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Sometimes it takes a friend to kick your dreams into high gear. Alicia Resnik always wanted to publish a children’s book, but work and her three sons kept her busy. And then she had a talk with her best friend, Silvia Darling. The Spanish teacher, w...

Zina Zuill’s heart broke the day her son brought home a report card full of Fs. No matter how much Solomon agonised over school work, his teachers kept asking him to “work harder”. “I fell into the trap of thinking he was just lazy,” said Dr Zuill. ...

Matthew Nester fainted when his doctor mentioned removing his large intestine. It was a solution to the bowel disease that had plagued him since he was 22. It meant walking around with a bag full of his waste, for the rest of his life. “Like a lot of...

Edith Eve almost stopped traffic the day she took her bus driving test. Heads swivelled and people pointed as she drove along the North Shore. It was 1969. “They just couldn’t believe there was a woman driving the bus,” the 81-year-old said. “When we...

Once upon a time Disco 40 had the hippest boogie in town. The line outside stretched for blocks down Front Street. Inside, Harvey Wallbangers flowed and cool cats like John Lennon and Burt Reynolds made appearances. The doors are closed now, but fa...

If you’re looking for a new way to get fit, you might want to dig out your high heels. Geisha Chin’s classes show how to use stilettos to “feel the burn”. “Dancing in heels is not as difficult as people think,” she said. “We spend a lot of time break...

Sedona-Sky Duffy loves everything about being on stage: the nervous excitement, the lights, the clapping. The 13-year-old is singing her first solo in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Magic of the Musicals next month. Surprisingly, she wasn’t always quite so en...

Jane Bothello was surprised the day her father gave up driving. Out of the blue he announced he wouldn’t renew his driver’s licence and refused to say why. “He was really evasive,” Mrs Bothello said. “We thought maybe he’d gotten lost on the way home...

Jakob Leeuw fell madly in love with Maria Cabral the first time he saw her. She was at work, selling souvenirs in Riihilouma’s, and wasn’t at all impressed by the Dutchman’s sense of style. Plus, at more than 6ft tall, he towered well above her 4ft 9...

Barbara Lambert had always loved children and prayed for a big family. Still, she wasn’t quite expecting to have 13. “When I prayed I didn’t mean that many,” the 90-year-old laughed. As it turned out, however, having a large family was a blessing for...