05/10/05
The weekend just gone was my weekend of relaxation. Yep, no drinkin', going anywhere or doing anything. Worked pretty sweet up until Sat night where I found myself at a pub in Wimbledon with Dennis, Nic, Richard and a bunch of others.
ANYWAY, I was standing at the urinal reading the posters when I saw this freaken disaster:
No, not the fact that you can get Lion Red in England now (which is bad enough), but the damn flag they used! Initially, a wave of laughter followed by disbelief flowed over me and I was about to comment on how freaken stupid the Englishmen who made and checked the poster where, when the thought "hmm, well, it is actually pretty damn easy to confuse the NZ and Oz flag if you don't come from either place, I GUESS".
Which is why we should change our flag. Yeah, I know people fought and died for our country and flag, but damn, the flag's supposed to be our identity. Living overseas for the past 4+ years has hammered home to me that our current flag is far from that.
I've been in far too many situations where people have asked me where I'm from and I say "New Zealand". They reply with "Oh COOL! Yeah, I can't wait to go to Australia, those kangaroos/koalas/shrimps on the barbie look so cool!". Not surprisingly, most (but certainly not all) of those people are from America.
Another amusing story I heard was of a car dealer in Scotland, who wrote down the following after being told an address:
|
69 Wherever street Auckland New Zealand Australia |
After pointing out that "Hey, we're from New Zealand" the response was "yeah, New Zealand, Australia, that's what I put! Dah". An explanation that New Zealand was a country in its own right proceeded.
The obvious flag that New Zealand NEEDS is one of the silver fern to distinguish ourselves from somewhere like Tasmania.
The silver fern has become the essence of identifying New Zealand overseas. It's as Kiwi to us and the rest of the world as tying kangaroos down next to ya boiling billy and making sweet love to them is to Australia.
I propose the following:
(I even photoshopped in some hair for myself!)
Now go write a letter to your local MP with a link to this page...
(P.S. if you really do feel strongly about changing NZ's flag, check out this site)
I found a few more snaps on my camera Sunday morning, here are the PG ones that won't require me appending an xxx to my domain name.
Dennis and I, practicing our "Hey, baby, how YOU doin'!!!" faces:
Um, me as Princess Leia:
And Princess Leia herself apparently:
Dennis, dressed to kill as always:
Catch ya later.