Friday, February 25, 2011

thank God for dave dobbyn

what a shocker of a week. an unexpected 6.3 quake in christchurch not 6 months after the last one. but so much more tragic. nearly all of marks family live in christchurch, nz. that's where he was raised. he still supports the crusader rugby team for goodness sake. did anyone see this quake coming? i mean seriously, it did not even enter my mind that there may be another big quake on its way. talking to marks family over the last 6 months, i just assumed that the aftershocks would die out and then life could go back to not being so wobbly.

thank God all his family are safe. we are lucky. so lucky.

really, nz is a small place! i shit you not - when i lived in hong kong 3 hongkongese people said to me, 'oh, nz, do you know this person...?' i did know them all. i really did. i even knew where they worked. so something so catastrophic  happening in such a small place - we all know someone down there or have relatives there, went to school there, had good holidays there, bad holidays there, have been skiing down there.

it got me thinking about what it means to be a kiwi. i am so incredibly proud to be a kiwi. smug, even. i believe i have grown up in the best country in the world, that as much as i LOVE hong kong, paris, vietnam, bristol, i really want my kids to have the 'best' upbringing. and for me, that's here. sure, it rains a lot (in auckland), but as my gran used to say, 'it's good for the ducks'. i cant think of anything that the rest of the world can think down on me for when i say that i am from new zealand. other than sports related shit. nothing. we haven't ripped anyone off, we don't have nukes, we let nearly anyone in for life, we have great original music and people say what they think.

in this shit week for new zealand, our first ever state of national emergency, i want to pay tribute to a true kiwi icon. for the life of me, i cant think of anyone more truly iconic (though mayor tim shadbolt is a very close second) than kiwi musician, Dave Dobbyn. what a freaking legend. in fact, i am going to go so far as to bestow my greatest honor on him - the sun shines out of that mans arse! prove me wrong, i dare you. when we see him perform live i have two strong  reactions. 1. i think this is considered normal - i sing along as loud as i bloody can. 2. i blub my way through his songs. i genuinely 'snot down my face' blubber. this is for another 2 reasons. 1. he is so transparent when he preforms and his songs are effing awesome - i goddam love it! 2.prepare yourself...  he actually looks like my dad! REALLY!! what makes that even funnier is that my dad has dark curly hair, and dave dobbyn has ginger curly hair - and i am a true drapes and rug matching ginga. too much information? chill out. but i have a photo of dave and i have a photos of dad (jock) to show you...what do you think?

dead ringer, right??!!can you see what i mean? so i automatically love dave because he reminds me of my dad. we (dad and i, not dave and i - i am still estranged from dave!) had been estranged for years, and now i just love hearing his way of things. so anyway. to check out more of our lovely icon, head to www.davedobbyn.co.nz

who is the first person you think of when you think 'kiwi icon'......let me know!!

summing up, if you are the praying type, please pray for those in christchurh; for those still trapped and alive to be kept alive and for the search and rescue teams to be able to reach them, for the s&r teams and their dogs to be kept safe also. and for christchurch generally, especially that people are kept safe through the aftershocks. we send you our love chch - in money form! 

Kia Kaha from Me xxxxxxxx

7 comments:

Stacy said...

Nice post babe. Your dad is Dave Dobbyn's twin!!

The Wilsons said...

Totally devastating... SO pleased Mark's family are ok... What can we do to help them?? X

Liz said...

You are a funny lady Mel (not the earthquake bit - that bit's not funny at all) but big belly laughs to the bit about your Dad and your ranga-ness.

Everyone I know in Aus has been following the updates and donating to the red cross. And I saw Iron Maiden last night and they tributed a song to Christchurch too. It's pretty shit. We'll be wearing our black and red clothes tomorrow.

Dee said...

'it's good for the ducks'. love it.

Mariella said...

New Zealand is on my mind so much right now and in our hearts. Thinking of ya'll xxx

melissa-jade gregan said...

It was actually dad's birthday the other day, but i didnt tell him i had put him on the internet...ha. thank you so much for all your kind thoughts toward the family and the people of christchurch.

Iron maiden did a song for chch??! thats pretty cool!

Mariella said...

Loving your new blog look? Is this some where you have been? xxxx