Bright Lights, Big City...

Ah, Auckland.
I haven’t been out of my cosy little seaside community since I arrived in February and now I’m back in New Zealand’s largest city.
It’s a bit of a shock.
I have to resist saying ‘hello’ to strangers as they walk past, this is no place for random chats with shop assistants or waving at boys in cars.
I’m made suddenly aware of my mismatching clothes when I catch sight of giggling school kids pointing at my ‘all my clothes at once ‘cos it’s so bloomin’ chilly’ ensemble.
I try to rise above such childish behaviour but it’s difficult when my flip-flops are refusing to grip the rain soaked pavement and each step slides into groin-straining proportions.
I seek refuge in my favourite spot in Auckland, the ‘Tepid Water Baths’.
(It’s a misnomer; the water’s freezing...)
In an attempt to warm my blood after a pathetically short training session I enter the sauna.
I start chatting to a British ex-pat called Ian.
It turns out he knows my friend Mark from Raglan.
But of course!
On the way back to my lodgings I bump into the only person I vaguely know in Auckland, Laura’s Swedish mate, Jonas.
This place is surprisingly, and refreshingly, ‘small-town’ after all.
Well, until i'm kept awake all night by the squadron of noisy transvestite prostitutes outside my window, anyway.