Oh what a night!

Well, where were you when I needed you, eh? 

Yesterday started out as per.  I have caught a filthy phlegmy chesty cough - you know the ones- and sent the Maori down for coff medicine- and he returned with a little bottle of coff stuff that cost $21NZ, and is only a tad better than lolly water - but I have been sucking it down like it is the elixer of life, and by the time the bottle's empty, well, I reckon I'll be better anyway.

But that's not the big story - not just my coffing all night long, and fainting a couple of times due to hypoxia, etc - I mean, that IS exciting for sure, however, read on...

We knew we were in for a rough night, as the party next door that started at 10am, was still going at 10pm, with an exponential increase in noise output.  Of course, I wouldn't mind if the noise consisted of say, Tui Teka, or even 9 out of the 10 tenors, but you instantly can guess it was the head-banging kill bill type of thing.  (I am increasingly grateful for my C&W/light opera kids now!) 

So there we were - battening down the hatches.  You see, the garage in next door's back yard, backs right onto our bedroom wall.  The fillings in my teeth were rattling in time to the bass beat.  Voices were also getting louder. The most popular word started with.....come one, you know already!

Anyway, about 1am, we thought we should try and get some sleep.  I took a couple of bigger pain pills, and the Maori, well, he can sleep on the back of a turtle, swimming in the Pacific, being chased by a Mako, in the middle of a tsunami.  At 2am, we were woken by what we now realise was the fence being broken down.  The fence is about 5 foot high, and made of tin and posts.  It was like an explosion and we both jumped out of bed.  I confess to being frightened out of my wits- and remember -I lived through a major earthquake (Newcastle), and the Boxing Day Tsunami, and the Blue Mountains bushfires, and even 2 trips to Afghanistan- and I was very frightened. 

There was a group (I wanted to say 'gang', but didn't want to unfairly influence you) of younger people - men and women - and they were fighting each other- they were screaming and one man was making noises as if he was being tortured.  They were on our back door- and one of them was trying to get inside.  Now, 20 years ago, I would have gone out and sorted it out, but as arthritis robs me of physical confidence, the Maori and I just came into the lounge room and hoped they would give it up.  I looked out the kitchen window, and there were about 6 people fighting just outside the window.  I was really violent and went on for over an hour.  The man was screaming and screaming.  I rang the local police station, but Murupara doesn't ahve a 24 hour manned station.  I rang the emergency number and spoke to a policewoman.  She asked me what I could hear now, and I told her I could hear some man getting a flogging with what sounded like a huge stick (turned out to be one of the broken fence posts).  She said I was the 3rd caller about this 'party', and she would talk to dispatch about it, thanked me and gave me a reference number in case it escalated.  I wanted to say it could only excalate into WWIII, but I am guessing she hears a lot of complaints, ergo her scale of upset was inverse to mine.  No police came - the hour+ drive from the nearest police station must have been prohibitive.  The Maori says they only come if someone has been killed.  I know there are children in that house.  So, there you go.  A baby was murdered near Hamilton last week, and the grandmother was demanding that people ring the police if they are worried about threats to children, but it didn't make any difference in this instance.  The music continued all night, but about 4am, we went to sleep exhausted.

The Maori was up early though, reviewing the damge.  A young man from across the road came and said he was going to fix the fence that 'those drinkers' had caused.  He did too - he came over and hammered a post up and the fence is ostensibly there.  The Maori thinks he was at the party, but we don't know.  It is quiet there at the moment (4pm).

We were glad that Mum isn't here - can you imagine how scary it would be for an 80 year old woman to be here by herself.  There is no help to call on - no police will come to save you.  Usually in the Western world- if you call police and ask for help- if you are a scared woman like I was last night (I was shaking), I know in Australia - the police will come.  We have always told our boys - if you are in trouble, call a policeman, he will help you.  But I can only assume, that here, they don't care so much about Murupuddlians.  They are not like our police.  I am going to kiss the first policeman I see when I get home- dang it - I can't wait that long- will you go and kiss a policeman/woman/both for me please?