General thoughts

This is how Zebo fell asleep on one of her favourite white cushions the other night. Yes, that back leg is straight up in the air. I thought cats were meant to be elegant!

Had a very short week this week as Tuesday was Anzac Day so I took Monday off as well. Lovely at the time but it did mean that I've had to keep very focused to get through everything. I don't know why I always set myself impossible targets to achieve. Every morning I think "Right, I'll do this, then that, followed by that before I have a cup of coffee at 10". Unrealistic.

I had been hoping to get to France at the end of May but its not to be - finances definitely do NOT allow it. But all is not lost. I'm going to the UK to visit the little blister and hubby with my mother in October - I've almost never planned a holiday that far in advance before but it does mean that I've got lots of planning time. Hope to get across to Jersey for a look as well. Very exciting.

I. and I may still try to get across to Australia in May/June, depending on what deals we can get. I'm sure that I. will want to go some where that has fishing whereas I don't mind. As long as its warm I'm sure I'll be happy.

Better go and finish the week by doing some more work. Yay.

Autumn colours

This is just to show you why I've been raving about the autumn colours this year. Photo of the oak tree across the road at home.

Crane

When we arrived at work this morning this crane was parked right in the middle of the driveway - it had only just arrived so was able to move out of the way to let everyone through as they arrived for work. But isn't it cool?

Its big and shiny and silver and new and all it did was lift a couple of communication boxes onto the roof of the building. Admittedly it did have to swing them over quite a large deck area so I guess that's why they had to use such a large beastie but it definitely looked overkill when it was swinging these small boxes over.

I almost rang A-M. to see if she wanted to bring the nephews over but I wasn't sure how long it was going to be here and it would have been very disappointing for them to get here and find it gone.

The photos also show what an absolutely perfect day its been here. Almost too hot in the tearoom with its two walls of glass. (This comment is really for the benefit of the little blister who leaves on Saturday for a week in Greece - jealous? Me? You betcha!) The weather this month has just been superb and as far as I know its going to continue for a while. Yay. As the sun's been getting lower in the sky I spend the morning sitting at my desk roasting because it seems like sacrilege to put the curtain down. It also means I'm still wearing summer clothes. Long may it continue.

Belated Easter photos

Last Thursday my m-o-l turned up bearing Easter presents which was lovely. I. doesn't give me flowers - he gives me CDs and books which is lovely but it is nice to get flowers occasionally. He says he doesn't want to set a precedent!

We managed to wait until Easter Sunday evening before scoffing the Easter egg and jaffas. So I've only had 2 eggs this Easter and I shared this one (the largest by far) with I.

Blue skies

Its amazing - its autumn and its warmer than it was last month. I've just been round to have coffee with my sister-in-law (A-M) and we sat outside, under the sun umbrella because I didn't want to get sunburnt. Absolutely clear blue sky and virtually no wind. Just enough to drop occasional leaves on the table. You really couldn't ask for better weather. This is what autumn is all about.

Easter break

No photos from the weekend but I had a lovely time. We just stayed at home and the weather was fabulous. We kept saying we should get out and do things but spent most of the time at home.

I. finished putting the bullnose iron on the front verandah - huge job, especially as the last section was a corner which involved cutting iron to fit. I wasn't allowed to leave home and socialise in case he slipped and cut his wrists open but luckily nothing untoward happened.

It did mean that J. and her friend from England came out for coffee on Fri afternoon. I'd made quince and date scones (very yummy but I'd left them in the oven slightly too long - will know better for next time) which I knew that J. and I. wouldn't like but D. and I ate them. In fact, I pretty much ate them all weekend. I did feel guilty sitting in the sun just talking to the girls while I. slaved away on the roof but other than making cups of tea/coffee as required, there wasn't a lot I could do.

On Saturday we went in to the Canterbury Museum to see the new Hallett Station from the Antarctic exhibition. Very interesting, partly because our neighbour was down there for 2 seasons and the exhibition used some of his slides and sound recordings from the penguin colony in the exhibition. Such basic accommodation as well - the exhibition includes the hut that he lived in while he was down there. It was shipped back from the ice and put back together. Very primitive living but apparently that's exactly how it was.

Big business as vandals

Today we've run into how big businesses can be complete vandals just because they can. Vodafone are putting more "stuff" on the roof of our building. The outside of the building has a heritage protection order on it but Vodafone are just plowing ahead doing what they're doing without any thought for the look of what they're doing, or how its going to affect those of us that use this building.

They're installing cabinets on the roof tucked into a corner next to windows that let light into the stairwell and where we'll see them every time we go past. Because the roof is butanyl they've installed the trunking to the cabinets at shin height and the trunking is so wide it will be difficult to step over it. End result - they've cut the access to half the roof.

Apparently as tenants in the building we've got no rights to the roof deck so have been told to pull our heads in when we complained about destroying the access to the deck and the ugliness of the installation. The stupid thing is, is that there is a virtually empty pabx room at the bottom of the building where everything could go. That's what a pabx room is for!

Its Friday!!

I can't believe that its Friday already. The week has just zoomed by. But we've achieved quite a lot on the home front this week: trip to the dump with old roofing iron (for recycling) and old weatherboards (for dumping); collected verandah roofing iron next day and firewood the following day. Staggered at the number of seagulls at the Bromley dump. They were just standing around where we wanted to drive and barely moved out of the way when we drove in.

This morning when I woke up it was raining but they're forecasting it will get to 22 degrees later - presumably a nor'west. Makes deciding what to wear to work a challenge. Decision: boots for keeping feet dry but summer top for later when it will get hot. Good theory, have to see how it works out in practice.

The autumn colours on all the trees are fabulous. Looking out my window at work across the valley and the view is gradually changing from green to gold, orange and red. Autumn is fantastic because you get all the beauty but the days are still mostly warm with cool evenings that make me want fires and winter foods. Plus, there's looking forward to the ski season. I haven't been skiing for years but am going to make a serious attempt this year - had a couple of attempts to go last year but the weather always beat me.

Nothing in particular to say

I don't really have anything to say but I do have a couple of photos to post.

I took this photo in the late afternoon as we drove home from my parents' place. It had been a lovely sunny day so this was nor'west cloud hiding the Port Hills.

Meet Zebo. One of her favourite sleeping places is on one of the white cushions on the sofas because, you understand, the sofa alone is not soft enough!

Classic Marathon 2006 photos

These photos are well overdue so here goes:


This was taken through the filthy windscreen of 2 cars further down the road - you can see them as dust plumes and there's another car around the corner ahead of us as you can see the dust in the air.


The Dixon was the lowest car on the tour and after a day driving through the Molesworth, they then had to go to the exhaust repair shop and have the exhaust reattached.


This lovely Vauxhall was the oldest car on the event and they appeared to have a really good time, even though they did get rather wet from time to time. Their only problem was that when they shut the driver's door in Picton in the rain (they had the hood up at that point), the window glass fell out and smashed on the road!


Not only did Geoff camp in Hanmer, he had to change a flat tyre the next morning in the rain.


Crossing some of the fords in Lees Valley - good fun.


Our car is the filthy Fiat at the front. It was so dirty by the end of the four days that I. felt obliged to clean it. We had no problems with the car during the trip but we now have a cunning plan to avoid any breakdowns - I. packs some tools in the car when we leave. If we have them, we never need them. If he's sure the car will run perfectly and doesn't put any in, we always need them!