Okay, so many of you might be wondering why exactly it's taken so long for me to write my latest blog update! Well, we arrived as expected on the 2nd December without the expected issues at London Heathrow with regards to the Public Sector strikes. Apart from some pretty minor jet lag, we've been catching up with my in-laws and other friends and family.
We're here for the long haul and although I personally feel I'm adjusting into the New Zealand way of life better than I'd expected, clearly it's far to early to even begin to say I've adjusted. But, on first impressions, I won't say I like New Zealand. I love New Zealand.
Complete strangers talk! For a Londoner, that's a pretty big deal! We're so used to living in such a confined space, but seldom take the time to even get to know our immediate neighbours. Of course, during the London war years, this wasn't so much of an issue. As Londoners spent many an evening hunkered down avoiding the worst that Hitler could throw at them. However, with the pace of life in London set to one speed, pretty dam fast, it's harder to get into the mindset that basic communication banter won't break the time-bank!
At first glance, the pace of life is much much slower than you'll most likely be used to. Of course for some people this might not be what 'rocks your boat', however for a mid-thirties chap like myself, it's an out right God send!
But, getting back to the people here. They do seem very welcoming to the British. Clearly we share the same values and our cultures are very intertwined because of our Commonwealth connection. I'm also aware that you can't judge a book by the cover too much, but I've learnt over the years to trust ones own judgement with new people that enter my life. It's also been said that we, as human beings 'pigeon hole' someone new within 7 seconds. Therefore I gage my initial comments on my personal Anglo-Kiwi nano conversations.
A closing thought for this post is an observation I made earlier today. It involved a simple honey bee going about it's daily business of gathering all that plant goodness, that goes into producing arguably the best honey you can buy in the world. You see, the gardens here are breathtaking! I'm not exactly the green fingered type, but the quality of the gardens, public and private are awesome. Therefore, it's not exactly hard to see why the humble honey bee finds the process of producing great tasting New Zealand honey a breeze! I'll have to get the camera out and show you next time!
As ever, thank you for reading.
God bless.
AL
We're here for the long haul and although I personally feel I'm adjusting into the New Zealand way of life better than I'd expected, clearly it's far to early to even begin to say I've adjusted. But, on first impressions, I won't say I like New Zealand. I love New Zealand.
Complete strangers talk! For a Londoner, that's a pretty big deal! We're so used to living in such a confined space, but seldom take the time to even get to know our immediate neighbours. Of course, during the London war years, this wasn't so much of an issue. As Londoners spent many an evening hunkered down avoiding the worst that Hitler could throw at them. However, with the pace of life in London set to one speed, pretty dam fast, it's harder to get into the mindset that basic communication banter won't break the time-bank!
At first glance, the pace of life is much much slower than you'll most likely be used to. Of course for some people this might not be what 'rocks your boat', however for a mid-thirties chap like myself, it's an out right God send!
But, getting back to the people here. They do seem very welcoming to the British. Clearly we share the same values and our cultures are very intertwined because of our Commonwealth connection. I'm also aware that you can't judge a book by the cover too much, but I've learnt over the years to trust ones own judgement with new people that enter my life. It's also been said that we, as human beings 'pigeon hole' someone new within 7 seconds. Therefore I gage my initial comments on my personal Anglo-Kiwi nano conversations.
A closing thought for this post is an observation I made earlier today. It involved a simple honey bee going about it's daily business of gathering all that plant goodness, that goes into producing arguably the best honey you can buy in the world. You see, the gardens here are breathtaking! I'm not exactly the green fingered type, but the quality of the gardens, public and private are awesome. Therefore, it's not exactly hard to see why the humble honey bee finds the process of producing great tasting New Zealand honey a breeze! I'll have to get the camera out and show you next time!
As ever, thank you for reading.
God bless.
AL
Hello Alan, congratulations with the move to NZ. You've come at the right time. Summer will bring beautiful vegetation and amazing fruit that will blow you away. Be prepared to get a little homesick over Christmas...BBQs are great but just not the same as sitting down in the cold and wet and eating roast turkey :)
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