I’m coming up to the half-way point of my Mosgiel internship. I got told off for not refilling the kettle and they probably find me a bit casual about the whole turning up on time thing… unfortunately chronic lateness is a deeply ingrained habit which I think came about during those formative years when I lived just across the back fence from my primary school. So ever since I’ve been leaving home to go somewhere at two minutes before I should be arriving, regardless of travel time.
I guess as far as the work goes, I can think of worse jobs but it’s not exactly what I’d want to do for a living. I do get a little bit of influence on the paper’s content though – as I’m now half the editorial staff. I’m doing stories this week on possum trapping, water quality and revegetation work so there are my interests coming through. And I’m taking my notes in shorthand, though not 80wpm.
I still feel a little unstable, I’ve been noticing my mood go up and down unpredictably. I was doing alright until about August then the wheels fell off for some reason. I went to a doctor who gave me antibiotics for my bleeding gums but wasn’t much help on the hair loss. I had a good 3-day weekend in Dunedin though (had sex Saturday night, played a gig on Monday, the two rare & beautiful things I live for), and the notion of actually moving down here for a while is taking hold in my mind. It seems more relaxed than Wellington, less snobbery (at least at first glance). Dunedin’s largely oriented around the university though and becomes a ‘ghost town’ over summer when the students go home.
On the plus side the rents are cheaper than Wellington, there’s an OK arts/music scene, the weather is great over summer and the daylight’s nearly an hour longer (dusk at 10pm near the solstice), and there’s all the South Island wilderness to explore. There’s also Deep South icecream which you can’t get in the North Island – delicious (though Kapiti icecream is even better but that's expensive and hard to find). On the other hand the winters are pretty harsh, but I don’t think I’d stay that long – mainly I want to save up and go overseas around about next autumn so in any case I’m cutting my ties with Wellington for a while. I could even get into the international traveler lifestyle of migrating to avoid winters indefinitely.
Dunedin even looks a bit like another country, specifically Scotland where my grandma was from. It’s got a lot of big old stone churches (not all used as churches these days – some are offices and one now holds a strip club), statues of Queen Victoria and Robert Burns, and a lot of European trees.
I haven't decided whether to move down but it looks like there are some arguments in favour. I'll spend a day or two jobhunting after I finish the internship - can't be any worse than jobhunting in Wellington.
Acoustic gig on Monday went alright, I should do an electric set on Friday in between the Futurians and Chandeliers sets.
http://fiffdimension.tripod.com
Posted by fiffdimension at October 27, 2004 09:21 PM | TrackBackI lived in Dunny Dun for 4 years while going to Uni and still have fond memories of the place. You could certainly do a lot worse. And the peninsula in the middle of a howling Southerly storm is magnificent and furious. Especially when one is indulging. Mosgiel is best avoided though IMO. Apologies to all those Mosgielians out there...
Posted by: Numpty at October 28, 2004 10:55 AM