Sitting on the bus

 Hi there

I clambered up into a Wellington Metlink bus the other day. 

I looked down the bus for a seat. 

The seats at the back of the bus were full.  At  the front there were four rows of double seats on one side of the aisle, and three rows on the other side. 

Three of these rows had a passenger sitting in the aisle seat, and with a shopping bag taking up the window seat.  

Four rows had a passenger sitting by the window, with a bag taking up the aisle seat.

I had been caught by a replica scenario a few weeks before:

 "Excuse me." I had said politely to a woman passenger, " Can I sit here please? "

 "No."

 "Pardon?

"No...

I stood up in the aisle for that journey....

... and I wasn't going to give in to another double-seat hogger.

This time I stood just behind the bus driver and called out, "Is anyone going to unblock a seat for me?"

 Silence for quite a few seconds.

And then a young man sheepishly lifted up his Specsavers bag from the adjacent seat. The bag was only a fraction bigger than his hand.  Perhaps his lap had been too fragile to take the weight?

 "Thank you," I purred.  I plonked down on that now spare seat.

Victory!

above: a mural of a tram on a wall in Kilbirnie, Wellington.  We had trams before buses were adopted.

'I love your cardy...."

Hi there

Years ago I read an article that said British people are pretty bad at accepting  compliments.  And by 'British' I lump kiwis into that statement.

When a person says to one of us, "Oh, I love your cardy...", we shrug and answer something like "This old thing?  I've had it a while. "

Whereas Americans would declare "Yes, my cardy is really lovely, isn't it?  That's why I bought it."

***

A 'cardy' is short for 'cardigan'.  I guess an American would never say 'cardy'.  Oh well...

Where exactly is 'Down Under'?

 Hi there

I was reading an article the other day where the two main characters went first of all to Asia, then to New Zealand, and finally these intrepid travellers ended up 'Down Under in Australia'. 

Hey, wait a minute - my hand is up, waving frantically....   New Zealand is 'Down Under' too, it's not a title exclusively designated to Australia.  I blame that music group, Midnight Oil, for much of the confusion.  Their song about being 'Down Under' sort of misses us out completely.

In fact, I don't hesitate to say that we are more 'Down Under' than Australia.  Look for New Zealand on a map, you'll see what I mean.

 Okay, sometimes maps do leave New Zealand out completely.  There will be a big patch of blue sea beneath Australia.  The cartographers who made these maps were obviously more into kangaroos and koalas than kiwi birds and rugby.

Several years back there was an upside-down map tea-towel that some clever person put out.  New Zealand is at the top of the world on this tea towel map.  I guess for once we were 'Top Over', not 'Down Under'.  Yay!

The only place 'Down Under' beneath New Zealand is Antarctica.  And that place is never mentioned as being 'Down Under'.  I would say Antarctica is the most Down-Under-est country out of all of us fighting for the crown...

above: web photo of the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand.  See what it's like to be in the Antarctic without actually going there.  You can dress up and play in the snow, ride the maxi tractors, sometimes meet husky dogs....

New Zealand t-shirts

 Hi there

A few years back when I was down in the tourist mecca of Queenstown I bought a New Zealand-orientated t-shirt.  It featured a sheep and a kiwi dressed up as astronauts:

I wore the t-shirt when I was visiting Las Vegas.  And I thought everyone would get the joke about two iconic NZ creatures dressed in space suits.

But every American said to me something along the lines of: "Like your alien t-shirt."

They hadn't even registered they were looking at a sheep and a kiwi; they just thought they were looking at a couple of aliens in space attire.  Made me realise that New Zealand is not exactly as well-known as we kiwis think we must be.

And let's talk about the bone tiki I wore around my neck, also in Las Vegas.  This guy in a queue behind me pointed at my pendant and happily shouted, "E.T.", at the top of his lungs...