I think that's how it's spelled. Spelt? Anyway, it means "Welcome to New Zealand" in Maori.
Because I am indeed in New Zealand. Been here a little short of a month, and now have an always-on DSL service that is only on when I phone Telecom to complain about it not being on. Since this invariably involves 25 minutes on hold, I have enough time to post this. . .
I'm here, Kate's here, the cats are here. We're living in Hamilton in the heart of the fertile Waikato region, where the Shire and Weathertop were filmed according to my Lord of the Rings LOcation Guidebook.
All that hobbitry must be catching, or, if you will, hobbit-forming. Because no-one here wears shoes. Kids, fair enough, but adults? I want to say to them, you're grown men, put some shoes on, what are you, peasants? At home is one thing, but in a fucking department store?
Everything is cheap here, especially booze. And they are rugby-mad. It's very quiet though, a different pace of life. Except on the roads where everyone's drunk and drives too fast, especially since most of them hate the fact that my car is way cooler than theirs and therefore they have to overtake me no matter what.
Coming soon, the epic tale of our travels up and down the Western Seaboard of the US, which we really enjoyed. It's true what people tell me, Americans are much nicer in their own country. Unless they're driving on freeways in Los Angeles, that is. And yes, we did meet Charles, and yes, I have pictures. }B)
Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :
Nifty.
You were in Los Angeles and you didn't even ask me what you should have done while you were here....I'm hurt.
Oh, if you don't live here, you can't dis the LA freeways. Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Lee: I think that's how it's spelled. Spelt? Anyway, it means "Welcome to New Zealand" in Maori.
Spelled and spelt can both be used as i realised before my brain nearly imploded.
All that hobbitry must be catching, or, if you will, hobbit-forming. Because no-one here wears shoes. Kids, fair enough, but adults? I want to say to them, you're grown men, put some shoes on, what are you, peasants? At home is one thing, but in a fucking department store?
Meet the bogan.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Would Lee be a hoon with his fly car and all? How are you liking it the long white cloud, Lee?
Posted by Nim the Fanciful (Member # 205) on :
*points at Lee* "SENGAIA!!!"
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
We've pretty much decided to move to Auckland since there are nore jobs there and the internet connections are better.
I think we did quite a good job of handling the LA freeways given we'd never driven a left-hand drive car, let alone a dodgem - sorry, automatic transmission - before.
Posted by Tora Ziyal (Member # 53) on :
Dude, if you can drive English roads, L.A. is a piece of cake. Okay, there are stupid drivers, but at least the roads are straight. And having learned to drive manual recently, I think driving an automatic is like riding a bike with training wheels. Though I understand that driving in a different country with an unfamiliar transmission is probably not a pleasant experience.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Dodgem"?
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
That IS how most American cars tend to handle, you know. B)
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Granted, Dodgems don't have brakes, but when I remember how nuch our Mustang wobbled whenever we used the brakes, the analogy is quite apt.
Posted by Nim the Fanciful (Member # 205) on :
"Nustang"?
-------------------- "That's Wolfowitz, baby. He is an optimist. Always looking at the mass graves as half empty." -Jon Stewart, "The Daily Show"
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