It’s been a while, maybe I’ll work backwards.
I had dinner with my mum and Roy, her husband, in Dunedin tonight. Yum. I was meant to be going to see the Nomad (who I love) in Wanaka. I ran from my mum’s house in Waverley, via the Octagon to Dunedin’s main swimming pool (Moana) on Stuart Street, went for a swim and ran home again. I love that Dunedin’s so compact that something like that can be executed in under 2 hours. The pool was amazing. Dunedin people are friendly.
Today it was yet another 30+ degree day in Wanaka. I find it so hard to leave there, even for a short time. I always feel I’m missing out. It’s so great to feel like that about the place in which you live.
I went to a film in the Metro cinema and was priviledged enough to get to stay behind afterwards and check out the owner’s collection of old film projectors. Wonderful stuff. Go me for being recognised from my profile on gaydar.co.nz!
Yesterday, after going to Les Mills and getting frustrated because the instructor seemed too unfit to speak.. or perhaps he had nothing to say.. I went with my mum to visit my grandmother. While we were there my beloved car emptied the contents of the clutch hydraulics onto the road. My stay in Dunedin was suddenly extended indefinitely.
Having a grand oldish car means my life is becoming full of unexpected stays.
I drove to Dunedin on Friday. Driving on the route I took feels like driving right through a Grahame Sydney painting. Prior to that I had a jaunt in Christchurch staying with Julia and seeing Paul and the kids which I enjoyed a lot more than I ever thought I could in Christchurch. Otherwise the whole time of my holidays has been used in Wanaka, reading, running, getting to grips with road cycling with the help of Nikki, learning to swim properly in the Wanaka pool with a crew of great swimmers… Life could continue like this forever.
I went to bed at 10:30am on New Year’s Eve. I know that sounds sad, but I wasn’t. I did make a couple of resolutions though. I decided to say ‘yes’ more often to people. Particularly when it comes to people asking to spend time with me.
Matthew and Julia Walker wrote a couple of wonderful retrospective reviews of their 2005. I’m going to attempt the same here. Their’s are so interesting, this is a bit intimidating, but perhaps the things we believe are banal are actually interesting to others..
In 2005, I:
Dated a guy I liked and ended it still really liking him
Met the Governor General
Updated weblog from a mobile phone at the top of the Crown Range
Drove to Macetown with friends dressed for a dinner party
Discovered I didn’t like someone I’d once spent a long time loving
Went camping in a major metropolitan city with 100 15 year olds
Achieved a grade 3 sprain in my ankle by running backwards on a school cross country
Discovered that I actually can get indian take-aways in my town
Had a man to stay in my house who I’d never previously met in the flesh
Sold a car called “Poppy” to a fencing contractor called “Boof”
Installed a car audio system into a car called “Heath”
Spent as much as I earned
Did not fly in an aircraft
Started actually riding my road bike
Started to kayak
Lived alone in a flat owned by a man about my age with a stunningly similar name
Ran the routeburn track
Tried Yoga and discovered it’s almost as deeply painful as meditation
Performed on stage wearing only gold bodypaint and a wallpaper skirt
Discovered my clothes got tight and thankfully rehabilitated my ankle in time to reverse the trend
Got asked out by a stranger and broke my ankle before I got to do it
Improvised a dance based on the Air New Zealand pre-flight safety routine
Got asked to be the a best man
Almost repaired the suspension of my car using the workshop manual
Accepted that I can’t see and bought spectacles
Became a Head of Department.
Lost an iPod
Now, for 2006!