New Zealand representing

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We may not get a holiday for Waitangi day, but all of you at home will be relieved to know that there is still a big show of New Zealand pride, even if it not really along the traditional lines. The circle line pub-crawl was bigger than I ever thought it would be with thousands of New Zealanders starting at 11am and making their way to Westminster stopping at every tube station to go out and get a beer.

Unfortunately the designated pubs were not quite big enough for the huge crowd that ended up taking part, so in the end we decided that it would be easier (and cheaper) to find an off licence and stock up on beers that we drank along the way. Apparently there are no laws about drinking in public here, and it is perfectly legal to stroll around drinking, even on the tube. The rules of the pub-crawl are that you are only allowed to use the circle line, and you are not allowed to hold onto anything. The trains were so packed that the not holding on thing was not too hard because we were all squashed up against each other anyway. The big problem was that so many people ended up backed up and there were only district line trains coming. One station it was so bad that we were told over the intercom “All you down there on platform 2, I know that you are waiting for a circle line train, but if you don’t get on the next train we are going to have to close the station because it is now dangerously over crowded.” And then the police came down and made us get on the district line. Despite the mayhem that I thought we were causing we were told in the off licence “we like you, you don’t cause any trouble. Not like those football crowds”.

At Westminster everyone gathered outside the houses of parliament and had a mass haka. Unfortunately due to the number people there and my lack of height I missed the whole thing, but I did hear it. I couldn’t believe that the guys didn’t end up with exposure because it was FREEZING! Coordinating bathroom stops was a bit difficult, and I am pretty sure that all the McDonalds along the way were not quite sure what had hit them…

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