Tuesday 13 September 2011

JEALOUS ABOUT FORTUNATE AUCKLAND




I was born in Wellington and lived there for the first 28 years of my life. I loved Wellington and still do although it hasn't been my home city for a long time. I have lived in Auckland, Christchurch and now Whangarei and see myself as a New Zealander in general rather than of or from any specific region. When I was living in Wellington I had no dislike for Aucklanders. The only time that regionalism was an issue was at rugby games when obviously Auckland (or Hawkes Bay, King Country or Canterbury) would be the 'enemy'.




I cannot understand why there is a bias against Auckland and the people who live there to the point where the derogatory terms Dorklander or JAFA (just another fucking Aucklander) are used. When we lived in Christchurch for about 6 years I got sick of the terms when mentioning to people that we had come from Auckland before living in Christchurch. The in-bred idiots who made the comments didn't have the sense to ask where we were born (me Wellington and The Old Girl in Aberdeen), they would just blather on about their pet hate - Auckland.



Shortly after moving up North, I went to the season opening of the local bowling club and when telling some people where we had moved from I overheard some unidentified coward say "JAFA". I haven't bothered going back to that club. I was annoyed as I thought the one-eyed parochialism was confined to the South Island. The regional idiots that have a downer on Auckland don't bother to look at statistics which show that Auckland generates more in terms of country revenue including taxes but actually gets back less per capita than it puts in to the national economy. A 2005 report shows that Auckland received less than its share in terms of total population and only half of the fuel taxes generated out of Auckland comes back there for transport investment.
It would be good if the citizens of Christchurch, when their city is rebuilt, give a thought to the provenance of the rebuild money whether from government, donation, grant or insurances and discover that Auckland will be giving the largest amount.

Get contribution from the rest of the country






11 comments:

Richard (of RBB) said...

Hey, I've always liked Auckland, except for that unfortunate time in the 70s when Tony nearly got us beaten up at a party. When I lived in Tauranga I always enjoyed travelling up for gigs and could easily have lived there. I've been fortunate over the years to play with quite a lot of top line Auckland musos. People are basically the same, the world over.

Anonymous said...

Though they do talk a bit posh up there.

THE CURMUDGEON said...

RBB, you must have taken more of a blow to the head than I realised at the time. That incident you recall with Tony and his 'friends' took place in Wellington. It was near Karori as I remember.

THE CURMUDGEON said...

"Though they do talk a bit posh up there."

Setting the standard SF, setting the standard.

Richard (of RBB) said...

Oh, that's right, you missed the famous 70s road trip with Tony, myself, Mike and Danny Cotteral who, with Julian O'brian, was travelling up by motor bike and fell off on the way. Only the three of us in Tony's car made it - a minor miracle. On the way back be all slept sitting up in Tony's car at Taupo. I think that's why beds were invented.

THE CURMUDGEON said...

No Old Guy, you are getting confused. It was on the way up to Auckland University Arts Festival in 2002 that Tony, Me, Mike and Healey were travelling in my car.
Yort and Noel were in Yort's car. I don't know where you were. Cotteral and that cunt O'Brien were on bikes. Unfortunately it was Dan that had the accident (broke his leg).
The Taupo trip you are thinking of was different to that one and yes, I wasn't there (thankfully ) as by all accounts you silly buggers slept in Tony's Humber by the lake and Tony drove you mad by singing "Taupo, Taupo, kick you up the Dorpo"

Richard (of RBB) said...

You're a silly old bugger! It was the Auckland trip, with the stop over at Taupo, when Danny broke his leg. Why have you got it in for Julian? Danny had the potential to be much more of a cunt when it suited him. We tried several sleeping positions at Taupo. Half the back seat was packed with clothing. Mike slept sitting up and Tony tried sleeping on the front floor with his head on the peddles. We gave up in the end and drove on. You were probably out looking for golf balls and missed the trip.

Richard (of RBB) said...

Arts festival 2002? What?

THE CURMUDGEON said...

Sorry, Arts Festival 1972.

Twisted Scottish Bastard said...

Methinks excessive drinking has fuddled memories somewhat.

I thought Jaffa was a friendly term of endearment, meaning a hard shell, but a soft, melting and gooey centre.

THE CURMUDGEON said...

"a hard shell, but a soft, melting and gooey centre."

Sounds like a deep fried tortoise.