Bereft of a Gadgy's Bar

My Dear Fellows & Dear Princess Normal,

These are the gaily-lit windows from a pub on the opposite side of the road from my office. I've never been in there. I'm just not that enamoured of the pubs in Wellington. 

They remind me of the pubs you might get on George Street. They're okay, but lacking personality. Kiwis tell me it is because pubs are not viewed in the same way as Scotland or Germany. Here, if you want to socialise, you go to someone's house. Pubs are not really the extension to the front-room that they are in Edinburgh.

Certainly, no-one has suggested drinks at work, and this despite the fact that we have just implemented something. I don't really mind - work drinks can be nightmarish - but it sort of surprised me all the same.

So I now find myself in a post-implementation lull. Right now the system is live but no-one can see it and we don't have any users yet. Things will undoubtedly pick up once they are able to log in and use it. But before then I have to go on a Victory Lap of NZ, visiting Auckland and Christchurch and giving presentations on what it is all about.

I find it quite funny that I will make it to the South Island before my wife, the Kiwi. 

During the day, I won't be able to do much sight-seeing which is a shame. But in the evenings I might have to check out the pub situ in those cities too. There has to be the Kiwi equivalent of O'Neill's or the Bow somewhere, right?

S.