Circular argument

There was a brief vogue last week for dissing on the Circle Line pub crawl — an ad-hoc booze-up that has traditionally seen drunken Kiwi expats and travellers tumbling into and out of pubs in central London for a heady afternoon of swilling on the Saturday before Waitangi Day. (“These were the New Zealanders we despised,” proclaimed Russell Brown on Twitter.)

I did it myself once (sorry, Russell) in my seven years as a Londoner. It was a bit of fun — as are most days schlepping around pubs in London.

Are some people badly behaved on the pub crawl? Absolutely. Is it the only day of the year that people get drunk in public in London? No. Should drunk pakeha dress up as Maori? Hell no. Is it good fun to catch up with other Kiwis abroad? Yup. And to even do a haka? If that’s your thing!

Is it kind of weird how much some people like to look down on other travellers and how they choose to experience the world? Indeed.