Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

Well, it has been another regular sort of week. Claire has been having final lectures as she comes to the end of her first semester at University. Next week she is on study leave, and then in the next two weeks she has exams. My course is continuing at a pace. I have been in college this weekend doing my optional course; on-site chair massage. This is a four day course so I have another weekend to attend in a month. It has been interesting and I have met a whole range of new people. Nicky and I went and had a wallow in the hot pools last night, and then this evening we have been up to Stanmore Bay. Paul and Jenny returned from the UK a couple of days ago, so we had a family get together to hear their news and see their pictures. The main news of the week has been from work for Nicky. Secret Shopping is quite big here to monitor customer service. Apparently, a secret shopper "tested" 42 members of the library staff recently but only one of them scored 10 out of 10 - yes, you g

It has been another quiet week. Moving into autumn here doesn't seem to be as manic as it was in the UK. We always felt that the pace picked up as the schools went back in September, and then after the October break it was a fast and furious rush into Christmas. We don't have that here with there being no major mid-winter national holiday. Admittedly, Claire's first semester is drawing to a close and my course only has 5 or 6 weeks to the conclusion of formal teaching (and I still feel like I have only just started!!), but the pace of life still feels more gentle than I associate with this change in weather. Speaking of which, it has certainly changed this week. A significant drop in temperature has encouraged us to break out the heaters and get on with using them. We are having some cool, almost crisp mornings, but if the sun comes out the lounge still gets well warmed by mid morning. The major event of the week was Nicky meeting the Prime Minister, John Key (lucky lad). I

I think it has been a quiet week. All our daily work and educational activities have been routine as far as I can recall. We have all been recovering from our colds are are much improved but few quite 100% just yet. Nicky has been taking anti-biotics for her sinusitis and that has helped. I think the major highlight of the week has been seeing the photos (on-line) of Katharine and Ben's wedding. We have been very pleased to read all the related emails and that everything went so well. It looks like it was an excellent day. It has been a wet week with heavy showers and sunshine with gorgeous rainbows in between. This has made doing the laundry difficult so I have bought a new drying rack this week so that we can dry stuff inside. The weekend weather has however been better so we have got through most of the backlog and some of the ironing. On Saturday Nicky and I went up to Claire Cottage again and put second coats of paint on the kitchen walls and ceiling. It looks a lot better, th

New Zealand, or Aotearoa (land of the long white cloud) could also be called Land of the Wonderful Rainbows. We get lots of really good rainbows here. Below is a picture Claire took of one she saw this week. On Saturday, Nicky and I were driving back from Claire Cottage across the harbour bridge. Just before you get to the bridge heading south, there is a great view of downtown Auckland across the harbour with boats in the foreground. On Saturday, all we could see of downtown was the outlines of the tall buildings and Sky Tower shrouded in a mist of heavy rain. As we drove towards the bridge a rainbow appeared with each end appearing to be rising out of the water of the harbour, and it sped along the surface of the sea chasing us as we approached and crossed the bridge - spectacular! Of course, the reason why we get so many rainbows in NZ is the occurrence of the two necessary ingredients: some rain and some sun. In England, it tended to be more a case of some rain and some rain. Nicky

I guess you will all be pleased to read that we don't have the swine 'flu in our household. Nicky started the week off with a couple of days at home due to a bad cold, but she is getting over it partially by passing it on to me! I am hoping that I am getting through the worst of it over the weekend as I have a busy week ahead: modelling commitments tomorrow morning and all day Thursday; college Tuesday and Wednesday, and a couple of MacOnSite prospects to visit on Monday afternoon and Friday morning. Nicky also missed out on her Maori class on Tuesday night. She was well enough to go to the airport with Claire on Tuesday evening to farewell Paul and Jenny off to the UK. I stayed home doing a massage practice. This was a good ending for what had been a bit of a stressful day for me at college, as we were doing our Surface Anatomy Assessment. With a little additional help from the tutors I passed, so that's another bit completed. Friday was a lovely day, for Claire and I anyw