Well – thanks to everybody who hosted me on my recent trip around New Zealand/Australia – and apologies to people who I didn’t get to see.
But – the trip was a success overall. The main purpose was to spend some time with little sister Angela, littler niece Meiken, and smallest-of-them-all nephew Cohen. So – after a weekend in Sydney to try and get rid of the jet-lag (Pen deciding the cure for jet-lag was a big old night out at the pub) – I arrived in Rotorua and just chilled out for a week or so. To be honest – I was planning on maybe doing some day-trips here and there to visit people, but once I got there – I just collapsed into sloth. But it was all good – Meiken’s actual birthday was the day after I arrived – and after a quick visit to the playcentre for cake/birthday-songs/etc – we hung out at home all day. Trying to get Meiken to remember/meet/trust/like me.
I was supposed to be doing a bit of cooking and what-not also, to take the load off Angela – but didn’t really end up doing much of that. My bad habits of cooking late at night don’t really suit the ‘young family’. Anyway – it was all good. A week of sitting around the house, playing with Meiken, watching Cohen, and watching daytime television. (To all those who blame the degradation of society on violent movies and/or videogames, etc… you’ve got it all wrong – it’s mainstream daytime television) The birthday party per se was on the Saturday – which was handy for catching up with a few more people without having to make the effort to travel to them. Muhammed and mountains, or some-such.
And then the fruits of my postponing the travelling and visits came home to roost. (Trying to figure out how to mix another metaphor into that, but I just cannae.) So, after a week of sitting still, I embarked on a whirlwind tour of the North Island. I missed Hawkes Bay this time, as most of my family from that way were at Meiken’s party (sorry to everyone else down there) – so the trip was just Hamilton – spent an evening catching up with the Wards, including Shainee & Tylah who have grown a ridiculous amount since I last saw them; Taranaki – catching up with Dad’s side of the family; Wairarapa – catching up with an auntie who has rather the sweet set-up, self-sustaining vege gardens etc, a bus for road-trips, and a decent collection of wine – I’m thinking about retiring myself and turning up on the doorstep; and finally Wellington – for a rather boozy night, starting with Bob & I drinking whiskey from the bottle in a primary school carpark, ending with H & I drinking red wine and having chit-chat, and my spilling of red wine all over the carpet and laptop.
And then I fled to Melbourne for a bit of a rest. Yep. Still a little intoxicated from the previous night is never a good time for me to find a CD store on my last day in New Zealand. Despite having bought a dozen or so albums in Rotorua – I somehow managed to find another 20 albums of kiwi music to purchase. (And remember – it’s only been two months since I was last in NZ, and did a binge buy then also). And then I rushed through security because I thought I was late for my plane. I wasn’t – I had misread the time by an hour. So I was stuck on the wrong side of security/immigration from the Icebreaker store – which is probably a good thing. I’ve had my eye on a coat from there for some time, but it is rather pricey… and it is summer in London. But, this still left me on “airside” with nothing to do, really, except drink. So, I set up a bartab, and had some delicious NZ boutique beers. And then get on the plane, and had some wines. And then landed and bought duty-free, and had some beers while waiting to be picked up from the airport. And then had some delicious Bailey’s in the car on the ride into town. And then beers at some dodgy little bar. And then it was time for dinner, and there was wine, and ouzo, and just all-round silliness, and then it was the bar with the champage, and then when I asked for milk with my Bailey’s I got told I wasn’t allowed to drink anymore – and really… fair enough. About bloody time, in fact.
The next day I spent catching up with little Eli – and being convinced that it was a good idea (considering the number of young children I caught up with on my trip, and those here in London) for me to set-up some kind of competitive rating system for everybody’s children. Perhaps even with some constructive criticism for the mothers of those children who were struggling in certain areas. Still not sure if I’m going to follow through on that – it just seems all too likely that I will at some point have my eyes raked out by some mother objecting to my describing their child as anything but the next messiah. Anyway – Eli did display some aptitude in several areas – while struggling with such simple concepts as “Salad Fingers is no good. No good. No no good.” Anyway – after that, I returned to Elise’s place to watch something much more appropriate. Thor. Starring Natalie Portman. Whooaa. What a movie. (Terrible). And then I woke up, feeling very very ill, and had some champagne, and got the hell out of dodge.
Back to London. Just in time to go home, have a shower, stagger to work, and discover that absolutely NOTHING had been accomplished in my 2 weeks absence. Which is to be expected – I fully expect that after I have been back for 2 weeks, absolutely nothing more will have been accomplished. Except for the one project where I have sole responsibility. I have just nailed that in the last couple of days – up until the point where I first rely on other people to do their jobs. And have resigned myself to the fact that this project will now also stagnate in the Pit of Apathy. Still – for the last two days, I’ve done stuff. Yay.