On 8/21/07, Ben Ford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > My 2 pence... > > I'm a pom, and I lived in NZ for 18 months Auckland (sorry) and > Christchurch. There are a lot of places that I haven't seen in the world, > but after living there, I can honestly say that nowhere I've ever been > before can touch it. You poor sod. You must have had to live in some pretty rotten holes!
> I'm in Indonesia at the moment, and if you really want some perspective on > how screwed up a country can be I highly suggest you come here (or talk to a > South African ;-) ). I thought Mogadishu, Somalia, and Harare, Zimbabwe were the places for an exciting life. > You have the benefits of an honest police force, Um, I don't think Arthur Alan Thomas or David Bain would agree with you. At the street level they are pretty good by and large, and they are paid enough to keep them straight. But at higher levels the cops are out of their depth. Ripping off both the Government and other members of society is the latest fad the so called middle classes find entertaining, At the other end of the social scale, shoplifting is endemic, and the laws are ineffective to stop it. > I get stopped over here because they think I have money to spare to give > them... In comparison to what they have to live on you probably do. > In the 8 months I lived in New Brighton and on my travels around the South > Island, I was in a traffic jam a grand total of once (when they moved a > whole house by truck in Queenstown!), here is just on big jam!! Count your blessings my friend. If the traffic is one big jam at least you can cross the road and get about your neighbourhood without being bowled whenever you try to cross the road! To get to my local shop I have to cross 8 lanes of fast moving traffic. It's not easy & I have have come very close to being shunted off the mortal coil more than once. You also have the huge advantage of living in a Moslem country where the social problems caused by alcohol are more or less a non-issue. Count your blessings my friend. > If 600-700 skilled people are leaving every week, how many are moving to NZ > (honest question, I actually don't know)? A handful. There is a very real skill shortage at the moment. If you can find a tradesman he will want to be paid about the same amount of money as a weeks pension for working for just four or five hours. > The grass is always greener and > such, but every expat I've ever spoken to has compared NZ favorably with > their country or origin. Everywhere has it's problems, but on balance, you > guys have one of the finest places in the world to live! Well I have lived here for nearly forty years with a year's break back in the UK. Here's my take on the place. Central Government: The Civil Service was effectively lobotomised during the middle eighties. We are still suffering from this. Everything which used to be done by intelligent and dedicated civil servants is now done by self-serving contractors who really know how to look after themselves. The glide-time play by Roger Hall is still oh so true! Education: The public schools are in a word - hopeless. Effectively just child minding centres. The literacy rate - depending on how it's measured - is something around 75%. There is undeniably a huge tail of people who are seriously lacking in the literacy and numeracy stakes. I have come across people who do not know the difference between a cabbage and a lettuce ( Till operators in the local supermarket ), many people don't know the points of the compass ( Police 'phone operator, & others ). Simple mental arithmetic is seemingly beyond most of the population. The call-centre business has boomed mainly because neither the staff of the service companies and organisations, nor the general public can write a letter. Local Government: They all suffer from the problems of using contractors instead of staff to fail to do the dirty work. So it's badly done if at all. OK. So it doesn't sound as if I'm just a total whinge. The hospital and medical system is really pretty good. If you need medical attention you will receive it for free, and it's competent. The care around the edges is a bit rough and ready, hostel, not five star hotel, but that's ok by me. Certainly, if Michael Moore's Sicko film is anything to go by, we are really spoilt in comparison to what the average American has to put up with. The water treatment system here in Christchurch is superb. The benefits and pensions are generous. And the weather's pretty clement. Though I could do with a visit to somewhere a bit warmer right now. > Sorry for the rant, back to work for me! :-) Ditto. > > > On 21/08/07, Christopher Sawtell <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote: > > On 8/21/07, Steve Holdoway < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:24:18 +1200 > > > Christopher Sawtell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > [snip] > > > > Oh for a return to those days when NZ was actually a pretty nice > place in which to live. > > > > > All things are relative. What's the third largest city in England? Brum? > Manchester? Where would you prefer to be? > > > > Rural France actually. > > > > What I do know is that 600 or 700 skilled and qualified people are > > voting with their feet every week! > > > > I'm sick of having to walk along a foot-path which has not been > > cleaned by the council since 1984 - I kid you not. The North side of > > the street is so encrusted with lichen and moss that slipping and > > falling over in wet weather is a very real risk. The South side is so > > littered with small shards of broken glass that it's no longer safe to > > walk ones dog along it lest the dog's paws get cut to shreds. The > > built-up areas of India are better than that! > > > > Please don't get me going on road safety. I missed being a statistic > > by millimetres when crossing the road at a lights controlled crossing > > the other day. > > > > > Wasn't NZ second to Norway in a recent 'honesty' test, handing in lost > wallets? > > I do believe that was the case, but it would be interesting to know if > > Norway had _six_ finance companies fall over in the last few months. ( > > Nathan Finance today ) Who do you think is going to do their dough? I > > assure you it's not the company directors. > > > > Don't forget that NZ has the second biggest prison population as a > > proportion to the total of any country in the world. -- Sincerely etc. Christopher Sawtell
