basically, if i ever want to have a conversation with any of my extended family i need to have babies or wicked tales of the city. i realised this when i was in christchurch this week. because i managed to say very little and i am pretty certain noone really noticed.

i went to christchurch with my mother, my sister and my nephews. because that is the kind of girl i am. and we visited relatives. who asked me about work. barely waited for the answer then switched to talking to my sister about the minutiae of her life. i drank my tea.

i don't really blame them, but hello i'd give them conversation prompts: like telling them how much i adore travel in the hopes that would create a good three minutes worth of conversation. but no. i wonder if my family have created a myth about me. that i'm carrie from sex and the city the early episodes (they ask me what kind of cocktails i like, but not because i demonstrate any interest in cocktails when i am with them, but just because they need something to say). maybe they thought the whole travel thing was a cover for how i'm following my version of BIG all over the world. i am finding it hard to articulate but basically if i'm as old as i am and unwed and barren, i have to be hitting the booze and partying all night. when hello, i'm MULTIDIMENSIONAL. of course, my sister lapped it up but in a few years will be resentful that they see her as a baby machine.***ps i friggen hope the myth is along the sex and the city lines by the way. the worse option would be the lonely old spinster with a million cats. which is why i don't tell them about the crochet.

my family are nice of course. and can make great cups of tea. but i was pleased when i could break away and sightsee. like the day i took my ryles to the antarctic centre to see the penguins and play in the snow. which also meant a break from my sister and my mother. much needed because they do not make hotel suites big enough to contain my mother's passive aggression basically.


these penguins aren't real, but he took some convincing. and i wanted to stay in the snow forever because he kept slipping and it was hilarious. but i think the guides thought i was the meanest aunt in history when actually the truth is i would win awards if they gave them out for best aunt. as ryles gets older i will keep my best aunt title too. i can't wait to talk to him about stuff like crappy television and the best waterslides in the world. or whatever tickles his fancy.