Stitching Fuchsias

We have been away in the caravan this weekend, a nice restful couple of days and I had time to enjoy a little stitching time outside under the awning.  I’m coming along quite well on this block, stitching fuchsias around the circlet of leaves. 

Working on my fuchsia block

Gemma came away with us too, she is quite at home in the caravan and likes to find a nice spot to lie down and keep an eye on us.  Right by the door, this time.  She is certainly getting bigger now.

Gemma likes caravanning too

We were staying the weekend at a small rural school, just 32km up the road.  And what’s this we spotted?  It was the Tooth Booth, a caravan fitted out as a travelling dental clinic.  In my school days, most primary schools had a dental clinic building on site.  I certainly remember those foot operated dental drills which seem to take forever as we sat there in fear!  When one of our class mates was called over to the clinic, they came back clutching the name of the next pupil to go to the “Murder House”.  We all hoped it wasn’t our name on that piece of paper.

The Tooth Booth

On Saturday evening we went out for a meal at the local establishment, a fairly casual place which was doing a roaring trade.  There was a group of bikers outside and as one was leaving we saw him lift a small dog up onto the bike.  Off I went with my camera for a closer look.  And there was four year old Millie, happily settled into her seat on the bike.  She has been riding around since she was a little pup of four months, the owner told me.

Millie goes motor bike riding

The weekend was tinged with sadness as the news unfolded about a terrible tragedy  in Christchurch, in the South Island.  Shooters had been on a rampage in two mosques in Christchurch, schools and businesses were in lockdown, and 50 people were confirmed dead.  Christchurch Hospital was also in lockdown, treating another 50 with gunshot wounds, with others going to other health facilities around the city.  Patients ranged from young children to adults, with minor to critical injuries.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called the shootings a terrorist attack.  "It is clear that this is one of New Zealand's darkest days," she said. "This is an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence."  We always considered our country very safe and peaceful, and this is the first such incident which New Zealand has suffered. What a sad way to start the weekend, and our hearts go out to the victims and their families.

50 Years Ago

50 years ago, The Beatles arrived in New Zealand, and  Wellington was their first stop.  As the band stepped off the plane, the shrieks of 7000 fans drowned out the noise of the turbo prop engines. Te Pataka concert party performed a haka, before doing a hongi (pressing noses) and presenting the band members with a  tiki each.  From the back of a Holden ute, The Beatles waved to fans who lined the roads from the airport to town. The crowds outside their hotel, the St George, were so large that the Beatles had to be taken in secretly through the bottle shop entrance of the hotel. Management rushed the band up to the third floor balcony so fans could see them and not crash the hotel.

It was mayhem.  Girls were screaming uncontrollably,  Police used dogs to clear crowds from verandas and other vantage points. Teenagers pushed, shoved, and carried on screaming – Wellington had never experienced anything like it before.  The band played two shows back to back in the Wellington Town Hall on 22 and 23 June.  But who heard the songs or the music, there was too much screaming going on.

The Beatles stand on the balcony of the St George Hotel, Wellington, shortly after their arrival in New Zealand on 21 June 1964.

And where was I?  Certainly not caught up in any of the screaming crowd. At 18 years old  I was safely home in Upper Hutt, married, and seven months pregnant.  There was no way I could have gone to see the Beatles in my condition, even if there was spare cash for tickets.  Having to miss the biggest thing ever to hit New Zealand during my teenage years, I thought my life was over.  And we didn’t even have a TV to watch it all unfold.  It was just the radio and newspaper for me.

Any other memories out there?

Beatlemania – 48 years ago!

It would be hard for the young girls today who have a “thing” for the likes of Justin Bieber and the new boy band New Directions who toured New Zealand recently, to realise that their grannies were just like them 48 years ago.   Way back in 1964 girls of my era were screaming, fainting, and playing hooky from school to get a glimpse of the Beatles when they landed in Wellington.  They gathered at Wellington Airport, then later at the Hotel St George in Willis Street, screaming their little hearts out.  Some even climbed up on the building, and managed to get inside the room of their idols.

No such excitement for me though.  In June 1964 I was a young married girl, 7 months pregnant with my first baby.  I really thought that my carefree teenage years were over, and I felt burdened down with my upcoming responsibilities.  How sad I felt, to be unable to see the Beatles. 

Photographer: Morrie Hill, The Beatles at Wellington Airport, June 1964

But life went on, and I got over my disappointment when I first looked down at my new born baby boy.  He will be turning 48 in a few months time, doesn’t time fly. And how do I know it is 48 years ago?  Easy, I’ve just read an article in the  weekend newspaper about the Beatles visit to Wellington which brought back all these memories.