Hi
everyone,
I hope
you are all fit & well?
Jan
arrived back from Germany on Sunday, very tired but well. He is not so
impressed with Emirates Business Class though; he thinks Air New Zealand is
better! His trip to Flensburg was about 80% successful; the factor hadn't
finished the work they should have done, but he thinks he spent enough time to
get it all roughly right. He will find out when the containers and the
commissioning engineers arrive in a couple of months.
He had a
great time catching up with everyone in Ulm; Svenja's baptism turned into
Thomas & Bettina's confirmation/blessing of their marriage (a surprise to
everyone), as they had only had a civil ceremony so thought they would add a
Church ceremony on while they had everyone together. Jan has taken lots of
photos, but so has Oli - with a great camera, I might add. You can see Oli's
images online at http://gallery.me.com/oliverschuette/100047.
It was
wonderful for Jan to see the family together at Eberhard, Uta & Oma
Lieselotte's like that - he was staying at the same hotel as Claudia &
Gerhard, so they had a couple of good late night catch ups. I have seen some of
the DVDs (one isn't working properly, but no doubt Jan will get Oli to send
another one) and half of the photos. We have had lots of presents come back in
Jan's luggage too, which is lovely. And Uta needs a special thank you for
taking Jan shopping and helping him buy a perfect gift. Herzlichen Dank!
He had a
flying visit to Eppingen to visit Andreas, Katrin & Christian, drop off
some crunchies for them; then got to to Besse to see Tante Thea, and to Treysa &
Oma Friedel. He also caught up with Dieter and Gudrun and Anne & Herbert,
before having an uneventful trip back to Frankfurt to fly out.
John
& Jo are back this Saturday; with Jan being away for three weeks, I have
just realised that we are getting to the end of their time away as well. We are
picking them up at the airport, and - if they are not too jet lagged - will
take them out for breakfast before reuniting them with Bon dog. Coco will be at
a loose end when Bonnie goes home again!
It has
been stormy here lately - we had a huge storm last Wednesday that ran up the
Richmond Ranges from the South (just like Cyclone Alison, for anyone who
remembers that) and pulled a lot of big trees down. Isel Park, an old
English-style park in Stoke, lost a third of its trees. A Sequoia on the corner
of Collingwood & Hardy Streets fell, and - despite there having been a
police cordon on all approaches for about half an hour - nearly got a car (the
driver had exited a carpark inside the cordon!). Two trees came down at NMIT,
several at ANZAC Park, several on Nile Street, and a couple of really big oaks
out at Waimea College (another smaller tree came down on some Waimea students
in the bus shelter, but they got off with minor cuts and bruises). Cathedral
hill seems OK, and around the port. However, there are tree surgeon's trucks
everywhere currently! The sequoia coming down can be viewed on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtCzlZogjZQ. And you too may think
"Duelling Banjos" while listening to the idiots' background
conversation!
The storm
put the power out at home for five hours and it was out for eight hours in
Richmond... in fact, power was only restored late on Friday to some of the
outer areas of the city. The water main down from the Maitai dam was damaged
and is still under repair - so we have been on 30% water since last Wednesday.
They are saying the repair should be finalised today (whew!). Mind you - at
least we still have water. Some houses on the hills have been on truck water
only since the storm.
There was
no damage at home, and I am very glad that we had the fireplace. I heated some
soup up on the fire, and lit some candles and did some lecture prep! When the
storm hit I was lecturing at NMIT. The power flickered a bit, and being on the
fourth floor in such a howling gale was interesting, but we got through with no
problems. However, getting home took me half an hour to make a three minute
drive through the city because of road blocks and diversions (one being the
sequoia that hadn't yet fallen).
This
weekend Jan & I will head over to the land to see if we still have a shed.
It is open to the south east, so will have caught a bit of the wind. I have
heard that the winds kept fairly close to the Richmond Ranges though, so here's
hoping that we got off OK.
Last
Saturday night was Sharon McGuire's farewell from the Chamber of Commerce. It
also coincided with the All Blacks playing Australia so all the rugby-heads
abandoned the farewell dinner for the hotel lounge to watch the live match. So
after a lovely dinner and some great table conversation, I snuck home early!
However, I am catching up with Sharon again for coffee today - she has kindly
agreed to come along & speak to my students about her personal philosophy
of leadership and I am going to give her some background on the class.
This past
week an old school friend, Suzie, has got engaged; this will be her third
marriage! Talk about an optimist :-) Nick, Wendy & I all met at the Honest
Lawyer to wish her well. Then I caught up with Wendy again on Saturday out at
the Stoneridge Café in the Moutere for another friend's 50th birthday party. I
hadn't seen Wendy since New Year, so to catch up twice in a week was quite
staggering.
However,
while Jan was away, I really put my head down and worked some very long hours.
Oh, and went to the vet (Fliss got a sting from a mason bee, had a very bad
histamine reaction and got two eye ulcers that haven't healed yet), had a flat
battery in Jan's car - automatic and didn't respond to recharging - so got a
man in to take it away and fix it, and had to get a Trespass notice issued with
the Police against Karen Holland (those of you who know her can email me &
I will fill you in on the goss). And it rained and rained and rained and
rained. The ground in the back garden squelches underfoot!
I have
had a good catch up on the phone with Jennie Ladley, and skyped with Jan, and
with Jeremy & Tina.
My folks
sound like they are having a good time in the UK - latest reports are that they
are keeping busy and seeing lots, so that's good. They are heading up to
Geordie-land shortly to see all the Gateshead crew. Uncle Norman is still
keeping on; after the storm he was quite frail, but seemed OK again by Friday
last week.
In the
next few weeks I am planning on doing very little aside from delivering my
lectures & keeping my current clients happy. I might go away for a couple
of days myself, but haven't decided where & when yet. On Wednesday night I
will be doing the second-to-last piece of voluntary strategic planning work for
the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary, which will be good. The last piece should be
complete by the time I write again. They are putting pressure on me to come on
the Trust, but I am resisting!
Right - I
think that's it for now. Take care & more in a few weeks. Alles liebe :-)
Sam & Jan
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