Is it really late February already?

Time is seeming very elastic at the moment, stretching out like caramelised sugar and constantly wrong-footing me. This morning I was inspecting a pot outside where I'd planted some chillies, and decided glumly that they weren't sprouting and so were probably dead, when I noticed on the label that I'd only put them in three days ago. It seemed like over a week.

On the other hand, it seems ridiculous that our second rent payment is due next week. It only feels like we've been in here a week or so, but in reality it's been quite a while. We're pretty much settled in now, with all the absolutely necessary furniture installed and most of our stuff unpacked. Still in boxes are most of the books, CDs and DVDs, which are waiting patiently in the spare room for us to buy a bookcase. This is one of those purchases that we've relegated to the 'when we have jobs' list, along with a thing to put the TV on (entertainment cabinet? I'm sure they have a name), a barbeque, an olive pitter and some decent cheese for a change. Our warped sense of priority means we bought an ice-cream machine this week - it was on a 50% off deal though, in fairness. So far I've made an orange & grapefruit sorbet and some plum ice-cream, both of which pretty good. It's taken a bit of getting used to but I think I have the hang of it now.

Actually, that said I think we're going to relent and get a barbeque anyway. The main reason for this, apart from the social stigma of living in New Zealand and not having one, is that our smoke alarm is so sensitive that showering with the bathroom door open can set the upstairs one off, so the indoor grilling of any meat at all involves all the windows being open, the Kiwi racing round the house flapping things, and me occasionally holding the grill pan outside the kitchen window. Yesterday evening I was grilling some chicken, and poked the sizzling, smoking pan out of the window just as a neighbour walked past - fortunately missing his suit by a whisker. So I think it's a worthwhile purchase. The smoke alarms, you see, are linked to the fire system in the building, which in turn is linked to both the fire service and the sprinklers, neither of which I want going off. We get charged for every fire truck that turns up, and they usually send several.

No news on the job front, although the Kiwi seems to have found some more tame recruiters, which if I've not heard anything by the end of this week I might be pimping myself to as well. The thing that's really getting me worried is the boredom and lack of stimulus - despite trying to follow all the online media and industry buzz I used to, I can feel my brain drying up and grinding to a halt, and the temptation to retreat from the world into a comfortable cocoon of Mario Kart, Simpsons, Quake Live and the odd glass of wine is getting harder to resist.

Hilariously, in the context of all this media nonsense about social media atrophying the brains of our young, Twitter and Facebook are about the only things keeping me sane at the moment.

Eels

Earlier in the week, in search of fish (snapper and salmon, respectively), we took advantage of having NOTHING TO DO ALL DAY and went to the Auckland Fish Market early one morning. We got the fish we were looking for, but I couldn't leave without taking a look at this:



It's a tank of live eels, all intertwined and murky, eyeing me furiously through the glass. We left the market sans eels, but with this little ditty* winding its way round my brain...


*warning: contains distressing and possibly impenetrable British humour

Lounge Jazz / Tigers

Every now and then, one of those happy coincidences occurs that prove to you that you're being shepherded through life by something other which has a rather capricious sense of humour. Yesterday afternoon we wandered over to a friend's house (not far from ours) for afternoon drinks, intending to be off by about 6. It turned out that that evening they were headed to Auckland Zoo, which apparently moonlights as a gig venue in the evenings. Nathan Haines and Hollie Smith were playing.

So we joined them. I can honestly say that this is the only gig I've been to where one of the headline acts was upstaged by a tiger having dinner. Other highlights of the evening included a wallaby bouncing past in the background, and apparently there were otters somewhere too. I'd been keen to have a look at the sealions, but I imagine it was past their bedtime.

As for the music, Haines turns out a pretty good brand of dance-y jazz, possibly a bit lounge-y for my taste but the tiger seemed to enjoy it. Hollie Smith was excellent, if only for her tremendous band. Vocally she's good, not great, but her bassist was worth the admission price alone. Perhaps this is just me, but I often find the rhythm section the most interesting bit of jazz bands, and in this instance the two held the entire set together.

The best bit? We could walk home afterwards. A slightly bizarre, totally unexpected and excellent evening. This morning I'm listening to Miles Davis, specifically the phenomenal Rudy van Gelder remasters series, which is probably a bit unfair on last night's artists but I felt the need for some proper jazz after last night.

Back on the horse

I'd not actually realised quite how long it's been since my last post. It's been a little strange, but I've been trying to get started again for a week or so, but for some reason haven't been able to crack it. I think it's got something to do with the volume of stuff that's going on at the moment; it's having a sort of 3 Stooges effect, where everything tries to get through the door at once but nothing can.

In a nutshell, since the last post, the following things have occurred, which most of you following Twitter and/or Facebook will already know, but here we go, in no particular order:

1. The Kiwi's got better
2. We've found a flat
3. We've bought a sofa, a fridge, a washing machine, a bed and a TV, along with a whole load of much less interesting stuff
4. The Kiwi's bought a car
5. We've each met with numerous recruiters, with varying degrees of success
6. We've planted some spinach and some spring onions - I'm drying some chillies to plant the seeds too
7. We've had another engagement party (any excuse)
8. We've eaten pies (multiple)
9. We've been to the beach (frequently)
10. I've got a New Zealand driver's license (looks a lot like the EU one)
    
11. I've been blogging a bit at http://www.eatingauckland.com
12. Our shipping arrived, with the only thing broken being a salad server, not bad out of 48 boxes
13. We've unpacked most of it
14. I've got back into Mario Kart and Guitar Hero
15. I've got hold of some English Marmite, but I'm not entirely sure it's quite the same...

You may notice the omission of the crucial 'we've found jobs' point, which is because we haven't yet, something that's soon to move from frustrating into problematic. The economic situation over here is pretty awful, it's true, but mostly due to lack of confidence and a bit of scaremongering. The exchange rate's not great (for New Zealanders), but realistically it's not as bad as the media would have you believe. Nonetheless, business in general is declining to commit to much expenditure, and some organisations are using the situation as an excuse for 'pro-active cost cutting', ie restructuring. The employment laws here are notoriously strict, so much like in the UK, it's hard to get rid of someone useless once you've employed them. The opportunity to make people redundant is apparently too much to resist for some.

So on the whole it's been very quiet on that front. At the moment I'm having a positive-looking conversation with a business that I'm quite keen to be involved with, so we'll see how that goes. More news as we get it.