On Holiday...

Yes, indeed, for the first time since December 2003, I am officially on holiday. So far, it's been pretty good. I've been off work since last Thursday, and spent Friday through to Tuesday morning in Christchurch, visiting my sister and her husband. That was cool. It's the first time I've been down there since their wedding three years ago. I really like Christchurch - there's something about the feel of the place, it's got real character - a feel of age and atmosphere that other parts of New Zealand don't possess. And of course, seeing my sister for the first time in a while was cool. She's getting fairly close to bursting - that is, having a baby. It was about 5 weeks when I went down, so it's pretty much 4 weeks now. That is so weird - my little sister is about to be a mum. I'm going to be an uncle. And our mother and father are going to be grandparents! Wow...

I found this all to be particularly weird, because in the three and a bit years since I was down there for the wedding, L and G have moved from a small flat to a house of their own. And that in itself takes some getting used to - it seems strange to think my younger sister owns a house. I think I could have done with a visit somewhere in between the wedding and now, to adjust to that idea - it would have made the pregnancy thing easier to get my head around. It's weird - it's easy enough to just say "Hey, my sister's pregnant, great!" but it doesn't really mean anything. Even the fact that she had a big belly, with things occasionally shifting around, didn't really mean a lot. I guess when the little guy is out in the world, it'll have more impact.

So, I've still got a couple more days off work, with nothing much to do. Ten days really isn't very long. I could have done with a month or two off... or maybe just the rest of forever...