Island Life by David Slack

I like a good proposal story if only because on TV the guy always comes up with an elaborate proposal (helicopters! Rings hidden in cakes! Baby jaguars!) and it NEVER comes off the right way.

Good story from Neil Gaiman about a chap who asked for his help proposing to his girl at a signing:

http://diveabout.multiply.com/journal/item/13/The_Proposal_co_Neil_Gaiman

sorry about the link. Russell, help! can't make it link. Damn you technology!

My own proposal story includes a rainy day in Tauranga, a Mazda 323 and a house guest who overstayed his welcome. Meh.

Oh, and it did! Stand down, Russell. Back to the studio with you.

When it comes to picking a school, as the product of a private single sex religious school and having observed the interactions of everyone I know, I would say an integrated upper decile state school is the best option for trying to get the balance right between proper socialisation and an excellent education in New Zealand right now. Only avoid the North Shore schools, their products seem to contain far to many objectionable spoilt little shits. I would certainly never subject any child of mine to my type of schooling, looking back it seems we were primarily being educated to go off and rule the Indians or something.

Having said that, if I were king for a day private schools would be abolished and every school would be required to have an ethnic and decile rating that reflected the overall New Zealand population.

Oh yes, my best friend proposed to his fiance by taking her away for her birthday to a flash hotel and writing "Will you marry me?" in rose petals on the bed for her to see when they got back from dinner.

I told him that all this raising the barrier stuff is making me uncomfortable.

It referred throughout the letter to “Mary-Margare”.

You should tell them they've spelt it wrong. It's actually Mary-Mangere.

Isn't Margare the posh way of saying Mangere?

"We tell our daughter that girls can do anything"

Damn straight. You could also send her to Wellington. I tell my 8 year old that we are giving her an unfair advantage in the toughness stakes by living here. She still believes me, on a good day.

There was a moment in an Amtrak dining car when I felt on the point of it, but then the food arrived.

On behalf of all men everywhere -- I salute you.

TGS wasn't in disarray in the '90s, it was just under construction. I mean, there was plenty of rioting after hours and the odd fake bomb scare, but it was all in good fun.

But on second thoughts, maybe it is best to steer clear of the place. All of them seem to turn into hipster musicians, fashion designers, and PhD students. Distasteful, I know.

I've had very reassuring email messages from parents writing in praise of their kids' experiences of Takapuna Grammar. Some of them have also referred to this week's bullying story. Their remarks echo the principal's words about the situation - tremendously sad and extremely delicate. They all lament the way the media has handled it and, no surprise here, the name of Stephen Cook comes up. If, as one message suggests, he has been phoning and texting a pupil accusing him of causing the suicide, it would not be out of character with, for example , the ordeal Debbie Gerbich went through with the same fearless reporter.

the ordeal Debbie Gerbich went through

Wow! That's quite an interesting link you provided David. Not only the story, but the comment at the end:

James said...

This reminds me of my ex-girlfriend. A few years ago mosques in Auckland were attacked with graffiti of swastikas and racist messages. My ex got the culprits to admit to it over the internet and gave the police the logs. The two offenders were sent to jail for several months. The Herald found out who she was and contacted her. They told her that they were going to do a story on her (thereby making her known to an angry neo-Nazi community and severely endangering her.) The only way she could stop them doing this story was to comply with them completely and provide whatever information they desired. This was a particularly vicious form of blackmail, as the Herald knew very well what the stakes were.

I wonder who gave the reporter her name? Someone from the Police? The Courts?