NZ Standard for pedestrian etiquetteIt would be fair to say that the Standards NZ monthly magazine is possibly the 'dryest' of monthly periodicals that turns up on my desk each month.

This month, however, there was an article that touched on a subject close to my heart: pedestrian etiquette. Poor walkers, particularly those with no sense of space, speed or courtesy, drive me nuts. I'm not a walk-at-a-million-miles-an-hour-guy, but I do have long legs, and outpace most people, so to get stuck behind three people out for a leisurely stroll down Lambton Quay at lunchtime (as I did yesterday), while dozens of other people bank up behind them looking for somewhere to pass as the usual throng of people whizz past in the opposite direction ... well, it makes my blood boil.

Now, it has to be said, that most people aren't bad at obeying the fairly simple rules that make walking about town that much easier: keep left, don't stop randomly, check behind before veering into a store so as to not collide with a power-walking exec late for some meeting...

But many, as with the slow-walking-three-abreast-trio I described above, just plainly don't, and, as the Standards article points out, much to my nodding agreement...

At lunchtime, Wellington City centre, is a nightmare, many people can't seem to grasp the basics of good pedestrian etiquette. For example, couples walk at half-speed hand-in-hand on the right side of the footpath.

So Standards New Zealand are looking at introducing somthing similar to the Road Code for footpaths, in what they think will be a world first. The Standard will cover such things as keeping left (unless overtaking), guidelines for acceptable places to stop to have a conversation, and potentially more controversial measures such as banning prams during rush hour, a compulsory speed for walking on escalators (why is it that some people's legs stop functioning on escalators?), and instant fines for people failing to maintain a 'reasonable pace'. Bring. It. On.

Standards also speculates that our flourishing tourism industry is adding to our footpath chaos...

We believe that much of the 'wrong side of the footpath' behaviour involves foreign tourists, so SNZ is looking at ways that the new Standard can be distributed to visitors when they clear customs.

The proposed date for the introduction of this Standard is April 2006, but I haven't (perhaps, because of the specific publication date - see the larger version of the scanned article) seen any sign of the Standard being pre-emptively observed by the lunch-time population of the Wellington CBD.

Maybe we need to look more seriously at those instant fines.
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Damn Memes: a book one.Typical, mere hours after posting a comment on Miramar Mike's blog about how much I agree with him about disliking memes, I (well, Natalie) get pinged by NZ Political Comments as the next in the line for the current Book Meme doing the rounds. All right then, just this once...

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?
I took ages on this, and still aren't really satisfied when I decide to be...
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland. Sentimental, geeky, and humourous. Hmmm.
UPDATE: As DC points out in comments over at Smacked Face, since they burn all books in F451 anyway, why would you want to be any one in particular? Other than just one you think reflects yourself in some way. Or are we missing something? Is it a trick question? Do I really want to be an innocuous non-fiction technical manual or something?

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Ahaha. Not really, although I probably fancied Ayla from the Clan of the Cave Bear series (mostly, I suspect, because her filmic guise was Darryl Hannah).

The last book you bought is?
Christmas books for family. I can't remember the last book I bought for myself. Probably (scarily enough) Mastering the Art of Production with 3DS Max 4.

The last book you finished is?
Came a Hot Friday, by Ronald Hugh Morrieson.
Classic (if a bit blokey) bit of NZ fiction.

What are you currently reading?
Jumpers, by Stephen Gould.
Something I saw recommended over at boingboing, so thought I'd give it a try (and also in keeping with my current trend of reading a lot of Young Adult Fiction). Good so far, although, what is it with YA fiction nowadays? Within the first few chapters the main protagonist has been beaten up by his father, been the victim of an attempted anal-rape by a gang of truckers, run away from home and robbed a bank. And this book won the ALA Young Adult Book of the Year.

Five Books you would take to a deserted Island?
* Catch 22 by Jospeh Heller (I never tire of it)
* Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (haven't read it, but I'm sure there's a few good years of reading, analysis and re-reading in there).
* War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (again, haven't read it, but big epic books are probably the go when you're stuck on island somewhere).
* Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh (for when I need a laugh).
* The Giant Book of Crosswords and Cryptograms (should keep me going for a while).

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
No-one, as I'm going to play the role of grumpy anti-meme crusader.
However, if these people read this and want to take up the meme, feel free..
* Jess at The Backyard ('cause I always feel the need to link to the welly massif, given half a chance)
* Jen at Smacked Face (I like her music taste - be interesting to see her book choices)
* Limegreen at Scenic Detour (for some intelligent choices, no doubt).
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Good Morning!My surreal run as the go-to guy for blogging comment in the NZ media continues, with an appearance on TVNZ's Good Morning show on (of all dates) April Fool's Day last week.

For those of you, like me, who don't actually ever get to see this show, you can download the segment below.

The actual experience of being on the show was yet another hilarious example of small-town NZ at work. I turned up for the interview and was welcomed onto the set where I met the interviewer Evie - who used to work on Flipside where blog-buddy (and early bizgirl fan) Damian Christie used to be the producer.

And then, in the green room afterwards, I bumped into music reviewer extraordinaire Nick Bollinger, who lives around the corner from me, and who I now have semi-regular chats with when we bump into each other around the streets of Island Bay.

What a lovely small village I inhabit. So much different from the big wide world Natalie is currently exploring.

Anyway, here's the downloads...

James on Good Morning AVI Video (3.34mb)
This requires the open-source XviD codec to view. Download and install it here. Don't be put off if 'codec' doesn't mean a thing to you, it's a completely painless process - go to the page, select the PC or Mac download, download it, double-click the thing you've downloaded, and whatever media player you use for watching video will now be able to play back the file AVI file properly (if you don't install it, chances are you'll end up hearing the audio, but not seeing the video).

James on Good Morning MP3 audio only (0.9mb)
As it says - just the audio. But, be warned, you'll be missing out on seeing my Scooby Doo jacket making its network premiere.

Update: I've taken off the big mpg version, as it was taking up too much server space. If you want a copy, just flick me an email. Cheers.
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