Things that happen in NZ that wouldn't happen anywhere else ...

[peebles16]

Second one - the major professional 3 day conference. Posh dinner on the final night. All normal. What's not quite normal is that the dinner is fancy dress with a theme (super hero). I'm not quite sure what to make of that.

That happened to me on my first week in new job and I honestly thought it was some sort of wind-up but no..... Hard to take keynote speaker seriously when he's wearing a pink grass skirt and coconuts

Cheers
Karen

[Duncan74]

"I'd managed to lose a front panier (without noticing)" WHOW

Given that this was therefore 3 foot from my eyes, in direct line of sight and was fluorescant yellow it's even worse. And then not to notice whilst cycling round with 10kg less on one side of the front wheel to the other it's even dafter.

I blame the heat and lack of any caffeine for 4 days.

[fayevalentine]

never in singapore!

Everybody waiting at the traffic lights on Green whilst the guy in the truck at the front gets out and helps a blind lady cross. Not a single honk of a horn

[Mrs Pony]

Walking down hill into town, being offered and accepting a lift from a stranger because it was raining heavily...

This happened to me too, walking to work! I would have run screaming in the US!

[fayevalentine]

Someone actually shared this same experience in NZ too

This happened to me too, walking to work! I would have run screaming in the US!

[victoria24]

i was in palmy dropping off a car at the airport. i stopped en route at new world to grab a bite to eat so thought i'd ask a chap which way it was to the airport while walking in. he replied "ive got to go shopping for 15 mins but i can give you a lift afterwards"!

[dharder]

Not to dampen the enthusiasm too much, but most of the things listed above have happened to me in the UK/I have seen in the UK, and some of it in London even!

I still believe that a lot of this has to do with one's own attitude: you are seeing a new country differently, you are behaving differently, and reacting differently to the people around you. You are more open, and your general attitude and mood is bound to be much more positive.

I have had strangers help me to find places, or carry my stuff, bus drivers stopping/taking a detour, I had people going out of their way to help ( the tube station attendant, the AA person, the police officer, the shop keeper).

Can't remember anything like the ferry incident mentioned here, but haven't actually missed many ferries.

I am not trying to minimise the random acts of kindness mentioned here, but I don't find the title of the thread terribly accurate (but then, that doesn't come as a surprise to the attentive reader, does it?).

Daniela

[janrzm]

I never came across anything like these kind of things happening in the UK , and have often found myself saying since being here 'that would never happen in the UK'
Such as being given a car to test drive without having to leave any details
Such as being given the keys to the school on the kids first day to get something from the office.
Such as OH being offered a desk & given keys to Letting Ladies office when we couldn't sort out Broadband.
And most recently being approached by a lady shopping in Postie Plus whilst looking at school uniform, being kindly offered her daughters uniform as she was moving schools & then said lady actually delivering x 6 lots of immaculate uniform to our home address.
Never in a million years....

[Georgebulldog]

one of many littlies was yesterday at the rubbish tip, OH had forgotten his gloves to unload the trailer full of gorse & stuff, man on one side gave him a pair of gloves, man on the other used his home made pitch fork to help get it all off the trailer with OH as he had unloaded his own, did this till the fork broke

[Dave in NZ]

two weeks ago I went into a bank in Albany to cash a cheque. When you cash a cheque you need to show id so I showed my driving licence. about 7 oclock in the evening there was a knock at the door and there was the cashier with my driving licence. I had not realised she had not returned it to me and took my cash and went. She was so sorry that she had not returned it and decided to bring it to me. If I had done that in UK i would have to have retraced my steps until I found where I had left it. I offered her a gratuity for bringing it but she totally refused and said she did not do her job properly.

Also just before Christmas we had new next door neighbours who we had never met. They knocked on the door and said they were going away for a month and would I keep an eye on the house and gave me the keys and the alarm code.
That would never happen in the UK not from someone you had never met