Well, before we even get started, I have some pretty “bad-taste” warnings to give you. Ok, done. I mean, it’s not as though you actually need one of those if you’re reading my blog. Chances are, it’s going the same way, every day.
Right, so every now and then I hit the gym and see people wearing some tees from New Zealand or some Super-13 jerseys for training. That’s cool; I do like to see people supporting the country. I do it with my numerous Huffer tees and stuff. However, it kinda depends on what you look like. Don’t get me wrong here, actually, do get me wrong, but whatever, I’m not the slimmest dude on the block. I still had to pay what my mates refer to as the ‘fat tax’ when I went skydiving, and I run out of breath walking from the couch to the kitchen (which, in my place, is literally 2 metres away). But seriously, there was a pretty big person at the gym sporting a New Zealand tee and I couldn’t help but wonder what other people’s views of our country are. I definitely didn’t want everyone to think all kiwis were overweight (although, I technically can’t comment without being a hypocrite).
We’ve all seen the adverts on TV for NZ, which would be hard-pressed not to strike emotion into the hardest of convicted rapists, but that’s only once every few months they pop on the box. Most of what I see about New Zealand over here is the bad stuff. For sure, it’s the media that constantly puts a negative spin on anything it can find. People would, or at least consciously would, rather hear about the bad stuff. The good stuff just isn’t as exciting – let’s be honest. But it annoys me when I read about stupid fucking kiwis back home attacking foreigners in their own back yard. Fair do’s, they’re not to know he was English, but it’s really sad that people are willing to make our country look like this, given that we have so much to offer. It’s really a waste.
Not all kiwis are like this. For Waitangi Day (“New Zealand Day”), here in London, all the 12,000 kiwis here get together to conduct one of, if not the, biggest pub crawls in the world. And, strangely, there’s next to no violence and next to no trashing of property going on. We’re a good set of guests, us kiwis. Compare that to a group 1/10th the size of English people, and they’d leave nothing standing and have a good 15 hospitals full of half-dead people missing ears and other parts of their bodies. It’s nothing to be proud of; it’s pretty fucking embarrassing, but whatever. Each to their own. I’m just impressed that we can have a good get-together and not trash our host’s living room.
It’s a pity our comrades back home don’t have the same sense of decency.
Maybe I’m just too worried about what other people think. I don’t think our country is considered one of the dangerous ones that should be avoided; to the contrary. My girlfriend and her brother travelled the country by themselves for a month in a little van without any problem. It’s pretty safe. So it can’t be that bad, and the view of us is clearly good given some comments I’ve read recently. I just wish we had a 100% unblemished record.
That'd be something I could truly be proud of.
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Posted by Danson on the 8th 2009f Apr, 2009 at 12:02pm. View their area without the other losers. |
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