So I am beginning to think that I am taking too much for granted! Since I last blogged we have been to another All Blacks game, attended a barbecue for ex pats in New Zealand and competed in the Karori Golf Club Championships (Knocked out in the first round – I just can’t get a break, the golfing gods seem to have it in for me!). However, none of the above compelled me enough to write a blog entry. This of course proves what I have known all along that I am lazy, but also that I am becoming blasé about some of the things which 6 months ago I would have gotten all excited about. This is just a note to myself that I am going to nip this in the bud and once again become completely giddy at the prospect of doing new and exciting things whilst here in New Zealand.

My main news is that I have begun participating in a weekly 5km race around the harbour. I have been running for 5 weeks and have set 4 personal bests, bang! Running for fun has never been my idea of well….fun! However I am enjoying this while it lasts, and you have an incentive of a free beer once you have completed the course which keeps you going. The run is organised by ‘The Welllington Scottish Athletics Club’ and the weekly results are posted on their website here http://www.scottishathletics.org.nz .This week’s results are here http://www.scottishathletics.org.nz/Brooks5k13Oct2009.html . As you can see I am by no means keeping up with the competitive runners, but I am not last either! The second week I showed up one of the other male competitors came up to me and said that he didn’t care what time he got as long as he beat me. Sounds like a challenge, doesn’t it! I haven’t beaten him yet but wait…just wait until I do. Wellington, with its winds isn’t ideal for running as you can imagine. Yesterday, it was particularly bad and at points it felt like you were treading water, so to notch another PB felt good and reward for my training last week which saw me notch up 22km. Still on track for 2012.

In other news, we are just about seeing off the end of winter and looking forward to the start of summer. However, last week it felt like it just wouldn’t stop raining and it is still raining as I am typing this blog entry. This is a pain as Rick Astley and I have recently purchased a couple of fishing rods and we are keen to enter a new ‘Hunter Gatherer’ period of our time here in New Zealand. I think Rick is hoping to move away from the comparisons with Rick Astley and become more like another famous ginger haired celebrity, Ray Mears. Speaking of ginger haired related stories, every morning I get the same bus into work. A couple of stops after I get on the bus a mother gets on with her 3 sons, all of varying ages and heights, nothing unusual there except for the fact that they all have ginger hair. Every day I find myself thinking ‘Well at least she hasn’t stopped trying to have a normal haired child!’ You have to admire that don’t you?

Moving on. Another highlight of my bus journey into work is when the bus passes the Wellington night shelter. Now, I understand that this is a refuge for people less fortunate than myself and I am by no means poking fun at them, I am merely painting a picture of the character of this city. You should understand however that unfortunately I still have the sense of humour of an immature 12 year old and still quite often make myself laugh by asking Shona to ‘pull my finger’, so I can’t help but find this stuff humorous. For instance, as the bus was passing last week a pot bellied chap was stood out the front of the shelter (located on a busy main thoroughfare) the with his legs shoulder width apart in just a shell suit top and a tight pair of Y-fronts saluting the rush hour traffic as it passed by him. On a separate occasion I saw a man stood outside the shelter wearing a pair of jeans, with a pair of pink novelty boxer shorts pulled over the top, he was obviously having an argument with his imaginary friend. His arms were flailing around wildly, and in my mind the argument went something like this (minus any swear words).

Man: ‘I am Super Man’.

Imaginary Friend: ‘I do protest! For I am Super Man’

Man: ‘Look! Now just look here! I am clearly Super Man, I have gone to the trouble to put my novelty underwear on the outside of my trousers, therefore man equals super vis a’ vie Super Man’

Methamphetamine has a lot to answer for!

Another character who always boards the bus at the night shelter stop is a rather large, threatening looking lady who has very few teeth remaining (a common sign of meth abuse). The kind of person who, if they board the bus and you have a spare seat next to you, makes you inevitably shift uncomfortably, hoping they won’t sit next to you as they are clearly intimidating. However, this lady has the honour of twice in one week lifting my spirits and reinforcing my own whole hearted faith in human kindness (What’s that Paul? You are just like an onion aren’t you….so many layers? Well let me tell you the story first, but of course you are damn right!). Anyway, the first time I remember noticing her on the bus was when she got on the bus and found a seat opposite a man with his very young son. She was holding a lunch for the day provided by the shelter which included a small bunch of grapes. The young boy who was clearly not as intimidated by the lady as everyone else on the bus, began pointing his finger at the bunch of grapes and with his finger aloft repeatedly said ‘Gwapes, gwapes, gwapes, gwapes’. You could sense the tension amongst the fellow commuters as they imagined what type of scene was about to be played out in front of them. ‘Was this lady going to snap and lift this child up and eat him, as she looked like the kind of woman who had used this punishment on other children who had dared to speak to her in the past? Or if not that drastic was she going to unleash a tirade of profanities at the poor defenceless child, as this is what is expected from such a menacing looking woman, isn’t it?’ There was an audible sigh of relief however when a toothless grin appeared on the woman’s face and she put her hand into her bag of grapes and said, ‘I’ll just take off a few for myself and then you can have the rest’ and she passed the grapes to the young boy.

I can’t remember the second incident but I do know it finished with another toothless grin. She still gets on the bus, and most days will have a very enjoyable, jovial conversation with herself. Although it isn’t with herself because I know I am listening.

Once again I apologise for the lack of activity on the Blog. October and November promise to be busy blogging months as we have trips to Martinborough, Christchurch and Rangitikei (White water rafting) planned. I am especially looking forward to the Martinborough trip as it is for a wine festival, see here .

Shona is fine by the way and just about to finish her busy season at work. It’s like my homie Jay-Z keeps telling me ‘I got 99 problems, but the ***** ain’t one’. True.

To finish I thought I would let you know that I have discovered that I have a new super power. Last Saturday I correctly predicted that we would be experiencing an earthquake in Wellington a full 5 seconds before a 4.8 magnitude quake hit the capital. This completely freaked out the friends we were with (Rick has come up with the name Vibrator Man!). However, I do now have to come up with a super hero costume for my new found powers. I am thinking of wearing novelty pink boxer shorts over the top of some jeans. I hear it is popular amongst other Wellingtonian super heroes.