Letters to the Editor:
Waipawa’s Duck
TALLY-HO, what, old chums.
Let’s just sit down together and have a little chin-wag eh, about this terrible state of affairs.
You know of course what I’m speaking of – that god-awful duck in our main street.
I mean to say, it’s just isn’t cricket, what!
Who wants a hulking big yellow duck in their main street?
What will people think?
They will think we’re a bunch of juveniles who like to play around in the bathtub with our duckies – well, you know what I mean… It just isn’t up with our place in society – we deserve better than that!
But what can we do about it?
Word around the street is that some people actually LIKE that monstrosity!
Can you believe that?
They think it’s cute and adorable!
They like it because they think it’s quirky and no one else in New Zealand has one.
But tell me honestly, who else in New Zealand would want one?
Do we want cute and adorable? Something that people actually talk about?
Why can’t we have something a little more upper drawer, something with a bit more class and decorum? Something that merges into the background and never gets noticed.
Then we can hold our heads up high and say – yes, we are from Waipawa!
And yes, we do have taste and distinction. And No, I’ve never heard of anywhere with a big yellow duck, and who would want one?
Come on people, have another pink gin, and let’s show our class. Get rid of that duck!
Major Quackers
Waipawa
†
I FELT disappointed when I heard that Radio Pacific voted Wai and Pawa the worst eye sore in New Zealand.
If Waipawa didn’t have Pawa and Wai, Waipawa would look boring. They are a ray of sunshine.
When I see Pawa and Wai, it reminds me of home. It makes me feel happy.
You can sit on Wai and I like the colours.
They are made by a famous artist in Waipawa.
They are the best!
Campbell McLeod
Argyll East School
†
IT IS with great interest that we read the article in last week’s Mail.
We are horrified that the Waipawa duck has ‘won hands down as the most offensive ornament in the whole of New Zealand’.
Perhaps the reason is that the duck is that much talked about is the fact it is not in its natural environment.
We all know that ducks just love water. For ducks not to be in the proximity of water is unnatural and cruel.
Therefore, the ideal solution to the duck dilemma in Waipawa would be to transport the said duck, and place it beside the town’s swimming pool, where it would be sure to bring a smile and great pleasure to the faces of children and adults alike.
We note from the article that Jan Gosling was initially invited by Waipawa Chamber of Commerce to create the sculpture.
Now that the town has had a ‘facelift’, perhaps it would be an opportune time for her again to be invited, this time to create a more suitable icon –in keeping with the town’s main street.
We respectfully suggest that Waipawa residents be canvassed for their thoughts on an appropriate icon for their town.
Concerned animal lovers
Waipawa
†
What unadulterated snobbery.
To say that ‘Waipawa’s duck’ is the worst monument in a town, shows the complete lack of sophistication the person making the comment has.
Our duck is no worse than Paeroa’s large brown bottle, or Gore’s oversized trout.
We at least have ducks – can the other two towns say the same.
Lemon and Paeroa’s now bottled in Auckland and has been for some years.
More and more people are lining up to fish the Waipawa and its tributary the Tukituki while whose lining up to fish the once mighty Mataura are decreasing.
And if the person making the comment looked at overseas news occasionally, he or she would have seen that human excreta is now in some circles as ‘art’
We have a duck and as far as I’m concerned its shit hot.
M. Allard.
Waipawa