Hold your fucking horses people! The lovely Gina from AirNZ just called, and she has managed to get us on a flight on the 27th - 3 days EARLIER than the flight we got bumped from!
Legend!
2020 has still been a bitch, but I'm gonna celebrate one of the small wins tonight
Firstly thanks to everyone who has shared on this thread. Absolute legends all. I certainly have benefitted from reading your stories.
Thought I'd add a little colour to what prompted me to start this thread.
A little over a year ago I was in a strange space. Not depressed, but bored and stale. Same job for 14yrs, stuck in the crazy hectic Sydney life of work, traffic and running around after 3 kids. Doing OK financially, but locked in a high-opex Sydney life meaning both of us were working pretty hard. Mum back in NZ with terminal lung cancer, time remaining unknown.
Decided to take a year off and reset, managed to secure a sabbatical from work, and moved the whole family to Bali. Thought by not working I'd be able to get back to NZ fairly easily to see Mum as needed.
Obviously 2020 got in the way of most of that, and we find ourselves back in Sydney again, back into the hectic lives we left behind - just without the cultural experience we had hoped for and with a big hole in our savings!
Had started back at work early given we were back in Sydney, and although some of the staleness remained, I had a new found appreciation for the stability of a job I still liked. Until a week ago that is, when I found out my company is exiting the country in a few months 
. It was announced to the market just last night, whic is why I haven't posted until now. Looks like I have a role until April, after which I'll be job hunting (haven't had a job interview since March 2005...eeek!).
I certainly don't write this to complain, I am very conscious that many folk on here have had extraordinary events happen in their lives, and 2020 has totally destroyed some peoples lives around the world - like many others have said, that has made me very thankful for all I have.
But its been quite interesting to find out a bit about myself this year. Before 2020 nothing really bothered me. Never really got anxious about much, was always pretty confident. That definitely got shaken up this year. Even the minor task of getting the family back to Sydney from NZ caused me an inordinate amount of anxiety at the time, and now I find myself pretty stressed again at the thought of seeking and (hopefully) starting a new role.
Turns out I really do value stability in my life. Routine. A sense of control, whether its real or not. I am looking forward to getting that back, the volatility of 2020 has really not been enjoyable.
Thanks again to all those who have shared, and to the wider Fern community. 2020 would have been a whole lot worse without you horrible cnts to "talk" to.
So in all this chaos, here is a great kiwiana story for youse all.
I'm in Day 2 of iso, and have a Countdown delivery order coming today. I tried to change the address online yesterday because we changed our accommodation after I placed the order, but couldn't do it. I spoke to the local store, and they said to call back this morning.
So I grab the phone this morning and hit the most recently called number. But I'd forgotten that we ordered fish'n'chip delivery for dinner last night, so Anna, the owner of the chippy picks up instead.
At 7am.
Oops
Anyway, I apologise, she asks who I was trying to call, we get chatting. Less than 45 minutes later she has dropped off eggs, bread, butter and
crackers to our driveway for brekkie.
What a fucking legend.
It's good to be home.
Mods, feel free to delete if innapropriate or unnecessary, but I wondered if it might be worthwhile having somewhere for our little community to ask for or offer help to each other.
People could post requests (advice, favours, whatever) or offer assistance in some way.
For example, it sounds like many people could be becoming unemployed in the near future. Maybe Ferners can assist with CV reviews, job market advice, financial modelling for home budgets etc.
Obviously physical movements are limited so don't any of youse hit me up to help weed your garden...
Mate, I certainly admire your energy and passion on this. And a genuine thanks for bringing stuff to mind that most of us probably wouldn't have seen otherwise.
I probably won't engage too much in this thread, and thought I'd explain why, given you've gone to the effort of setting the forum.
Truth be told, I'm just tired. Tired of talking about it, tired of reading about it, tired of it dominating our lives.
I feel like we have pegged our sails to the vaccine rollout now, and I just want to hit that full steam. I want us to get to 75% or whatever the nunber is, and then I want us to just stop talking about it altogether. Singapore style. No more updates on numbers, no more pressers. No more restrictions on movement. Just life as normal, with 1 more virus out there to live with.
Am I asking too much?
I'm aliiiiive!!!!!!!
All went pretty smooth in the end. Up at 4am, easy drive to Akl, 5mins wait with the police at the border.
All the airline staff were awesome, plane totally empty, and the pokice and army at the Sydney end were all great.
Ended up at the Meriton Suites in the CBD - 2 bed, 2 bath, 3 tv apartment on the 29th floor, ocean glimpses west and north, city views south,and a balcony with real fresh air. Really cant complain!
Aside from the fucken NBA being cancelled of course!!!
When you let someone into traffic in front of you and they don't give you a wave. How fucken hard is it to raise your arm you lazy fluffybunny!
@gibbon-rib reckon we have too many gaps to debate on the interweb mate. Let's park this for a few beers some day
@gibbon-rib broooo, they're nuts!
They want to wipe student debt, have free education from pre-school right through uni, free dental and mental health on Medicare for all. And 100% renewables starting yesterday.
All paid for by taxing corporates and our billionaires. Both cohorts of which will I'm sure suck that up and stick around for the ride.
I can't believe that the Greens got 12% primary vote and 3 x seats in Brisbane. They are absolute nut jobs, it's terrifying.
Also, I had no idea that Jenny Morrison was a jockey in her spare time!
Well, I've voted. Libs out to $3.90 so I suspect this thing is done.
Coalition in from$4.50 a few days ago to $2.65...still a chance???
Ugly game. Mavs had heaps of great looks in the first half, but 11-48 from 3 ain't gonna get it done.
If you can't stay with GSW when Steph and Klay are off, you're not beating them when they come good!
I reckon this series goes long, I've got Dallas bouncing back in G2
@barbarian said in NBA Season - now 21/22:
Celtics were always going to lose that one IMO, coming off a bruising series against the Bucks and without Smart and Horford.
They are currently $4.20 to win the title with Sportsbet and I think that's overs. I think they are better than the three other teams remaining and what I saw in Game 1 doesn't change my view.
Agree with all of that.
Question is when they get Smart (foot) and Horford (Covid) back. Smart was a big loss today, made it a lot easier for Herro (who has been terrible these playoffs so far) and Vincent to get going. They're both important cogs in that Boston defense.
I've got Boston in 6, provided they get those guys back.
@mariner4life said in NBA Season - now 21/22:
Smart and Horford miss game 1 thanks to Covid protocols!!
Guess when you've just beaten the Bucks without Middleton over 7 games, you can't complain too much about losing a couple of your own blokes for a game or 2
I take zero enjoyment out of those Biden clips where he stumbles his words, they're just sad and mean.
Kamala clips however, are fair game and very entertaining to my small brain :
