OK New Years 2011 was a tad non-eventful for moi. Just 2 days of Stat holidays before I was back into the fray with my International clients (god bless 'em). Show me the money. I'm not cheap but, boy I'm good.
And truthfully- I can't remotely, (and never have been able), to get excited about one day rolling into another to represent some arbitrary human division of one calendar year from another. Who's to say New Year isn't the Winter Solstice? Or my birthday - the 7th of August?
Here's to the annual 7th August Philiday Public Holiday - and cause for wild feasting, drinking and shagging, and playing old Led Zep and Creedence Clearwater REALLY LOUD. (preceded by Philiday's Eve).
Philday's Eve will be in the same spirit of wild feasting, drinking and shagging - but with slightly more introspective music like Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Talking Heads, and occasional Alt.Country like The Be Good Tanyas and Gillian Welch.
For most NZers, Christmas and New Year represents a couple of weeks off - when most of NZ actually pulls down the blinds, locks the front door and buggers off for two weeks at the beach to indulge in too much sun, sand, surf, sleep and alcohol. Nice non-work if you can get it. Happily I am not remotely a beach bunny - and I am quite happy to host charmingly inebriated foreign guests around some of our finest wine producers in an air-conditioned vehicle, while stopping for a fab lunch in the countryside. This probably sounds fecking fabulous - other than the fact that Good Ol' Freddy Mack & Fanny Mae basically screwed tourism for the last two years with the fallout from their habit of lending 120% mortgages to psychotic bag ladies from Minnesota.
Not that I'm bitter. No - just fumingly mad and slightly homicidal. My numbers dropped from about 900 clients a year pre-recession, to about 350.
However, things are looking better. Sort of. We clutch the Cargo Cult vision of the World Rugby Cup (TM ) to our skinny bosoms in the hope that this will turn out to be an economic Bonanza for New Zealand - and Auckland in particular. And it's only NINE MONTHS away - so hopefully we can all keep the bailiffs at bay with sticks and small but scary dogs till then.
Happy Holidays.
Phil runs Auckland Wine Tours, writes stuff and sells his belongings on the Internet to make ends meet.
I enjoyed this. You're much more interesting in print than in person Phil. It's the damndest thing. Keep it up.
ReplyDeletePS. Nasty stat with the customer numbers. Still... I couldn't have taken too much more of you.
Gosh, Ant we're taking mutual loathing to a whole new level - chur Bro
ReplyDelete