It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day

My Dear Fellows & Princess Normal,

"Are you SURE it was a woman?"

This was Er Indoors's response to my telling her about my morning. I was confused about it myself and thought maybe it was some New Zealand, Pacific Island thing. I had heard about third-sex fa'afafine people before. These are the boys in Samoan households raised as women, and therefore having the traits of both sexes. And New Zealand is home to a large Samoan community*.

So I wondered if it worked the other way around too. It was the only explanation I could think of for the lady working at the reception desk in my new job. She was a lady in her late fifties, maybe early sixties who had clearly embraced the menopause because she had a neatly-trimmed grey moustache and a soul patch.

It struck me as unusual, but I didn't say anything. After all I am new to this country and anyway, it's not like I haven't experimented with facial hair myself. At least hers was well maintained.

The rest of the day went along more conventional lines. I was assigned a desk and a login. The team around me seemed helpful, friendly - even competent. I've definitely had worse starts to contracts.

Plus. The location. I am not exiled out to some hideous industrial estate with access to nothing. My office is TWO MINUTES to coffee shops and newsagents and cafes. It is AWESOME. The commute to work takes me 5 minutes and 15 back (via the cable car). I am a bunny of happiness.

I popped out at lunchtime to get a croissant and a coffee and heard a familiar voice on the radio...

Tumble outta bed and stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition 
Yawn and stretch and try to come to life...

Yes! Dolly KNEW it was my first day on a new job. She did! Dolly is MAGIC.

It's funny how IT jobs never change though. We've got two competing systems which contain overlapping data. But which one should be the TRUE source of the data? Which? Which?!?

So that's what I'll be trying to sort out. It's Project Deja Vu, really.

Now I am home and Er Indoors is back from Tauranga. I've put the tea on and everything is calm. We just watched the news. Here in NZ the top story is the potato shortage brought on by a wet Spring season.

"We're running a competition here on TV1," said the news anchor, "email us for a chance to win a bag of salted chippies."

(This is what Kiwis call potato chips. So essentially, they are running a lottery for a bag of crisps.)

I really am warming to this country.

S.

* If you want to see a brilliant documentary that (among other things) talks about the first ever fa'afafine football player to play in a FIFA national team, I strongly recommend Next Goal Wins. It's sort-of about soccer, but even though I hate sport, I loved this. You can see it on YouTube although be warned, they've made the screen small on purpose.