A Glass Full of Water

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, an English poet (1806 - 1861) wrote a sonnet titled, ‘How Do I Love Thee?’, She begins,  How do I love thee? Let me count the ways… I feel a lot like that about Raglan. It has a unique community vibe and is full of a variety of smaller communities within bigger communities (rather like playing with a Russian doll).  The Raglan arts community is vibrant with visual artists, carvers, potters, craft makers, writers, dancers, theatre, musicians and singers. And, it also has The Clay Shed.  The ‘clay community’ is full of volunteers (mostly women), who meet weekly in the Raglan Old School Arts Centre to create, chat and laugh. Occupations range from business owners to teachers.  Our home overlooks the centre, so last week I dropped in to see how this community works and was met at the door by Justine and her friends. A number of quotes from the busy and friendly group members were elicited. “It’s all an experiment and the end result is always a...

Do you enjoy waiting in a queue? Not me. People living in the UK appear to enjoy the experience. Perhaps not so much us colonials.  I remember reading a picture story book, The terrible Q by New Zealand/Aotearoa author Tanya Batt. The story starts, Sam likes shopping, but one day mum says they can’t go because of a terrible queue. Sam’s imagination runs wild as she starts to wonder, what is a terrible Q? The mum’s reaction sounds rather familiar… Recently Val was waiting in line at her Hamilton Chemist. She remarked to me that “she and others in the line didn’t mind waiting as the pharmacy technician took time with each of us to chat about this and that.” As they collectively waited, the pace of life slowed down and they enjoyed each others company and too chatted. For a moment or two no one appeared worried or stressed. Val also said the technician is a friendly, happy person that knows and is invested in her customers/clients and knows their history and needs. She engages not bec...

I’m like a banana on a boat… don’t bring it or me on board. I’m not very patient and possess few fishing skills and I feel sick just watching boats go up and down on a TV screen. My younger brother Mike wisely won’t let me on his boat as within minutes and with a whiney voice I’ve been heard to say, “Are we there yet? Fish, what fish? A fish and chip shop would be much easier!” So it may seem strange that here I was, crabbing and fishing with my friend Dieter, a few hours from Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. One of my jobs was to lower the crab pots with hunks of meat as bait. The fishing was fantastic. No boring moments at all, as every time you dropped your line in, you got a fish. We didn’t see anyone for days on end (no communication devices either) but we did see crocodiles, box jellyfish, sharks and sea snakes. Apart from the fish, everything wanted to kill you.  One morning we were racing along in his aluminium boat with the outboard motor at full throttle. Di...

Kevin Costner is an American actor and filmmaker. You probably remember him starring in Dances with Wolves, Waterworld and more recently in the drama series Yellowstone. Waterworld is a movie set in the distant future. The world is mostly covered in water and centres on an antihero, ‘The Mariner’, who sails the earth in his trimaran.  Well, in the Raglan harbour we have a lot of water too and a variety of water communities, surfing, swimming, kitesurfing, kayaking, kiteboarding, etc. I belong to the Whaingaroa Whanau Hoe Waka Club (The Raglan family waka ama club). Think outrigger canoeing/paddling. Unlike Waterworld the club isn’t fighting to survive. The club is a community of people from many countries and ethnicities, young, middle aged and older, male and female, people of all shapes and sizes, disabled and able bodied. For adults, your work status and background may be interesting, but isn’t important. Everyone is welcome and everyone is equal on the water. You can be a socia...