Like a Longfin Eel

Without much fanfare, I got an email from work letting me know I can get a booster vaccine for Covid when I am six months post my second vaccine. I’m not quite there yet. There’s a bit of fuss about this approach (is it required?, does it work?, is it just for the UK to be boosting when other countries are trying to get their first?). I think it probably is a good thing and am looking forward to getting mine. The days are closing in, crisp and cool at the edges, with curling yellow leaves dumping on the path after rain and squirrels furiously stamping nuts into the ground. I feel like I’ve been in an adventure/night shift/adventure sandwich… it’s certainly quite a few weeks since I’ve been on a normal roster. I’m all out of sync and time is passing rapidly. I think I’m also feeling a bit, the Auckland lockdown situation: it feels strange getting out and about here knowing my sister is training for a marathon by going round in circles in her suburb. I was super well looked after by frie...

I'm on hold with a telco company. The guy I'm talking to is Irish. Its 8am and he put me on a hold thats silent, "because its a bit early in the day for that music isn't it, love?". I'm so grateful to hear a human voice. Some weird glitch has had the telco accepting money from me but not actually topping up my phone - leaving me data- and connection- less suddenly. Finding the right buttons to mash through to robot system to get a human has taken several hours.   I had tried topping up several times over the last couple of days, essentially firing money off into the ether with no service. The details are boring - but the relevance of it is that I was beginning to run perilously low in my UK account. And back in NZ, my NZ bank is getting attacked digitally, so as a foreigner, I've been cut off from accessing my account.  Unless by phone. You can see the problem here right? ("Hon, I'm going to put you on the music hold - this is going to take a whil...