It’s now October and it’s been a few months since I arrived back in NZ, so what’s been happening?
Well, part of the reason that made coming back to NZ easier, was a girl who had contacted me out of the blue in Dec. She’d found me on FB and was surprised that I wasn’t married with kids etc, we’d worked together 15 years ago and had fancied each other then, although we didn’t know it at the time.
15 years on and I’m thinking this is cool and for once, a very welcome surprise. This was at Christmas time and after multiple FB messages and gifs daily, I’d decided to send flowers for Valentines day to her, it’s been a long time since I’ve done anything like that but it felt right, so I made it happen, also making my mind up then, that I’d head back to NZ, so even if I didn’t have a job there, at least I’d have my dream girl.

Funny thing is, you can fall for someone through daily messages and gifs but not really know them.
Anyway, shoot forward to Easter and I arrived back in Chch, NZ and we had our first date on the Easter Monday and after 15 years, she still looked mighty darn fine to me. Although 4 months later things weren’t going well, guess it’s harder in real life than just sending FB messages and gifs, which frustrated me no end. I’m not saying I’m perfect far from it and through utter frustration at lack of comms, I had a bit of a melt down on FB (not the brightest thing I’ve done). As with the comms, this resulted in me being ghosted basically, so I was very disappointed for not being able to talk and work things out and build a solid foundation, as I really enjoyed the thought of possibly being a step dad again.
During this four months, I was applying for jobs, worried about money running out and trying to find a place to live. The interesting thing is, when you have nothing the banks aren’t interested in helping you out. I’d managed to find a job with EQC on a contract until Dec and then found a rental but I had to find a bond (a months rent) , letting fee, storage costs, removal costs, it went on and on.

I was very lucky to have friends who could lend me the required funds to get established but combined with the crap job, all very stressful, which resulted in feelings of depression, which then caused issues on the relationship front.
Now in Oct and I left EQC at the end of August (worst job I’ve had) and now working with Vero/Suncorp dealing with Kaikoura Earthquake claims. This is until March 2018, so have to start keeping my eyes open but at least it’s busy, I’ve learnt new skills and the team are good.

After the relationship break up, I was in a funk somewhat, so my friend ‘Captain Kale’ suggested I go along to the volunteer recruitment night with the local Red Cross Disaster and Recovery Welfare Team. I’m now a member of the team and doing lots of training, so it’s nice to be part of something other than work and have that comradeship again, plus good use of my varied skill sets.

Now I expect you are wondering what has been happening with the book? Well I’ve written from Vancouver to Mt St Helens so far. It takes me an evening to write one days travel and the last couple of weeks have been very busy, plus I knew I needed to update website.
So while I’m still writing this, I’m also working on having ‘An Evening with Burning Rubber’ seminar

So watch this space……………………