So, some things have changed. Come to think of it, pretty much everything has changed. I have moved house, changed job, lost a friend, gained a friend and realised that mothers are amazing.
So, the house move. I now live in this amazing house overlooking Queenstown Bay and am only a five minute walk from work. I have an amazing room, the only downside being the stupidly soft mattress I am currently sleeping on. It practically hugs me. The design and layout is amazing, the perfect party house, it really is. It's all open-plan and has tremendous retro designs in multiple shades of brown. Mule would love it.
So onto the job change. The cafe I was managing went up for sale and there was to be no guarantee I would be kept on (as inspirational as working there was (book-wise)I was becoming a bit tired of making 3 billion sandwiches a day). So I went for a job at the Bathouse, which is the place I initially found inspiration to begin writing in. Its a beautiful place with the best people working there, really amazing. By day it is a slightly upmarket (very upmarket i suppose) cafe/bistro and by night it is a fine food and wine restaurant, that is very exclusive indeed and regularly frequented by famous people (Bill Clinton and Michael Douglas to name but two). They're teaching me to be a wine expert, to the extent that the other day, I had the audacity to say that a $75 bottle of Pinot Noir tasted shit. I'm also learning which wines go with which food and what-not, all very snazzy stuff.
Dave/DJ/David/Davey John left a few weeks ago. We spent about 3 months solid together and became pretty much married so that was a bit of a culture shock for sure when he left. We got a lot from eachother in an intense few months. I think I put his feet back on the ground and gave him a good perspective to take with him to australia. He is now very excited about coming home before next summer and bringing his music to Brighton. I think everyone will be impressed with his songwriting, it really is brilliant. I've learnt a lot from the way he writes and can't wait to see him again in about 8 months time.
His leaving allowed me to spend more time with Laura Rose Price, however. She's unbelievable, and magical and likes Batman so she's got everything, including about 12 bundles of energy and verbal diarrhoea, which is great, because we talk and talk and talk. But alas, she is moving in three weeks so by the time I write again, she will have gone. The only positive I can find from her leaving is that I can be more selfish and spend more time writing. It's strange and slightly sad when I think about how much time writers must spend alone. There really is no way around it.
Finally, Mothers are amazing. It costs a ruddy fortune to cook a decent meal it really does. I guess I never appreciated how lucky I was to have my mums dinners everynight. I'm currently on a well-balanced diet of stir-fry and speghetti on toast (tinned, of course).
That will do for now, thanks for reading. Watch Barton Fink.
Earlier On.
I've been away a little while now and it's hard to put into words the effect the environment I am in is having on me. So I'm not going to, just know that I have already found what I came out here to find, so I'm making the most of it. Ok, I'll explain a little bit. Queenstown is a fascinating place. It's stunning, absolutely stunning and as a result, very inspirational. But it does have a downside. The surrounding mountains, are vast, beautiful, and topped with tonnes of snow, which draws in hundreds of snowboarders from all over the world, every week. Most of them are from australia, japan, brazil, england and strangely, a lot of irish. So the town is full of bars and clubs, and the people out here really drink, an average session starts at the usual 9pm mark and won't be done until sunrise. I'm not up for that, mainly because, I don't think I've met a single interesting person out here that does that. Everyone who works out here gets trapped in that cycle.I'm currently managing a cafe in town. It makes a mind-blowing sandwich, it really does. But the fascinating thing is that, my first customers of the day, at 07.30am, aren't nice, tired people on their way to work, but horrible, drunk, smelly people, who have just finished their big night out. Don't get me wrong, I love a good drink or 15, but these folk do it every night. Just the other day i found out theres a bar called The Tardis, that opens when everywhere else closes and stays open until sunrise.But enough of that, I avoid that like bird flu and stick to the places that are bloody brilliant. Like my favourite little cafe which sits on the lakefront. I've got a regular table that looks right down the lake. From that table I have begun writing a novel. That is what I came here to find the inspiration to do. So right now, that is what I'm doing with every spare moment I get.
In other news, I have a brand new baby sister. Deia Carter Thomson was born on August 30th and I can't wait to meet her. I'm incredibly proud of my Dad, and the telephone conversation I had with him at 5am of that morning was one of real emotion. Congratulations Dad and Tanya. Not that they will ever read this. (Deia is a small town in mallorca which is absolutely stunning, surrounded by beautiful country side, vineyards and orange groves. My dad wants to live there one day I think.)
