Life on the West Island - Not all bad news

As the year draws to a close on the West Island, we are beset by stories of woe about cost of living, housing shortages or protests about wars and genocide. But not all news in 2023 was bad. News website Crikey looked back through its reports this year and discovered some heart-warming stories. Here are just three from the many they found:

Too much croaking?

An elderly lady in a small provincial French village was pottering around when she heard a smart rap at the door. Colette Ferry, 92, was met by two police officers, as The Guardian tells it, who informed her that they were there about a noise complaint. But it wasn't the result of late-night raving on the part of Ferry – this noise complaint was about frogs. Three frogs, in fact, which had taken up residence in Ferry's garden pond. A tetchy neighbour couldn't bear it for another night longer. Ze cannot sleep! Ze cannot think! All ze can hear is zat infernal croaking! An amused Ferry told a local radio station the frogs were just squatters who turned up one day to liven things up for everyone. And they did! “They're in and out of the water playing with my fish. It's my entertainment!” the nonagenarian joked. Until a man turned up at her door, raving about needing to get some shut-eye for his très important job. “But I did not expect the gendarmes,” Ferry said. “Especially not for frogs!” It's not clear whether the man was a newcomer, but it's an ongoing spat in rural France. Parisian city-slickers pour into the countryside for some rest and relaxation but are met with clanging church bells, groaning cows, clucky chickens and rowdy frogs. It got so bad that a judge had to rule that Maurice the rooster was permitted to crow in 2019, and in 2021 French politicians passed an actual law to protect the noises and smells of the countryside. Ferry doesn't care for a legal battle. Remove the frogs, if you please. In fact, she's looking forward to watching the police officers try. “That'll be fun …they jump,” she said with glee.

Comfort food

Melbourne woman Rebecca Millar was dutifully preparing her daughter's lunch at the end of 2022 when the little girl asked if she could have more in her lunchbox. It turned out Millar's daughter had noticed other kids in her class sitting idle as the others chowed down at lunchtime, so she had been sharing her food around — even though it left her pretty hungry at the end of the school day. Millar knew she had to do something for these kids. She lives with a disability — rheumatoid arthritis — and said she knows firsthand how a smidgeon of help feels enormous to someone in need. So she started sending her daughter to school with an extra lunchbox of food — just “bits and pieces so they had more to share around with those kids who weren't able to bring lunch”, Millar told SBS.
When a breakfast club at the school finished up in 2023, Millar realised some of these kids were going the entire day without eating a thing. “This was when everything escalated,” she said. So she launched a “no questions asked” food box, filled with corn chips, popcorn, Easy Mac, seaweed snacks, fruit, pizza crusts, fava beans, cheese, the works. There are even lovingly prepared batch-cooked homemade meals in there. Now about seven kids pop by her house to pick up the food for their friends and families. Millar also keeps a box of period supplies in her bathroom, free for whichever kid dares to dart in there. But it's getting harder — Millar said her grocery bill had jumped $120 a week in the past three months amid soaring inflation. (Footnote: after this story was published, Rebecca Millar received enough donations to pay for an entire school term and a half’s worth of food boxes.)

My shout

On a normal day, Kiwi brewers Larry Culleton​ and Scott Taylor are sworn enemies, spending their days working on a singular goal: to outsell each other and their competitors by creating, refining and marketing the perfect beer to Auckland and beyond. But after Cyclone Gabrielle tore through New Zealand's North Island — a once-in-a-century event — it wasn't a normal day. A despondent Culleton walked the halls of his Hawke's Bay Brewing Co lost for words about what to do. The storm had cost some 120,000 litres of beer, and it would take as long as three months before there'd be one more. Some rivals would've been clicking their heels in glee. “It's extremely competitive to get a tap in Auckland,” Culleton said. “We're fighting each other for 30% of the market.” But Taylor, who runs nearby Deep Creek Brewing, just wasn't that guy. So Taylor offered Culleton a “gentleman's agreement”. “I said: ‘We have a fresh batch of lager. How's about I match your pricing and I fill your taps for you until you're back on your feet?' ” as Taylor tells it. It would mean anyone seeking a pint of Hawke's Bay Brewery beer would be told the story and offered a pint of Deep Creek instead, rather than risking the pubs just binning the Hawke's tap altogether. Taylor added that Culleton, who had no power yet, could invoice his customers through their system too, if he wanted. Culleton was floored. “People don't do that kind of stuff in this industry,” he told Stuff. “They could have stepped back and watched us fall away - they are really, really good people.” Taylor was like, he was doing it tough, and it's so hard to get taps in this cut-throat industry. It was the “right thing to do”.

Life on the West Island wishes you a new year when not all of the news is bad.