Everyday Joys & the Impending Awesomeness

As our departure date draws near (14 sleeps!) I’m starting to notice the little things I’ll miss about day-to-day life here in NZ’s “Super City” (Speaking of which, I’m unsure what super powers Auckland is supposed to have? Possibly the power to inexplicably clog previously-clear passages of road in the blink of an eye? or the power to turn a small-town, quarter-aged young man into what he previously described as a “yuppy”? Who knows…). I remember being very determined (in my more naïve days) that I would never become a “JAFA”, but now I reckon it’s not so bad. After all, I am only a temporary JAFA… or “JAFA of convenience”.

Our weekly “GC”* meetings have been a highlight. Every Friday at 7am, three-to-four like-minded young professionals/mates meet at Shed 5 (formerly Deus Ex Machine), enjoy breakfast and/or a coffee/tea and enjoy… talking crap. Now, that’s not to say nothing productive comes out of these meetings, it just so happens that nothing YET productive has eventuated – apart from many a belly chuckle and the odd over-cooked bacon rind refusing to go down without a fight. Despite the early morning start, these catch-up sessions have proven a great start to the eve of another weekend.

Easy access to good flat whites is another thing I’ll miss. Even in my (somewhat) beloved home town of Tauranga a good coffee is not easily come by (However the weekend just gone has DOUBLED the café-count of guaranteed good coffee to…two!). A 10 minute stroll in any direction from my office on lower Hobson Street will lead me to delicious caffeine hit and (usually) a friendly smile – I’ve even become well-known enough to my pick-of-the-local cafes to always get chocolate fish with my order/s! This 10am mission is well-documented here.

There are a huge amount of little things I’ll miss too:

• The general banter in our office. This includes (but is not limited to) a certain colleague’s “Vibe-assessing” visits into the office, the overly-loud “Bless you”, fake “throws” of my rugby stress-ball that make my office-mate flinch, over-acting to any request to help/assist with… anything, mock anger in the form of hitting the desk loudly and… the list goes on.
• Breakfast/Lunch at Melba in Ellerslie. Check it here.
• Having lame drag-races with fellow commuters at the staggered green lights that control the Ellerslie off-ramp at peak drive-times. Lame for quite a few reasons but mainly because it ends in less than 50 metres when both vehicles (eventually) squeeze/merge/barge their way into the slow-moving, city-bound queue of crawling automobiles.
• The flatties! As much as I disapprove of selected TV-viewing habits, all co-habitants have had to withstand my crappy jokes, sporadic cleanliness and over-enthusiastic, half-cut/drunken rugby “viewing”. Great bunch of people and friends for life.

Two weeks from now Amber & I will be on our first leg of a big adventure. Mean as bro!

*The term “GC” is open to interpretation. We prefer the “General Commitee” or “Good C*nts”.