1st June 2007

Hello.


Now back in the land of the long white cloud and feeling the winter creeping in. So, what happened in the last couple of weeks in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK? Just the usual nonsense of odd things and strange stuff.

Firstly, a quick catch up on the fire brigade nonsense. I finally got the report from the doctor that agreed with everything that my surgeon and GP had been saying. The powers that be in the fire service are still dragging heels and messing about so I still don't know what is going to happen. After pointing out that they HAVE to pay the cost of my attendance at the medical they refused and "invented" an appointment in September that I apparantly missed. That didn't happen and I knew nothing about it until the date had passed. They are now saying that because I "missed" that appointment, they are not going to pay. It is totally irrelevant about missed appointments as the rules in the contracts state very clearly that they have to pay for any costs incurred by requesting a person to attend. This comes as no suprise to me that they twist and turn like this but I did offer many alternatives. As for the job...well they are keeping very quiet at the moment so I am still technically employed by them! They had my itinerary regarding flights and knew when I was due to return to New Zealand and then requested that I attend a meeting in June! Oh well! More fun and games! Can't they just do things sensibly, just once?

After leaving England I went to see my family for a few weeks in Northern Ireland. Mum and Dad have moved into their new house and it is fantastic! Really nice with top notch people on both sides of them. Laura and Brian on one side with the dogs, including puppies, and Cathy and Susan on the other. All really fab and very friendly. This means that when I do come back I will have a drinking buddy or two! Brilliant! Being drinkers, funny and nice to look at makes life in the country a whole lot easier on a fellah like me!

I received a call from my brother asking me if I wanted an acting gig when I got back to Ireland. Intriguing or what? It turned out that because he flies around a lot with one particular airline, he was given tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters at the Odessey in Belfast. The only catch was that his wife Cheryl really wanted to go and he was away in England. So, being the great guy that I am, I stood in for him and had to pretend to be a father of 4 manager of an international finance company! Married too, obviously! So for one night I had to act like the man who is as far away from me as possible! I carried it off even when "chatting" to the people from the airline who were clearly suspicious as they had never seen me before! Cheryl, after nagging me for ages about making sure I didn't slip up, then proceeded to jeopardise the whole thing by repeatedly calling me Dan instead of Jason but we carried it off in the end. Even when Cheryl got so drunk that she was knocking peoples drinks over with the basketball we had bought for "our" kids! Who would have thought that my trip home would see me watching the Harlem Globetrotters?

Mind you, who would have thought that I would be drinking at an Erasure theme charity party in the middle of Lurgan too? But that was my next night of note! I was told to wear a white T-shirt and blue jeans, but my travelling wardrobe only went as far as a white shirt. Not good enough! Luckily the bar owner at JP's had a few spare that they had bought in, just in case! After dashing across to the Cellar Bar to give a T-shirt to Cathy and Susan (next door) I enterred the bar and was amazed by what I saw. Every single person in the room was dressed identically. All white T-shirt and jeans. Doesn't sound that scarey but when you are faced with it, it is really weird! It was liek some kind of religious gathering, only with the knowledge that everyone in the room are emulating a very gay band from the late eighties/early nineties! Very freaky but great fun! Too many beers for all concerned, including Cathy and Susan who had work the next day teaching the nations youth! A taxi home, a few more beers and I returned home with a stolen pint glass. Altogether a successful night!

While at home we went to Josh's (nephew)first holy communion. Now I am not one given to the religious way of life so I amused myself by constantly pushing Ben(second nephew) off his chair and watching him get into trouble for fidgetting. The highlight for me, apart from Josh, was listening to the children reading passages and including the word response at the end of their sentences. To explain, the passages had sections where the congregation were to respond together and the word "response" was a signal for them to speak, not to be read out. I know it makes me very childish but I giggled like a kid wanting detention every time they did it!

The day before I left to come back down under, Mum, Cheryl and the kids organised a little party for me with balloons and cakes and my favourite meal! It was really great but made me reticent about coming away again. I know that I will have loads of fun here, but it was very hard to leave it all behind.My family are ace, their house is great and everything about being home makes it difficult to zoom off. Awwwww!

Since I have been back I have been settling back into Kiwi life slowly. I still have all of the uncertainty about the future and my Visa will be running out soon so my holiday might be in its last throes. But I will see what happens and get my finger out to sort out my little life after the fire service. Where that will be, who knows. It could be the jet lag that is making me less excited than I should be and a little more nervous about it all, but I am sure that will pass. What is great is that my friends over here have been brill since I got back. Emma and Amber seemed very happy to see me back and I fully intend to get them out over the bank holiday weekend for some well deserved beers!

The bad news is that my lovely friend, Penny Ashton, is going to Canada, America and Mexico for 4 months to do the comedy and performance thing. She is great fun and gets me out and about to things that I wouldn't know about, so how will I cope? When I got back she had a ticket to the Billy T's(comedy awards) for me and it was a great night. Lots of drinks with New Zealands finest! What a way to hit NZ again!It looks like unless I sort out my visa before October, I will be booted out of the country before she gets back! So I face 4 months without her smiling face and get up and go! Needless to say, I am going to miss her.

Oh well.....cheerier next time, I promise. Well that's if the winter of New Zealand doesn't freeze my ass off in the meantime!


Dan