Cold, is it?

Apparently in Europe, it's pretty cold at the moment. - sniff -

Snow in London, Cornwall, Geneva, Paris...

Over here, the weather has been pretty amazing. Clear skies, warm evenings. Rain does fall at times, but just a little. Enough to keep the countryside a nice shade of green. Shorts, T-shirt and Jandals are the main uniform. If you're wondering what Jandals are, well... They are JA-panese sa-NDALS. Also known as Thongs in Oz, Tongues to French-speakers and Flipflops to most Brits. - sniff - Kiwis seem to have a knack for renaming all sorts of things in their own vernacular style. You may not recognise the expressions but you find the pictures familiar...

Chilly bin

Jandals

Handles

Capsicum

Stubbies - the short shorts - more people wear these than you would imagine.

Other colloquial expressions include:

'Good on ya' - exclamation - good for you, well done, great, super...

'Choice', 'Primo' - adjectives - great, super, perfect...

and the proverbial ...

'Sweet As' ... (insert nothing) ... - a ubiquitously-used unfinised similee which pretty much suits all weathers...

After an epic weekend on-call last week, while it was freezing cold in Europe, and wonderfully temperate here, I caught a cold. - sniff - So, as I was laid down by this heavy cold front, the swell picked up and Olly was dragged me out for surf at a spot called Graveyards. Managed to catch a choice wave. The biggest I'd ever caught, easily twice as tall as me, barrelling, etc... well that's how it felt. Actually it felt... sweet as... Didn't catch much after that, and my cold felt quite a lot worse the next day. The sacrifices we make for a primo wave. Good on ya i hear you think.

I went to work til the end of the week, severely handicapped by this cold. - sniff - On saturday, I removed myself from my bed and dressed up as a robber to hit the biggest house party of the year so far at Mill Road. It was a fancy dress party, in case your wondering. Primo.

The casual burglar, the smurfette - who also repainted the house blue -, and the 'ironic' geeky doctor

Sunday was spent - recovering - playing softball and reading a good little book called A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov. A gripping account of the experiences of young doctors practicing in remote hospitals in the Russian countryside around the time of the Russian Revolution. Not exactly topical but quite riveting nonetheless.

Monday and Tuesday I've had off, and tomorrow, I get to start three ED (Emergency Room) shifts - 4pm til 2am - as they needed someone to fill in. Should be exciting, as it's been about 2 years since I last worked in Emergency Medicine. - sniff - Plus, it'll be over Waitangi Day, the commemoration of the Treaty of Waitangi, when most people get mashed and then smashed, then go to ED with their mates to get stitched up. Sweet as.

- sniff, sniff - Where's that hankerchief gone ...