Happy Guy

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellows,

There is a bird called the "Variable Oystercatcher" or "Tōrea Pango" in te reo. He is one of Shenée's favourites. If you look at the picture in the extra, you can see why. 

Every time we put his picture up, she sings this little song:

I'm a happy guy, I'm a happy-happy-happy-happy happy guy...

That bird is me. I realise this. If you look at the EXTRA extra, you will see that Shenée also noticed it. 

I think it's the people. I really enjoyed the crowd in Whangārei today. They were a rambunctious lot and hard to control, but I kind of liked that. I like a bit of banter. 

I was to do this trip without Fazzi, but with Ollie and Sam instead. Sam lives in Auckland so he was due to meet us in Whangārei later. I met up with Ollie in the airport - along with a bunch of other Kāinga Ora staff, on their way to to a workshop in Auckland.

We all commiserated each other on the early start, but actually the atmosphere was fun and friendly. 

In Whangārei, Sam and Ollie were amazing. They are so tech-savvy it astonishes me, and even if the Whangārei office didn't get their flash new kit today, they were delighted that Ollie and Sam could make things work a little better than they do right now. 

So it was a fun, lighthearted session. Summed up by one woman who said, "I hate technology but this is the best meeting I've ever been to." I had a really good time, and a lot of laughs.

I was still feeling good when I caught my flight from Whangārei to Auckland at 2:30pm. And then my flight from Auckland to Wellington at 4pm. 

I was on my own for this though, which was a shame. Poor Ollie's flight was a much later one, for reasons we couldn't fathom. We tried to change the ticket, but to no avail.

As I settled down before my 4pm flight, I felt bad leaving him behind like that, but got chatting to the women on either side of me. They were good fun. 

But the next thing we knew, there was engine trouble, preventing us from taking off. There was literal SMOKE coming from it. The captain apologised.

However, as I said to the my fellow passengers, "If you hear the words 'aeroplane' and 'engine trouble' - take your time lads. No rush."

They laughed. I am choosing to believe they were not just being polite.

Long, loooooong story short, after a lot of farting about trying to fix the engine they eventually turfed us off the plane, to wait for another one.

And I am SURE I heard Ollie's flight boarding.

THIS IS SO UNFAIR

But I had no time to be cross. As I stood with the two women from the ex-flight HERE COME THE KĀINGA ORA PEOPLE FROM THIS MORNING AGAIN. 

As it turns out, they were also on the same flight. 

And also congratulating themselves for getting home at a reasonable hour. 

And also WRONG.

So now a big group of us were standing around waiting for a replacement plane, laughing, joking and a bit of a party atmosphere started up. "Well I've got two sick kids at home," said Teresa from Service Design.

"AND NOW MY HUSBAND HAS TO TAKE CARE OF THEM! SCORE!!!" she concluded.

Teresa! I am shocked!

By the time we eventually got back on the plane it was like a full-on party. "We'd like to thank you for your patience," said a flight attendant. "And welcome you back on board this flight to Wellington. In unrelated good news we won't make you sit through the safety lecture again."

There were cheers.

The seat allocations were the same, so I got chatting with my seat partners again. But this time the flight attendants were also openly joining in. "Here you go, bags of chippies and extra biscuits," they said, practically throwing them at us, while handing out snacks willy-nilly.

One of the flight attendants got talking to me about her plans for tomorrow, "Oh, I have laundry," she said. "This is the life of a flight attendant. But after that lots of sleep and snacks," she added. "You do the same, okay?"

I promised her I would. 

After that, I got picked up by Murray the Taxi Driver. Shenée - bless her heart - had him to take me all the way back home from the airport. "And sleep in late and take it easy," she insisted.

Murray also told me to take it easy. He is a nice man. He has driven us before. "You can sleep back there if you like," he said. So I put my head down and tried to drift off.

I thought about the nice day I'd had and all of the lovely people. It had just been friendliness and kindness all day. Even with the two hour flight delay, everyone had been light-hearted and fun and considerate. 

And as I thought about this, I could hear the rhythmic thrum-thrum-thrum of the engine and the duh-donk duh-donk of the tarmac under the wheels of the car in the dark. 

It was a funny little rhythm to a funny little song. And I could hear Shenée's voice in my head.

I'm a happy guy, I'm a happy-happy-happy-happy happy guy...

I am, you know.

S.