According to elections.org.nz, there is 23 hours, 31 minutes and 13 seconds until Election Day in New Zealand.  Here in London, I’ve already voted.  I took the tube across London at eleven o’clock this morning.  There were free seats, and when I arrived, Piccadilly Circus was surprisingly quiet.  Only one person handing out flyers for cheap theatre tickets, and I think I only walked through one tourist photograph.  For the first time, I really noticed how grand the buildings are rather than being distracted by how annoying the crowds of people are.

But, with my early lunch break ticking away, it was on to Haymarket and to New Zealand House.  There was a sign in the window saying that New Zealanders  overseas could vote in the elections by downloading their voting papers and then faxing them back.  That just doesn’t seem like real voting to me.

So, I went in and there were the orange signs and the white ballot boxes.  The girl behind the desk almost gave me North Shore papers by mistake.  To be honest, I’d probably be more familiar with the candidates on the North Shore than the ones in Wellington Central, my current electorate because it’s the last place we lived in.  I filled in my name, address, job title, signed a declaration and then went into the boxes and made my two ticks.  Given our experience with the postal system, I doubt they’ll make it back to New Zealand before the winner is announced – but I’ll be watching the results come in on Saturday regardless.

While I was in the area, I also stopped in at Kiwifruits, a New Zealand store in the Royal Opera Arcade behind New Zealand House.  It was great to see a book by a fellow MA on the New Zealand fiction shelves… but what I was really there for was the Pineapple Lumps.

Judging from the faces of some of my colleagues this afternoon, the bubblegum textured squares of pineapplish goodness covered in chocolate may never catch on in England.  Without a ready supply in the corner stores, we must limit our Pineapple Lump consumption to the packets sourced on the rare trips home, the rather squashed bags that arrive in packages from the parents, and those sold at Kiwifruits.  There the rarity is reflected in the price: £2.75 a bag!

(That said, I still bought two bags.  I did intend to save at least one for Saturday, to eat as I watched the election coverage.  However, that second bag has, somehow, in the time since I arrived home tonight, opened itself and is half empty already).

Tash