thoughts

I have been reading a lot of articles recently about Wellington, its livability, and its future. Probably because I read the Spinoff constantly and they recently published a series about the Wellington Unitary plan. And to be honest, despite many of the articles extolling the amazing virtues of Wellington and how all the haters have gotten it wrong, I think Wellington is a pretty average place to live and has lost much of the charm it may have had.  Now don't get me wrong, I lived in Wellington for four years. I did like it to an extent. At one point I liked it so much that I bought a house there. Obviously that changed, as I no longer live in Wellington (but begrudgingly still own the house), and I think some of the reasons I felt the pull to leave are realities that demonstrate why Wellington isn't all that some people crack it up to be.   When I moved to Wellington it had a reputation of being artistic and cool. Many of my friends said I suited Wellington. And certainl...

Recently, I've been thinking about how I'll miss Amazon when I move back to New Zealand. We don't have Amazon, and New Zealand is kind of in the middle of nowhere when it comes to the world as a larger scheme. Things I want like clothes, or really niche items can be difficult to source in store in NZ, or just really expensive when bought in store or ordered online, but here in Japan, everything is available on Amazon at the click of a button. In the larger scheme, there's so many stores here that New Zealand doesn't have. Ikea, Costco, Uniqlo (of course). Everything is so available. Is this a good thing? I mean my heart says yes, but my head says... maybe not? So we don't have Amazon in New Zealand, nor do we have a similar alternative (unless you count Mighty Ape but that's mostly games... And a large selection of La Croix water? I miss La Croix...) Amazon is so easy and I can get anything I want sitting at my desk at work. Living out in the countryside i...