I'm a man of means by no means, king of the road

Alright, so pictures normally go in the other blog, but this one is about life in New Zealand and this picture so totally sums up life in New Zealand that I could not resist.

I took this picture on the sly because, even after a year and a half here, I cannot believe that this is acceptable behaviour.

This was taken on Queen Street in the busy central business district in Auckland. For the uninitiated, Auckland is to Wellington as New York is to Washington, DC. Well, if New York had a population the size of Baltimore and Washington had a population the size of, I don't know, are there cities smaller than Baltimore? Anyways.... my point is that Auckland is the financial centre of New Zealand where the fancy people meet and greet and air kiss and Wellington is the centre of government, usually dominated by 'suits' wearing ill-fitted suits and worn down heels.

Now, even on the flashest street in the flashest district in the flashest town in New Zealand, it is COMPLETELY NORMAL to see otherwise reasonable people walking down the street barefoot. This I cannot abide, and my people come from trailer parks. You know those "no shirt, no shoes, no service" signs that you're most likely to see at a gas station in small town America? They do not apply here. I've seen people barefoot on the street, in the supermarket, at the dairy, in the mall and even at work (!!!).

I used to think that these people just had bad parents or, perhaps, were brought up by wolves but there are too many of them walking about. I mean, unless there's some gigantic children-raising wolf village somewhere turning out barefoot hillbillies to roam the streets. But no. I even dated one of these barefoot menaces. And though the family dynamic was something akin to a Greek tragedy, I can confirm that he did actually have parents who were crazy but not technically insane. Or wolves. I've even met other people who have normal, delightful, non-sociopathic mothers and they feel completely entitled to take their bare feet anywhere they want.

This offends me. Primarily because it is dirty (ew), but also because, come on, show a little self respect. The only thing that separates us from the apes is toilet training and shoes.