I went to get some fish and chips just now and man, did that bring back some memories. It seems
that Australia/New Zealand fish and chips shops looks about the same. Greasy interior, a bench with
old magazines for people waiting in line and a slightly depressing ambience. I remember I used look
forward to eat one serving of fish and chips as a Sunday meal back when I was in New Zealand. Just
a pack of fish (NZ$1.10) a piece of fish (NZ$1.10) and a whole bottle of tomato sauce (NZ$2.40). I
will then absolutely saturate the chips with tomato sauce (about a 400 ml bottle) and eat the whole
thing with relish. Another “fish and chips memory” would be staying out in town late most weekdays
while still wearing my school uniform with a couple of my buddies. I was in high school then –
Riccarton High School in Church Corner, Christchurch. We would go to the city square straight after
class and hang around town until around 12 midnight. There was a fish and chip shop near the city
and we would always get something to eat there and play the old arcade games in the shop for a
while before taking the bus back to Church Corner.
This picture is from the Riccarton High School [school.nz] website.
Hmm…looking at the web page sure brings back a lot of memories. The circle shows my first home
stay when I was there. I was always late for school and to avoid the gate keeper, I would jump
over the fence which connects the school grounds and the backyard of my home stay. Pretty nifty
eh? =D It works both ways, but climbing into the school grounds is easier than climbing into my
home stay backyard. This is because there are lumbar supports on the backyard side of the fence
to use as footholds. If I wanted to climb back into my home stay backyard, I would need to pull
myself up and vault over. It was hard to do that in the beginning, but after a bit of practice,
I got really good at it. This is useful for an entirely different reason. I didn’t have a lunch
pass then so I couldn’t go out of school grounds. The backyard trick allows me to go out without
having to pass though the gate. Heh. Those were the days indeed.
