Stories

My Cars

The first car I owned was a 1931 Singer that i bought for L25 from John Fowraker the Botany professor's son. It had had some fairly advanced features in its day: - a four speed... › more

Sheep

I once bought a truck load of lambs, - refugees from a Hawkes Bay drought. I don’t think they had seen green grass before in their short lives, and it was a pleasure to... › more

Cyprus

It was a matter of chance that we got to Cyprus at all.. I was due to make my second trip to Syria, and I had phoned Ed Feliu in Rome to see if he could arrange it so that the... › more

Staff Training

Sometimes you get lucky. At one time they offered to send me to Uganda to train the local staff in the mysteries of “plant protection”. Plant protection is the art... › more

Seychelles

Perhaps it is as well that we never know how any one piece of experience will impact on future experiences. Life would set up some impossible choices if we could see all the... › more

World Food Programme

One wonders whether the World Food Programme isn't run by a group of half-witted shopkeepers. When they learn that some of the poorest countries are short of grain, their... › more

Plant Protection

The rhinoceros beetle that brought me to Samoa is a serious pest of coconuts because the adult chews its way into the crown of the coconut palm, feeding on the sweet juice, and... › more

Tokelau Islands

The people of the Tokelaus provide a tidy example of how mankind can exist in perpetuity within a minimal environment. They exist on three atolls about 500 kms north of Samoa,... › more

Tall Pansies

There can be something pathetic about inheritors of great wealth. Doug Meyers plaintively trying to bring us to an appreciation of the awesome responsibilities that beset the... › more

Blue Pacific

It was the rhinoceros beetle that took me to the Pacific, though chance and kind friends played their part. As a topic form my MSc thesis, I had hoped to get something that... › more

Houses

We’ve lived in eight houses since we were married in 1955, and it is possible we may yet shift again before we are returned to our maker. Five of them were rented, three... › more

Jury Service

I can understand the reluctance of the legal profession to tinker with Magna Carta. After all it is a significant document. But after 782 years it could be time to take a... › more