Copyright © Tanya Piejus, 2003

June 24 2003

Hi all,

The attached [see picture opposite] was my attire for last Friday's mid-winter party at the Ministry of Health. My suggested theme of 'Ladies in Red, Men in Black' was taken up, much to my surprise, and a red hot chilli pepper for a cold winter's night seemed highly appropriate. My PVC dress, plastic chilli necklace and be-leaved hat were much admired. However, I didn't win the Best Dressed Woman award as I obviously hadn't offered a big enough bribe to the judge. It was a very entertaining evening, although I could have lived without watching an overweight manager stripping down to a G-string to the tune of Cliff Richard's 'Devil Woman'.

Last time I wrote, I was rapidly approaching my 32nd birthday. Quite how I managed to get so old so soon, I'm not sure. The years seem to slip by ever more quickly these days. To celebrate the big day I had a 70s-themed lunch party with my workmates - pineapple and cheese on sticks, cocktail sausages, fruit punch, prawn cocktail-flavoured crisps and two types of fondue. I played ABBA and got my lava lamp glooping.

It was strange having a late autumn birthday for the first time, but the weather was actually really rather nice. In fact, the Kiwi winter so far has been surprisingly bearable for one who hates the cold. I spent the shortest day of the year with Mum and Graham at Blairlogie. We sat on the veranda in T-shirts and even then felt uncomfortably hot. Even though the sun is low enough in the sky to blind me when I sit at my desk at work, it still packs a punch at this time of year.

The power crisis is finally over without anyone having to suffer cold showers. Thanks to the population doing little things like turning off its TVs at the wall and switching off the work photocopier overnight, we've saved our 10% with a national effort. Also making the winter less of a grind is the return on 'Six Feet Under'. We're into series 3 now and, even though it's not as darkly amusing as the earlier series, it's still easily the best thing on TV. I've been putting the dark evenings to good use and have completely revamped my travel website. I've added a lot more photos, thanks to my birthday present to myself - a scanner. Check out the new look at http://www.tanyas-travels.co.uk.

Courtesy of the Ministry underspending its communications budget, I got to go on a Cultural Awareness course last month. I went to an unusual marae that looks like a Dr Seuss house and spent two days learning about Maori language, traditional beliefs and marae protocol. We had a fun afternoon re-enacting the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi to better understand the implications and historical context of New Zealand's founding document. We also learnt a haka similar to the one the All Blacks perform and sung a song in Maori to a visiting delegation from the Department of Corrections.

That's me. How are you doing?

Till next time,
TP