Up Front by Emma Hart

Read Post

Up Front: This is a Photograph of Me

181 Responses

First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 8 Newer→ Last

  • giovanni tiso,

    I'm adding you to my list of "cool people who don't drive" (which includes at least one living Nobel Prize Winner). I also see it as my way of saving lives. A quiet hero, is what I am.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Turns out, though, that you also need photo ID to buy a house.

    Oh, you could get one of those Hospitality Association of NZ 18+ Cards so you can both buy property, and wine from the supermarket.

    Hilariously, the sample 18+ Card on the HANZ website has the birth year of 1981, making the cardholder a geriatric 29 years old this year.

    P.S. See you at Hooch.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Judi Lapsley Miller,

    I'm another non-driver making your roads safer... No big deal in NZ, but was a huge hassle in the USA. Aside from the lack of public transport (or even footpaths!) where we lived, people's eyes would bulge with amazement when they found out, and I would get frequent lectures from work colleagues about how I must learn to drive immediately. I didn't bother trying to explain that I already knew how to drive, I just chose not to.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 106 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    Firearms licences are cool. You could get one of those.

    You know when someone is applying for a passport, and they have to have people who don't live with them sign statements on photos saying that you are really you and that the photo is a good likeness, etc. And Internal Affairs might ring that person to check they actually signed it (but this almost never happens)?

    Well firearms licences aren't like that at all. A cop will actually visit the house of those people who agree you should have the licence and talks to them for like 15 minutes.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    A cop will actually visit the house of those people who agree you should have the licence and talks to them for like 15 minutes.

    Yeah, it's the nearest thing we have to a certificate of sanity.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    No drivers' license I can understand, but no passport? Blimey. Personally, I learned to drive at age 28, but had the convenience of living in a variety of places that were designed around walking/cycling (Wellington, Tokyo, Cambridge, etc). Chapeau for living as a non-driver in Christchurch.

    Machine Empathy: Paranoia, right?

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    people's eyes would bulge with amazement when they found out, and I would get frequent lectures from work colleagues about how I must learn to drive immediately

    Our lawyer was just totally flummoxed. He couldn't work out how I got from place to place. When I explained that I either bussed or walked, he was totally thrown. Because I didn't wear shoes, and how could I walk if I didn't wear shoes? That's just not possible!

    He even suggested that, as an easier option than signing this declaration, my partner teach me to drive.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    No drivers' license I can understand, but no passport? Blimey.

    My passport expired about a decade ago, and given it was just as expensive to get a new one as renew the old one, I just didn't bother. For most of that time I've been pretty much too ill for long-distance travel anyway.

    Chapeau for living as a non-driver in Christchurch.

    Chch has really excellent public transport. Currently. Sideshow Bob's looking to 'fix' that, it being very obviously not broken.

    Machine Empathy: Paranoia, right?

    Indeed. I think there's a GURPS equivalent, but I can't remember what it's called and I was WAY too lazy to find out what box the manual is in.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    When I explained that I either bussed or walked, he was totally thrown.

    But- But if you don't have a car, how to do you to Briscoes or Farmers and buy lots of things to put in your car to take home? DOES NOT COMPUTE!

    I've been carless for over five years. It's a lot easier in Wellington than Auckland, but in both cities I could survive on walking and public transport.

    In fact, when one has an iPod, there's really not much to complain about with public transport.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Greg Dawson,

    Pretty sure hero system has machine empathy as a talent in some versions. Would be pretty easy to build as a skill bonus with limitations anyway.
    As to what you have, at a guess I'd say a 5pt disadvantage - common, moderate.

    I recently thought about moving banks, but ASB apparently refuse to recognise the existence of anyone without a passport, drivers license, or gun license. HANZ card fail. This despite I could happily produce all sorts of other ID, including a marriage certificate to one of their existing customers.

    re: briscoes, living across the road helps. I've found it's more important to be within lugging distance of a sallies though, for the other end of the product lifecycle.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 294 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    In fact, when one has an iPod, there's really not much to complain about with public transport.

    And well-thumbed mags in coffee shops don't get a look in. I've had licence and car since I was 15, so I couldn't comment. But, like JackE, while living in Tokyo the concept of 'public transport' took on a whole new meaning. Then I got a 50cc, which was like Tokyo Disneyland, but every day.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Firearms licences are cool. You could get one of those.

    ...

    Well firearms licences aren't like that at all. A cop will actually visit the house of those people who agree you should have the licence and talks to them for like 15 minutes.

    Which is quite ironic really, given that firearms licence isn't one of the three that various places have to accept as ID, yet it's probably the hardest to get for yourself.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    Firearms licences are cool. You could get one of those.

    A friend of mine at uni had one and when he turned 20 while I was still 19 he loaned me the card so we could skirt a law that was changed a few years later.

    It was funny how the bouncers didn't really look past the word "firearms" before letting me in.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • David Ritchie,

    You can get a learners driving license without actually having driven a car -- I used mine when purchasing a house. For various reasons (possibly the same as Jack's) I'm in the process of learning myself after 34 years. Failed the learners test 3 times over 6 years before nailing it. Truly a warning to the world.

    Since Nov 2006 • 166 posts Report Reply

  • octopusgrrl,

    We had no car for much of the time we lived in Auckland, and I never bothered to get my license until I was pregnant with my son 4 years ago - we lived one stage from town on the bus, and either walked or got taxis home from supermarkets/big ticket item shops. It was only really when we moved to Dunedin and encountered so many damn hills everywhere that walking everywhere became a lot less attractive. As it is, I think I drive the car too much because it's too convenient and my general fitness is definitely the worse for it.

    Dunedin • Since May 2009 • 33 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    DOES NOT COMPUTE!

    I was once offered a job in the UK 'up north'. I was living in London at the time, where a car is something of a liability, unless you're the sort of weirdo who enjoys spending hours looking for a parking space, and cleaning up glass from broken side windows once a week or so where the junkies have broken in looking for stuff to steal.

    Once the job was accepted, and I was in negotiations with the HR dept, I was asked on several separate occasions by different people: 'do you have a car?', to which I would answer 'no'. Now, I swiftly realised that my answer was actually completely irrelevant, and I might as well have said 'yes', 'no', 'cheese', 'boobies' or 'I want cake' as the whim struck me, as the HR droids had clearly been pre-programmed with a single chirpy answer, which was 'well, you'll find there's plenty of parking round here! No need to worry about that!'

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    I never bothered to get my license until I was pregnant with my son 4 years ago

    My partner only learned to drive when I was pregnant with our first child, and we really only needed a vehicle (a bright yellow Suzuki Carry Van called Wee Jock Silly McPlop) once he (our son, not my partner) started refusing to sit in the push-chair on walks. Really handy for the supermarket shopping, though.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Beard,

    I didn't get a license until I was 26, and then only because I was being transferred to Auckland. Back then my skills were actually in demand (ah, those were the days!) and I managed to negotiate my employer into paying for my lessons and the deposit on a car. After a couple of years I moved back to Wellington, and after a couple of months I realised that I was only using my car about once a fortnight and it really wasn't worth what I was paying for insurance and parking. So, I've been carless (or as I prefer to think of it, car-free) for over a decade, and while I still have a license, functionally speaking I'm a non-driver.

    A few years ago I had lost my license (as in physically misplacing the card, rather than being banned) and was travelling in the US with work. After getting carded and refused entry once too often (despite looking well over 30), I took to taking my only other photo ID with me all the time: my passport. After one particularly debauched and sweaty night in Vegas (don't ask) I absent-mindedly (read: drunkenly) threw all my clothes in the wash, forgetting that my passport was in my trouser pocket. Everyone should try getting from Las Vegas to Heathrow with a fluffy, pulpy, disintegrating passport: it's really quite a laugh.

    In the words of the great Alexei Sayle: "I never drink and drive. Well, I never drive, really".

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    There's clearly a bit of a theme here: while I'd half-arsedly thought "I need to learn to drive at some point", and had resolved to do so before I turned 30, impregnating my wife threw the issue into sharp relief. It was quite handy: my driving instructor got rather into it, and spent a lot of time planning routes to the hospital from our house. "This is how you want to go if it's during the morning rush hour; obviously, if it's the middle of the night, it'll be quicker to zip down the A11", that sort of thing. In between ogling young ladies: "Oooh would you look at her... NO KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD YOU IDIOT!!" sort of thing.

    My wife cycled to work all through her first pregnancy. She had terrible morning sickness, and it was much easier to suddenly stop and vomit when you're on a bike. She's a tough woman, my wife.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • bronwyn,

    Oh, you city slickers! My parents had bought me a car before I was 15, so keen were they to avoid having to make the hour-return trip to school and back.

    tamaki makaurau • Since Nov 2006 • 86 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    our just turned 17yr old just passed her test - you can see just how much it's changed her life - it really is a liberating event for a teenager - of course she has to be home by 10pm or turn into a pumpkin.

    I use a passport for ID everywhere - mostly because for a while I only had a California license and it's become a habit - in California though most shop people have never seen a passport (NZ or otherwise) and sort of stare blankly at it - that CA license is still very useful.

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Gary Hutchings,

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 108 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    I can understand the whole "hassle the non-drivers" thing. Having spent probably YEARS driving these people around, it seems like very mild payback. They never really seem to appreciate that it's a real drag, actually, to cart people around just because they won't do it for themselves.

    For me, driving is sensual. I love it, try to make love to the vehicle with my hands, reach into it's soul with my ears and heart. The practical element is a bonus. I feel like I'm 15 feet long and bulletproof, because, quite literally, I am. Well, I'm more bulletproof, anyway.

    For that reason, I got my motorcycle license. It was not a practical choice, but one based purely on the love of seizing one of the most joyous forms of transport every invented between my legs, and letting rip. It feels consciousness-expanding to me, and I think that is quite literally true, apparently the vision of drivers improves dramatically, particularly peripheral vision. Road-sense is entering a much larger world, in which my thoughts rove up to 15 seconds ahead, seeing things that the non-drivers would not care to even look for, minor pressure changes in the traffic a long way ahead, the attitude of the drivers all around me, evidenced by the subtle nuances of their car body language.

    I pushed very hard to get my wife to get her NZ drivers license (she had an Australian one). After that, I had to push her to drive. Despite the aggro this caused, it has done a lot to make her a less nervy person on the road, to expand her social life, to escape from the house-bound tendency of non-drivers living in the 'burbs. She freely admits that it was the right thing to do. It's extremely empowering.

    Yes, cars are also a burden, a chore, at times. For some people, they're unnecessary. But why do I always seem to end up driving those people around?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    once he (our son, not my partner) started refusing to sit in the push-chair on walks

    so your partner still likes riding in the push-chair?

    Reminds me of trying to get insurance to buy a car in the US, needed a car and a social security number before we could get insurance, needed insurance before we could buy or drive a car, needed insurance and social security numbers before we could get a license. In the end the gordian knot was unravelled by confusing the insurance agent long enough with our New Zealand accents and a friend (known for 1 day) loaning us his brand new car to do our drivers test in.

    Failed the learners test 3 times over 6 years before nailing it. Truly a warning to the world.

    You'd fit right in driving in Auckland then.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    I learned to drive at 13, and got my licence at 15...obtained a passport in 1978 (the first year I went overseas) but relinquished it in 1998, and dont miss it at all.

    But I do have a gun licence, and have had one for decades (since they first came out.) I look like a totally manic pyschopath in the ID photo. Which is why people hand it back very quickly, saying things like, "Of course, madam, anything else we can do for you?"

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 8 Newer→ Last

Post your response…

Please sign in using your Public Address credentials…

Login

You may also create an account or retrieve your password.