Death With A Sense Of Humor

New Zealand is a country roughly the size of Colorado with a population of around four million; a great many of whom live in the metropolitan areas of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. Nonetheless, they manage an annual highway death toll rate of one a day; give or take. In fact, we were almost killed twice within ten kilometers the day before yesterday by idiots trying to pass 47 cars on a 100 meter stretch of straight road; never mind that that stretch was either on a hill or around a corner. The second one was so close that I seriously considered turning around and chasing the guy down. I had just filled the tank, had no appointments and a good tire iron.

I can count the number of police cars that we have seen on the open highway on two hands. Because of this Canterbury uses a little humor to get the message across: