Mike Crowl's Blog, page 4

Tradition!

 First published in Column 8 on the 1st May1991

 

The Anglicans have been in the news lately, what with New Zealanddoing its bit in favour of women bishops, and trad Englishmen getting uptightover the use of non-trad instruments, at the new archbishop’s enthroning.

I’m all for a bit of solemnity myself, particularly when itcomes to ceremonies of some importance, such as weddings and coronations and, Isuppose, enthronements.

My wife and I went to a wedding a while ago, and were amazedby t...

My Wife’s Wed to the Wharf

 First published in June, 1991, in NZ Fisherman, nowmerged in 2000 with Game Fisher to become NZ Fishing News. Thisis an enlarged version of the original one published in Column 8.

We used to be able to get into our car without having afishing rod poke us in the ear, or a fishhook catch us up the nostril. The carnever smelt superfresh, but now it smells of super fish, what with tackleboxes, buckets and nets.

We used to be able to go to the freezer, take our anicecream container and be su...

Fishing

 First published on 17 April, 1991. I think this is theoriginal piece on this idea: I used it more than once in various permutations.

 

We used to be able to get into our car without having afishing rod poke us in the ear, or a fishhook catch us up the nostril. The carnever smelt superfresh, but now it smells of super fish, what with tackleboxes, buckets and nets.

We used to be able to go to the freezer, take our anicecream container and be sure of finding icecream in it. Not anymore. It’...

Reading articles

First published in Column 8 on 31.10.90

A music canterbury
Source unknownNo doubt every reader of this column has come acrossarticles telling him/her How-to-do everything from catching a slimy mackerel tocarving a music canterbury.

(You can tell from that sentence that I’ve read an articleon How To Use Inclusive Language.)

Even writers’ magazines feature such articles, so that weget the absurdity of the How to Write a How-To Article.

You don’t believe me? Last the year the American maga...

Fly away

 Fly Away

 

First published in Column 8, 24.10.90

 

I don’t travel by plane very often – getting away twice thisyear is unusual.

So when I have six take-offs and six touchdowns – all becauseI wanted to fly to Hamilton and back – I have ample opportunity to note thechanges.

In the past, for example, didn’t one of the stewards used toread that safety measures speech over the intercom while the others wentthrough the routine?

Now Air New Zealand has a recorded male voice doing the job.He ...

Rhododendrons

 First published in Column 8, 17th Oct, 1990

 

I’ve been a bit slow getting my 1990 celebration off theground. Having to organise a year or more in advance is a bit much for a personof not excessive brain.

I got my idea when I used to do house to house deliveries roundthe Maori Hill area.

So dazzling were the blazing glories of rhododendrons that I’dfinish up delivering in the wrong letterboxes.

It seemed to me that we need to make even more of Dunedin’sinvasion by this Asian alien.

I ...

First Column 8

 The very first Column 8 – as far as I can work out frommy diary – though it wasn’t the first to be written. That appeared a week ortwo later. Unusually it was published without a title and was fitted in underpart of a letter to the Editor that spread across at least three columns. This one appeared on the 10th October 1990. 

 

Untitled.

 

I see the Public Library has come to the end of a surveythey’ve been doing. They were trying to find out which of the magazines theysubscribe to are actu...

Apologies

 The following is one of the earliest columns I produced for Column 8. It was published on the 14th November, 1990. Paul Holmes was a well-known broadcaster with strong opinions; Richard Prebble was at this time an MP. 

Apologies

 

Back at the beginning of the year, so I’m informed, Paul Holmesput his foot in it and said some things on his show that he shouldn’t haveabout Mr Prebble.

An apology, on air, was demanded.

I didn’t catch the apology, but it took 38 pages recentlyfrom the Broadcast...

The Little Man in the Background

 First published Sept 1988 in Mouthpiece, the officialjournal of the Brass Band Association of New Zealand. The comments should notbe taken seriously; this was meant to be humorous and ironic. Equally, writingas though all brass band players were male is a sign of the age of this piece.There were in fact a number of top female brass players in the bands, just asthere were excellent female accompanists in the Competitions.

 

Three years ago I became an official appendix – sorry,official acc...

Learning at an ACE School

I recently came across a clipping from the 80s, a report I did for the local newspaper, the Otago Daily Times. I was working as an assistant pastor at the Assembly of God church in Dunedin at that time, and the church had opened an ACE School for its children. ACE : Accelerated Christian Education. This brief report on how the children learned gives some idea of their daily work.  

At one Dunedin school the pupils decide how much work theyare going to do each day.

Children attending the Assembl...