Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

It’s been tropical again this week, with high humidity and temperatures, some sunshine and a couple of dull days in the middle of the week. On Tuesday afternoon, I had the ranch sliders open while giving Jancis a tutorial, and it was 27° in the lounge. I closed them for 25 minutes while I collected Nicky from work and it went up to 29°. We were very pleased to have cold smoked fish pie and salad on the Rattigan that evening. Nicky’s penultimate week at New Lynn has been quite different, as the staffing changes are now coming into effect and there have generally been far fewer staff in the library. At times this has meant things have been quieter, because the members of staff who talked while they worked are no longer there. The borrowers are already noticing the changes and commenting. I have had a busy week with Mac work - my busiest since last August, which is good. However, this has not prevented me from pressing buttons on the washing machine and pegging out the resulting dam...

One way and another I have had a busy week, but at least the weather has been good most of the time which has meant I could get the washing dry without having to stand and shout at it. Monday started off with a trip to Devonport to look at what turned out to be an almost terminal Mac. On my way back I called into the White Cross centre in Avondale to have my right foot checked. There appears to be a bit of debris still in one of the wounds from my beach accident. The Doctor said it would probably work it’s way out in time. Unfortunately, it took me two and a half hours to receive this news because somehow I dropped off the waiting list after signing in at reception. So, by the time I got home it was well into the afternoon and I was hungry, thirsty and not feeling too good. Some food and a restorative pot of tea worked wonders. We had dinner on the Rattigan and Jancis popped round in the evening to use the wifi. She stayed to watch a DVD Nicky had brought home from the library (Scap...

I will probably get into trouble for the Help the Aged title for this post, but 3 of the 5 people who I have helped with their technology this week (4 of whom were paying customers) were 70 or over, and one of the other two must be in his 60’s, so it has had that feel about it. The evenings have been the most eventful parts of the week, though Nicky did fall on her way to work on Monday morning so was grazed and shaken when she arrived. Directly after work on Monday evening there was a do for all the people who are leaving New Lynn in the next few weeks. I understand it was quite a muted affair, but the flowers were nice. On Tuesday evening we went to a very intimate meeting at the Community Centre about the Whau Board 3 year plan. The Whau Board is the “local council” for our area of Auckland, and they are starting to put together their plan and have a series of consultations with the residents and businesses in the area. It was good to meet some members of the board and have an...

Well, that’s January over already. The month hasn’t really finished with a bang, but it has been an eventful week. It all began with Monday, Auckland Anniversary Day, and therefore a Public Holiday. Jancis (our friend who lives in Loughborough when the weather is nice there) and I went for a “day cruise” on The Spirit of Adventure. This is a three masted schooner used by the Spirit of Adventure Trust to ”offer equal opportunity to young New Zealanders to develop qualities of leadership, independence and community spirit through the medium of the sea.” They take groups of 16-18 years olds on 10 day trips and teach them how to sail the ship. They also do day and half-day trips for oldies (i.e. anyone over 18).  I picked Jancis up at 8 and we drove into town, which was much quieter than I had expected as I had forgotten that it was a public holiday. We parked and walked down to Princess Wharf for our 9.00 registration and 9.30 departure. Once we had boarded we were given a wee w...