And my friends who still live here say "this place is becoming a ghost town, I'm getting out to Auckland or Melbourne or somewhere as soon as I have the money saved". Prickly defensiveness at the suggestion that there is anything wrong with Welly - that it reached perfection in 2005 and nothing has needed to change since then - is of course a local tradition.
But seriously, if Wellington's economy is buoyant and nothing to worry about, surely Welnix will get a good deal and we'll all be happy. Right?