Like a Longfin Eel

 Woop. Here we go. (With an abundance of caution.) After my last day of work; I aimed to do as much as possible to cram in the people and beauty of this mask-free wonderland before entering Tier 5 lockdown and the tail end of British winter. I know it’s been incredibly hard for people there.  North to my mums place, then south to Dunedin, lots of time in kitchens and talking and listening; hugs and walks along the coast. Lots of amazing food. It has been great; and topped off by fireworks on the Wellington waterfront, shuffling closer to a crowd of strangers to brace against the cool wind that I hadn’t bought warm enough clothes to defend against. I flew back to Auckland this morning. Suddenly I am wondering how the Bluetooth function of the tracer app works. Because now; level 3 lockdown (again.) I am a contact of a potential contact. Watching NZ kick into gear, feeling pride, getting a swab from nurses clearly working overtime at no notice, uncomplaining. I know we will cont...

Flights pending; I should leave for the UK on the 6th March 2021. I know I’m not the only one doing this; but there has been a sense that it’s a bit like a trout swimming upstream. But there are other creatures that do this, creatures that also travel far, like the tuna; the NZ longfin eel, like the Registrars; pursuing the last experience to top off a speciality training programme... Some people have asked for me to keep them posted. So this is a blog to capture that; the whatever next. Recently my 75 year old mum and I went on a canoe trip down the Wanganui river. Our guide, a very able young man, took an opportunity near the end of the trip to play in the rapids. At one point, he lost control of his canoe, and found it being sucked down in a whirlpool. We lost sight of him for a bit, watching from the opposite bank and then further downstream, he and the canoe emerged- “ are you alright?” We called. He shook himself off like a Labrador “Yep!! I’m fine. Just stupid!” So yeah. If the ...