Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

After more than three years at Blockhouse Bay library, Nicky has completed her final week there. As you can imagine she has mixed feelings about this, but she has had a good week (the manager was away). On Friday she contributed peach muffins and individual cheesecakes (little oat biscuit - philly cheese - lemon curd) to a wide range of morning tea goodies. In the evening ten of the staff had dinner at The Block and enjoyed themselves. The personnel issues have been the major downside of working at BHB, but the short commute and being able to come home for lunch will be missed by both of us. Tomorrow she starts at Henderson library with a short day before commencing her Tuesday to Saturday hours. It will mean a change of routine for us, and her weekend being Sunday & Monday may take awhile to get used to, but we will get there and it’s not for ever. Luna had her annual pamper day up at the garage (service and warrant of fitness) on Tuesday, but due a major problem getting one ...

Apart from the weather, we have had a routine week. The library has had some very busy periods with the schools still being on holiday, but also some quieter spells when the weather has been very wet. I have again been busy most days with work which has been good. Neither of us have had any evenings out, so we have finished seasons 2, 3 and 4 of Masters of Sex. The end of the week has been very stormy and wet, with parts of the country having some major flooding. Various places have had a state of emergency declared, including Dunedin, but Claire and Ryan have been OK largely due to living up a hill. The rain has, of course, impeded my outdoor laundry activities, so I’ve been doing small loads to dry inside. We have also had a quiet weekend, which has been really good. I had to do a bit of work locally yesterday but we had a good and leisurely breakfast beforehand. The weather was quite wet so we drove to the museum to see the World Wildlife Photography exhibition. It was very...

Winter has really shown it’s teeth this week on Thursday and Friday. Cold, very windy, and quite wet at times. We didn’t get any snow in Auckland which is always a bit of a disappointment, but the weekend has been gorgeous with clear skies, cool air and warm sunshine. Nicky has had a very noisy week at the library with all the school holiday activities (apparently glue and glitter distribution to the would-be submariners went well), but other than that it hasn’t been too busy. I have had another good week for work but not quite as demanding as last week. Nicky has been home every evening, I have just been out once to my Deep & Meaningful discussion group. Our evenings have been centred around the TV, watching DVD’s. We enjoyed “The Oranges”, a film about two families in an American suburb, and really enjoyed “What we did on our Holiday”, a British comedy with Rosamund Pike, David Tennant and Billy Connolly. It was written by Andy Hamilton et al who did the Outnumbered sitc...

With the Waterview tunnel now open, our nearest motorway junction has moved from the Great North Road interchange with SH16 to the Maioro Street junction on SH20. From there we can head south to the airport and SH1 to Hamilton and beyond, or north and have the choice of SH16 & SH1 over the harbour bridge, or SH16 over the Upper Harbour Highway to SH1, or to stay on SH16 to head west. There has been an immediate impact on traffic this week. Everyone I have spoken to feels that the traffic on Blockhouse Bay Road and Great North Road is lighter, while traffic through the tunnel has also been free-flowing when I have used it. The schools are now on holiday for two weeks so it could be August before the traffic patterns settle down and we see the real impact of the on congestion. I have had a very busy week with work; on-site or travelling between appointments all day and every day except for Thursday afternoon, when I worked on a Mac at home. Thursday afternoon was also when we ha...

Along with winning the America’s Cup this week, we have had some lovely crisp sunny winter days. The clear skies and chilly starts have given us gorgeous afternoons. This has all come to an end this weekend with the beginning of a period of rain, so it looks as if the Team New Zealand parade down Queen Street to the Viaduct Harbour with the Auld Mug on Thursday afternoon will be a very damp affair. The library has been busy but not manic, but Nicky has been involved with a number of evening commitments (hair, life group, church) along with a PSA meeting and an Adult Literacy training session with the Howard League. The impact of the staff reorganisation at the library has become public this week with the lists published of who is going where. Implementation will start to happen this month. Her week finished with a Friday evening to Saturday evening retreat with her prison group which she found relaxing. I have been busy with work at the end of the week and over the weekend, wo...