Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

Now that we are getting some consistently good summer weather, the cogs of work seem to be starting to turn again and the country coming back from holiday. I have had five enquires this week, all from new customers, one of which has lead to some work, two others have booked work for next week, and a fourth may generate some once once a hardware issue has been resolved. So, after a lean period I am hoping things are going to start picking up again. This would be helpful, as I have had one of my molars extracted this week (Thursday), and even though I have got a short term contract with NZ Statistic coming up, between us we have already spent a lot at the dentist this year. I am still popping lots of pain relief and doing regular saline washes and hoping that the pain will start to really subside soon. The dentist removed a tooth which was starting to fall apart and he felt was the source of all the pain which I have been experiencing. Nicky has been working as hard as ever at

I seem to have had a very busy week, even though I haven't had much "proper work". My main task on Monday was to tackle the mountain of ironing that was threatening to take over the laundry. This wasn't so bad with the weather being a bit humid and damp, and I did some shopping for a bit of a break. We had takeaways on the beach with Stella and Co to finish the day which was good. Jancis returned from a few days away so was able to take another look at her PC's problem with Word and finally managed to fix it. Might have made a breakthrough on the internet front to with finding a reasonably priced fixed-line provider who doesn't require a 12 month contract. The proper work which I have done was for a lady down the road who I help even though she has a PC, because her main issues are with her iPod and iTunes. I also had a morning wrestling with fonts for a very nice new customer. Nicky has been busy at the library, but things are still not back to

There was an ill wind at the beginning of the week, both in the weather and otherwise. Nicky picked up a bug, which I also had to a lesser extent, which manifested as headache, and aching and fatigue. She ended up going to the Doctor on Wednesday and was only in work for part of Wednesday (for the book club which she runs) and Friday. She seems to be on the mend now but I wouldn't say either of us are actually 100%. The cool wind which took the edge off the heat of the sun on Monday and Tuesday disappeared on Wednesday, and since then it has been really hot. The roof space is getting to 38-41°C regularly for most of the afternoon, and over the weekend we have had cloud cover making it feel quite sultry. I have only had one small Mac job this week, but have spent quite a bit of time helping Jancis get email and internet going on her PC laptop. We still have an issue with Word to deal with, possibly in the coming week. I took the Christmas decorations down on Monday and the

Happy New Year, and welcome Dear Reader, to 2013. We saw the New Year in while asleep. Nicky had been at work on New Years Eve, so I got some shopping and other errands done. We finished off the last of the turkey and ham pie for tea, and watched an episode of Lewis on DVD, accompanied with Christmas cake, cheese and a glass of port each. By 11ish we were both tired and didn't feel like going into town to watch the fireworks so went to bed. New Years day dawned sunny and bright, and was a lovely summers day. We went to the Manukau Heads lighthouse. This would be about 20kms away as the crow flies, but as we aren't crows and can't fly, it is a one and a half hour 105km drive round the east side of the harbour. We packed up a picnic lunch, set off, and enjoyed the sunshine and the scenery. The lighthouse itself is quite unassuming, but the views of Whatipu and back towards town across the harbour are fantastic.  The eagle-eyed of you should be able to sp