Ghosts of the Past: A memoir of a childhood in Port Ahuriri, Napier, New Zealand, in the 1950s

Odette grew up on Hardinge Road directly across from the ocean. Everyday upon waking, she would rush outside to view the sea. Was it calm, with the sun dappling on the water, or was it stormy, with the waves crashing onto the shore? The sea was part of her life.

She learnt to understand the anguish of the fishermen’s wives when their husbands took their trawlers out in stormy weather hoping all would be well. She found that the sailors coming back late from the pub to walk to their ships at the wharf could be a concern. Even she, as a child, had her own concerns. Time to go to school. She loved school, but the challenge was how to get there safely.

People of the port, especially those on Hardinge Road, were all known to her. She could stop and chat to any of them, but she knew which ones to avoid. There was abuse that the children knew about, but probably not the adults. Some areas were best avoided.

Then there was the colourful, even bizarre, side to living down the port. Who would believe it wasn’t safe to sit on your loo? What person would wear theatre paint into an insurance office? Surely people would go to high ground when there was risk of a tidal wave? Odette’s young life came to experience many things, good and bad, but it was how those experiences were dealt with that mattered.