When the new and popular Green Party member of parliament Fa'anānā Efeso Collins died this week, I was just metres away. So were dozens of others for he had collapsed and died right outside Tāmaki Makauru railway station, on the newly renamed Te Kokititanga Plaza. It means to merge or mix. The moments left me with thoughts, perhaps not unnatural for my age, on what it is to die in the heart of the city, in its busiest time.
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