New Zealand was a long way away in 1979; not so far now – a mouse click away, but then we felt distinctly isolated. I worked for the New Zealand government, for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, at the Soil Bureau, in Taita, just north of Lower Hutt, just south of Upper Hutt. I cycled down and up the Hutt Valley everyday.
My Guardian Weekly was delivered to my house in Miro Street; when I had read it I deposited it in the Soil Bureau library for all the pedologists and engineers to read.
It was remarkably popular. The Soil Bureau had an excellent library with a brilliant librarian. She quickly appreciated the value of this link to the world and it had a small table to itself with dedicated chair. When I left to work on Canadian soils, the pedologists quickly raised the subscription and the Weekly continued until the government, in a fit of misguided economy, closed down most of their science institutes.
I’m a retired soil scientist now, living in my bookshop on the diverse Narborough Road in Leicester. I have associate status at the university and I take the Weekly up every week to deposit in the common room of the School of Geography, Geology & the Environment. The format has changed but the value remains.
