A happy-go-lucky English rambler dude goes to New Zealand for a year. Here he interfaces with some of those he left behind and details his nefarious activities. Or summat.
Recently clicked on MP3s - 7th June 2005 The Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners
Jens Lekman - When i said i wanted to be your dog
The Trashcan Sinatras - Weightlifting
Teenage Fanclub - Man Made
Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Eels - Blinking Lights
Monday, February 04, 2002
Treated myself to a fairly expensive, but fun weekend, to make up for all the hours spent at work last week. (I finished the website at 11pm on Friday night, though stupidly stayed in the office to join the LAN party that was going on, playing Operation Flash point (Cor!), with numerous other people till 3am).
When I crawled out of bed on Saturday, I headed off to Map world, to splash out on a GPS, which i've been hankering after for some time. I went for the Garmin Legend - expensive, but packed full of useful features. People who go out for walks with me can now look forward to finding out information such as our average speed, ETA at the next pub and how many satellites are currently overhead. At least for as long as the batteries last anyway, as I soon discovered it has approximately the same energy requirements as a 5 bar electric fire.
Later in the afternoon I ended up crashed out in one of Christchurch's many little squares, next to the river. Where I texted a final goodbye to Alison before she boarded the plane to Sydney, and then promptly fell asleep in the sunshine.
Happily i felt fairly energised after my power nap, as a 'large-style' saturday night was planned. Jo had come up to to the bright lights of Ch'ch for the weekend, after getting rather bored of Garlic picking & her country yokel lifestyle (:op) We started off in the Excelsior sports bar, as per, with Gemma and the usual posse, and then Michael, Keith, Jo, Marie and I headed off for more tasty booze at Dux-de-Lux, although the promised band never appeared, and then on to an all night pool hall till 4am-ish for yet more booze as well as some incidental pool. [NOTE:Apologies to friends in the UK for any strange phone calls, or ansaphone messages you may have received around this time]
I would have happily stayed in bed for most of Sunday, but due to promises made the night before, and a certain punctuality freak hassling me to get up, Jo, Michael, three of his work mates & me went out for a coastal wander round Pigeon bay. It was beautiful spot, with weather to match, but involved a 1/2 hour drive over a rather steep and exposed pass, on a slippy, single track, dirt road - eek.
Sunday night involved a yet another goodbye to another of my long term Ch'ch mates - Keith (Or as he would say in his cockney barrow-bow accent, "Keef"). He's heading down to Dunedin, to try a career in fruit-picking, and hopefully meet up with his mysterious and foxy Swiss friend Miriam. Depsite 90% of my friends moving away in the last few weeks i'm not feeling too lonely yet. I've got to stay in Ch'ch to build up some cash anyway, and the "lad's" at work are a pretty good bunch (A mass work outing to the NZ vs England Cricket 1-dayer is currently being organised, which should be a "lottafun", so long as we thrash the Kiwis, and no-one laughs too hard at my Leicester city shirt)
8:22 am
