ABOUT TOWN–TE AWAMUTU

It was pure Monty Python. A young Tim Finn of nascent Split Enz fame was striding down Te Awamutu’s main street when a lady of senior years spotted him and, eyes rivetted, mouth agape, walked straight into a rubbish bin. What steered her into the unfortunate receptacle was Finn’s natty little multi-coloured vest and his borderline punk hair. Finn marched on, no doubt thinking, “Job done.” This was the mid-1970s, and bin lady had seen nothing like it in her little Waikato dairy town. It’s a different story now. The place I grew up in has become a centre of diverse agricultural and horticultural operations, somewhere with fine civic amenities — and very good coffee.

In 1959 when I was still a boy my family