On this, the 9th official day of winter, Dunedin experienced its first frost. As all hippies, scenesters, and a good proportion of the Dunedin youth will know, this means that shroom season has officially begun. From now on the fields will be filled every morning with people surreptitiously walking along, staring at the ground intently, bending over from time to time to rummage around in the grass, and, should a jogger happen to pass by, pretending they're just out for a stroll, with their friends, spaced at regular intervals to cover as much ground as possible.
I tried this once. Four of us girls got together and had a sleepover at my parents’ house. We watched Casablanca and How to Train Your Dragon and got quietly but happily sozzled. We slept for about an hour before getting up and into layers and layers of clothing complete with hats, scarves, mittens and two pairs of socks, and then went to collect our resident shroom expert on the other side of town by 6am. We then drove out to Lover’s Leap and began our search party. We hunted for hours (that may be an exaggeration) and between the five of us we found four. Apparently you need at least ten per person. The sunrise was lovely though.
The ride home was not. We had to drive back along the windy peninsula road and apparently when you’re hungry car sickness becomes more acute. I’ve never been in a more silent, all-eyes-focused-on-the-road car before in my life. When we did get to town we immediately went to BK where I tried the salad burger for the first time in my life and it was the most amazing thing I’d ever tasted. Some weeks later while not hung over, carsick and starving I tried it again and it turns out my opinion may have been a little skewed.
How the beginning of shroom season more immediately affects me, however, is that I have to cycle in freezing, icy conditions. I’m thinking it might be time to crank out the Mickey Mouse earmuffs again, maybe a balaclava, and I wonder if you can get woollen socks for your tyres to stop slipping. Hmmm.
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