Birthdays and Anniversaries

I will not get up. I won’t! This week we have dragged ourselves out of bed every morning and kept telling ourselves that Saturday was coming and we could lie in bed as long as we wanted and sleep in. Well now it is Saturday and, Yes you’ve guessed it, ‘ping’ wide awake at 6.10am. But I will not get up on principle. Not one to waste time I have decided to blog. (Yes Carol a laptop has big advantages and would make a jolly nice Xmas pressie!!). Eric is progressing well at work, or seems to be. Colleagues uttered surprise that he had not worked in a law office before when discussing a new grad who had been canvassing for work this week. Obviously being an aged graduate they assumed he had some pre-grad law office experience. He is seriously exhausted every night though and obviously on a huge learning curve.

A slightly less hectic weekend is on the agenda this week. Last Sunday was Mom’s 70th birthday and I had offered to cater for a BBQ at their house. I was really happy to do it but it felt a much bigger responsibility than catering on the same scale for my friends here. I so wanted to get it right, and of course I had that ever-nagging worry that there wouldn’t be enough food (I can hear the comments now - The Tanners are not renowned for underfeeding their guests!). Anyway I did a triple layers pavlova (with strawberries from the garden), a huge chocolate cheesecake (recipe off the philly cheese box), truffle torte (Delia’s), trifle (another Delia, the one with home made custard, half a bottle of sherry and raspberries), rice, green and cauliflower salads. A few people also bought salads and we had enough to feed an army! I made a golf themed cake (what else) and the day went very well. We gave Mom a voucher for something she wanted and flowers but I wanted her to have something to unwrap on the day and found what I thought was a very tasteful pressie in ‘Cabbages and Kings’ in Tauranga. A necklace hanger. You may have seen them, they are like a clothed dressmakers manikin, about 18” high but with twisted metal instead of a head and arms, on which to hang ones necklaces. That’s a rubbish description I’ll get a picture! In fact I will have to get a picture as the girls said I must canvas blog reader opinions. I really liked it. Bought it home, proudly assembled it on the kitchen table, chuffed I had found the perfect gift, tasteful, unusual etc, and waited for the ‘gosh that’s nice’ comments that would surely emit from my family when they came home from work/school. Harriette first, ‘God what’s that, it’s gross’ (gross said with huge emphasis), followed by Alice’s ‘That’s horrible it’s not for us is it’. When I explained they said ‘Oh that’s alright, Grandma will like it’!!! Eric had it planted firmly in front of him and told by Harriette ‘Now Dad, what do you think of this, it’s Grandmas present? It’s for hanging necklaces’ said, with an eyebrow raised ‘Well it’s (pause) different. Grandma will like it’!!! Of course this caused great hilarity and the questioning was put to many guests at the BBQ. ‘Interesting’ was added to ‘different’ but generally they summed up the responses. Emma really liked it (one child with taste anyway), as did Kev though he had to deliberate before he came to that conclusion. And Mom’s response? “Different”!! I’m not convinced she like it though she said she did, but at least in the years to come she will remember the day she received it and the laughter it caused. (PS Eric, I later found out, told the girls they weren’t to buy me one as he didn’t want to have to look at it every day!!!!!!). The day was a success I think and, although it was hard work and I am glad it is done, I was really pleased that Mom was here that I could do it for her. (Just re-read that, what I meant was ‘here’ as in NZ, not ‘here’ as in walking this mortal coil still. Just needed to clarify that!)

The previous week I was in Tauranga teaching in their ED. Just a short session early in the morning. Well at 7.30am I rang Mandy to see if she would be around for a coffee afterwards. A sleepy Mandy answered the phone (very unusual Mandy’s an earlybird). ‘Did I wake you?’ ‘I’m in China.’ Now it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, if we are awake down here then you will be asleep!! So coffee was obviously was out. Mandy had recently been on Dragons Den and got her $100 000 for a building site safety rail (King Klamps, it’s got a website but I can’t do links. Bridget please show me how when you come home) so I assumed this was a spin off from that. Turns out is wasn’t quite, but she was on the big trade delegation that’s just gone to China from NZ and was being treated like royalty. (I managed to catch up with her when I went to Tauranga this week for the same thing). It was a hugely successful trip, far more so that she expected and she is going out there again before Xmas. I am so pleased for her.

I have just been reminded of something that happened last night which I have to blog. (Harriette has just wandered in, book in hand, she is obviously looking for a cuddle). (Pause here while she climbs into bed and rips the duvet of us). We had friends for dinner last night (more on that in a mo). During the evening their son announced there was a mouse in the dining room. Now we are all country folk so this was no big deal. The cat was bought in (she had actually bought the flippin mouse in earlier in the day and lost it) and the magazine pile dismantled where it was hiding. Needless to say Feral was useless and the mouse disappeared into Harriette’s bedroom. Come bedtime Harriette got up (she had been in our bed again for more cuddles), and walked to the door adjoining her room with ours with Eric saying ‘Mind the mouse’ and other similar comments. This obviously psyched her up and as she opened the door she screamed, loudly! Her black school bag, which was propped in top of her sax case and leaning against the door fell in and scared the living daylights out of her!!!

Dinner. During the winter we became friendly with Angela and Rob, parents of Rebecca, Harriette’s friend, and Chris (13). Netball season finishes right in the peak of calving so an invite to dinner at that stage is not appropriate. We said we would have them over after calving but by the time I had asked them I had missed the window in the dairying calendar and now they were into AB-ing. We therefore booked a date well in advance, which was last night. I decided to do an Indian meal, which I later realised this was a mistake for a Friday evening meal, far too time consuming when I am supposed to be working. Anyway, it was a big success. They really enjoyed it and kept coming back for more (always a good indicator I think). They also spoilt us with bottles of nice wine and Belgian chocolates. The Apple Betty and Tiramasu will be finished tonight as we are going to R+R’s for a BBQ (far too good friends to mind half finished puddings being bought round!!). Rob and Angela are really good company and Eric and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

It’s five years tomorrow since we arrived in NZ. We try to celebrate our anniversary’s with a fish and chip supper on the beach at Papamoa (this is what we did on our first day here). It doesn’t always come off, because of rain. Wet looks promising for tomorrow but as it’s not a weekday I think we’ll do it anyway. I am not good at reflection (for too much of a doing person) but it is a good time to look back on our first 5 years in NZ. All-in-all, and without a doubt, it is the best decision we ever made in life, and true to our style, (well mine anyway) it was a decision made with very little fore-thought. We (I) just acted on gut instinct. The glorious sunrise and fabulous weather on our first day I felt was a good omen, and in hindsight, I was right. I missed: Radio 4, IKEA, decent supermarkets, Tescos maple and walnut ice cream and, of course, our friends/family’s. Some of those have been addressed. National Radio here found an FM frequency and either they became more professional, or we got used to their ways (I fear the latter is true). IKEA shopping has been managed with visitors bring required items out in suitcases (or containers!). The supermarkets have been dragged from the 70’s into the 90’s here and are improving all the time. And friends/family, well we have been fortunate to have had many visitors (especially in that first 2 years), some even have been out twice, and we have other friends who are promising trips at some time. Inevitably there are some who will not get here, unless they win the lottery (!), but of course we will be able to catch up with them next July. Unfortunately I haven’t found an importer of that specific ice cream yet but 4 out of 5 ain’t bad.

Undoubtedly the biggest problem has been the battle Eric has had to qualify. The odds are stacked against law grads coming here and getting qualified and I still believe something should be done about it. This has meant we have been more broke and for longer than we expected and that has been really hard. We have ridden that storm though and, hopefully, are coming out the other side now. At least he is on the ladder now and hopefully in 2 or 3 years his salary will start to resemble something reasonable. As I keep telling the girls we should be right as they leave home then we can spend it all on ourselves!!!!

NZ is a fabulous place to live and fits our ideals perfectly. Why anyone would live anywhere else I cannot imagine.

We're Booked!

Booked flights today for our UK trip. Leave here on 29th June and arrive back on 27th July. 2 nights stopover in Singapore on the way back and enough air points to fly each of us to a pacific island, or Australia (and back) later. All that is for the equivilent to just under 3 months of my salary. So, I am now planning our itinery. When can we come and see you??? We will be based in Kent, London and Shropshire and going to Chestershire (Eric's parents), Bath (Eric's brother), Cheltenham (Louise), Leistershire and Darbyshire (Mark, Donna, Mark and Cheryl), Paris and Cornwall (I want to go to the Eden project) etc etc. Have to be in Kent for 3rd and 20th July (the girls birthdays). Otherwise we are free to fit in with people there!!! It's all beginning to seem real now and I am starting to get excited.

London here we come - well nearly

I have sooo much to do. I am behind on emails, blog, and general indoor stuff (I never did get to the accounts over Labour weekend). I am also trying to get the lawn in front of the cottage re-seeded (still in a mess after I removed a camelia and re-leveled the area, the seed planted last summer got washed away with rain and has not been replaced), have decided I want to paint some bits missed when Harriette’s extension was done (yes I know that was 4 years ago) and am trying to finish the painting in the kitchen that was never finished after that was extended (all needs a 2nd coat etc). I really would like to take some leave (I need it anyway) but am not sure how much leave I have and have to keep a month back for July. We only get 3 weeks leave here (I miss my 5 week UK allocation!). I also have Mom’s 70th birthday next weekend which I am catering for (which of course I am only to pleased to do) and had booked a days leave on Friday but that has been partially swallowed by a leaving lunch for a colleague in Rotorua.

Today we are off to a flights expo in Hamilton where I expect we will book our UK trip so watch this space! Harriette has a busy day, gym followed by swimming with her friends (it’s Kylies birthday), McDonald’s lunch (yuk) to Kylies for the afternoon then stockcar racing in the evening in Tauranga. All good except I have to pick her up in Matamata at 11pm!! Roll on her 15th birthday when she can drive (maybe not, I’ll be worried sick for her). Alice is going to come into Hamilton with us but I will drop her at Juliet and Kev’s so she can spend the time with Emma. J + K moved into their rented house 2 weeks ago and it is great, I can pop in for a coffee frequently as I am out and about in Hamilton between 1 and 3 days a week. They have recovered from their traumas of earlier in the year now and are back on track. Kev is working from home auditing a hotel chain (which obviously means weeks away at a time), Juliet’s pregnancy is going well and the girls are thrilled to be 15 minutes from schools rather than the 1 and ½ hours away as they were before in Glen Murray. Kev pointed out how ironic it was that they are outdoors more now. You buy a rural property to give your kids space for an outdoor life and they live indoors reading on the pooter etc. Move to town and they are out all the time. It’s worth getting the bikes out as there are places to bike to; library, friends round the corner, shops etc. J+K say they never see the girls now.

It looks like a nice weekend so I am hoping that it stays that way so I can blitz the drive tomorrow. I want to make sure there is no fallen branches etc in case Carol decides to light fires!!! She and Milky arrive in 4 weeks and we are all on countdown here! Everyone is very excited.

Oh well, time to get up I suppose. If I am going to be in the garden at the weekends I don’t walk but I don’t have that excuse today so I’d better pull on my walking togs and get going. I MUST buy myself some descent shoes, my trainers are very cheap and aweful!