Wind Between Days

74 days until the wedding...

01 - Me and Louise

Life in Wellington has been plodding along like a wheelbarrow underwater. I've been trying to figure out if the wind is relentless, unrelentless or unrelenting. Also, I joined the library and have been exploring about 3 books a week, trying to identify the food left in between pages by the locals. And why are there so many broken bottles on the streets of this city?

The apartment is great and all the housemates have been so pleasant. Some locals and some backpackers who I'll hopefully see again in Europe. All so easy to live with that it has almost been disappointing. Even the Goth has been mind numbingly normal.

The job has been grand and some of the people have been very nice. It was a bit tedious at times, but acceptable and uneventful - nothing too great and nothing too bad except that the reception girl I sat next to was a bit of a wagon at times. It was really quite astounding how rude she could be to everyone.

02 - My favourite statue in Wellington

At home we used to refer to the one person in work who makes your job a nightmare as 'Lex' (after Superman's arch enemy Lex Luthor - an idea stolen from Seinfeld). This girl would be my Lex. They were going to move me to a sweet desk giving me my own view over Wellington, but she requested I sit out in reception with a view of the lifts so that I could cover for her when she's off scratching her arse (which also serves as her face).

Anyway, a plus point of the job was learning about natural disasters in New Zealand. I had felt a couple of earthquakes in Blenheim but I had absolutely no idea they were so frequent until I started work in the Earthquake Commission.

03 - Wellington Housemates

Looking through the recent quake list it seems like one hits this country on average every couple of days, generally between 3 and 5 on the Richter Scale. One of the main roads here in Wellington is 'Lambton Quay', named because it used to run along the waterfront. Thanks to earthquakes it's now a few blocks from the sea.

The general consensus seems to be that it's only a matter of time until 'The Big One' hits...probably Wellington. And when it does it's quite possible that this country is going to be well and truly fucked.

The government has around $4000 million put aside for such an occassion. Their intention is to relocate to Auckland if the earth swallows Wellington. I heard a few comments made which gave me the impression that everything is set for NZ's important people (politicians and rugby players and my co-workers, who will continue their half hour morning and afteroon breaks up north) to be evacuated up that way and begin trying to salvage this place. I have a surreal image of a bunch of empty offices sitting quietly up there waiting for the inevitable.

But it seems that the general public are in no way prepared and that the shit is truly going to hit the rugby fan. I just hope it's after I fly out of here. If I'm back in Dublin when it happens I'll recline in my chair, put on a Crowded House CD, sip my tea and quietly not give a fuck.

Soph followed me over shortly after my arrival and moved in with me. Initially it was a struggle to get to grips with a full-time girlfriend again, but it has since been great and I don't think our relationship has ever been so comfortable.

Not much else of interest to report from Wellington. It really is a nice city and I enjoyed my time here. I didn't do too much. Just some random stuff: trying out the cable car, climbing Mount Victoria, the world movie festival, visiting museums (including the excellent Te Papa complete with a virtual sheep shearing machine) and photo exhibits, etc.

I met up with Louise who I went to school with in Hong Kong. I hadn't seen her in about 12 years. She was one of the 'it' girls in my year. A real life Debbie Pinson. She usually had a hand in organising the 'make-out parties' I frequented in the first few years of school.

She's been here in New Zealand for the last 10 years but I was relieved to find out that she's not actually a Kiwi, which would explain why she's still terribly likable and still gorgeous. Although I see her as a kid trying to dress and act like an adult now, I suppose she is pretty much a grown up. She's a grown-up lawyer and has been snapped up by and is now married to a grown-up guy.

Meeting these school friends of mine who are settling down and getting married usually makes me think, very briefly, that I should start thinking about buying a four door house and finding a semi-detached wife. But I realise pretty quickly that I defintely don't want to any time soon.

My time in Wellington seems to have reminded me of that. The 9 to 5 accounts job, paying rent, how was your weekend?, living with a girlfriend, nagging her about shopping too much, have a nice weekend, remember-bread-milk-cheese-bread-milk-cheese, how was your day? The whole routine. It's all fine. It's good. It's even great at times. But right now I'd rather get back on the road.