Random notes from work

I love the smell in the fruit chiller. So sweet and cold. Apple, apricot, plum, peach, greengage, nectarine...

I like being able to speak French at work from time to time. There are heaps of New Caledonians who come our way. But I miss being able to speak Finnish. The couple of guys (one full-Finn, one half-Finn) who lived at Jackson's and spoke Finnish have left. :(

Dreaming of a white Christmas

Well, slightly late now. But here is what Christmas mostly looked like for me: playing with Baxter or sitting in the sun reading. Baxter is a naughty dog by the way (as bad as the boys of the family), and very keen on chewing on my clothing!

He is the most adorable puppy anyway, broke my heart when I first saw him.

Friend's day

Hyvää ystävänpäivää!

Valentine's day is a waste of opportunity.

The Finns are very bad at telling their loved ones they love them or their friends they appreciate their friendship. That's why they created "Friend's day" - not simply Valentine's. Friend's day is the day to tell all your friends how much you like them, send them flowers, chocolate and heart-shaped cards, invite them over for a nice if less than romantic dinner and so on.

Another reason why Valentine's is a waste of opportunity is that only those lucky ones (are they lucky? I'm not sure of this point) with boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives, can appreciate it. What are the singles supposed to do? Either, the "love in the air" will really irritate them, because they're jealous, or it will irritate them, because they - well, it'll just irritate them. If you'd been me in fourth year secondary, you'd know why.

Anyway, friends and friends all over the world: hyvää ystävänpäivää! Let the sun shine on your day whichever group of people you belong to.

Rail trail and rain

On my first three days off, ages ago as it now seems, I went to pedal myself through about 120k's (that's Kiwi for kms) of the Central Otago Rail Trail. I had a headwind all of the way (joy), but thankfully the way was mostly downhill. Despite this, I swear that fellow cyclists coming uphill the other way were going faster than me.

On Monday I biked to Wanaka (53k's). I had a headwind again, of about 60kph. The ride took me more or less all day, and I was exhausted after it. The way back was much more enjoyable: still a headwind (the wind does not like me here. The feeling is mutual), but it was "bugger all", as my source of information put it, 7kph.

Wanaka is a lovely town, right on a lakefront. I will have to go back with my sister, to go to Puzzling World - with a giant maze and other mind-boggling puzzles to train the grey matter. On Tuesday I woke up to the sound of gentle rain on the tent roof. "Yes!" I thought, "I don't have to go anywhere!" So I sat reading A Time of Omens until three in the afternoon. It was very relaxing. After that I got moving and did a nice easy walk up Mt Iron. The views weren't clear as clear, the clouds were still hanging low. In the evening I watched the end of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, simply because it happened to be on TV and I love the soundtrack.

Something happened the other day at work that has never happened to me before. An elderly male customer said to me, "What are you doing here? You should be at school." When I told him I was 18, he said, "You don't look it." Must have been because I was smiling that day.

Another male customer asked me, as I was making him an ice cream, "You're not from Auckland, are you? Your accent's like it was from further north." Loads further north, dear customer. But I felt smug all the same. When I can fool both Poms and Kiwis (Brits and New Zealanders), I'll be satisfied.

Alive.

I'm alive. Very much so.