if the cap fits

I know this is Aussie-based abuse, but the way the Kiwis feel about us isn't that much different...

a quick catchup

We've been in New Zealand for over 12 months now, and yet another new year dawns with many previous and ancient resolutions stagnant and/or unfulfilled.

I'm not a big fan of new year, as it brings the realisation that yet another cycle has passed without the following taking place:

• Weight loss - it's been 20 years now that I've been unhappy with my mass and dimensions, and that's far too long to be continually pissed off.
• Getting fit - it goes hand-in-hand with the weight loss, but this year made me realise that even back in the day I wasn't really fit; so why I thought I could go from zero to a football tournament is beyond me.
• Writing - ideas by the score pop into my head and are duly noted in various books and journals. The making notes is a good thing, the failure to do anything with them is a bad thing.
• Poetry - okay, it's a subset of writing, but I've not completed a poem for at least 6 years (and probably closer to 10) and each time I attempt to update youthinkthisisntme.com a little bit of me dies inside.

However it's not all bad - so many good things have happened this year including (but not limited to):

• Living in New Zealand - we really love it here and feel part of the Sumner community. It's a welcoming and social place full of families like us and people have gone out of their way to make us feel incredibly welcome (even though we're yet another gang of poms!)
• The kids - seeing them adapt and grow here, as well as adding another year under their collective belts, fills us both full of pride. Even in this short year there have been many 'firsts' that we won't forget.
• Moving house - we left our previous rental and are now renting 'up the hill' and the views are worth the hill-walking and the 50+ steps. It's the kind of house you never get bored of coming home to and one where we know we'll enjoy entertaining.

Like it says in the title it's only a quick catchup, but my new year resolution is 'no resolutions, but must try harder'...

just chillin' © adverseCamber 2009

me and sisyphus

The first anniversary of my recce to New Zealand for a months work has been and gone, and the first anniversary of the family arrival is only 2 months away. Spring has sprung in all its schitzophrenic randomness (Wikipedia tells me that Four Seasons in One Day was written about Melbourne but it could have quite easily been about Christchurch) and summer is only around the corner. I won't moan about the winter just gone, but thankfully it has, and we won't be quite so naive again.

We're making plans to move in the new year, probably to another rental (although this time one which doesn't lose the sun at 3.30pm due to close proximity to the mountains) although we are actively house-hunting. We saw our 'perfect' home just up the hill a couple of weeks ago but missed out as offers had already been accepted - the fact that it went for $55k under our budget made it all the more galling. Still, more are coming on the market each week as the weather steadily improves and already I can see myself spending each sunday trudging around open-home after open-home.

Cathy's plan of getting to know absolutely everyone in Sumner is a couple of months ahead of schedule. I'm often getting separately introduced to people in the pub who inform me "I think I know your wife - isn't she the one who runs playgroup / music time / carries that really cute-but-heavy child around town?" Sumner is a small place and I reckon that even 2 degrees of separation doesn't do it justice. She met someone the other morning who happens to be married to my work lunch-buddy (i.e. the guy I go to lunch with, and no we don't hold hands) - this is the way it works over here and it keeps you on your toes. There's no side-sniping or back-stabbing because it will always rebound back on you.

friday sisyphus © Diametrik 2009

My plan of having too many things to concentrate on - and therefore achieving nothing - is also coming to fruition. Things are incredibly busy for me with regular work and extra evening work, not to mention trying to get fit (although to a casual onlooker it looks like i'm a vowel out there) and hopefully doing fun things with the kids. It's all good though (to coin a phrase) and I have no complaints other than to wish we could watch more than 2 episodes a night of The Wire. I've not been this addicted to a DVD boxset since The Mighty Boosh (and I didn't mope when season 1 of that came to an end). I do sometimes feel like I'm pushing a boulder up a hill, but as time progress the thankless tasks become a bit more, er, thankful?

By the way my much anticipated phoenix-like reintroduction into the ways of football fell flat due to predictable achilles and ankle problems. I don't want to talk about it other than to focus on probably still being injured when the season starts proper in February. Me and Torres, we're like two peas in a pod.