Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

It has been a week of constants. Nicky has been constantly busy with work at the library. I have been constantly busy delivering census forms as well as some Mac work. The weather has been constantly wonderful. It has been dry and sunny all week, with only occasional clouds which haven't lasted long. As I start to write this at almost 5 in the afternoon, the HRV control panel tells me that it is 27°C in the hall (which feels cooler than the lounge) and 40°C in the roof. The grass is a nice shade of brown, and we are now starting to get a decent quantity of homemade tomatoes. Bruce and Wendy were with us on Monday. I had hoped to be able to spend most of the day with them but this turned out not to be, as three of my Mac customers were in need of urgent assistance. Nicky was also expecting to have her annual appraisal at work (this didn't end up happening) so hadn't booked the day off. So Bruce and Wendy amused themselves with an amble round Blockhouse Bay. I was able

It feels like it has been a busy week, though I think that is largely due to the last few days.  I spent most of Friday driving all over town doing four short Mac jobs. On Saturday I started delivering census forms, which I continued today while Nicky got the house and food ready for Bruce and Wendy's arrival (Peter Cocker's cousin and his wife). Anyway, the week has been one of good sunny weather, with just a bit of rain on a couple of mornings. On Tuesday I spent the day in training for the delivery of census forms. I am one of 7,000 collectors in NZ who will deliver the forms ready for census day on March 5th, and then collect those which have not been completed on the Internet. In the evening Jancis came over for pancakes so we introduced her to pancake stacks (three pancakes with bacon, banana and maple syrup in them, topped with lemon yoghurt). We ate on the Terrance, which when I explained the name to Jancis she said "as in Terrance Ratigan", which inspir

Waitangi Day on Wednesday was the highlight of this week, and not just because it was a public holiday. It is New Zealand's National Day; a day for celebrating New Zealand and all things Kiwi, and the weather came to the party big time - we didn't see a cloud all day until we nipped down to the airport to pick up Jancis. The roof temperature peaked at 38°C, and the coolish breeze just nicely took the edge off the heat of the direct sun. We started the day off with a very late breakfast of croissants on the Terrance. Nicky spent much of the day washing and ironing quilting fabrics which Stella has given her. I spent some time in the garage, looking for the last 14 of the 60 Penguin 20th Century Classics set. Claire had asked if she could borrow them to read. We discovered that we probably have 61, but couldn't find 2 of them. I also rationalised some boxes (into the recycling wheelie bin) and extracted three pictures so as to ring the changes a little with the art on th

It is Sunday afternoon as I start to write this, and the forecast rain hasn't arrived - it's warm and sunny again so it is a good job Nicky watered the garden this morning. Maybe it will rain later. "Life as usual" has been even more the case this week than last week. Nicky has moved from being busy at work to being hectic, i.e: the normal state of affairs now that the schools are back. I have also had work to do on three days this week, which has been good. We started the week with a day off due to it being Auckland Anniversary day. We didn't do anything this year and just has a quiet day at home as I was still feeling a bit under the weather from my tooth extraction. The day started lovely and sunny so we had breakfast outside on "the terrace" as I am starting to think of it (well, "the Terrance" actually). I read "The 39 Steps" and Nicky sewed. Later she made an apple strudel, and I made a lasagne for us to have later in