On being English

After almost 34 hours travel and little sleep it was a relief to arrive at Heathrow and escape the confines of our aeroplane, even if it was just for 3 hours. Our hoped-for shower failed to materialise and instead we queued - no E-passports here! E-baggage checkin - yes, but then the long queue to actually get said baggage onto baggage conveyor belt. Security - more queues and extra checking - "Sorry sir but your laptop was hidden under your pack. We'll need to scan it again. Oh and we'll need to scan your backpack again. Oh and we'll need to scan you toiletries bag again. Oh and we'll need to check the whole lot for explosives".

Accepting our smelly fate, we headed to the bar. My mind might have been saying "Ngaire it's not even 9am!" but my body was on beer o'clock time. As we sat drinking our warm beer and crisps it occurred to me that, despite New Zealand being full of English people, things seemed somehow different when coming across them in the home country. They're so...English!Read more