Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

We have been very lucky this week to have been chosen as the suburb to host the Annual ARCC. As you can see from the photos a couple of the breakout session workshops were set up on Blockhouse Bay road (some folks  actually think they are roadworks!, laughable isn’t it?). The plenary sessions (held in a portacabin in the car park of the Samoan church) have been covering the leading edge issues demonstrated in the breakout sessions - flow, structural convergence, sequence management and replicability, all fascinating stuff. Unfortunately, even though it is now in its 17th year, the conference has not yet gained international recognition, but once we have the new Sky City gambling-chips-with-everything Conference Centre in the CBD there will be no stopping the spread of the cones! Anyway, onto the more mundane matters of our week, where ours noses have been heavily pressed against the “evening out social grindstone”. Nicky was at the first of the seasons prison prayer gro...

Nicky has been on holiday this week, and I have only had one Mac job, but we have spent most of the week at home because even though the weather has been dry and warm, we haven’t had a great deal of sun. N insisted on doing lots of cleaning (when she wasn’t on the web) and she did get her hair done. Wednesday was sunny so after card shopping in Ponsonby we went to Muriwai, via the scenic route. We arrived just in time for a very good lunch at the Sand Dunz café (Nicky had chicken salad an I had a Gannet breakfast). After walking off our lunchtime calories on the beach we pitched camp for reading and snoozing.  Jancis came over on Thursday afternoon and we fitted in a few games of Mah Jongg before I went into town for my Meetup group. We saw Jancis again on Friday evening for the annual “fish and chips in the Bay at the free music event with Midge Marsden, again.” Coffee and hot chocolate was also consumed as the on-shore breeze was quite cooling while sitting. The music was g...

Aotearoa seems to get getting back to normal after the l o n g summer break; the schools are open again, the traffic is busier, the weather is indecisive and Friday was Waitangi Day. The week began sunny and hot, but because we had planned our first BBQ of the season for Nicky’s house group social at our place, it started to rain on Wednesday. I had bought fresh charcoal and firelighters (this probably encouraged the rain even more) during the morning, along with some steak and bangers to cook. In the end I decided to use the indoor BBQ (aka: the grill) to cook the meat and it all worked out very well and we had a very good evening. Nicky had made a spicy plum pizza on Tuesday evening which didn’t look promising but tasted very good. The lobs served us dinner on Thursday and Friday. We have never been to a Waitangi Day celebration, so because this year is the 175th anniversary of the signing and felt we should remedy this situation, so on Friday morning we drove over (in the rain...

The big thing about February 1st of course, is that it is now possible to stop wishing everybody “Happy New Year” just because you haven’t seen them for awhile. Isn’t it? Along with the first of February, we have had some other firsts this week: Friday - heard my first cicada of the summer at home. Had heard one at a beach a little while back, but we hear loads here usually. Friday - bought my first hot cross buns of the year, and very nice they were too after corn on the cob for tea on Saturday. They always make me think of my sister-in-law the elder. Saturday - felt almost normal for the first time on a Saturday since the first weekend of the year when I had my vertigo. I was getting a little concerned that something in my routine was causing me problems which materialised on Saturdays. I will keep my hopes up for next weekend. We started the week with a public holiday in our part of Aotearoa to celebrate Auckland Anniversary Day, and not just any old anniversary, but 175 y...

It has been a very warm and sunny week, we had an official high of 29°C yesterday. It was 27° in our lounge, so it was very nice to sit both in the shade and the breeze and still feel warm. Outside in the sun, it was decidedly hot. People seem to be waking up after Christmas now (some of the schools start back next week), and I have had a couple of Mac jobs. Laundry, shopping and cooking have all been done at a relatively gentle pace due to the weather and my health. I have not been 100% again this week the the vertigo. I haven’t had any dizzy spells but I have long periods of not feeling at all right, which is quite confidence-sapping. Just before bed on Friday night I suddenly started to feel really bad so took one of my prescribed anti-nausea tablets, had a poor night’s sleep, and took another half yesterday morning. As a result, we have had a quiet couple of days at home, as opposed to going into town as planned to enjoy some of Auckland’s 175th Anniversary celebrations. Nick...

I now feel that summer has arrived. It has been a warm week, with temperatures between 25 and 27°C in the shade, and probably 10° higher in the sun. In fact, at times, it has been hot. Even the concrete on the drive has become too hot to walk on in bare feet, which is unusual with it being very pale. Nicky has been as busy as ever in the library, but my customers still seem to be on holiday. I had a long visit to one on Friday but other than that just a couple of issues delt with via email. This has given me time for my domestic responsibilities and helping Jancis, and getting over the excitement of us both winning on the Bonus Bonds again this month ($20 each AGAIN!). On Thursday I went to Sulphur Beach Road to get an alternative view of the CBD. Since our very early days here I had noticed cars parked between the motorway and seashore just before the bridge when heading south, and finally got round to investigating how to get there. It was quite an interesting view, but not as ...

It has been a different sort of week, one way and another. Nicky took Monday off work to look after me and arranged Dr Vather to come and take a look at me. I was struggling to get to the toilet let alone the surgery so was very relieved to have a home visit. He diagnosed an infection in my semi-circular canals and prescribed appropriate medicine. I was able to spend some time out of bed on Monday evening. The rest of my week has been one of recovering, taking down the Christmas decorations and disposing of the tree, doing the laundry and the shopping, and as little cooking as possible due to the lovely warm weather. Having said that, the Christmas period has not been as hot as usual. The “Dickensian” wreath which I stick to the outside of our front door with blu-tac hasn’t fallen off once this time. Usually gravity takes over every two or three days, helping the heat make the blu-tac give way.  Fortunately none of my customers have required my presence, I have just dealt wit...