Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

The traveller has returned, jaded but happy. The flight from Singapore landed at 10.20am on Friday, and we were home a little after 11.30am. We had a very gentle afternoon slowly unpacking, looking at photos, and catching up on all that had happened since July 29th. I made us a smoked fish pie with proper shop-bought puff pastry for dinner which went down well. The quiet theme continued yesterday. The morning showers largely turned to sun and laundry was dried inside and out. Ironing was done, photos were sorted into an edited set, some zeds were had, and Stella came over for Scrabble. In the evening we watched All the Presidents Men on DVD, though one of use slept through some of it.  Today has been similar, with church first thing and Mary coming back for a brew afterwards. I stayed home as a customer was dropping in a machine to me to take a look at, which I did, and she collected later. Nicky had bought me a 300-piece Marauder’s Map jigsaw in LA which we did after lunc...

For many years before he died, our landlord and neighbour Barrie had a strict “no daisies” policy. I think sometimes in the summer he would cut the grass 3 or 4 times a week in order to attempt to maintain the policy. This mantle was passed onto Nicky, and now in her temporary absence it’s down to me, but it’s hard when the weather doesn’t play ball and the mower is aquaplaning. Still, I had a go today but I’m sure the daisies were laughing at me and just ducking. I have had a quiet week. All the Mac work I have done has been at home, either doing remote support or working on some old kit which I brought back with me last week. I did a modelling job yesterday morning, which was good. Last Sunday tea time I bit my tongue really badly and it’s only today that to has stopped hurting, so the beginning of the week was a tender time. I have read Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh which was gripping - she certainly knows how to introduce twists into the tale. We have had a week of wet an...

The highlight for me this week has to be my day trip to Dunedin yesterday. Claire had found the photos that Nicky sent of my mother very challenging, and it had been 18 months since we had last had some time together, so I booked some flights. I had quite an early start and arrived in Dunedin around 9.15 where Claire and Ryan met me at the airport. The weather was very sunny, but a crisp -2ºC. After coffee and a good chat at their place we headed into town for a bit of shopping and then onto Emerson’s Brewery for a very enjoyable lunch. We had time for a tour of the office where Claire works (which I hadn’t seen before and which was interesting) before going back to the airport. My 4.40pm flight was being called as we arrived so after having last hugs I boarded the plane. On the way down I enjoyed some great views, and Claire was able to take a picture of my flight coming in as they drove to the airport: My day trip was not my only social event of the week. Stella kindly...

Some strange things have been happening this week. The laundry basket hasn’t been generating it’s own pre-ironing, the duvet has stopped heading for the window, and pens have stopped self-levitating, moving to other parts of the house and hiding themselves. I can only assume there has been an orientation shift in the local magical field. With Nicky having had here first week on her trip, I have had my corresponding first week home alone. She flew to Los Angeles last Sunday, had a couple of nights there and an excellent day in Harry Potter World before flying onto England. She spent a couple of days in Farnborough with her sister and then headed north to Loughborough on the train. Her host there, Jancis, very kindly drove her up to Dinnington to visit my mother. Toilet on the aircraft View of LA from the hotel Home, at last. I didn’t have any worked booked on Monday, and with Nicky on her way and much of the apprehension of the previous week lifted I felt the need...

She’s off!. As I write Nicky has been in the air around half an hour. Next stop Los Angeles. It is almost 20 years since Nicky has travelled and I have been home alone. Last time was when Nicky and Claire departed for New Zealand in October 1998. The last time Nicky traversed the globe on her own was when when she returned to the UK after coming to NZ for her mother’s 90th with Felicity. We have both been a little apprehensive all week with the prospect of the trip. My major concern is that I won’t be by her side to help if she has any problems with her travel plans, and I think the administration of the journey has been uppermost in Nicky’s mind. She has had a different week at work, as the library closed yesterday for two weeks for refurbishment. She has spent a great deal of time on the phone calling borrowers and encouraging them to call in and collect the books that they had requested before the library closed. Other than that, the library hasn’t been to busy this week. I...

While Nicky began the week on the road to recovery and returned to work on Tuesday, I was still on the down hill side hitting the trough on Tuesday. I felt bad enough late Monday to postpone the work I had booked for Tuesday. I was very pleased that I had done so when I did do the job on Wednesday as it turned out to be more complicated than I had hoped. Still, we have both improved during the week and are approaching our more normal levels of health and well-being. Nicky had her regular eye clinic appointment on Monday, and has had a relatively quiet week at work. I have had more work on this week which has been good, just a bit of an unfortunate coincidence that this should happen while I’m under the weather. I didn’t linger for the socialising after my Deep & Meaningful meeting this week as I still felt in need of an early night in bed. The weather has been largely sunshine and showers, but during the dryer periods there seems to be a hint of spring. This looks set to c...

What with England being beaten by Croatia and Belgium (again) and Nicky being sent home from work on Wednesday due to her cold (which I now have - it was free!), it has not been our most exuberant week. We had a quiet, showery Monday, with Nicky doing lots of sewing. Her cough was quite bad and getting worse on Tuesday and Wednesday. We moved a planned doctors appointment (for renewal of some her regular drugs) forward to Thursday and Dr. Vather signed her off for the rest of the week, which has turned out to be a good idea. As Tuesday and Wednesday progressed the showers diminished, and Thursday was a lovely sunny day. I haven’t had much Mac work but I did a modelling session on Wednesday evening and a Consumer Research interview in town on Friday morning. We enjoyed watching a gentle film called The Chinese Takeaway which I had recorded last week. With us both being unwell we have had a quiet weekend of reading and telly. I have really enjoyed Belinda Bauer’s book Snap -...