Looking back over the past weeks and to the weeks ahead – to rate the noteworthy, the cringeworthy, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the truly amazing.
Chicken gang torments village
In a happier sidestep from the usual stories about gang violence in our country, I stumbled across a more uplifting yarn about a village in England, where locals are confronted, not by goons on motorbikes, but by marauding chickens.
A ‘feral’ horde of over 100 chickens are making life hard for the inhabitants of Snettisham, Norfolk. Townsfolk, “have said their life is being made ‘hell’ as the chickens swarm in from a nearby wood. It is unclear who owns the land the chickens live on, but villagers believe numbers have soared recently. They also complained of an influx of people travelling to see the birds and leaving food for them, which is attracting rats. This has created a febrile atmosphere, with reports of rising tensions between residents and visitors.” (Source: “‘They’re out of control’: flock of 100 feral chickens torments village,” 26th May, www.guardian.com).
As is usual however, not all are infuriated by the noise and the rats, and the disturbances to vege gardens. Some locals are quite taken with the chickens and the way in which they have made the town a bit of an attraction for curious outsiders.
5 stars – reading this tale I was reminded of watching Chicken Run about 50 times with my kids when they were younger.
Touching and poignant find years after fatal crash
Few things soften tragedies where lives are taken in accidents. However, I read last week about a personal momento found years after a death in a car accident that showed how objects are imbued with so much meaning for us.
16 years after Benjamin Joseph Gallagher (BJ) was killed in a car accident in Karori, Wellington, his pounamu was handed back to one of his sisters after she found a story about it on Facebook. Mel Anderson (BJ’s sister), “was scrolling Facebook and came upon a post on the Wellington community page ‘Vic Deals’. The post read ‘Anyone missing their pounamu? Found at Appleton park?’, with a picture of the stone.
“Anderson said she felt drawn to the post and, instead of continuing to scroll, did a quick search for where the park was – only to find it was right opposite the crash site. Anderson checked with her sister, Katy Gallagher, and mum, Jo Carter, who confirmed it was BJ’s treasured 21st birthday present. ‘It’s pretty amazing, we feel so lucky.'” (Source: “Family finds pounamu of crash victim through FB post, 16 years after death,” by Ryan Anderson, 24th May, www.stuff.co.nz).
While nothing can ever take away the loss and pain of a loved one’s early and tragic death, this story shows how little things – such as a personal object found after such a long time, can at least ease that grief, a little.
5 stars – a rather beautiful and fantastically coincidental tale.
Kiwis look to claim haka world record
This story is a few month’s old but I’m not sure how it escaped my attention as I like a good ‘who knew?’ story. Plans are afoot to stage a mass haka in September in New Zealand to beat the current world record held by, wait for it, France! Ten years ago 4028 people conducted a collective haka and despite two efforts in New Zealand since, that record stands.
However, in September it’s hoped that 16,000 people will gather while also raising money for the Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust. “Named after co-founder Dame Hinewehi Mohi’s daughter, Hineraukatauri, the trust operates New Zealand’s only music therapy centres.
“The idea for another record breaking attempt came after Dame Hinewehi learned it was the French who held the record. ‘I always love a good waiata or a good haka and I found out that the French held this record and I thought, what a bizarre thing, we’ve gotta get that back. We thought, we’ve really got to smash out this record, we only have to beat 4028 French men and women doing the haka – the strange visualisation I have when I think about it.’
“The world record attempt would be a great time to come together and ‘celebrate our nationhood with a collective almighty haka… and absolutely smash it out the park’, she said. (Source: “NZ aims to take Guinness World Record for the largest haka from France,” 18th March, www.rnz.co.nz).
5 stars – while the setting has not yet been announced, it will be a worthwhile endeavour!
