Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

It has been a wintery week with cold, wet weather (some of the rain very heavy), but there has been the odd patch of sun now and then. We started the week with Luna, our lovely Suzuki Swift, up at the garage for her annual spa day (service and warrant). Minor adjustment to her fog lights was all she needed for her warrant. Nicky has been fully occupied at the library again, and had a few evenings out with prayer groups and getting her hair done. On Friday morning she went down to New Lynn library for a leaving do, so we met up afterwards and had some soup for lunch together which was good. I have had a quieter week than last week with work, but have done a couple of decent jobs. I was out at Deep and Meaningful one night, and have also spent some of my birthday money on a couple of micro-fibre tops from MacPac which I am pleased with. I have enjoyed watching a three part documentary on DVD called Precision - the measure of all things, about the seven basic units of measure...

I had a surreal experience on Thursday. I caught a bus just after 9am to go to a job on Queen Street. As we were coming into town on Symonds Street, the traffic came to a stand still on the bridge over the motorways. I noticed that the other side of the road was completely empty. Then I spotted a Police motorcyclist. Then another. Ah-ha I thought! After waiting a couple of minutes the motorcade started to appear, Police cars and bikes followed by four or five very old fashioned FBI type black Chrysler SUV’s, then a long black limo with flags, more Police cars and SUV’s, another small limo with flags, then a couple more cars and some buses, probably carrying the “press gaggle”. It must be that American dude I thought. I was tempted to ask the bus driver to let me off for a couple of minutes so that I could stand in the road and berate the Vice President for holding up OUR traffic and check for uranium on his breath, but I thought the Treasury men might give me a prolonged pat-down and ...

There has been a bit more variety to this last week compared to last. The weather has been more changeable, cool to cold temperatures, some rain, some sun, some wind, and some torrential rain, but it is winter time. The week began a little differently as Nicky had a training course to attend on family history at Takapuna library. I didn’t have any work booked so drove us to Takapuna. I dropped Nicky off at the library then had a bit of an explore and wander in Devonport and Bayswater. Sitting in the ferry terminal out of the wind drinking coffee and watching the boats come and go was good. Nicky found her training course very interesting and was very enthused on the way back. These guys were loitering in Bayswater: The schools are on holiday at the moment so the library has been “steady”. Lots of people in and out. Nicky had a good afternoon on Thursday doing a star making workshop with Chardonnay for Matariki. Next week that are moving onto nuclear fission. I have had...

Overall the first full week in July has been uneventful, though the weather has tried to muscle in on this. Wednesday was foggy almost all day, and Thursday night was very wet and stormy. The beginning of the week was a little milder but then over this weekend the sky has cleared and the temperature has dropped accordingly. The busyness of the library has been closely related to the weather - quiet while raining. Nicky's only evening out was at life group. My week has been very quiet - just one wee job on Monday afternoon. I attended a digital marketing seminar at the Wynyard Events Centre on Thursday morning which included a free breakfast (which was OK), and though it focused on Google products it was quite interesting. The lurgy which I had a touch of last weekend lingered but lessened through the week. We had a very quiet day at home yesterday. It was fine but cloudy so I got laundry done that hadn't made it during the week. We spent most of the day doing a new jig...

This week has been defined by the weather, as much of it has been wet. This ensured the library was quiet for the beginning of the week, picking up again as Friday moved into clear sunny skies, which lasted through the weekend. My working week has been the other way round; busy at the beginning, quiet at the end, and non-existent in the middle. Still, I have got the washing done and had some invoices paid so did a major raid on the supermarket on Friday. We have had some evening activities to, with Nicky at a couple of prayer groups and me going into to town for my Deep & Meaningful meeting. I rounded off the week with a very nice pint of Porter up at The Block with friends. The clear skies have seen the temperatures drop. It was 2º in the roof on Saturday morning and I saw frost on Dawn’s roof this morning. We had a bit if a departure for breakfast yesterday with a recipe for bacon and egg fried rice out of The Listener, which we enjoyed. We did a bit of shopping toge...

The result of the EU membership referendum in the UK has been big news here, as I guess it has been elsewhere too. There has been both surprise and concern expressed here at the result, especially about the UK’s ability to be an “independent nation”. Strange, as that is just what New Zealand is, and yet is way smaller than the UK. I suspect many Kiwi’s don’t particularly differentiate between the UK and Europe in the same way that many Europeans don’t perceive any significant difference between New Zealand and Australia. Personally, I think the people of the UK have made a good and brave decision, and that ultimately the country will prosper and grow as a result. The other notable event of the week has been our 31st wedding anniversary. Nicky took the day off so that we could have the time together. Our “celebrations” sort of started the evening before with dinner at Bricklane with Nicky’s life group. As ever, we enjoyed the food (lamb ribs for N, smoked chicken for R) and the com...

As we approach the half-way point in the year I am feeling a bit of an element of surprise that we are there already. Next week we will have the shortest day and then start heading into the colder weather of July and August. The weather hasn’t been too bad this week, some sun and some showers, but I have got most of the washing dried outside. I have had a little more work than last week, but it has still been very quiet really. The discussion at my meet-up group was very good this week so that made for a very enjoyable evening. Nicky has had a busy week at the library, but the kites for the Matariki celebrations have been a source of frustration and annoyance despite all the positive effort she has devoted to them. She has had a couple of evenings out with a hair appointment and a prayer group. Our major viewing this week has been Wolf Hall on DVD. We got through all six episodes and really enjoyed the telling of the story from Thomas Cromwell’s perspective. I haven’t read...