Into September
I'm back again! Apologies for my absence last week, but life was very busy. I took Tuesday off from Ubertec to spend the day doing my MacOnSite job. Most of the day was at a school near Henderson checking over 24 of their older machines. Then I went into town to make some changes to a backup system. It was a long day, but I was very pleased to be able to easily get to both jobs using public transport.
Nicky and Claire had their usual work commitments, but Nicky's life was finally made a little easier with new glasses. She has really been needing them since before we left the UK but has been putting off getting new ones because of the cost. However, she needs to get her NZ driving licence and in order to pass the eye sight examination for this she needed new glasses.
I spent Saturday morning with another MacOnSite customer, and then the rest of the day looking at 4 houses . We thought as we now know that we need to move that investigating buying at this point would be a good idea. The 4 places I saw gave me a good feel for what your dollar can buy, but the type which we can currently afford isn't big enough for the three of us and all our stuff. So, we have decided to continue renting for the moment, so our investigations will continue.
Nicky and I had a very relaxing Saturday evening at the hot pools in Parakia with their monthly nude night. I produced some brochures advertising my massage service, a few of which were taken. We also won a bottle of wine in the raffle.
I spent Sunday morning doing MacOnSite administration before we headed off to Pat and Clems for a family lunch. I was good to see folks we haven't seen for awhile again, and eat outside. The sun was warm but the wind eventually forced us inside.
This week has been another busy week work-wise. Claire has done some extra mornings at Whitcoulls, and Nicky has been able to do a day at the library in Ranui, where she has been appointed to a full time post. She starts this on a Tues-Fri basis in a couple of weeks, and a little after that will switch to a conventional Mon-Fri with an evening duty every fortnight. It will be good for us both to have the weekend off together.
On Thursday night Nicky wasn't doing an evening duty while Claire was a Whitcoulls, so I took advantage of the situation and produced a candle-lit dinner of lamb chops in red wine and herbs served with an inexpensive white wine which I picked up on the way home from work.
For the first time in what seems like ages I had a peaceful Saturday this weekend. Just some grocery shopping and organising of car service (and trying to organise Nickys theory driving test) before getting home, falling asleep in my chair, and then getting half an hours sunbathing in on the "patio". Even though the wind is still cold, in the shelter of our patio the sun is already warm and spring is really with us.
Today (Sunday) is fathers day, an event which is far more significant in NZ than in the UK. Lots of places do fathers days specials, like restaurants and cinemas. We went to another beach on the west coast - Karekare - and had a picnic. It was a very pleasant drive but because of where e parked it was a bit of a trek to the beach - we will know for next time. Just as we were finishing our picnic it began to rain, so we saw the beach but didn't stroll. We got back home to sunshine and had a leisurely tea of French onion soup and scones which end the day very well.
We are all very aware that it is now over a year since we left England. This time last year we were halfway through our trip across America. I will try and write more on this next week as we reach our 1 year in NZ anniversary.
Bye for now,
Rick
Nicky and Claire had their usual work commitments, but Nicky's life was finally made a little easier with new glasses. She has really been needing them since before we left the UK but has been putting off getting new ones because of the cost. However, she needs to get her NZ driving licence and in order to pass the eye sight examination for this she needed new glasses.
I spent Saturday morning with another MacOnSite customer, and then the rest of the day looking at 4 houses . We thought as we now know that we need to move that investigating buying at this point would be a good idea. The 4 places I saw gave me a good feel for what your dollar can buy, but the type which we can currently afford isn't big enough for the three of us and all our stuff. So, we have decided to continue renting for the moment, so our investigations will continue.
Nicky and I had a very relaxing Saturday evening at the hot pools in Parakia with their monthly nude night. I produced some brochures advertising my massage service, a few of which were taken. We also won a bottle of wine in the raffle.
I spent Sunday morning doing MacOnSite administration before we headed off to Pat and Clems for a family lunch. I was good to see folks we haven't seen for awhile again, and eat outside. The sun was warm but the wind eventually forced us inside.
This week has been another busy week work-wise. Claire has done some extra mornings at Whitcoulls, and Nicky has been able to do a day at the library in Ranui, where she has been appointed to a full time post. She starts this on a Tues-Fri basis in a couple of weeks, and a little after that will switch to a conventional Mon-Fri with an evening duty every fortnight. It will be good for us both to have the weekend off together.
On Thursday night Nicky wasn't doing an evening duty while Claire was a Whitcoulls, so I took advantage of the situation and produced a candle-lit dinner of lamb chops in red wine and herbs served with an inexpensive white wine which I picked up on the way home from work.
For the first time in what seems like ages I had a peaceful Saturday this weekend. Just some grocery shopping and organising of car service (and trying to organise Nickys theory driving test) before getting home, falling asleep in my chair, and then getting half an hours sunbathing in on the "patio". Even though the wind is still cold, in the shelter of our patio the sun is already warm and spring is really with us.
Today (Sunday) is fathers day, an event which is far more significant in NZ than in the UK. Lots of places do fathers days specials, like restaurants and cinemas. We went to another beach on the west coast - Karekare - and had a picnic. It was a very pleasant drive but because of where e parked it was a bit of a trek to the beach - we will know for next time. Just as we were finishing our picnic it began to rain, so we saw the beach but didn't stroll. We got back home to sunshine and had a leisurely tea of French onion soup and scones which end the day very well.
We are all very aware that it is now over a year since we left England. This time last year we were halfway through our trip across America. I will try and write more on this next week as we reach our 1 year in NZ anniversary.
Bye for now,
Rick
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