A chance encounter on August 31st, 2020:
Today on a bus from central Palmerston North to PN airport – fare $1.50 – I met the only other traveller that trip, an 80-year-old also wearing a mask, who gave me a snippet of his life thus far. Grew up Lower Hutt, more recently lived Feilding and took a Gold Card bus fare to Palmy every day; flown once in his life, on a DC3 to Christchurch. Never been out of NZ but worked all sorts of jobs in his life of two major relationships, without marriage. Drank a bit much in working life but nothing touched for the past 20 years.
Did time at Aulsebrooks factory and flour mills on ChCh’s Blenheim Rd. Never did the Dalgety wool stores, didn’t pay enough.
Tells me that virtually every job he ever got was because he had short back and sides and dressed well. Usually he walked up to the boss and got a job on the spot.
What a good 15 minutes of life I shared with this man. He even said he’d shake a hand if it wasn’t for Covid.
