Now this is novel...

....someone leaving New Zealand! In our experience everyone is trying to get here. Anyway Bridget aka Milky is on her way, to Blighty that is. Well she is still on NZ soil at the moment but has left the Waikato and travelling south.

Sorting out the in car entertainment

Going.....

going.... (down the drive)

gone (on the road)


For those of you not familiar with Bridget's plans (and I had to be told 23 times before it sank in) she is off to Palmeston North to stay with brother (via friends in Napier) then on to Mom (Trish) in Wellington. A day trip to South Island to catch up with friends and meet Murray (of Coffee Waffle blog) then flies out on Tuesday. A stopover in Kuala Lumpar (is that spelt right?), arriving in London on Thursday. Being collected by Bloo (does that mean a 6 hour wait on the M4?!) then on to Bloo's Mom initially. Bloo has taken 2 days off to look after Bridget. Hope she can stay awake! No I was not refering to how stimulating your company is Bloo!!!

Bridget stayed here on Tuesday night after delivering Darsha, the cat, to Hamilton airport for her flight to Wellington. Trish only phoned 6 times in the 12 hours after her arrival with questions and concerns!

I haven't blogged for aeons. A combination of lack of time, no news and being in a state of constant exhaustion. I start to anticipate the pleasure of my bed from about 7.30pm!! Sad I know. Since I wrote winter has arrived. Well the temperautres have taken a tumble but it has still been sunny and dry, until today when it was windy and we had an hour or 2 of showers this morning. I lit the fire!!!!! Now anyone who has been here will know how protective Eric is of his wood. It is lovingly cut and you'd think it was in the woodshed for show! Perish the thought I should burn it. Eric had a hissy fit when he realised I'd lit the fire. Fortunately for him it went out a few hours later. Eric is struggling to get an assignment finished by tonight. Matters were not helped when he lost an hours worth of alterations to his text. In an attempt the help I said I'd type if he dictated. In the midst of this the gifted one came in and told me the fire was going out. I have no recollection of this but apparently I shouted at her. Now your average person, even one only 12 years old I'm sure, would put some more wood on the fire. It was not until we sat down for supper and I checked the fire (thinking it had got chilly) that I realised what had happened. So much for being the 'gifted one'!!!

Feral has been a bit off colour. On Friday night when Helen and Phil were here we heard a cat fight. A few days later Feral was obviously sore round her nether regions. I was all for marching off to the vet but Eric was adamant she had been got at by a tom and would recover after a few days walking round bandy leg fashion. She was conspicuous by her absence for a day or two then, on Tuesday night, the cause of her suffering was identified when an abcess on her tail burst. Poor thing! Rust remains a bugger, he is permanently 'human touch' deprived and forever seeking physical contact, usually by pushing his muzzle into your lap or under your elbow. Failing that he will lay on your feet. Inca just remains handsome and the favoured one.

Helen and Phi are fine and we had a good evening when they came over on Friday. Helen MADE a cheesecake. You'd have to know Helen to know how monumentous that is. Helen doesn't do cooking. I wonder if it is something to do with the name! Helen (as in Helen and Paul in the UK) is the world's worst cook (even the children would cry 'Oh please Mom, tell us when don't have to have tea there' when I would tell them that they would be going to Helen's after school, and that was when they were 5 and 6 years old!!!) and from what Eric tells me Hx lives off M+S prepacked meals (is that a huge slander Helen?, blame Eric!!). Anyway Phil starts his flying job very soon so will be jollying off to exotic places. Sigh.....

The children are on week one of a two week holiday so I am trying to juggle childcare and work. They spent yesterday at WaterWorld in Hamilton and today in the pools at Te Awamutu (not ALL day you understand, just an hour or 2 while I worked). Today I had difficulty getting them there (we swam yesterday!) and then couldn't get them out! Eric is off Uni so has gone back to working mornings for 2 weeks. His non-work time is still dominated by studying and the car. Progress report on the Mistral, Eric put it back together and now it is in the garage to be fixed!!!! No that sounds awful. Eric got the new head on and was thrilled when it started, the temperture gauge stayed OK and no oil or water leaked from anywhere. Problem is the smoke bellowing out the exhuast. After much consulatation with Bryce at the garage they decided he'd done wrong fiddling with the tappets and they needed adjusting. I am putting this details in for the blokes, I haven't got a clue what I'm talking about!! All I know is that I'm dead impressed (but not surprised) that he can take on such a huge job.

So you get the gist of things. Life is very unexciting here and blog entries I think may continue to be scarce for awhile. Still Eric's academic year is 1/4 way through now. Night night.

2 weddings and a funeral

OK one wedding but they did it twice! Our TV has been pulled out in the name of history this week. We watched both the wedding and the funeral. Well Eric and I did. Harriette was ill the day of the funeral and only managed the first 45 minutes or so before going to bed and she spent the wedding in the bath. Alice fell asleep during the funeral (well it was 10pm) but was glued to the TV this morning for the wedding. I, like most of the British public I guess, have mixed feelings about the wedding. Yes Charles should be able to marry the woman he loves, and he abviously sees something in her having stuck the relationship for so long, but... well, Diana and being the head of the church mmmmm, doesn't feel right. Principle or not, I am a royalsist and had to watch. I must say I loved the outfit worn for the blessing! And all that pomp and circumstance - I love it. Reminds me of the fact that we are British, regardless of how naturalised we feel.

Back to Cedar Lodge. Life is passing in a blurr at the moment. This week as well as the usual rushing around I have had 4 trips to the doctors, Harri's music camp and a talk at the vets! Harriette, as you know, had a yukky toe. On Thursday I went and picked her up from school Her teacher knew I was coming but she didn't. She got into the car telling me she wasn't having it done. 'What do you want for a treat afterwards?' I asked. 'Nothing, I'm not having it done!' By now she is in tears. Siting at the doctors she is on the verge of hysteria and panics everytime Andy came out (which he did quite often). Into the room and, taking of her sandals and getting onto the bed, she is still telling me she isn't having it done! Andy was brilliant and joked around with her. I have to say Harriete was very good and despite being it pain did not even twitch her leg. I was almost in tears with her at one point asking myself if it was really the right decision putting her through this. Time will tell. The toe has healed beautifully.


So that was 2 trips to the doctors. On Wednesday night I thought Alice was getting tonsillitis again. Now my usual tack is to tell her (and myself) that it will clear up and wait until she is really poorly before taking her in (by which time it's the weekend and the doctors bill is 3 times more expensive!). I decided on a different approach this time. I would take her sooner rather than later. Saw Adrian this time who told me she was fine! I had a trip in and got antibiotics for a skin infection. We have never had as many antibiotics as we have had since living here!!

Eric is sitting next to me as I type, on the other computer flying planes. He blames Martin for this, it is the same one he was hooked on when we last visted them in Somerset, and his colleague Pete, who lent the programme to him. He (Eric) is quite funny to watch having sat here with his hands wrapped round his head as he landed saying, in a panicy fashion, 'Ohhhhh I'm going to crash' then sighing loudly as he lands safely. He then read the book and said 'That's OK, you don't do much when your landing'!!!

Harriette's music concert went OK. It is good for the children to be able to perform in this fashion. They have 2 schools with 2 bands (junior and senior) and a choir, about 300 kids in all. They could do with a PA system there though for the teachers talking in between. They also had a brass ensemble from Matamata who were very good (and I don't like brass instuments as a rule) and an intern Japanese teacher from Te Awamutu Intermediate who played piano and sang a Japanese folk song. He was fabulous.

The following evening we went into the vets for a talk. Nigel (our local vet) had been out to Sri Lanka to desex dogs and inject them against rabies as part of an Humane project. He went out with less than 2 days notice, and had an amazing trip. It was really interesting. Matamata has since got involved in raising funds to buy outboard motors for the fisherman in the village he was in. Apparently they lost their motors but not their boats.

I must go and watch Billy Connelly. This is the last in the series then the TV can go back into hibernation until the Lions tour.

My wonderful (or are they woberful) children.

Supper time conversation. We were talking about the Pope. Somehow this led on to JFK. There was a connection but what that was escapes me at the moment (I think it was Eric saying they were both popular but corrupt, or something similar), anyway Alice obviously knew something of the assassination (I think there is a video clip on Encarta- see they do utilise your pressie Stan/Carol) and started to offer some opinions on the matter. She was factually incorrect and Eric said "Well that just shows how ignorant you are" (he has that wonderful nurturing manner where Alice is concerned) to which Alice replied (in her usual indignant tone) "I'm not ignorant (pause for thought).... whatever that is"!!!!!! Of course the 3 of us fell off our chairs in hysterics as Alice sat their looking confused. She was then sent to consult a dictionary.

Harriette went off to music camp yesterday. She has used 'packing' almost all weekend to postpone tidying her room and it only got (half) done on Monday morning when I said I would only take her into town on the way to camp,to buy board shorts if she got it done. She had to take lunch and had prepared that on Sunday night. I offered to help with packing but no, she was quite capable of doing it herself. Imagine my reaction when, driving from town to the camp at Totaroa Springs (about 10km out of Matamata) when I asked, "Have you got your lunch", "No" (as I turn round to return to Matamata) "Have you got your takkies(trainers)", "No, I won't need them" (she's obviously psychic, how does she know!), "Have you got your;raincoat/pillow/sleeping bag" "No/No/No". Parental dilema. Do I go drop her at camp and a) go and collect forgotten/diliberately left behind items, b)take said items to camp in the evening or c)let her live with the consequences??? I opted for c). I was OK with that all day until the evening. We 3 had been sitting reading (well Eric was syudying, that's all he does these days) and as Alice got up to go to bed she said she was worried about Harriette and I was a negligent parent and should have taken the sleeping bag over. Ooooeeerrrr, pangs of guilt. Followed by "Robyn wouldn't let Sarah freeze"!!! I then gave Alice a lecture on learning to take responsibility and how, if we always ran around after them, they'd never learn to stand on their own 2 feet. I also reassured myself with the thoughts that she was actually staying in the motel and not in a cabin, and that if it was really an issue the staff would either phone me, or provide her with a blanket. We are up their to watch a concert this evening and I will take these things so she would have only frozen for one night.

Eric has been up since 4am studying (awake since 3am he adds!)and I have been awake since 5.45am (I know R+R would think this a positive lie in). However I must now go and start the day. Another altercation with Eric as he moans at the amount of coverage the Popes death is getting!. I also have some reservations about the Catholic church but believe John Paul was a great man who deserves the respect of the world in his death.