Posted by sigismund on October 22, 2018, at 5:53:32
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by alexandra_k on October 21, 2018, at 2:07:50
So an Marae is the tribal meeting place. That was one of the problems for the aborigines, not much that was constructed survived.
I'd always wondered how Maori people lived in the south. Aboriginal people lived in Tasmania which has a somewhat similar climate, but the number I recall was only in the thousands, 3 to 15 thousand perhaps? Mainly on the east or north coasts where it was warmer, less windy, less forested and more animals to hunt?
>They were decent people. A little superficial rougness
The people who helped me think were those uninvested in the system, not hypnotised by status. I made friends around the age of 6 or 8 with the cook. I was pretending to be sick. She said to me when we were alone, 'You're not sick. I don't care, but you're not sick'. As long as I stayed out from under her feet she was happy for me to sit on the step of the Aga (a stove) and chat with her, and that I did in one form or other for 60 years. She was very direct: 'They think their sh*t doesn't stink', stuff like that, 'Nobody cares about the working man'. It was always more fun with her. Apparently I used to tell her than how I wanted to die, kill myself or not exist. I don't remember that, but I do remember being able to speak my mind and feeling welcome. Just before she died we would sit in the morning sun outside her house. She would have either black tea with rum, or black coffee with salt, and we would each smoke a cigarette.
poster:sigismund
thread:1101042
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20180816/msgs/1101500.html