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.