July 8th – Day 8

Sitting in bed, at Alex and Dave’s in Shrewesbury. Another gorgeous house, a huge, old town house where we are in one of the attic rooms aka Todd’s old bedroom. The bell from the church out the back is calling worshipers in. (“Quiet neighbours” Dave said on seeing the graveyard when they first looked round the place!).

After collecting Harriette we went to the MacArthur factory outlet centre (I’m guessing maybe 80 shops) near Ashford. Harriette’s clothes all had security tags on so we needed to get those removed, and I was heading for the Clarkes shoe shop to buy size 9 (UK) shoes. I was very disappointed when told that they had none. I had so be pinning my hopes on this place. The girls found ‘Accessorize’ and ‘Claire’s’ and bought a tonne of cheap jewellery and we all found the Revlon factory outlet shop with mega cheap make-up.

Headed West. Found the village where Eric’s family came from (Echinswell) and had lunch and our first beer in the pub there before a wander round the churchyard. Didn’t find any Tanner graves though. Battery deqad in camera at this point! I must get a second spare one.

Next we went to meet with my elderly aunt. Bit of a mix up there. She told Eric she would meet us at some tea rooms so we ordered tea when we arrived but she met she would meet us there and show us the way to her place (she had given me direction the previous day!). The tearooms where also convenient for us as they were quite close to Marshfield, where Eric’s brother Graham and his family live. Anyway, tea with Auntie Cathe then off to Grahams where we met Edward, our nephew (the only one of 11 Tanner grandchildren to carry on the family name). Headed off to Debbie and Martin’s at Brean near Weston-Super-Mare. They live in an ex-bed and breakfast right on the beach. Debbie and Martin are wonderful hosts. I was not allowed to lift a finger. Actually I must say I am so enjoying being spoilt! For so many years we have been the ones to host visitors, and I really enjoy showing off the way we live, feeding people well and trying to make peoples stay with us as relaxing as possible for them but it is soooo nice to have the boot on the other foot and be on the receiving end for a change.
Debbie and Michelle:


The weather in Brean was shocking, incredibly windy. I left the bathroom window open and the bathroom was covered in sand (not even a sea facing window). The car was covered with a layer of sand mixed with saltwater spray. Very messy. It was raining on our first morning there, so combined with the wind I decided against a run. We drove to a village called Langsford on the Parrett river and had a long leisurely lunch there with Nicky,

a friend from college, and her partner Brian. We then went up to a monument just outside the village, which gave (or rather would have given, had the weather not been so foul), a panoramic view of the Somerset levels (a plain, previous flood lands).
The Tanner's on their 'summer' holiday:

Back to Martin and Debbie’s for a gorgeous meal very professionally prepared by Martin. Christopher, their 12 year old son, is an incredibly talented piano player and I was absolutely stunned at his playing. Quite wonderful. I am sure he could make a career of his music but he is aiming at engineering, in the aeronautical area.

The next morning took us the Cleeve Hill near Cheltenham to see Louise. Louise and I trained together. Lu then took a break in her training to have Suzannah. After completing her training she met Tim whom she married taking the family to 5 as Tim had 2 young children (his wife Janet died tragically young of cancer). They then had Sophie and Alice (my god-daughter), and a much later addition, Toby. Tim is retired and they live in wonderful old house, originally a stone masons cottage which was then extended and a large Edwardian façade added - I think that is right. The property is tucked up a tiny lane and has stunning panoramic views.
(View from the conservatory):


There were so many rooms and I loved the way Louise described them, this is the girls living room, this is my living room, this is the boys (ie Tim and Toby’s) living room. Another friend Helen came up to see us, Helen. Helen is one of life’s characters! She is married to Dave, a mathematician who has done very well in a career teaching in public (ie private) schools in Scotland and England. They have 2 sons whom they must be so proud of, both head boys in their years. Andrew, the younger, drove his mom up (much wine would obviously be consumed). Somewhat outnumbered by our 4 girls, he was a delight, charming and very good looking! Helen, Louise and I have a lot of history and I think H and A were quite bemused by the whole afternoon. They thought they were going to be bored and certainly were not! We had a great time. Lots of photos, including one of all our offspring, excluding Mark, Helens other son.

I was so pleased to see that Louise is finally showing a few signs of age! Louise, slightly older than me, looked like a child bride when she married and is always being mistaken for the girl’s sister. It was great to see she colours her hair to cover the grey (and could not believe that my brown hair with the merest hint of grey, and only if you look hard, was natural) and she has at long last put on some weight!! Thanks Lu!!

Louise cooked a lovely lasagne and I was disappointed, and tearful, when we finally had to leave.

We moved on to Shrewesbury where we are now staying with Alex (Eric’s eldest sister) and Dave. Tricia (another sister) and Simon were here and we all went for a Chinese. We walked to the restaurant (a bit of a struggle for Eric who was by now suffering with a bout of gout, luckily not as bad as on previous occasions, but going on a bit longer than usual). Lily and Sarah (more nieces) joined us and are great with the girls.


Yesterday we, as usual, woke very early. I was lucky enough to get back to sleep but Eric didn’t. Actually we woke early again this morning which was not much fun after a 2am bedtime. We are gradually becoming more sleep deprived each day!! Another day to shop! I took H,A and Lily in to town and we met Sarah there. They took the girls off and I met up with them for lunch. Actually I think I was the worst. I bought 4 pairs of shoes and stocked up on M+S bra’s. I was however restrained in Long Tall Sally and only bought one skirt! Harriette bought books!!! And this despite being told “baggage allowance” repeatedly. Her theory is she’ll ditch some clothes!! We went to Tricia and Simon’s yesterday evening for dinner and to meet up with Eric’s parents, both of whom look incredibly well and not a day older than when I last saw them 5 years ago.

4th July - Day 4

5.40am. Sitting in bed at Helen and Paul’s place, with tea – naturally! In fact the mug is so big Eric just said it is a bit like drinking out a flowerpot!!
Helen and Paul live in a gorgeous farmhouse dating back to the 1780’s.

All low ceilings (only one bruise on my head), flagstone floors, rooms everywhere and the loudest creaking stairs you ever heard. No chance of Adam and Kate creeping to bed late at night without the parents hearing in a few years time! Kate and Alice are the same age and Adam is a year older than Harriette. We met them in 1995, shortly after both families moved to Hawkinge, in the local GP’s waiting room. In fact H+P had looked at Port Fleur (our last UK home) and only turned it down as it had 2 bedrooms (they have a boy and girl). And we would definitely have bought their previous home had we seen it first. They moved here (to the farmhouse) shortly after we emigrated (a place we would have loved but never been able to afford!). Paul has his own business and works very hard. They have Chester (a red setter) who I am sure remembered us, and since we left have acquired and Irish wolfhound, Ollie. Now I know these dogs are big but you need to be up close to see just I how big. He is the most gentle, docile and intelligent (I’m taking Helen’s word on the latter) creature.

So what have we been up to? Monday we discovered Primark, a seriously low cost clothes shop perfect for H and A. Only had 20 minutes there so need to find another one on our travels. Eric got a SIM card for the phone and we went to pick up the hire car. Driving out of London was as stressful as you could imagine. We left quickly as Ava and the girls were standing on the doorstep waiting to wave us off and it was raining, and had not planed a route out. In honestly I thought Eric knew the way. He then started saying get me out onto the M4 (or A4) and I couldn’t understand why he wanted to go west when we were heading south east. So I tried to take us south even though I was looking at a less than detailed map, which I was struggling to see. Then realised our route took us down by Wimbledon Common (during the tennis), well I’m sure you get the picture. Luckily Eric and I both, unspokenly, realise that this is no-ones fault and we only yell because we are stressed/tired and all is soon forgotten (well once we’re on open, and the correct, road)! Actually the girls were very good and sat quietly rather than telling us not to yell! Finally got to Kent and was struck by the Englishness of everything. Tried to have a conversation about how we felt and the best Harriette could come up with was ‘It’s weird but not weird’. Which we all despaired at considering her true gift is meant to be language! She however thought it was better than my recurrent “It’s so English” every 2 minutes. Got to Staplehurst and met up with my Uncle Tony and Auntie June whom I am very fond of. They are great grandparents now and lots of the family, including my cousin Pauline were there to meet us. From there we popped up to see my cousin Tony and his family. It is their son who had the accident in the Caribbean last December and broke his back. Alex is finally home and they are still in the process to adjusting to their new lives. Alex is amazingly positive and in good humour. He has live in carers and is using some very high tech stuff to try and move things on but it is going to take many years before his final outcome will be known.

From there we, or rather Eric, drove to Selsted (this is still the day I woke at 2am). I was amazed at how quickly we seemed to be getting from A to B. I think our road map must be a different scale to those we use in NZ. We were greeted so warmly with Helen hugging me repeatedly for the first hour saying “I can’t believe you’re finally here”. Katie had been unbearable for weeks apparently but concerned, as the girls were, that they may have all changed and would not get on. Well, no chance. Alice and Katie have been inseparable and talking 10 to the dozen (excitedly) ever since. Helen (this is Helen who can’t cook) seemed determined to prove she had made progress in this department and amazed me with cookbooks (not many but they were obviously used!) and a cupboard of baking ingredients. She was busy mixing and cooking but produced a cobbler with a rock hard crust so did not disappoint us too much!!!! She had also made a pudding without any packet mixes and served this with redcurrants and raspberries from the garden.

Day 3 – Tuesday. Started the day off with my first effort to run/walk for 3 weeks. I have been having physio for my hip but it is two steps forward and one back. I was only able to run for 300m but did a total of about 3.5km walking. I arrived back to find Eric, Paul and Katie in the kitchen eating breakfast. “You look like you’ve been running,” said Paul. ”I have”. His jaw dropped and he exchanged shocked looks with Katie. No one does things like that around here apparently. That may account for the shocked look on the old couples faces that I passed pleasantries with on my way round!

I think I have discovered the art, and joy, of shopping. It was Harriette’s birthday. Not much pressie unwrapping as everyone had given her money. She wanted to go to go to Howletts but the weather looked threatening so we decided on shopping in Canterbury and lunch out. We took 2 cars as Katie had persuaded Helen to let them have the day off school. Adam amazingly wanted to come with us and has been very chatty, not the sulky teenage boy I was expecting. In fact I think Helen has been pleasantly surprised. Seems he has also been looking forward to seeing the girls but then he and Harriette were quite close before we moved. Canterbury was great and I would have loved more time. Eric, H and I were going to do the cathedral while Kate and Alice wanted to hit the shops and marched off arm in arm to do so. Helen declined the cathedral but Adam wanted to come with us. Kings School choir was practicing while we were there and the acoustics were amazing. Standing staring at brilliant 30 ft high stained glass windows (and at this point the sun was even shining which adds to their brilliance) with Handels Messiah and the Halleluiah Chorus booming around you I have to say choked me up and bought tears to my eyes. I think Harriette was similarly struck.


They so should have filmed Parry Potter here:

(When we lived in Whitstable Harriette always asked to go "and see the Black Prince" whenever we were heading off for Canterbury. Here they are together):




The shop on the right is where Eric and I bought our wedding rings:

An hour there and then we hit the shops. Robyn you are to be blamed for the millions of photos we are taking because we are doing our best to show you what we can of this country. Robyn so wants to come to the UK but the trip is a few years off yet.

Next we ambled down to the West Gate to go to Café des Amis for lunch then shopping again, the July sales are everywhere with up to 70% off!! Finally we split up and I took Alice (with Kate of course) to pick Lucy up from school (in Canterbury). I had arranged with Claire that Alice could stay overnight but Alice seemed a bit reluctant. She and Lucy were rather shy with each other and I think need a bit of time to settle in together. Claire was just the same. She said she felt she was in a time warp and that things were the same as when I left, the only difference being of course that she has a son now to add to the 4 girls. Theirs is such a busy household! It was good to see Claire but it was just a flying visit and I am looking forward to catching up under slightly less chaotic circumstances, like the tea-time we arrived at. Helen had taken Adam, Harriette and Eric home and dropped Harriette in Folkestone where she was meeting Bryre, Cheyenne and new friends she has MSN’d with. I picked them up later took them to Bryre’s place where Linda met them and they dressed up to go out for a movie and Chinese meal. Eric then returned them to Bryre’s where they have slept over. We will collect her this morning before we head off to Bath.

2nd July - Day 2

5am. I’ve been awake since 2.15am!! I was so pleased with our progress on the jet-lag front. Arrived exhausted and managed to get through the rest of the day until 10pm, took a mild sleeping tablet and slept until about 5am. Went to sleep at about 10.30pm last night then it went wrong. Oh well. Back to a sleeping tablet tonight I think then hopefully I’ll be on track. Thank heavens for good books. Eric bought me Jodi Picoult’s 19 Minutes for Mothers Day in May and I have been saving it for the plane trip. As it was I didn’t read much of it then but am enjoying it now.

We landed at Terminal 3 and found our taxi driver. Ava had booked a people mover for us. Getting to the car park was an experience I would have expected if we were in an airport at Karachi. We had to wait for 5 lift loads of people before we could fight our way in to the lift. Do these people not realise that if you stand in front of the doors the people in the lift, whose place you want, can’t get out?!! The car park was full of big shiny new Merc’s and BMW’s. Within half an hour we were having that longed for cup of tea (with custard creams), and acquainting ourselves with Eric’s nieces (3 and 5 years old) whom he had previously met but we hadn’t. They are gorgeous, blonde, blue-eyed darlings that could charm the monkey’s out of the trees. We had noticed lots of police activity as we drove away from the airport and found outt when we got to Ava and Henry’s that a car bomb had blown up at Glasgow airport, literally as we were coming in to land. The security levels here are at their highest and this became evident as we moved around London the next day; announcements on the tube about unattended luggage, bag checks on entering the art gallery etc. The rest of the day was spent catching up and having a nice meal, after we had walked to Tesco’s. I needed a toothbrush. After nagging everyone not to forget their’s I forgot mine!! Whilst there we bought Muller yoghurt and Hobnobs! When we lived in England Eric and I always had Hobnobs with our tea in bed on Sunday morning - a habit I was keen to re-instate for the next 4 weeks!

On getting Mia ready for bed Ava-Lee found she had chickenpox, apparently London has an epidemic of it at the moment. She doesn’t seem to be poorly with it. Maddie has been vaccinated against it, and all the rest of us have had so we can’t get it, or spread it on to others on our travels.

Yesterday we were tourists in London!

Alice was so excited to see a red phone box. She wanted her photo taken then fell about when she realised there was someone actually using it!

It was weird, London being, in one way so familiar, and yet so novel. We took the tube from Hammersmith (about 10 minutes walk from Ava and Henry’s) to Covent Garden where Katie, Eric’s niece and a delightful young lady, met us and took us around for the day. We watched street entertainers and strolled around the stalls at Covent Garden and then had a lunch at a tapas bar. I dived into a catholic church (just because I could) for 2 minutes of peace and to look at the ‘oldness’ of it. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary but churches and old is something we want to try and do very often this month. It is one of the things we do miss living in NZ. We bought postcards of London buses and took photo’s. I loved it. Covent Garden is very familiar to me but I had forgotten how lovely, and plentiful, the pubs are. And how ‘English’! I know that’s a ‘Duh’ statement but true. There are vandal proof huge pictures dotted on walls around London in an effort to get people interested enough to go in to the art galleries. After lunch we went looking for Neal’s Yard, found it and discovered that the huge food warehouse I remember no longer exists as ‘they don’t do food’ now. From Neal’s yard we went down to 7 dials, a junction where 7 streets meet and there is an obelisk with 7 sundials on. Your homework is to find out why anyone would want to put 7 sundials in one place!? Katie was endlessly patient as Alice and I kept saying, ‘Oh I just want to pop in here’ at every shoe and bag shop. I had forgotten how phenomenonally huge the choice is! Amazingly we bought nothing. At one stall in Covent Garden I whittled 4 handbags down to one and sought Alice’s opinion before pulling out my purse. “What do you think of this Alice?” I asked expecting to be commended on my good taste. “Mom. I think I’d vomit if I had to wear that”!!!!! I just could not bring myself to buy it after that! A similar response when I showed her a pair of Air Wair Doc Martens boots, pink and covered in daisies. “Yuk” says Alice - and I so wanted a pair of them!
On then to Trafalgar Square.

Not at it’s best as it, and St Martins-in-the-Fields are being renovated. The church covered in cloth, and the square has construction fencing up all over the place. We passed the National Portrait Gallery which Harriette announced she wanted to go in because there was a picture of Jane Austen there, a sketch by her sister. It was tiny! We spent an hour in there feeling like tourists as we whizzed round. I hate that. I like to spend hours and hours in art galleries. I know nothing about art and pictures don’t ‘speak’ to me but I stand in awe of the talent of artists.

From here we took the tube home to find Maddie had a temperature of 40 degrees and Mia had recovered from the disappointment of missing a birthday party as she has chickpox. We laid in bed that night relishing the idea that we didn’t not have to go to work for a month, that we were really in the UK and life was very good.

Blogging at 10,700m!!

What a week. Regarding the packing and holiday I was actually quite organised but a few crises over the last 48 hours have made life very stressful. Not least thinking I had lost/had stolen, my handbag.

I have had a really busy week at work, mainly just trying to catch up and leave being well organised. It didn’t really happen. I got everything done that absolutely needed doing but my monthly report only had the bare basics and I had to work on Friday, a day I was planning to take of for time in lieu. I ended up working until mid-day! My Thursday evening plan was to run the hoover round and have a final tidy up just didn’t happen because of the handbag saga. During the day on Thursday I went to about 11 different places.I’ll start at the beginning. I got up early and made chocolate brownies for tea break at band practice in the evening. I burnt my finger tips taking them out the oven which made typing for the next 2 days very difficult. I then went to Matamata, Te Awamutu and Hamilton with work finishing up doing a teaching session on the paediatric wards at the hospital. As I pulled up to the hospital it occurred to me that I had left my file with all my band stuff (ie management things) at home and I did not recall seeing the keys in my car. I figured the keys were in my music folder box (which of course, I’d left at home). I quickly phoned the school but could not get anyone so I did my teaching session then flew out the hospital preoccupied with keys. If I could not get another set I would have 25 kids turning up to a locked building. I dashed to the school (quite near the hospital) and borrowed the music teacher’s keys. I then finished my work stuff, which meant trekking across Hamilton from one furthest point to another and finally got back to the school for 5.30pm. (Robyn was bringing the girls in.) However, on the way there I called into the dairy to get milk so we could have coffee during practice and could not find my handbag. Thinking I had left it in the Mistral when I swapped cars with Eric earlier in the day I did not worry too much… until I got home. No handbag anywhere!!! So, instead of housework I spent the evening searching, then fretting and trying to backtrack on my days movements. I just could not come up with where it could be and worried that in locking my car with the bleeper thing I had inadvertently left it unlocked and someone had stolen my handbag. I left it until the morning then phoned everywhere I had been, including the police in 3 towns. No handbag. Now I had, the previous night, put in the UK credit cards that we will be using for the holiday and it had my drivers licence which we need when we pick the hire car up on Monday. No licence, no driving! I therefore cancelled my drivers licence so I could get a temporary one issued and was about to start phoning credit card companies to cancel all my cards when I had a phone call, about 11am. The paediatric ward at the hospital “Did I want to pick up my handbag before I went away!!!!!!” I could not believe it. I never take my handbag in to practices or the hospital when I am working! That’s why I ddn’t phone them. I must have been preoccupied, or planning to go through it looking for music block keys. Anyway…. we picked it up on our way to the airport and I un-cancelled my drivers licence. What a relief, and a waste of hours phoning and searching. Oh, and I’d put the music block keys in the Mistral presumably thinking that if I left them in there I would not forget to take them to band (good plan until I take a different car!)

We left Auckland in pouring rain amd 14 degrees and found out that London is 13 degrees and raining with more rain predicted. I am sitting here in a vest and shorts as I was just too hot in jeans in Singapore, so hope it’s not too cold in London!

Both flights have been jam packed so not terribly comfortable. 2 very nice meals on the first flight though. We had a bit of a dash to the plane in Singapore after going for a, very welcome, swim not anticipating it would take 20 minutes to get from the pool to our departure gate. We arrived there and joined a queue but did cut it a bit fine (in true Tanner form!)

So now, we are tired, have headaches and are sooo looking forward to sitting in Ava’s house with a cup of tea within 8 hours. So, from above Afghanastan (miles and miles of brown nothing) I say ‘Adieu’, for now.

So close now!

Gosh I’m managing to fit in another blog. Actually my theory is that I have been better at this lately because I am not walking in the morning. My hip has been a real problem, it is the joint itself and, because it is interfering with my fitness efforts, I took myself off to the physio. It is much better and I can start walking again but I have not been feeling too good this week after a GA on Wednesday, dizzy, wobbly and just ‘not right’. Yesterday I wanted to pressure wash all the cobwebs off the outside of the window frames, and of course got carried away and did almost the whole house. I really suffered afterwards and was fit for nothing. Planning to take things easy today.

Only 5 sleeps!! We went to Mom and Daddy yesterday to borrow some suitcases. I have also bought 2 new ones as ours were looking very sad. We picked up the tickets on Wednesday on the way into hospital. It was quite weird as, as Eric went into the travel agents to get tickets to take us off to warmer climes (I know it’s raining in the UK and set to do so all week), I went into PostiePlus to buy thermal vests for the girls. It suddenly got very cold this week and we woke up to frosts on 3 consecutive mornings. It then got warmer but very windy.

The girls went out to clean the cottage yesterday (well sort of) and found the bathroom flooded. The toilet cistern had been leaking. Not sure if it will be an insurance job yet. Actually we are notching up claims. We have only ever made an insurance claim once when I smashed a box of Royal Doulton china in the UK. However recently, Harriette dropped a Le Creuset pot in the butler sink taking a chunk out of it and Alice smashed the screen on the older laptop.

Have just been sorting photo’s and have this one of Alice



She represented her school in a Model UN competition. They competed with college kids, ie 2 years older than them. They only got in because their teacher is involved in the competition organisation. Amazingly they won against 13 other teams. What made it better was that they were voted winners by the other teams. They were so shocked when the results were announced. Alice was told she was a budding Helen Clark!!

Not long now!

I did a bit of a blog last weekend but can’t find it. As we are now using 3 laptops in this house and have 2 USB sticks, finding it may still yet happen (in which case I will publish it!).

Sitting in bed listening to Chris Laidlaw, H and A in living room on computers (where else) and Eric has gone (trout) fishing. He went to watch the AB’s vs Canada at Hamilton last night, a complimentary ticket to the firm. Terry couldn’t go so Eric was volunteered to represent them. While there he saw to our accountant who told Eric he had heard good things about him. Apparently, he said, the firm are delighted with him. But I knew that!!! Still, it was good for Eric to hear such a thing. Despite generally feeling he’s doing good, he still sometimes has his doubts. He has had a terribly busy few weeks, not only is it that time of year but he had a case go very belly up this week with ridiculous timelines but he is also trying to wade through his 100 + lots, cases to leave them handoverable for his month off.

Excitement is building up as we only have 12 sleeps until we fly. And not a moment too soon. It has suddenly got cold here, a southerly blowing in from Antarctica. We still have heaps of sunshine. At the weekend this week and the much needed rain during the week. The fire is lit permanently now. A. Because of the cold. B. Because the more wood we burn now, the less we’ll have to move when we pull the garage down and put up the 12m x 6.5m workshop we have just ordered.

I think we are all organised on the travel front. H, A and I went down to the barn and got suitcases and arranged with Mom and Daddy to borrow some of theirs yesterday. I keep meaning to pop into the travel agents to pay for our insurance but it just isn’t happening. I have had an unbelievably busy few weeks at work, for no good reason really. I guess I should just pop a check in the post.

I took H and A off to the doctors on Friday with a list of niggly things to get sorted before we travel. Amongst other things he gave me a course of antibiotics for Harriette (just in case) and I needed to use them 3 days later! She has also had lots of nosebleeds of late, averaging 3-4 a week and some of them quite prolonged. So she had that cauterised. You should have seen her face as Andy came at her with a range of instruments in his hand, one of which, she said, she thought was a blow torch!!! Poor Alice bruised her coccyx months and months ago. It seems she has only stopped being sore this last 2 weeks, until some child pulled her chair out as she sat down in school last week and she is in a lot of pain again. Now Alice being Alice this means we all know about it!! Doesn’t make the prospect of 24 hours in an aeroplane much fun for her. Anyway we discussed pain management options for her, renewed prescriptions for Eric and I, got advice on me having a GA 9 days before flying… you get the picture. Left with a handful of scripts and substantial bill!

Mom is now much better. She spent 8 days in hospital last month with abdo pain after 2 trips to ED in the wee small hours of the morning. I felt bad as this happened when I was so busy (work and home), and even working on a Saturday that weekend. Mom did say not to come up but it was a month that I went without seeing her and I have never done that since they emigrated. She was not right for weeks after discharge and lived a miserable, hermit-like existence for awhile. She is not 100% but certainly well on the road to recovery with treatment for a hiatus hernia. They came down for a coffee yesterday and dropped Eric off at the rugby club on their way home (I collected him at midnight but it was only from Hinuera 7km away.) They also bought their lawn mower down as ours has died and we just haven’t got round to replacing it. Having spent 5 years struggling on the financial front I am now realising the long list of things that have worn out in that time. We need to: replace the sofa suite, buy a lawnmower, replace the mattress on our bed, and get another outdoor garden set (I’d like a big round tale for the pool deck). At the moment we move the table from the house deck to the pool deck each spring but it is not really big enough. Our microwave was not replaced when it died. Juliet took sympathy on us and bought a small one to tide us over but I’d like a bigger one and put that one in the cottage. Eric’s walk in fridge/freezer died this year and motor replacement was going to cost thousands so he is going to build a new one from scratch. And that’s what I can think of off the top of my head. I just hope he gets a reasonable pay rise when he has his review on our return!

On the money front, there was a graph in the Waikato Times Business Supplement this week showing the dollar exchange rate since 1982. The dollar was at its very lowest in late 2001 (ie when we emigrated). We scored incredibly as a result. We would never have been able to afford this place at an average dollar exchange rate. Daddy said they calculated the difference in exchanging their money at the point when they first visited NZ and when they actually came. They were $180,000 worse off!! I knew we had done well but seeing this graph showed me just how lucky we were. It probably contributed to my misconception at how far Eric’s pension should have been going. The dollar has been so high lately it is causing big problems for exporters. The bank devalued the NZ$ by 2 cents last week in an unprecedented move here. Shows how bad it is.

Among other things I have been up to recently is a trip to Devonport Naval Base hospital to do some teaching. It is experiences like this that remind me how small NZ is. I was expecting, well something like Woolwich. (Well Woowich Hospital when I was last there after Eric got shot, I believe it’s closed since). I left with the impression that I had visited a large medical centre! My arrival was not without its drama. Now it is on Auckland’s North Shore which I am not familiar with, so I wrote the instructions out in big letters (eyesight is a real problem these days) and put them in the middle of my desk so I would not forget them. I did. Travelled up in very showery weather, you know bright sunshine alternating with seriously heavy downpours. Went over the Harbour Bridge and took the wrong exit. Not realising this I remembered the next bit. Get into the Right hand lane and turn right into Lake Rd. Which I did. At this point I pulled over to find instructions (which obviously I couldn’t as they were on my desk!). Got out my Auckland map to find that not only had I taken the wrong exit but turning right after both exits takes you into a Lake Rd, just different Lake Rds. Anyway, got over to the other side of the highway and managed to find the place. I then parked in the visitor’s carpark, just inside the perimeter from the road, but could not see any obvious main entrance. I therefore, loaded up like a packhorse at this stage, headed for the front of the long ‘old hospital looking’ building to my left. I took 20 paces and someone threw a bucket of water at me. Well that’s what it felt like. A huge downpour came out of nowhere. Not a drop of rain to announce it’s immanency. I was instantly soaked as I dashed to the ‘entrance’. The sign said ‘’staff only next to the card swipe box! I was directed to the building next to the hyperbaric unit (at least I knew I was in the right place!). I waited for the rain to ease and ran, needless to say after I took 5 steps the rain ramped up. I stopped as I passed my car to grab my brolly, ran round the building into the wind, and down some steps to the entrance. As the electric doors opened the doors directly across the entrance where open and an instant wind tunnel was created. I was sucked into the building as my brolly blew inside out. I stood soaked, trying to correct my brolly with soaking wet hands and heard one woman say to another ‘That’s the sort of thing that normally happens to me’ to which I replied ‘Well it’s my turn today’! I was not helped by the sight of such smart, dry people drifting around me. No-one here had stepped outside in the last 90 seconds obviously. To crown it all when I put my red file box on to the reception desk my white fronted cardigan was red. The ink had run!

I am so looking forward to getting the work on the house done. As I mentioned we have ordered the workshop. We are extending Harriette's bedroom to join our bedroom outside wall to make 2 rooms. Our bedroom is soooo cold and we had intended pulling down all the plasterboard to put Pink Batts in the walls but as we will be building in that area we are going to get the builder to take all the cladding off and put the batts in from the outside rather then the inside. We are in for a busy spring when we get back.

My morning exercise routine is on hold at the moment and I am beginning to miss it. Mind you I am looking forward to getting up and walking in warmer climes in a few weeks! I have a problem with my hip which has gone on for a week now. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t bother about it but as it is interfering with my training I have made an appointment with the physio for Monday.

It was my birthday last Sunday. I had a nice day. Eric treated me to a bottle of Chanel No5, (I haven’t had any for ages!!), Alice bought me a black wrap, Harriette a huge pot which I will plant the Kaffir Lime tree in that Alice bought me for Mother’s Day last month, Feral some gardening gloves and Rust and Inca some replacement gummies (my Red Bands have a hole in). We went to Ironique in Te Aroha. It is quite hard to find a place open for food outside Hamilton on a Sunday and Te Aroha is between us and Paeroa (where Mom and Daddy live) so was convenient. Richard and Robyn’s new farm is on the way and Eric said he would go over that weekend and put up the sign that Eric had made for them (details in blog I have mislaid). So we called in there on the way and all went together as they were joining us. It was a nice place and we had good food except mine (which came 5 minutes after everybody else’s) was not very warm. Also, after we chose puddings they told us that the pudding menu was for evenings only and when I asked if the 4 girls could just have some ice cream they said no! Not what I would expect in a kiwi café. Didn’t get home until 5pm and curled up on the sofa with Eric and a brilliant book. Perfect for a winters evening! I have been reading more Lisa Gardner and am thoroughly gripped by them.

Well I must emerge into the cold, my fingers are like ice from typing this. Still if I do some work outside I’ll soon feel warm. I will endeavour to do another blog before we go.

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!!)

Busy, busy, busy

This blogging whilst lying in bed on a weekend morning is obviously becoming a habit. Kim Hill on the radio, cat curled up at our feet and Eric is finishing a novel. I read it and recommended he do so (John Katzenbach’s The Analyst). He is at the prologue and I have just told him who the perpetrators are thinking that was revealed in the last chapter – it wasn’t!! Opps.

Unusually, it’s raining. We have had some lovely weather this last few weeks and the Waikato has settled into its very foggy mornings typical of autumn and winters. Fortunately this has been followed by lots of sun and temps are still up to 200C. I spent some of Anzac Day (Wednesday) planting seedlings in the veg plot so am pleased with the rain.

Gosh what a busy week it has been. I haven’t been in for one evening. Monday teaching in Hamilton (more on that to come), Tuesday Rotary (ditto), Wednesday more teaching, Thursday band and Friday a community debate.

Kim (my Waikato DIF colleague) and I have been asked to do some teaching with community pharmacists and their staff on influenza so that they promote it in their work. We have organised a programme and are doing 8 sessions around the region. At the first session on Monday evening we were warned that they were not a lively bunch and not to expect many questions. Well, that wasn’t true. They were great, really enthusiastic and they did ask lots of questions. The evaluations were brilliant and we left really buzzing. I had a discussion with the chairperson of the National Influenza Strategy Group about this and she asked me to write up an evaluation). We have also formally requested that resources be developed for this group and a national training be rolled out. I really hope this makes a difference to the immunisation rates. It took a patient in ICU when I worked there in 2002 to open my eyes to how serious this disease is. Seeing a 34 year old healthy mother nearly die of influenza, a disease than can be prevented easily by immunisation, was a serious wake up call. I have been vaccinated every year since, as are E, H and A. Are you?

I may have mentioned a while ago that I did a talk at Rotary and it was suggested that Eric and I consider joining. We decided to give it a go and have been to a couple of meetings. The work they do is so worthwhile that you have to ignore the irritating ways of some things about the organisation. The meetings are dominated by older men and I think we will bring the average age down significantly but if some young people don’t join then no other ones will, will they. There are a couple of younger members so we are not the only ones. Problem is that both working full time we are not available for a lot of the work they do but I guess they will make allowances for that. We will see how it goes.

Anzac Day is a national holiday in Auz and NZ. Alice did a sleep over the night before with the Guides so she could do a dawn parade on the day. Their remembrance services start at dawn, usually with a 9am one and other events through the day. Alice, who was always very enthusiastic about Remembrance Sunday was quite downbeat about the dawn parade. We still do our remembering in November as Cambridge has celebrations over that whole weekend and we attend the cenotaph service there. The Guides had trip to Hamilton to go bowling in the afternoon so we went as a family to that.

Band reconvened for the first time since camp on Thursday. Our conductor was away and so I roped Clare Hitchcock (a longstanding and inspiring music teacher in Matamata, the one who has agreed to teach me piano) into conducting for the evening. The guys really enjoyed catching up with each other. I am not sure how it is in the UK now but kiwi kids love to hug, actually I think all kiwis love to hug, especially the Maori. It is so nice to see my children comfortable with expressing themselves physically and shedding some of that British reserve their father exhibits!

Matamata is developing a new tradition (I that a contradiction in terms?) of an annual fund raising community debate organised by the staff at the medical centre. We were unable to get to lat years first one but managed the one last night. It was such a hoot. Harriette went but found herself the only child (sorry Harriette ‘young person’ she definitely is not a child anymore) so felt a bit conspicuous. They had a few performances from Matamata college musicians, including 2 incredibly talented Maori boys playing guitar. They then had 2 guys up from Wellington doing theatre sports (refer to the band camp entry if you don’t know what I am talking about). I am rapidly becoming a convert to theatre sports. Both times I have experienced them I have been in hysterics. Alice didn’t come so we dropped her at R+R’s where she is sleeping over as she wanted to go to netball with Sarah and Katherine this morning. (H and A are not doing netball this year as they will miss so much because of our UK trip). The Chiefs were playing a crucial match in the Super 14 so we called in on R+R on the way home to watch the second half. Chiefs won so are hanging in there after an appalling start in the competition.

Daddy’s 70th birthday is on 3rd May and he wants to do something at their house next Saturday similar to what we did for Mom last November. Several people won’t be able to come (eg Ann and Mike have gone back to the UK etc) so we will do what we can. Unfortunately Mom is not well at the moment and her sister in the UK has just died so things are a bit down there at the moment but hopefully that will turn around before Thursday. Several of Daddy’s male relatives died in their 70th year so I think he will be quite relieved to get to this birthday!!!

Alice came home from school yesterday with ‘a bone to pick’ with me. She had received a commitment award for ‘commitment to achievement in all areas of school life’ (I think) and apparently parents are told so they can be at the school for this. The moms of the other 2 recipients were there but not us. Poor Alice. But we had not been told. The others got awards for commitment to other things and Alice was told that her award was highly prestigious. I will go and take a photo of her picture on the board in school as I couldn’t be there to take her photo on the day.

H. is plodding on though we are a bit disappointed with her attitude to school. She continues to achieve at a high level but does no work to get there. Her attitude is ‘I get excellence in everything so that should be good enough’. It is difficult to get through to her that she should be going the extra mile despite her results. Still nagging won’t help so we try not to do that. I am planning to go in and see her GATE co-ordinator this week if I can.

We have topped up our mortgage and plan to do some work on the house, another bedroom, a workshop for Eric, the drive and a retaining wall. Poor Eric is going to be busy drawing up plans etc over the coming weeks. Naturally I want everything done yesterday!

Oh I suppose I’d better get up. Walking then a major supermarket shop are on the agenda today. I haven’t been in a supermarket for weeks and I have a list as long as your arm. I may just sneak in a trip to the garden centre and tidy up my hanging baskets for the winter as I don’t think I will be able to get into the veg plot.

A Lazy Sunday in April (Raglan and NP)

Sunday morning and lying in bed listening to Chris Laidlaw’s Sunday programme. No need to rush out and walk as it is definitely cooler these days and I don’t have to dash out before it gets too warm. The down side of that is the mornings are darker now. Last year I just stopped walking in the winter but I want to try and keep it going this time round, especially as a month of the winter will be in the UK. It has is getting very hard though to drag myself out of a warm bed on a cool dark morning! I am starting to run a bit but the distances I am doing are so pathetic compared to a ‘normal’ sized/fitness person. I increase the distance by 10m each time so the distance is increasing slowly. My efforts look paltry compared to my, long time co-couch potato, friend Elly who has walked the great Wall of China and is planning to climb Kilamanjaro this year, and runs miles in her fitness programme now. Still at least I’m trying. Shame the weight is coming off as fast as I was hoping though.

A few weeks ago it looked as if winter had hit us overnight, bypassing autumn altogether. We then had a bit of an Indian summer but this week has been definitely cooler (not cold) with lots of wind and rain. Balloons over the Waikato, a week long balloon festival, has been a write-off but the final day was moved from yesterday to today and looks like that will be OK. Today there are definitely blue skies out there and it looks fairly still. We are going to see it with Juliet and Kev, and both sets of parents. J+K’s rented house is fight by the university where it is all happening.

Having a lazy-ish weekend as I have been away for the last 2. The first was with Waikato Schools Band (which you may recall I am managing) on a music camp which I organised. I felt it had been thrown together and was quite apprehensive about it. Come Friday evening, after a busy week and with a headache the last thing I wanted to do was take 22 hormonal teenagers (12-17years) off to camp! However, it was fabulous and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. The camp is on top of the cliffs overlooking Raglan and it’s bay, on the North Island’s west coast about an hour from Hamilton. The views are to die for and, if I can get photobucket to do what I want I’ll try and post some piccies later. The band is quite new and the point of the weekend was getting them to know each other and a bit of team building. It turned out that quite a few had actually not wanted to go and in fact Harriette was in tears over it. Anyway we started Saturday morning in the gym with some games. Firstly I got everyone into a time line by their age and then called people out one by one and got them to pick the person they knew least. I then sent them off in their pairs to find out about each other, including one bizarre fact about their partner, and then got everyone back and they introduced the other person to the group. This was hilarious and was followed by a game where they stood in a circle and threw a ball to someone in the circle at the same time saying that person’s name. The point being names were repeated frequently until everyone knew everyone else’s. Finally we played a game that could be loosely called netball but with no rules and no bibs so people weren’t quite sure who was on their team. It was chaos and the kids loved it!

Over the weekend we parents had 2 hours break each morning and afternoon as the band did their music stuff. They improved hugely and enjoyed the new music they had. We, ie committee members, had been quite disappointed at the lack of help from other parents and it ended up with just Robyn, Cathy (another Matamata mom and on our committee) and myself, along with Roger one of the girls uncles who came for a day. However, by the end of the w/e we decided that it was actually better with just a few of us as there was not 10 parents offering 10 different opinions on what should be done next of how a situation should be handled. We spent our spare time walking or reading. I spent one session with my book lying in a huge hammock on the cliffs overlooking the bay. On the Saturday morning Sarah and I walked at 6.15. We went down (everywhere was down!) to Manu bay and hoped to walk back along the beach but could not get from Manu to the long stretch of sand below our camp so walked back up the road we had just gone down (windy, surrounded by bush and almost no traffic). It was a 50 minute walk and very enjoyable, despite the serious climb. I loved listening to the birdsong which is so very different from that in the UK, or even from home. Some of the birds here, as I may have said before, have such bizarre song, haunting and almost how I imagine pre-historic birds would sound. About 20m from the camp entrance there was a 20 minute bush walk down to the beach. Robyn, Cathy and I did this during the afternoon and walked along the beach watching the surfers who, from the camp looked like seals in the sea!

Saturday evening the plan was for a talent quest but that was not very popular and only the boys did a few things. One of the Youth Band members, Josh, had joined us for the whole weekend to support the brass section. He was such good value and had the rest of the crowd in hysterics mist of the time. He and Darryn led some ‘theatre sports’ and had every single person (including the parents) up on stage acting out some bizarre things. It was hilarious and everyone had a ball. As the weekend progressed I was so pleased to see how everyone got on so well. There were no clicks or set groups and no-one seemed to be excluded from anything. The ‘popular’ boys did not just mix with the ‘prettiest’ girls and being a small camp we relaxed the rules hugely. In particular we didn’t ban the opposite sex from the dorms, which they thought was great. During daylight hours I mean!!! At one point lots of them were in, or draped round, Josh’s car with all the doors open and the CD blaring out, can you believe “My Dingaling” yes a re-run of the old Chuck Berry song. I came round the corner singing and dancing to this in front of them all and some of them thought me very cool knowing the words!! They obviously had no idea of its antecedence. It could have been a scene from the 1950’s!!
These photos were taken from the camp. Not the hammock!

I was rather stiff on Sunday so skipped walking that day! Sunday afternoon the camp culminated with a concert for the parents when they came to collect their offspring and lots of the group coming to me saying ‘When can we come on camp again?’! It was a fabulous weekend and we left feeling like one big happy family and everyone lamenting that there would be no practice for 3 weeks because of Easter!

A busy week preceded the Easter weekend when we went down to Rosie and Bryan to see their new New Plymouth home. We loved it. It is a 2 storey house that looks across paddocks to the Tasman Sea from the kitchen and back inland to Mount Taranaki, a volcano that dominates the region. The garden is seriously high maintenance with a huge excess of crazy paving which Rosie says has to go! It is divided into 10 –12 separate areas including a piggery and orchard and lots of lawn and grass and a stream and pond surrounded by bush. It is very over run and will need days of work to get on top of it and hours each week to keep it nice. Hence their intention to re-think it completely. They also have a 40’ polytunnel which I would die for and we have pleaded with them to give us first refusal if they sell it. We shopped, swam at the Aquatic Centre, went up the mountain and spent a gorgeous evening on the beach at Oakuru as the sun set on Saturday followed by an Indian takeaway. Late nights playing canasta and drinking and eating far too much made for a lovely relaxing weekend. Thank you The Moyes.




Well it’s coming up to 10am so I should get up. Yesterday I slept in until 11.10am! I don’t think I’ve slept that late for years. I think the good book I am reading is to blame, I have stayed up late reading every night. Maybe that’s why I am struggling to get up and walk in the morning!!

Bits and Pieces

Well it's been ages since I blogged but not as long as you think. I am sure I have done a blog in Word since my last posting but am not sure which computer or USB stick it is on. I'll post it later if I find it.

Eric is sitting on the sofa wading through some boring legal stuff, Harri is in her room, Alice is sitting next to me reading some rubbish on the desktop and we are all listening to the omnibus edition of The Archers.

Summer left us 2 days ago and the wind and rain arrived as the weatherman promised. It is very windy but the wind is very warm.

We have had a busy few weeks. As well as having the Moyes here we have been into Hamilton a few times to go to some events at the Hamilton Gardens Festival. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed The Chain The Fleetwood Mac experience. Mind you an outdoor venue and gorgeous weather helped. We also went to a dusk performance of Midsummer Night's Dream and an evening concert. All very pleasant.

I have seen a lot more of Juliet since they moved to Hamilton. As work takes me into Hamilton several times a week it is very easy to pop in for coffee or lunch. Chloe got off to a slow start but seems to be blooming now. She is chatting and smiling and getting very cute. Kev is back to travelling away with his auditing so often is away a week at a time.

Eric and I bought a big new tent after the elderly Tanner canvas affair gave up the ghost and when I found this tent mansion at half price it was a bargin not to be turned down. Trouble is we have been too busy to use it. We decided last weekend (while lounging in the heat on the pool deck) that we would go away next weekend, up to the Coromandel. Then we heard the weather forecast. I have a horrible feeling that we won't be doing camping this summer. They are predicting a colder than usual autumn, followed by a cold winter - Oh Joy!! Thank heavens we have heaps of wood in.

The veg plot had been a bit neglected while the visitors were here. I have been trying to get on top of things this last week or 2. I have planted far too many pumpkins, thanks heavens we eat so many of them in. I love pumpkin soup. The other thing we do with them is to cut off the top, scoop out the pips and put in a tin of coconut cream and a teaspoon of green curry paste in. Put the lid back on and bake for an hour. Stir it all up and serve. Divine!

I was in hospital for a day procedure recently. Spent 5 hours waiting in the waiting room (soooo boring) and went down to theatre, got anaesthetised and woke up to be told that it had not gone to plan and that they had aborted the procedure. So, I have to wait and go through the whole thing again in a few months time. I was not impressed.

The Schools band is going well. We are in the process of arranging a music camp for the end of the month. Eric has decided to take the opportunity to have a days sea fishing. He is under instruction to go once every 2 months at least. I made it a condition of buying his sea fishing rod I bought him for his birthday.

I am going to wrap this up, I am waffling! 109 days until we go to the UK - not that the girls are counting!!