James
Taris Alias John Gilmartin!
Last
night I'd contemplated shaving my beard off. It was getting a bit
too long and untidy. And this morning it still looked bad. So off
it went. John was a little surprised.
"Why
did you shave it off?" he said. "I've just emailed your photo to
Neville who'll be picking you up from the ferry this morning. Now
he won't be able to recognize you!"
The
Lynx, Wellington's newest and fastest ferry, was leaving at 8am.
John got me there in time, but with a little surprise.
"Here's
your ticket," he said. "It's got John Gilmartin's name on it, but
it was going to cost too much to change it to your name. So you'll
be John Gilmartin for the duration of the trip."
"But
what if they want to check my ID?" I said.
"They
won't do that," he assured me. "The only problem that may arise
is if the ferry sinks, because they'll think that John drowned when
it was really you."
Well,
that's not exactly what I wanted to hear. Nevertheless, I got onto
the boat without any hassles, and lay back in a comfortable chair
for most of the 2 and a quarter hour trip.
Grandad
Menace And Juvenile Drivers
I
think I recognized Neville about the same time he recognized me.
He was waiting at the bottom of the stairs with his wife, Christine,
near the baggage collection area. Neville was a member of Blenheim
LETS and had made the trip to pick me up because he had some family
or friends that he wanted to visit in Nelson. And that's where I
was going too.
As
we began our 90-minute trip, Neville pointed out the banana grapefruit
vines that were growing plentifully amongst the thick growth on
the side of the hills.
"See
those pink flowers," he said. "They're grapefruit. My grandfather
planted them all along the hillside about 30 years ago to feed the
possums. They've become quite a menace since then."
He
stopped the car and picked some fruit that had fallen onto the road.
He broke the soft yellow flesh and began to eat the fruit. Then
he gave me one to try. It was surprisingly sweet, so I had a couple
more.
Back
in the car Neville mentioned that children could get their drivers
license at 16. In fact, 3 or 4 years ago it was at 15! But there
were a couple of special conditions. Firstly, there was a curfew
set for drivers under 18, so they weren't allowed to drive between
10pm and 7am. And the other condition was they weren't allowed to
carry passengers until they turned 18. I guess this was one way
to keep the road toll down!
Nelson
LETS Presentation
Once
in Nelson, I was taken straight to my LETS hosts. Eva Pick and Ian
welcomed me, and soon I had settled in to my room. I was due to
give my presentation to Nelson LETS at 3pm, so Graeme Tyree came
to pick me up at 2.45pm. We all met at Caf� Affair and I gave my
first presentation in a public place. Again, the meeting went well,
with much interest shown by all those attending.
This
article is taken from the ebook,
Land of the LETS Green
Dollar
About
the book
|
James
Taris web sites
JamesTaris.com
LETS-Linkup.com
Rich-Bastards.com
Honey-BeeBooks.com
TheGloryOfAthens.com
TravelWithoutMoney.com
ChineseArt-ChineseArt.com
ShanghaiPhotoGuide.com
ShockProofMaterial.com
2pups.com
