by Christine Norton
After nearly ten years of hearing clients’ life stories there are some episodes which remain forever memorable. Why? Simply because they are situations which, although only ‘relatively recent’ are quite unbelievable in today’s context. These are true stories:
Drinking on the job (1956)
"We found jobs at Dominion Breweries and bought second hand bikes to ride to the Brewery in Auckland It was hard physical labour after our previous sedentary work. Here we were lugging wooden crates of quart bottles of beer and lifting crates of dirty bottles into huge washing machines. Those first few days just about broke our hearts and our backs. It wasn't all bad though, as at morning break we were allowed one glass of beer, at lunchtime two or three, mid-afternoon another one and after work I can’t remember if there was any limit! How we didn't turn into alcoholics, I don’t know! But we worked at that brewery for eight months and I saved £200 for our fare to England.”
An interesting flight (1972)
“We took a consignment of horses in 1972 to South Africa on an old American CL44 which lumbered over Australia and the Indian Ocean on its way to Durban. The plane could only carry sixteen horses and the conditions were awful. After we had loaded the horses at the Auckland Airport, I had to search for the pilots - only to find them in the bar! With some difficulty I managed to get them on board and noticed that they were carrying two bottles of whisky. The flight was long and slow because we had to land in Sydney, Perth and Mauritius to refuel then eventually arrived in Durban after about twenty hours. When we had finally unloaded all the horses we discovered the two whisky bottles – both empty!”
Imagine hauling the pilots who were to fly your plane out of the bar, then finding empty whiskey bottles in the cockpit at the end of your flight!
Medical misdiagnosis (1932)
“At the age of five in 1938 I had developed various chest infections and whooping cough. After chest X-rays at Waipukarau Hospital my parents were informed that I had tuberculosis and after a month in hospital I went home. Complete bed rest at home was prescribed the only problem being that I was to stay in bed FOR TWO YEARS!! I wasn’t allowed out of bed for two years - not even to go to the toilet and this decision was based on the diagnosis of one doctor from the Waipukurau Hospital. I wasn't given another X-ray again during those two years. Tuberculosis (TB) was a highly infectious disease back then, as prevalent as cancer is now, although cancer does not have the infectious properties that TB did. The impact on this two-year bed rest was profound because my friends were not allowed to come and play with me, since TB is infectious and in fact my mother didn't think I would live long.
"Finally, when we moved back to Wellington Mum took me to Dr McLean, a chest specialist in Wellington who carried out all sorts of tests and X-Rays, then told my mother,
"This child has never had TB in her life. Who told you she did?"
"Dr .............. in Waipukurau Hospital," my mother informed him.
"Oh, not that man - he was discharged for negligence!" Apparently my X-Rays were mixed up with those of another child at the Waipukurau Hospital and I had been misdiagnosed. I should never have been confined to bed for two years at all. In 1940 at the age of seven, I was finally allowed to walk again.”
Drinking on the job (1956)
"We found jobs at Dominion Breweries and bought second hand bikes to ride to the Brewery in Auckland It was hard physical labour after our previous sedentary work. Here we were lugging wooden crates of quart bottles of beer and lifting crates of dirty bottles into huge washing machines. Those first few days just about broke our hearts and our backs. It wasn't all bad though, as at morning break we were allowed one glass of beer, at lunchtime two or three, mid-afternoon another one and after work I can’t remember if there was any limit! How we didn't turn into alcoholics, I don’t know! But we worked at that brewery for eight months and I saved £200 for our fare to England.”
An interesting flight (1972)
“We took a consignment of horses in 1972 to South Africa on an old American CL44 which lumbered over Australia and the Indian Ocean on its way to Durban. The plane could only carry sixteen horses and the conditions were awful. After we had loaded the horses at the Auckland Airport, I had to search for the pilots - only to find them in the bar! With some difficulty I managed to get them on board and noticed that they were carrying two bottles of whisky. The flight was long and slow because we had to land in Sydney, Perth and Mauritius to refuel then eventually arrived in Durban after about twenty hours. When we had finally unloaded all the horses we discovered the two whisky bottles – both empty!”
Imagine hauling the pilots who were to fly your plane out of the bar, then finding empty whiskey bottles in the cockpit at the end of your flight!
Medical misdiagnosis (1932)
“At the age of five in 1938 I had developed various chest infections and whooping cough. After chest X-rays at Waipukarau Hospital my parents were informed that I had tuberculosis and after a month in hospital I went home. Complete bed rest at home was prescribed the only problem being that I was to stay in bed FOR TWO YEARS!! I wasn’t allowed out of bed for two years - not even to go to the toilet and this decision was based on the diagnosis of one doctor from the Waipukurau Hospital. I wasn't given another X-ray again during those two years. Tuberculosis (TB) was a highly infectious disease back then, as prevalent as cancer is now, although cancer does not have the infectious properties that TB did. The impact on this two-year bed rest was profound because my friends were not allowed to come and play with me, since TB is infectious and in fact my mother didn't think I would live long.
"Finally, when we moved back to Wellington Mum took me to Dr McLean, a chest specialist in Wellington who carried out all sorts of tests and X-Rays, then told my mother,
"This child has never had TB in her life. Who told you she did?"
"Dr .............. in Waipukurau Hospital," my mother informed him.
"Oh, not that man - he was discharged for negligence!" Apparently my X-Rays were mixed up with those of another child at the Waipukurau Hospital and I had been misdiagnosed. I should never have been confined to bed for two years at all. In 1940 at the age of seven, I was finally allowed to walk again.”
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