Friday, March 21, 2008

New Brighton Beach Memoirs

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Now THERE is a land that should have a resort!

Unfortunately, for the people of Christchurch, you can't buy liquor in a store on Good Friday. They have odd liquor laws that cover most, but not all, bars during Easter weekend. A restaurant can serve drinks if you're eating, so many bars suddenly had a snack menu this weekend...always ways around the law.

And from what I saw last night, the New Zealand kids enjoy drinking just as much as the Aussies. Someone told me yesterday that New Zealand has got one of the highest percentage of teen binge drinkers in the world (more than the US and Britian). Here is a little info:


Surveys of New Zealand teenagers show much higher rates of binge drinking - 37 per cent of those aged 12 to 17.
In Christchurch, 43 per cent of males and 33 per cent of females aged between 12 and 17 consume five or more drinks in one session.

It's like watching a city full of frat kids run amok at times. Last night, I saw a group of drunk kids trying to climb this tall, angled, steel, monument and, with each drunken attempt, they would get part of the way up and then would slip and often fall backwards down to the concrete. Dumb-asses. Opposite of this energetic group, were three older people laying down in open parking spaces trying to catch some sleep...ignoring their drunk friends who were trying to get them to get up and go home.

And it's not just the kids, their adult counterparts are just as bad. My first night here, I saw a man so drunk that he eventually lost his balance and fell into the tree he was leaning against. He hit his head and just lay on the ground falling in/out of sleep for over a half hour until the po po came and took him away. Now, I enjoy a drink or three now and then, but never anything like the people described above. That's just dumb...and a little sad.

Of course, it's entertaining to watch when it's not someone you know and, if they fall and don't die or bleed all over the place, it's really good for a laugh.

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So, after recovering from my failed attempts at climbing that damn, slippery monument in town last night...I mean, after doing a little knitting in my room and getting a GOOD nights sleep, I woke up today and headed to the local beach in the city of New Brighton. Unlike my last visit to a beach, this one was enjoyable, nice temperature and my skin didn't melt off of my skeletal structure when I stepped into the sun.

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Wanna know what I saw?

Girls in dark glasses, with black satin sashes...

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Sufers in bodysuits, that clung to their asses...

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Some random sand art, that said "Good something"...

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Those were a few of my FAvorite things....

Sorry....couldn't resist.

ANYWAY....it was just a nice day hangin' by the beach. Here are a few random pics I took...

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Interesting bridge support design. I enjoyed the circles....


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I would only surf if I could do it like the guy on the lower right.


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They also had one of those run-down/rusty amusement parks that you only find in beach areas like this. The kind that, in a Stephen King novel, would malfunction and send the various patrons spinning out of control to their deaths.

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So, of course, I had to ride something. Fortunately, they had the flying chair swings. I LOVE THOSE!

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While waiting for the other 4 year olds to get into their seats (come on kids, I don't have all day!), I noticed this little boy across from my hanging body...crying, CRYING because he wanted to ride the ride and his mother wouldn't let him.

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I wanted to tell him that a real "ladies man" wouldn't cry so much, but it was like he was begging me to get out of my chair (no way, tiny!) and let him in. So, then he attempted to crawl through the very childproof fences they always have at carnivals of death...

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He wasn't happy about being pulled back into the "safe" body dropping zone. Mom brought his little sister over and they both watched as we slowly spun out of sight, clinging to our rickety chairs and watching our lives flash before us...

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It was a fun ride, everyone was accounted for when they stopped it and no one hurled...a banner day and I was ready to go.

So, I hopped into my magical flying machine and headed back to the hotel for a long winters nap....

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2 comments:

gonoles84 said...

It seems Mom must have slipped the little guy some Courvoisier to calm him down. Not quite the demographic for binge drinking but part of the rite of passage, no doubt.

Great pictures, Ken!!

Vampire Hours said...

It's true...I think they do get the kids used to liquor early...saves a lot of hurling later when the binging begins. Glad you like the pics...I have SO many more....