Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

As what was the New Year awhile back is now the Old Year in it's final hours (just about 26 to go), I sit down to post my last for 2012. You never know dear reader, 2013 might hold scintillating treats such as better writing, but I doubt it. This week, as happens every year, has been Christmas week. The weather was better than I had expected on Christmas Eve (Monday), quite hot, but that didn't stop me spending the day in the kitchen making cranberry topped turkey and ham pies. The Hairy Bikers suggested that each pie would make 4-6 servings, so I decided to make two as there would be some 20+ people sharing lunch. One would have been enough, but never mind, Nicky and I valiantly working our way through the second one. Claire and Ryan popped over in the evening to exchange gifts. They both seem to be well but tired, and it was good to see them. Nicky was pleased to be finishing work for a couple of days. The weather didn't start out well on Christmas Day (wet)...

It is a warm and muggy afternoon as I sit down down to write this week's post and cudgel my brain into action. We are being approached by another tropical storm which looks like it is going to give us a wet Christmas. Apparently, in the last 15 years there have been 8 where a tropical storm was over NZ at Christmas. It makes me wonder if any of the local bookies take bets on a "sunny Christmas" in the same was that some UK bookies will on a "white Christmas". I am writing in the afternoon as opposed to this evening as we have a couple of decent telly progs on tonight and as such things are in the minority on NZTV, we try and catch them when the opportunity comes along. On Monday morning Nicky and I went to the audiologists for the last consultation in her trial period. Everything with her hearing aids now seems to be settled so we don't need to see the audiologist again for at least a year, possibly two. I will be popping in ever so often during the ne...

We may be hurtling towards the thin end of the year, but this week the waistline has been heading in the opposite direction. It has been a week of cooking, baking, and subsequent eating. Most mornings I have risen to find that Nicky has already been in the kitchen "rustling" the contents of the pantry and the fridge for some hours. One morning, around 2.30 am, I found her struggling with custard in the microwave, so I heroically stepped in, decanted the custard into a pan, and with a bit of magic mixing on the hob got it to thicken nicely. On relating this story at work, one of her colleagues was stunned that I had got up at such an hour to make custard… I think she assumed that I woke and thought, "time to make custard", and off I went. Much incorrect stick holding. The custard was being made in order to re-purpose a lemon cake which had apparently gone wrong and was becoming a trifle (add your own small puns). The top layer was supposed to be some microwave ...

Many years ago, when I was a student, I had the pleasure of listening to Tom Stewart giving a keynote speech at a conference. I think it might have been the IEA (International Ergonomics Association) Conference in Bournemouth. He was reporting on his research looking at "right action, wrong move" incidents ie: why do we sometimes do incorrectly a task that we have done correctly many times before? The example he gave was that of making tea (in a pot) and coffee (in a plunger). We have done this thousands of times without a problem, so why do we sometimes put coffee in the tea pot? We did the right action (substance into brewing vessel), but it was the wrong move (either chose the wrong substance or the wrong pot). On Monday, while parking the car on a customer's drive, I did a Tom Stewart. Right action (press a pedal), wrong move (it wasn't the brake pedal). Result: I drove into a tree. The tree came out of it pretty well, and I wasn't hurt, but the front of...

Summer officially started this weekend, but it was a bit hard to tell today, which was a shame as the rest of the week hasn't been too bad. We have a had a little rain and some cloudy skies, but also some good long sunny periods tempered with cool southerly breezes at times. I have done a couple of quick Mac jobs this week, while Nicky has continued to be very busy in the library. She had Monday off as time in lieu and did loads of cleaning and gardening. In the evening she had a prison group "take away meal", ie fast food is provided for their end of year gathering. She was at house group on Wednesday evening and then off to prison again on Friday. This time is was for the prison volunteers Christmas thank-you lunch. Apart from the hall being very cold, this was an excellent event with lots of very good food. While in non-work mode I have continued making arrangements for our trip to the UK next year, and ensured that the clothes are wash, dried, ironed, and th...