Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

Now that we are getting some consistently good summer weather, the cogs of work seem to be starting to turn again and the country coming back from holiday. I have had five enquires this week, all from new customers, one of which has lead to some work, two others have booked work for next week, and a fourth may generate some once once a hardware issue has been resolved. So, after a lean period I am hoping things are going to start picking up again. This would be helpful, as I have had one of my molars extracted this week (Thursday), and even though I have got a short term contract with NZ Statistic coming up, between us we have already spent a lot at the dentist this year. I am still popping lots of pain relief and doing regular saline washes and hoping that the pain will start to really subside soon. The dentist removed a tooth which was starting to fall apart and he felt was the source of all the pain which I have been experiencing. Nicky has been working as hard as ever at ...

I seem to have had a very busy week, even though I haven't had much "proper work". My main task on Monday was to tackle the mountain of ironing that was threatening to take over the laundry. This wasn't so bad with the weather being a bit humid and damp, and I did some shopping for a bit of a break. We had takeaways on the beach with Stella and Co to finish the day which was good. Jancis returned from a few days away so was able to take another look at her PC's problem with Word and finally managed to fix it. Might have made a breakthrough on the internet front to with finding a reasonably priced fixed-line provider who doesn't require a 12 month contract. The proper work which I have done was for a lady down the road who I help even though she has a PC, because her main issues are with her iPod and iTunes. I also had a morning wrestling with fonts for a very nice new customer. Nicky has been busy at the library, but things are still not back to ...

There was an ill wind at the beginning of the week, both in the weather and otherwise. Nicky picked up a bug, which I also had to a lesser extent, which manifested as headache, and aching and fatigue. She ended up going to the Doctor on Wednesday and was only in work for part of Wednesday (for the book club which she runs) and Friday. She seems to be on the mend now but I wouldn't say either of us are actually 100%. The cool wind which took the edge off the heat of the sun on Monday and Tuesday disappeared on Wednesday, and since then it has been really hot. The roof space is getting to 38-41°C regularly for most of the afternoon, and over the weekend we have had cloud cover making it feel quite sultry. I have only had one small Mac job this week, but have spent quite a bit of time helping Jancis get email and internet going on her PC laptop. We still have an issue with Word to deal with, possibly in the coming week. I took the Christmas decorations down on Monday and the...

Happy New Year, and welcome Dear Reader, to 2013. We saw the New Year in while asleep. Nicky had been at work on New Years Eve, so I got some shopping and other errands done. We finished off the last of the turkey and ham pie for tea, and watched an episode of Lewis on DVD, accompanied with Christmas cake, cheese and a glass of port each. By 11ish we were both tired and didn't feel like going into town to watch the fireworks so went to bed. New Years day dawned sunny and bright, and was a lovely summers day. We went to the Manukau Heads lighthouse. This would be about 20kms away as the crow flies, but as we aren't crows and can't fly, it is a one and a half hour 105km drive round the east side of the harbour. We packed up a picnic lunch, set off, and enjoyed the sunshine and the scenery. The lighthouse itself is quite unassuming, but the views of Whatipu and back towards town across the harbour are fantastic.  The eagle-eyed of you should be able to sp...

As what was the New Year awhile back is now the Old Year in it's final hours (just about 26 to go), I sit down to post my last for 2012. You never know dear reader, 2013 might hold scintillating treats such as better writing, but I doubt it. This week, as happens every year, has been Christmas week. The weather was better than I had expected on Christmas Eve (Monday), quite hot, but that didn't stop me spending the day in the kitchen making cranberry topped turkey and ham pies. The Hairy Bikers suggested that each pie would make 4-6 servings, so I decided to make two as there would be some 20+ people sharing lunch. One would have been enough, but never mind, Nicky and I valiantly working our way through the second one. Claire and Ryan popped over in the evening to exchange gifts. They both seem to be well but tired, and it was good to see them. Nicky was pleased to be finishing work for a couple of days. The weather didn't start out well on Christmas Day (wet)...

It is a warm and muggy afternoon as I sit down down to write this week's post and cudgel my brain into action. We are being approached by another tropical storm which looks like it is going to give us a wet Christmas. Apparently, in the last 15 years there have been 8 where a tropical storm was over NZ at Christmas. It makes me wonder if any of the local bookies take bets on a "sunny Christmas" in the same was that some UK bookies will on a "white Christmas". I am writing in the afternoon as opposed to this evening as we have a couple of decent telly progs on tonight and as such things are in the minority on NZTV, we try and catch them when the opportunity comes along. On Monday morning Nicky and I went to the audiologists for the last consultation in her trial period. Everything with her hearing aids now seems to be settled so we don't need to see the audiologist again for at least a year, possibly two. I will be popping in ever so often during the ne...

We may be hurtling towards the thin end of the year, but this week the waistline has been heading in the opposite direction. It has been a week of cooking, baking, and subsequent eating. Most mornings I have risen to find that Nicky has already been in the kitchen "rustling" the contents of the pantry and the fridge for some hours. One morning, around 2.30 am, I found her struggling with custard in the microwave, so I heroically stepped in, decanted the custard into a pan, and with a bit of magic mixing on the hob got it to thicken nicely. On relating this story at work, one of her colleagues was stunned that I had got up at such an hour to make custard… I think she assumed that I woke and thought, "time to make custard", and off I went. Much incorrect stick holding. The custard was being made in order to re-purpose a lemon cake which had apparently gone wrong and was becoming a trifle (add your own small puns). The top layer was supposed to be some microwave ...