Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

It has been a week at home for me this week, as I haven’t had any work come in. The weather has been pretty good most of the week which has helped with the laundry and to a lesser degree the shopping. I have finished scanning all there slides which I brought back from the UK and have started putting them into a photo book. I had a swim at Herne Bay first thing Thursday morning which was lovely. It’s the first time I have been back there since lacerating my feet earlier in the year. The library has been continuing with Diwali celebrations this week, and Nicky has been looking good again in a range of saris. She took some Indian food in on Monday for morning tea. The library has been as busy as ever, and Nicky has been very busy with the preparations for Harry Potter day on the 31st. On Friday she came home mid afternoon after pulling a muscle in her back. It made her feel quite nauseous and unwell. It wasn’t helped by the fact she has had some broken nights with being woken up with s

The weather has started to improve some of the time this week, and not only have I managed a visit to the beach (Karekare) but also been able to do my first sunbathing of the season. Mac work has been thin on the ground again, with just a couple of jobs, but I have been able to put this years’ photo-book together and get on with scanning some more slides. I just had one evening out, my meetup group on Thursday. Apple occupied most of Friday for me following their new product announcements, and I have just been able to squeeze in a bit of shopping, cooking, washing and ironing. The return to school has been noticed in the library, though Nicky has still had some very busy days. To mark Diwali the staff have been in Indian dress all week, so each day has seen Nicky in a different sari or similar outfit. She had two evenings out with prison prayer group and house group. The weather was forecast to be wet over the weekend, but the rain didn’t arrive until Saturday afternoon and today

This week has been more “normal” - more work and less socialising, though we haven’t completely abstained. I have done some Mac work each day except for Friday, and we have had a dry week (though with some questionable clouds) so I have been able to get the washing done. The library has been extremely busy and regularly frantic (the school holidays finish today) so Nicky was pleased when the working week came to an end. On Thursday evening Nicky went up to BHB Primary School with Clem and Shaun (Sean?) to see Shani in a drama group musical. On Friday I met Nicky at The Block after work as she was having drinks there with work colleagues for farewell one of them, and I was meeting up with Paul and Co. for our regularly-ish get together. We had decided that as we were both going to be there having a bite to eat would also be a good idea. Friday had been a lovely sunny day (I had been to KareKare in the afternoon for a walk and a swim), and it was great to meet Nicky and just relax

Spring was starting to take hold at the beginning of the week, but late on Thursday winter returned, and the Desert Road was closed again by snow. I still find it interesting that the Desert Road doesn’t seem to be closed due to drifting sand, just snow. We have been at the centre of Auckland’s social circuit this week, or at least it feels that way. Our faces have not yet made it to the pages of the glossy magazines, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time now. After dinner on Tuesday I got a bus into town for the second-only meeting of the Auckland Life Model Collective. This is a group being set up by a model who encountered something similar in Sydney. It will provide artists and tutors with a “one stop shop” access to a range of experienced models. Getting together enabled us to get to know each other a little (life models rarely get to meet other life models) and contribute out thoughts on how the group should operate. Wednesday night was house group social, and we met i