Hi Foxy,

That fist encounter with Maori custom was certainly an experience, sleeping on mattresses on the floor in a room with a couple of 100 others.That first tangi was something, middle of July up in the hills, not only was it raining, but sleet as well, was it cold. 6am in the dark woken by the "Sargent Major" as I called my later good friend Shirl (now deceased, not sure of her Maori name, all the older ones have two names, my wife does, one given by the Pakeha when starting school, and their traditional Maori name from their parents) as is the wife's younger brother passed on, many have gone, Maori like Aboriginals tend to die younger than us, men mostly in their 60's go first. Like here social disease brought on by lifestyle. Many smoke (roll their own) eat excessive amounts of fat, and some drink heavily, I estimate 5%, although drinking is totally banned at most marae, its cordial, tea, coffee or Milo.

BTW The showers in the ablution block, the hot water was on the blink, that's another story, all I can say is some blokes are tough!

Dear Paul,

You've really made my day by sharing all this.
It just goes to show what we can learn about
other cultures. With you on this forum, we continue
to learn. Thank You.

Hi Again Foxy,

The wife as the sister of the deceased was expected to stay on the marae for all three days, not leave, protocol as it is. BUT, cold water in zero degree temps supersedes protocol, into a car and off to wife's friends down in the village, about 1/2 hour away, they had a warm shower for us to use, sure beats protocol. Until they built a new ablution block with lots of hot water, we would always take off for a hot shower at K and I's place, along with a catch up.

Dear Paul,

Reading your experiences is making me miss my brothers
and their families so much. But they live so far away.
One's in Byron Bay, the other in Port Macquarie. We
speak on the phone regularly but it would be nice to
actually spend time with them.

I miss my mum. I wish she was still here with us.
I talk to her every day. Still, I've got to say that
talking and sharing with you guys helps me. Takes my
mind off things. At present I'm not the best. My heart's
playing up. And it's not a good feeling. The forum is a
good diversion for me.

Sex is a very fleeting thing, as is love for many. That first flush of love is fleeting, & only lasts if it matures into something more meaningful, which it rarely does if the divorce rate is considered.

Money is only of use to me for what it can buy. I can feel somewhat jealous of those for whom the accumulation of money is an end in itself. Their pleasure brings security, & perhaps even happiness, I wouldn't know.

For me money is only of use in funding experiences. It takes a reasonable amount of money to fund a good car that can give the experience of driving across the top of Mount Panorama at 100MPH+. It is truly incredible. I can still feel the car moving under me now 55 years later if I close my eyes & let it come come flooding back.

The same goes for surfing a yacht down a big ocean swell. A great feeling again, & a joy to remember if it is a good yacht. Then there is the memory of a little twinge of fear if it is a bad handling yacht, as was one I did one Hobart race in.

Continued

Continued.

Then there is the feeling of partnership with a good horse. A little stallion I acquired by accident as & nine month old colt, by 6 years old had become a great show jumper happy to jump anything I pointed him at, trusting I would never ask more than he could handle. I gave him to my daughter 11 at the time, & they made a brilliant pair.

A Japanese exchanger student we had wanted to ride a horse, so we put her on him as our nicest horse. She & he had no idea of what they were doing until I tweaked, & told her to look where she wanted to go. This was how we rode him, the slight shift of body weight of turning our head told him what was wanted. It worked beautifully, & for the next week we had trouble getting her off him. It was an experience few girls from Tokyo will ever get, & she didn't want it to stop.

That is about all money is of much use for to me.