Stratcat wrote:

"~misfit~" <misfit61nz@yahoo-mung.co.nz> wrote in message
news:TtnFc.6537$LT3.257685@news.xtra.co.nz...

Stratcat wrote:

<snip -add OT to subj>

If ya ever decide to come down this way we have a spare room you're
welcome to for as long as you need it. Hell, I can even pick you up
at the airport. I did that for Sick Boy when he visited NZ earlier
this year, our place is well positioned to spend a day or two to get
over jet-lag and acclimitise (sp?).

Hey, thanks very, very much! My finances are a wreck, ATM, but my wife
is from the Philippines.  If, and when, we get the time and money to
visit her old place, I'd probably consider a side trip to AU/NZ, too.
Only a 5 hour flight, she claims, and I've always wanted to see AU.
Might take a public room nearby, but I would definitely look you up,
and maybe get a heads-up, too. I've been trying to get to Asia for a
couple years now. Requires a lot more time & money than I have.

I pay NZ$720/mo for a three bedroom house. That's quite cheap
though, we're on the 'bad' side of a town a half-hour drive outside
of Auckland. The house is quite nice, decent size 'yard', but the
'hood is a bit, ummmm, rough. Doesn't bother me none though, I keep
to myself.

My situation was similar for nearly all my life. Chicago's SouthSide.
I grew up there, and lived around the same neighborhood all my life.
Even as the old 'hood grew rougher, I still always had a lot of the
same guys I came up with since Elementary School. The neighborhood
was tough, but livin' was cheap and easy.  And there always were 3 or
4 of my partners available, 24/7, if I had any probs. But, I met my
wife when she had only been in the States for around a year. The old
'hood was just too rough for her. She really was a fish out of water.
Poor kid. She tried her best to adjust, but couldn't cut it. Not her
fault, at all. Finally, I just let her pick a place to live that she
liked. She went for the freakin' NorthShore, which is 50 miles north
of my old 'hood, & a magnitude more expensive.

Now, I'm hardly keepin' up w/the bills, all my old boys and family
are an hour and a half away. And, if there's traffic, it's virtually
impossible to get to the old 'hood, and vis-a-versa .So we're on our
own, now. It's good for making the marriage stronger, but I sure miss
having my ppl nearby. My security blanket, I guess.

You win some, you lose some.

Too true my friend.

Yeah, the things we do for love...

Never a truer word....

Don't forget buddy, you have a 'home' in NZ if you ever need one. The bed in
the spare room is only a single but we could sort something out no problem.

Take care,
--
~misfit~