Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

The most notable event of the week happened at 5am this morning. The right turn road rules changed, bringing New Zealand into line with the rest of the world. So now the rules here are the same as we were used to in England. Even after four and a half years of using a different regime (which I am not willing to explain because it will just fry my brain cell) I still have to think about what to do. I am hoping that I can go back onto autopilot but am interested to see just how long it takes to get back to my "old ways" and keep my eye on what the locals are up to. The week started very wet, and continued to be quite damp until Friday, and though we had had showers this morning Sunday has turned into a sunny and breezy day. It would be great for drying the laundry, if we hadn't already done it! It is still quite warm with night time temperatures in the mid-teens. Some parts of the country had two months of rain in two days, leading to some significant flooding. Wo...

It has been quite a full week, one way and another. I was pretty busy with Mac work on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday at Claire's as she had her wisdom teeth out on Tuesday and was in need of some company. Nicky had a busy week at work, culminating in a special event on Friday evening as part of Pacifica. She organised people to come and read stories in different languages from the islands, and discus the stories. Nicky and I spent Wednesday evening cooking, in preparation for the International Food evening up at church on Thursday evening. Nicky made Apple Strudels, and I made the filling for Banger Pie (pork sausage, black pudding and apple in an onion and cider sauce). I made the pastry on Thursday morning before catching to bus to Mt Eden (Lilly was in for her service and WoF) and then put the pie together and cooked it just before going up to church. We had a good evening with a great range of foods to sample - I even managed to get the ...

It would appear, dear reader, that we are not alone. It has come to my notice this week that there are at least TWO other regular viewers of the blog. Amazing! Anyway, on to this week's exciting adventures. Nicky has been back at work. Not fully recovered but gradually improving. I have had some Mac work too, Friday being a very long day by recent standards. Claire came over for lunch on Tuesday, and sneaked in a watching of Notting Hill and a massage from me around our trip up the road to Bay Kebab for a burger and a falafel. A couple of weeks back I had a yin to watch "The Full Monty" again, but we don't have it on DVD so I ordered it from the library and it came this week. I watched it one lunchtime and was reminded why it is one of my favourite films. So many of the scenes in Sheffield appear familiar, and I can so easily identify with the characters and their situations. I first saw it not long after being made redundant. I had gone to London for a sales pres...

A busy week in some respects. Nicky has been off work all week with a virus which is giving her headaches, nausea, and aches and pains. It seems similar to a bug going round at work but the locum who signed her off for the week has run a couple of blood and urine tests. The weather on Monday and Tuesday was lovely and sunny. Mike returned from Hamilton on Tuesday and took us and Claire & Ryan out for dinner at Malt. Tuesday is also their quiz night, so we participated. We don't know quite where we finished up because we felt it was past our bedtime at the end of the last round but and didn't want to wait for the final scoring. We know we didn't win or come last. We enjoyed the evening and the food (though the music was a bit loud), and I bumped into my senior massage tutor (Shelly) from three years ago. It was good to see her and catch up. The weather was a little dull on Wednesday. I had some Mac work, Mike went up Sky Tower, and Nicky popped along to the Church AG...