And back to 'Kiwis come home'...

I've started to read the North & South's I bought at Kiwifruits, and have read the article about New Zealanders returning home after their OE's.

I thought it was quite interesting, but again just seemed full of very typical stereotypes of London - and also the age group they seemed to be writing about. Too many descriptions of London's 'grimy streets' (they aren't all grimy) and the UK's drinking culture (which yes we do have, but I don't see as being much worse than that in NZ - just different in that in the UK more people drink in pubs). In fact from memory one person commented that the culture in NZ seems to be around families and sports more while in the UK it is more around alcohol which I thought was a bit rich. Perhaps that reflected more accurately her age group rather than the whole of the British pysche... Then there was the woman who had spent 20 years here and didn't see anything wrong with NZers only hanging out with other NZers over here 'because where else could they do that?'. Well NZ springs to mind... mind you she was also praising the existence of The Church and recommending that people make a visit to it. Anyone who has seen or lives near The Church and has seen the volumes of paralytic Antipodeans exiting from it on a Sunday afternoon would have to query the wisdom of that statement. There's not much pride in being a NZer when you are barred from pubs around it because of the behaviour of your fellow countrypeople...

It would have been interesting (I guess cos it is more relevant to me) to have had interviews with slightly older NZers who are still in the UK or who have just gone back. Most NZers go back around the time they hit 30ish, but it is the ones who stay (like me and most of my NZ friends here) that are more interesting I would have thought...

Still it is obviously a burning topic at the mo as I read an article on Stuff about it recently as well. Still haven't seen any of those ads on the tube yet tho...