At the Wairarapa Times Age office wrapping things up & waiting for the others so we can go back to Wgtn. I feel more at ease with Wellington this year than last, mainly because my life's less chaotic but also because I've had time away. This year I'm gradually winding up my affairs & preparing to move on. Wellington's kind of a default option town to live in - Auckland's too expensive and everywhere else is too small-townish. Dunedin would be alright.
The Wairarapa's the place where I have the strongest family connections - but I've never lived here, it's not my home. I grew up in New Plymouth, but now I have no family there and no connection to it any more. When I visited last year it had changed, the waterfront was all smoothed out and there were cafes everywhere. The wind-wand is pretty cool though. I was born in Wellington so I guess that's home, I've spent maybe a fifth of my life there now.
I'm not hugely keen on Masterton, it feels weird being away from the sea. I go to work for the Kapiti Observer the week after next, so the sunsets over the Tasman remind me of Taranaki. The staff there are a bit younger than here too.
Highlight of the trip was possibly visiting my half-sister Megan and her husband Olivier in Carterton. They sold their small house in Wellington before last Christmas and bought a huge place in Carterton with a big section & fruit trees. Olivier's been making feijoa wine - 200 litres of the stuff. It's got a good flavour...
The Times Age experience has been kind of frustrating, the first two days were stressful & very long, the next two were alright, and today I just want to sleep. I feel flabby from the long hours in a swivel chair and need a bit of exercise. I'm only just seeing stuff I've written in the paper today - and it was the short pieces with no bylines. Half my stories are council-related, and I'm doing my weekly work experience from here on at the Regional Council - I could well end up working somewhere like that rather than a newspaper. The environmental side of things I find really interesting, I'm keen on the idea of people living as part of the natural environment rather than an intrusion into it. I don't seem to have much of an affinity for social issues or politics that my fellow students are into, and sport just mystifies me (as in, why do people bother watching it?). I also don't like doing things by clock time. One great thing about the public sector is glide time - you have x amount of work to do by y date, but there's flexibility as to how it's achieved. Turning up a little late in the morning is ok if you stay on late in the evening, which I'm fine with. A couple of days this week I've turned up at 8am and had nothing to do because noone I need to contact is at work yet.
One problem with being away is that last week I met a really nice girl who I went out and had a great time with, but Tuesday she sent an email saying she doesn't want to take it any further. Dumped by remote, pity. I need to really focus to pull through the rest of the course (I've done the easy half, the next half is solid work til October) and all this being single gets distracting.
Oh, and the Parataxes album got an online review.
http://fiffdimension.tripod.com
If you could live anywhere on Earth, all else being equal, where would you go?
Say, your top three.
Posted by: Sister Novena at July 24, 2004 10:40 PMToo early to say.
Posted by: Dave at July 25, 2004 03:23 PM