Four months in the wilderness...
Well, what can I say? But I apologise for my lack of stimulating content over the last few months. If you've been signing in to look at my blog from time to time and have got sick of seeing my previous posting - I am sorry and know how you feel.After I got back from England I found it difficult to settle and feel at home. To be honest though - I've felt that way for quite a long time). But anyway, that's no excuse.
Enough of the grovelling. On with the action.
After a long, damp and chilly winter here (I had to buy some longjohns to wear at work because it was brass monkeys in the room where I work during the winter) it eventually started to warm up as I left for my trip back to Britain. When I got back to NZ the long awaited spring had finally come at last.
Wellington is known as 'Windy Wellington' but as so often with many of these tags there may be some origin of truth but it's actually a bit misleading. The sun shines sometimes, it rains, the wind blows, yeah, but it's not as if you need to bungee your toupee on or wear your hat on the side of your head. (I have heard that there is a marked reduction in the profits of ladies' hairdressers in Wellington because women don't bother so much with fancy hairdos due to the assumption that within four minutes of getting back outside they'll look like Billy Connolly after a crazy night at the Duck and Sparrow. 200 dollars blown away along with the hard work of your hairdresser and most of your dignity. Actually it might explain one of the distinctive characteristics of New Zealand's coiffeuse' identity. I mean look at this guy for example...
...and he's not unique! It may seem uncharitable to photograph poor a gentlemen in the street with the purpose of uploading their image to my blog to prove a point, but if you look in the mirror in the morning and think - 'oh, YEAH, baby - I'm looking Hot, Hot, Hot today...' while wearing a string wig like that, then you probably aren't too concerned about what other people think anyway. (I know, I know - the next obvious question is - 'Colin, how the heck can you comment on other people when you usually look like a cross between Frank Spencer, George Formby and Mr Bean? The answer is - I can comment on other people because I know I look like a cross between Frank Spencer, George Formby and Mr Bean). But I digress...
l happened to be in town one Sunday and in the centre of Wellington it was busy and humming with the annual Christmas parade. It was just the same as last year - it was a bright and warm day that seemed to coincide with the start of summer. One day it was grotty, the next - 'boing', a cosmic cog had clicked over in God's great brass meteorologiconomicon and suddenly the White Witch's spell was broken and eternal winter in Narnia was over. Hurrah.
The Christmas parade was a colourful and lively affair as you can see here.
I'm still not completely reconfigured to accepting a summer Christmas though. It just feels wrong! And hearing carols pipping out lines like 'In the Bleak Mid-Winter' and 'Walking in a Winter Wonderland' without any hint of irony is bazaar!I actually like a cold winter because it's dark and fresh, but in Europe when you go indoors it's warm, homely and toasty. Wintertime here is not quite as cold outside, but inside many of the houses it's chilly and damp!
A bit of a depressing thing as I made the radical step recently of inquiring about mortgages and house-buying options. I've been feeling quite mixed about the possibility of buying somewhere as on one hand I'm very much used to my own space and the fact that living in a shared house with 5 or 6 other people does make me feel like I'd quite like more of my own space sometime soon. But on the other hand - circumstances are very unhelpful to that option. House prices here have doubled in the last couple of years, interest rates are double those of the UK and as I mentioned before, the quality of housing can be pretty poor. Who wants to buy a home that's in an earthquake zone, that's perched on the side of a steep valley, made out of wood, has a corrugate iron roof, no insulation, no double glazing, no heating, interest rates of 10% and a price of 8 times your salary? Mmm, not much going for it eh? :(
Think on, Col, think on. Mmm, a house-bus sounds quite attractive again.
Craig and Shell.Just before Christmas I was the lucky recipient of a couple of visitors from the UK.
When I was a student eight hundred years ago I lodged with a wonderful person called Margaret in Cornwall who made me feel completely at home. It wasn't long before I affectionately would refer to her as 'Gran'. Likewise, she has a nickname for me - she affectionately refers to me as 'Beast'. (I kind of think this is just a jovial bit of fun - said with a sort of cheeky glint in the eye and not because I'm grotesquely ugly and completely obnoxious).
Anyway, her grandaughters were good to me too and taught me to ride their 'willfully independent' (impossibly stubborn) pony (mule); Bo.
I would politely request he move forward by asking him kindly to 'walk on... in your own time... when you're ready, Bo'. Then once he'd finished eating/having a scratch/farting he would get excited and careen around the field with me - white knuckles, bulging, terror-filled eyes and pitifully pleading for him to stop so I could get off as I clung on for what seemed would be the very last moments of my life. Shelly was one of the grandaughters who very much enjoyed 'teaching me to ride' Bo. But all I can remember is them doubled over with laughter as I tried to call out for instructions as I made horrendous circuits of the field on that crazed lunatic of a horse. I did not find it funny.
Well, Shell had got engaged to a great chap called Craig and they decided they'd like to get married in New Zealand so they organised their trip over here and luckily passed through Wellington on their way to the South Island where they got married just after Christmas. Cheers to Shell and Craig! Congratulations. (Great to see you:)
Christmas came round and I was invite along with my boss and her visiting family from Brisbane to Perry's place up in the hills about 30k's from the city. Perry has done most of the building work on our work premises and everyone had a jolly time. His girlfriend had gone skiing with her kids to Switzerland so he invited everyone over.
The Kiwi thing to do at Christmas is go to the beach on Christmas Day but we all stayed at his place and had a traditional roast. Roast turkey as well as some roasted goat - shot locally by a local chap called Max. Perry is, by training, an ex-RNZAF engineer and he treated us to a tour of his personal hangar, I mean garage, where he's building his own plane, dune buggy and has a couple of motorbikes, a couple of quads and a couple of cars. I think that's about it. There was probably a jet-pack project and a three-person submarine being manufactured in there too though. Indoors, after dinner and a blast round the woods on the quads we played with helicopters!
Me on Christmas day with Jack.
The Kiwi thing to do at Christmas is go to the beach on Christmas Day but we all stayed at his place and had a traditional roast. Roast turkey as well as some roasted goat - shot locally by a local chap called Max. Perry is, by training, an ex-RNZAF engineer and he treated us to a tour of his personal hangar, I mean garage, where he's building his own plane, dune buggy and has a couple of motorbikes, a couple of quads and a couple of cars. I think that's about it. There was probably a jet-pack project and a three-person submarine being manufactured in there too though. Indoors, after dinner and a blast round the woods on the quads we played with helicopters!
Christmas Dinner, 2007
Me on Christmas day with Jack.
Indoor helicopter display.
On New Year's Eve I went up to the coast not far from here where I met up with my friends Jen and Brad and Brad's parents. They own a batch at Makara and had kindly invited me along to enjoy the New Year and do a spot of fishing.
Jen and Brad
New Year's Eve at a batch on the beach.
New Year's Eve at a batch on the beach.
'James Bond' - New Year's Day We went snorkelling which was great - chilly still, but good fun. Next day on the news some guys had taken some photos of a Great White that gave their little boat quite a bit of attention for an hour as they were out fishing. This was just 20km up the coast! I'm sure if he'd have come to investigate us in the sea we'd have been able to handle ourselves!
Anyway, that's all for this posting. More soon - I promise!
posted by col @ 8:30 pm
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