s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

So it was my birthday Friday, which was kind of weird and sad, because there are people that I’d want to spend it with that I couldn’t, naturally. Apart from that, it doesn’t feel very much like my birthday anyway, because my birthday is in May, and of course it is November here. At least, it is, if I don’t look at a calendar. It’s been a very nice November, though, generally fine and not too cold, although it’s cold enough that a pall of woodsmoke has become a more or less permanent feature of the valley bottom (except when the wind blows through). The valley smells like Evening At Pennsic, and I wonder if a Kiwi has ever been to Pennsic and thought that it smelled like Home In Winter.

My new coworkers kindly took me out to lunch Friday, where I discovered that New Zealanders see nothing at all improper in drinking at lunch (in moderation). We all bought our own food, but the boss paid for the wine, and it was kinda nice. Chris and Natasha took me out to dinner, where there was yet more wine, and scheming to convince me to quit my job and start an import business. *Very* tempting. Know anyone in the shipping business ?