I’ve written before about my inglorious career as an electrician. While I absolutely appreciate the practical and life skills that completing an apprenticeship gave me, it’s fair to say that electrician-ing wasn’t my sweet spot. I simply didn’t enjoy it and I have vivid memories of the downcast feelings I experienced on a Sunday afternoon as I realised I had to go to work the next day. So it’s no surprise that I spent much of my time during my apprenticeship engaged in anything other than work. Much of this engagement (and, it must be stated, also shared by a couple of my work buddies) involve ..read more

I’m forever amazed by the wisdom that one can find down at the local cafe. I’ve been going for fairly regular morning coffees to my local for decades now. Pro tip: if you’re in Christchurch and looking for the best non-pretentious coffee in town, check out C4 Coffee. Anyway, there are a group of individuals who I generally meet down there – we come from all walks of life and have lots of different experiences. But the one thing we have in common is that when we get together, we can sort out the world’s wrongs and put everything right again. One of our number is a true Renaissance man. He’s abl ..read more

It’s amazing the pearls of wisdom that one can gain in an unlikely setting. 35 years or so ago I completed an electrical apprenticeship and worked with many characters along the way. One of those characters, Grant, had a number of pithy sayings that we still talk about to this day. These “Grant-isms” are known for their simple logic and plain good sense. Grant was a guy into American cars, he had a Chevy and a Cadillac (and, despite loving all Caddys, he was utterly disdainful of anyone who would sing a song about a Pink one). As one would expect from someone who loved cars and driving, Grant ..read more

The other day, I was the first person on the scene of a nasty car crash on my commute home. Being a former paramedic, and a current firefighter obviously, I began helping those involved in the accident. I ended up being needed for an extended period and so,  an hour later I was kneeling down, working with a patient amongst a bunch of ambulance staff. For anyone who hasn’t had the opportunity to work within an emergency context, a funny thing happens. One’s focus narrows and becomes very refined. All the externalities become silent as you become hyper-focused on the situation in front of y ..read more

My lads are in their early twenties and, as such, many of their friends are finishing up university degrees and heading out into the real world. Maybe it’s a function of both the region they grew up in and the school they went to (pro tip for non-Canterbury folks, the first question anyone will ask you in Christchurch is for details of what school you went to, be sure to be ready with a good answer) but many of those peers are finishing accounting and law degrees and heading into graduate programmes with large professional service firms. I’ve been thinking about the journey they’re on since la ..read more

I’m a political mongrel. Over my life, I’ve voted across the political spectrum. Whenever I do those slightly dodgy-feeling political surveys, that always feel like a precursor to ads for erectile dysfunction meds or weight loss pills, I always end up being spread across the various spectra. I have tendencies that cover progressive and conservative making it really hard for the pollsters to work out which way I’ll swing in any election. One of the areas in which my views are inconsistent is that of economics. While I like the idea of the market economy, I also have a penchant for localism and ..read more

I often bemoan the fact that I’m getting older. Among my regular running mates, I’m generally the first to lay claim to being an old, sad, broken and washed-up runner. In reality, the truth is that despite waking up to various low-level aches and pains most mornings, I’m still pretty fit and can knock off a decent four or five-hour run without any real issues. That said, chronology is the only thing other than taxes that we can’t really argue with. Well, I guess with taxes we can always think about trying to find some dubious claim to being a charity and therefore avoid paying our dues. But th ..read more

In the hustle and bustle of modern life, the concept of community often takes a backseat. We’re all engrossed in our own worlds, whether it’s our immediate neighbourhood, the local sports club, or the organizations we volunteer for. Yet, amidst the daily grind, there’s an underlying truth we sometimes overlook: the profound impact of community and what it takes to foster it over time. I found myself with ample time for reflection about community-building last weekend as I made my way along the Old Ghost Road. If you haven’t heard of it, let me paint a picture for you. The Old Ghost Road stretc ..read more

The other day as I was out on my usual run, I spied a tree hut in a lone pine. It made me reminisce about the good old days. Back when I was a lad, building huts, playing bullrush, climbing trees and – horror – making our own way to school was the norm. It’s true that a few kids fell out of trees, a few knees were grazed from falling off bikes and quite a number of fingernails were lost to errant hammer blows. Notwithstanding all of those negative impacts, however, seemingly dangerous play built within us grit and resilience, dexterity and awareness. Those days seem well and truly a distant me ..read more

Many years ago, I dropped out of school to embark on an electrical apprenticeship. I was never a particularly good electrician – something about really disliking the work meant that it was a vocational choice that was sub-optimal in the extreme. Completing an apprenticeship, however, gives me two distinct benefits. Firstly, it means that my two sons get free electrical services for their recently purchased joint first home. Secondly, it gave me some practical skills that have proved useful in other areas – from building my own house to my hobby of furniture-making. There’s something to be said ..read more