Our very own storm trooper

A Cambridge student is using spare time ahead of her Wintec classes resuming by helping collect donations for victims of the Auckland floods.

Charlotte Peake and her sister Mikaela are collecting items daily to deliver to Hamilton organisations who send them north.

“Charlotte and I had a conversation at breakfast just after the flood about how we should scrounge around the house to find good quality items to donate and that if everyone gave a little bit this would relieve the pressure for those that have lost everything,” mum Fiona said.

“Charlotte then just ran with the idea, making calls and organising groups to help donate.

“Charlotte spoke to her grandmother, Kathy, who did an SOS to village residents at Bupa Cambridge… two massive car loads of near new bedding and towels have been delivered.”

She is also getting support from her old school, St Paul’s in Hamilton.

Items can be dropped off at the Salvation Army, 27 Williamson Street, Monday to Friday between 10 am – 2pm, and Windy Ridge Function Centre, 101 Great South Road, Ōhaupō, Monday – Friday 9 am – 2 pm.

In Te Awamutu the appeal from Charlotte has been heard by lawyers Edmonds Judd.

“We don’t have a drop off point in Te Awamutu so we are collecting from Te Awamutu people who we know and taking it ourselves to the Cambridge and Hamilton places,” Fiona said.

By Peter Matthews

I don’t watch Gilmore Girls. Never have. You probably don’t even know what I’m talking about. It’s a fairly pithy American TV show from the early 2000s which follows the lives and loves of a mother and daughter.

The show gained a reputation for fast-paced and witty dialogue, and ran for seven seasons. I can confirm that the dialogue is fast - it often sounds like a chipmunk’s tea party. From a distance of course - I don’t watch it. The humour is predictably American; you can sense the punchline coming from so far away that by the time it arrives you’ve already moved on.

The programme is not for me but it must have something; my wife and daughter have just finished watching all 17,000 thousand episodes. For the second time.

I’ll stick to English whodunnits and The Oxford Union debates on YouTube.

Having said all that, one of my favourite lines ever was uttered by Lorelai Gilmore’s mother Emily: “What I do want is even the most perfunctory level of competence from the people with whom I am compelled to interact”. Brava! Nailed it.

Who hasn’t languished in a far corner of a restaurant suffering Saharan levels of dehydration while a gaggle of wait staff discuss nail colour, boyfriends, girlfriends, and other such gravitas at the bar? Or been stuck in the clutches of the only salesperson in the computer store who has never used a Mac, and who has never knowingly released a smothered customer into the hands of a colleague who has?

Another favourite line of mine came from the twisted character Alice Morgan in the series Luther. Alice, both nemesis and friend of Luther, said “one of the problems with people is that they continue to believe the future will be better than the evidence of the present can possibly suggest”.

How true that is. The indefatigable optimism of humans is very often the only thing that gets them through the hardest of times. One can only marvel at the levels of fortitude, courage, and hope exhibited by the residents of Ukraine.

On the other hand, I could scarcely believe the audacity of Vladimir Putin seeking to compare Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the fight against Nazi Germany. “It’s unbelievable but true,” he said. “We are again being threatened by German Leopard tanks”. Well here’s a tip: don’t invade your neighbour.

It’s easy to ignore some of the more adverse circumstances in which people struggle to survive, all the while hoping for better times to come.

It’s a bit like Stars Hollow where Gilmore Girls is set. I can’t imagine how I know that - because I don’t watch it.

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