PUFF ONE: IN WHICH A TEENAGER DISCOVERS THE MEANING OF HAPPINESS AT CLOWN SCHOOL
The year was nineteen hundred and eighty-six, and not being a ‘popular’ teenager I spent many an anxious afternoon considering how to occupy oneself during the upcoming and infinite period of the school holiday. My well-soiled Duran Duran LP was becoming a ghost of fantasies past, and I was starting to feel that there could in fact, be more to the world than my Wild Boys.
Behold, the planets aligned, and struck by an epiphany of future callings, I decided to travel far from the air-horns of Upper Hutt and embark to the happier pastures of the great river city to attend CLOWN SCHOOL.
It was my first adult experience. Living a whole week in Wanganui, away from fighting parents and immersed in a new realm of humanity. The highly-interesting-if-a-little-bit-lost; the deep thinking; the larger-than-life, and (at the time) the socially deviant. I felt, as any awkward teenager from Upper Hutt would feel – I had found ‘my kind’ – albeit with bright yellow balloon in hand.
Clown School taught me some valuable life-lasting lessons: Our absurd identities are made up of 100’s if not 1,000’s of equally absurd personalities; that at 30, 60 and 90 years of age, we are ALL still children; that everything we do contributes to a happiness we can only puzzle together in hindsight.
Fast forward 30 years, and my well-won Clown School skills have come back to re-afloat me…
PUFF TWO: IN WHICH ONE HAPPINESS POPS, AS TO INFLATE THE NEXT
The year is 2016. Thirty years on from Clown school, I have attended many other schools important to a happy life. I have sat on the knees of rock stars; I have been in a patient in a Bratislavian Hospital; I have learned to speak another language; I have built, lost, built and sold businesses; I have spilt my wine and learned to pour a full glass again.
Early 2017, I was in a sad-clown space. My makeup had run, my wine was spilt, the bottle was empty. But behold, the planets aligned again and once more, a bright yellow balloon would be offered - by a person named Tanya.
Anyone that needs an energy boost needs to meet a Tanya. She is the fizzing tonic for being in a sad space. the Tesla of opportunity, she literally sparks with ideas to be realised. Tanya is known by many as the person responsible for THE tourism hub that is Martinborough Wine Merchants - If you need to know what to see, what to do, and where to be, then you talk to Tanya.
Tanya saw a hole in what Martinborough was offering. She proposed many to take on the idea, she talked endlessly about it. Finally (and to tie that one down), I surrendered to partnership in the buoyant business of balloons. I knew it wasn’t just hot-air. It was going to be fun. Fun is happy. Who doesn’t want a balloon?
PUFF THREE: IN WHICH HAPPINESS TAKES FORM, ON A JUMBO SCALE
Martinborough - as most people who have made the choice to enjoy this community will know - is not necessarily the epicentre of blown-up career vocations. We make a conscious choice to be here. Thus, we contribute our skills and experience to serve our community, cobbling a career together as a result. We take a punt, we do what we love. It turns out that our community has been balloon-starved.
Less than six weeks on from officially launching Balloon Moon Martinborough, we have orders coming in daily. We work with Alice’s Tea Party - to deliver daily happiness. We’ve happily huffed and puffed our most popular and prized, 90cm JUMBO balloons for happy anniversaries, happy birthdays, and happy weddings. Being more than a happy green in colour, we source our helium from a totally sustainable field in Darwin, Australia. Our 100% biodegradable balloons are made from premium latex, produced from sustainably farmed rubber trees and manufactured in Featherston (!). We use river stones as weights, and biodegradable paper and cotton ribbons for accessories and decoration. (Nobody wants an unhappy animal as the result of their happy occasion).
Most of all, Balloon Moon balloons are the manifestation of HAPPINESS itself. The enduring lesson that has eternally stuck with me from Clown School, is the appreciation of delight, the feeling of fun, and the heavenly high of being HAPPY. Even the surprise of a ‘pop’ can make you giggle – and on a jumbo, 90cm-in-diameter scale.
BALLOON MOON MARTINBOROUGH |6 KITCHENER STREET | MARTINBOROUGH WINE VILLAGE
www.balloonmoon.nz – balloonmoonmartinborough@gmail.com
~ All balloon puns intended.
Trish Higginson & Karina Hailwood
Creative Directors, Martinborough Village
Guest writer Nicola Belsham
"Let us show you the magic of our region"
enquiries to karina@martinborough-village.co.nzCopyright MV 2017
