A heady birthday weekend

So far, being 40 doesn’t seem too different from being 39. But I guess certain things will kick in. I have spent some time thinking about all the things I thought I might have done by the time I was 40, and all the things I have which I didn’t think of at all. I guess I do that on every birthday, but a change of decade is a different sort of marker. Maybe I’m not really noticing anything profound because I’m in the middle of a lot of other changes too – like moving back to London (for a while at least), introducing Kate to London living and my folks, preparing to go to New York for a training programme, and not having any kind of confirmed work or occupation at all after June 12. I think that’s quite enough to be going on with.

Kate arranged for us to go to the Shearer’s Quarters which was very pleasant but unfortunately had a preponderance of flies that kept appearing out of nowhere. I think this must be a recurring problem as a can of fly spray was readily to hand. We must have seen 200-300 of the blighters over the two days we were there. But it didn’t detract from a lovely weekend, chugging up to Woodville to see Kate’s ancestral home, Mount Bruce, and even a guest appearance by the Tui Girls who were on location at the Tui Brewery for a photoshoot. Even though the weather was miserable throughout, I enjoyed the weekend immensely, especially making friends with a Kokako who insisted on flying right up to my face, clinging on to the wire and whispering ‘ko-ka-ko’ when we went to that aviary.

The exciting bit was when I overheated in the magnificent bath and passed out on the floor when I got out. To be on the safe side, Kate and I went over to ED at Wairarapa Hospital (fortunately just down the road), as I was a little disoriented when I came round a few seconds after passing out. For a second or so, I actually thought I’d been to sleep, but couldn’t remember going to bed. They gave my blood pressure and pulse a work-up and also hooked me up to an ECG and I checked out fine. They even shaved bits of my chest so they could get a good read on the pads that fed into the ECG machine. It now itches like crazy and I look like a mangy cat.

An odd way to get a health check-up on the eve of my 40th birthday, but there it is.