Huck the postie

If you enjoyed riding a bike as much as  “Huck” Houghton did it was probably a sure bet that one day you’d become a postie.  You certainly had to be keen to tackle the Rimutakas on a lady’s bike, especially one that had no gears. Why a woman’s bike? “It was the only one our family had!” He used it to cycle to Masterton too, to catch the bus to the Palmerston North races, and to ride all the way back again. “I was pretty fit” Huck says, with masterful understatement.

Huck arrived here on the 3^rd of October 1960’s (after a detour to the Westport Races) to join family who’d already moved up from Rununga on the West Coast.  He took up an adult apprenticeship with local builder Brian Cunliffe but unfortunately a rugby injury eventually limited the construction work he could do.   So, in 1978 he took over as Martinborough’s postie.  

On a beautiful fine day it’s easy to envy someone like Huck, out there enjoying the sunshine.  But the reality is often quite different. There’s Martinborough’s notorious wind, although Huck reckons it didn’t slow him down much, and plenty of rain and cold in winter. At one stage Huck even made his deliveries wearing a tie, part of the Post Office uniform at the time! 

Then there were the dogs. Huck’s been bitten on the legs (favourite of the bigger dogs) and on the ankles (the preferred target of the smaller breeds).  Even the bike didn’t escape the attentions of one particularly feisty Blue Merle.

Martinborough might be a small town but when you are the only postie it is a long ride to cover every street and every house on it. By some reckoning it’s close to 50km a day. At busy times, like Christmas, Huck would be sorting and delivering the mail from 6.30 in the morning until 6.30 at night.  Sometimes the extended family got their arms twisted to help out.  As if that wasn’t enough to keep a man occupied, Huck managed to fit in odd job building work that included constructing several houses for people around town. “I used to put in some hours in those days. Often I wouldn’t get home until11 pm.”

2008 wasn’t a good year for Huck. Amongst other things he smashed his hip and had to give up his round. On the plus side he gave up drinking, and passed the mail service baton on to his daughter Trudy.   Now her son Rick works with her, making it a third generation Martinborough business. 

These days Huck (75) enjoys sharing the produce from his beloved veggie garden with The Larder at the Health Centre and taking advantage of modern technology to have a flutter on the horses or play online bingo. “I’m enjoying life and very happy to be in Martinborough.  You have to live for the day because you don’t what tomorrow might bring.”  Needless to say, he’s still going everywhere on his bike but at least this one has gears!

Huck (christened Graham) got his nickname as a lad. He’d go off fishing with a stick, a bit of string and a bent pin – just like the real Huckleberry Finn.