Pound Sign

 Hi there

When New Zealand switched over to dollars and cents instead of British pounds-shillings-and-pence in 1967, we were told that our dollar sign would have one stroke line running from top to bottom through it, whereas the United States dollar had two strokes.

Nowadays the US have all but forsaken those two strokes for the one stroke, though I believe it's still okay there to use both.  

The first time I went to Las Vegas I got caught up in a similar Zealand vs America situation  -

Before leaving home I had booked a night-time tour around the city, but I was required to confirm it on arrival.  Via phone. The automated voice gave me several options for extension numbers at the company.  "Please press pound for confirmation of tours," said the robot.

Um. What?

Pound?  What was pound?    Was it like the old-fashioned pounds-shillings-and-pence?  Or pounds (lbs) as in a person's weight that was never now used in NZ?  I frantically searched the phone's dial pad.

                                 below:  a money pound sign, British

Zilch.  Nada.  Zero.  Nothing on the phone pad looked anything remotely like a British pound sign.

I had to ask at hotel reception what a 'pound' was.  The kind lady - hiding a smirk - pointed it out to me -

HASH - 

#   #   #   #   #   #   #

Oh, my goodness...  All New Zealand automated messages ask us to "please press hash" - # - to get through to the proper extension.  No wonder I was confused.  Same keyboard sign, not same name....

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Oh, I must tell you that the cafe (the Annexe), on the 1st floor* at Whitcoulls Lambton Quay surely has the best hot chips in Wellington.  No, the best in New Zealand.  The world?  Their caramel muffins are pretty good too.

*2nd floor, if you're American.

Population of New Zealand

 Hi there

When I holidayed with my mum in Sydney, Australia, in the early 1960s, we went on a bus tour around the city.  I was absolutely agog when the courier told everyone that the population of Sydney was well over a million. At the time, the population of the whole of New Zealand was just over 2 million.  How could so many people fit into Sydney?  A population of a million in one city was just too populous a number for me to understand.

Nowadays, the population of Sydney is five million, and the population of New Zealand is just over 4 million. When I go to Sydney for a musical show, I'm jammed in with people everywhere throughout  the city.  It's mainly tourists of which I am one.  I guess Sydney shouldn't be such a desirable place to visit.  

above: Sydney Harbour Bridge 2023

The wearing of the cardigan.

 Hi there

When I was a young teen, every female seemed to be wearing a cardigan.  Except me.  To me, cardigans denoted growing up.  Growing old.  Getting older.  I vowed never to wear a twinset and pearls which was all the rage for our mums.  A twinset was a matching sweater and cardigan.  And people used to think it was the height of fashion to add those pearls.  Whaaaat...!

above: stock photo

But the years have gone by and ...guess what?  I'm wearing cardigans!  Never with done-up buttons and never-never with pearls. 

But I'll tell you something that has begun to intrigue me:  often when I watch a home renovation show, or a gardening show, or a posh-people-holdaying-in-the-Hamptons show, the women love to wear cardigans or sweaters tied around their hips.  The funny thing is that these women are never seen actually wearing the cardigans or sweaters.

Is cardigan hip-wearing a fad?  Never worn, but always seen?  "Oh, don't I look great?" think the bored-stressed-angry-vindictive-jealous housewives of such-and-such city.   "I'll just tie my cardy around my hips and the peasants will throw hosannas and confetti at my feet.  I'm so fashion-forward."

Am I the only person in the world who realises that the moment a cardy is tied around the hips, the wearer suddenly has a big broad bottom.  The only time I decided to follow the trend and tie my cardy across my backside, I peered over my shoulder into the mirror, and was horrified.

I had the biggest hips, waist, and bottom...

XXX

Oh yes, I know I sound an idiot, going on about big bums ... But I denied myself much food for so many years - from age 13 until I retired - and it  became so ingrained in my brain that even now I have trouble getting away from some such thoughts about my size.

At that age of 13, I tore off the bottom half of a photo of me at the beach because my thighs were too big.  When I was in my early twenties I refused to take vitamin tablets that my mum was foisting on me because they were sugar-coated.  During my last years at work, just before retirement, I would fast-chew a cupcake or donut, and then spit it out.  

At retirement I realised I'd never ever bought a block of chocolate or a bag of potato chips, never tasted cheesecake, brownies, or lemon meringue pie, always refused sauces of any kind ...

Diets hadn't often worked anyway...

So, I threw out my scales, bought a bag of potato chips and a crunchie bar.  

And I try so hard to never look back...

Comics Banned in New Zealand in the 1950s

 Hi there

I was a young girl, mad about the English romance comic 'Valentine'.  'Valentine' was full of drawn romance stories, and interviews with pop stars, and instead of letters-to-the-editor, it was letters to Davy-the-mailroom-boy.  Everyone who got their letter printed got an 8"x10" photo of their requested favourite.  I managed to get a photo of Elvis in army uniform.  Sigh....

There were no New Zealand comics at the time.  Overseas magazines and comics were imported.  They took a minimum of 6 weeks to about 10 weeks to get from England to New Zealand.  By ship.    Kiwis were used to their overseas reading matter being so out-of-date.  

But by 1958 the change had come.  It was general knowledge that comics caused juvenile delinquency (huh?) 

So...   Comics were banned!  Government censorship was in from the middle of the decade, along with the famous Black Budget under Prime Minister Walter Nash.  I lost my beloved 'Valentine' comic.  Right in the middle of an exciting serial.  Would the heroine get her hero, the famous concert pianist?  Or would she have to marry the cad?

I moped around the house for weeks.  I was so devastated that my father sent a ten shilling note over to England and asked if 'Valentine' could be sent direct to our house, as newsagents would no longer be accepting overseas comics.

Yes!  For a couple of years I got 'Valentine' delivered, until the publishers sent a note saying the ban had been well-lifted and I should now get the comic in New Zealand.  

I never did find out whether that heroine married the cad or the gorgeous pianist....