If the Sprig and Fern’s quiz night ever features a section on national flags, Nigel Turnbull is the man you want on your team.
The flagpole beside his Avalon Court home represents a veritable United Nations, with the Motueka local working through his stash of international flags.
He changes them every four days, give or take.
“Hopefully no one has their diary set by my flag schedule,” he laughs. The flags are randomly pulled from his stash of about two dozen, and no political statements are being made.
“It’s a bit of fun,” the 76-year-old reckons. The community is enjoying it, too.
“Hey, flag man,” people call out to him. One person told him that their daughter wakes up every day to see what new flag it is, and his project gets plenty of comments from passers-by.
“When I’m pottering around, because of the flags, people interact,” he says. There are a few flags he won’t fly to avoid contention, and he reckons the only one that he has had any pushback on is that of the United States.
He also has a little personal hesitation in flying South Africa’s colours, but he laughs that this is more to do with rugby scores than politics.
The idea came about when a friend wrapped up his B&B in Marahau. He used to fly a flag corresponding with the nationality of his incoming guests, and after closing his business had no further use for them.
“I just flogged the idea, and all his flags, and his flagpole, and it’s been a really interesting thing to do.”
Nigel has lived in Motueka for 13 years and reckons he “should have come up here 70 years ago – it’s such a nice place”. He is legally blind and very content in his “little brick bungalow”, surrounded by neighbours.
So far his flag list includes Germany, Scotland, Ireland, Nepal, South Africa, France, Australia, South Korea, England, Argentina, Greece, Czech Republic, Wales, Singapore, Netherlands, America, Vatican City, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Japan, Malta and of course New Zealand. The only non-nation flags he has are the Silver Fern and a Christmas emblem.
He buys one a month from a specialised shop – Morocco is next on the list – and sometimes people give them flags they have at home. He would like to add some lesser-known items to his stash – the west coast of Africa is lacking, and he’s keen to get some more of central Asia’s “stans”.
With almost 200 national flags in the offing, the project will be bringing global colour to the community for a long time to come.
