's notice. I had feared that because I was at the end of my first month's probation. For people like myself, probation periods are very cruel because they judge form not substance. The other teachers said they could not understand it as I was certainly not the worst teacher. I may have said a few politically charged things in the classroom that got reported back. Chinese administrators are very paranoid.

The regulations require the new school receive from the former school these two documents. They can be very quickly procured if the old school co-operates. I have sent emails to three people in Top School. I have also given Jessie the three email addresses and also the two telephone numbers of Jackie and his assistant who is a nicer fellow.  A formal request from Chonggong College should get a positive response. As you know school administrators co-operate in the transference of documents.

As you seem to be getting a bit muddled, I think a family member sharing the house with you would be a good idea.

I agree New Zealand seems to be going to the dogs. The white populations is seeming to be pushed out. History has plenty of precedents for it. Historically there is eventually an insurgency against it. If so it will be fuelled by the internet. I could not get an esl job in NZ perhaps because they want New Zealand established teachers.

I spend my days surfing the internet. I have the trick of instantly Googling whenever a thought comes into my head. The College was established by a millionaire from Taiwan. Gongyi was his family home. So its layout and structure is modelled on the ancient British Universities.  Again I won't say more on the remote chance these emails are being read. So you can imagine my thoughts about this. Try to GoogleChenggong CollegeGongyi. It would have made Mum nearly faint with joy.  I recall Britannica College in Iraq so I am not so enthused. However it has a huge library so I won't be short of books. This is holiday time now. The new semester starts on August 20.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: passport should arrive soon∼weather cold

Subject: reply button on computer

Subject: Still no correspondence from Internal Affairs

Dear Dad
As you can see your reply was swift and excellent. The advantage of the reply button is we both have a shared record of our correspondence. We simply scroll down to read the previous correspondence. So I suggest we stick to that now.

Still no correspondence from Internal Affairs. The new photographs were posted to them six days ago. They were in a sizable parcel. They may be sulking at our correspondence or even being vindictive. When I write my book I am going to have plenty to say about this.

I had a brain wave last night of actually applying for esl positions with countries that border on China. That will be a last resort. Clearly by your last email you don't need a help in. So long as I have free accommodation, I am spending very little. The train journey from Harbin cost me about fifty dollars. That is promised to be refunded byChenggong Collegebut only if I work there.

We are further forward each day with Internal Affairs. It is only the emergency situtaiton that makes it seem long. It was a nightmare as I anticipated getting this arranged in Harbin. In southern China all this is much easier.  Except for international border crossings, there is no affect on the passport. At least I don't think so. At border crossings, the airport officials always have to check through the passport to find the relevant documents. Internal Affairs also wrote I would only be affected at border crossings. I am not even convinced there but I would not test it. They might confiscate it!

As the rednecks in America say – "The Government is the Enemy".
Love from Lloyd

Subject: returning to N.Z.∼Peking to Paris on SKY

Subject: documents from Top School∼exit China then return

Dear Dad
I just got your email.

My brain wave was simply a last resort. If I cannot get those documents from Top School I will be unable to work in China unless I exit China then return. By September 14 I must have employment or leave China.

I trust the wheels are in motion.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: I'm wary of brain waves∼drove to the supermarket

Subject: technical difficulties∼snafus in Chinese bureaucracy

Dear Dad
I have had to restrict these emails because of technical difficulties with my apartment computer. I take it still no word about the passport. I sent an email to Internal Affairs saying I trust the photographs have been received and the new passport is being processed. I did not get a reply so I assume that is the case. When you get it, please immediately email me. I will authorise you where to courier it.

I remain in my apartment. However there are snafus in the Chinese bureaucracy regarding my foreign expert certificate. I am supposed to have one. Yet I last recall having one in 2005. Every school has its own interpretion of regulations which it insists is the right one.

I was going to offer to take the train to Vietnam and arrange the visa there. But Internal Affairs writes I cannot cross international boders until I have my new passport. I am not sure they are right but I dare not risk it.

I have sent Jessica emails of the Chinese schools I attended. That should settle the matter regarding the foreign expert certificate.

I read you are now driving. You had better be very careful. The smallest mistake and they will take you off the road. So treat every driving like a military opeation. I always did and never actually had an accident.

Also I suggest you don't try Eastwood Hill. I recall a driving altercation at the Patutahi bridge with Maoris. They would love to knock you around.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: exasperating delays with government business

Subject: photos have not arrived∼Dr Smith to witness

Dear Dad
The new passport photographs have not arrived at Internal Affairs office. I should have couriered them. I have now couriered two new photographs with the witness statement to your house. They should reach you in a few days time. Please ask your Doctor Smith to sign the witness statement and the back of one of the photographs. Then please also ask Doctor Smith to write my name Lloyd Geoffrey Gretton with the signature. Then please post the documents to New Zealand Passport Office.

Department of Internal Affairs
PO Box 10-526
Wellington 6143

Doctor Smith has done this for me before. He should know what to do.
I will email Mr Brown from Internal Affairs to give me the cost of couriering them to China. You can then send the courier cost by credit card to Internal Affairs and they will courier them direct to China. If the old photographs suddenly arrive, Mr Brown will ring you and you won't have to do anything.

I have now found a printers office and am writing this email from there. I remain in my apartment.
Love from Lloyd 

Subject: bitter experience∼free apartment∼computer troubles

Dear Dad
This is, of course, a bitter experience for both of us. But it will pass. I have in fact directed Internal Affairs to courier the passport direct to my China address. I will stay in Gongji until I get it.

I am having not a nice time. I am very luck to have this free apartment. So I am spending very little money. But of course I am not accumulating. I go most days into town and look around. But China is quite dreary.

No word yet from Jessie. As I said before, I somehow feel I am doomed to work at this College. I have had to use printers' offices for emails as my apartment computer keeps conking out. Everything in China is always shoddy.

Thank you so much for your kind support. I still feel angry that after my initial mishap I did what I was directed by the New Zealand Embassy and that has caused us all these difficulties. I should have known better. They do not represent our interests.
Love from Lloyd

Subject: one cannot rely on foreign post∼Best of British luck

Subject: have to leave

Subject: day-to-day living∼B.N.Z. blue card

Subject: website funding∼work in Vietnam∼ESL articles

Dear Dad
Thank you for your kind offer. As everything is so cheap here, I am not in straits now. However since you offered, you might like to fund my internet site for a few months. I could pay it from here but it would cost international bank charges. A hundred dollars would do. Could you deposit the money at the beginning of this banking week?

I suggest once I receive my new passport in about a fortnight – I hope – you consider the situation. If I am earning then it makes sense I stay. If not, then I think I should take a ticket from Shanghai direct to Auckland and then to Gisborne.

Unless the expert certificate is sorted, I cannot stay in the apartment. It is really a ridiculous situation. I have no idea who has it. I have started looking for other positions in China and in Vietnam. There are other university colleges in those countries that are interested. The university semester starts soon. I would love to work in Vietnam. China is very dreary.

I was reading last night correspondence about my ESL articles from ESL readers. I thought some was quite valid. I don't have a good track record to put it mildly.

If I return to New Zealand, I will no longer pursue overseas teaching. I am somewhat worn out with being treated as a machine. I am sure you know the feeling.

I plan in New Zealand to start on my book, “Why Johnny Chan Can't Speak English”. It will be modelled on “Why Johnny Can't Read”.
Love from Lloyd