50-50

Today was election day, an important day for the country but for me, today was special for a different reason. I had a few friends around for an English afternoon tea/Kiwi barbecue tonight to celebrate my having lived exactly half my life in New Zealand. I can hardly believe it and it sets my mind wondering lots of things . . .

. . . . the early years of our lives shape who we become but at what stage do we establish who we truly are? I guess some people don't ever waiver from their early learning and live their lives in the style and manner of their early upbringing. I think I would have been one of those people except for the fact that there was a small nagging adventurer inside me (one of my childhood heroes was Scot of the Antarctic and I loved reading atlases as a kid!) so when I met some Kiwi's whilst living in England I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I was seduced by the mystique and exictement of a foreign land. I came over here for what was going to be 12 months (which was to also include Australia and possibly parts of Asia too) - and I'm still here, half my life later! Whilst there are lots of things I love about England, there are so many things that I know just don't 'fit' me anymore - New Zealand feels like 'me' - the space, the freshness, the green, the nature, the lingering pioneering can-do attitude, the friendliness, the simplicity . . . . it all feels like a made-to-measure life now.

So tonight I flip over to being slightly more Kiwi than Pom. Colleagues C & G bought these items for me to reflect the different national influences in my life. Very clever :)

I think I'll just call myself a Piwi now ;)

. . . . . and on another completely unrelated note, it looks like we'll be having a second term National government in office for the next 3 years. Hmmm . . .