Friday

Its got to be a Friday when your commute goes something like..... Waiting for the ferry to arrive I was so captivated by a series of rainbows across the harbour that I almost didn't notice four fit guys running past me in wet suits. They stopped at the edge of the jetty, put on fins and jumped into the sea about 10ft below. One of the benefits of living next to a naval base.....

The Navy have proven to be good neighbours so far which is more than can be said for the girl at number 4. Her car alarm went off 4 times between midnight and 3.30 am. Luckily I had fallen asleep at 8.30 last night so I was not desperate for sleep. Why anyone needs a car alarm when your car is parked outside your bedroom window is a mystery to me, furthermore why anyone would re-set their overly sensitive alarm 3 times in the night has me completely baffled. If I ever manage to get a car of my own I may be better placed to understand this behaviour, in the meantime I am just wondering at what point it is reasonable to put a brick through the window. Perhaps I'll just try talking to her over the weekend.

Somewhere in the midst of lost sleep and strange morning sights its starting to dawn on me all that has changed, the semi-permanence of my current situation is something that I need to embrace. Up until now the past 7 months here have been quite temporary, a holiday with booked ticket out of here marking the end. After getting a new working visa last week I am now able to stay here in NZ, it is slowly sinking in. I have a permanent job at the Bank and a flat across the harbour. I live here now.

More than once this week I have felt an urge to pack up and run away its been a bit of a tough week but instead of running away I have been running which even at my sedate pace leaves me too tired to consider doing anything drastic. I have now made it to the weekend and I'm glad I stayed.

Day 7

I am sure that God declared that we should rest on the 7th day, today was my 7th day back at work. I didn't exactly rest but I did take a long lunch, spend much of the afternoon clock watching and leave early . I just could not get my brain in gear, I hope that it will be back up to speed again soon. Perhaps I have had too much time in the sun the last 6 months..... my hair is blonder.....what if my brain is more blonde too?

By the end of the day I was weary and confused, on the way home I spun around the supermarket collecting a basket of food that would not make dinner and then I carried it all the way home, gradually lightening the load by eating the big bar of chocolate that was on special. I felt better about not being able to concentrate at work or shop properly.

When I got home I was half way through unpacking when I heard Heather next door come out for a cigarette, I went out to say Hi and we ended up spending the evening chatting over a bottle of wine. Once we had put the world to rights and said hello to half the neighbourhood cats we called it a night and I came home to make my dinner. With the added creative inspiration of a few glasses of fine NZ Sauvignon Blanc my random shopping became dinner, a very tasty Brie and tomato sandwich with the remainder of the chocolate for dessert.

I'm now ready for that rest.

The Essentials

I have had a couple of days in the shops getting essential things for my new home. I didn't fully stick to the essentials but I now have more nice things to surround myself with. I don't yet have a car, bed or sofa but who needs transport or furniture when you have beautiful china, a cake stand and a selection of scatter cusions.

A friend has commented that my purchacing patterns may reflect a lack of confidence in putting down roots - I can't imagine where they got that idea. Is it odd to be content living out of a suitcase? I have found that a limited wardrobe makes morning decisions about what to wear much easier. I acknowledge that living alone will be different to sharing with my sister, a lot less borrowing/sharing potential and I don't just mean clothes. By default I will have to have my own stuff. Can one person really justify a whole set of household things? I have to have my own ironing board, iron, sweeping brush, pots and pans etc. All these things which can be shared between quite a few without compromise are still needed if you are just one. I feel guilty about the impact on the planet, the energy and effort that has gone into making these things that will just be dust collecting for most of their time. The economics of this is also not in favour of solo living. I have no one to share the cost of this with. I get the to choose exactly the sweeping brush and bathroom scales I want but have to pay 100% of the bill. I have found a few things in the Hospice charity shop, buying second hand eases my concience and saves money as well as helping out a charity, unfortunately they didn't have everything on my list.

An upside of solo living is getting to choose not to have things, top of this list for me is a Television. There will be no TV in my house. I can't be bothered buying one for a start, that whole zone of electrical shops makes me tired. I think this feeling must be captured and brought home in the box. When there is a TV on in the room it is so easy to get hooked into watching rubbish instead of doing something else like going for a run. When I am solely reliant on my own motivation to get up and go it will be harder to resist just flopping down infront of the TV and letting it take care of my free time. I have a laptop to watch DVD's so if I need to veg out I still can. Internet and radio should provide all the news I need and there are so many books out there to read I should not be short of home entertainment. There is a risk that I will lose touch with what the rest of the world are talking about, e.g. what happened on Desperate Housewives last night etc.. but its a risk I am willing to take. After all I can always choose to change my mind and get a TV.

Sign here

This morning I have been to the beach to watch the last of the sunrise, it has been my alarm clock while I living here. The black clouds which formed a filter as the sun climbed higher into the sky have now arrived overhead as rain, so I am back inside.

I have a couple of hours to myself this morning before I set out to town. I have two appointments, the first is to sign the contract for my new job with the Bank of New Zealand and to make a start on the visa paperwork that will keep me in the country after 8th April. It is 6 months to the day that I finished working at Sky, my feelings about starting work again are mixed. If I could, I would not go back to work at all. I would probably not spend the next 6 months hanging out here at the beach either, but working 9-5 (or more) in an office wouldn't be my first choice. However I have to be realistic, I can not stay on holiday for ever, neither can I stay in New Zealand without a visa for much longer so getting a job fits well. Given that this is the direction I have chosen I am really pleased about my new job. It is similar enough to previous jobs to be comfortable but different enough to be interesting.

My second appointment today is to sign the tenancy agreement for my new home. For the first time ever I will be living on my own. I could have looked for a flat share, it would be a fast way to meet new people but I really want to get my own place, thus I am renting a 1 bedroom 'unit'. Coming from the UK the term 'unit' doesn't mean much to me, here it seems to imply a self contained dwelling, either a flat, apartment or in my case a terraced 1 bed bungalow, number 5 of 6 'units' on the same plot. Its fairly small but newly renovated and the rent is reasonable. I don't have much stuff, I only arrived here with a bicycle and a suitcase so small is good. I don't anticipate needing much space as I don't plan to buy too much stuff in the near future. The 'unit' comes equipped with some the big expensive things like a fridge, washing machine and cooker but no furniture. Leaving me to furnish and adorn to my own taste.

So in a few weeks time I will have quit the beach and will be getting up to go to work with the masses. I have put an alarm clock on my shopping list as the sun will soon be on its winter schedule. I will miss my sunrise starts but I am sure we will synchronise again in the spring.

Rats and boats

After a few weeks of effort I am still on the bumpy road to employment. There has been progress, I did tests yesterday, verbal reasoning was a breeze, numerical reasoning was a bit of an effort and the personality questionnaire was just annoying but after 2 hours sat in a tiny room with a computer I was done.  Since I had to drive into town for 9am I planned a little tourist outing to the Auckland museum.  The Vaka Moana exhibition, about the origins of the pacific island populations caught my attention so I went.  It was OK, not amazing, but fairly interesting.

I was cruising around the exhibits at the same time as a couple, they looked like they were recently retired, and were interested in everything but sort of in a hurry.  The guy overtook me while reading one of the exhibits.  I don't mind and I am not a frequent enough visitor to museums to fully understand the etiquette but I am sure that when it is not busy you should respect other people's personal space.  That last inch of air between you and them should not be crossed.  He clearly didn't think this. My new commitment to inner calm meant I didn't scowl at him, in fact I managed a half smile for his wife who looked a little embarrassed.

The reason I went to see the exhibition is that I am reading the Kon-Tiki Expedition at the moment, it was a voyage to test a theory that the pacific islands were populated from Peru.  I was a little disappointed that it didn't even get a mention, even if they don't agree with the theory it would have been nice to at least acknowledge one of the most famous expeditions exploring exactly what they were trying to explain.

However I did learn that the Polynesian rat did not breed with other rats and thus is a useful indicator of human population migration which it accompanied.  Unless, of course, there's a counter theory somewhere that the rats built tiny boats and sailed the oceans on their own, independent of humans - that would be cool.

Uninvited Guests

This evening we were visited by a special guest, had he told us he was coming we may have been more welcoming but when a 5 inch long, mouse eating, giant centipede wriggles out from under your armchair you forget your manners and become less than hospitable.

Luckily for Clare and I, Malcolm was home and rapidly sprung into action. We knew it was serious when he insisted on putting shoes on before trying to capture the poor creature. We learned they have nippers which can give even trained rangers a nasty bite. I am sure It sensed our hesitation when it made a dash for it under the door to the spare room. Like most people's spare room ours is full of stuff, all perfect hiding places if you are a big insect on the run.

At this stage I would normally deploy chemical weapons in the destruction of most uninvited insects but since this creature is not that common we had to take it alive. Clare and I waited outside the door while Malcolm rummaged after a good 5 minutes of searching he had it cornered down one side of the bed, moments later it was trapped in an empty ice cream tub. You could tell it was angry by the hissing noise it made - who ever heard an insect hiss?

We delivered it outside and after a photo shoot on the lawn Malcolm returned it to the bush where I hope it will find a comfortable home. Now all that remains are the questions, how did it get in? How long has it been here? Did it bring any friends or family...?

Run and Float

Clare and I have been running, 4 times a week since well before Christmas. We have a goal in mind and are progressing steadily towards that, however some days are just more difficult than others and you need a little something to motivate you to pick up the pace or even just to get out the door.

Since summer arrived it has been tougher on me, its just too hot to go running. I have bought super lightweight running clothes, the next step would be to run naked and that would be good for no-one. On one run after a brief rainshower Clare took to running under low branches to knock rain from the leaves onto her head, this may have worked for her but left me trying to run and laugh at the same time.

Usually I feel hottest when we stop running, last Sunday morning I was redder than my usual traffic light face and too hot. Salvation came when we made it back to the house, after throwing our trainers over the gate into the garden we headed for the river that runs past the side of the house and then out to sea. Jumping in we were quickly refreshed and cooled in one. We floated with the current out along the estuary to the end of the sandspit, got out and walked back up the beach to the house. I think I could get to like summer running.

Job shoes

There is an unwritten law somewhere which says all girls love to buy shoes. I am the exception which proves the rule. I don't hate shopping in general, although I am trying to avoid it where possible as part of my bid to save the planet from becoming a giant, overheated landfill but thats another story.... Today I was forced to shop for shoes, I have a job interview on Tuesday and no shoes.

I did bring a few pairs with me but I mostly haven't seen them since I arrived. Although a job was always on the agenda here, it was far from the front of my mind when packing. So, I have a couple of pairs of trainers, hiking boots, cycle shoes and flip flops.

None of these go with the chocolate colour suit I plan to borrow from Clare. She has a lot of shoes, she is one of the shoe loving masses. Unfortunately her shoes are just a little too big for me. I did once borrow a pair of shoes for an interview, many years ago - I was fine when I set off, by the time I got to the place I could barely walk my feet hurt so much. I couldn't concentrate in the interview and didn't get the job. I don't want a repeat performance here, I need to get a job and am lucky enough to have seen one that I like the sound of, I am not going to risk it.

It was a hot sunny day and I live at the beach, to me it made no sense to be going anywhere. I decided to make this a one trip only mission vowing to come home with whatever the best pair of shoes I found were, even if I hated them. I have never shopped like this before and with only 3 shoe shops in the whole mall it was a brave plan.




I tried about half a dozen pairs and then saw a nice pair of trainers in the sale - time to move on to another shop.....nice t-shirts...keep going.....2-for-1 paperbacks in the book shop.....after checking all 3 shoe shops things were looking dire, I was on my second lap and took another look at the trainers then I'm not sure what happened but I soon found myself buying not one but two pairs of shoes - sorry planet.

I just hope the interview works out as well today's mission.

Old Year, New Year

I have been mindful of not blogging for some time. I have had good intentions to extract photos from my camera and post them with an update but as the days creep by it just feels more and more like old news.

In summary, I had a great Christmas and a good New Year. Being a wierd bunch we went hunting for bugs in the woods after dark on New Year's Eve. Midnight passed as we were walking back to the house along the beach. We could have just as easily been asleep had the bug hunting trip been shorter. It was refreshing to see in the New Year with other people who like I couldn't give two hoots about "Celebrating" - besides we had to be up at 4.30am to go to the airport the next morning.

(Photo of bugs - Wetas - as big as my hand)



I spent the first week of this grand new year with Clare, carbo loading for the year ahead. That means eating more than we need to build a store of energy available for... well, for the myriad of activities we may plan this year. The first opportunity to burn some of these stores was taking her brand new mountain bike for some exercise. My year old bike looked equally new so rather than head for the recommended mountain bike trails on the West coast we opted to bike on some quiet tracks at one of the other regional parks where we could make fools of ourselves in peace. After a couple of hours walking our bikes up hills and re-learning how to ride down the steep bits both Clare and I looked well worn in but the lack of mud kept the bikes looking mint - bummer.

The second week of this year I spend updating my CV. I have not actually finished but when I do it will be superb. As well as having an amazing CV we will have the cleanest house in Auckland and I will have read all the books I recieved for Christmas plus those given to Clare and Malcolm. I have been procrastinating a little. But there is always this week. Apart from today which was spent cycling and preparing for Malcolm's birthday (tomorrow). I may have been able to put in a bit of time this evening but on the way home from shopping/work Clare's car broke down. We were left stranded on the side of the motorway with no Breakdown Cover. A few phonecalls later and we manged to establish the number for directory enquires (Here in NZ its 018, UK - 192 in case you ever need to know) and then numbers for tow trucks. The nice man loaded the dead car (broken clutch cable) on to the truck and we headed for the garage. Then he dropped us home, all in under an hour. Far better than any story I have ever heard of the AA and we got to listen to the police scanner in the cab of his truck. No idea what any of it meant but I'm sure it was very exciting really.