Boring Palmy butt of all jokes? NOT!

For those of you who do not know, Palmerston North, NZ or locally known as Palmy has been my home for the past 5 years. Whatever others have to say, i know this is a great place to be and i too consider myself very much blessed to be placed by God here. I know, i haven't posted stuff in a while though i have a few ideas...nevertheless, i thought this could be a quick simple post when i came across the article today. I might post again after i finish my writeup...ek..

In all good humour, typical of kiwis i find in general, here is someone taking a dig at us! =)

Taken from www.stuff.co.nz (22/06/2009 - Travel)

Every country has them – communities that are the butt of all jokes because they're as dull as dishwater, an eyesore or simply in the middle of nowhere.

In Australia, the northern NSW town of Goodooga took the crown a couple of years back as The Most Boring Town in a newspaper poll.

Some would argue Queensland's Townsville or Ipswich, NSW's Dubbo or Kempsey, or even the national capital Canberra could give it a good run for its money.

In New Zealand, there is no debate. There's just one, Palmerston North, and you know that because it's hard to find a newspaper that doesn't take a regular swipe at it.

Palmerston North, 140km north of Wellington in the North Island, wins on many fronts.

It's as flat as a pancake and rates among the most consistently overcast towns in the country.

It's also the windiest, worse even than New Zealand's famously blowy capital.

And it's notoriously boring. Just ask British comedian John Cleese who nicknamed it the "suicide capital of the world" after visiting in 2006.

"If you ever do want to kill yourself but lack the courage, I think a visit to Palmerston North will do the trick," he said.

"The weather was grotty. The theatre was a nasty shape. The audience was very strange to play to."

At the time the city fought back, with the mayor saying such insults were "complete and utter bollocks" and officially naming the local rubbish dump Mt Cleese.

But the bad rap stuck, and it was enough to bring the jokes out from behind closed doors and on to the front pages of New Zealand's newspapers.

Wellington newspaper The Dominion Post seems to pride itself on a weekly piece to dish the dirt on the oddities of the town Kiwis call "Palmy".

Take the news last month that the local council had a superstitious policy of banishing the number 13 from house numbers.

The bizarre regulation is apparently in place so people with triskaidekaphobia – a fear of the number 13 – are not deterred from buying homes with that number on the letterbox.

Then there was the quirky pattern of thefts involving the street signs Whisky Way, Nirvana Court and Moonshine Valley Rd.

But taking the cake was the angry motel owner from Palmerston North who made the front page for banning any resident from a nearby town, Wainuiomata, from checking in.

The story made for great entertainment and not just because the owner lived in Palmerston North – he was also an Aussie from Sydney.

As one caller to New Zealand talkback put it: "To take a swipe at Palmy and Australia in the one go is just gold."

Palmerston North has a population of 78,000 and thanks to a big uni more than half are aged under 25. So there's really no excuse for being boring.