A Bombing memory

A Bombing memory

A day or two after the bombing of the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior 40 years ago on 10 July 1985, I was asked to join the police investigation team to “help with exhibits”. I was a young uniformed constable and had been noticed by someone up high as I had been fortunate enough to do 3 or 4 months of “CIB Secondment”, swapping duties with a seasoned detective (who was unimpressed as I recall). During that secondment period I’d worked on the Auckland enquiries of the Wellington Trades Hall Bombing, a crime unsolved to this day (I hope it wasn’t my fault!).

I took the grand title of 2 i/c exhibits and regarded myself then (and now) as the most junior member of the 66 strong investigation team on the Rainbow Warrior investigation. Bits of sodden objects from the ship and pieces of the its hull were catalogued, labelled and logged into the Whanganui Computer’s exhibits system. All green and grey screens and moving between tabs like a 1980s game of Loadrunner. Using a computer system to log exhibits was very new, in fact it was only the second time the module had been used. We took possession of the Zodiac boat, diving tanks, and dozens of receipts for daily living found in the campervan along with hundreds of other items. Giant drying machines operated 24/7 to dry out the sea soaked items.

Somehow, when the exhibits stopped coming in and didn’t require much attention, I got to stay on with the much smaller investigation team while we refined the evidence readying it for trial, closing loose ends. I completed a tour of Northland, logging the spots in the Kaipara Harbour and further north to identify where the two agents had travelled to and taken photographs that were found in the campervan. I was fortunate to be able to board and view the ship while it was in dry dock at the Devonport Naval Base.

I marvelled at the diving gear, new and abandoned, and appeared on the front page of the New Zealand Herald with the outboard motor from the Zodiac. One of the final acts was going to court for the depositions hearings (to be held at the specially reopened old High Court building in Waterloo Quadrant) to discover at the same time as members of the public that a deal had been done for the two agents to plead guilty to manslaughter, the Crown withdrawing the murder charges laid.

The Outboard motor from the Zodiac used by the agents who planted the bombs on the hull of Rainbow Warrior. Now at the Police Museum.

I didn’t return to full time uniform duties. It was CIB from then on, and then Serious Fraud Office. Cops love to claim successful investigations (“that was my job” you’ll hear) and this was by no means mine, but it was a deep learning experience and shaped much of the investigation work I later and still do. How to manage exhibits, chain of evidence, looking at evidence dispassionately but considering context – only a civil servant would keep receipts like that for claiming it was said – which was correct of course, and what it means to turn over every stone.

As I read this blog back just now I realised I had gone back in time in my mind, with many of the details from this period as fresh today as they have always been. My purpose in this blog is to reflect on a period of learning that shaped me during a historical moment. But I have never forgotten that a man died – Fernando Pereira – who should have recently turned 75. I hope that those who cared about Fernando are at peace over this tragic event.

Stephen

Photos: Banner AFP Photo:Patrick Riviere, Outboard Stephen Drain

Walking to another year

Walking to another year

As I polished off a final walk for 2024 just now, disparate thoughts of “obsessed with stats” and “doing what matters” occured to me. Once again I had a goal to complete 365 walks in a year – rules are pretty simple – minimum walk two kilometres, can’t break a longer walk just to claim more than one, and purposeful walk (but can have another purpose too like going somewhere!). I nearly didn’t make it. On 30 November with 31 days left I had 39 walks to go. The pressure! But I clicked over 365 on the 28th, with the sudden realisation that it was a leap year and questioning whether the goal should have been 366 walks this year. Maybe it should have been, but I’m now comfortably home on 367, average walk 4km, total 1470.25 kilometres. Final walk 30 December 4km, longest walk 21.21km (Auckland half marathon) and according to the App I use I burned over 170,000 calories. Happily I must have consumed slightly less than that, as another goal for my weight is well progressed.

It’s subject to audit. My school friend Nigel checks my walks, comments to keep me motivated, but critiques where the map looks dodgy (“went for a drive by the look of it” before hitting “stop” on the App was a common observation), all of which I corrected or ignored in my total. Integrity matters when no one is watching.

Maungawhau Mt Eden gets the heart rate up and a great view as a reward

I walked in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Rakaia Gorge, Methven, Oamaru, Queenstown, London, Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Las Vegas, New York, Washington DC, Noumea and Singapore. If that all sounds a bit grand, it is. But it included a long postponed trip to see whanau and some work travel I was privileged to do.

For me this is all very fascinating and satisfying for my obsessed with stats brain. But that’s just the means to an end.

A freezing DC day

The end is health, in all its physical forms: rehabilitative, cardio, weight control, movement (use or lose at my age). And it’s psychological forms: deep thinking, open brain to solve problems, relationships (catching up with friends sometimes), knowledge gaining on e-books, my – rhymes with I as in introvert – time which is brain resting for me.

It’s free and freedom giving all at once and my favourite transport method hands down.

Stephen

Notes and Photos:

2024 End of year walking awards to myself:

Hottest walk – Las Vegas strip 41c, middle of the day, just dumb to do that

Coldest walk – New York City through Central Park “-1c, feels like -9c” according to the weather App (below)

Biggest surprise walk – Dunedin city at dusk, stunning lighting

Most sobering walk – Belfast, Northern Ireland, the peace walls and sectarian messages on buildings (below).

Most exhilarating walk – New York, anywhere but especially anywhere!

Never tire of it walk – Auckland Domain

Best walking city in New Zealand – Christchurch – a 3km loop on laneways, Victoria Square, New Regent Street. Or Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens. Flat, accessible, close, beautiful.

Best walk to a place that I’ve known for 30 years but never seen – Tom’s Restaurant (Seinfeld – below)

Wish I could walk there now – Cork, Ireland, to see my son and his family again

Walk that stopped me walking for a week – Auckland half marathon, blister special

Walk I didn’t do this year but want to – Auckland Maunga, I did Mt Eden, but a 20km loop of 4 or 5 Maunga is a great outing

Thing I can’t stop photographing on a walk – Bridges – examples this year are Auckland Harbour Bridge, pedestrian bridge across the River Clyde in Glasgow (below, with my son Thomas), Queensboro Bridge NYC (in banner), Brooklyn Bridge (below), Bridge of Remembrance in Christchurch (I see it all the time but still photograph it with different lighting), and all the lighted bridges that authorities take the trouble to have designed and keep looking cool purely for aesthetic reasons.

Photos

Walking over the Clyde River, Glasgow
Walked to Tom’s Restaurant from Seinfeld
Walked along a Peace Wall, Belfast
Waterfront walk past the train in Noumea
Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge, NY
Breaking a rule while walking in London
A winter walk in Queenstown
Walking near my home
Walking over Vauxhall Bridge, London
Walking in Republican area, Belfast
Who would have thought you’d find these on a walk in Methven
A walk in the Financial District, NY City
Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge, NY
Walking in Loyalist area, Belfast
A regular walk past the Christchurch Town Hall
Walking in Cork, Ireland
One of several walks through Central Park, NY
Walking on the Hi-Line, Chelsea, NY
Rockefeller Christmas Tree Walk
A walk in Oamaru
Hottest walk was in Las Vegas

Use of AI

Like my friend Kris N, HI only used in words or photos (I thought I just invented “HI” as a thing, but on googling, no I haven’t)

Kindness

Kindness

Traveling to Ireland to see my son Thomas and his family was a trip much delayed – almost by five years since the original planning – so it was a much anticipated. In Aotearoa we survived Covid as a community through a lot of goodwill. The rules put on us were followed because we mostly accepted them, even if sometimes we didn’t enjoy them altogether. The consensus fell away when the rest of the world connected and my perception is we’ve lived in a much more divided place. I notice it in micro moments, in traffic, in political discourse and in the unspoken interactions in everyday living.

Crazy traffic outside the hotel in Las Vegas after a four hour drive from LA, driving on the other side of the road. It turned out a concert had just come out – access to the carpark hotel was blocked and 30 minutes to navigate once around the block it was enough: “we’ll take care of it from here, you relax and check in, we’ll look after you” was the relieving narrative from the valet guys.

Rushing from the rental car drop off in the Uber to LA airport to catch the flight to London – anxious about timing: “don’t worry, we’ll get you there real quick”, and he did with help with the baggage onto the trolley too.

Heathrow is an enormous airport, one terminal seems multiples of any local airport. But my experience with four flights is one of kindness, staff checking and rechecking boarding passes for lounge access (first world issues!) and when checking an exception at security, it was warm and done with care.

The experience was repeated almost everywhere – hotel check ins, taxis, the Tube, bus drivers in London who took care to make sure they explained that the bus terminated at Hyde Park Corner – “there’s one right behind if you need to go further”.

It’s the 60th anniversary of James Bond’s “Goldfinger” and the Burlington Arcade in Mayfair has been converted into a haven for Bond fans (me!) including a 007 Store run by Eon Productions – the Producer’s personal assistant during the filing of Skyfall manages the shop – and there’s a very cool bar included. Most people ordered only one drink – shaken of course.

Yes, they had commercial imperatives, but the level of engagement was extraordinary. We’re friends now!

Around the corner in Piccadilly is the jeweller Bentley & Skinner, suppliers to British monarchs since Queen Victoria and recently appointed to King Charles III. It’s also the setting of a great scene from You will meet a tall Dark Stranger and the Sales Manager chatted for ages about the filming, sharing a special moment with the stars of the film and meeting Mr Allen.

It was hard to leave to come back. I hope home is just as kind to me for the rest of the year!

Stephen

A Sunday Walk

A Sunday Walk

I’ve been fortunate to have run or walk over the Auckland Harbour Bridge quite a few times. If you complete five of either the Marathon or Half Marathon in the Auckland Marathon you can become a “Roadster” with your own permanent number. I got mine quite a few years ago when I was running marathons, and although I stopped running back in 2016, I still get to use the number (and the creds that go with it!), for a walk of the half marathon.

I’d last done it in January 2022 which was technically the 2021 event, delayed from the Covid Lockdown. Once again it was on my own this time. A little over 3 hours, stopping only briefly for shoelaces and a toilet stop, for some reason it didn’t feel too hard actually (the days after were another story – see below). We know that athletes (I mean real ones, not Sunday strollers like me) step up on the day and create results at big occasions they couldn’t do in training. Maybe it’s the stopping at lights, or just the general lack of vibe, but I really struggle to get my walking pace below 10 mins/km.

But halfway into the “half” I’m sitting below nine. Somehow. I’m still not really sure how, but there’s definitely something for me about stepping up on the day, no actual pressure, focussing, and micro competitions with those around me (including slow runners!). Then realising that I was heading for a personal walking best of the half there was no stopping me.

No, I didn’t retain the sub 9 minutes for all the distance (see below), but it felt great.

I’m honestly happier than I look!

Part of my journey to be able to finish a semi-decent Sunday walk has been post 2020 surgery on my leg and then getting a involved in Sarcoma support through the Sarcoma Foundation NZ, so I’m looking forward to another (much shorter) Sunday walk at Round the Bays in March. You should think about coming along if you’re in Tamaki Makaurau.

About that blister: I put some heavy bandaids on on bits of my feet, but missed the ball of my right foot! Ouch! But it’s nearly right, although taping and soft shoes have been required.

Everyone smiles after an event like this. And 007 has asked to be in my next post on Friday.

Relax, flow, edge, some pain, enjoy. All the leadership you need on a Sunday Walk.

Stephen