8 January 2012

Remember when it was suggested that New Zealand reopened 3 January? Turns out, for starters, that the day after New Years Day is a statutory holiday just like Boxing Day for Xmas and so Tuesday was off this year as well. But wait! How many out there think work restarted Wednesday? Show of hands. OK, you three haven't been paying attention. We're hoping for the 9th.

In preparation for the Rugby World Cup and while we were in Fiji, Pier 21's shower, head and laundry were renovated. Two little showers were made into one larger (no waiting in line so far) and new tile was laid. It was horrifying to find in the loo, however, that the toilet roll was dispensing paper from the bottom rather than the top. Disaster was narrowly averted when, serendipitously, it was discovered that reversing the roll made it all better. By the way, the toilet key at a recently patronized restaurant was attached to a spoon. One wonders.

Since no big projects are proceeding, all the little crap is getting done. Well, 'all' is excessively hyperbolic, but some (defined as more than one) are. Most fun was emptying and cleaning the lazerettes - port, starboard and aft - of greasy soot from the previously broken exhaust manifold and sorting three additional incongruities subsequently revealed. The single shower barely proved sufficient.

Still waiting for summer as unseasonable wind, rain and chilly temperatures meander up from Antarctica through the Tasman Sea. Although just as much a pest here as in North America, possums (Kiwis generally leave off the preceding 'O') are at least cute and, because their fur is hollow, provide particularly good insulation when blended with merino wool. Thus has been saved many a protruding and dangly bit from freezing off.

Jack