Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

It has felt more like spring than winter towards the end of this week, which is a little bit odd as it is not yet August which is usually the coldest month. We have had some fog and some rain but the sunshine has been warming. Nicky wasn't well at the beginning of the week with a bug which is doing the rounds at work. She returned to work on Wednesday but didn't actually feel improved until Thursday, when she was well enough to pop up to church in the evening for a prayer group. I had a busy day with work all day Tuesday, and another job on Wednesday, but the rest of the week has been paid-work free. I went to see "Weekend of a Champion" at The Civic on Monday evening with Claire and Ryan. It was showing as part of the FIlm Festival and was a Roma Polanski documentary of Jackie Stewart racing at Monaco in 1971. It was fascinating to see the detail of what life was like for a Formula One driver on a race weekend on the 70's. I made a chocolate cheeseca...

We have had some lovely sunshine this week (though not as warm as the UK from what I hear) which has been cheering for me as again I have no on site work. I did have an interesting meeting which may lead to some work, and did a telephone support call, but that was all. I do have a couple of jobs booked for next week so hopefully things are going to start improving. Nicky has been as busy as ever at the library, and along with her late night duty on Friday was also in the library on Wednesday evening for "Jamas in the Jungle" Our biggest news this week is that Stella has bought a house. Paul and Jenny came over on Monday and took her to see a place that Jenny had found on the internet, and on Saturday Stella bought it at auction. It is a really nice brick and tile bungalow in Henderson, with lots of space, mature garden, and close to lots of local amenities. We are all hoping that Stella and co will be very happy there. To celebrate on Saturday evening we had bubbles ...

The best bits of our week have been, as ever, the social ones. Nicky has been busy at work, along with there being some lengthy meetings about the staff moves. We are still none the wiser as to wether or not Nicky will have to move (she has said she is willing too), where she might move to, or when. All we do know is that New Lynn library (where Nicky works) has the highest staffing levels so the chances of nobody moving are zero. I, on the other hand, have had no paid work at all. This is the first week this year (apart from when we were away) where I have had no work. I hope it is a trend which will shortly come to an end! It has meant that I have had a walk each morning this week apart from one, when I went for a swim, which I should do more often. The rest of the week has been taken up with the usual laundry, ironing, shopping and cooking, so on Friday as the weather was sunny again I drove out to the west coast and had a walk along the beach at Karekare. It wasn't as sunn...

We have had an unremarkable week, though a greater amount of sunshine has been good to see. Some of the temperatures have been so un-seasonably warm we are getting the first signs of blossom. Most of my week has been taken up with the domestic responsibilities of laundry, ironing, shopping and cooking. I have had some Mac work but not as mush as in recent weeks. Nicky, however, has been very busy at the library with Matariki. The events which she organised went very well and her boss took her to a Maori Healing workshop which was a nice gesture (and Nicky said was very interesting). Wednesday was "Come and Go" day. Lucy went back to Wellington and I picked Claire and Ryan up at the airport having enjoyed their South Island holiday. They came over today to show us their photos and it was good to see them (and the photos). Claire has now finished her Open Polytechnic Diploma. She thinks she has done OK and should get her final results by the end of the month. N...

Nicky has had a really busy week this week, both at work and socially. She was out for four of the weekday evenings with prison prayer group, works meal for Matariki, house group, and another church prayer group. She has been under a lot of pressure at work with all the things she is being asked to do for Matariki and the library being short staffed. The weekend was a welcome break. I too have been quite busy with work - out all day Tuesday and some work on all but one of the other weekdays. The time in-between has been filled with the usual second guessing of the weather in order to get the laundry dry, ironing and shopping. We have had more sun this week so it has been a bit easier. On Tuesday Lucy arrived to spend a few days with us. Stella and I popped down to a new night market in New Lynn on Thursday evening. It was supposed to start last week but didn't due to the stormy weather. There were only a handful of stalls (it will hopefully grow) but I bought some lovely m...

Saturday was the main event this week, with it being our 28th wedding anniversary and Stella's first house auction as a buyer. We started the day with some rain, but it soon started to brighten up. Nicky, Stella and I had viennoiserie (croissants and pain au raisin) for breakfast which I had bought from the French deli in Mt Albert (Katie and Tim were still slumbering). Nicky started preparing onion soup for lunch and then we walked and drove down to Taylor Court for the auction. We met Paul, Jenny, Steve and Ros there who had all come to provide their support. Unfortunately Stella was bidding against a couple who were buying to rent and had deeper pockets, so she missed out. As much as this was a disappointing outcome, it was a valuable experience and I thought the house sold for more than it was really worth. Paul and Jenny came back with us for lunch and departed later in the afternoon. Nicky and I went up to The Block café in the evening as they are now also open as a ...

It has been quite routine but also busy this week. A man came to fix the garage door on Monday, which took him just a few minutes. It was the tension on the spring which controls the pulleys which had got very loose and was causing the problem. He had to come back on Tuesday morning as it stopped working again - the increased tension in the spring and the cold night meant the motor needed adjusting - which took a few seconds. It took me 24 hours to regain my confidence in the door but all has been going well since. My sister called and emailed on Tuesday morning to say that mum had slipped and fallen in the dinning room and broken her right hip. She had not been there very long before being found by the first carer of the day who called an ambulance. She had a plate and screws inserted in on operation on Wednesday morning and is going to be in hospital for awhile. She has found it all very confusing and can't remember why she is in hospital. Nicky has been busy at work. T...