Stories

Miss Trimble's Magpie

In the 1930’s before the advent of Playstation 2 and the like, we children turned to Nature for our entertainment. From time to time we would find a young magpie which... › more

Morrie Roche

He had nothing to carry him along but a sharp mind, and unbounded enthusiasm. His mother must have died when he was very young and his father put him into a catholic orphanage... › more

Pheasants

In the days before colour TV there was a fairly limited range of amusements for dairy farmers. Tied to the two milking times each day for most of the year, they were lucky if... › more

Kesi

He is an old man now, well into his sixties. He had a stroke about ten years ago which has left him rather gaunt, but he is still erect, tall even for a Samoan, and hhe tretains... › more

Prof Percival

My tertiary education has been a slow and tedious process, spanning in all some 44 years. It was slow because for the first four years I didn’t understand what learning... › more

THE POLICEMAN AND THE PROSTITUTE

I had come to Suva on business. The town had much changed but I found a park for my car and headed down the street. I hadn’t gone far when a very deep voice behind me... › more

Jack van der Zyp

Jack was a Dutch immigrant, short and blond and amazingly fit. Like most of his kind he was prepared to have a go at anything, which I suppose is the reason they have been such... › more

Stitches

You will have heard about the poor fellow who got separated from his companion in the middle of the Sahara, and was set upon by wandering Tuaregs or whatever. When his friend... › more

Murray

Jerome K Jerome, whom most people older than me will remember as the author of “Three Men in a Boat”, also wrote an essay on shyness, and in it dwelt on the burden... › more

Rob

I should have known better. He was a good lad - keen, cheerful, confident, - but he had a prominent and bony nose, and that should have told me something, for the nose,... › more

Doce ut Disceas

I’ve been reading Prof Bill Oliver’s autobiography, “Looking for the Phoenix”. He offers the opinion that one of the main functions of a university is to... › more

Commercial Experience

My experiences with commercial enterprises, whether large or small, have not always been the most cordial. In fact I have sometimes thought that if ever I were to lose the use... › more