March 2017 - You Write

Adele Fever Hits Auckland

March 26, 2017 FLAI40 Leave a comment

Adele’s second performance at the Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, last night received another big round of applause from the forty-five thousand fans who listened to her. “She has such a wonderful and powerful voice,” said one of my Uber riders. “Her songs are so meaningful,” clipped in another rider. “Listen to her,” added another as she turned on her iPhone clip. “Hey,” I said, “I have to drive you four safely back to your motel.” Quote from this morning’s (Sunday’s) NZ Herald: As the doors to Mt Smart stadium opened, fans will be poured into Adele’s second Auckland show. […]

Sir John Logan Campbell - One Tree Hill, Auckland

March 23, 2017 FLAI40 4 comments

If you were rich, say very rich, and you had a large property portfolio, would you donate just 10% of your total property holding to the community for their enjoyment well into the next one hundred years? Let us imagine that you were John Logan Campbell born on the 3rd day of November 1817 to a rich family in Scotland. Your grandfather was the fourth Baronet of Aberuchill and Kilbride, with extensive property holdings in the local areas. Your father was a successful medical doctor in the local community. At the age of twenty, you had qualified as a […]

Cheer Up, Please!

March 21, 2017 FLAI40 Leave a comment

Christine Nicole Lilley was one of my Uber riders last week. Her story here helps to illustrate the poem I wrote when I was eighteen years young and this poem which I have re-titled “Cheer Up!” was published only once at Victoria School’s Annual Magazine, 1958. Thereafter the poem was manually archived and I am reproducing this 58 years later. CHEER UP, PLEASE! Each darkening night, the sun shone bright, In the darkness then, a beaming light. Each rainy day, dirt washes away, Cleanliness comes after each spray. A fall, a rise, not otherwise If fools are born so sage’s wise. A […]

Let’s talk about karma

March 21, 2017 FLAI40 Leave a comment

Introductory Note: Christine Nicole Lilley was one of my Uber riders last week. Her story here helps to illustrate the poem I wrote when I was eighteen years young and this poem which I have re-titled “Cheer Up!” was published only once at Victoria School’s Annual Magazine, 1958. Thereafter the poem was manually archived and I am reproducing this 58 years later. CHEER UP, PLEASE! Each darkening night, the sun shone bright, In the darkness then, a beaming light. Each rainy day, dirt washes away, Cleanliness comes after each spray. A fall, a rise, not otherwise If fools are born so […]

Jesus or Buddha

March 20, 2017 FLAI40 Leave a comment

Do you believe in Jesus or do you believe in Buddha? Or do you believe in both - Jesus and Buddha? Christian historians like Wilfred Cantwell-Smith (Canada) and Lloyd Geering (New Zealand) have advocated that we as humans and true Christians should consider very carefully the deeper meaning of “Love Thy Neighbour as Thyself”. Christians should not be so aloof as to insist that Christian is the ONLY way to God. If this is the interpretation of the bible, then all those humans born prior to Christ would never be able to get peace. Those of us living in Buddhist […]

The Future

March 19, 2017 FLAI40 Leave a comment

It’s hard to anticipate What’s up any minute? You can lose as much as you can make, What then is your take? Even if you just contemplate A life that’s simple and straight, One day you’ll find yourself Surprised at what’s in the wake. It’s not just what you think Life’s just a funny thing; Even if you are the very King You’ll need His link! Because you cannot do everything Without His very Blessing So just keep remembering The Lord can just make you blink! The above two stanzas were written way back in 1978 and they […]

Craters of the Moon

March 18, 2017 FLAI40 Leave a comment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAhsBQCO3ZY My cousin and his daughter came from Melbourne and they are staying with us here in Auckland for ten days. Yesterday, Thursday 16th March, we visited several places in Taupo. Amongst the highlights was the stunning landscape of the Craters of the Moon located at the end of Karapiti Road, Wairakei Tourism Park. The walk round the Craters took us forty-five minutes on flat grounds along marked tracks and boardwalks provided and maintained by the Craters of the Moon Charitable Trust established in 1999 as a result of vehicles being broken into when parked at the Craters car park. […]

Death the Leveller

March 13, 2017 FLAI40 Leave a comment

It must be in the year 1956 that I was first introduced to poet James shirley by my English Teacher at Victoria School, Singapore. I was 16 then but, even at that age I could understand the deeper meaning of this lovely piece of poetry. Please read this poem aloud and note the rhythm of the words and the perfectness of the stanzas. Note also that death has been personified as a human being and Death is a very fair person because he levels the playing field. Whether one is rich or poor, king or peasant, good or evil, the […]

The Chinese in New Zealand

March 13, 2017 FLAI40 Leave a comment

I have just been to the Auckland Museum and viewed the photographic exhibition of the Chinese in New Zealand. It has been 175 years since the first known and recorded Chinese, known as Wong Ahppo Hock Ting stepped on New Zealand soil. During the earlier days, the Chinese came as gold miners in South Island’s Otago goldfields. There was then a poll tax of ten pounds per person for every Chinese wishing to come into New Zealand. This was imposed by the Government of the day to stop the possible influx of Chinese migrants to Aotearoa (Maori for New Zealand). Non-white […]

On Millennials

March 11, 2017 FLAI40 Leave a comment

The millennials are collectively referred to as Generation Y. They are people born between early 1980’s to early 2000’s, now (2017) between the ages of 17 to 37. Over 5 million 900 thousand people have viewed the YouTube video below and if you click on the following to view, you may well be the lucky 6 millionths. No prize for you but at least you know what the famous young speaker’s, Simon Sinek’s opinion is on this topic, the millennials and you can perhaps deal with this generation of people more efficiently. https://youtu.be/hER0Qp6QJNU Simon Sinek was in town (Auckland) […]

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