I went to the post office today, one of the few privatised ones situated deep in the Food Court of the Readings Cinema complex on Courtenay Place. In this enormous complex there are fast food outlets everywhere, including McDonalds and the great American coffee disaster Starbucks. The school kids love it and I sat to eat an apple and happened to see a few of them obviously filling in time after school with only an empty home awaiting them, till about six p.m. at least.
To exist in Wellington today both parents need to work, or are they the kids of sole parents, who knows? The kids look a bit lost I must say. The life and economy they have been born into is not one I would wish for myself - although New Zealand must be one of the safest countries and secure economies in the whole world.
Growing up in Wellington where just to cope with the weather is an achievement, the kids learn that life is good here, as in Oz, but when they do their obligatory 'Overseas Experience', they discover just how lucky they are. Also you will see from these snaps there is an incredible beauty and naiveté of the many mixed blood kids who now populate this heterogeneous city.
I am glad it is not me in these photos as the new world has challenges I never dreamed about. Good luck to them as their trust and simplicity will soon be lost I am afraid.
Where the kids hang out before the folks come home, the greatest creator of obesity and ill-health the world has known, Maccas.
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