One might assume that parents of six to twelve year old children would be in their thirties. That would put their parents somewhere in their fifties. This assumption would be on average. So, working with that assumption, one has to wonder who, and what, went wrong? 

The Sunday before last, as usual at four o’clock, a group of Pacific Harbour residents propped up the bar at the Uprising Resort and Spa to catch up, tell funny stories, exchange ‘bon mots’ and enjoy the beach-side surroundings and Robert Verma’s musical talents. 

The Uprising is often busy on a Sunday: there are, of course, the tourists; but in addition, there are the locals from round about and, of late, expats from Suva. The latter leave the city behind them and head for the gentler environs of Deuba’s most popular resort. Unfortunately, they bring their children with them. 

That last sentence might seem harsh, but the qualifying word ‘unfortunately’ had to be used because it is, regrettably, true. 

These, for the most part, expat parents seem to have no concerns whatsoever about how their children behave in a public space. They let their wretched little offspring run riot and uncontrolled. One wonders if these pests are allowed to run riot at home. 

Is there any understanding of parenting these days? Are children no longer taught to respect other people’s property? Presumably they are living in rented accommodation in Suva – no wonder a friend with houses to rent stipulates ‘no children’. 

The Sunday before last, our group watched several girls swing on, and eventually break, a young 5ft Macarthur palm. This tree was one of three, recently planted at a corner of the Volleyball court. A 5ft palm does not come cheap. One of us shouted out ‘No!’ – but too late – the fronds were broken from the stem and the tree was destroyed. 

There was some commotion as the girls ran off and, eventually, a staff member who witnessed the event spoke to a parent who seemed to be blissfully unconcerned. A gardener arrived to dig up what remained of the palm and we resumed our socialising. Until, that is, one of us noticed that a group of boys was similarly swinging on one of the remaining two palms and strode over to scold them and tell them to leave the trees alone: to no avail – a second tree was destroyed  Continue reading →

Well, they would be stupid darn loonies if it were not for the fact that the SDL submission has to be one of the saddest documents of all time. It is a shameful example of the fact that human nature does not change. Our technology improves by leaps and bounds – but some human brains remain in the dark ages.

 The SDL submission stinks of neo-Nazism, a movement which is gaining ground in Germany, according to a recent BBC documentary. It stinks, too, of the methods of a madman named Robert Mugabe. Or how about Pol Pot? Unfortunately, the list of tyrants is way too long and all too recent. If the SDL followers got their way they’d have a foot in the door to eventual ethnic cleansing – no doubt about that.

 Is the ‘bula beam’ merely superficial? Are the so-called Christian iTaukei really so hate-filled, so intolerant, and so arrogant? No – I don’t think so. I think that the mindset behind that SDL submission belongs to a very small and insignificant group of bitter and twisted people of a much older generation, which, judging by that mindset, we shall be better off without as they pass on to live forever in that loving, caring, tolerant and Christian figment of their imagination in the sky – hopefully before 2014.

 Our young people need to be told about the idiocies that resulted from the clamp-down on Sunday following the 1987 coups. Army trucks full of soldiers, roaring about with what seemed to be a carte blanch right to stop people enjoying their Sundays – I remember it well. A young mother told that she couldn’t wash and hang nappies to dry. A father told to stop playing ball with his two sons and go inside and read the Bible. A child of 9 having to choose which of two sports to drop because sport was not allowed on Sunday, so the only sporting day he had was Saturday. A pilot turned around at a road-block after dark and told he could not drive to Nausori to fly a plane to Sydney. And, my personal favourite – Lyle Cupit of Conag being told that his workers could not milk cows on Sundays!

 All very funny in retrospect, because the whole exercise did nothing more than point out to the general public how lacking in general knowledge the soldiers were. But there were many sad stories, too. Especially those about the relatives and friends of the sick and dying, who could not visit them in the various hospitals and clinics. Good grief – we couldn’t even buy a loaf of bread! 

Today’s young people have tasted freedom. They have the internet and mobile phones and they know a damned sight more than their elders’ do, that’s for sure. They are street-smart and switched on, and any government that tries to curtail their freedoms will not last long. But nor will the SDL, for with that nasty submission they have sealed their coffin. It will be interesting to see if, and how, they will try to back-track come September. My bet is that they will simply fade away, and good riddance.