WEBVTT
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Okay, we are recording, so I am here with Daddy.
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Daddy was a literal happy road.
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And um predominantly worked in security during this time, so Dani, tell us a little bit about yourself.
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What would you like to know?
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Well, where'd you grow up?
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Um I was born in Pon in Ponsonby.
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Yeah.
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Moved out to Penrose.
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Started my schooling at the Oranga Primary.
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And I ended up at the Odahu Um College.
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So that's basically priming up to then.
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Married children.
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First marriage, three three girls, all in their sixties now.
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How old are you?
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I'm 82.
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82 and still working.
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Still working?
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Still working the road.
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My own business, yes.
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Yeah, doing security.
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Mm-hmm.
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What do you think has changed in the in your was it 30, 40 years during K-Road?
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Uh no, K Road's around about uh 18 years in total.
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Okay, and what do you think has changed in that time?
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Well, K Road has for some reason has always been sort of everyone wants to come to K Road.
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Do their thing, say I've been there, done that, heard about this, whatever.
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But lately with the recession, uh things have changed.
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People are now more troublemakers, homeless.
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Um shops can't keep up with the lack of turnover and they're closing down.
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Yeah, Lunchau, the supermarket's closing down.
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Yeah.
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Scallery is clo has closed.
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The little cafe there, which I would have thought would be a viable business.
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And the Mass Save is closing down.
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Do you talk to the business owners about, you know, why they're closing down or I well I don't know everybody.
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Um I have a lot to do with Mass Save because he's he's right next to where I'm I work on a daily basis.
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And it's very sad because he's had a lot of years there.
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They will be missed.
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They yeah.
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And the poor bugger, if I can say that, he's got his business up for 50-70% discount, and they're still robbing the guy.
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You know?
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I can't tolerate that.
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I I'm absolutely prebagas about it all.
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Do you think I mean recently you told me about how you've been doing the George Courts building for a number of years, and just in the last month, it's got pretty feral.
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Yes.
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Um, because of the situation of homelessness and uh the recession, etc., people losing their jobs, whatever, there's more and more of those people that are on the streets, and they're now so badly off they've got to live, they want to take.
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What's the worst thing you've ever seen?
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Um, one instance in that particular building, about four years ago, a local girl, street girl, tailgated a car into the into the um car park.
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And they have uh trolleys in there for the tenants to bring their groceries from from the say black limb cow or whatever.
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And um when I went to do my 11 o'clock check, I heard noises in the car park, and I just happened to have turned round the corner, and there she was a trolley full of goodies.
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So I rang the police, said I met you at Mercury Lane main door, two cars arrived, five policemen, and we went inside.
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And as soon as she saw them all walking towards her, she started screaming and crying, and I'm not doing any wrong, and all this sort of carry-on.
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But it turns out she had about$10,000 worth of product in those food trolley.
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Yeah.
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One car had not been locked by the owner, two guitar speakers, two guitars, one gold-plated uh saxophone.
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She had that in the trolley.
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Other cars that weren't locked, uh, clothing and all the little money coins from the box.
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And if she hadn't got onto the street with that, I think she would have given it all away for a dozen pack of beer.
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Wow.
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That's held, yeah.
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But luckily she never got away with it.
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So it was all handed back to the owners.
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Yeah.
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Do you ever find yourself in, you know, like a bit of danger, a bit of conflict, you know, where your personal safety might be put at Russ?
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I'm aware of it.
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And more so now, because of I'm out on the streets at 5 30 in the morning.
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I'm driving around certain areas till 3 o'clock in the morning, and I'm incognito because if I was I don't even wear my yellow vest on K Road any longer because I'm a target.
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Yeah.
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So that's the reason why I drive a mufty car, I wear mufty clothes, and everything's done under cover, so to speak.
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Yeah.
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Everyone on K Road knows me, usually, they they put it up with us.
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Um, we don't interfere, but I'm always wary.
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Attitudes can change, the desperation can change.
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Yeah.
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Desperate people do desperate things.
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So um really do those bikes really have to be that note.
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In case you're wondering, audience, we end up filming, uh recording this in my office in the Lundshaw Food Court, which is um sponsored by May Shaw, lovely lady indeed, and proprietor of the Lundshaw Food Court.
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But if you want to support what we're doing, remember check us out on patreon.com forward slash K Rogue Chronicle.
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Um you can make a modest donation there, and then that's where we load all the um stuff that's a bit too risque for a public audience or or just maybe is a bit shit.
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Um thanks to my sponsors, the White Lady, the World of Maternal Local Board, uh PC Pastor, Lifewise Methodist Church, um, but back to Dave, 80-something years old, not out, still patrolling the security of Kalangahupi Road, and giving us a bit of an insight into his world.
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Now, with the homelessness situation, do you ever find you know you come across people sleeping where they shouldn't be, and you you have to deal with that, or yeah, they they're sleeping in a lot of the doorways.
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Even my my doorways, I've got to get in, I've got to say, excuse me, guys, I've got to move you out, I've got to open up, and blah, blah.
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They get agitated, they're slow, they don't want to do it.
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Yeah.
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And the end result is look, if you don't move, I've only got one thing I have to do, and that's call the police.
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So they ever get aggro?
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Some do.
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Yes, yeah.
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Um there's a lot of new blood come in.
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Yeah, there's but they're always new blood coming.
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Yeah, but I mean more so, um, and and we have frictions.
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I've seen frictions between outstanding locals with the new blood, and they've there's there's problems between them and all that.
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But I mean, that's life.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Do you think the 501s, the uh Australian deportees, have had an impact on the level of violent crime and around C Rod?
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Well, I personally haven't heard about too much of that, but um I've caught, as I say, I've caught people in my buildings.
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Um one particular building's had three robberies in in one month, and they haven't had one for three, three or four years.
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Yeah.
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So people are getting desperate.
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If you had uh if it was, you know, if you had plenty of money and it was like, you know, time to retire, what was your ideal retirement look like?
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Well, I've walked worked since I was 14.
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I had two jobs.
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What was the first job?
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Uh delivering New Zealand Heralds to houses.
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I know that, yeah.
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At 14 I was doing that.
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After college, I went to the local Four Square in old Papatotte, and I was delivering all the food parcels to the houses that the wives of of the families had bought.
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In those days, all the doors were unlocked.
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There was nothing locked.
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I could walk into their houses, put the dairy foods into the fridge, rest on the table, and walk away.
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But you couldn't do that now.
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Hell no.
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No.
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No.
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So that was it for 14 years.
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Yeah.
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I can't even get my um Walworth's guy to bring my groceries in.
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But we had with um that was part of life in those days.
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They they had those big bicycles with the big whisk uh baskets on the front.
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Yeah, I remember that.
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Load them up and off I go.
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Did you ever do a milk round?
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I worked for the dairy company when when I was 19.
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Yeah.
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I was I got married, and I had to buy a house, so I had two jobs when I was 19.
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Right.
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One was for servicing the local um milk vendors to the houses, their loads of milk, bringing all the empties back and signing them out.
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And then within an hour of closure, I was working for uh East Tamaki uh chicken farm.
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And I I was working from 10 o'clock at night till seven, eight o'clock in the morning for the dairy company.
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Then I'd start at 8:30 for the chicken farm, finish at 3, 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
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And that was my lifestyle.
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You're a worker, you're a grafter.
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Yeah.
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So what's an average day like for you now?
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Well, I I work seven days a week, yeah.
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And it's for myself.
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I don't have staff any longer because with the recession I lost one client who was 80% of my business.
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Yeah.
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And that was a construction company I had worked for for about um 22 years.
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And the strange thing was when I was working on K Road as security, walking up and down the streets, the iron bank building was being built by a company called McCreamy Construction.
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And I walked into their office one morning and I said, Hello, my name is David.
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I'm security for the C Rode business, blah, blah, blah.
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Do you think you'll want security for this building at nights, weekends, whatever?
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And they said, Yes, we will.
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Leave your card and we may get in touch with you.
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And I did.
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Nat's going back maybe 60, uh 20-something years.
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And I've been with them ever since.
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I've done about 125 buildings, but for the last nine, ten months I haven't had any very much work because of they're in recession as well.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, I've had a couple of um sponsors that are um really struggling to provide it that they're really struggling.
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And businesses are doing it.
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So it seems to me a lot of people are holding out their um hopes for the new railway station.
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Do you think that's gonna bring in the kind of revenue that that people are hoping for?
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I don't I don't think so.
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That's my open uh opinion.
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I mean, I I I don't I think if you've got a business in that railway station, I don't think you're gonna be getting many clients.
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They'll still use the K Road Main Street venues.
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I they may go and have a look and a nosy, but I think eventually they'll go back to the the old places' haunts and and utilize them.
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So, what does it take to be a good security guard?
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Well, when I started, I I was looking for a job and I read the newspaper and it says security guard wanted for a company called the Building Depot in Mount Wellington Highway.
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No, they went bust about a year after I started.
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But they had uh businesses all over New Zealand.
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Yeah, I remember them.
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You know, home products and timber and concrete and all that sort of stuff.
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A bit like RCMs.
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Yeah, my job was to walk around the warehouse making sure people weren't trying to steal things and checking cars and invoices when they left.
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And uh when they finished, I uh looked around again for work and I came to K Road to a company called Chubb Security.
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They were based in K Road.
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And I got the job, and the first job they gave me was go to Takapuna, nine o'clock in the morning till five o'clock at night, and you'll stand in front of the BNZ Bank greeting all the customers and saying thank you for coming and making sure that everything's safe.
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Yeah.
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I lasted four hours.
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Lunchtime I rang the new boss, and I said, Sorry, mate, I said, this is not for me, I have to go.
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So I'll finish my shift, but if you can replace me by tomorrow morning.
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And he said no.
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He said, tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, you'll be at my office, please.
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So I ended up there, and he said, We've been looking for people like you, and we don't want to lose you.
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So he said, I want you to go to this address.
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There's a senior officer down there, and lo and behold, it was an American consulate in Custom Street.
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So that's where they put me.
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And um, my job was to, when people came in, I had to check them with a metal machine and take all their all their belongings into a tray, put in a cupboard, and now go through this little walkway.
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Yeah, you're clear, you can go into the room, or you oh you still got some metal on you.
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Oh, it's your belt, so we'll have to take your belt off.
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I'll leave your belt because I know it's the belt, and that that sort of thing, you know.
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Yeah.
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And then up on the roof, I had to go and check all the uh little uh electrical areas where it could be people gonna.
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They were very fanatical with this, the Americans.
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Well, I bet they were, because I mean it's close, like it's a target.
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Yeah, and then down in the car parks, long-handled mirrors under the cars looking for gunpowder and bombs.
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I mean, I never heard of this before, but I had to do it.
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And then I had to wipe cloth on the um bonnets, openings of the car, the petrol um cap area, the door handles, and then we put into a machine for gunpowder residue and all that sort of thing on a three-day um um time or day, you know.
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So that's how the Americans were, and that's going back 20 odd years, um, so they're probably worse now.
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Yeah.
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So do you think you're ritualized sometimes so sometimes soon?
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Well, after the heart attack I had two years ago, the surgeon came up to see me, and he came up.
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I had to stay there for two months because I was in the lift when it happened, and the lift photographs showed me getting up off the floor four times, and what I had done is damage to my little the little guitar called femurs or something or other in the ankle area.
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Yeah, and if you break those, you could be in a wheelchair, not able to walk, whatever.
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So I was in plaster for two months, couldn't walk anywhere, everywhere was by wheelchair, sleeping in there.
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I lost 22 kilos.
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And he came three times to see me, and a nurse said to me once, she said, he only usually comes once a time after the operation to talk to his customer.
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But he's been here three times with you.
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Unusual.
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But anyway, I thought that was a privilege.
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He said to me, Your legs are your main object of survival.
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And I thought, well, I thought it would be the heart, other other organs, whatever.
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And he said, Oh, yeah, they do come into play if you if you're damaged or whatever, you can die and all that, but the legs will keep you alive.
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And I and he explained it to me.
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Movement, interventions, people, um stimulation, because you can move around and do things.
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If you sit in the house, nowhere to go, nothing to do, the brain will die, maybe Alzheimer's or whatever, and within two years, most people will die.
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So, so long as I can walk and talk, I would like to keep working.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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You enjoy your job?
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I have well, yeah.
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I mean, it's been for many years.
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A lot of things.
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Um, just to bring up one, about seven or eight years ago, there was a big fight on K Road, Mercury Lane, Pitt Street Corner.
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Two gangs, island gangs.
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They decided to come to K Road to have their altercation.
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Four o'clock in the morning, that's when they were going to start the fight.
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And I there was two of us walking around K Road doing our patrols.
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And I said to my associate, Have you noticed groups of island boys?
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He said, Yeah.
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You know, three over here, ten over there, and another flight or six over here.
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And I said, It's unusual.
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Doesn't look right, but we we just put up with it.
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Four o'clock, that was the whistle.
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Two groups went bang into each other.
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I roughly counted about 70 involved.
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Pitt Street, I counted seven people had been knocked out on the road, so cars couldn't move in or out of Pitt Street.
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The police took 20 minutes to get there, and um it started on K Road Pitt Street Corner and it ends up down the bottom of Vincent Street.
00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:11.279
And it was just bedlam.
00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:16.480
But the one thing I we noticed, we were wearing yellow vests with security.
00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:21.599
We were never once attacked or punched or anything.
00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:27.839
They just ran past us, they had only the gangs in of each other in their minds.
00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:33.839
So we we I couldn't believe that or security, this bang them, you know, hit them or whatever.
00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:34.880
Never happened.
00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:39.279
We got away unscathed, and we were sort of walking around amongst them.
00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:44.559
Um and that was the biggest fight I've ever seen on K Row.
00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:46.880
What's your opinion of the police?
00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:48.079
Of who?
00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:49.359
The police.
00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:55.279
Well, I've I've always respected them and um they've respected me.
00:19:55.359 --> 00:20:00.400
They've they've actually um rung me for information over the years.
00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:07.839
I even was um put up for an award by the police for service to the Auckland community.
00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:14.799
Oh wow at the um Vodafone Center in Manichau.
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:20.480
That's where there were there must have been three, four thousand people and looked like a picture theatre, big building.
00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:28.640
And all the police were getting their medals and service record and whatever, and there was five public.
00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:32.160
I was one of those five, and I was the last to go through.
00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:44.079
But one apparently one guy stopped someone from jumping off a motorway bridge, which would have killed him because he would have gone eight, ten feet down, or he would have been hit by a car.
00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:48.240
Another one through someone drowning, that's what I can remember.
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:52.640
And I was the last winning to receive my award for service to the community.
00:20:53.440 --> 00:21:00.960
And um, out of the boo, but I know I I accept it gratefully, and it's still still at home.
00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:02.799
So, yeah.
00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:04.079
Sorry.
00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:07.359
Yeah.
00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:10.960
So what is what is it you love about K Road?
00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:12.799
What is it you hate about K Road?
00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:20.559
I never had, even though I lived in Auckland, K Road never came into my mind or my knowledge or anything until I applied for the job.
00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:21.359
Yeah.
00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:24.640
Um with with Chubb.
00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:33.839
And the th and the reason I got into K Road business was the fact that the guard was employed by Chubb to the K Road business.
00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:40.480
He was sick, and they rang me and said, Can you work K Road in the absence of the guard?
00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:47.440
It could be a week, and then you'll go back to the customs um American uh consulate.
00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:48.480
I said, Okay.
00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:54.079
So um I went there for about five days, left.
00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:55.680
Thank you very much, they said.
00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:56.720
Well done.
00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:03.839
And then I got a phone call from the building uh somebody the Association manager, can you come up and meet me for a lunch?
00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:06.160
And I said, Yes, I can.
00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:07.359
I get an hour for lunch.
00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:10.160
So I came up here and she offered me the job.
00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:13.680
Um Chubb had it.
00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:15.680
They were dissatisfied.
00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:19.599
They wanted to go into their own employment of their own staff.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:25.440
And they thought I was the person for the job, and from that point on, I I I worked 18 years with them.
00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:26.720
Yeah, okay, sure, sure.
00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:27.839
Yeah.
00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:35.680
And um one, two, three, three managers I I um worked for.
00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:48.319
And um I still um I'm not working for the K-Road any longer, but I am working for private enterprises that I that I have done.
00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:48.880
Yeah.
00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:49.359
Well.
00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:59.680
Dave, I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule and um sharing some insights into K-Road security, Kiranga Hubberry Road Security.
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.079
Um, is there anything you want to add before we wrap up?
00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:09.359
Um all I can say is um I've enjoyed it.
00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:11.920
I've been respected for it.
00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:18.319
When I when I actually left K Road, the a lot of the homeless people came up and shook my hand.
00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:22.160
Because I wasn't a vindictive to them.
00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:26.319
I said, if you do something in front of me, I'll have the police here.
00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:28.160
I don't care what you do behind my back.
00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:28.559
Sure.
00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:30.000
That was my attitude.
00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:33.680
And it seemed to rub off in the right way with them.
00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:41.599
And even now, today, all those years later, when I see them, they'd say, Kiara, karmatua, whatever.
00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:45.200
Alright, Dave, that's us.
00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:51.039
Thank you very much for for coming in and sharing your stories, more stories.
00:23:51.200 --> 00:24:08.160
And hey, like, just a reminder to our audience if you do like what we're doing, please support us on patreon.com forward slash K Row Chronicle so we can keep bringing you more quality community content from the Kelona Happy community, just like this.
00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:09.039
Thank you very much.
00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:19.280
Okay, we are recording, so I am here with Daddy.
00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:23.760
Daddy was a literal happy road.
00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:34.640
And um predominantly worked in security during this time, so Dani, tell us a little bit about yourself.
00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:37.039
What would you like to know?
00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:39.520
Well, where'd you grow up?
00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:43.759
Um I was born in Pon in Ponsonby.
00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:44.719
Yeah.
00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:48.960
Moved out to Penrose.
00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:54.320
Started my schooling at the Oranga Primary.
00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:59.520
And I ended up at the Odahu Um College.
00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:04.400
So that's basically priming up to then.
00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:06.000
Married children.
00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:12.000
First marriage, three three girls, all in their sixties now.
00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:13.200
How old are you?
00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:14.400
I'm 82.
00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:16.319
82 and still working.
00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:17.120
Still working?
00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:18.560
Still working the road.
00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:19.760
My own business, yes.
00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:21.280
Yeah, doing security.
00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:21.840
Mm-hmm.
00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:27.840
What do you think has changed in the in your was it 30, 40 years during K-Road?
00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:33.680
Uh no, K Road's around about uh 18 years in total.
00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:37.920
Okay, and what do you think has changed in that time?
00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:44.480
Well, K Road has for some reason has always been sort of everyone wants to come to K Road.
00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:48.879
Do their thing, say I've been there, done that, heard about this, whatever.
00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:55.760
But lately with the recession, uh things have changed.
00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:02.719
People are now more troublemakers, homeless.
00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:10.560
Um shops can't keep up with the lack of turnover and they're closing down.
00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:13.599
Yeah, Lunchau, the supermarket's closing down.
00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:14.000
Yeah.
00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:16.960
Scallery is clo has closed.
00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:20.800
The little cafe there, which I would have thought would be a viable business.
00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.280
And the Mass Save is closing down.
00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:31.759
Do you talk to the business owners about, you know, why they're closing down or I well I don't know everybody.
00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:39.520
Um I have a lot to do with Mass Save because he's he's right next to where I'm I work on a daily basis.
00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:42.240
And it's very sad because he's had a lot of years there.
00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:43.439
They will be missed.
00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:44.319
They yeah.
00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:54.400
And the poor bugger, if I can say that, he's got his business up for 50-70% discount, and they're still robbing the guy.
00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:55.199
You know?
00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:57.120
I can't tolerate that.
00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:00.879
I I'm absolutely prebagas about it all.
00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:12.319
Do you think I mean recently you told me about how you've been doing the George Courts building for a number of years, and just in the last month, it's got pretty feral.
00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:13.599
Yes.
00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:30.319
Um, because of the situation of homelessness and uh the recession, etc., people losing their jobs, whatever, there's more and more of those people that are on the streets, and they're now so badly off they've got to live, they want to take.
00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:32.639
What's the worst thing you've ever seen?
00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:49.039
Um, one instance in that particular building, about four years ago, a local girl, street girl, tailgated a car into the into the um car park.
00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:58.800
And they have uh trolleys in there for the tenants to bring their groceries from from the say black limb cow or whatever.
00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:09.280
And um when I went to do my 11 o'clock check, I heard noises in the car park, and I just happened to have turned round the corner, and there she was a trolley full of goodies.
00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:19.199
So I rang the police, said I met you at Mercury Lane main door, two cars arrived, five policemen, and we went inside.
00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:27.279
And as soon as she saw them all walking towards her, she started screaming and crying, and I'm not doing any wrong, and all this sort of carry-on.
00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:33.600
But it turns out she had about$10,000 worth of product in those food trolley.
00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:34.079
Yeah.
00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:43.839
One car had not been locked by the owner, two guitar speakers, two guitars, one gold-plated uh saxophone.
00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:45.759
She had that in the trolley.
00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:52.319
Other cars that weren't locked, uh, clothing and all the little money coins from the box.
00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:59.519
And if she hadn't got onto the street with that, I think she would have given it all away for a dozen pack of beer.
00:04:59.680 --> 00:04:59.920
Wow.
00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:01.680
That's held, yeah.
00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:03.920
But luckily she never got away with it.
00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:07.040
So it was all handed back to the owners.
00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:07.519
Yeah.
00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:15.199
Do you ever find yourself in, you know, like a bit of danger, a bit of conflict, you know, where your personal safety might be put at Russ?
00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:16.800
I'm aware of it.
00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:23.040
And more so now, because of I'm out on the streets at 5 30 in the morning.
00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:38.560
I'm driving around certain areas till 3 o'clock in the morning, and I'm incognito because if I was I don't even wear my yellow vest on K Road any longer because I'm a target.
00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:39.360
Yeah.
00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:51.600
So that's the reason why I drive a mufty car, I wear mufty clothes, and everything's done under cover, so to speak.
00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:52.160
Yeah.
00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:57.120
Everyone on K Road knows me, usually, they they put it up with us.
00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:01.120
Um, we don't interfere, but I'm always wary.
00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:04.879
Attitudes can change, the desperation can change.
00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:05.360
Yeah.
00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:07.680
Desperate people do desperate things.
00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:13.360
So um really do those bikes really have to be that note.
00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:30.160
In case you're wondering, audience, we end up filming, uh recording this in my office in the Lundshaw Food Court, which is um sponsored by May Shaw, lovely lady indeed, and proprietor of the Lundshaw Food Court.
00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:37.920
But if you want to support what we're doing, remember check us out on patreon.com forward slash K Rogue Chronicle.
00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:49.439
Um you can make a modest donation there, and then that's where we load all the um stuff that's a bit too risque for a public audience or or just maybe is a bit shit.
00:06:49.680 --> 00:07:13.839
Um thanks to my sponsors, the White Lady, the World of Maternal Local Board, uh PC Pastor, Lifewise Methodist Church, um, but back to Dave, 80-something years old, not out, still patrolling the security of Kalangahupi Road, and giving us a bit of an insight into his world.
00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:27.839
Now, with the homelessness situation, do you ever find you know you come across people sleeping where they shouldn't be, and you you have to deal with that, or yeah, they they're sleeping in a lot of the doorways.
00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:34.639
Even my my doorways, I've got to get in, I've got to say, excuse me, guys, I've got to move you out, I've got to open up, and blah, blah.
00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:38.480
They get agitated, they're slow, they don't want to do it.
00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:38.639
Yeah.
00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:43.759
And the end result is look, if you don't move, I've only got one thing I have to do, and that's call the police.
00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:45.600
So they ever get aggro?
00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:46.879
Some do.
00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:48.160
Yes, yeah.
00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:52.720
Um there's a lot of new blood come in.
00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:55.120
Yeah, there's but they're always new blood coming.
00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:59.120
Yeah, but I mean more so, um, and and we have frictions.
00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:07.279
I've seen frictions between outstanding locals with the new blood, and they've there's there's problems between them and all that.
00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:09.439
But I mean, that's life.
00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:10.560
Yeah.
00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:11.360
Yeah.
00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:19.759
Do you think the 501s, the uh Australian deportees, have had an impact on the level of violent crime and around C Rod?
00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:32.159
Well, I personally haven't heard about too much of that, but um I've caught, as I say, I've caught people in my buildings.
00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:40.320
Um one particular building's had three robberies in in one month, and they haven't had one for three, three or four years.
00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:40.960
Yeah.
00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:44.000
So people are getting desperate.
00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:53.039
If you had uh if it was, you know, if you had plenty of money and it was like, you know, time to retire, what was your ideal retirement look like?
00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:57.120
Well, I've walked worked since I was 14.
00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:58.399
I had two jobs.
00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:00.000
What was the first job?
00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:02.720
Uh delivering New Zealand Heralds to houses.
00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:03.759
I know that, yeah.
00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:05.279
At 14 I was doing that.
00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:16.639
After college, I went to the local Four Square in old Papatotte, and I was delivering all the food parcels to the houses that the wives of of the families had bought.
00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:19.440
In those days, all the doors were unlocked.
00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:20.320
There was nothing locked.
00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:26.480
I could walk into their houses, put the dairy foods into the fridge, rest on the table, and walk away.
00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:29.279
But you couldn't do that now.
00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:30.240
Hell no.
00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:30.799
No.
00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:31.279
No.
00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:33.360
So that was it for 14 years.
00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:33.679
Yeah.
00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:38.000
I can't even get my um Walworth's guy to bring my groceries in.
00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:41.919
But we had with um that was part of life in those days.
00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:45.440
They they had those big bicycles with the big whisk uh baskets on the front.
00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:46.320
Yeah, I remember that.
00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:47.919
Load them up and off I go.
00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:50.320
Did you ever do a milk round?
00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:54.399
I worked for the dairy company when when I was 19.
00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:55.120
Yeah.
00:09:55.440 --> 00:10:01.360
I was I got married, and I had to buy a house, so I had two jobs when I was 19.
00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:01.840
Right.
00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:13.600
One was for servicing the local um milk vendors to the houses, their loads of milk, bringing all the empties back and signing them out.
00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:21.200
And then within an hour of closure, I was working for uh East Tamaki uh chicken farm.
00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:28.879
And I I was working from 10 o'clock at night till seven, eight o'clock in the morning for the dairy company.
00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:35.039
Then I'd start at 8:30 for the chicken farm, finish at 3, 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:37.120
And that was my lifestyle.
00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:39.279
You're a worker, you're a grafter.
00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:40.080
Yeah.
00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:43.279
So what's an average day like for you now?
00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:46.320
Well, I I work seven days a week, yeah.
00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:48.080
And it's for myself.
00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:55.279
I don't have staff any longer because with the recession I lost one client who was 80% of my business.
00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:55.679
Yeah.
00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:02.559
And that was a construction company I had worked for for about um 22 years.
00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:16.240
And the strange thing was when I was working on K Road as security, walking up and down the streets, the iron bank building was being built by a company called McCreamy Construction.
00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:20.480
And I walked into their office one morning and I said, Hello, my name is David.
00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:23.840
I'm security for the C Rode business, blah, blah, blah.
00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:29.519
Do you think you'll want security for this building at nights, weekends, whatever?
00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:31.039
And they said, Yes, we will.
00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:34.720
Leave your card and we may get in touch with you.
00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:35.840
And I did.
00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:42.240
Nat's going back maybe 60, uh 20-something years.
00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:45.519
And I've been with them ever since.
00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:55.039
I've done about 125 buildings, but for the last nine, ten months I haven't had any very much work because of they're in recession as well.
00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:55.440
Yeah.
00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:01.840
Yeah, I've had a couple of um sponsors that are um really struggling to provide it that they're really struggling.
00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:04.399
And businesses are doing it.
00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:11.120
So it seems to me a lot of people are holding out their um hopes for the new railway station.
00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:15.039
Do you think that's gonna bring in the kind of revenue that that people are hoping for?
00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:16.480
I don't I don't think so.
00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:18.559
That's my open uh opinion.
00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:27.440
I mean, I I I don't I think if you've got a business in that railway station, I don't think you're gonna be getting many clients.
00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:32.879
They'll still use the K Road Main Street venues.
00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:42.879
I they may go and have a look and a nosy, but I think eventually they'll go back to the the old places' haunts and and utilize them.
00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:47.919
So, what does it take to be a good security guard?
00:12:49.919 --> 00:13:02.159
Well, when I started, I I was looking for a job and I read the newspaper and it says security guard wanted for a company called the Building Depot in Mount Wellington Highway.
00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:06.480
No, they went bust about a year after I started.
00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:10.080
But they had uh businesses all over New Zealand.
00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:11.200
Yeah, I remember them.
00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:15.919
You know, home products and timber and concrete and all that sort of stuff.
00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:17.120
A bit like RCMs.
00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:26.240
Yeah, my job was to walk around the warehouse making sure people weren't trying to steal things and checking cars and invoices when they left.
00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:36.240
And uh when they finished, I uh looked around again for work and I came to K Road to a company called Chubb Security.
00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:39.279
They were based in K Road.
00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:58.720
And I got the job, and the first job they gave me was go to Takapuna, nine o'clock in the morning till five o'clock at night, and you'll stand in front of the BNZ Bank greeting all the customers and saying thank you for coming and making sure that everything's safe.
00:13:58.879 --> 00:13:59.200
Yeah.
00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:01.200
I lasted four hours.
00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:07.679
Lunchtime I rang the new boss, and I said, Sorry, mate, I said, this is not for me, I have to go.
00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:12.320
So I'll finish my shift, but if you can replace me by tomorrow morning.
00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:13.919
And he said no.
00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:17.679
He said, tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, you'll be at my office, please.
00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:26.080
So I ended up there, and he said, We've been looking for people like you, and we don't want to lose you.
00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:29.840
So he said, I want you to go to this address.
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:37.679
There's a senior officer down there, and lo and behold, it was an American consulate in Custom Street.
00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:40.720
So that's where they put me.
00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:56.000
And um, my job was to, when people came in, I had to check them with a metal machine and take all their all their belongings into a tray, put in a cupboard, and now go through this little walkway.
00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:00.320
Yeah, you're clear, you can go into the room, or you oh you still got some metal on you.
00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:03.039
Oh, it's your belt, so we'll have to take your belt off.
00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:07.919
I'll leave your belt because I know it's the belt, and that that sort of thing, you know.
00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:08.399
Yeah.
00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:16.000
And then up on the roof, I had to go and check all the uh little uh electrical areas where it could be people gonna.
00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:18.480
They were very fanatical with this, the Americans.
00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:21.840
Well, I bet they were, because I mean it's close, like it's a target.
00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:28.480
Yeah, and then down in the car parks, long-handled mirrors under the cars looking for gunpowder and bombs.
00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:32.159
I mean, I never heard of this before, but I had to do it.
00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:50.000
And then I had to wipe cloth on the um bonnets, openings of the car, the petrol um cap area, the door handles, and then we put into a machine for gunpowder residue and all that sort of thing on a three-day um um time or day, you know.
00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:57.039
So that's how the Americans were, and that's going back 20 odd years, um, so they're probably worse now.
00:15:58.000 --> 00:15:58.559
Yeah.
00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:02.240
So do you think you're ritualized sometimes so sometimes soon?
00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:12.000
Well, after the heart attack I had two years ago, the surgeon came up to see me, and he came up.
00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:31.519
I had to stay there for two months because I was in the lift when it happened, and the lift photographs showed me getting up off the floor four times, and what I had done is damage to my little the little guitar called femurs or something or other in the ankle area.
00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:35.919
Yeah, and if you break those, you could be in a wheelchair, not able to walk, whatever.
00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:42.799
So I was in plaster for two months, couldn't walk anywhere, everywhere was by wheelchair, sleeping in there.
00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:44.399
I lost 22 kilos.
00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:54.399
And he came three times to see me, and a nurse said to me once, she said, he only usually comes once a time after the operation to talk to his customer.
00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:56.399
But he's been here three times with you.
00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:57.360
Unusual.
00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:00.240
But anyway, I thought that was a privilege.
00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:06.640
He said to me, Your legs are your main object of survival.
00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:13.039
And I thought, well, I thought it would be the heart, other other organs, whatever.
00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:21.359
And he said, Oh, yeah, they do come into play if you if you're damaged or whatever, you can die and all that, but the legs will keep you alive.
00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:23.519
And I and he explained it to me.
00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:35.680
Movement, interventions, people, um stimulation, because you can move around and do things.
00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:46.400
If you sit in the house, nowhere to go, nothing to do, the brain will die, maybe Alzheimer's or whatever, and within two years, most people will die.
00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:52.000
So, so long as I can walk and talk, I would like to keep working.
00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:52.880
Yeah.
00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:53.519
Yeah.
00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:55.039
You enjoy your job?
00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:56.240
I have well, yeah.
00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:58.160
I mean, it's been for many years.
00:17:58.480 --> 00:17:59.359
A lot of things.
00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:06.880
Um, just to bring up one, about seven or eight years ago, there was a big fight on K Road, Mercury Lane, Pitt Street Corner.
00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:10.640
Two gangs, island gangs.
00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:14.160
They decided to come to K Road to have their altercation.
00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:19.759
Four o'clock in the morning, that's when they were going to start the fight.
00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:24.000
And I there was two of us walking around K Road doing our patrols.
00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:29.440
And I said to my associate, Have you noticed groups of island boys?
00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:31.039
He said, Yeah.
00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:35.359
You know, three over here, ten over there, and another flight or six over here.
00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:36.960
And I said, It's unusual.
00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:40.640
Doesn't look right, but we we just put up with it.
00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:43.440
Four o'clock, that was the whistle.
00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:46.160
Two groups went bang into each other.
00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:49.759
I roughly counted about 70 involved.
00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:57.200
Pitt Street, I counted seven people had been knocked out on the road, so cars couldn't move in or out of Pitt Street.
00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:08.400
The police took 20 minutes to get there, and um it started on K Road Pitt Street Corner and it ends up down the bottom of Vincent Street.
00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:11.279
And it was just bedlam.
00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:16.480
But the one thing I we noticed, we were wearing yellow vests with security.
00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:21.599
We were never once attacked or punched or anything.
00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:27.839
They just ran past us, they had only the gangs in of each other in their minds.
00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:33.839
So we we I couldn't believe that or security, this bang them, you know, hit them or whatever.
00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:34.880
Never happened.
00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:39.279
We got away unscathed, and we were sort of walking around amongst them.
00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:44.559
Um and that was the biggest fight I've ever seen on K Row.
00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:46.880
What's your opinion of the police?
00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:48.079
Of who?
00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:49.359
The police.
00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:55.279
Well, I've I've always respected them and um they've respected me.
00:19:55.359 --> 00:20:00.400
They've they've actually um rung me for information over the years.
00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:07.839
I even was um put up for an award by the police for service to the Auckland community.
00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:14.799
Oh wow at the um Vodafone Center in Manichau.
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:20.480
That's where there were there must have been three, four thousand people and looked like a picture theatre, big building.
00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:28.640
And all the police were getting their medals and service record and whatever, and there was five public.
00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:32.160
I was one of those five, and I was the last to go through.
00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:44.079
But one apparently one guy stopped someone from jumping off a motorway bridge, which would have killed him because he would have gone eight, ten feet down, or he would have been hit by a car.
00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:48.240
Another one through someone drowning, that's what I can remember.
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:52.640
And I was the last winning to receive my award for service to the community.
00:20:53.440 --> 00:21:00.960
And um, out of the boo, but I know I I accept it gratefully, and it's still still at home.
00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:02.799
So, yeah.
00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:04.079
Sorry.
00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:07.359
Yeah.
00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:10.960
So what is what is it you love about K Road?
00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:12.799
What is it you hate about K Road?
00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:20.559
I never had, even though I lived in Auckland, K Road never came into my mind or my knowledge or anything until I applied for the job.
00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:21.359
Yeah.
00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:24.640
Um with with Chubb.
00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:33.839
And the th and the reason I got into K Road business was the fact that the guard was employed by Chubb to the K Road business.
00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:40.480
He was sick, and they rang me and said, Can you work K Road in the absence of the guard?
00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:47.440
It could be a week, and then you'll go back to the customs um American uh consulate.
00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:48.480
I said, Okay.
00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:54.079
So um I went there for about five days, left.
00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:55.680
Thank you very much, they said.
00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:56.720
Well done.
00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:03.839
And then I got a phone call from the building uh somebody the Association manager, can you come up and meet me for a lunch?
00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:06.160
And I said, Yes, I can.
00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:07.359
I get an hour for lunch.
00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:10.160
So I came up here and she offered me the job.
00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:13.680
Um Chubb had it.
00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:15.680
They were dissatisfied.
00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:19.599
They wanted to go into their own employment of their own staff.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:25.440
And they thought I was the person for the job, and from that point on, I I I worked 18 years with them.
00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:26.720
Yeah, okay, sure, sure.
00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:27.839
Yeah.
00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:35.680
And um one, two, three, three managers I I um worked for.
00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:48.319
And um I still um I'm not working for the K-Road any longer, but I am working for private enterprises that I that I have done.
00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:48.880
Yeah.
00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:49.359
Well.
00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:59.680
Dave, I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule and um sharing some insights into K-Road security, Kiranga Hubberry Road Security.
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.079
Um, is there anything you want to add before we wrap up?
00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:09.359
Um all I can say is um I've enjoyed it.
00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:11.920
I've been respected for it.
00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:18.319
When I when I actually left K Road, the a lot of the homeless people came up and shook my hand.
00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:22.160
Because I wasn't a vindictive to them.
00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:26.319
I said, if you do something in front of me, I'll have the police here.
00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:28.160
I don't care what you do behind my back.
00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:28.559
Sure.
00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:30.000
That was my attitude.
00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:33.680
And it seemed to rub off in the right way with them.
00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:41.599
And even now, today, all those years later, when I see them, they'd say, Kiara, karmatua, whatever.
00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:45.200
Alright, Dave, that's us.
00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:51.039
Thank you very much for for coming in and sharing your stories, more stories.
00:23:51.200 --> 00:24:08.160
And hey, like, just a reminder to our audience if you do like what we're doing, please support us on patreon.com forward slash K Row Chronicle so we can keep bringing you more quality community content from the Kelona Happy community, just like this.
00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:09.039
Thank you very much.
