And...relax

Phew, what a hectic week. Or at least it seemed that way. I'm sure we've had worse, and will have worse, but it definitely felt a bit hectic. It started with dinner on the Monday night with the sales managers. The Belgian place did serve more than beer and mussels, so that was good. The lamb shank is highly recommended.

Tuesday saw Joanne and I out to dinner at a couple from church's place. They're a couple we sort of knew before we came here and Jo's been running with Renee in the hills once or twice. Once, I think. It was a great evening. Lovely food, great company and some real laughs playing Boggle and Scattergories. They're an Aussie couple but you can't have everything ;)

You know, one of the hardest things about being here so far has been the lack of friends. We're meeting some people at church and it was great to have dinner with Mark and Renee and to get to know them a bit better, but friends take time to grow, don't they? I think I'd forgotten that. I'm getting to know the guys I play football with a bit, but again, it takes time for acquaintances to become friends.

And speaking of football, we lost yesterday. It finished 9-8, but a lot of that was just due to the fact that we had six players to their nine or so. It meant they could all rotate a lot more and finished the game fresher. I scored 3 though, so the match was a personal victory if not a team one. Hehe.

I think work this week has added to the hectic feeling. It's felt non-stop all week. No time to catch my breath. Everything seems like a rush and top priority, especially with it all taking a while with me learning the database and reporting tools. But I think that may actually just be my self-imposed impression, as a few times this week people have expressed surprise at the short time it's taken to generate the report results they've requested. I'm slowly feeling I'm doing more and more useful work, which is good. And it seems I'm the only one in the company who knows how to use pivot tables too so I've something to add there.

The scope of the job still feels a bit daunting though. There is just so much scope and the job description is so broad and fluid. And no-one has really pinned it down in concrete terms. They've not had an analyst before, they knew that they needed one, and that's as far as it has gone really. No-one seems very sure what my exact responsibilities and jobs are or will be. Which makes it incredibly hard for me to know what they are. I guess it will take shape in time. I do feel they have high expectations though, that somehow I'm going to be part of revolutionising the company. It's good to be part of, but scary too. I'm finding I'm having trouble unwinding when I get home from work. It's never been a problem of mine before, apart from the first couple of months after I was promoted to running the department in my last job, so it's all a little strange. I'm lying awake with work issues going over in my head. I guess it's because it's all new. It'll pass with time. I hope.

Also it'll be good when I get to know the team a bit better. I was kind of spoilt with my colleagues in London. Lovely, the whole lot of 'em. You know who you are ;)

And speaking of passing with time, in some ways I really can't wait until the rugby world cup is over. It's great to see how a whole nation is taken up with it. It kind of reminds me of England during Euro 96. But I will be glad when every other advert on TV no longer features one or more of the All Blacks. I can see why so many of them have signed post-world cup contracts with European clubs. If they don't bring the trophy back home, they won't want be welcome back home.

Back home. Mmmm, that reminds me, I could murder a decent sausage right about now. You just can't get one here, for love nor money. There's just nothing to satisfy the Lincolnshire sausage craving I've been having. A real taste of home I miss. And I'm sure no butcher around here will ever have heard of haslet. I wonder if Boston Sausage deliver to Nuzziland.

And talking of delivering, in another smooth paragraph link, the ship carrying our container finally arrived in Lyttleton. Our belongings are finally on Kiwi soil. They still have to clear customs, and then get past MAF, but the shipping company seems to think we can expect delivery sometime next week.

This weekend is another housey weekend. Tomorrow we've got the Sky technician coming, and then a wardrobe guy, and then a garden bloke. Then Sunday is church followed by a trip to NZ's B&Q equivalent. I feel kind of bad getting a bloke in to discuss wardrobes interiors and another to discuss garden plans, but DIY, up to now, has not been a strong point of mine (ask Joanne sometime about the shelves I put up in our place in London), and Joanne and I have lived in flats for the past however many years so are out of practice with gardens. The only time I have lived in a house since I left Grimsby in 1993, when I lived in Camberwell, the garden turned into a bit of a jungle. And it was only small. We need something manageable designed.

We're enjoying doing things for the house each and every weekend, but it will be nice when we have a weekend off. We've agreed to do something in a few weeks, something touristy, for a change. We both really fancy the TranzAlpine train ride. I think I mentioned it before. No date planned a yet, but hopefully we'll nail it down this weekend and see about booking tickets and an overnight stay in Greymouth. I'm sure I sold a CodAlmighty t-shirt to some who lived in Greymouth, you know.

Joanne and I went out to dinner tonight (mainly because we've not had chance to do a shop for a bit), to try a recommended restaurant in Halswell, just across the domain from us - The Old Vicarage. A lovely place, and the nicest, friendliest, helpfulest waiter in the world ever, but they did insist of everything on the menu being cooked in or served with garlic. It kind of narrowed down my choices. The chicken burger was very good though.

Time for bed now, I reckon. Up early tomorrow morning, you see, to watch England take on the Saffas.