BEVS

Funnily enough , there was a clip on the news tonight about the air pollution issues in the Nelson area. (We live in a village 30 minutes from Nelson) . Nelson has just introduced a 'no open fires' policy to deal with the air quality problems during the 3 months of late autumn, winter and early spring. The news clip was about a pub that wanted to retain it's open fire but was refused.

I don't know if other towns /cities in NZ have done the same.



Nelson - Air Quality

Wood burners are also the subject of changes to policy with a view to improving air quality in certain areas.

I haven't actually seen a smog since the late 1960's . That was in the UK. Whilst the air pollution caused by these open fires and wood burners is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed, I couldn't say that the pollution has yet been of smog density. It has been bad and akin to a November 5th bonfire night but not a pea-souper.

The problem that Nelson ,and suburbs have with the air pollution is that it is not a windy place. It is good weather here. Fine sunny days for the most part. Cool, night frosts. There are many 'still' nights and days, so nothing to disperse the emissions.


note to the Opening Poster.

Are you OK with the off topic posts ? I can move them into a thread of their own if you wish.

lardyl

yep, big part of the current affairs prog on last night was wether or not the Honest Something or other hotel had to put out its open fire like everyone else in local area due to a council byelaw to prevent smog......
I suspect that most people who have rented in NZ will subscribe to the view that the housing stock here is "patchy" to say the least.....but then we used to have pet slugs in one student house in the UK....it's all about expectations I suppose. NZ paints itself as "clean and green" - I'd suggest that there should be an entry in the Kiwi Dictionary for that phrase as applied to God'sOwn......
Even though we live a stone's throw from the sea the presence of wood burner chimneys at our deck/ground level means that "still" spring and autumn days are often ruined by pooling smoke from neighbours who run the burner when the weather is pretty mild - doesn't help drying the washing either.....

BEVS

OMG You've brought back a dim & distant memory from when I used to rent a house with a few friends. Opened the cutlery drawer in the kitchen one evening to find 3 hodmadods sitting on the spoons.
Still can't stick the sight of the things even now.

Aye. That's a bit true about the wetback wood burners. They get run 24/7 , even into the mild weather to heat the hot water cylinder. I think it is one of the things the council is trying to get rid of.

Nice Guy

I think it's a little bit hard to say there is no 'Competition, Performance, Quality, Processes' especially from an IT perspective.

I used to work for the largest health care provider in NZ, if not the southern hemisphere and the quality of their information systems are world class, the best I have ever seen.

Believe me when I say that most developed countries, not only the UK, are many, many years behind what NZ has to offer in terms of health information provision and access.


Can't speak for Air NZ but from a customer point of view and having booked on line and flown with them several times I never once experienced any problems.

Indeed one could argue that they have to meet certain regulatory standards otherwise they would not be able to provide their service.................

Biddy

Anyway.....back to the subject of housing etc....

We were fortunate enough to bring enough money to buy a decent chunk of land in a rural area. Then with the help of the bank we built a great home. Concrete base (to cut out damp and draughts), decent insulation in walls and roof, double glazing and a wood burner. We have a big house and the only heating comes from the sun and the wood burner. We have absolutely no condensation / damp anywhere. For 9 months of the year the house is toasty just from the sun - for the other 3 we have the wood burner going when needed - probably 5 nights a week on average and that heats up most of the house relatively quickly. The extremes do get a bit nippy - our bedroom for one!
No problems with asthma or the like - kids are fit and healthy.

If I did it again I'd get a duct and pump system to take some of the warm air from the wood burner to the other end of the house but that's about it.

Personally I don't know how (or why) people put up with a significant proportion of the houses here (like the rental we had for a year) - wafer thin walls, draughts through the floors and windows. Can't be healthy?

Anyway as has been said before - shop around for houses that have reduced draughts, efficient heating etc - they do exist and becoming more and more common. Double glazing will be standard on all new build very soon (if it isn't already). I think Kiwis are finally waking up to the fact that for a few months of the year their housing doesn't come up to standard.

wannabekiwi

Quote:"The problems with Kiwi people is resistance to change - what makes countries like US, UK superpowers is that they may be good, but always want to get better, always open to ideas and improvements.

It is always the attitude that counts - my American boss here rightly told me - do not argue with these villagers and learn to enjoy..".quote


Now I am not going to make any friends with this statement either....but
when I came to the UK 12 years ago I was constantly comparing the english way of doing things with the german way and was shocked about the layed back approach in the working environment in the UK and how behind the UK was in many things.
There was hardly ever any prevention plans in place and the overall attitude was "Let's worry about it when we get there or when things actually go wrong".
What is that saying about "being good at putting fires out"?
When I told my colleagues at the time that I use to get payed an extra monthly wage for my holiday and another extra monthly wage on top of that for xmas and complaining about the carpets in kitchens and bathrooms and the lack of mixed taps they asked me why I wouldn't go back home either.
After 8 years I did go home and realized that then I was telling my german friends and relatives how great the mentality and sense of humour of english people is and that the germans should start chilling out a bit and start enjoying themselves and not compete all the time.
Back in the UK for 4 years I still feel that there is lots more room for improvement in the UK ( .Building more prisons before they get filled up..not to mention the war in Iraq...) but I have accepted the way of how things are run in this country and pay regulary compliments about this place which keeps everybody happy.
I think what I am trying to say is that every nation and country have their good and not so good things and if the people in NZ are half as nice as the british than it must be a great place to be and try to make it an even better place in a modist helpful way.
Hope I haven't offended anybody. You are a great bunch and I enjoy this forum very much.

BEVS

Not offended at all but why did you rent a place with carpets in strange places, lack of normal taps or accept a job without the statutory 4 weeks pa + holiday payment in place.

wannabekiwi

Thank you for not taking it the wrong way.
Here are the answers to Bevs' questions.
Because that was the overall state of houses on the rental market in Norfolk & Dorset within the GBP 500-1100 region.
I lived in 10 different rental houses over the past 12 years!
Of course I couldn't just change it to my liking cos I was only the tentant.
You must admit that non mixer taps are still very common, even in new build places.
Does that get me prepared for the NZ state of rental houses?

With regards to the employee benefits.
I haven't come across anybody in the UK yet who gets two extra monthly wages on top of the other twelve to finance holiday and xmas without being performance related.
Have you?
I can only go by my personal experiences....
My point is that I can put up with all those things in a lovely plce as long as the people around me are of great mentality and get the priorities right.

lardyl

indeed and Norfolk/Dorset (with complete respect to the West Country and East Anglia) and the kinds of working environments there are not quite the capital city, major centres etc and you would accept that statutory conditions, etc are less likely to be fulfilled in those more rural/seasonal places to work.

The comparisons exPat Brits are making between NZ and UK are generally applicable throughout NZ and some more so in Auckland, Chch, Welly, etc.

TBH the lack of mixer taps is not quite on the scale of "leaky homes", the dire state of much of the NZ housing stock (insulation wise and often structurally) and very poor air quality in some parts.

Of course we are all learning to chill out and live with it - even me - but the comparison from wannabeakiwi doesn't totally "meet comparison", IMHO of course, and no offence taken at all.......none intended...

Also if you came to the UK from Germany there is likely to be an eensy weensey bit more shall we say "history" in the comparison than if you moved from UK to NZ - so the locals might be expected to give you the "heave ho" a little more than a Kiwi would a Pomm....unless I am missing something??

You know that the rental market in Germany is so much more "developed" than in the UK as many people have historically rented privately for extended periods in the same property there and the housing stock in rental has for a long long period been of very high standard. It certainly was in the late 70s and early 80s when I was over there.

Plus in the regions mentioned the best rental hosuing goes to "grockles" rather than locals.....

Making comparisons between the UK's social/work provision and (some of) Europe's is not going to be great, but there are disadvantages in the German/French model.....try employing someone in France, very expensive and many people in business would argue that is not an advantage to living there rather a disadvantage - head to NZ and you will see that holiday entitlement, per se, is lower (as it is in the USA, hardly an "undeveloped" country), although you can get away with more malingering for a while *but* your sick days per year are usually limted (unlike most UK employers), on the up-side you are much harder to sack and will get far more generous bereavement benefits (as far as leave goes).

Hopefuly when you come to NZ you won't be expecting a UK (or perish the though a German) approach to safety (workplace, child and road) as that is not what you'll find, you will find the "she'll be right" attitude and see lots of hand wringing over the death tolls on the roads and in the workplace. Prepare to be shocked even further. You'll also find many state agencies even more disorganised than they are in the UK and the back room stuff ready to collapse with older PCs, power outages, etc

Returning to the holidays front - I don't know many Pomms in NZ who make a big thing of having less annual leave and we do have quite a bit less than in the UK. However, I do know many Pomms (and SAfers, Germans, Irish, etc,etc) who make a big thing of the poor houses (even recent builds) and even more who get animated over the intransigence in the workplace, where "Kiwi is best" is repeated whenever another solution is suggested and there is racism, etc when it comes to ideas.

shirl

I have been reading this post with interest and there are some valid points being made by all posters.

However, what makes me giggle is that in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter if your hot and cold water comes out of one or two taps. At least we have the priveledge of being fortunate enough to be born into our different cultures who have running water. Some kids have to walk days to get water in some continents!! Be grateful for what we do have.

SNH

Actually, I think it's more for the same reason everyone in Australia hates Sydneysiders.

There are plenty of reasons to dislike the people who have the 'Sydney mentality'.

luvwelly

No sorry - explanation still makes no sense to me.
One country bumpkin even moaned about the Aucklanders' posh latte coffees - 'what's wrong with filter coffee?' (well we gratefully drown in lattes in Wellington too or at least I do!). This 'Brain of NZ' further added, 'what on earth does Auckland contribute to NZ?'

I have found the anti-Auckland thing amongst University educated folks too and that's the bit I really don't get. Is it just part of Tall Poppy Syndrome?

whitesand

This business about separate taps is one which really bugs me about the UK. lWhat you invariably get is boiling hot water which you cannot use and lots of wasted water as you try to use both taps at once. It also makes a joke about saving water. It's something which is annoying but could be easily fixed.

I think the poster who brought this up made valuable points about the differences between countries.

whitesand

This business about separate taps is one which really bugs me about the UK. What you invariably get is boiling hot water which you cannot use and lots of wasted water as you try to use both taps at once. It also makes a joke about saving water. It's something which is annoying but could be easily fixed.

I think the poster who brought this up made valuable points about the differences between countries.

Biddy

Such a good post it's worth doing twice!

I've got mixer taps - does that make me posh?