Alright so i am not as tired today, well i should not be, just got out of bed. Now i can regale you with tales of my fun weeks work. When i arrived down to the wharf to start the unloading job i did not know who i was supposed to talk to but eventually i found these two British guys who looked as lost as i was and we went looking around until we found a woman who knew what was going on. She brought us up to the office to get kitted out in overalls and gumboots and stuff. When all that was finished she brought us down to the boat and was talking about how the first while is bad on the boat but then you get used to it once you are out at sea. I was a bit confused so i asked her when would we be getting back to port, she turns around and says "Umm, December 15th a think". Turns out i was with the wrong group all together and was 30 mins from heading out to sea for 8 weeks, i quickly ran away from that one.

The scaffolding firm i was working with was run by this religious group called the Brethren. Well its not run by them as such, just all the management belong to them and all their members work there. They are an odd Christian group, always wear long sleeves and pants, no smoking and no swearing on site. That was one of the hardest things, i mean have you ever gone an entire day without cursing? And i dont just mean the usual 4 letter words but 'Jeasus' or 'Damn' also included, was well hard. They also eat all their food separately so us non-religious zealots had our own area to have lunch. Was talking to one guy at lunch, an English guy, and he was saying how he was working with the company for months ands they still had not gotten rid of him even though he kept trying to convert them to Atheism, was leaving copies of The God Delusion around the office, kind of like reverse-evangelicalism i suppose.

I finished up up work for the last time here in Nelson. Off to Abel Tasman National Park for thew weekend for a three day hike. along the coastal track. Should be a laugh, going with one of the girls from the hostel and neither of us have ever done a multi-day trip before so it should be eventful. Luckily the weather is pretty hot at the minute and sunny so all will be good, just as long as the sand-flies keep away.

So work was retty eventful this week. Spent the first two days unloading boxes from a boat. Was told i was going to be unloading fish and i nearly refused to do it but the n it turns out that the fish have all been processed and are frozen and packed in boxes so that was alright. Was pretty hard work, throwing around 20kg boxes for hours at a time in -20 degrees. You would work for one hour then have a half hour break. It was good except for the fact that i was going from -20 to +20 degrees and so caught a mother of a cold for the next day. I was working putting up scaffolding for the rest of the week which was outside in the sun and was grand work. Good thing i was not that scared of heights cuz i was putting up stuff 4 and five stories up. I had no problem walking around as soon as the guard rails were up but the guys who were doing it full time were walking around 40ft above the ground with nothing between them and the ground. Lunatics.

Had other more interesting things to say but am just too tired to be honest. Leaving Nelson next week, looking forward to that.

What exactly is 'Selling Out'?

So today was a good day. Had a nice lie-in til half eight then read my Wheel of Time book. Yes i am startign from the very beginning again, its been a few years since i last read them. Went down to the saturday market, went online and then to the library. On the way home i caled intot he local bakery to get the loaf of triple grain wholemeal bread that i get every day when, shock horror, they had all been sold. Lukily i call in there so often they know to expect me and had put one away from me, which was pretty nice. So then back to the hostel to go for a swim in the pool and sun-bath/read for the afternoon. All in all, pretty nice.

Have been on to Liam a bit and he has decided to sell out and become a corporate suit, and one that specialises in luring in other inocent victims to the corporate web. I was wondering how long i would hold out for when i got home. Thinking i would rather not work behind a desk, in a suit, day in and day out. Perhaps i will just keep travelling around, i thought. But then i realised that i did not really want to keep travelling around. I am enjoying my trip and everything but i hae no way been bitten by the globe-trotting bug and want to keep wondering arond the world, i will be perfectly happy when i get home. So then i was thinking that all this travelling is a form of materialism in itself, but instead of collecting money and material things you compete as to who can see the most, who can have the most unique experience. I have noticed there is a lot of snobbery involved in travelling. the people with a car look down on those who take bus tours, those who hitch claim to have a better holiday than those in a camper van etc. It is naff to visit certain places as they are too 'touristy' and people are always trying to show they have had the most puritan experience.

'I went to South east Asia for four weeks'
"SE Asia?, in 4 weeks? I spent 5 months there, got off the tourist trail"
"everywhere is a tourist trail in Asia, i worked with orphans in India"
"India, pah. i lived with beggers in South America?"
"well i contracted AIDS in Africa"

I am guilty of it as well to some degree. Think some people dont see have the country and are just here to get drunk and party. But then who am i to tell them what to do, some would see me as having a very superficial holiday as i am mostly in town and am actually, shock-horror, working. After debating all this in my mind for a while, i came to the conclusion that i do not have a clue what i want to do when i get home

Nelson is odd

Nelson is a very odd town in some respects. Not really sure if its because of religion or what but every shop seems to close at 5:15 on a weekday, they are only open from 10-2 on a saturday and a lot dont open on Sunday at all. Quite irritating, its everything, bakery's, pharmacies, web cafe's, book shops, all my favorite places really. Except the library, that open from 1-4 for some reason, i have decided i am going to splash out and spend $15 on a months membership. I think i will be here in Nelson for a while yet so i think i will make use of it. Although now that Liam is probably not coming i may move on, that just occurred to me right now, I may head Wellington and see if i can get a job there, just so i will not be stuck in the same place for too long.

Here is an interesting thing i found on the BBc page, makes a good point

"Obesity, the authors concluded, was an inevitable consequence of a society in which energy-dense and cheap foods, labour-saving devices, motorised transport and sedentary work were rife.

Dr Susan Jebb of the Medical Research Council said that in this environment, it was surprising that anyone was able to remain thin, and so the notion of obesity simply being a product of personal over-indulgence had to be abandoned for good"

They do have a point, as loath as i am to admit it. In this day and age being slim does not come naturally, you actually have to work at it, which was not the case even thirty years ago.

Here's a link to the full article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7047244.stm

Bleeding Hearts 4 d Win?

Have you ever noticed that the day goes by so much faster when you are actually enjoying yourself? The last three days i have been working in the NZ equivalent of Atlantic Home care moving around rows and stock and stuff, pretty mindless work, frustrating at times but nothing too strenuous, except for the fucker i was working with. He was this local kiwi fello in his forties i think and had to be the most disagreeable shite i have ever worked with. Within 2 hours of meeting him he was giving out and swearing under his breath whenever i might put something in the wrong place, or a few times, when he was in the wrong but blamed me instead. I mean, i had barely even met he guy. Anyhow, the first two days when pretty slowly and tempers got frayed a few times, thankfully yesterday he came down with AIDs or something and had to go early. He did not come in at all today and instead this other kiwi fella was working, he was pure sound, lived in Ireland for a year and was well easy going, the day went so much faster when you can actually have a bit of a laugh.

With all my time to be thinking stuff during the day i often come up with things that i say "Oh, i'll put that in my blog" but then i often forget. One thing that i did remember was something i thought of after i heard that Liam's car had been wrecked again by knackers, by 14 year olds this time. I was just wondering what can you possibly do to stop this kind of shit. One side says pump them in prison or even just shoot them. Would this have any long term benefit though, if put in prison they will just come out an even more hardened criminal, probably a drug addict as well, and shooting them will probably not have that much of an effect, just look at the States and the Death penalty. The other side says that you should try and rehabilitate them, to look for the deeper causes and address them. I kind-of fall into this camp, you dont get the instant satisfaction of retribution or revenge but thinking in the long term it might turn out better. The problem with that one is that so many people would just take advantage of it and its next to impossible to see the results. It is also hard to turn around and try to actually help the little shite that ruined your motor and cost you so much.

What if...

So New Zealand are out of the World Cup ehh, humble pie all round i think.

What do you call 14 guys sitting around watching a rugby game? The All Blacks

A man was found dead in Auckland Harbour wearing nothing but high heels, and All Black jersey and fishnet stocking. Police removed the All Blacks jersey to prevent embarrassment to the family.

I started work in a new job today, on another construction site, removing a scaffolding, hopefully it will last another day or two. It does give a lot of time to think thogh, like the last job. What i was pondering today was; what if tomorrow, you woke up at home in your 16 year old body with all the memories of what happened between now and then. What would you do? WOulod you do the same subjects at school, hang around with the same people, do the same course in college? Then theres the big stuff, do you remember enough stuff over the last 8 years to be able to bet on it to make money, would you try and warn people about atuff, i mean how would you anonymously let the US Government know that Sept 11th was going to happen. Stuff like that. kept me occupied for at least 2 hours.

Paul: Arms of Steel, Heart of Gold

So i arrived in Nelson a few days ago. Its a big enough city, little smaller than Limerick, but all nice and sunny and on the beach so that is good. Will stick around here for a few weeks, not more than 4 i hope.....take note Liam, and then head up to the North island and work my way around up there

So just back form a few hours work wheeling barrows of cement and moving blocks. It was just a one-day job for a guy who was doing some DIY in his back garden. After i finished dumping around 30 loads of cement down the back of his house he asked me to level and smooth off one end while he worked from the other. Now brute labour i can do but jobs that require refinement and skill i am not the best at. I think i did well enough, he did offer to 'finish up' for me while i went and lifted some blocks but i think hollows and ridges just add character to footpath.

Now i got the job through a job agency and was pretty lucky to get one so soon. Walked in the day after i arrived and they had a job for me today. The job today was also cash in hand so that was all nice. Got on well with yerman who i was working for and he took my number and said he has more work to do, including some down on their beach-house in Marlborough Sounds and that next time he would pay me direct cuz this time he had to pay through the agency and they took a slice. I was talking away to his wife and while i was having lunch i was playing away with his little 3 year old kid. The child pheromones were working again and we got on like a house on fire. The mother was actually saying that i should try and join up with some of the after-school camp things they have in some places. Its just time to do homework and activities with the kids for 2 or 3 hours everyday after school , money is supposed to be pretty good and she said that often they are glad to get male applicants. Something to think about.