In 1965 I was conscripted to work in the Head Office of the Department of Agriculture in Wellington – against my wishes. I purchased the first house I looked at in Dorset Way, Wilton, Wellington. I lived in it for one month before my wife saw it. I still live in it today.

         Joyce was in Auckland as we had a young son in Greenlane hospital. Before leaving we had set down our requirements for a Wellington home.

         It happened like this. We had built a new house in New Plymouth on a very large section. We had a river at the bottom of the section with a good swimming hole.

         Four bedrooms, handy to a good school, a view and not too far from the city.

         Houses were in short supply at that time.

7 Dorset Way was expensive but it met all our demands it was twice as expensive as the house we had built. The Way was a private cul-de-sac containing empty sections and a few houses.

          I asked my father’s brother, Uncle Len, to carry out a thorough inspection. His advice was to buy it! So I did.

         It was owned by a Mrs. Young who had rented the house to members of the National Orchestra -they were no gardeners. We had gorse growing in the front garden and blackberry and more gorse bushes at the bottom of the very large section, mainly of young re-growth native trees.

         I knew research had shown pastures on this soil type responded to molybdenum- superphosphate so I purchased some and top-dressed the section. I don’t know if it made any difference but today we have a section of very healthy native trees.

         I drove to Wellington with our two eldest children, Robyn and Graeme.  Our cat was nailed up in a box, meowing pathetically.

         We camped on the floor of the lounge as our furniture had not arrived.

         We were all stressed as I had a new job and the children had no maternal support and started in a city school that was very different from the small country school they had attended in Taranaki.

         Shortly after the section next door was purchased by an ex-Polish army officer, Mr. Sobien. He built himself a little cottage.  He lived in it for many years but he never finished it. It was painted in a cheap marine paint a bright orange-yellow and overgrown with trees and ivy.

After he died his son came over from Western Australia and put it on the market.

         Next door to the cottage lived John Styles and his wife. He was the Assistant Principle of the government correspondence school.

         He was a Second World War veteran and had been wounded while fighting in the Middle East. I got on well with him. I mowed his lawns and did odd jobs for him. He was concerned that a rough element would move into the cottage.

         He asked me to buy it. I said I didn’t have the money as I was trying to pay off our house mortgage.

         He said I will lend you the money at Post Office interest rates if you will buy it. So I did and over the years periodically I would get in an architect and a builder and add on to the cottage.

         I ultimately became John’s trustee. After his wife died he showed me where he had hidden her jewels – in a soft leather purse. He placed the purse in the pocket of a sports jacket.

         After his death, I was concerned his clothes would be dumped so I went for a house search. I found the purse under his bed. He must have thrown it there before he died. I took a purse with the jewels into the Public Trust office, the people handling his estate. I asked for a receipt. They valued them on the spot and gave me a detailed receipt.

         Sometime later I had a letter from his southern relatives accusing me of stealing his wife’s jewels. I had much pleasure in copying the receipt and sending it down to them. They were greatly embarrassed.

         On the other side of our house was a double section. This was purchased by a developer and he build five apartments in it. These were sold to Kainga Ora,  the Government Housing Corporation.

         All was well for many years. We had some great neighbours but over recent years they moved in tenants with gang connections.

         Some sold drugs and one bunch went up the street and smashed the car windows. Another group was involved in a murder in Karori so police raids became frequent with dogs and guns.

         One family moved out of the street until life returned to normal.

         My fence was falling down between the two properties and thanks to Charles, our son-in-law from Nelson, he called quotes and had a new fence installed by a family of Vietnamese.

         Having worked in Hanoi and Haiphong I was pro-Vietnamese and was most impressed with the fence they built.

         Did I make a good choice buying on impulse in Dorset Way? Yes, I am sure I did. The lower part of the house became the office of Moss Associates Ltd, a publishing and training company.

         We produced 96 editions of our books. They were published by 31 publishers in 18 languages.         Over 2,000 people attended my workshops in many countries.

         The garden is now full of trees and birds once we and the city council got rid of the possums. Yes,  it’s a great place to live and listen to the birds.

Geoffrey Moss(mossassociates.co.nz)