Is this a weekday? What day is this?

First bites of proper real reality in more than half a year - the search for work. You don't go out looking for a job dressed like that? On a weekday? Managed to find gainful employment in a deli. This is the same boy whose idea of culinary wizardry extends to mixy-up bowls of Cheerios and Weetabix or peanut butter chocolate spread sandwiches. Perhaps not best suited to work in a deli which the Lonely Planet calls 'ground zero for the best of Kiwi food'. Although if you ever wanted to know who mashed the potatoes for the horseradish mash - that one was me. They let me peel the carrots too.

On the opposite side of town, the young Woody has carved herself out a niche in the bar 'El Santo Porteno' as charmer of drunk Russian sailors and generally stunning barmaid. The aforementioned sailors arrive in Lyttelton harbour for the weekend, get drunk and try to get a bit of loving before they leave again. Last Friday the Russians we encountered at the bar were in particular high spirits. Apparently they'd all just been made 'captain'. Surely only one captain is required though? Surely that's the point of a 'captain', no? Obviously not familiar with the saying "too many cooks spoil the broth". Maybe they'd be more familiar with the saying "too many cocks spoil the bar" - as the night went on it was more and more irritating when they would point to Woody and ask me 'how much?' Supposedly Lyttelton has a bit of a shady past where sailors could make port and purchase a little sex of a Saturday night. It seems that this tradition still resonates in the attitudes of these salty sea dogs - and the surprise when I tell them I don't have to pay: "What? Her? For free!?" Well, not exactly. They don't wait for the full explanation, just move on to the next target and begin pricing again. Dirty sailors. I bet they've got a favourite barmaid in every port. The bastards.

So we've now been in New Zealand for over a month and have settled in pretty well to the small community here. Already making friends and it's all very nice. At this point we are about as far away from Scotland as it's possible to be before it's the way back. The similarities between the two countries are many - but these similarities sometimes serve to reinforce just how far away we are from home, and from loved ones. Funny how that works. But it's all good...