June 2001

Friday 1 June

God it’s cold here. For some reason when we were planning our route through New Zealand we decided to move nearer the Antarctic for the winter. In wouldn’t be so bad except Wellington still hasn’t discovered central heating. Our flat has one small heater which competes with one of Sue’s fags to be the biggest heat source.

I should be looking forward to the coming long weekend but, because I’m technically a contractor, I don’t get the public holiday off. Lucky Susan’s an employee and so will be putting her feet up. It’s for the Queen’s birthday: a holiday that the whole Commonwealth celebrates with the odd exception of Britain. We’re going out for a few tomorrow night and will have a pint for Her Maj.

Sue’s just bought us NZ$90 (about thirty quid) tickets for the All Blacks v France test at the end of June which, by Sue’s estimations, should guarantee us gold-plated seats and free beer. She’s been threatened with the sack if she doesn’t cheer for the All Blacks but then it’s not exactly difficult to support any opposition playing France, is it?

Finally, good luck to everyone doing their Finals back in England. Don’t stress: only a couple more weeks and you can say goodbye to education FOREVER!

Monday 11 June

It was strange watching my country re-elect its government while I sat at work on the other side of the world watching the results roll in over the Internet. I didn’t want to vote having been out of the country for the last seven months and in case didn’t fancy any of the parties. I can only really remember the previous couple of elections well but, from an early age, an election has always to me a constant media bombardment from politicians and their party spin machines. Largely avoiding the build-up, I was thankfully spared the propaganda and personality contests. The end result was basically a hilariously one-sided contest won by an unspectacular government completely unthreatened by its closest rival. It wasn’t exactly a glowing endorsement for democracy and now Britain’s got four more years of Labour government. Here’s hoping there’s at least one viable alternative next time round.

Best quotation of the day, though, was from an American observer on MetaFilter:

Ha Ha Ha, silly Brits! Your electoral system is charmingly quaint! Here in AMERICA, we have months of recounts to squeeze every last drop of democracy out of the ballots, ensuring that no voice goes unheard. Ha!

Wednesday 20 June

The All Blacks have just begun their international season which means Kiwis can get back to their favourite passtime: watching and criticising their beloved ABs. NZ thrashed Samoa in the first match but not well enough to stop everyone worrying about playing Argentina, let alone France at the end of the month (which Sue and I are going to). Likely to cheer everyone up is the news that fly-half Mehrts is back on Saturday, Lomu’s back on the wing and Jerry Collins is in at Number 8.

It’s not hard to get swept up in a country’s favourite sport, but Sue and I are trying to regain some Englishness by going to the (proper) footy tonight: NZ are playing Australia in a World Cup playoff in Wellington. Not much hype round here for such an important match - football’s not really that big over here - but we’re really looking forward to freezing our arses off by the sea at the Cake Tin.

Tuesday 26 June

We had a great time watching NZ v Australia in the World Cup Play-Off, despite the embarrassing lack of quality on show. Unsurprisingly the Kiwis lost and reminded me of a mid-nineties Arsenal: not very talented but hardworking and committed. The rugby was excellent on Saturday too (with Joanna at the Backbencher) with the All Blacks thrashing Argentina and then the British Lions deservedly beating a dirty, whingeing New South Wales team. Roll on the first test!