gundry's grumbles with Simon Gundry
A lot to get Through this Month
Simon Gundry is a Devonport and North Shore identity, and character, who is known for calling a spade a spade. He is a director of contracting company Gill & Gundry, is an enthusiastic and active sailor (past crew-member of Ceramco New Zealand and Lion New Zealand in Whitbread Round The World races and Shockwave in Admiral’s Cup) and is a life member of the North Shore Rugby Football Club. This is his regular and lively contribution to CHANNEL.
I’ve been writing this column now since this magazine has been in print and have thoroughly enjoyed commenting on what has been going on around the place. It’s been quite interesting that so much comment has been made to me about young kids not being able to get part time work. A few years ago they used to be at the local supermarket after school, all my boys had the New World experience for part time work, as they did with newspaper runs - handing them down brother to brother, and mowing lawns in the neighbourhood – also handing the lawn mowing run on to their brothers. This all seems to have disappeared, and I don’t know how this happened.
I can remember spending many a late evening fixing bike punctures so the boys could do the Herald run in the morning, they’d get up at 5 am and bike down to the local shops to pick up their 100 odd Heralds to be hand delivered in the community. They knew where every letterbox was in the cold, grey light of a winter’s morning. Cursing Wednesday and Saturday mornings as the Heralds were twice the size of the other days. Knowing the old people in the community and hand delivering their Heralds right to their front doors. Getting to know the milkmen and the bread delivery people as they delivered their goods, in the early hours of the morning. Some of them had runs with the North Shore Times Advertiser, delivering twice a week. They were very proud of their bikes and their canvas bags carrying the newspapers. We all had these paper delivery rounds as we grew up. Now it seems that the Herald is being delivered by people in cars.
Trying to get these young people into a work ethic and into stable employment is a big worry. I’ve mentioned this before in previous columns, I’d like to see the reestablishment of youth rates so young people can get work experience in their early years. It doesn’t help when so many of these start up jobs are taken up by new immigrants to New Zealand.
I was away out of town for Easter weekend, far in the North exploring some of our beautiful beaches and coastline. I dropped into a small town’s Anzac Service and stood there quietly on the street as a handful of local war veterans marched past me to the local cenotaph, which was in close proximity to the sea front. It was a sort of dour grey morning where rain threatened for most of the time. I listened intently to the speeches and prayers. I walked away feeling that the service had been hijacked by one particular speech and prayer session, where they had prayers for people of the West Coast, people of Christchurch and people of Japan. I don’t like the idea of Anzac day being hijacked by anyone else, Anzac Day is for the people who fought for NZ and Australia in overseas conflict. It is not for other world tragedies that have happened along the way. Of course they have their time for remembrance, but certainly not on Anzac Day.
I went out for breakfast recently with some members of the family, and couldn’t believe how flaming expensive it was. There were only five of us and the bill came to over $100, which I find ridiculously expensive. The service was terrible, in fact one of my boys’ breakfasts was clean forgotten about and we walked out of there feeling underwhelmed and dissatisfied. One of the boys remarked we should eat at home next time, it’s much better. Don’t get me wrong, I like to eat out and spend money, but so many times I leave restaurants feeling dissatisfied with what I have just spent quite a lot of money on.
I’ve said in previous columns that the hospitality industry in this country needs a big wake up call prior to the influx of visitors for the RWC. So many places have wait staff that seem disinterested and not really wanting to be there.
The Rugby World Cup is creeping up on us so quickly it’s not funny. It’s now June and only about 12 weeks until the first game. I have friends coming down from California to spend the last three weeks of the tournament and I am thoroughly looking forward to it. I will certainly not be taking them to some of these places where I know the service is not up to scratch. Coming from the US these people know about service, within the hospitality industry. Maybe we should revert to the American way and pay the wait staff very minimal rates so they have to rely on tips. This would certainly bring up their attitude considerably. There are many places where you don’t really feel like spending your money. How many greet you cheerily at the door, “Where would you like to sit, here’s the menu, would you like some iced water?”
I do hope the community round Devonport and Takapuna can get the front door cleaned up prior to the influx of these visitors. The Devonport Wharf is a shambles, the public toilets in the Devonport area are also a shambles. I can imagine a bunch of English people who have been consuming pints of beer for the afternoon and waiting on Devonport Wharf for their ferry boat, entering the public toilet down there and being aghast. Even the one on Windsor Domain is the same, averagely cleaned. It’s dark and dingy. The one adjacent to the Devonport Yacht Club does not even have hand washing facilities. The Community Board must address this prior to the beginning of September.
Thanks for reading, and I do enjoy the positive feedback about the social issues I mention.
Oh, by the way, it seems the piece of road between Hauraki and Esmonde Road has finally been finished. What are the bets they’ll be digging part of it up in the next couple of months because they’ve forgotten something!
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