Dave – Howick
“My name’s Dave Small and I call Howick home.
I said to my grandsons recently that if you see an opportunity and you think you can do it, then grab it. We came to New Zealand 55 years ago from Scotland and we came to Auckland in 1972 and we’ve been in Auckland ever since. I used to live in Pakuranga but three years ago we moved to Howick to be with the family. Out here in Howick I feel quite safe. We’ve been here that long now that we identify ourselves as Kiwis now but we still have deep Scottish roots. There’s a Highland Games in Auckland every year and I don’t think it gets the advertising and points that it really needs compared to other groups like Indian and Chinese and what have you.
The city can be a lonely place, because when we lived in Pakuranga, we had a neighbour and we had no fence between us, and then the neighbour decided that they wanted to sell their house and move on, and they put up a fence, and as soon as that fence went up, that was it; conversation stopped. So as long as people are living in houses with fences around them, then it stops you having conversation. Well, it doesn’t stop you, but it makes it a lot more difficult to have a conversation with your next door neighbour.
We need to have more community things really. I mean when I was young there used to be dances that you went to, and you met people at dances and what have you, but we don’t have that nowadays so where do the young people meet other young people? Just walking around the streets, so there needs to be more community dance halls or community events where it involves young people.
