I have no time!!!!

Hiya. This is going to be brief as I don't have time to say a lot. The update is I now have a flat. or rather house, in Hataitai which i'm moving into on Sat. I started my job on Mon, and it was awful, so today I handed in my notice, only to be offered a slightly better position (in a place where people actually talk - it's been dreary the last 3 days), and a better wage (fingers crossed). So I start my new role tomorrow. Other than that there's not much to report. Yep. Anyhoo I'd better go. Hope you are all ok, let me know. Sorry again for the lack of e mails. xxxx

There's a balloon on my bus

Good day to you my friends. It is now Friday and I shall fill you in with the news of my week. First up, I now have a job!! It's not the best job, and it doesn't pay that well, but it's money so that I can afford to live whilst grooving on and looking for another job. Second up - and much more exciting - we are going skiing two weeks on Sunday, which coincides nicely with Laura's birthday on the Monday. We are staying for 3 nights in a Log Cabin (complete with log fire) at Ruhapehu Lodge. We are all very excited - well I assume everyone is, I haven't actually seen half the people yet to know if they are or not, but why wouldn't you be?!! Third up, we came third in the Sports Cafe Quiz on Tuesday night (the team being myself, Laura, Fred, Elaine and Rhys), so we're out at the weekend to spend the $40 bar tab. I shall hopefully be going to look round a few more flats this weekend. And that's that really. Hope you all have a jolly nice weekend. xxxx
p.s. the title of the post refers (surprisingly) to the yellow balloon on my No.7 bus this morning.

Humming Along

Hello!! Hope you've all had a good weekend? It was a mixed bag here in Welli. Friday evening was Michelle and Alastairs's leaving do, and perhaps Caitlin's too, I'm not really sure. Alastair and Michelle are off on a tour of North Island for a month, and Caitlin is off down to South Island for Skiing at Wanaka with her bro, and spa time at Hamner Springs. So a bunch of us met for drinks In JJ's followed by Establishment. Fred and Laura kindly walked me to my bus afterwards and Fred was thrown into an utter state of shock at a huge 3 building long advert for the first series of 'Extras' that quoted Kate Winslet on a rather explicit subject. Go to Fred and Laura's blog for pics (though I've just checked and they're not on as yet). I, trying to keep some decorum, merely have a picture of Fred's amazement:
Saturday was supposed to be a day of LOTR activity, with a last viewing of the exhibition at Te Papa, before a trip to Chocolate Fish, but the weather did not like our plan and rained it off, so instead we met Elaine and her friend Sarah for a spot of lunch (after some sneaky hot chocs and bread at Hummingbird), and took to the museum later on. The exhibition did provide inspiration for some more fantastic reenaction/interpretation outside the museum, in a rockery/very small forest setting. Near fatal injuries were averted with Fred on hurting himself slightly after being pushed from a rock, and Laura walking (albeit dramatically) into a leave, and not thankfully into the actual tree!! Sunday came out beautifully, but as Fred had been razzing it on Saturday night with the lads, and Laura had an appoinment with Caroline and Sally, only myself and Elaine ended up making it to Chocolate Fish. We both enjoyed it thorougly. That was followed by another trip to the Hummingbird to listen to some jazz whilst supping on some wine. lovely, lovely. Oh yes, and I had my first flat viewing, but it was not for me. My next one is on Wednesday so hopefully that will be an improvement. xxxx

7 months exactly

Hi there. How are you all? This morning around 6 am NZ time marked exactly 7 months since I departed British shores. And right around now, I imagine Sally will be making her way back to those same shores (Thanks for your mini blog Sal, glad to know it's not only NZ that is up there on the slide front - 5 in one playground, that's what I'm talking about!!) Well I thought I'd say helllooooo while I'm on the old net, but there's no news regarding jobs or flats at the mo I'm afraid. Currently waiting to hear back from the agency. My day so far has consisted of two coffee breaks, a trip to the museum, and a trip to New World. Living it up indeed I am!! Yup. So I'll be off, toodles for now. xxxx

Oooooohhhh and other things

Bonjour mon amis. So nice to see you all on the comments page, I was a little worried I would arrive to find only Fred's comment, but it's made me feel all warm inside to know that you are with me (and I'm very glad to still have you Fiona!!). Especially exciting to have a comment from Malaysia - hiya Sal!! Well it's been go go go since we last spoke, or it certainly feels like that. I had a lovely evening with Fred and Laura on Mon - me and Laura arrived home and Fred was waiting with hot water bottles for us, how cute is that?!! And very needed considering the inclement weather that had descended. Here is a pic of the view from Fred and Laura's lounge window for those of you who haven't visited their blog and seen it already. Very nice I think you'll agree - you may be able to make out the boat from King Kong across the other side of the harbour. It's towards the left of the picture, in the first gap between the trees as you move from the left - if you know what I mean?!
On Tuesday I packed up my stuff ready for my move in the evening, went and bought tickets for Miami Vice at the Embassy, went round to a mates for a cuppa, and then met up with Fred and Laura to head to the cinema. It was actually quite a good film, I think we all enjoyed it. Then I moved my stuff over to my pad of the next week, and once there I was reunited with some stuff that i hadn't seen for 6 weeks, like my leaving cards from you guys back home, and my journal. It was all quite emotional. Yesterday was my day of work in which I ended up having two assignments - the first was a four hour stint working on the Police switchboard (a little scary - especially considering they were expecting someone with switchboard experience - but also very interesting, and of course I coped fine), and the second a three hour stint of greeting people and handing out name badges at a cocktail function for some company called Davis Langdon. Not at all scary, and not that interesting, but it meant money, and I got free wine and some tasty titbits, so it had it's plus sides. After that I met up with Rhysie boy for a coffee and had a pleasant evening of chat and beverage. It was a gorgeous day yday as you can see from this pic, which is the view from the front of my current abode in Brooklyn.Today is another gorgeous day and myself and Elaine have made the most of it by going for a walk around the harbour and along Oriental Parade, stopping for a spot of lunch on the jetty. It would have been a day for Chocolate Fish, but she had a meeting at 2, so we wouldn't have had time. This is what the harbour is looking like today. Have you got the idea yet of how gorgeous this place is?!! There is snow on those mountains over yonder, not sure if you can make it out on this pic. And here's me and Elaine in the midst of enjoying the sunshine.And that's you up to date. I must add though that I'm sorry that I haven't replied to some of your e mails yet, but I'm mainly looking for houses and jobs when I'm on the net, and figure it's better to do the blog so you can all see what's going on, than e mail only some of you. When I get settled I'll e mail like mad!! Hope you understand. Hugs. xxxx

Hello Everybody!!

Ooh my first post on my own, it feels rather odd, as it has done ever since me and Sally parted, but as we said we're both off on new adventures now - and if we don't follow our feet there's no knowing where we might get swept off to!! I therefore elect not to follow my feet. I've been very excited at seeing all my peeps again, and of course this beautiful (if cold) city, but it's also a little nerve wracking to be here on my own with no job and nowhere to live as yet. It will all come out right though I am sure.
Well since we last spoke this is what has occurred in my life. Me and Sal said farewell on Saturday morning at Cambridge bus stop as I hopped on the coach down south. She headed up to Auckland in the company of Kate and Pheebs and by all accounts had a nice couple of days. I have just received word that her flight has been delayed by 15 hours, but the airport have put her up in a "swanky" hotel, so she seems happy. Oh yes and congratulations go out for getting funding to do her PHD, go on.....my son!! I was not lonely on my coach journey thanks to Malcolm the driver and a nameless smelly dog, who kept me company on my two breaks. Below you see a picture of the smelly dog.I got rather emotional as we approached Wellington, watching the sun set off the Kapiti Coast before hopping off the bus in a sprightly manner and hailing a taxi to Chez Laura and Fred. We had a pleasant evening of Hell's Pizza and dvds - some of which we were the stars off - i managed to make the camcorder dvds play on the dvd player - fantastic!! Yesterday we had a nice lazy day, getting up late after watching Wallace and Gromit, and picking up an ice cream before going to watch some jazz at the hummingbird, and then Elaine at Isobar in the familiar haunt of Island Bay. One shocking thing that did occur and must be announced is the disappearance of the Seagull Slide (you may remember this slide from other posts on ye olde blog)!! I was sat by it for 20 mintues chomping my ice cream before Fred got up to have a go and i saw it had gone. As you can imagine Sally, and as Fred and Laura will testify, I was very upset. However, i have since been informed that it is in for repair, and it will be back, so watch this space. This morning I met up with some of my old colleagues from the Commerce Commission, and put in some enquiries about getting work with them once more. It sounded a little promising, so fingers crossed. I do have a 3 hour job on Wednesday evening, so that's something. Anyhoo, I must dash as i'm making tea tonight - spaghetti you guessed it!! - and i have to go get some supplies. Ta ta for now. xxxx