Counting down...

As usual I woke up to National Radio this morning. Since the agreement to trade the NZ dollar directly with Chinese currency, we're now hearing stuff like "5.38 renminbi" when they read out the exchange rates. It sounds funny, and I'm pretty sure they should be saying "yuan" instead. "Renminbi" is analogous to "sterling", and you'd never say that something costs five sterling. Today was Geoff Robinson's last day, after almost forty years of presenting the programme. He signed off on a very good news day, with Japan being ordered to stop whaling in the Antarctic.

Today at work I did my monthly calling analysis for the last time. It's the only task I do that allows me to say anything. March saw record call volumes, surpassing 300 calls a day for the first time. I tried to make a bit of a point of it being my last report, especially because the figures were striking, but I'm not exactly Geoff Robinson and nobody really cared. I've only got nine more days in the office - I'm really counting down now.

I played board games at Tracy's place last night. Her dad was there - it was the first time I'd met him; he and her mum split up some time ago. He'd just got back from an Antarctic cruise and he showed us lots of photos of penguins and fantastically-shaped icebergs. He'd only just got back from Tahiti. I wonder where all the money has come from. The four of us (Tracy, her had, Tom and I) played two games: Blokus and Ticket to Ride. They were both enjoyable games and, unlike last time, at a level of complexity that I can handle. Any skill-based game we play has an unwritten rule: in all probability Tracy will win. Last night was no different. She'd be an extremely good poker player if she had the inclination; she could make way more money than I ever did. Her self-confidence would be greater, and at higher stakes that counts for a lot.

I'm flying down to Timaru in the morning - I'll be down in South Canterbury (and Otago, I think) for three days.