January 10th

By -
It has been a quiet week as NZ is now firmly into summer holiday mode. All the schools are closed until February, lots of business are closed, and trains won't be running again for another week. Monday was a public holiday due to it being New Year, so Nicky and Claire were not working but I was.

Claire did an extra day at Whitcoulls but other than that is now back to her usual routine. The library has been busy so Nicky has been fully occupied, and I have been getting on with the household duties.

Nicky and I wanted to see "The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo" at the cinema as Claire had got a free ticket from work. We have both read the book, Claire hasn't. The film has been on very limited release, just one showing a day at two of the chain of Sky City cinemas. We couldn't understand why until the film started - with sub-titles. It was a very good film but the violence, though handled well, is quite disturbing. It helped having read the book. So, that was Saturday night for Nicky and I.

We had to go to Albany to see the film, and arrived early after dropping Claire off at Ryan's. This gave us chance to have a wander through the mall where the cinema is located, and then outside where some great landscaping has been done, with lakes, water feature, walkways and grassed areas. We were surprised and impressed.

Today Nicky has been cleaning, baking and sewing, Claire has gone over to Ryan's to watch Doctor Who, and I have been reading "And Another Thing..." by Eoin Colfer, a continuation of the Hitchhikers Guide series by Douglas Adams. I quite enjoyed it.

We have been seeing and reading about the winter weather in the UK. Sitting here with blue skies and sunshine (even though there is a cool southerly breeze at the moment) snow does seem a world away. We hope all of you in the UK that read this are OK, and keeping warm and safe somehow.

Bye for now,

Rick

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Challenging week

By -
Image
 It has been a challenging week. At the beginning of the week Nicky was still getting worse, so she arranged an appointment with the GP on Tuesday afternoon. The GP confirmed that Nicky had bronchitis and sinusitis, but that her chest sounded clear. With the infection being viral, there was no medication that could be prescribed, but some additional painkillers were in order to manage the symptoms and assist with the pain caused by congestion, coughing and vomiting. As the week progressed Nicky started to improve slowly. The periods of incessant coughing and coughing induced vomiting started to subside yesterday. She was able get a little more sleep and keep a little more food down. The washing machine has been very busy with regular changes of PJ’s, dressing gowns and bedding. Some of the laundry has been dried outside but the winter weather has deteriorated over the last couple of days. While Nicky has been unwell she has cancelled all her commitments. I have been running errands...
Read more

Tea and Tissues

By -
Image
 We have had a quiet week at home, doing jigsaws and listening to Harry Potter. Nicky seemed to be getting better at the beginning of the week but it was short lived. As the week has drawn to a close she has actually started getting brighter and felt like doing some things round the house. Nicky got dressed for the first time this week on Friday to go to the hospital for a blood test, and we did a little shopping on the way home. Yesterday she made a couple of lemon cakes and delivered one to Eleanor for her birthday. Nicky found the few minutes walk there and back exhausting. Meanwhile, I gradually got worse through the week until Friday. On Wednesday and Thursday I ploughed through a whole box of 240 tissues, and most of a packet of throat lozenges. Paracetamol helped with the general aches and temperature fluctuations. This weekend is the first time I have done my morning exercises in over a week, and I even managed a short amble this morning in the lovely (almost spiring-like) ...
Read more

Easter

By -
Image
 Steve continued his convalescing with us at the beginning of the week, and continued to improve each day. He decided to start the journey home on Tuesday by driving to Te Kuiti. As Monday was going to be his last evening with us he provided another take-away dinner from the Spice Guru, which we enjoyed as much as the previous one. Steve and I were a little early collecting it, so while we were waiting I was having a look at the buildings at the bottom end of Victoria Avenue and spotted this: I think Whanganui rivals Napier for the quality of its Art Deco architecture. Before Steve left on Tuesday morning, he and Nicky went to the Splash Centre to have a wallow in the thermal pool. This had been recommended by Nicky’s physio when she had seen her on Monday. Nicky had a short swim too and they both enjoyed their time. We were very pleased that Steve felt sufficiently recovered to start his journey home, as it was not good seeing him in as much pain, as when he first arrived. It was ...
Read more