Toucha-Toucha-Toucha Touch Me

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellows,

I was watching YouTube on the train when a call came in from Jefe. 

Ach. I HATE answering the phone on the train.

"Hey buddy!" said Jefe. 

"Yeah, I'm on the train," I said. Trying to get rid of him.

"Oh wow you're on the train, huh?" he said. Not going away.

Ach. 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on the train," I repeated.

"Are you getting an echo on the call?" he asked. 

It sounds like an unusual question but is not for Jefe. In fact it's a question he had asked me often when testing meeting rooms. 

"Are you testing a room?" I asked. Puzzled why he'd been testing a room on WhatsApp.

The penny finally dropped. Not only were Jefe and Manda laughing at me from two seats away, but so were all the passengers around them. 

"Yay! We're commuting buddies now!" said Manda. 

All of us were in town today for Shenée's surprise birthday party. You may recall we did this last year as well. That was organised by Craig, but this year it just sort of happened because we all wondered if we WERE doing it again. 

So then we just were. 

Shenée's squeal was every bit as good as her squeal from last year. In attendance tonight were Caro, Corrie, Malosi, Jeff, Manda, Mo, Craig and Jess (back from Auckland by sheer luck). Craig also invited Maja and Jakob a lovely Polish couple who have been adopted by Shenée recently. 

So there was a lot of love for Gromit. Like last year, she was AGLOW all evening and even drank alcohol which is something she only only ever does on special occasions. She ordered several bottles of champagne and yes I got kind of trashed. 

I may have told Jess, Malosi, Shenée AND Craig that I love them*. 

I'm a very affectionate drunk. As you may remember. 

On the way home Shenée and I sang the entire "Rocky Horror Picture Show" soundtrack to the entirely sober Craig and Caro. They loved it. I expect. 

Actually, Caro told me she really did have a great evening. The Kainga Ora crowd can be a bit full on - we are so strongly bonded. But they lovely thing about them is that they have FULLY adopted Caro. She's as much part of the family as me. Perhaps even more so. 

And then there's Mo. Maja and Jakob just assumed he was Kainga Ora because of course he must be. 

"Nope," he explained. "I've just been sort of absorbed into the group," he confessed. He compared the strong bonds between the ex-CST team to the bonds he formed with the backpackers in Edinburgh, back in the day.

"It's all because of Shenée," smiled Losi. 

And that's why we were all there tonight.

S. 

* But not Caro. Oh well, I'm sure she knows.