Is any of this familiar?

[martin smith]

It's been my experience that a lot of these south islanders think that having a job allows them to exercise their own prejudice against you ie.they don't like how you talk,or how you walk,the earring in whichever ear or wherever,the scar on your face or the tattoo,the clothes you wear,the squint in your eye,your attitude (that only they have a problem with) something they've heard about you,or read about you,or one of their friends has heard or read about you and then you get treated accordingly.
There's also what's called the politics of moving into a new neighbourhood,where there is always going to be someone down the street,who doesn't like you and there's not a damned thing you can do about it and it's all for much the same reasons and done by the tongue waggers who talk through that hole in their head,mainly because they like the sound that comes out,with this philosophy of "well I'd rather have them talking about you than talking about me" and for an example this tribe of people move in down the road and they try to talk to the fella who lives next door to them,but he doesn't even bother to acknowledge that he's even heard them and it's starts off with 'Gee you know that fella hasn't got any kids and he doesn't have a missus?Must be something wrong with him.... but if you just happened down to the club he goes to every wednesday night,you'll soon see that he'll talk to just about anyone.It's like they've made it their mission in life to try and make everybody else's lives as shitty as theirs are.

I dunno about you,but yesterday I was out in my backyard and I happened to glance over the fence and caught a glimpse of my neighbour in his garage trying to start his lawnmower and then giving up and slamming his garage door in a huff,so I called out to him and asked him if he wanted to borrow mine,without a seconds thought about it,even though I hardly know him and it 'was' a little bit of a mission,getting it out of my garage and then having to undo the handle in order to make it easier to carry and then lift it over the fence to him.
He wanted to know if I was going to be around for a while and even though I needed a couple of items down at the village,what the hell I can always get them tomorrow right?And anyway what are neighbours for?
When I was living in Invercargill I rented out a couple of rooms in my house and my mum told me that if I had a woman that I should never let one of her friends move in,because what happens is that they gang up on you and being a pigheaded male,I had to do it my way and of course,that's exactly what DID happen and I then had trouble getting rid of them.
Well I was up the ladder trimming the hedge and my neighbour was painting his house and we got talking and I told him about it and he said to me "You should have come over and told me.I would have sent the missus over and she'd have dealt with them for you" which being a north islander,of course,that sort of thought never even entered my head.
Although I don't always say good things about the deep south,it also has it's good points and there are things I learnt living there that have changed some of my attitudes forever.

[Jich]

Welcome to the real world, its the same everywhere.