Your Mission, If You Choose to Accept It.

When it rains, it pours. Indeed there would be a few of my fellow New South Welshmen (and Welsh women) who would agree. However, I'm not speaking of matters of precipitation.

Yesterday turned out to be my busiest day of the year. Yes, allright, the year is only nine days old but it was still all go. Alighting from my slumber at 4AM with tonsils feeling fighting fit, I had a plane to catch. In an act of foolish bravado to company ideals I was embarking on a day trip to the land of the long white cloud. I say day trip because I would be getting there, doing what needs to be done, and returning on the same day. Luckily, on arrival at the airport I had the joy of discovering I would be flying in business class which meant a good breakfast onboard. Airline food gets an awful bad rap these days, and there have been occasions I have lended my voice to the chorus, but not on this flight. Eggs, bacon, sausage, fried tommys and mushys, and scrummy warm pastries and toasts made me a happy traveller. I arrived in Awkwardland and strolled down to the office.

Without going into the details of what I did over there (for it's a little dull), can I just take this moment to throw a general motion of appeciation out there for our trans Tasman neighbours. I've always found the NZedders to be a friendly and enjoyable bunch of folk to be around. Much like my fellow Sincity comrades, they enjoy a good time and a giggle. However, they have a slightly more relaxed attitude to life where things are not so rushed and frantic. Some rudely say that NZed is a few decades behind the rest of the world, but this creates a charm. My heart was once broken by a stunning NZ lass many years ago but frankly it was worth it for the three weeks of pleasure that preceeded it. They make a good impression on me they do.

The working day done, I was again to find myself on a plane that evening and winging it back to Sincity. This time economy class beckoned, but I was happily content so no matter. Why content? A good days work and an invitation to a glittering social event beckoned on my return. Due to an arrival of around 1945hrs, I was going to be fashionably late which is about as close as I get to being fashionable at all. A quick shower and leaping into jeans and a shirt, I was soon aboard the Vespa chariot and transiting like a bat out of hell. The event? A celebration of birth and official farewell of codename "M" of the Sincity Secret Service.

Only a recent addition to the ranks of folks I know, "M" has taken on great responsibilities including bringing in secret agents from the cold, issuance of licences to kill/thrill/and fulfill, and maintaining the integrity of quink and soon to be country. I remember a mission "M" sent me on by secure email requiring me to penetrate a forbidden sector in order to gain intelligence for future missions and possibly make contact with agent P-008. I reported failure, but was advised sagely that it would require several attempts anyway.

The celebration was held in a semi-private room and I was pleasantly surprised to find that essentially all the cool and sophisticated of Sincity were in attendance. There were several fellow secret agents I had met on previous missions in attendance who all bedazzled me with tales of their ops. I will refer to them as 001 to 006 as loose lips sink ships and all that. Several operatives I hadn't met were there, obviously from other intelligence departments, including a stunning creature I conversed with for around 30mins about the Indian bollywood industry and travel. She had a friend perched upon a knee, possibly providing security so she was obviously holding important secrets. I was told her codename but have a short-term memory like a sieve that lets only the important things through. Amazingly, I was even able to speak in an understandable structure as I tend to get apprehensive in such situations.

The evening concluded with the entourage heading off for iced treats while I made my excuses as the long day was starting to take a toll and I knew these beautiful people would soon be powerless to stop me falling into unconsciousness. I mounted my Vespa steed (which is still waiting for Q branch to install the gizmo's and gadgets it so desperately needs) and zoomed through the dark and quiet streets of Sincity at foolhardy speeds back to the Rockdalian base of operations.

....and then, slept the sleep of soothing slumber.