Andrew Dickens Afternoons

Here’s a little story about Pukekohe.Pukekohe, the eighteenth largest city in New Zealand with 31,000 souls, 50 kilometres from Auckland. Possesses the best soil on earth and an awful lot of lettuces and carrots. Birthplace of Possum Bourne, Jonah Lomu and my mother. Home of the mighty Counties rugby side.A friend of mine has just transferred from the Wellington newsroom to Auckland. She and her husband are looking for a place so until then she decided to get the best and cheapest renter she could and so she chose Pukekohe. It’s relatively cheap. There’s a train. The train costs her $7.50 and takes 1 hour and 10 minutes and in that hour she gets loads of work done. Occasionally she brings her car into town. It takes longer. The parking is more expensive and she gets no work done.So the other day she asks me why she has to change trains at Papakura which is 33 kilometres from Auckland. That’s because when the lines were electrified it was decided to save money to stop at Papakura. So two-thirds of the way home