Volcanic Football

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No public holidays this week (much sighing stage left), so the sunny weather has been observed through the windows as opposed to being experienced at the beach. Never mind. It is chilly first thing in the morning but the sun is very warming during the day.

Nicky has been as busy as ever at the library, and I had Mac work on Wed, Thurs and Friday. I picked up our travel documents this week and was quite surprised how things have changed since we arrived five and a half years ago. No actually physical air tickets any more - they are all electronic ones now. Also, the baggage limits have been reduced - we can only have 20Kg each!

Claire came over on Friday to borrow thread, cereals and coffee. Not sure we will see any of them again but I have fond memories. In the evening we watched Birdsong on DVD, the film of the Sebastian Faulks book, a story of love and war set between 1910 and 1918. A the start of the DVD we could see that the film was in two parts, so I suggested to Nicky that this would give us an ice cream break. When Part One finished around 8.45pm we duly popped up to Lick and bought a couple of cones and enjoyed seeing the fairy lights on the sails round the Bay shops while eating them. Then another pot of tea as we continued with Part Two. It was a good film, and we thoroughly enjoyed the ice creams.

We started yesterday with boiled eggs, toast, juice and coffee (for me) on The Ratigan before heading off to watch another house auction. This was a very nice three bedroom split level bungalow on Connaught Street, about 5 minutes walk away from the BHB shops. It went for $766K. House prices in Auckland are getting silly.

Nicky invited Jancis to join us for a picnic lunch and a wander up a volcano (seen as we had been remiss over Easter). Jancis agreed and we had cups of tea while Nicky made cheese and pineapple rolls. Jancis drove us to Mangere Mountain, and we discovered it was very busy due to football matches taking place. We found a parking spot, broke out the folding chairs, and found ourselves a good place to watch one of the matches. The second half started shortly afterwards and we enjoyed the sun, conversation, and enthusiastic swearing of the 22 men before us. It was a 1-1 draw. We packed our things back into Jancis's Jeep and wandered up the to top of the volcano, enjoying a range of views on the way.






We had a bit of time when we got back before going to Paul and Jenny's for dinner. We arrived just as the sun was setting, and had a lovely calm evening. The roast and vegetable dishes that Jenny had prepared were excellent, so I only managed one helping of the delicious dessert. When we got home we toddled straight of to bed. It had been a lovely day.

Today started off sunny but by lunchtime there was a significant amount of cloud cover. I did the ironing and made lemon curd while Nicky was at church, where they had a fire alarm go off, but no fire, and apparently none of the firemen stayed for tea. Extraction of suitcases from the garage and Scrabbeling have taken place this afternoon. The weather forecast suggest we are in for a wet week ahead.

Bye for now,
Take care,
Rick

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