Did I mention Wellington…
Feb 28, 2006
We converged yesterday in Wellington New Zealand, after various individual and group adventures here in the Southern Hemisphere. More on these stories as the week unfolds, but in short there were a couple of expeditions to the Margaret River for the full-on vacation experience, trips to Sydney for big city life and the visitation of relatives, hiking in the Kiwi wilderness (here it is referred to as "tramping" and they are really big on it) and other varieties of adventure by our adventuresome crew.
We are performing at a place called the "Event Centre", which is right smack on the waterfront and is enormous. We qualify as an event, though it seems that the usual tenants are the local basketball team. It is a huge building that is mostly constructed of corrugated tin (as is a lot of stuff in this part of the world) and there are authentic locker rooms for the sports teams that we are using as our dressing rooms. Though there are people who would pay good money to have their way with a tiled room full of shower stalls, we are sticking to the smaller rooms next to them for our changing areas. Still it is fun to be in a sporty kind of place and OK, I admit it, it's a little sexy too. I imagine myself to be the 5'4" star center of a basketball team of little people athletes, and that and a diet coke and I am good to go for an afternoon of tech.
Wellington is a very very windy place as it is located at the Cook Straights and is sort of in a giant wind tunnel. The wind makes the local news all the time we are told, with stories about old people, children and the otherwise skinny being blown into something and injured. Things must be cancelled on account of these gusts and we are lucky to be performing indoors. But there are also several wind sculptures in town which move with the breezes and they are delightful. It teaches you to be humble about your hairdo and we are all gaining respect for the solid awnings that the buildings have downtown. Because it also rains you see and umbrellas are just another cruel joke from the British.
Excellent coffee abounds and though I have been caffeine-free for many years, I am succumbing to the siren song of speedy addiction. I know it is not so good for me, but I LOVE coffee and am enjoying the fun of this readily available and delicious drug. I too give in to the pressures of the road. All those songs about being alone and in another hotel room a thousand miles from you are true and sometimes I need a friend and I have chosen coffee. I will get the monkey off my back when I return home no doubt but for the time being I am really enjoying the wild ride of caffeine. It makes me talk to strangers even more than I usually do and yes, I whistle a happy caffeinated tune in my drug-induced cheer, but now I see the reason why the whole world is addicted to this stuff. It is so darn fun! And in New Zealand it is so darn good. These Kiwis do not know how to make a bad cup of joe.
That's all from the moral failings department for now. Though chemically dependent, know Dear Reader that I am happily so and though I may very well need a program of recovery to regain my former dull life, I am fully enjoying the fun ride of caffeine in its many forms.
More tomorrow, fellow travelers.
Zippity do da,
Moe.
We converged yesterday in Wellington New Zealand, after various individual and group adventures here in the Southern Hemisphere. More on these stories as the week unfolds, but in short there were a couple of expeditions to the Margaret River for the full-on vacation experience, trips to Sydney for big city life and the visitation of relatives, hiking in the Kiwi wilderness (here it is referred to as "tramping" and they are really big on it) and other varieties of adventure by our adventuresome crew.
We are performing at a place called the "Event Centre", which is right smack on the waterfront and is enormous. We qualify as an event, though it seems that the usual tenants are the local basketball team. It is a huge building that is mostly constructed of corrugated tin (as is a lot of stuff in this part of the world) and there are authentic locker rooms for the sports teams that we are using as our dressing rooms. Though there are people who would pay good money to have their way with a tiled room full of shower stalls, we are sticking to the smaller rooms next to them for our changing areas. Still it is fun to be in a sporty kind of place and OK, I admit it, it's a little sexy too. I imagine myself to be the 5'4" star center of a basketball team of little people athletes, and that and a diet coke and I am good to go for an afternoon of tech.
Wellington is a very very windy place as it is located at the Cook Straights and is sort of in a giant wind tunnel. The wind makes the local news all the time we are told, with stories about old people, children and the otherwise skinny being blown into something and injured. Things must be cancelled on account of these gusts and we are lucky to be performing indoors. But there are also several wind sculptures in town which move with the breezes and they are delightful. It teaches you to be humble about your hairdo and we are all gaining respect for the solid awnings that the buildings have downtown. Because it also rains you see and umbrellas are just another cruel joke from the British.
Excellent coffee abounds and though I have been caffeine-free for many years, I am succumbing to the siren song of speedy addiction. I know it is not so good for me, but I LOVE coffee and am enjoying the fun of this readily available and delicious drug. I too give in to the pressures of the road. All those songs about being alone and in another hotel room a thousand miles from you are true and sometimes I need a friend and I have chosen coffee. I will get the monkey off my back when I return home no doubt but for the time being I am really enjoying the wild ride of caffeine. It makes me talk to strangers even more than I usually do and yes, I whistle a happy caffeinated tune in my drug-induced cheer, but now I see the reason why the whole world is addicted to this stuff. It is so darn fun! And in New Zealand it is so darn good. These Kiwis do not know how to make a bad cup of joe.
That's all from the moral failings department for now. Though chemically dependent, know Dear Reader that I am happily so and though I may very well need a program of recovery to regain my former dull life, I am fully enjoying the fun ride of caffeine in its many forms.
More tomorrow, fellow travelers.
Zippity do da,
Moe.
posted by moe at 12:56 PM
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