h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Lets go on a little journey in time...

1995.
Back in the early days of the internet, before there was the www, when it was text based 2400 baud message boards, I wrote in my cix resume (equivalent of a h2g2 personal space) something about leaving London for Kent, and how if it got too busy in Kent...
"I might consider Scotland, New Zealand, Canada, or the Moon"

2005.
I joined hootoo, and wrote on my PS a casual, throw-away comment that says to this day:
"we might consider Scotland, New Zealand, Canada, or the Moon."

2007.
In a recent post ( F2089434?thread=3834828#p45039037 ), I've said this:
"Not leaving Devon - no. ... Like it says in the Devon EG entry, I _belong_ here."

But interestingly, in the same post, I said this:
"Although, talking of New Zealand ..."


Hmmmm.

I love Devon. I really do. I mean, I really really do. I just wonder. I just wonder...

Paff

I have to say, if there's one place that could possibly tempt me...

Hmmm NZ eh?

Yeah. It's possibly tempting me.

I'm feeling homesick for Devon just thinking about it.

New Zealand ...Where the men are men and the are nervous....

We have more Kiwis living in Australia than they have living at home. Plus they have a team in our National A League, and a Rugby League team in our ARL comp. And a netball team in our comp, and a basketball team in our comp!

Whoever is in charge of Plate Tectonics may as well shift NZ over here....

Cheers

Peeb

Always used to fancy the idea of Oz too. But I know what I like, and it's Devon. And NZ seems to be just like Devon, but just, erm, a whole country of it.

Peeb, why do the Kiwis leave NZ? The work? The lattitude? Something else?

I guess it as a combination of things, Paff. Certainly work opportunities and wages were an initial driving force. I have a few Kiwi mates who also say that NZ is a bit "stuck" back in time compared to OZ. The climate here is another attraction, and the openness of the place and the people.

Mind you, the Kiwis have an awesome Rugby Union team....



Peeb

I have known people spend a lot of time in Oz and a small amount in NZ and stated they wished it had been the other way around. No offence Stephen I've never been to either so I can't say. I did write about Kinga Choszcz's life though, and she loved NZ, A12737630

Have you thought about doing some travelling there? That way you can have the best of both worlds! Obviously you've got a family, so maybe an extended holiday would suit instead?

I'm having a hard enough time trying to decide if I am going to move to Nottinghamshire or not, let alone trying to work out whether I'd want to move to an entirely different country!

Well, we are certainly not moving Australia to Nottinghamshire, that's for sure......



Peeb

A bit "stuck" back in time
This is exactly what I'm looking for, and is the reason I love Devon:
- The shops shut on Wednesday afternoons and Sundays. Supermarkets are a day trip away.
- Your beef is delivered to the door by the same person who reared it, who is the same person who phones you up with cooking tips.
- Wages are poor and work is thin on the ground. As such, you live here because your priorities are, well, different.

Oz vs NZ
Interestingly, like GB says, we too have a friend who spent a long time in Oz, then spent a few days in NZ on the way back to Blighty, and raved about the place. Again, nothing against Oz, Stephen.

Travel
Mina, yes we might think about a holiday, but that won't be cheap - I was hoping to get away with a couple of weekends in the tent on Dartmoor this year.

we are certainly not moving Australia to Nottinghamshire
Not unless whoever is in charge of Plate Tectonics gets really carried away


Oh, and thanks for the Kinga 'Freespirit' Choszcz link GB. I'll have a read in a bit.

Paff

You're welcome Paff

you'll need one

*snuggles up on sofa with laptop, virtual box of tissues and a glass of *

I totally agree with you Paff on the pace of life. This 24/7 society is a total blight on humanity as far as I am concerned. I don't look at rivalry between nations, but Aussies and Kiwis have always taken the p*ss out of each other, yet will stand side by side in defence of shared interests.....

As an aside, I lived in Tasmania for three years and found it to be very "English" in many ways.



Peeb

P.S I was born in Northumberland and came here when I was 10 yrs of age.

*still sniffling from the last para*

Thanks again GB. The NZ bit in that entry says what I needed to hear. I earlier spent a while 'flying' over the North and South islands in Google Earth trying to get a feel for how big the towns/cities are. I was getting worried that Auckland seems quite large and that the North island is one large city!

On a side note, I like that EG entry. 1000 words shot by like 200 (always a good sign for me if I read something quick). You do quite a lot of quoting, which I think works. The reason I notice that is the last thing I put in PR (twice) stalled because of the amount of quoting I did. When I get it back into PR for the 3rd time I might use your entry as evidence that quoting works OK.

24/7 society. Yeah, it gets to me too. Funny how you get accustomed to things being 24/7...



When we'd been in Devon a week we went to the nearest town on Sunday and it was dead. There was a market-place all shut up, and the cafe was for sale (we were thinking of buying it, which is why we went there). Our first thought was that the traders had missed a trick not opening on a Sunday, and that you could make a killing by getting ahead of the game and opening a general store 7 days a week. We were serious. But we soon came to our senses.

We also considered buying a place in the village we lived and converting part of it into a shop. We did some 'market research' (ie. asked a handful of locals) who all said the reason they lived there is because there is no shop, no nothing. I quickly came to love the place just as it was. No shop. No nothing. No 24/7.




It occurs to me that here I am in a NZ thread, and I'm raving about Devon again! Blimey, if I do leave one day, I ain't half gonna miss it here.

You should do a GoogleEarth flyover of my home city Paff...Wollongong, NSW, Australia. I live in a northern suburb called Tarrawanna



Peeb

Thanks Paff, you're most welcome.
Kinga was difficult to write about because she died so young, it was not her achievements which touched me but how people felt about what she had done with her life. That's why I based the Entry as I did, on people's quotes about her.
Feel free to quote me or my entries in PR all you want - there's a shiny badge of my PS that says I get things right, most of the time anyway.

Just done a GoogleEarth of your place Stephen. I love the way you've got hills (mountains?) to the west and sea to the east, and everything is just snuggled in there. And as you go out north (following the railway to Clifton) people still live out there on that tiny sliver of land between hills and coast. That's the human race for you. We like to live round the edges of stuff.

If you're interested in my neck of the woods, go to Hatherleigh, Devon, UK. Now zoom in to about 400m, make sure you've got terrain turned on, rotate round till you're pointing South South West, now 'lean back'. That's my view of Dartmoor. That's the playground me, the missus and the nippers spend as much time in as we can.

for the delay Paff, my printer is out of ink, so I had to find my quill and paper and write down your directions......so I have just checked it out.

What a area you live in. No wonder you are so happy and relaxed there. You can wander about for hours, days, and weeks there... and it seems you already do that!



Peeb