We love Skilpadde

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^ thanks!

That's very good to hear.
Love that pic!


Ah, I see. Thanks for explaining. I came across the term for the first time when I read Tomorrow when the war began some years ago. (I read most of the book being outside with Viggo actually )

Yes, I remember you mentioning that before. Not sure why you left my fave country though!



Thanks! I'm so happy to be part of the team!


A tortoise, a walrus and a flying squirrel! Now, that's great stuff!

Oh hey, more moderators!

Congratulations, Envirozentinel and Skilpadde.

Is England really you favourite country Skilpadde?

Mostly I left because my husband is a Kiwi, and we had to pick one side of the world to live on. The quality of life out here is much better, and it's cheaper, for us, with a lot more space.

I do wish my family weren't a 24 hour flight away though. Especially as I hate flying. One day we might move back to Europe, but it would probably be somewhere like Italy or France, not England.

Edit - oops, I nearly forgot to post the turtle pic.

Dunedin on South Island is the city farthest removed from London on the face of the Earth at 19075 km. There are probably places that are further but Dunedin is the city that is furthest.

I'm sure NZ has much more living space than the UK especially the South Island which has only 23% of NZ's population. Probably the only parts of the UK that compare are the Scottish Highlands.

So one of these days Moomin might well be residing in a Tuscan villa, pressing her own wine and olive oil, and actually conversing in Italian to the local greengrocer...

Steady on with the 'conversing' part there, enviro. I don't even have conversations with shopkeepers in English.

You are right about the South Island being sparsely populated. I would live there in a second, but work opportunities are very limited. On the converse side, houses are generally much cheaper. Of course, if you lived in the South Island you would then need to get an approximately 2 hour flight just to get to Auckland International Airport to start your flight to Europe.

Unless you go into the cities, even the North Island is not that crowded. For intance, I can only see about 5 houses, even from the top of our hill. If I go to the next hill over I can see for many miles, and there still aren't that many houses in sight.

Which is why you send smoke signals when the Internet does not work properly.

Or use Elbonian methods.

^ Ah, yes, Elbonia... I really like their airlines!

Thanks, Murihiku!


Yep, I've always had an affinity for England. I'm not even sure how it started, but I've been drawn to it ever since I was little. I'm sure watching Sky Channel from age 6 didn't hurt. I was really taken with The Fun Factory Show, and later also D.J. Kat Show.
Haha, I remember when I was about 8... I was reading a "Bobbsey Twins" book, and several places "America" was mentioned; that they lived there and how things were there. I wasn't drawn to USA, and at one point i got so annoyed with seeing the reminder that I took a marker and crossed it out, and wrote "England" in childishly big purple letters!


Yeah, it must be hard to be so far from your family. I had a LDR in 2012 with an Aussie. I was torn apart by the thought of living that far away from everyone I know and my security lines and my loving family. I just couldn't do it.
24 hours traveling is just too much for me, even though I like flying. And then there is the ridiculously high price...

heh, I once had a Greek penfriend who suggested we meet halfway, in Austria! Maybe you need to find the half way point between Oceania and Europe!

Any particular reason why you see yourself move to France or Italy? I've always thought Italian was a beautiful language and they sure produce wonderful wine there. I would like to go there someday.


How could you almost forget that??

How alike Crush (Finding Nemo) is this green?

Congratulations to Envirozentinal and Skilpadde!

Perhaps Moderators can have custom ranks, like 'Silverback' and 'Senior Superior' for the grand old elders, and 'Mini
Mod' for the newer ones?

Thank you, Sylkat!

Now there's a thought... The custom ranks were a nice touch.

Reminds me of how I found out about American English. I was reading a Sesame Street book when I was about 6, and there was a sentence that said something like "Grover went crying to his mom". I had never seen the word "mom" before, so I went to my mother and asked "Mum, what's a 'mom'?". She told me "that's how Americans say 'mum'". I asked her why and she said that that's just what they do. I thought it was a little weird, but only a bit.

But then a few seconds I realised something else, and I asked her "wait ... is Sesame Street in America?!". And she confirmed that it was. That perplexed me more than the word "mom" did. At that age I assumed that everything I heard about was in New Zealand by default, unless I was explicitly told otherwise (e.g., London is the capital city of England, etc.). Even when we moved to Australia, when I was about 8, I saw McDonalds and KFC and said to my mother "wow, they have New Zealand restaurants here!".

^ Haha, that sounds like me! When I was little, I thought the president on the Philippines was Norwegian. I had heard a news report where his name was mentioned, and I thought he was named Kåre Akino. Kåre is a common enough name here, and was the name of the prime minister here at the time.I knew it was another country, but I didn't see anything weird about the president there being Norwegian.

A Norwegian actor and singer, Geir Børresen, made songs about the Smurfs, and I listened to that record a lot when I was in daycare age. The first time I heard a Smurf reference on an American show (Saved by the bell, I think it was), I was surprised and thought it was cool that a Norwegian phenomenon was mentioned!

I guess it's natural to jump to such conclusions when one is very young.

By the way, I was confused about the mom/mum thing at first. It was only a few years ago I got the difference.

[will never know the feel of growing up in a nation not dominated by american english]

feels bartman.

Looks like we are well overdue for a turtle picture

What does feels bartman mean?



Yes, very much so! Look at that lovely profile!