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Get Outta Town

December 20th, 2010 by the_lifer

For fifty weeks of the year, you can scarcely tear a Wellingtonian away from the steep bosom of their beloved city.  Then there’s the last two weeks of the year. In a curious inversion, Wellingtonians are united by the holiday wish to spend Christmas and New Year’s anywhere that isn’t Wellington. If they can’t escape to another region or country, they’ll go to the Kapiti Coast or the Wairarapa, simply to get out. Events, restaurants, and other venues complete the exodus by shutting down for up to a month.

What is everyone running away from? Two things. The first is work. The “silly season” often forgets its foolery when heavy deadlines come around, and Wellington keeps its nose to the grindstone until the last possible minute. What’s more, the line between work and social life has become so blurry for so many that true relaxation involves being around only one’s greatest intimates.  The second is Wellington’s irregular weather. Fourteen days off around the Summer Solstice is no guarantee of sunshine and warmth. At this time, this region can be blessed with day after day of The Good Days, or cursed with weeks of cool rain. Thus, Wellingtonians put up with cold water showers, long drop loos, and relatives to wedge themselves into family baches wherever there’s a chance of some sun.

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