Thwarted by ESPN NZ - Night 103

The major goal today was to find a place to watch the Packers game, which would be played at 12:30. I spent the morning wandering around town looking for a used bookstore to trade in a few finished books for some new ones. Along the way I made a mental note of everyplace that looked like it might be the kind of sports bar that would be open at noon on a Monday. I eventually stumbled into a small place operating out of a room joined to a butchery/bakery. The sign said

Stewart Island in the Distance

“Butchery, Bakery, and Book Exchange,” an odd combination, but whatever. I found an old man hunched over a magazine behind the counter and, as luck would have it, he was listening to the Patriots-Chargers game. I immediately inquired as to the station and if he was a fan. “Oh this,” he said, “I am just waiting for the horse racing to come on at noon.” It all became clear. He was a gambling degenerate/bookie busily reading the racing forum and placing and taking bets out of the store, his front, as it were. He gladly accepted my three books and told me to choose any two books from the shelves in trade, not even so much as noting what I took or how many. Not surprisingly, his adult books section comprised of erotic novels and old pornographic magazines took up a good third of the small hut out of which he operated. A friendly guy, he gave me the names of some pubs that might show the game and I was on my way.

Downtown Invercargill

The Speight’s Ale House just down the street from my hostel opened at 11 and looked promising. The girl behind the bar flipped through the five Sky sports channels and found the Pats-Chargers game on the last one, ESPN New Zealand. After the New England game and a brief Sportscenter I was primed for the Packers. However, abruptly at 12:30 fucking ESPN New Zealand cut to tape delayed, B-league Spanish soccer, denying me my Packers. Once again the waitress flipped through all the channels, but this time to no avail. Defeated, and unwilling to pay $30 in internet fees to watch the play-by-play online, I decided to take a long walk down to the estuary park during the game, as my watching would have little effect on the outcome. On the way I stopped by the World’s

The Estuary Walkway

Southermost Micro-Brewery, the Invercargill Brewery, for a few free tastes of beer. A huge fan of microbrews, I was genuinely unimpressed with their product, though I signed the guest registry anyways. As you can see, the one thing Invercargill does pitch is its southernmost location. At the very edge of New Zealand, it is the farthest south English speaking city of over 50,000 in the world. The only larger cities farther south are those in Chile and Argentina and as a result many things and places here are the “southernmost this or that.”….like the Subway Restaurant next door to my hostel.

The tragic Green Bay loss left me in a foul mood for the evening. I made Rissolas, breaded, conglomerated meatballs consisting of beef, pork, and/or lamb (as the package alluded to) for dinner. I guess this counts for a traditional New Zealand meal. At night, I walked to the theatre across the street to see American Gangster, a 1970’s gangland epic.

What I Learned Today: (WARNING: Partial Movie Spoiler Below) During my travels here I’ve had more than a few New Zealanders or Aussies refer to what they believe is the relative dangerousness of American cities. While it is true that America does lead the world in prison population (though mostly on drug charges), it is certainly less dangerous than many places throughout the world, so I wondered where this belief came from. It finally clicked; the movies. Our exported entertainment culture glorifies violence to such a point that were I a small town New Zealander I would have no choice but to believe that all American cities are full of gangsters with automatic weapons who kill each other in broad daylight over drug money. To them America must seem like a big, dirty, interesting and lethal place. At the end of the movie, when the subtitles explained that Frank Lucas was sentenced to 70 years, though only served 15, no less than half of the audience snickered; a not-so silent acknowledgement of the perceived hypocrisy practiced in our land of supposed freedom and justice.

written by

exumenius on January 21, 2008 from Invercargill, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos

Send a Compliment

comment on this...