Ed Said - … and it’s goodnight from me

 

It’s been a while coming. Some say never go into business with family. However, it’s family businesses that have been the cornerstones of trade and commerce throughout centuries.

We’re hardly in that league but a closely-knit bunch we tend to know how each other think, we know each other’s quirks and staff also become virtual family members which makes the Focus something we do twice a month without too much fanfare.

I’m not sure there is actually a ‘time’ to hang up one’s boots, more a sense. Covid is instilling self-imposed isolation. It’s the end of the financial year, cheques are out, so I’m checking out. I’m not turning my back, I’m just stepping back. I think it’s impossible to completely turn your back on something that’s been a major part of your life for 15 years and right from conception.

From April 1 (no joke) ownership of The Focus will still be basically ‘family’ but without my name attached. The same team will steer the ship, it just may sail a different course over time. I’ll watch with interest. Might even poke my head in the door occasionally. But I have other pursuits which don’t demand quite the same attention.

Thumbing through back issues (yes, I have them all) I note an artist’s impression of The Hub at the Village which graced the front page of issue number one. We’ve had baby snaps of children now well into their teens, the building of the skate bowl and a forerunner to the MAZ complex we know today, the Museum, the trench dug and filled in and dug again and filled in again across Cames Road to stop traffic, the hullabaloo that was the EcoCare blowout and subsequent rates rises and court cases, the rise of development prior to 2008 then the financial crisis which brought a halt to almost everything.

lus art trails and walking weekends, Council upheavals, a personable billionaire who chose Mangawhai and brought it to world prominence through the establishment of a world renowned golf course, all have graced our pages.

Also the school group who took the plight of the fairy tern to the world, the mangrove issue, and now Mangawhai Central that will again change the face of Mangawhai, the people which includes the horde of selfless volunteers who make it all happen, and more recently the new growth of the pearl that is Mangawhai.

Thanks for the bouquets from time to time, and thanks also for the brick bats because it’s the variety of opinions that fuel debate and its debate that leads to making decisions and getting things done.

My opinions are my opinions only. Sometimes provocative, and I can tell you I’ve been abused by experts on occasions because of them. That’s fine. However, I’m now looking forward to enjoying even more of Mangawhai but on a social basis and while I have other fingers in other pies I’ll still be around.

Either way I’m proud to have been a part of something that has made a mark, however small, on the history of Mangawhai. Just like real life it’s been interesting, fun, hectic, frustrating but mostly rewarding in the satisfaction of doing a service to the community. No fanfare, no royal wave.

I think I’ll just quietly click the ‘x’ top right of the screen and retire gracefully to the lounge with a tall glass of Aussie red wine into self-imposed isolation. Best regards to all.

Rob Pooley