Birthday blog

OK. So the ‘blogging in bed on a Sunday morning habit’ hasn’t been so much of a habit lately. Sorry Helen! I will try and get back into it. Perhaps we can blame my attempts to get fit. I leap out of bed with such enthusiasm to run/walk that I don’t get round to blogging?? OK maybe not (or as Eric has just exclaimed on reading this “or you can say that that is absolute crap”!! So I’ve just been lax. That’s life!

I will say that we have been incredibly busy. I have had a hectic few weeks at work, as has Eric (though he’s always busy he has been busier this last few weeks). And we have had lots on in our own time. Eric has spent several weeks working on a farm sign for R+R (more on that later) and I seem to have had something on most evenings. Having a quiet evening in, curled up reading a book seems to be a rare treat of late.

I think we are organised for our trip, which is coming around very quickly. Tickets are ready to be collected, UK credit cards have been retrieved from the filing cabinets, a list written of UK shopping and ‘things to do’ (change PINs on cards at the ATM etc), new passports for the girls, replacement Returning Residency Visas so they can get back (we did think about ‘forgetting’ that!!), travel insurance sorted etc etc. We have had to tweek the itinerary a bit but otherwise I think everyone is happy. We are so excited about catching up with everyone. I hope everyone realises that although we have said we will catch up with you on this day people are welcome to catch up with us at anytime they wish. I am also trying to organise a day we will be in The Hope at Lyddon near Dover (probably) and a venue in London so we can catch up with anyone who wants to be there.

Despondent about my lack of weight loss despite more exercise and half heartedly trying this year, I joined Weight Watchers a few weeks ago. I have done better than I have ever managed before (not that I have been to WW’s for about 20 years now) and last week had to pop into Farmers whilst in Hamilton to buy trousers as the ones I was wearing were falling down as I was walking. I walked up to the store with my hands in my pockets holding up the trousers. Those of you in the UK won’t notice any difference as I hope to get down to the weight I was roughly when I left. Not that I can remember what I was but I know I have put heaps of weight on since living in NZ. I just wish I had joined 3 months earlier. I just hope I don’t put too much on when in the UK.

I am sitting in bed surrounded by pressies. Yes another birthday (I am sure I have had more than my fair share for this stage of my life!); Chanel No 5 from Eric (such extravagance) gummies from Inca and Rust (mine have a hole in them) a reflective jacket (I am pounding tarmac in the dark at this time of the year) from Feral, a huge garden pot from Harriette and a black wrap from Alice. We are off to R+R’s place for morning tea when Eric will put up the sign he made then we will go, with them, to meet Mom and Daddy at Ironique in Te Aroha for lunch. The sign. I will get photos. R+R. as I may have said before have had huge changes in their life. They have moved from being sharemilkers on Richard’s parent’s farm to farm owners. They have bought a diary farm out in Walton the other side of Matamata from us (which means they now live 30 instead of 10km away). We only got to see the place when they moved on 1 June. I took the day off work to help. It is just beautiful. They put an offer in without even seeing the house properly which sounds so bizarre to me but what is important to them is the farm itself. The farm contour is rolling hills, fewer gradients than the previous place but enough to add to the attractiveness of the place. They views are stunning from both the house, and as you drive around the farm. The paddocks, look great (to my unknowledgable eyes) hardly any weeds and lots of grass. The house is very livablein although obviously there are changes they want to make. All in all they have done brilliantly and we are both pleased for them and proud of them. It has taken years of hard work and careful management to get them to this stage and they are, quite rightly, thrilled. A few months ago Eric came up with the idea of an excellent ‘farm warming’ present, a carved sign. We knew what they were going to call the place and so he ordered the macrocarpa a 2m long piece and set to work with his chisels. I have to say I am so glad it is finished! This lump of wood has lived on the kitchen table except when we have wanted to eat there, or there was any chance that a Scott might drop round. The vacuum clearer has lived by the table as Eric vacuums after each episode of tapping away. A great lump of metal in the form of a sharpener has lived on the work top and we lived with a constant tap tap tap as Eric chipped away at the wood, along with his curses when things went wrong (he is such a perfectionist). Anyway, the sign was beautifully crafted and we were pleased to be able to give our good friends something a bit special as they embarked on their new venture. I’ll take piccies today.

Workwise, I have submitted an abstract for the NZ Immunisation Conference which has been accepted so I will be presenting that in Wellington in September. Looking forward to that. Our team is back up to full complement and our organisation has a new General Manager so we will see how things pan out over the coming year. I had an appraisal a week or 2 ago and apparently we should be hearing any day now about a pay increase. Fingers crossed. I sooo need a holiday. In NZ we get lousy holiday allowances compared to the UK and I have not had a break in over a year. For Eric, June 1 is ‘Gypsy Day’ when all the farm contracts change and farms change hands so lawyers are frantically busy. Eric is not handling farm sales himself but has been helping out with some I think. It is just all hands to the pump on June 1 though. Apparently it was less hectic this year as the system has moved to an electronic based one, on a national level. It obviously has made a difference.

On the band front our conductor resigned, giving us 2 hours, instead of the required 2 weeks, notice!! The timing was awful as we need some consistency to get us to the North Island Music Festival, a competition, in August. We had 2 weeks when one of our more senior members, who also conducts, did so, then has a week of panic as WYMA (our umbrella organisation) could not find us a replacement. However, we now have a solution. Another conductor has returned from a break in music while she had a baby, to take over and, along with the conductor from Youth Band, looks to have us back on track. The kids are great so I am sure they will be able to pull things together for August. Please God we have some stability now.

Blog moments:

1. Alice singing “She was a boy, he was a girl” from the Skater Boy song!!
2. Alice saying to Harriette “I’ve just had a JFK moment”. Harri: “What do you mean?”. Alice: “You know, a ‘I had a dream’ moment” She later swore she meant Martin Luther King!

Must get up (sigh!!)