Visitation
We have had a slightly more normal week, with Nicky being at work for a day and a half, though we have also had an English visitor and Claire has been on holiday.
Nicky had Monday afternoon and all day Thursday at New Lynn again. This went well though she was obviously tired on Thursday evening. Claire went to the airport at Monday lunchtime to collect Rachel Rhodes, who she was at school with. Rachel is spending a year working in NZ as part of her Tourism degree, and flew up from Queenstown on her way to Oz for a family 80th birthday party.
On Tuesday Nicky had to visit Auckland General to have a heart monitor fitted. The aim of this is to find out if there is any irregularity in her heart rhythm. Irregularities can cause pooling and clotting of the blood. On the way to the hospital we dropped Claire and Rachel off so they could walk to Parnell across the Domain. We met them at Ubertec and the had a wander down Parnell road and consumed refreshments at the Chocolate Boutique. Ryan came over for dinner and we had a very good evening.
The weather wasn't so good on Wednesday, but Claire and Rachel drove to Devonport via Albany and enjoyed themselves. In the afternoon while Nicky and I were in hospital again having the monitor removed, another friend of Rachels' picked her up and took her over to Remuera. On Thursday she flew to Sydney to meet her parents who have flown out from the UK. We will see them again on Monday as they arrive in NZ for a tour.
Claire and I had a ferret in the garage on Thursday and she cleared out at least half of the stuff she had in boxes. This has made quite a bit more space which is good.
On Friday morning I went to see a customer in Ponsonby, prior to driving down to Hamilton for the weekend with Nicky. She was booked on a Listening Course being run by Jancis and a lady called Patricia. Nicky was staying over on Friday night with Patricia and I was going to camp at the Waikato Naturist Club to save driving back again on Friday night and then back to Hamilton again on Saturday to collect Nicky. However, Nicky didn't feel at all well on Friday morning, with nausea and her head feeling odd, so we didn't go. She has continued to be "off colour" and vomiting over the weekend, but has been better this afternoon and has enjoyed playing Scrabble with Steve and Ros.
Claire has had the weekend with Ryan with being on holiday, which has turned out to be interesting timing as on Thursday (I think) Whitcoulls (who Claire works for) announced they had gone into voluntary administration. We don't know what will happen in the long term, but one significant short term effect is that many customers are not happy about the way the administrators have changed the use of gift vouchers. They can now only be used if the customer buys the same value of goods at the same time. So, to use your $50 gift voucher for example, you have to also buy $50 worth of goods. Some customers have been very angry about this and Whitcoulls have brought in extra security staff, but as many people have pointed out, this is not illegal and at least the gift vouchers are being honored and not rendered completely worthless, which might happen in a few weeks.
There is a significant meeting in six weeks which will probably decide the fate of Whitcoulls. It is expected that the administrators will try and find a buyer for the more profitable shops, but it looks inevitable that some jobs will go.
On the whole the weather has been lovely, with lots of sunshine and some high temperatures. The nights are starting to get cooler so the parts of the house which are not getting any sun are noticeably cooler at the beginning of the day. There is a hint of summer coming to an end.
That's all for now folks,
Rick
Nicky had Monday afternoon and all day Thursday at New Lynn again. This went well though she was obviously tired on Thursday evening. Claire went to the airport at Monday lunchtime to collect Rachel Rhodes, who she was at school with. Rachel is spending a year working in NZ as part of her Tourism degree, and flew up from Queenstown on her way to Oz for a family 80th birthday party.
On Tuesday Nicky had to visit Auckland General to have a heart monitor fitted. The aim of this is to find out if there is any irregularity in her heart rhythm. Irregularities can cause pooling and clotting of the blood. On the way to the hospital we dropped Claire and Rachel off so they could walk to Parnell across the Domain. We met them at Ubertec and the had a wander down Parnell road and consumed refreshments at the Chocolate Boutique. Ryan came over for dinner and we had a very good evening.
The weather wasn't so good on Wednesday, but Claire and Rachel drove to Devonport via Albany and enjoyed themselves. In the afternoon while Nicky and I were in hospital again having the monitor removed, another friend of Rachels' picked her up and took her over to Remuera. On Thursday she flew to Sydney to meet her parents who have flown out from the UK. We will see them again on Monday as they arrive in NZ for a tour.
Claire and I had a ferret in the garage on Thursday and she cleared out at least half of the stuff she had in boxes. This has made quite a bit more space which is good.
On Friday morning I went to see a customer in Ponsonby, prior to driving down to Hamilton for the weekend with Nicky. She was booked on a Listening Course being run by Jancis and a lady called Patricia. Nicky was staying over on Friday night with Patricia and I was going to camp at the Waikato Naturist Club to save driving back again on Friday night and then back to Hamilton again on Saturday to collect Nicky. However, Nicky didn't feel at all well on Friday morning, with nausea and her head feeling odd, so we didn't go. She has continued to be "off colour" and vomiting over the weekend, but has been better this afternoon and has enjoyed playing Scrabble with Steve and Ros.
Claire has had the weekend with Ryan with being on holiday, which has turned out to be interesting timing as on Thursday (I think) Whitcoulls (who Claire works for) announced they had gone into voluntary administration. We don't know what will happen in the long term, but one significant short term effect is that many customers are not happy about the way the administrators have changed the use of gift vouchers. They can now only be used if the customer buys the same value of goods at the same time. So, to use your $50 gift voucher for example, you have to also buy $50 worth of goods. Some customers have been very angry about this and Whitcoulls have brought in extra security staff, but as many people have pointed out, this is not illegal and at least the gift vouchers are being honored and not rendered completely worthless, which might happen in a few weeks.
There is a significant meeting in six weeks which will probably decide the fate of Whitcoulls. It is expected that the administrators will try and find a buyer for the more profitable shops, but it looks inevitable that some jobs will go.
On the whole the weather has been lovely, with lots of sunshine and some high temperatures. The nights are starting to get cooler so the parts of the house which are not getting any sun are noticeably cooler at the beginning of the day. There is a hint of summer coming to an end.
That's all for now folks,
Rick
Comments