Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

I’m not quite sure if we started this week (on Tuesday) suffering from jet lag or Melbourne lag. It is only a 2 hour difference between Auckland and Melbourne, but getting up to speed at the beginning of the week was quite an effort. It could also have been that our busy trip away had taken its toll. Nicky did loads of washing on Tuesday, while I got to grips with the admin (both work and personal) following our return home. Shopping was required so I raided Fruit World and New World, and we finished the day with Jancis coming over for dinner. This enabled us to open a bottle of Rosé that one of my customers had given me, which we thoroughly enjoyed with our “chooks in blankets” (chicken breasts stuffed with chunky sundried tomato dip and wrapped in smoked bacon). Jancis has had a shorter stay in NZ this time and it was our only chance to have her over for dinner, and we had a really good evening. Nicky spent most of Wednesday ironing before going up to church in the evening t...

Hello again Dear Reader, and my apologies for not posting on Sunday evening as usual - we were in Melbourne. We returned home later in the evening than we expected yesterday, and my fingers were not sufficiently well co-ordinated with my brain for blogging (some would say that this is a permanent state of affairs but my retort is that it’s the keyboard that lets the typos sneak through). We wanted to do something to celebrate Nicky’s retirement, and as soon as it was announced that Harry Potter and The Cursed Child was going to be on in Melbourne, that became the chosen activity. While Nicky was away in the UK last August, I booked the tickets. When she returned we arranged flights and accomodation, having decided there was no point in going for just a couple of days, and as flying during the week was quite a bit cheaper, we opted for a 7 night stay. This is what we got up to: Harry Potter - The Play I had booked to for us to see both Parts One and Two of Harry Potter and th...

As avid readers will recall, we recently met the Canadian branch of the family (Bruce and Wendy) at the airport and waved them off in their luxury mini bus to Mt Maunganui (aka The Mount). They kindly invited us to stay with them for a wee while, so we headed off to see them last Sunday. Nicky was due at prison so while she was at church I packed the car and we drove down to Wiri after Nicky had had a little to eat. While she was in prison I drove over to the Botanical Gardens and had a wander and ate my lunch, before collecting her, feeding her with hot cross bunnies, and heading south-east to The Mount. We had an uneventful journey and arrived in time for dinner and a good evening with Bruce, Wendy and Marnie. We started Monday with a leisurely breakfast on the balcony before Marnie departed for Auckland for a few days with friends. Nicky, Wendy and I went for a swim in the sea, and Bruce joined us for some time on the beach before an impromptu lunch. The afternoon was spent in ...

Nicky’s first week of retirement has flown by. We are already becoming accustomed to easy negotiation over who is producing dinner, Nicky has taken over the ironing of her clothes as many of them are way beyond my skill levels, and she has flattened a few of mine at the same time, while respecting my idiosyncratic hanger possession attitude. I’m still doing the food shopping but this may become more of a shared task in the future. What has completely gone out of the window, for me at any rate, is any clear knowledge of what day of the week it is. With Nicky’s weekend having been Sunday/Monday for about 18 months, I am now all over the place. At least Saturday Scrabble has happened on Saturday to give me some reassurance, but there was an impromptu game on Monday when Steve popped round for a bit of technical support! I have had a quieter week with work and have managed a morning walk every day except Wednesday when I had a swim. Our sunshine came to an abrupt end on Friday wit...

I am now living with a retiree. This Philippa will work no more. She is an ex-worker. She has ceased to be an employee, but instead of pining for the fjords she will be doing other things, some of which might even be exciting! She has already agreed to do a couple of hours a-week voluntary work back at the library completing a project about recording houses of historical and/or architectural merit in the west of Auckland. Nicky’s last week at work began, as usual, with Monday at home. We had a late breakfast of omelette, followed by Nicky doing some shopping and baking and me going off to work. In the evening she went to see the Clearwater’s as John has been very ill following their trip to Africa. She had lunch out on Tuesday will a long standing colleague and her “official” leaving celebration was an after work picnic at the Tui Glen reserve after work on Wednesday. The weather has been great this week though a little cooler (I was able to have lunch sat in the sun one day) and ...