NZ drink driving ads

Although the variety and quality of New Zealand television programming often leaves a lot to be desired, I have to say that their TV ads are absolutely top notch. These ads are often way funnier than those in the UK, or way quirkier, and even the budget homemade-looking ones are so bad that they're often fantastic.

We've noticed a big difference in the ads telling people not to drink and drive. In the UK, these are very graphic, and really point out how an accident can kill and maim people. Some of them that I've seen in the past have been almost too graphic to watch, but from what I've heard they do seem to be very effective.

Here, the ads don't focus on the accidents so much as what sort of person you are if you drink and drive. Land Transport NZ has actually launched campaigns telling people, "If you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot", but "If you stop a drink driver, you’re a bloody legend". (Sorry about the quality of the second YouTube video link there - I can't find a better version.)

On a lighter note, this ad for Trumpet (aka Cornetto) is very funny and doesn't involve anyone being maimed, although you may want to avert your eyes like the old lady.

Wattie's: a rant

Although a lot of things in New Zealand are very similar to their Irish or British equivalents, there is one thing that has bugged me since we landed here and isn't getting any better. That thing is Wattie's - what seems to be the New Zealand version of Heinz, and owned by the same company, Heinz Wattie's. You would imagine that being basically the same people and presumably working to the same recipe, their tomato sauce would taste the same everywhere, but no, it doesn't. Wattie's tomato sauce is foul in a way that I cannot even articulate.

Thankfully some shops here stock Heinz ketchup, so I've been able to sort myself out for something to squirt onto my chips and my mashed potato, but the Wattie's version is pervasive. Everything they make which contains tomato sauce or puree has that same unpleasant taste, and that includes soup, baked beans, and pizza. I've made a few attempts to find alternatives, but it's quite possible that they supply other brands too because I notice the same taste in non-Wattie's products.

It's not the tomatoes themselves - fresh tomatoes here are delicious. But there's obviously something that Wattie's do to their tomatoes after picking them that renders them, to my palate, inedible. Come on New Zealand, what's going on? Why do you like this stuff?

Foil shamrocks - a threat to New Zealand biosecurity

In the post today we received a lovely St.Patrick's Day greeting card from my parents, decorated with some small foil shamrocks. For reasons best known to MAF, it was flagged as a potential thread to the nation, and treated as a biohazard. How bizarre. I wonder what damage they thought was going to be caused by fake plant life?




(By the way, the rip in the envelope was from me opening it, not MAF. They were very neat. I wonder, did they steam it open?)

St. Patrick's Day, Kiwi style

So yesterday was St.Patrick's Day, our first in New Zealand. I have to say it wasn't wildly different from being at home - I spent all day at work before going to stand in an overcrowded bar full of people in green shirts and leprechaun hats. However, these things are sent to try us, etc., and there wasn't any chance I'd be let away with avoiding it all!

Anyway, it wasn't all bad. The sun was shining, everybody was in good form, and I got to laugh at Skry in a green plastic bowler hat. After an hour or so standing in Bailies getting pushed and shoved by everyone going past, we upped sticks and headed to Yellow Cross along with another Irish woman that Skry knows from work, and her husband. We were able to get a table that wasn't too close to the fiddle-de-dee band playing outside, and everyone enjoyed a relaxing natter (and some spicy potato wedges, in Lou and Phil's case), so the evening ended a lot more comfortably than it started.

It wasn't too long before it was time for me to head home to bed (I'm not a late night person any more! not on a school night, anyway), although Skry stayed out with his cousins until six o'clock this morning. He is currently fast asleep in front of the Simpsons - the poor wee lamb is just worn out :)

Our new pad

A few people have been asking for photos of the new place, so here ya go. There are none of the outside because I'm too lazy to go downstairs, but you can have a bit of a nosey at the inside anyway.

The house is a townhouse, which basically means it's a terrace house but has aspirations. Ours is on the end of a row, so we have a neighbour on one side and a road on the other. With single glazing and a lot of traffic, there is a fair amount of car noise, but it's one of those things that is quite easy to tune out after a while.

On the ground floor is a double garage, which is currently home to our boxes of stuff. We have taken out the things that we're likely to need or want for the next year or so, and anything else (e.g. all my books) can be unboxed if needed. The front and side of the house are also fully paved, which is great for sitting out in the sun with a cold drink at the weekend. We don't have a barbecue, so we haven't done any of that yet, but I'm sure we'll buy one at some stage. Now is probably a good time to shop for garden furniture, because it's the end of the summer and shops have to get rid of their old stock, if they haven't already.

On the first floor is our living room with adjoining kitchen, and the study. We bought a new sofa suite for the living room and the seats all recline, which is fantastic for watching telly - everybody should own a recliner! And the study is big enough for my desk, Skry's desk, several bookshelves, and has a built-in wardrobe where the coats and vacuum cleaner now live. Sadly I don't have a camera lens that is wide-angle enough to fit the whole room into the shot, but take my word for the fact that the room is large and spacious!

Upstairs on the second floor are the bedrooms (ours is full of boxes of clothing, so no photos o that one) and bathroom. The bedrooms both have large walk-in wardrobes and I'm enjoying the luxury of having what amounts to a separate dressing room, although there may not be any room to dress once all our clothes are in there. Still, it's good for now. The bedrooms both have windows that go right down to the floor, which give lots of light and good views outside, although there is also a good view from the outside in so I may have to buy some net curtains to preserve my modesty.

Overall, it's a fantastic house in a decent central location - I can walk to work in the city centre in about 25 minutes - and we are very happy to be living here. I don't know what it'll be like in the winter, as there is no heating whatsoever, but we'll deal with that when it happens.

We got our stuff back!

I am happy to report that Pickford's successfully delivered the boxes from our shipping container to our new place, and we now have most of them unpacked and the place is starting to feel like home. It's so great to have cooking equipment again - I am so sick of eating junk food and takeaways! Never thought I'd say this, but I really enjoyed making my own dinner from scratch last night.

It hasn't all been good - some of our things got broken en route. Three bookcases have the back panel smashed up, my favourite lamp had all but one of its six bulbs broken, some picture glass and CD cases have been broken, and my brand-new woollen winter coat was screwed up into a ball and used as packing for a wine rack. Oh, and an unframed poster-sized photo enlargement was folded in half and used to pad my sewing machine. The packers were even more incompetent than I had realised. We'll be putting in a formal complaint and request for compensation once we've opened all the boxes and figured out just how much was broken or damaged.

While I was at work today, Skry let the cable guy into the house, and we now have cable television, a landline (but no handset yet so we can't take calls), and internet access. I am so happy to have the net at home again!