Hi all,
And a
happy New Year to you all! Wow, it has been a busy start to the New Year.
We saw
Jenny and her family on Boxing Day, out at the farm, which was great. I managed
to catch a 24 hour vomiting & diarrhoea bug from Bunty, which laid me low
for a few days, just when I had planned some time to play catch ups on lecture
preparation & writing my final exam! But it was worth it to see Jen :-)
Jan has
felt that his pile of work has been too big for him; he hasn't completed the
tasks on his job list, and is also feeling under a bit of pressure.
However,
we think we are coming to Europe in June. Jan may have a work trip taking him
to a factory in Flensburg for a new cut-to-size saw for the MDF Plant, and, if
so, I will go as well - but to London initially. If it all comes off, while Jan
is busy with work, I hope to spend a week or ten days in London with Justine
(hey, Justine, I have been meaning to call you & ask you & Gareth if I
can come & stay!!), then go on to Germany once Jan's work is finished. We
would then visit Treysa & Neu-Ulm for a week before heading home. We won't
know (a) if the trip is going to happen until closer to time, and then (b)
won't know exact dates until very close to time; it really depends on how the
build is going at the German factory as to when we will get a departure date.
The other
trip we are thinking about is a group tour of China. Some friends of ours heard
about a group who toured last year for $3000/person including flights.
Apparently there might be some spare capacity after the Beijing Olympics &
Paralympics are over, so some friends of ours are checking it out. We will wait
& see; if it proves to be cheap, we will probably try to get a booking around
October or November.
The week
before Christmas we went over to see the land to see the sawmiller who will be
dropping our eucalyptus trees next week & turning them into floorboards
& railway sleepers; and milling some old pine logs into railway sleepers as
well. We plan on using the eucalypt railway sleepers to put in new garden beds
here at Montrose Drive; the oils in the wood will preserve it & mean that
it doesn't need any preserving treatment. Ideal for the vege garden :-)
We have
bought our new camera, the Panasonic Lumix FZ-18. Jan has had a reasonable play
with it, but I haven't had time to use it properly yet. Never mind, we will
find some time this weekend to explore its potential. We are going to spend a
bit of time doing things around the house - like hacking back the neighbour's
wisteria which grows EVERYWHERE & doing some weeding.
Aside
from some work in the garden and exploring the new camera, this coming weekend
we are off to see the Da Vinci Machines exhibition at the Nelson Museum, having
a farewell dinner with Magda & going to the land on Sunday.
Magda is
off to Blenheim to live for a year or two; she has got a position at Wairau
Hospital as a Registered Nurse. Aside from our friendship being slightly more
long distance, I will miss our twice weekly tennis sessions. I need to find
someone else to play with. The trouble is that I am fairly bad at tennis, so no
one who can play well will be able to cope with my style of play (ie 'four
counties tennis' - the rules are that if the ball is still moving, then you
chase it regardless of which court it is in - or not in). I was starting to
think that perhaps I should have some lessons (not that I hold much hope of
lessons helping, it is just someone to play with!).
We saw in
the New Year with Kathleen & Frits, in their new house. It was a really
nice evening, but very tame; we watched a movie, drank some bubbly, ate some
stollen, then did a Wasgij until 3am!
Uncle
Norman is pretty frail at present; he is having to rest a lot more. He is not very
patient with letting other people do things for him, or with having to ask for
help. I guess it runs in the family! Last weekend I downloaded some freeware so
that he could record all his old LPs and 45s as MP3s and play them on his MP3
player. We plugged in his record player & the whole process was actually
pretty easy. Probably the trickiest part is synchronising the start of the
record with the start of the recording, but it is easy enough to just start
again if you muck it up. It makes me glad that I kept my record player... it is
still safely in its carton in the garage.
Janet de
Beer's husband Robert had a nasty surprise trip to hospital before Christmas;
he had to have another stent (he is OK - a relief for all of us). Another
friend of ours has just had to have the same treatment. It provides a bit of a
reminder to keep down the fats & keep up the exercise when that starts
happening to people you know.
Jan is
thinking about buying a new motorbike. He wants to get one a little larger than
the GN; something that will not use too much more fuel, but will give better
traction in the wet and a bit more power. He looked at a BMW650 at Thunderbike
two weekends ago, but doesn't think that bike is quite right for him. He needs
one that gives him a fairly upright riding position. There is a Suzuki 650
V-Strom that he likes, but he hasn't managed to find one to test ride yet.
We went
to the Playhouse for a dinner theatre with Trish & Wayne (ex-UWH hockey
people from Chch who were up in Nelson on holiday), on the old costal highway
between Nelson & Mapua. The show was the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Sadly
it was only two days since I had had my bug, so I wasn't really in the mood (in
fact, I ended up not being able to eat any dinner & having to go & lie
down in the car). However, Jan got dragged up on stage to be Brad before I
bailed. I managed to get some fairly bad photos of him (one of the things
driving the new camera purchase).
Jan
managed to catch up with Gary & Sandra, and Gary & Karen (both while I
was out of action, sadly). We both caught up with Bertie & Megs, Hui-Ping
& Yi Mei; but I missed catching up with both Kel Atkinson & Wendy
Sawyer. I am catching up with Kel today & hope to see Wendy next week, as I
haven't seen her since her return from the UK.
In fact,
Jan & I went with Hui-Ping & Yi Mei out to a new café at Cable Bay,
opened by Kay Field who owns Morrison Street Café and the café at Mitre10 Mega.
It is a great little café, with wonderful food. It is in a little converted
cottage, has a very bachy feel, has loads of old photos of the area on the
walls, and the garden is full of tables. They haven't spoiled the interior at
all; it is just as you would expect a Kiwi bach to be. It is next door to the
tiny motor camp at Cable Bay, 100 metres from the sea, right on the road. The
place was jammed full, with carloads of people just driving out to go to the
café - and not being able to fit (like the clientele for the café at Makara
Beach - if it is still there).
We went
to see Fiona Pears last Friday night, a jazz violinist, at the School of Music
with John & Jo Fitzwater. She was a very energetic performer (she reminded
me of Coco!), and very talented. She wrote a lot of the music she performed.
Tonight
we are off having dinner out with Sandra & Kevin & playing a few bad
games of pool. Should be a laugh. On January 29th we are going to our second
50th birthday party; Wayne Chisnall, who is married to my school & hockey
compadré Wendy, is having a fairly full on bash for a large crowd. I would imagine
that we won't be up for much the next day!
I don't
think we will be heading away anywhere until April; my summer school class
doesn't finish until the 8th of February (final exam) and then we have Karen
& Hui-Ping down from Wllg on Feb 15, 16 & 17 for Sealord Opera in the
Park, and on the 29th we have the Suter's Annual Degustation Dinner, which we
are taking a table at. Then Karen is down again at the end of March for the
Taylor's Women's Triathlon again (and I am not doing it this year, yay!).
We had
thought we might be able to get away at Easter, but the Certificate in Adult
Teaching foundation course will be being run then. As it looks as though I will
be carrying on with part-time teaching (I have an AUT Intro to Marketing course
scheduled to deliver in Semester 2 this year), I feel that I need to do the
training.
Jan is
collecting coins (at last we have something to put in that 600kg safe that we
bought in Christchurch in 2006!). So if anyone has any old Kiwi currency that
they want a home for, or if you find a bright & shiny coin, send it to Jan.
He may even remember to send you back the equivalent value :-)
Phew; I
think that's all our news. I hope you manage to endure to read right to the
end!
Take
care, hugs, hope you are having a great 2008. Alles liebe :-)
Sam & Jan
