New Zealand, a South Pacific Paradise?

Hi there

I've often thought about what overseas tourists expect of New Zealand, with regards to the weather?

Eternally sunny skies, year-long  really really warm weather, lovely swimmable seas that are similar in temperature to places like Greece or Fiji? 

Oh dear, we may be officially in the South Pacific but, yeah, we are the closest country to the South Pole.   The NZ sea temps are quite cold, compared to, well, the Mediterranean.     Our summer is 1 December to end of February -

Cafe Serving Staff

Hi there

I truly applaud waiters and behind the counter staff in cafes.  However.. 

 This week I went to a very popular  cafe.  As I waited for my meal to arrive I idly watched the staff.  The young lady who had taken my order at the counter was continually wiping her nose with her hand.

Ugh...  I grabbed a serviette and frantically scrubbed down my cutlery, glass, and drink bottle.

A couple of years ago, I saw a cafe worker wipe down an outside blackboard menu.  With her apron.  She went back inside to  commence serving customers, wringing her hands on that same  apron.

Aren't cafe workers trained in the basics of hygiene any more?  How sad.

Kids Standing on Public Transport?

Hi there

When I was a kid, my friends and I stood up for older people on the buses and trams  We didn't mind one bit.  We clung onto the back of Mum's seat or stood on tippy-toe to try and reach the leather strap-holds dangling from the overhead rail - "Nearly there - Uh, maybe another year and I'll be tall enough to reach the strap!"

Standing up in the tram or bus made us proudly feel grown-up.

I was in a bus this morning.  There were loads of kids in the bus with me (the teachers' strke  in town had families galore pouring into the city to take part in a protest march to support teachers and their lack of staff and pay).  About ten kids were sitting down while adults were standing.

When did things change?  When did it stop being children standing up for adults?  Now it was adults standing up for children?  Guardian grans plonked their grand-kids in seats and stood furiously guarding them.  Parents sat surounded by seated kids.  Young teens sat in groups, heads down looking at their phones.

In my secondary school days, Transport Prefects boarded buses and trams, eyes peeled searching out uniformed  transgressors who dared to sit while an adult was standing.  No Transport Prefect on board?  Then the driver ordered every school kid in the bus to stand up for adults.  And, sheepishly, we did.

So ...  understandably it was a shock for me today to discover so many children sitting in buses while adults were standing.  What a turn-around since I was young.

Olivia Newton-John

Hi there

Olivia Newton-John was never A Big Thing in my life.  She was 'just there', you know?  Way in the background behind Elvis, and Cliff, and dozens of other stars from my rock'n'roll youth.

I did have one intense dislike period and that was when Olivia dumped Bruce Welch of my fave guitar group, The Shadows.  She left him for better fields (namely the USA), and my young heart wept over Bruce's sadness!

A couple of years ago, I went to her show in Las Vegas.  My goodness, she was fantastic!  I hadn't realised she'd had so many hit songs.  She was in great singing mode, so  beautiful and vibrant, and still wonderfully Australian.   I mentally congratulated her clothes stylist; I wanted those clothes.  I craved to strut down Lambton Quay, here in Wellington, in her boots, and that sassy going-out-on-the-town outfit. 

It's sad that Olivia's health issues have resurfaced.  She's so brave as, of course, are many ladies in the same position facing the future with grit, determination, and fortitude ...

Thanksgiving USA

Hi there

When I was in the United States an American lady said to me, "And what do you do for Thanksgiving?"

"We don't have Thanksgiving," I said.

"You don't believe in it?"

"It's your Thanksgiving," I said.  "It's nothing to do with New Zealand."

The American lady was confused.  I had to explain to her that Thanksgiving Day was an American-only holiday, and that if I remembered rightly from school history lessons, the occasion was to celebrate the first pilgrims and indiginous people of that country gathering together for a meal.   No other country in the whole wide world, I said, celebrated Thanksgiving because - heaven's to Betsy! - other countries had their own special anniversaries.

I felt like asking the woman, "How do you celebrate Waitangi Day?" - but I didn't.