New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[hayleyearth]

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-vaccines

 

 

How far down the page are you guys (in NZ) on the vaccination list ?

I'm in group 2.

But not sure I want to get it now.

[patches]

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-vaccines

 

 

How far down the page are you guys (in NZ) on the vaccination list ?

 

Although I work at the country's largest hospital, I'm not patient facing so likely July for me too.

 

Our team may get them earlier as we run the facility from an operation, maintenance and engineering side, so we could claim that we're essential

[davetapson]

Although I work at the country's largest hospital, I'm not patient facing so likely July for me too.

 

Our team may get them earlier as we run the facility from an operation, maintenance and engineering side, so we could claim that we're essential

We have that vaccine that needs to be frozen like hell and then has limited life span when unfrozen -  when they have spares left over they cast about for people to use it on - you should go tell them you are right there for when they are looking for people... 

[patches]

We have that vaccine that needs to be frozen like hell and then has limited life span when unfrozen -  when they have spares left over they cast about for people to use it on - you should go tell them you are right there for when they are looking for people... 

 

hahaha! there was an explanation and an apology that went round from our CEO when that happened, and before it hit the news.

 

The rational was behind minimal wastage was sound, but I guess you know how the press like to take anything and jump on it as a negative, trying to shame the "queue jumpers".

[davetapson]

hahaha! there was an explanation and an apology that went round from our CEO when that happened, and before it hit the news.

 

The rational was behind minimal wastage was sound, but I guess you know how the press like to take anything and jump on it as a negative, trying to shame the "queue jumpers".

 

Haha - I had no idea!  Was being serious   

 

The missus got hers pretty much like that - they called her practice up and asked 'anyone want a jab...?'

[patches]

The bad... I guess!?

 

Many on here will have a love-hate relationship with kiwi drivers. Whilst they generally don't go speeding down emergency lanes, jumping red traffic lights, or cutting people off in traffic, they are terrible at merging onto freeways and as recently discovered... they do not know what to do when a traffic light goes out.

 

Last week a traffic light near my house went out. The official regulation is to apply the give way rule. What I saw was chaos, and as a pedestrian wanting to cross the intersection, I found it nearly impossible to decipher what was going on.

Edited March 30, 2021 by patches

[davetapson]

The bad... I guess!?

 

Many on here will have a love-hate relationship with kiwi drivers. Whilst they generally don't go speeding down emergency lanes, jumping red traffic lights, or cutting people off in traffic, they are terrible at merging onto freeways and as recently discovered... they do not know what to do when a traffic light goes out.

 

Last week a traffic light near my house went out. The official regulation is to apply the give way rule. What I saw was chaos, and as a pedestrian wanting to cross the intersection, I found it nearly impossible to decipher what was going on.

Yeah, they see vehicles moving and figure out that as they're moving, the light must be green and just go.

 

It's a first world problem.  Not used to having to figure out what to do when things don't work!

 

My cousin runs safaris for Americans.  He says the main difference between them and us (and in this case probably Kiwis and us) is that as soon as they get hit by a curve ball, they are stumped and can't move forward.  We are so used to dealing with curved balls, we don't even notice them.

 

 

[DJR]

The bad... I guess!?

 

Many on here will have a love-hate relationship with kiwi drivers. Whilst they generally don't go speeding down emergency lanes, jumping red traffic lights, or cutting people off in traffic, they are terrible at merging onto freeways and as recently discovered... they do not know what to do when a traffic light goes out.

 

Last week a traffic light near my house went out. The official regulation is to apply the give way rule. What I saw was chaos, and as a pedestrian wanting to cross the intersection, I found it nearly impossible to decipher what was going on.

To be fair, Saffas have had a LOT more chances to practice this every time Escom shuts down traffic lights. To be honest, I think there are more of us who DON'T know what to do when the lights WORK. Especially that bloody red light, it's exactly like a red flag to a bull, accelerate and charge!   

[Kranswurm]

To be fair, Saffas have had a LOT more chances to practice this every time Escom shuts down traffic lights. To be honest, I think there are more of us who DON'T know what to do when the lights WORK. Especially that bloody red light, it's exactly like a red flag to a bull, accelerate and charge!   

If you have not sampled peak hour in Gaborone at one of their famous traffic circles or 4 way traffic lights you have not lived

Edited March 31, 2021 by Kranswurm

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

If you have not sampled peak hour in Gaborone at one of their famous traffic circles or 4 way traffic lights you have not lived

 

Can say the same for Nairobi, CHAOS!!!!!!

[patches]

If you have not sampled peak hour in Gaborone at one of their famous traffic circles or 4 way traffic lights you have not lived

 

 

Can say the same for Nairobi, CHAOS!!!!!!

 

My work in SA used to take me all over Africa. Whilst SA traffic is bad and the taxis are notorious for their misinterpretation of the road rules, it was still somewhat orderly by comparison.

 

Some of my favourite observations:

 

Kampala, Uganda - Massive 4 way stop (approximately 3 lanes wide each of each direction) on the outskirts when heading from Entebe through to Mbarara. 24 lanes fighting it out at once is not ideal

 

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania - Morning commutes from the peninsula to site involved a bit of drive-by-braille. It seems light contact between vehicles during the struggle through traffic is par for the course for our driver.

 

Lagos, Nigeria - Drive-by-echo-location is the technique used in the bustling city. Drivers are constantly beeping their hooters, but not in shows of aggression or alarm. More as a way to inform surrounding vehicles that you're coming past. It kinda makes sense, but would drive a westerner crazy.

 

Ilisha, Nigeria - Not a good sign when your driver decides to get out of his vehicle and start a fist fight with a pedestrian he nearly knocked over. Even worse when dozens of towns-folk swarm the vehicle and get enraged when they see one of my colleagues trying to film the situation on their phone. Needless to say, he very quickly ceased.

 

Windhoek, Namibia - Generally very peaceful, orderly and nothing notable to report. But when a massive rain storm hits a city that is not designed for high volumes of water, the streets turned into rivers and we saw cars floating down (or off) the roads as I was trying to rush back to the airport to catch my flight home.

 

Some fun times... in hind site

[Wayne Potgieter]

Dar Es Salaam was my worst.

 

And Shanghai. EEK

[Kranswurm]

My work in SA used to take me all over Africa. Whilst SA traffic is bad and the taxis are notorious for their misinterpretation of the road rules, it was still somewhat orderly by comparison.

 

Some of my favourite observations:

 

Kampala, Uganda - Massive 4 way stop (approximately 3 lanes wide each of each direction) on the outskirts when heading from Entebe through to Mbarara. 24 lanes fighting it out at once is not ideal

 

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania - Morning commutes from the peninsula to site involved a bit of drive-by-braille. It seems light contact between vehicles during the struggle through traffic is par for the course for our driver.

 

Lagos, Nigeria - Drive-by-echo-location is the technique used in the bustling city. Drivers are constantly beeping their hooters, but not in shows of aggression or alarm. More as a way to inform surrounding vehicles that you're coming past. It kinda makes sense, but would drive a westerner crazy.

 

Ilisha, Nigeria - Not a good sign when your driver decides to get out of his vehicle and start a fist fight with a pedestrian he nearly knocked over. Even worse when dozens of towns-folk swarm the vehicle and get enraged when they see one of my colleagues trying to film the situation on their phone. Needless to say, he very quickly ceased.

 

Windhoek, Namibia - Generally very peaceful, orderly and nothing notable to report. But when a massive rain storm hits a city that is not designed for high volumes of water, the streets turned into rivers and we saw cars floating down (or off) the roads as I was trying to rush back to the airport to catch my flight home.

 

Some fun times... in hind site

Don't forget Maputo which must have more cars than people

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

My work in SA used to take me all over Africa. Whilst SA traffic is bad and the taxis are notorious for their misinterpretation of the road rules, it was still somewhat orderly by comparison.

 

Some of my favourite observations:

 

Kampala, Uganda - Massive 4 way stop (approximately 3 lanes wide each of each direction) on the outskirts when heading from Entebe through to Mbarara. 24 lanes fighting it out at once is not ideal

 

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania - Morning commutes from the peninsula to site involved a bit of drive-by-braille. It seems light contact between vehicles during the struggle through traffic is par for the course for our driver.

 

Lagos, Nigeria - Drive-by-echo-location is the technique used in the bustling city. Drivers are constantly beeping their hooters, but not in shows of aggression or alarm. More as a way to inform surrounding vehicles that you're coming past. It kinda makes sense, but would drive a westerner crazy.

 

Ilisha, Nigeria - Not a good sign when your driver decides to get out of his vehicle and start a fist fight with a pedestrian he nearly knocked over. Even worse when dozens of towns-folk swarm the vehicle and get enraged when they see one of my colleagues trying to film the situation on their phone. Needless to say, he very quickly ceased.

 

Windhoek, Namibia - Generally very peaceful, orderly and nothing notable to report. But when a massive rain storm hits a city that is not designed for high volumes of water, the streets turned into rivers and we saw cars floating down (or off) the roads as I was trying to rush back to the airport to catch my flight home.

 

Some fun times... in hind site

 

As long as you know the number one when it comes to traffic in Africa, "Might has right". The bigger the car, the more say they have.

Don't pick a fight with a truck............

[Wannabe]

Gabs never phased me.

Nairobi was an eye opener, but Mombassa blew me away. I would have parked the car and walked the rest of the way, if we did not have a Driver used to the hustle and bustle.

[patham]

Don't forget Maputo which must have more cars than people

 

I started typing a long reply exactly about Maputo, got distracted, then my browser lost my text entry. Here is attempt 2. 

 

Most of Maputo I though was OK, but there was one crazy intersection on the EN1 heading north, close to the outskirts of town. It was multiple lanes and has/had bus and taxi ranks on all corners, and was a total mess of vehicles pulling on, pulling off, with traffic, against traffic, pedestrians running everywhere, you name it. It was the one place where driving defensively would not work - take the offensive - spot a gap and put foot!

 

On one memorable occasion I (in my pretend Landy - Freelander) was in convoy with a very unreliable Jeep Grand Cherokee (their diesel injector issues started just after the border). Typical symptoms were kangaroo lurches and pull-backs as the fuel came and went, sometimes followed by intermittent cut-outs.

 

As the sweeper, I could see them up ahead of me lurching haphazardly (fitting in quite well to the local driving pattern), but I had already made up my mind that no way was I towing them through the intersection if they broke down- we would both end up getting totalled. If it died, I would rescue the people and their belongings, but their car was going to be sacrificed and left behind. Luckily - it didn't come to that....   

 

Fun times indeed. I still remember in that trip having to do an unplanned overnight stay at Xai-Xai whilst the Jeep had a bit of an emergency fuel system clean. An unfinished back-packers, the only place we could find, was a mosquito pit from hell. Karma was working though - the owner of the jeep won the prize for the most mozzie bites at over 160.