Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

It isn’t really November, or if it is the November were have been getting this week has been more than a touch influenced by its cousin in the Northern hemisphere. It has been more cold and wet than warm and sunny. I have had to bring all my laundry skills to bear to get the washing dry outside, and not entirely succeeded. The ironing, being a completely  indoor activity, has been easier. Nicky did some water blasting at church on Monday and got thoroughly chilled to the bone. Mary came over in the afternoon and stayed and watched The Chase with us while Nicky warmed up with pots of tea. On Tuesday she had to quickly zip into town for a training course after arriving and work and discovering she was in the wrong place, but the rest of her working week has been much more normal. My working week has been very quiet, with no paid work at all, but a number of phone calls and emails to deal with. This has coincided with my cold (or what ever virus it is) lingering and I have felt q...

For the last few weeks Nicky has been knitting angels, and they are now residing on our willow branches along with our permanent fairy lights. They make a really nice display: Nicky’s week in the library has been uneventful, whereas my week has been shaped by jury service. I didn’t actually get drawn out of the ballot, but spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings waiting to see if I was. I have also had a little on-site work, and upgraded Steve’s laptop OS. Apart from a predominately fine and sunny week, and Nicky attending Life Group on Wednesday, the highlight of our week was going to see the Crimes of Grindelwald on Thursday. Nicky finished work at 5pm so that we could get to the 6pm showing, and afterwards we ate dinner at Hansan, a Vietnamese restaurant in the Brickworks. It was the only establishment in the complex which we hadn’t tried so we gave it a go. It was OK, but not as good as the others. The film however, was very enjoyable, and I thought it was better ...

There are currently 18,277 white crosses arranged in neat rows in the grass of the Auckland Domain in front of the War Memorial Museum, one for each of the New Zealand service personnel who died during the First World War. I saw them for the first time time today and was moved to tears even before the 100 year Armistice Service began. The Service was was both moving and appropriate. “I vow to thee my country” had me in tears again, though more because of the tune (Jupiter), than the lyrics. A speech by a Year 13 girl was memorable not only because of what she said, but also the quality of her delivery. She spoke of hands, and told us that her father had told her that we all have hands, and that they are all the same, but what is unique is what we choose to do with them. What those before us did with their hands is why we are here today, and what we do with our hands will shape those who come after us. I was very mindful of those in our family who have served, not only the older genera...

The major excitement of the week has been the Harry Potter Event at the library on Wednesday evening, though I think some Royals might have been and gone as well. Nicky had Tuesday off in lieu of last Monday, so after she finished reading The Washington Decree she set to in the kitchen, roasting a pumpkin, making pumpkin juice and pumpkin and peanut cookies, and getting ready to produce some 250 pumpkin pasties (some sweet, some savoury) on Wednesday morning before going into work for 11am. The event was “ticket only” and ran after the library had closed. Many of the staff were involved with lots of different activities organised for the children and their careers, lots of dressing up, and lots of happy participants. Great alternative to trick or treat on Halloween. The rest of the week has been pretty tame by comparison. I have been a little busier with work than recently, and the changeable spring weather has meant rapid bursts of activity for the washing machine on the days...

We started our week with the first public holiday of the season - Labour Day. Paul and Jenny had invited the family over for a shared lunch, so we had a relaxed start to the day and Nicky made a green salad which included pomegranate seeds, a first for us. Lunch was good, the weather was warm and sunny, and the atmosphere was relaxed and low key. We lingered until late afternoon. On our way home we called at Sylvia Park for Christmas present shopping for me. Nicky wanted to buy me some new shorts, and we had a much better selection than I was expecting and ended up buying a couple of very nice pairs. The evening was a combination of watching telly and reading. I finished Wild Fire by Anne Cleeve, her last Jimmy Perez novel, and enjoyed it. Nicky has now read it and also enjoyed it. Work has been very similar to the last few weeks for both of us, but the library does seem to be slowly picking up, especially when there is an event on. I had a good Deep & Meaningful meetup on Thu...

I am given to understand, Dear Reader, that even those on foreign shores are aware that we have had a long and tumultuous week in politics. The main instigator, Jamie Lee Ross, has been admitted to a mental health care hospital this afternoon. The specifics of his allegations are starting to be overshadowed by the bigger questions that they are raising; how sexual harassment is treated in large organisations, how donations to political parties are handled, how the polotical parties manage themselves, and how MP’s are selected for the parliamentary list. I wonder how much we will see really change. On Monday we had a bit of a treat. A trip to the cinema to see First Man, and then dinner at Bodrum Kitchen in The Brickworks. The film, if you haven’t already seen it, is very good, and is the first that I have seen that really tried to portray the dangers faced in the Apollo missions. I thought it was done very well. Bodrum Kitchen is Mediterranean style food. I had a couple of kebab s...

The weather has turned decidedly nippy again towards the end of the week, as I particularly noticed yesterday morning while standing at the old Tram Shelter in MT Eden. I was there waiting for my last Heritage Festival walk to begin and was very pleased to be wearing two layers of icebreaker merino with my wind & rain proof jacket. The walk through the centre of Mt Eden was very interesting as we learned about the geology that formed the area, the settling and architecture of the area, and then how the buildings have been adapted and repurposed. We concluded at the Crystal Palace Theatre which is currently undergoing refurbishment and it is hoped will open again in the future. For my final Festival event I drove over to Nathan Homestead in Manurewa to see a film called Pressing On, about printing enthusiasts in the USA who are keeping hot metal and wood block printing technologies alive. It was quite fascinating (especially as I have quite an interest in typography) ...