3:24 p.m. - 2002-03-01
Into thin air...
Ok...I'm slightly pissed off.
I'm in a small town on the South Island called Nelson. Nice little citythat I was supposed to leave from this morning but arranged to stay an extra day. Why? Not because I had any real desire to stay here, but because I was supposed to do a skydive.
I booked it yesterday. They said to meet them at the Shell station near the hostel (it's on a big hill so certain vehicles have trouble getting to it). That was fine. I woke up at 7, and made my way down to the gas station, all psyched and ready to go.
I waited 30 minutes.
By that point, I figured something went wrong, so I climbed the hill to the hostel and phoned the company. This is what the guy said to me.
"Congratulations, you've been forgotten".
I thanked him and arranged to do it later in the day. So, I walked around town for the morning, did some shopping, ate lunch and again made my way to the Shell station promptly at 1 o'clock.
I waited 15 minutes.
Then I saw the van come down the street, turn the corner and drive away.
This was getting kind of ridiculous. This time, however, I called from the gas station (and avoided the long walk up the hill) and found out that the driver had gone to the hostel to pick me up, but it wouldn't have made a difference anyway cause it was too cloudy to do it. They told me to call back at 3.
I just called and it is still too cloudy, so I'm not doing a skydive today. And just to add insult to injury, I went outside for a cigarette and it started to rain.
So, I'm slightly pissed off.
However, it's not all bad. Nelson is a nice little city, and I'm getting some stuff done here that I need to (like laundry). I can do a skydive elsewhere, it's just going to be more expensive. But oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound, right?
Anyhow, that's my update for now. Tomorrow I head for down along the West coast towards Queenstown where I will be staying for a few days. It should be good. The west coast is very rural, this is basically the last city I'm going to see until Queenstown, which is supposed to be a blast.
So, hope all is well and that everyone is having a good winter (snicker, snicker). I heard it snowed recently. Bummer.
