KEY POINTS:
Ian Ramsay of Westmere writes: "Here are some pictures of the Western Springs Gardens taken last November. A year or so ago, the Auckland City Council decided it could no longer afford a part-time gardener and was going to convert them to lawn. A group of keen locals volunteered to look after the gardens and have been doing so for more than a year. However, to continue doing so, they have to incorporate a society, take a lease from the council and pay the legal fees on the same, pay rental of $500 a year, repair the watering system (the gardens have dried out badly in this dry spell), possibly pay for any water and possibly have to pay the Auckland Horticultural Council for the use of the adjoining kitchen and toilet. These requirements have so discouraged the volunteers that there is a strong likelihood that they will 'throw in the trowel' and allow the council to plough up the gardens."
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Megan Perry writes: "My twin daughters received the My Little Picture Atlas at their recent birthday. I thought I'd check out the entry for New Zealand and discovered why we have so many wooden houses. It reads: 'Earthquakes are common in New Zealand, so people live in wooden houses for safety. When people move home, they can carry their house away on a lorry ... ' It also refers to New Zealand's native people as Maoris. Makes you wonder how accurate they are about other places."
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Responding to yesterday's reader, who found himself often mistaken for staff when at the supermarket, the Warehouse and at petrol stations, Dave Fermah writes: "I can advise your Samoan reader that I have also encountered this problem. I am an Indian married to a nice European Kiwi with a nice house etc. Once at Masala, the Indian restaurant in Ponsonby, I was called over to a table and given a drinks order and again a year later at The Sheraton Denerau in Fiji the same thing happened again. Obviously it made the day of the people I was with. My only regret is I didn't do a runner with any money they were paying with or receive a tip. On the bright side, I haven't been hailed over by people thinking I am a taxi."
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The recent discussion about road gangs standing around staring at holes in the ground reminds me of a story a couple of years ago in a Wairarapa newspaper. An old guy had spent his working life on the railroads and was reminiscing about his years of toil and sweat. He was proud of his labours, though still resented that he and his workmates were routinely accused of being of a bunch of lazy buggers, always seen by the passing travellers leaning on their shovels, doing nothing. He had spent his life pointing out a simple fact of working on railway tracks - that you actually have to stop work to let the trainloads of disapproving office workers speed through.
