Ben Mack: Are New Zealanders the world's least punctual people?

I've noticed Kiwis are pretty casual when it comes to being in certain places on time. Photo / Getty Images

Here's a riddle: What do we all wish we had more of, and all eventually run out of?

No, it's not money. It's not Camp 18's famous plate-sized pancakes from their log cabin restaurant on the road between Portland and the Oregon Coast, either. Nor is it sea breeze scented candles (or pumpkin pie, or fresh-cut meadow, or whatever other weird things you can apparently capture in a candle fragrance).

Give up? It's time. And I've got time to talk about it ... I'll try and do so while cutting back on the bad jokes.

One of my most shameful secrets (and arguably one of my worst habits) is I'm never on time for anything. Need to be somewhere at 9? I'll get there closer to 10. Interview at 11? See you at 11:30. Dinner date at 6:30? Hope you're running late too, because I'll probably pop in around 7. Heck, I once showed up late for an interview with the leader of one of New Zealand's biggest political parties. There's a running joke in my family that I'll probably be late to my own funeral (the joke's on them though - I plan on living forever).

I'll continue with this little confessional and admit to you, dear reader, that my chronic lateness has gotten me into trouble before, in particular when I lived in Sweden and Germany. Let me just say this: show up late to something in Deutschland, and the reason for your tardiness might as well be because you were busy murdering someone and it took longer than expected; it's that bad to run even a few minutes behind schedule.

But here in Aotearoa? My casualness towards time seems to be at least tolerated, if not embraced. And why? Probably because, I've noticed, Kiwis are pretty casual themselves when it comes to being in certain places at certain moments.

Think about it for a moment: when's the last time you remember anything - apart from maybe a flight somewhere (and even then) - starting exactly on time? Yeah, me neither.

There could be a number of reasons for this. It could be because of Aotearoa's rural past, when things happened just when they did, whenever that was and usually after all the other chores on the farm were done. Or it could be the influence of other South Pacific islands; we've all heard the phrase "island time" before (not that there's anything wrong with being relaxed, either). Or maybe it has to do with another reason, something I haven't quite figured out yet; after all, I haven't exactly been in this part of the world terribly long.

The flexibility Kiwis have when it comes to time can even be seen in the pace at which things change, or the speed at which things are constructed. Maybe I heard wrong, but I could have sworn that, during the recent election campaign, Jacinda Ardern and Labour promised that, should they govern, they'd get a 20-kilometre light rail line from the Auckland Airport to the city centre built "within ten years".

I'm sorry, but TEN YEARS? Seriously?! Go visit Asia. You can build that in a matter of weeks. Even in North Korea, they built an ENTIRELY NEW AIRPORT (and a pretty big one at that) in something like two months. And they mostly did it with hand tools. (They also did it with what human rights groups would classify as slave labour. Can't forget that bit). So why can't we do something similar here in less time it takes to bake a batch of brownies? (this might also betray my total confusion at how to bake anything, but that's a whole other story).

Can you imagine the kind of cool things we could build if we worked at a similar pace to other places? Sunken stadiums! More bridges to the North Shore! A monorail! A tunnel between the North and South Island! New airports! Floating homes! Am I getting a little carried away?

That all being said, there's something to be said for New Zealand and how the people who live in it view the passage of time. I've been blessed to visit a few countries in my life, and I can unequivocally say that the least stressful places I've set foot in have also been the places where punctuality is more of a suggestion than a hard-and-fast rule. That, of course, includes here - even where I live smack in the centre of Auckland.

Come to think of it, I think my punctuality problem has only gotten worse since I've been here. I blame all of you.

Oh, well. I'm really not complaining. After all, no-one wants to willingly live somewhere that's super high-strung, where it's go-go-go 24/7, all day, every day. That's just too much stress. You need to enjoy life.

So keep on keeping on, everyone. Stay casual. Stay chill. Stay... I don't know. I'll figure out what to say next when I do. Just give me a bit of time.