I'm performing an illiegal activity right now - writing this while at work. I had yesterday off but got a call this morning to fill in at the reception desk of a software company. It's all very posh with a huge reception area. However, in the 1.5 hours I've been here the phone has rang twice and there has been one delivery man. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

So I decided to catch up on some communication. The last 2 days have been absolutely beautiful - 21 degrees! It went from rainy and ccccold last week to being summer again. Strange. I'm told that Antarctica is to blame. There is nothing between there and NZ, particularly the Banks Penninsula (on which Chch sits) so the cold air comes from there. So warm days mean a change of wind and it comes from the equator? I don't know. I haven't had to temp as a meteorologist yet.

I did a walking tour of the city yesterday (finally) which was cool. I really needed a break from tourist activities for a little bit to be able to absorb what I had seen before taking more in and being able to really enjoy it. Plus last week I came down with a nasty cold that sidelined me for a few days! Back to the point, history of Chch. It was a planned English settlement in 1850. Unlike Australia that was settled by English convicts, the Brits brought a representative cross section to Chch. The entire city was planned before any oof them left the homeland, right down to the blueprints of the cathedral that would be the centre of the city. Even the rivers are lined with chestnut & willow & oak trees, not native to the country and not often seen.

There's a boys private school that is still very much in use today which was part of the original plans of the city. It only costs about NZ$17,000 per year, plus another $10,000 for international students. (Janet, were you thinking of sending the boys?) The museum (also from the original plans) was purposely built directly down from the cathedral with nothing obstructing the view of either. This is to represent the balance of mind and spirit. The art gallery and art centre are now between the two, some say to represent soul.

What else did I learn...? NZ was the first country to give women the vote, happening in 1897. What was Canada - 1921? The major reason it happened so early here was because the settlers, still remembering the priviledged life they had in Britain in comparison to how they had to all work to build this new community, realized that everyone was working equally and deserved to be treated as such. Completely unexpected , the bill went through on its first reading.

Other than that I have finally met the other long termers at the hostel and it's a really cool group so far. They put a tv in one of the loungers specifically for us to be able to flake out after work, etc, but we all met when convening in the quiet lounge and avoiding the tv. Humourous.

So in the last 40 min that I've been writing (I did go tidy the kitchen) there has no tbeen one phonecall or person. The stress of it all.