Friday, February 19, 2010

Bad day at lifestyle block

A former SPCA general manager has been warned by police after threatening to shoot a young boy's pony after it strayed on to his property.

Pukekohe officers were called to David Lloyd-Barker's home, south of Auckland, on Monday after 11-year-old Reilly Webber's mother Abby Mills-Webber phoned 111 to report the threat.

This sort of thing probably happens all the time among the lifestyle blocks at the edge of the city, where couples with freshly-hyphenated surnames build ranch-style homes and give their children peculiar names. So why should it be the lead story on the Herald's website? No, don't tell me.

I always find myself getting lost in the dramatis personae of these stories of domestic strife among people we do not know.  When I read of Reilly running around unsupervised I thought Reilly must be the pony; but then, which one is Kale? And what of Willow Schulte? I expect they all have Bebo pages, even the pony.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Definitely a South Auckland issue.

Philip said...

Speaking as a foreigner, I am mainly intrigued by the question of what a kohe might be, and why officers should be required to throw them up.

Word Verification: cobot, a corporate robot, such as have been parachuted into most formerly democratic governments so as not to harm corporations or, through inaction, allow corporations to come to harm.

Hans Versluys said...

You'd think their lifestyle blocks would be big enough to never have to interact with the (smellier, poorer) neighbours or locals.

Paul said...

It is all terribly confusing, but I believe 'puke' means hill and 'kohe' means tree or climbing plant. However, the National Maritime Museum in Auckland has a little steam launch called SS Puke, which seems apt.

I think the tragedy of the lifestylers is that they want to get away from the city but cannot bear to be alone in the country, so they cluster with people like them. This leads to trouble.

Anonymous said...

As a resident of just-outside-Coatesville, I could get all huffy, but I completely agree. God wouldn't have given us ten acres with sturdy wooden fenced boundaries if he'd wanted us to talk to our neighbours.