ve yet to make it to Queenstown. One factor in this decision has been that Queenstown gets colder at night than Christchurch (being in the mountains and all...), and Christchurch gets quite cold enough for me thank you very much! It has been the coldest October here for 60 years and everyone keeps telling me it'll get warmer soon. It's been 3 weeks and I'm still waiting.... However this shouldn't really surprise me. I am a Brit after all. I'm used to the quirks of freezing wind and rain sneaking up unexpectedly on what looked to be a sunny day. And Christchurch is a very English city. You can tell by the abundance of Irish pubs....OK, so I am a wimp and get cold easily (as everyone who knows me can testify to), but a little cold never put me off before. I did survive Siberia. But (unsurprisingly) a high of 14C feels VERY cold when you're used to temperatures above 30C... I would like to blame the temperature here on my having contracted a cold (no it is not swine flu, it's just a cold people!). However that would be rather unfair and unscientific of me. The cold is much more likely to be due to the abundance of backpackers and alcohol found in your average hostel. One of which reduces your immune system, the other of which facilitates the transport of viruses, such as the common cold, around the world. I leave you to decide which does which.
So apart from wallowing in self-pity, what have I been doing? Mostly not a lot. There was that abundance of alcohol previously mentioned (alcohol being significantly chea
per in New Zealand than in Australia)... Mostly I have been meeting new people and learning from them. For example, apparently 52 cards is too few for a deck of cards if you're French. You have to include some extra special French cards, rendering even the simplest of games confusing, let alone if you're playing one with as complex rules as “Crapette” (did I spell that right?). Aside from being laughed at by French people I have been working the odd day here and there. I worked at the races at New Zealand Cup and Show week. It still amazes me how much effort people go to dress up when they then proceed to get so drunk that they don't notice they have sick on themselves.... I'm also working a few nights a week at a pizzeria/cafe around the corner, and along with cleaning the hostel for free accommodation that's pretty much all I need to do. The rest of my time is spent socialising and ensuring that my cold has vectors to transport it to its' next destination. After all, just because I'm not moving on anytime soon doesn't mean that my cold shouldn't have freedom, right...?
