Well, Darrel and I had a bit of a scare last night. I am not sure if I should post this, because it's not such a good thing and I don't want anyone to worry about us, but I just have to write about it because it was just so weird.

Last night after work, Saturday night, Darrel and I went out for dinner- not the usual cheap thai food that we eat all the time, but a really nice meal at a Japanese place where you sit around the cook top and watch the chef clink his knives and flip the condiment bottles and light things on fire. We had scallops, mussels and a big plate of melt in your mouth sashimi. Then we wandered around and found a place called The Honey Pot, where we ordered cheese cake and white chocolate cake drizzled in some dark chocolate. (yes, we went from light and healthy to decadent in just an hour) Then we found the COOLEST video store on earth! Known as Alice in Videoland, it is over 20 years old, has funky flair including a weird mirrored passageway called "the looking glass", sections of foreign films from heaps of different countries and a large selection of NZ and Australian films (yes, the regular video stores here mainly stock hollywood films). This find is going to help us make it through NWS (Netflix Withdrawel Syndrome). We picked out a film called "He died with a Felafel in his hand" signed up for a lifetime membership (just $10) and bought a consessions card.

Then we wandered home, the city had been a buzz of activity, being Saturday night and all. And we were definitly feeling good after sushi and cheesecake. We walked out of the main part of the city towards our neighborhood. We were just about home, when we passed three very drunk men (who the police refered to as skinheads). One of then fake-kicked me as I was passing. it was like a round house kick- his foot contacted my stomach, but there was no force behind it. So naturally Darrel stood up for me, and we kept walking towards our house just two buildings away. But the drunkards had not satiated their violent tendencies for the night, so they kept calling out mean taunts to us because Darrel would not fight them. They saw where we lived and ran over and threw a beer can at the door, then one of them ran up and started kicking in our door!!!!!

I don't think I have ever been scared like that, I called 111 (like calling 911 in the states) but the guy had stopped kicking and had left us alone by the time I got the whole story out to the emergcy people. They said the police were too busy to come over right then since it wasn't an emergency anymore, but they would send someone over the next day. (thanks for caring christchurch police)

The stupid jerk busted the frame of our door (he didn't get in though), so we do have something we could charge him with, but no one saw which one actually did the damage. Some neighbors saw the whole thing, but they were too far away to tell. This guy named Hedgehog said that he was ready to grab a baseball bat and run over to help if the guy had actually gotten in. It was definitely reassurring to know that there are people around that would have helped out. Our closest neighbors (same building) came over to check us out right after the incident and our landlord brought us a bottle of wine today "to calm the nerves".

The guys are well known by the police and their neighbors for being dangerous and causing trouble. The police also said that they would do regular parols to the area. (I have heard that regular patrol thing before at the Intervale- not sure if it changed anything) I am sure they will get caught doing something stupid in time.

"What goes around, comes around"

The neighborhood we live in is not too bad, but this has definitely reafirmed our desire to buy our own house in a nice area very, very soon. I am going to call a mortgage broker tomorrow and start scouring the paper and internet for a good house to fix up. The banks seem to be willing to lend to just about anyone right now, so our chances are good.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end of this post and don't worry about us, we are fine and we have learned an important lesson-

Don't cross paths with drunken blokes!