Wednesday night and all is fine in the land with 'the defaced ensign (blue)' flag - as it is officially referred to by the UK government.
This is the week running up to Easter and the weather is still doing a fantastic impression of summer with hot sunny days and rain free evenings. I am starting to find my feet in my position as an 'Applications Support Analyst' as many of the concepts are identical to the ones I used during my 6 or so years in EPA. You could simply replace the words 'offender' for client and 'event' with account and it pretty much covers it. The main difference is earning more and the number of social things which are organised. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying that EPA was an unfriendly environment - far from it - but in terms of structured social gatherings Tower have already offered more (raffle, Easter meeting with buns and chocolate, fun day planning, competitions to win a PS2 Buzz thing for your office floor, Thursday drinks, Friday Drinks, after work meals, breakfasts, free use of holiday homes etc).
OK, so I may not have much to do at the moment and worse than that for me is people not knowing what I can do. I am increasingly aware that status is quiet important to me, albeit even a self generated one, but I like to know that I am doing something useful and ideally important. I am hopeful this will come in the role and today, for example, a chat with my managers has highlighted the area of procedure and process audit which will be coming my way soon.
On a practical side the building is not very far from my current home in Oriental Bay, in fact it is on the waters edge just across the bay. Walking around the beaches and dock side takes about 15 mins, but at the moment I am hitching a lift in with Caroline as she drives straight past it. Normally this gives me time to grab a coffee and possibly breakfast in one of the 5 or 6 cafes which surround it.
The weather here has yet to turn significantly colder but in the next week or so the clocks go back for day light saving. I have now completely changed my own body clock to the time down here and all the little signs are back to normal, e.g. I get really hungry around 12am which would be 11pm UK time, I get pretty sleepy about 11pm which is 10am UK time etc - of course some of you may not think I have changed at all...one current difference is I am in work by 0830 each day (so far).
Charlotte has been very successful with her dozen or so job applications for communications and web content types of role. So far she has 2 confirmed offers and another almost in the bag. They range in salary and role a little but it is a strong position to be in and much better than the panicky one she was in last week.
Our relationship is going well but my recent enforced daily absence and subsequent tiredness has slowed the pace a little. I am not sure what is planned for Easter but hopefully it will involve some quality time between us - I hear talk of Crocodile bikes along the promenade or bird spotting in Wilton Bush - hopefully I will post some pictures up here of whatever transpires.
Kiwi TV is really starting to annoy me now. Not just because the content is 80% American (yes, I know I used to watch Simpsons et al in the UK, but this was balanced by UK stuff like Planet Earth, Top Gear and various comedies), but every one of the 6 channels we can access has adverts. But not just adverts at set times, oh no, when watching a film they start with them well spaced but towards the gripping finale they are every 5 mins! OK, so they show more films than standard free to air channels, but bloody hell if I hear of another sale or fast food ad, I may scream!
Caroline is on target to move in to her new home in a week and I have taken a day off to help as required. So far the thought of going from a fully furnished luxury apartment to an empty, but admittedly luxury house, is causing some panic. How long can she go before needing a fridge or washing machine? What about a TV? Seats? Beds? Curtains? etc.
As I will also be living in the house for a few months, until my house is sold and I have somewhere here, ok, make that several months at this rate. Anyway her concerns over furniture are also worrying me a little, so I have done what I am best at and identified a perfect 32" LCD TV!
Apart from a suitcase worth of clothes, this laptop and a few books, the rest of my worldly goods are somewhere in the Atlantic ocean right now - well I hope not actually in it of course - rather secure and dry aboard a container ship. In the end my entire house was packed into 60 boxes and a few large items like the bed and desks. This was then included with Caroline's household contents and I believe it all fitted into a single 40' container. An additional one was needed for her Merc, but my Lexus was passed to my parents who have since part ex'd it.
I have not heard of anymore offers on the house, but it has only been on the market for a couple of weeks or so. Anyone reading this blog who wants it can have it for £163,000, which is a 3 grand saving on the asking price. See it was worth reading this far after all ;)
OK it is getting late here so I will finish up with a prediction of doom and a feeling in my bones that something to do with land slips and tidal waves, will cause me concern in the near future. A recent discovery of an underwater slip in the Cook straight has got the experts worried, and I just have this minor concern that uncontrollable forces of nature can easily impact Wellington. Maybe as my job, immigration and love life are all sorted for now, my mind is wandering and trying to give me something to worry about. But to be on the safe side I have read the work 'disaster' plan and know my muster points - one of which is right by the first bench I took a photo of! Still, it is a small city after all.