Never mind:
- the breakdown of the KiwiRail Network
- the training of the Operator
- whether or not there was some legitimate cause for anger.

My observation is that many passengers on a train act as if they are completely removed from the other passengers, avoiding conversation etc. So is there some collective psychology at force that does not help exhibition of manners?

We’re not completely screwed yet :)

There were apparently seats, but the author didn’t ask either the other passengers, or the passenger operator, for assistance. She condemns them without even giving them the opportunity to assist.

Presumably the children were secure in the pushchair until she removed one for breastfeeding, at which stage the operator passed, and became concerned.

There’s no comment from the PO that he was concerned about the breastfeeding ( and why is his age and ethnicity an issue? ), but became concerned about safety once a child was released from the pushchair.

If there is not a safe place, but there is potential space, any passenger should be insisting that the operator ask the other passengers to move if they don’t repsond to a polite request.

ak, for what it’s worth, I loved how rude the Chinese were after being basically a celebrity foreigner in Korea for three years. I loved the fact that I was just another illiterate barbarian to them. I haven’t experienced that anywhere else, really. So my description is not at all an insult, in that regard.

L

It’s now the global equivalent of the Dilshan (not, significantly, the McCullum): the arrogance and force of Western economic greed and rapaciousness apparently adopted – to be (very shortly I fear) tipped adroitly for six.

The best the West can pray for this Lent is forgiveness.

Getting all this work done while the system is still running was always going to be a challenge. Some of the contractors have made some really dreadful installation errors, while at the same time engineering staff are battling to keep locos and carriages way beyond their use-by date going.

Three weeks ago a Wairarapa line driver ‘ran a red-light’ in the Taita area, which automatically means he has to stand himself down and another driver found to resume. Result was a 90min hold-up for this train and four units blocked behind. What actually happened was that the driver hit a bad patch of fog, spotted the red-light about three seconds late, ran out of stopping distance in wet conditions and stopped less than a train length past the signal. Here’s the rub… the 45yr old DC-Class loco’s speedometer was faulty. Probably it should not have even been on the track that morning… but it was either that or no service at all!!!

This is the kind of ragged edge staff are being forced to tread just to keep things going through this very tough period. They really don’t need slagging off from the media and blogs… they KNOW perfectly well what they are up against.

Dr Cullen fully planned to re-invest in Kiwirail to get in back into something like modern shape, but this govt is starving it of capital, spending billions on useless dammed “Roads of National Significance” while cycnically letting railways (and coastal shipping) take last place.

L

I assume the point of your little list is that these socialist states still have more people with the “help thy neighbour” attitude than exists in NZ, but I doubt that these states provide as extensive a social welfare net as in NZ. People there still don’t expect the Government to provide, in fact, as the growth of government in poorer nations is excessive for the wealth of these states, I suspect people in those countries expect very little from government.

As to not wanting to see breastfeeding — tough. Avert your eyes, or move. Honestly, is this the 1950s? Do you think women shouldn’t go about unaccompanied in public, too?

L

Let me guess what’s missing from this blog….

Anyway, my own view is that people would help those with children more often and wouldn’t resent them if people with small kids controlled their children and didn’t act as if no-one else existed.

I used to respect mothers with small children. Now I clench my teeth.

And breastfeeding in front of everyone? I don’t want to see that, and I’m sure I’m not alone.

Republic of Korea
China
Vietnam
Cambodia
Thailand
Laos

All but two are actually socialist states, unlike Aucklandistan, and all have a FAR more intrusive government apparatus enforcing social cohesion and conduct.

Your move.

L