WHAT a week. God I sympathise with people that have to negotiate rush hour on a daily basis. We had a genuine traffic jam in Cambridge yesterday. I was north of Hamilton in Ngarawahia (just drop the g) and, seeing that I was going to hit Hamilton around 5pm, came down the 1B (the route with the little old man and lady growing veges) to avoid the city. Trouble is it joins the 1 in Cambridge. Why was it so busy? Fielddays. The southern hemispheres largest agricultural show which is held somewhere between Hamilton and Cambridge. There are lots of routes in and out but you have to know which ones to take to avoid the traffic. I tried all my short cuts round/through Cambridge (and we are talking here of a town about the size of your very smallest town in the UK) and got caught in traffic every which way. I beat it today though! Came out of Hamilton down SH3 and cut across country. Shared the route with other cars but at least they all kept moving.

Anyway that's not why I have had a busy week. I have had evening meetings the last 2 evenings and have done various clinical assessments around the region. I also am trying to get the afore mentioned report finished. Not helped by losing 5 hours of work yesterday!!!! The computer just shut down on me and would recover the files. The Help menu tells me to go to 'Tools' to set the save options but I don't have a 'Tools' command. Ask Help why and it tells you to look in 'Tools' doerrrr!! Have emailed the techno-boffins at the university. I was so sure I'd get the report posted off yesterday. I saw Judes report (which put my efforts to shame) and asked her why she could get all the demographic stuff that I couldn't. I was in the right website and was just 2 clicks of buttons away from what I wanted. I can't tell you how many hours I've wasted in this!!!Still I DEFINITELY will get it done tomorrow.

Did you know that volcanos can be dominant? No I didn't either but Alice was adamant! It started off when she told us at supper that her right arm was her dormant one. Now resisting the temptation to inform her that it went with the state that the rest of her body was in, we explained that she probably meant 'dominant'. "But we have dominant volcanos here don't we". Bless her.

Dusty is full of 10 times more beans than she was before she got sick (or do I mean got better?) and flys around at a rate of knots for 90% of the day. Beware when walking around, she can attack ankles from 40 paces in one flying leap. Inca is still puzzled by her (slow learner that he is) and watches her warily when he has nothing better to do (like eat or sleep). He still pins her to the ground with one paw when he thinks we are not looking and has a definite 'bugger' expression when a loud 'INCA' from us tells him we are watching. He has also sussed out that there are sharp things on the end of the paws which eyes must be kept away from. On other occasions they are curled up together in front of the fire looking soooo sweet! I would take a photo but the state of the carpet from ember burns in that area would make for a very skatey background!

Harriette has just gone to bed in a state of total despair. She has lost all of tonight's work on her stats project. I have told her that this may be the first but I can guarantee it won't be the last time it happens and, has it taught her a lesson in the importance of saving etc. I know I also lost stuff this week but that wasn't MY fault...(reeks of an external locus of control me thinks). Anyway I did feel so sorry for her. So sorry that I re-typed all her text but couldn't do her titles etc. I have no idea about all that graphicky wordarty stuff.

Eric is building a cupboard in the kitchen. I'm sorry. I should have warned anyone who has visited in the last 24 months since the kitchen was started, to sit down before they read that. Are you sitting now? I ask because the next bit will shock you further. I think there is a serious risk that he may complete it in less than a fortnight, oh alright maybe that is silly. Possibly a month. Watch this space!

So that's all for tonight folks.