Brand Awareness.

I had no difficulty buying a mobile phone. I had no difficulty opening a bank account. Catching the bus was easy, as was obtaining fish n' chips. Ditto chinese curry, and beer. Life in New Zealand is passing smoothly and without undue fuss.

But I do have trouble buying a loaf of bread. In England if I want bread I'll breeze into a shop and pick some up in under a minute. I can see some Hovis, for example, and know exactly what buying a loaf of hovis entails - how expensive it is or isn't, what it tastes like, whether it's brown or white, whether it has those annoying lumpy bits, whether it's suitable for my purposes, how it compares to the other available types of bread, everything - from only the briefest of glances at the packaging. And it all happens automatically, without any conscious effort on my part, not only with bread but with all groceries and general household stuff.

Here, there's none of that. I'm adrift. I have no brand awareness. It's all unfamiliar. Everything needs to be examined in careful detail, lest I drop a bollock and come home with drain cleaner when I was sent out to buy jam. In my head I'm converting from dollars to pound sterling, weighing my options, and then the old Asian bloke manning the counter (who fears and despises me) starts questioning me and I panic and leave without half of what I came in for. Creature of the 21st century that I am, without recognisable brand names I am lost. God knows how long I'll last after the apocalypse; hopefully I'll get taken out in one of the opening nuclear exchanges. Fingers crossed!