Educating Mao ※
february 2011
2011
Subject: Back in Gongyi
Dear Dad
I am now back in my apartment in Gongyi. The campus is virtually deserted.
I arrived in Nanning – the Chinese border city – in the evening.
I was able to book a railway seat and a night at a cheap hotel.
The three-star
rule does not, it seems, apply at railway hotels.
The train trip the next morning was quite cold and dreary. It was almost a twenty-four hour journey. I spent much of the time reading my Russian history book. I was interested to read that in both the army and military in the USSR in the 1920s free expression and play was encouraged. By the 1930s both institutions were in a bad state and discipline and rote learning was reintroduced.
I arrived in Zengzhou in the early hours. By now I was right down in money and was afraid the bank would refuse to give me my money. They won't issue small deposits. I was very relieved my guardian angel had deposited money into my BNZ acccount.
I still have the three hundred and fifty dollars owing to me from the failed international transaction. Tomorrow I will go to my bank and demand they trace it and give it to me. I found what appears to be a bank record of it. It is all written in Chinese.
I am now in my winter pyjamas and the clothes I took are now in the washer. I am going to have a really good night's sleep. I think my travel was over-ambitious. In future I will confine my travels inside China – and only on the trains.
I somehow lost some clothing and two pairs of glasses abroad. That might be a lesson in disguise. The trousers I lost were ill-fitting and would slip awkwardly. At the time I purchased them I had six clucking College girls with me and I did not get them fitted properly. I bought, for about ten dollars, two new glasses in Laos. The ones I use give sharper vision.
I hope all is OK in New Zealand.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: re: Back in Gongyi
Dear Lloyd,
I was so pleased to get your letter from Gongyi. Your wandering about
China, while romantic, is somewhat worrying. Your money should be able
to be traced by the bank especially if you still have the receipt.
Ask to see the head accountant. In desperation I would mention the
word police. In third-world countries that usually brings a response.
My Chinese friend Pang tells me that Hong Kong banks are more approachable, I am sure it is unlawful for them to withhold your money.
I have just completed a strenuous weekend at the Lytton High School 40th anniversary where as I was the oldest surviving teacher I was given the honour of planting the commemorative tree.
I was treated quite like royalty. Our car was waved through the others and we drove right to the front door where I was greeted by the Principal, who opened the door and helped me out, I would like to be able to report, to the Cheers of the natives gathered there.
The next person to greet me was our ex-mayor, John Clark, whom you will remember did such a good job after Cyclone Bola. He informed me that I taught him English in his Third Form.
Later I met many fellow teachers including Jack Wilson who is 3 years younger than me. Jack looks well but is suffering from dementia such as old people frequently get. However we were able to have a good talk of old times.
All very good but awfully tiring from which I am only just recovering.
Love and best wishes from
Dad
Subject: re: Back in Gongyi
Dear Dad
Romantic is the last word I can think of as regards my last week.
It
has been bitterly cold in northern Vietnam and China. The heating has
been turned off in the College. Still, what you survive makes you stronger.
My Chinese bank is an international bank, one of the global giants.
Last night I ventured out in my winter coat and underwear. It was warmer than in the apartment. Everything was closed and there was a fireworks bombardment. The city was almost completely empty. I came back without any dinner and googled chinese festivals. Last night was the eve of the Chinese New Year. All public offices will be closed for a week, including banks.
This morning and evening I had a free breakfast and dinner at the College. I was introduced to the College President who wished me a happy new year. Tomorrow will be normal food provisioning at the College.
You had a marvellous time at Lytton's celebration. I recall the fortieth celebration. For some reason that was in 2002.
I continued today in my bed reading my Russian book. In my last email
I should have written education in the 1930s in USSR was returned to
disciplined and rote learning. It had been experimental in the post-revolutionary
era. I recall Jack Wilson often lectured in the school assembly about
his experiences in USSR regarding their schools. He always began with "When
I was in Russia". A humorous skit was made of it by Jack Reynolds.
Was he there on your special night?
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: uploading my site
Dear Dad
Jerry came into my apartment this morning and installed software so I
can upload my internet site. Uploading means putting more text and
images on an internet site. We continued to work for several hours.
Last night an uploading of one word came through onto my internet site.
After he left, the cafeteria was closed. So I went into Good Food restaurant and had some hamburgers. Then I went into the supermarket and bought more fruit and coffee. I returned home. I was able – on my own – to edit my Sargon Press files to correct mistakes. Later they will be uploaded and will replace existing files on my site.
I sent an email to Daniel. I got one back this evening. He and wife Dawn have been fishing on Haiman Island and are now on their way to Shanghai.
It is getting cold again now it is evening. As I had a big lunch, I
will eat some packaged food for dinner. Then I will retire to bed with
my Russian book.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: re: uploading your site
Dear Lloyd,
All very interesting but away beyond me! I can hardly cope with
Sky channel.
This morning Becky and Bruce were here and connected me to CNN channel.
I listened to a very interesting debate on wiki-leaking. That was T.V. at its best. There was a big audience and very knowledgeable participants. When the motion was put and voted on the result was 74% for and 42% against. So Wikileaks has majority approval.
What was emphasised was that it might bring about truth between nations.
It seems that is lacking these days. It was a great debate. The Doha
Debate.
Love from Dad
Subject: temperature still in the 30s
Dear Lloyd,
This heat is almost unbearable. There has been no let up for about
a fortnight. We would welcome a bit of your chill down here!
I had lunch with Paul and Dawn yesterday. I think Paul was pleased
to be home. It's pretty rough on the Chinese-Burma border. Very
rough roads and very cold. He has lost a bit of weight.
Love from
Dad
2011
Subject: another cold day
Dear Dad
Today was another bitterly cold day. As I have said before it is my frigid
apartment not outside that is the problem. All the public buildings
in the College are closed. Only the cafeteria is open which is providing
luke warm left overs.
Today I edited my fiction files and tried to develop my computer skills in preparation for another uploading.
Tonight I continued to read my Russian book. I am into the Gorbachev era. It offers an interesting insight how a large country can dissolve. It really does sound like U.S. today. The difference is the American people have no where else to go except into a completely pathological condition.
I also read about your disturbances on Waitangi Day. Only a few hundred protesters seem to have struck a raw nerve like a toothache.
Now back to bed.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: Unholy Alliance
Dear Paul
It used to be that if your claims are drawn from documented facts your name
wasn't made mud. Nowadays historical issues are mixed up with ethnic identify, feminism and the military industrial complex. That is a somewhat unholy
alliance. Still the Internet does mean dissidents can give them a good run.
I was looking at the online Listener today. I noticed a feature about the Treaty. A whole list of names are given. Yours is not included. I thought maybe the Treaty is not your specific field.. But then I read the names of Belich et al. The media seems to run their names like mantras. So I take that to be a calculated snub.
Also the names of Cowan and Buick are not there. As far as I am concerned they should be the acclaimed historians of early New Zealand. While I do not doubt the archives credentials of Claudia Orange, her Waitangi books and media statements strike me as a rehash of Buick accompanied with pc statements that don't seem to be drawn from source material. The same goes for Belich who stands on the shoulders of Cowan. I think they are media personalities.
The New Zealand media is very middle brow. Journalism is treated as a technical subject and once they find a commentator who spouts the right pc, they give that person an open forum.
I followed the Ho Chi Minh trail back to China. In Hanoi I was struck with the
charm of most of the people – despite their rat-bag taxi drivers. It seems so
extraordinary now they should have been subjected to the full blast of the US
war machine.
All the armies went home and all the wars ended.
I am now back at the College.
Lloyd
Subject: Listener hatchet job
Dear Lloyd,
Thanks for this message. The Listener seems to bear a special animus towards
me.
Some radical student wrote a review of my cannibalism book which was published in the NZ Journal of History late last year. The review has subsequently been entirely discredited, to the point where the reviewer – John Bevan Smith – has been advised his reviews and submissions will no longer be accepted by the NZJH. For an idea of BS's character, a search on Google, adding ‘Supreme Court’ to his name, shows he is one of those born trouble-makers.
However, he sent a copy of his review to the Listener, which is currently preparing to do a hatchet job on me based on it. The journalist thinks she has a breaking story on how my book is fatally flawed and is pushing that argument to the limit. It will be unfortunate but I suppose it goes with the territory.
Perhaps the worst aspect of the article is that it will certainly deter other scholars from tackling these sorts of topics (traditional infanticide, for example, is ignored completely by academics in this country, and I doubt that any will now have the fortitude to address it).
As for the supposed Treaty experts, I can safely say that I know more about the creation of the Treaty and the policy behind it than any other person on earth, but not being a rabid feminist, or left-leaning academic, exclusion is the norm for me. I discovered many years ago that being right about something can be a barrier to advancement. Interestingly, Orange has written one book about the Treaty – almost a quarter of a century ago, of which a great deal is manifestly incorrect (something I emailed her about, but with no reply).
All the best,
Paul
Subject: Hitler's memoir?
Dear Paul
Thanks for the prompt message. I had for a year or two been getting prompt
messages from bete noir David Irving.
At some point I got the impression he was
inveigling money from me to keep his lavish lifestyle. He probably thought I
was some diplomat or international business man.
He is a typical English man of his generation. It would not have occurred to him I work for the ‘natives’.
After he wrote his Hitler's War he was told by a Time magazine journalist probably Lance Morrow, “Before the book you have done nothing wrong according to the msm now you will find you will do nothing right”.
Hitler's War is certainly out of character with his other rather dry military books. It does really come across as the self-serving memoirs of a former head of state. I speculate it really is Hitler's memoir. There is a Nazi enclave in the mountains in Ecuador. full of old and not so old Nazis. The scandal of the Hitler Diaries may be a distorted version of that. Hitler's body has never been found which is certainly odd.
I have had a few run-ins with the Listener myself. Over twenty years ago I wrote
the Listener article that covered the unveiling of the Moriori statue in Chathams. That was comissioned by David Beatson, then Listener editor. Ever
since then I have been shut out of the Listener.
Sheila Natusch was also shut
out of any further Listener and Radio New Zealand reporting after she took on Ranginui Walker.
It is difficult to understand their motives unless there is pecuniary reward and advantage for it.
The New Zealand schools are now hot beds of Maori radicalism. To me from a
global perspective it is a dead end but oh well.
Lloyd
Subject: Living in the forest
Dear Lloyd,
David Irving's name popped up when I was meeting with somone at Penguin (which had lost a fortune in legal fees fighting him). His anti-semitism is overt, and clearly colours his writing. I have always had the impression of him as possessing a misguided but prodigious talent.
The Listener is the voice of the urban left in New Zealand – a rag that carries much more weight than the quality of its journalism. Sadly, I am about to be reminded of that (again).
I suspect that you have the advantage of having an outside perspective of NZ politics and society that we – living in the forest – can't see for the trees. What was once regarded as radicalism is almost seen as the norm in some circles.
Whether the country has bumped into a dead end I am not sure, but my intuition tells me you're right.
Regards,
Paul
2011
Subject: Hone strutting around Auckland
Dear Lloyd,
I am sorry you got only a little of my last letter to you. It was a
very long one, almost two pages. I do find that whenever I get carried
away on the keyboard I start to make mistakes so now I will restrict
myself to being brief, bright and breezy instead of garrulous. I
tried to retrieve the full letter but could only get back the bit
you got originally so I will try a little memory recall.
Hone is really strutting around North Auckland and says he has no ambitions regarding the Maori Party and says he has no hatred of pakeha – but we all know of his mother, and he took hatred in with his mother's milk! However Peter Sharples doesn't seemed too worried.
The weather here is still beastly hot. I have taken to sleeping in the nuddy and having a cool shower before retiring. We have had a string of 30's for a week and we are all complaining that the summer will never end.
I had a pleasant encounter in the supermarket two days ago. One of my ex-English classes pupils, now packing shelves, recalled a 5th form class she was in and some of what we studied. She reeled off some of the books and plays that we had studied as if it was only yesterday. There were 3 Biology classes. Bob Clague took A while John Reynold's took B while I took C. In my class 20 out of 23 passed. She appreciated this S.C. English.
It was a very pleasant class to teach and meeting one of the girls many years later one of the pleasures later. I at least introduced her to some good literature drama, and poetry.
Love and best wishes from Dad
Subject: a heavy snowfall
Dear Dad
For the first time for several weeks I am not feeling chilled even though
I am sitting here in my summer pyjamas. There was quite a heavy snowfall
which apparently takes the chill out of the air.
I went today to ICBC bank. They were not helpful at all. Then, when I was walking discontentedly down the street, I met a College student, not ChengGong College, who was very helpful. She took me to her home near by. Her family was there and they, Mum, Dad, her and their two boys, took me in their car to the correct bank branch. The bank insisted the transaction based on the receipt had been successful. At least that is established. I then had lunch with the family and they returned me toChenggong College.
Tomorrow morning I will go to the printers and send an email to your Gisborne BNZ branch acquaintance with an attachment of the receipt. I will ask them to send information, as much as they can, what happened to the several hundred dollars.
This is an instance of China acting very third-world. The helpful family was amusing. That is quite a frequent experience of westerners in Asian countries. They had just completed their Spring festival and were in need of a diversion.
When I returned home, it was so cold I read one chapter of Our Legal Heritage and then I went to bed.
I am at the final chapter of my Russian book. Through all day there was no water in my apartment. In the evening it came on and I have just had a shave and hot shower.
As regards Hone Harawira. He was born and christened John Hadfield. His Maori credentials are quite fraudulent. From an Asian perspective it is all quite ridiculous. The Asians living in New Zealand – at least the recent immigrants – loathe Maoris.
You must have been delighted to meet the Lytton old girl. I could do
the same with Jack Orges. I just loved his English classes. Your last
day as a teacher was over thirty years ago.
Love from Lloyd.
2011
Subject: Bank business
Dear Lloyd,
What an interesting experience. Surely the teller at the bank should
be held responsible for the bank's error. The Gisborne branch
of the BNZ should have some explanation also.
I will see what Wang has to say next time I visit the bank.
I have just returned from the village with some blade steak for a curry to put in my freezer as Scott will be staying with me next week and he always liked my curries!
I am happy to tell you that the heatwave is over and today is a pleasant 21° C
Love and best wishes from
Dad
Subject: email to BNZ
Dear Dad
The bank teller at the time of the transaction said the spaces were too
small to write down the english letters. You would think an international
bank would sort that one out. I sent an email to the BNZ bank in Gisborne
asking that this be looked into.
This morning I went into town and withdrew some money from BNZ. I then went to the supermarket and bought yogurt and fruit.
I returned home. Jackson and a technician came and fixed my bathroom lamp. Jackson brought in my last term present from the College. It is an eiderdown which I am very pleased to receive.
I finished my Russian book. In the evening Daniel rang. He and his wife had just returned. I went with them and Andrew on the back of a motorbike to a good restaurant and had dinner and a few beers.
Now back home wrapped up in my blankets doing this email. Now to bed.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: Bank business
Dear Lloyd
I have great pleasure in reading your letters and to hear about your
friends and their activities. Dawn and Daniel are a married couple
and are very good friends,cultivate this. Jackson is on the administration
staff of the college and he seems a good sort, especially when he
turns up with your Xmas present. Now the college is in full swing
you will be more comfortable (heat etc.).
In your e mail to BNZ it might pay to head it with 'Attention Wing'. I find he is the most efficient of the staff there. I am sure he will look into it carefully. I know him personally. The chief, I taught bookkeeping to in forms 3, 4, and 5, so she knows who you are. Kathy is a Manutuke girl who attended Lytton.
I had a very enjoyable lunch at the wharf restaurant yesterday with Bev and Tony from opposite on. They are good company. I didn't need much dinner last night.
Hone is still strutting around up north but the Maori party is doing its best to get rid of him. I was interested in his name change. Do you think that the story is correct?
Love and best wishes from
Dad
Subject: no reply from the BNZ
Dear Dad
No email yet from the BNZ. I imagine head office has been informed and
I will be sent information early next week. I communicate with a woman
at the Gisborne BNZ who has been very helpful. Her name might be Louise.
This morning I was able to find an online copy of Isaac Disraeli's biography
of King Charles Ⅰ. This excellent history is not available in
book shops or lending libraries because it reveals synagogue influence
in the English revolution.
Isaac was the father of Benjamin.
Charles Ⅰ was a stutterer.
I have reached the part where he has gone
incognito to Spain to marry the infada, the Spanish Princess.
This afternoon Jerry came and we worked on my Internet site. My ancient Greek novel Three Sons of Euphorion has now been uploaded onto my site. I have sent an email to Dawn asking her to check out my site as I cannot access it here.
I read the John Hadfield name for Hone in Wikipedia.
I am sure it is right because no-one would bother to make it up. Hadfield
was one of the most famous northland missionaries in the early nineteenth
century. So his surname would be popular in that part of the country.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: BNZ staff names
Dear Lloyd,
Yes, you are right, her name is Louise and she is a very helpful teller,
one of four. Wing is Chinese and operates from an inner-office – you usually have to get an appointment to see him. He is also very
understanding of your problems.
Do you remember the date you despatched the money and the exact amount you sent? That money must be in somebody's account somewhere. No doubt the bank enquiry will find it.
Today Paul is picking me up at 11.30 and taking me to his place for lunch
Do keep me informed of what the bank is doing. If I can be of any help I will be only too pleased.
I expect Dawn will tell me today what luck she has had in accessing
your site.
Love and best wishes from Dad
Subject: problem of money transference
Dear Dad
I had the problem of money transference before. The BNZ returned my money
to the Omani bank. They kept no record of their transaction
with my money. I wrote to the Omani bank and posted documents. The
Omani bank transferred the money successfully to the BNZ. It is most
likely that has happened again.
My idea is to get as much information and documents from BNZ as necessary and confront the ICBC bank. I will direct them to transfer the money again and this time I will inform BNZ that it has been sent. That will be the last time I transfer money from a third-world country. They don't have the bank ethos. Seemingly, they regard the whole issue as quite amusing.
The date of the transference is on the receipt – 14 October. I think the amount was three hundred NZ dollars.
Did you check my internet site? Dawn emailed that the files now cannot be accessed. Jerry has contacted me and is concerned about this. I will try to arrange a session with him on Sunday.
I spent the day reading online the Life of Charles Ⅰ. I have my heater next to me, I'm dressed in my long undergarments, coat and am wrapped in my two blankets next to my PC. I can just keep from being chilled.
I have got up to the part of the impeachment by Parliament of the Duke
of Buckingham.
As I recall he is a direct ancestor on Mum's side. Quite a dazzling
fellow in the seventeenth century way.
The story gets bogged down in intrigue but there are neat passages. After Prince Charles and his retinue arrived in Spain to woo the Princess, the manservants spent all their time playing cards. They just wished they could bring Spanish weather back to England. It sounds very familiar.
Feel free to talk to the bank about this money matter.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: confusion with third-world banks
Dear Lloyd
I will go into town next week for an appointment with Louise or Wing
and try to sort out what went on on October 14. They should be
able to tell me where the $300 has gone. This is all very strange.
When you finally return home you will have to be able to transfer
your savings somehow.
Scott arrives from Taupo tomorrow afternoon. It will be nice seeing
him again. I have not been feeling very well of late. I was very tired
yesterday and fell into bed at 7.30 pm. I awoke at 2.30 am to find
the garage door open, and the door open, so someone must have been
in the house while I slept. The car was still intact and nothing seemed
to be disturbed. I will be more careful with the garage door next time.
Paul had driven the car into the garage and had gone out that way so
presumably he had closed the garage door.
I hope you have better luck with the bank next week. Keep up with Louise and Wing until something is done.
Love and best wishes from
Dad
Subject: Chinese banks are a nightmare
Dear Dad
I may have to bring my money into NZ in cash. I have a system for doing
that that got me through Indochina. Navigating through Chinese banks
is a nightmare.
I can't imagine someone had been through the house. It is physically impossible to do that without you noticing his presence. At least the next morning. It might have to remain a mystery.
I worked with Jerry all afternoon on my website. Unfortunately when Jerry tried to access it on his blackberry, there seems to be no sign of it at all on the internet. We have a week to sort this out before classes. I sent an email to iServe concerning this.
Jerry was able to find a domain name that enables me to access Sargon Press on my PC. We can only see it via iServe and only the front page. However this will help me once I can access my site on the internet.
The apartment heaters have now been switched on by the College. It
shows a big difference. I am writing this at night without my coat and
blankets.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: apartment is frigid
Dear Dad
The climate outside is quite pleasant. It is the apartment that is frigid.
The heating is turned off but I have a small heater. It is hard to
tell but the global weather does seem to have more extremes.
I recall in 2002 you attending some social festivity at Lytton. You met Jack Reynolds and Mr Moss who were very happy to hear of my teaching in Korea. How is Jack Reynolds?
I went this morning by bus into town and bought groceries. I had a pizza at Good Food restaurant. I came home and continued reading my Russian book.
Jerry rang me this afternoon. We spent the rest of the day working
out how to upload my internet site. Jerry is sure he can manage it tomorrow.
I went in the evening to the shops as the College cafeteria was closed.
But their restaurants were all closed too. So I had a dinner of yogurt
and fruit.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: your Sargon Press site
Dear Lloyd,
It is unfortunate you cannot access the sargon site. I will ask Scott
to try when he returns home. He went off early for a run and a swim.
Beverley and I have just returned from the supermarket expecting
to find him at home waiting for breakfast so we had ours.
Have you had any more communications from BNZ? They should do something about the problem, after all it is their business.
We all went out to dinner at the wharf restaurant last night. We made quite a merry party and I think Scott enjoyed himself. Next time I will take him to the R.S.A. where the food is better and not such a long delay after giving the order.
I hope you have more luck with Jerry today.
Love and best wishes from
Dad
2011
Subject: Dreamweaver
Dear Dad
I am sorry to hear from you and Dawn that Sargon Press is still not functioning.
Dawn said that the front page – without the pictures – is
only available.
I think it was wistful thinking on Jerry's part that made him think
this. What he showed me were just files, not the Internet. If it was
working it would have shown on his blackberry.
I have a few ideas. There is the first teachers meeting tomorrow morning. I will speak to Jerry about it. Jerry had said he thought Jim had used a particular program, now very popular, called Dreamweaver. I have a booklet of it. He said he would try to use that program as the next strategy.
Jerry is doing all this for free. I think, after one more go with him, I will consult Hassan. Hassan is considered a wizard with PCs. I will offer to pay him. The uploading – after Jerry's work – could be done within minutes. It just needs someone who knows exactly what he is doing.
Another possibility is I find someone who will upload from New Zealand. I can pay that person using Western Union.
I spent the day mostly reading the history of Charles Ⅰ. The civil war came soon after public disturbances in Parliament. There seems to be quite an historical pattern in that. People who cannot bear to be in the same room end up enemies on the battle field.
There seems to be quite a nasty scene developing in Auckland regarding
political representation. The Maoris always win in court of course. It
is really the pakeha who have been the idiots in letting this
be done to them.
I did warn them. But what do I know?
Buckingham has been assassinated by a disgruntled soldier.
His gallantry was only equalled by his folly.
I met Daniel on his motor bike. He is bemoaning that he had some arrears
problem and his student loan has been increased by twenty thousand dollars.
While that is shocking shark practices by the Feds, I feel he should – under the circumstances – manage his affairs better.
He left America because his car was burgled and his video work stolen.
He left his car again unattended. The thieves came back and took the
rest of his valuables.
Early March will be crunch time in America as the trillion budget is
due.
Love from Lloyd
Subject: A visit to the bank
Dear Lloyd
Scott and I went to the bank and were fortunate in getting an intelligent
girl who got on to your problem right away. She brought your account
up on the screen and sure enough there it was – $299 settled in
the bank on 14 September and lodged in your account.
Why B.N.Z. were reluctant to tell you this by e mail I cannot understand.
The teller Marie warned against trying to transfer money in cash. What you should do before you leave for home is get a Bank of China cheque made out to B.N.Z. Gisborne and then your money will be quite safe until you arrive here.
Is your China salary paid directly into your account? The China
bank should give you better service.
I will check your bank statement when it arrives here by post so that
you will know what is going on.
I will send the information in the statement by email to you.
However I am delighted to know that everything is now in order and we have no financial worries.
Scott left for home yesterday. It was nice having him here.
Love and best wishes from
Dad
Subject: money arrived at the BNZ
Dear Dad
I am pleased to hear the money got to the BNZ after all. However there
remains the mystery of its absence from the posted bank record. The
bank record is last month's record. So maybe that explains it.
I got paid today. But I had been told earlier I would be paid sometime next week. So I made a BNZ withdrawal. I now haven't a clue what my BNZ record is. Anyway, thank you for your and Scott's help.
This morning we had our meeting and collected our books and papers
for this semester. Then we received the information that our students
had done an assessment of us. This is the brave world of professional
feed-back. While not important, this would affect their decision whether
to re-employ us. The assessments were given to us privately by the Dean.
Mine was disappointing. My placing was at the tail-end of the over two
hundred teachers. Certainly not last!
I think it was unfair we should be assessed alongside the Chinese teachers. I think I was ill-served by the Real Estate classes. I never do well with dud classes. My actual percentage mark was, however, over eighty per cent.
In June we will be given air tickets back to our countries. I think after my return to New Zealand to stay with you and in Auckland I will take up a College position in French Indochina. I love that area and don't want to possibly go through the ignominy of being refused a new contract at the College.
This evening I got my new timetable. They are all oral classes and most are new classes for me. They are sophomore and advanced. One class is a cartoon class! I have nine classes a week.
In the afternoon I went into town and had dinner and a few Free Cuba wines at the Good Coffee restaurant. Then I went to the supermarket and purchased fruit and yogurt.
I came home and continued with my Charles Ⅰ story. The King is trying to rule without Parliament. He is encountering resistance as people refuse to pay taxes.
Jerry said he now has Sargon Press working on its cross-links and pictures.
I gave him the Dreamweaver book and he is happy to work on it.
Could you check Sargon Press to find out what is online?
Could you ask Dawn to look if you are not sure where to click on?
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: bank has been slow
Dear Dad
I went this morning to town and tried to purchase new shoes and trousers.
Then I find out the salary had not come in. Apparently the bank has
been slow in transacting the college money to our accounts. There are
a lot of sour faces about that. Our salaries have been delayed by several
days in holiday time. We receive a holiday allowance but after the
holiday!
I had a meal at Good Food, the cheap but nice place. Then I returned to the College. I went to Business Street and had a good haircut.
I imagine you saw my sargon site at P and D's. Dawn sent me an
email. Since Jerry's work, the site has been edited and cleaned up.
Daniel is getting new software that should enable me to see the site
in China. This evening I got an email from Jerry that, with his use of
the Dreamweaver book I gave him, he has now got the Euphorion novel
on his blackberry.
I am not sure he means it is on Sargon Press site. I will see him tomorrow
to clarify that.
I sent an email to John Stroup regarding his latest column on drink-driving. He replied he had been concerned I had got lost in Indochina. It amuses me the worry people have that I will get lost on my travels.
I had dinner with Daniel and wife last Saturday night. Daniel seems to be in a depressed state. He is obsessed about the health-care issue in America. His report on his teaching assessment so distressed him he didn't check his placement in the class. I myself am ahead of about thirty teachers. That ain't good but not a disaster either. I don't do well in general employment situations.
I continue reading Charles Ⅰ. I have just found out in the Gutenberg online edition I am reading, chapters twenty five and twenty eight are missing. I have excellent grounds in thinking they have been omitted because they cover the secret hand of the synagogue. Although it is a wonderfully written story, there is only one reserved copy in the Auckland City Libraries and it is extraordinarily difficult to access. When I am in Auckland in June, I will read those chapters.
Now back to Charles.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: Your return home in June
Dear Lloyd,
Great to hear that you will receive your ticket home in June. Does
the new year in China start in July? I expect you will spend
part of your time with me in Gisborne. That will be nice. I'm
getting tired with living by myself.
Scott connected me up to Rialto channel and I saw a great documentary
last night. It had been recorded.
It was 'The Baader Meinhof Faction'. The story of the German
terrorists in the late 60s and early 70s. They were a group of wealthy
young West Germans who created havoc in Europe and the Middle East,
killing officials and politicians, robbing banks and blowing up buildings
They formed what they called the RAF or Red Army Factor. They really
were a crowd of nutters. They had never been denied anything in life
and if they couldn't have it they just took it. I remember their
exploits well. They were pretty bad.
I am interested that you show so much interest in Charles Ⅰ.
I read a great book a few months ago. It was the story of Charles ⅠI
regaining his throne. After his defeat in Wales by Cromwell's
army, he wandered through Britain chased by Cromwell's forces
but escaped to France and safety.
Did you know that the Mary of ‘William and Mary’ was Charles
Ⅰ's daughter? I didn't. It all made very interesting reading.
I had lunch with Paul and Dawn yesterday, corn fritters and were they beautiful! I didn't have to make a dinner last night!
I hope your pay turns up this week. I think Chinese banking is a
bit slack to let that happen.
Love and best wishes from
Dad
Subject: usual Saturday lunch
Hi Lloyd
We had Frank for the usual Saturday lunch yesterday and a compulsory
walk around the block. He will make excuses to get out of the walk
if he can.
He was very excited as he had had an e-mail from you saying you will
be getting a plane ticket home in June and you were coming to stay
with him.
It would be nice to think you could stay a reasonable time with him
before your next posting.
Scott stayed with him last week for three days, he gets a bit of a free ride, living in Taupo, so I gave him a list of jobs.
He excelled at them, doing a great job of water-blasting the fence and house, they came up like new. Also he trimmed Franks toe nails, finger nails and cut his nose hairs which were growing wild.
Pouring with rain today. Not very good for the Kapa Haka Festival finals. They have been competing all week, 42 teams from around NZ and some from Australia.
Thousands of people, good for the Gisborne economy as Maori are great
spenders.
Cheers
Paul
Subject: How the mighty have fallen
Hi Paul
Dear old Dad. How the mighty have fallen. He now has excellent television
and the public library. So I think with good company also he has much
to live for. Tomorrow is my first day of the new semester at the College.
As my classes are all oral English, I myself have semi-retired.
I will be returning to Gisborne in the first week of July. The College will give me a free ticket to NZ and will refund my return if they agree to renew my contract and if I also want that. It would be nice to stay on in Gisborne. But I could not do that on the dole. If some other income could be worked out I would.
Like Dad, I have been growing hair in my ears and nose. It is definitely a sign of age and ethnic origin.
Jerry said he has seen Three Sons on my sargon site.
Lloyd
2011
Subject: salary delay
Dear Lloyd
I hope your salary has been paid by now. I haven't got a letter
from you this morning. I missed sending you one because Paul called
for me to go for a walk and to have lunch with them. Duncan and Sheryl
are staying with them this week.
Glennis is here this morning and is very good regarding my comfort – found my glasses for me this morning – and all jobs are done very efficiently.
There was a big Kapa haka festival at the Witters' estate last weekend. I didn't even consider going but I have been told how un-P.C. that attitude is. I just can't help it, all my instincts insist on it.
I have just read a book on the fall of Singapore in 1940. What incompetent people in charge! What a disaster!
Best of wishes regarding your salary.
Love from
Dad
Subject: salary paid this evening
Dear Dad
I finally got my salary paid this evening. I did send you an email and
emailed it to you again.
I had my first class this morning. It is a third year class, the most advanced class I have done. There are about fifty students. Overall I thought the standard was high. We talked about New Zealand and myself.
After the morning class, I went to the College library and got ‘A
Short History Of The World’ by H G Wells. It was
published in 1922 and so has the mental language of that era.
I skipped the early natural-history part and went into the bronze age era. Wells clearly loved the Aryans who were the first to learn to ride horses and smelt iron. I make a point of using that word Aryan unapologetically.
In the evening after a caff meal I took out my money from the ATM. Then I had a few beers with Daniel at the restaurant down the road. Daniel appears to be having marital strife. He complains his wife Dawn is managing his whole life and he wants her to go out and get a job.
I read an online chapter of King Charles Ⅰ.
Now off to bed with my new book.
Love from Lloyd
Subject: old pretender
Dear Dad
I will receive my ticket in June. My departure to New Zealand is after the first week in July. That is the end of the College year. College recommences in August. I think I will make it a challenge to reapply for a contract renewal. The College would refund my ticket back to them should I return. If they don't renew my contract, I will look for another college in China. A college near the border with Indochina would be neat. A year at Chenggong and a good reference from there would very quickly get me another position.
Jerry said he has seen my novel Three Sons of Euphorion on my site. That was only on his blackberry which is unreliable. Can you click onto Sargon Press in the google or yahoo box? Then click fiction and then short stories. Three Sons should be listed there with its cover picture. Maybe you could ask Tony Ford to look and get a report from him. Also I want to know if the home page with the turning Sargon picture is working.
When Daniel gets his new software I should be able to access Sargon Press from China. I am sure you would enjoy to read Three Sons if you make a print. The Greek names just need some attention. Mum said it seemed so realistic she thought the childhood events really did happen. It is true there were three brothers, sons of Euphorion, at the time of the Athenian democracy and battle of Marathon.
Tomorrow is my first class in the morning. I saw Jerry about it as a lot was not clear and in Chinese.
Today I completed one more chapter of Charles Ⅰ.
Mary was James Ⅱ's daughter. James Ⅱ was the brother of Charles Ⅱ.
There is a libellus, (printed pamphlet) I found on the Internet that was printed and distributed in the seventeenth century.
William and Mary, George and Anne
Four such children had never a man
They put their father to flight and shame
And called their brother
A shocking bad name.
George was George Ⅰ. The father was James Ⅱ, deposed and expelled to France. The brother was the Young Pretender.
As is the custom this libellus was later printed as a childhood nursery rhyme.
Yesterday I purchased new glasses. They are much better than the old ones.
Now I must prepare my clothes for class tomorrow. I have a regime I stick carefully to. I have in my bag one compartment for essential school materials and another compartment for emergency school materials.
Love from Lloyd
Subject: old pretender
Dear Dad
I made an error in Sunday's email. The son of James II was
the old Pretender. His son Bonny Prince Charles was
the young Pretender. The blood line died after them. The Pretenders
are mentioned in Voltaire's satire Candida.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: The House of Stuart
Dear Lloyd,
Thank you for the 3 letters this morning. I was never too clear about ‘William
and Mary of Orange’ and why they were chosen to sit on the British
throne. I was quite knowledgeable with the ‘Old and Young Pretenders’,
but Dad Murdoch never made it clear what they were pretending to be
or why.
Dad Murdoch was a Scotsman and stories of the Pretenders were his favorite
history topic.
Becky has just gone having been here for lunch. She has a lovely
travelling job and was on her way home after visiting a sick pupil
who is not well enough to attend school. We had lunch together.
Beverley and I have been to the mart this morning.
I like the idea of you applying for a position at your present college.
Remember "Better the devil you know…"
Love and best wishes from
Dad
Subject: christchurch earthquake
Dear family
It is with much concern that I have just heard about the Christchurch
earthquake. This is very serious. Please send as quickly as possible
information regarding family members.
Love from Lloyd
Subject: family all ok
Lloyd
This is Mary. My family all ok.
Haven't heard from John yet.
Sent from my iPhone
Subject: a disturbing day
Dear Dad
It has been a disturbing day because of the Christchurch diasaster email
from Dawn that all family are safe in Christchurch. I have just sent
an email to Mary to get more news. I was able to see a Chinese TV channel
download in English from Daniel's PC. I saw the panic of the people
when an after-shock happened.
Today I had two classes. I got from Doctor Xu prints of my Kiwi In Gongyi file. I have downloaded an attachment of my pictures to you. I used the prints to give my class talk about New Zealand and myself. I was able to bring up the latest disaster in Christchurch and tell them it happened that morning while I showed the classes pictures of Christchurch.
Now off to read my next chapter of Charles Ⅰ
2011
Subject: Earthquake
Dear Lloyd,
I am happy to report all is well with our Christchurch family. Christchurch
is in a sorry state. I doubt if they will be able to rebuild on the
present site. The cathedral is a heap of rubble fifty feet high.
The dean is full of enthusiasm to carry on his work.
When the quake struck at about 1pm the streets and buildings were full of people. Consequently the high death rate, 67 the last list. You can well imagine how worried we were knowing that at that hour all Mary's family would be scattered around the city. As soon as Trevor saw how serious it was, he text Michaela at her school and set off in his car to collect her. Mary did the same for Alice and Grace and they all met at home where Becky text them. So we were not held in suspense for very long. I had just completed an e mail to you and was settling down to write one to Mary when the earthquake struck. Needless to say it never got written.
Bob Parker and John Key are doing a great job in leadership in keeping us all informed. All the stops have been pulled out and international help has been accepted. So we have teams from Australia, U.S.A and Japan already working here.
I hope you get a positive reply from Mary. she will still be in shock
no doubt but writing to family will help to boost her morale.
Love and best wishes from
Dad
Subject: sargon press
Hello Mary
I hope as time passes these past events will become easier to deal with. It all makes shocking reading. The bright spot is this has very much brought the
country together and recognised its true values. It has knocked the Harawiras off the front page.
Thank goodness.
If you are in contact with John Key's wife, could you tell her his speech to the nation was first-class. He got it exactly right.
I had a presentation of New Zealand to my classes and was able to bring the earthquake into it in quite a dramatic way. A girl came to me later and said her friend is studying at a Language School in Christchurch. She would ring her later.
One point that interests me is the mysterious apparent disappearance of Christchurch's prisoners. Rolleston Prison is suddenly occupied by volunteers and its prisoners have been sent to Christchurch prison.
Some maths doesn't seem right. My guess is the volunteers for Search & Rescue – or many of them – are the prisoners.
In these catastrophic conditions they are the best possible labour.
I was thinking as you may have more free time, or at least restricted use of leisure time, you might like to help me with my internet site Sargon Press.
I have been working on it but cannot see it suitably in China.
Could you google Sargon Press and check if my home page has the turning picture of King Sargon and myself?
Also could you check if my biography file has the pictures slide-show?
Also could you check in fiction if my story Three
Sons of Euphorion is listed? Does its chapter one have at the top a cover picture?
Can you access its six chapters?
You might like to read some of my writing as a diversion.
Love from Lloyd
Subject: a cluster of earthquakes
Dear Dad
I got a one-day delayed email from Mary today. For Mary it was extraordinarily
tacit. She said all safe but she did not know about John. Dawn had
emailed all family in Christchurch were safe. I sent Mary another email
which she has not replied. I sent her a further one tonight. I have
proposed she help me with my Sargon Press site. I think offering activities
outside the once norm is part of the healing process. Many terrible
sights are to be seen in regular places in Christchurch. We seem to
be in a cluster of earthquakes that started from the Gisborne one.
The first two in Gisborne and Christchurch were very lucky. This one
was Haitian-type bad luck.
In my classes I presented pictures from my Kiwi In Gongyi talk and was able to bring the earthquake into the talk in quite a dramatic fashion. This afternoon a girl from my class came to me later and told me her friend was studying in Christchurch. She will ring her tonight.
I thought Michaela was at a performing arts school. Was it from there she was picked up?
Today I had two classes. I gave my talk and then they asked questions. Again large classes but bright students. Two students complained I talk too fast. I have reduced my speed to almost a slow-down record. I think it is an excuse for bad language acquisition. Talking too fast is identified with all kiwis in Asia.
I finished another chapter of Charles Ⅰ. I learnt that Knox the Scottish theologian met Calvin in the exiled English colony in Frankfurt. He learnt a great deal about church government and ritual from Calvin. Calvin was a French Huguenot who established a Calvinistic Republic in Geneva. A citizen of that republic was the French philosopher Rousseau who reacted by inverting European classical thought, The Knox-Calvin connection does explain why the Geuzes found such compatibility in the Free Presbyterian Church.
I later continued to read in bed the Well's book. Neolithic
man has just appeared in Europe. He appears about twelve thousand years
ago. I speculate he is the early man they now call Out Of Africa.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: Christchurch earthquake
Dear Lloyd,
We are still trying to come to terms with the terrible catastrophe
in Christchurch. The news gets worse and worse. They are attempting
to evacuate all non-essential residents. There is no water or sewerage
and they fear for the health of the people. The international assistant
teams now make up a large proportion of the residents. The city is
at a standstill.
I saw a TV programme this morning which featured the collapse of Redcliffs Hill which had caused the evacuation of Trevor's mother's retirement home. The landslide almost took out their children's first school. Sumner was very near the epicentre of the quake.
I want Mary and the girls to come and stay with me until their house in Sumner is in better shape regarding water, electricity, and sewerage. Air N.Z. will fly anyone anywhere from Christchurch to anywhere in N.Z. for $50.
Bob Parker is doing a great job as Mayor. I don't think they
will attempt to rebuild on the same site which is, after all, a swamp.
The ground is not stable enough to support multi-story buildings.
Best wishes and love from
Dad
Subject: Christchurch in a perilous situation
Dear Dad
I am still waiting for information about the Dimond's house, their
neighbourhood and their business. I have received no further communication
from Mary. That is completely out of character. I can only think emails
are not coming through or she is still in shock.
I think considering the situation, Christchurch is in a very perilous situation. I think Mary and her children should get out as quickly as possible and stay with you.
I am suspicious that the Christchurch prisoners have been released. While some are in Search & Rescue, the bad eggs are now roaming the city. The contagion from bad water or lack of it will soon spread contagious diseases. To be frank, Christchurch is showing the first signs of a Dachau-type situation.
That's not to speak of the real danger of another big one that would likely take much of Christchurch into the sea. In the meantime there is poor John and wife Tan to consider.
The 78 year old Wizard of Christchurch has abandoned the city
for Oamaru and taken his mother with him!
Some of the stuff is very distressing to read.
Today I had three classes. I entertained them on their first day with the songs ‘Now Is the Hour’ and ‘Pōkarekare ana’.
Pōkarekare ana
Pōkarekare ana, ngā wai o Waiapu
Whiti atu koe hine, marino ana e
The waves are breaking, against the shores of Waiapu,
My heart is aching, for your return my love.
E hine e, hoki mai ra, ka mate ahau i te aroha e.
Oh my beloved, come back to me, my heart is breaking for of love for you.
Tuhituhi taku reta, tuku atu taku rīni
Kia kite tō iwi, raruraru ana e.
I have written you a letter, and enclosed with it my ring,
If your people should see it, then the trouble will begin.
E hine e, hoki mai ra, ka mate ahau i te aroha e.
Oh girl, come back to me, my heart is breaking for of love for you.
Whatiwhati taku pene, kua pau aku pepa
Ko taku aroha, mau tonu ana e.
My poor pen is broken, my paper is spent,
But my love for you endures, and remains forever more.
E hine e, hoki mai ra, ka mate ahau i te aroha e.
Oh my beloved, come back to me, my heart is breaking for of love for you.
E kore te aroha, e maroke i te rā
Mākūkū tonu i aku roimata e.
The sun's hot sheen, won't scorch my love,
Being kept evergreen, by the falling of my tears.
E hine e, hoki mai ra, ka mate ahau i te aroha e.
Oh girl, Come back to me, I could die of love for you.
They applauded this but did not applaud ‘Ka mate Ka mate’.
Ka Mate haka, composed by Te Rauparaha
Ka mate, ka mate? ka ora? ka ora?
Ka mate? ka mate? ka ora? ka orav?
Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru
Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā
Ā, upane! ka upane!
Ā, upane, ka upane, whiti te ra!
'Tis death? 'tis death? 'Tis life? 'tis life?
'Tis death? 'tis death? 'Tis life? 'tis life?
This is the hairy man
Who brought the sun and caused it to shine
A step upward, another step upward!
A step upward, another… the Sun shines!
They are all new classes. They are mostly large classes. One has sixty students. Most classes are third year students and I have no first year students. There is a wide range of ability.
After classes I went to Good Coffee restaurant and had Turkish roast pork, Free Cuba wines and a Brazilian coffee. I returned by taxi.
Then I completed another chapter of King Charles Ⅰ.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: The dimond situation
Dear Lloyd,
I hasten to reply this morning as you seemed concerned about Mary and
her family. They are all quite well and their house has suffered
very little damage.
To begin with Mary and her three girls fled to Nelson leaving Trevor who decided to stay as his mother was in a retirement home at Redcliffs part of Sumner. This rest home had to be evacuated as the cliffs looked as if they were coming down which they did yesterday so just as well Trevor was there to help his mum.
Mary and her girls have now moved to Auckland and the girls will go to school there. When the schools open again in Christchurch, Mary will come to Gisborne for a short break before returning to Sumner. She has her job at the polytech to think about.
The family were all very lucky. They had already devised a plan if there was a big one, where to meet and the best route home. In the end they had to walk over the hill as the coast road was blocked at Redcliffs.
I think they are all quite settled as evacuees and will now be O.K. I will speak to Mary by cell phone tonight. I will ask about your emails.
Thanks for your e mails. I'm glad to see that you are getting
around with the locals.
Love and best wishes from
Dad
Subject: Dimonds very lucky again
Dear Dad
The Dimonds have been very lucky again. Did you speak to Mary last night? I
saw Daniel tonight and he checked my Sargon Press using new software.
However only the front page without pictures came up. I hope Mary will
look as I have asked her.
I have had a quiet day. I spent the day reading a chapter of Charles Ⅰ and continuing with Wells' A Short History Of The World. His outline of world history is standard and well written. Maybe he established the standard version of world history.
I like his idea that at the same time the Greek natural philosophers were establishing natural law, Isaiah was establishing moral law, Confucius social law and Buddha internal law. All this happened in the sixth century BC. In the same year 510 BC, the first democracy in Athens and the first republic in Rome was established.
It has been a cold wet day today. I forgot to wear my new shoes but
I will wear them tomorrow.
Love from Lloyd
2011
Subject: I have a cold
Dear Dad
It has been a miserable cold day. I now have a head cold. No reply yet
from Mary.
I spent the day reading a chapter of Charles Ⅰ, and continuing with Short History of the World. I am now up to the Muslim invasion. While the Arabs themselves never invented anything, they seem to have released a scientific energy into the fossilised once Roman and Persian Empires.
I read more about the Christchurch earthquake. It seems very opportune for John Key. Do you realise New Zealand is now under a state of emergency? The last time that happened was in 1951. There is something seamless about the whole thing that seems fishy. As far-fetched as it sounds, the Pentagon apparently has the technology via sound vibrations to induce earthquakes. Maybe that is the same technology that built the pyramids?
There was a meeting of the American Department Homeland Security with John Key in attendance that left Christchurch three hours before the quake. Phil Goff was last sighted in Christchurch. Where is he now?
I made a technical correction to a Wikipedia article about the earthquake. When I checked the next evening it had been removed.
Daniel has just rung and when he rings again I am going to "hang
out" at his apartment.
Love from Lloyd
Subject: Israeli rescuers
To: newstips@stuff
Where are the Israeli rescue teams? They have a nose for rescuing live victims
and recovering the dead.
Netanyahu as reported by Israeli newspapers has offered their assistance. Are they afraid of arrest? New Zealand is now under a state of emergency and they can be protected from that.
Bring 'em on.
Lloyd
2011
Subject: No more conspiracies please
Dear Lloyd,
Please don't pass the rubbish you read on the internet on to me.
When I see the international help Christchurch is receiving I feel
more than grateful. Everyone is working so hard and we as a family
are very lucky to get off so lightly.
I phoned Mary last night just as she got home from Nelson. She and the 3 girls fly to Auckland today. Trevor stays at Sumner to be with his mum who has been evacuated from her rest home at Redcliffs.
Mary hopes to visit Gisborne on her way back to Sumner.
Glennis is here today. She tells me that she is going to France for
a 3 week walking holiday shortly but that I will be looked after
by the other girls while she is away.
John and Tan flew back to Thailand yesterday, Tan's uncle paid
the fare.
Love and best wishes from
Dad
Subject: I am a bit disgruntled
Hi Paul and Dawn
I have been unable to get any information out of Mary. I suppose she is too stressed and busy to answer emails. But I am a bit disgruntled. I can't recall my sisters ever doing anything for their mug brothers.
I have sent you an email I sent her. I heard from Dad today they, without Trevor, have moved to Auckland. As an historian I am fascinated at the implications of
the destruction of Christchurch. I am greatly gratified the Maori issues have vanished from the front pages. May that continue for ever!
Christchurch seems to
already have become a state of mind which would always be more powerful than the real thing. Peripatetic scholars left sacked Constantinople to the rough lands
of Western Europe and spread civilisation. Already that is sort of happening with the Dimond departure.
I hear that John and Tam have gone to Thailand to live. Where will they be living? Anything more you can tell me about that?
I got a surprise virtual offer for a College job in Oman today. I had originally applied almost a year ago and they had picked up on that. They would provide the air travel cost. Because of the weather it is with a rather heavy heart I won't take it up.
I had asked Mary to inspect my Sargon Press website. I looked at a P.C. with software that circumvented the Chinese firewall. But all I could see was the home-page with no pictures. If that is the case that is terribly disappointing and incomprehensible as I had been told my site with the story The Three Sons had been seen on a Blackberry.
Would you mind checking when
you have time?
Lloyd
Subject: Hawawira expelled from Maori Party
Dear Dad
I still haven't got a reply from Mary. I suspect she and the children
were exposed to shocking sights on the first earthquake day.
I had completed my first class and had come back to the apartment and
read the reports about two hours after the quake. The NZ Herald carried
on its banner headline Hawawira expelled from Maori Party. I
immediately sent an email to the Herald telling them to get rid of the
Harawira and Maori Party rubbish. They did that eventually. One good
thing about the earthquake is the country now appears to be run by adults.
Tomorrow morning I will observe the two minute silence.
Where will Mary and the girls be staying in Auckland? Where did they stay in Nelson? What school will the girls enroll in? I thought Michaela had completed her academic schooling.
It is very good of Tan's uncle to give the two air tickets. It is very good of Tan to stick with John. By returning to Thailand she is in danger of losing her right of residency in New Zealand. What is the situation of Ecoglo and the condition of the factory?
I had wondered if Mary and the girls were going to become a permanent
fixture at your house? While I am of course glad that is not going
to be the case.
Rich Christchurch girls reduced to living with Granddad in Gisborne would
have been a great story.
Today I went in the morning to Zhengzhou in the van with nine other teachers and Julia. We went to the Police Station and had our work visas extended another six months. It was bitterly cold and snowing. On our way back we witnessed the after-effect of a terrible mass-vehicle pile up.
That took us most of the day. We had some interesting discussions. Daniel's fulminations on the Republican Party was contested quite well by a Republican. That was Courtney who is bringing up two Chinese children at the College.
She used to be an owner of a plumbing company in America. She said how policial correctness in America had reached the ridiculous situation that every group, including white women, are classed as minorities and are giving preference in Government contracts. That only leaves out the white male who has become a viciously discriminated "minority". I think this situation crept up upon us and we were all afraid to publicly resist it.
I didn't but I could have continued it on by pointing out that the white male created the modern world that everyone else has no intention of abandoning.
This evening I completed a chapter of Charles Ⅰ.
I will send an email to Paul and Dawn about John and other things.
Love from Lloyd
