Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

Wellington has made the news twice this week. The first time was due to the complete failure of the train system just before everybody headed home from work. The second was yesterday when it was reported that it had only had 6 minutes of sunshine this week. Two Irish tourists who were interviewed seemed to be surprised that this was an unusual situation! Yes, we expect sunshine even in the middle of winter down here! I am starting to notice a slightly disturbing sense of disconnect recently. Even though all the retail outlets that I have used since we moved to Covid Alert Level 1 still have perspex panels or greater spacing at the checkout, things are largely back to normal. Yes, we have Covid cases again, but they are all from people arriving from abroad, primarily India and the USA, and they are being isolated. Even though our border control practices don’t seem to have been what they should, things are being tightened up and the Defence Force is now in charge. So when I see things...

We have had a couple of animal encounters this week. The first was on Thursday morning, when we opened the bedroom blinds and discovered a flock of gulls (more than in the photo) on top of Dawn’s roof. This is usually the domain of a pair of Mynah birds, so that in itself was unusual, but even more so was the fact that they were all looking in the same direction, as if someone was walking past eating fish & chips (interesting breakfast I thought). Within seconds of taking this photo, they were all off: Our second encounter was on Friday, with what I think is a skink. It fell out of the sliding door into the laundry when I went to put some washing on. It was 8-10cm long, part of the lizard family if I am correct. We tried to catch it so that we could pop it outside, but it was too fast for us. However, it re-appeared in the kitchen on Saturday when I was making my lunch, quickly ran off, only to be next observed emerging from behind the TV while I was eating my lunch. It was headin...

We are on an everyday basis, in principle, back to where we were before Covid, though the reality of level 1 is a little different. We are asked to continue with our contact diaries of where we have been and who we have met, which is fair enough. The borders are still “closed”, with an obligatory 14 day quarantine for everyone entering the country (unless they are involved in the new Avatar film it would seem!). The interesting thing is that things often still feel quiet, though the traffic is quite busy at times. Some businesses in the CBD are reporting that they were busier under level 2 than they are now under level 1, but we are only on the first week of level 1. What is becoming apparent is that quite a few people are continuing to work from home for part or as much of the time as possible. With the schools now open may be people are appreciating the greater flexibility of working hours. We shall see how this pans out in the long term. Shopping (at the supermarket) is now back to ...

This does seem a little conceited, but my birthday was definitely the highlight this week. The day started with promising smile on its face, so the first excitement of the day was putting on a load of washing while brewing the first pot of tea of the day. The first mugs of tea, consumed in bed as usual, were accompanied by present opening - all either useful or humorous. After hanging out washing the we wandered up to The Block and had a very nice breakfast. Nicky chose an open omelette and I went for avocado and tomato bruschetta with poached eggs and spices. Neither were what we were expecting to order but just took our fancy from the menu, and both were very good and greatly enjoyed. When we returned home Nicky made us smoked salmon sandwiches (gift from Steve & Ros) for a picnic lunch and we drove to the museum. As we now had sunshine and clear blue skies we decided to have a wander through the winter gardens before going in to see the photography exhibition. While there, ...