Isn’t it great to hear people saying a simple, ‘Thank you’?  And don’t New Zealanders say it a lot!  I travel by bus and it’s really refreshing to hear people thank the driver when they get off.  I’m sure it makes their day that little bit easier to have a bit of appreciation and value.   

Coming over on Air New Zealand, I saw their ads proudly boasting that ‘Service was a Kiwi thing’  and I reckoned it was just that an advert to boost ticket sales.  True the airline staff were, by-in-large, really helpful but after all I was paying.  What about the rest of them I thought?  Wait till I get to the cities, when the weather’s bad, it’s Monday morning and the person behind the till wishes they were on holiday somewhere warm.  Getting off in London you expect to be spat at and I reckoned it would be the same in Wellington.  How wrong I was.   

It’s true, Kiwi’s really do seem genuinely ready to help.  Even the most complex questions about a menu, still sees the waitress smiling and willing to, ‘ask chef.’ Around Wellington people are ready to strike up conversations, give advice and help in anyway they can.  They seem interested in who you are and where you come from.  As a newly arrived immigrant it makes you feel included.  People here generally seem nice and approachable and I’m not alone in thinking this.  Another European, this one from Spain, was so struck by how often people say ‘thank you,’ ‘please’ and ‘sorry’ she felt overwhelmed by all this politeness and wanted to make a film about it.  Next week check out, Hallo/Kia Ora, which is the result.  It’s fun, its fast and it says it all.  You should be proud of yourselves Kiwi’s, politeness is the armour of kings and you’ve got it in spades.