News from Nelson – March 2 2009

Hi all,

The weather is still pretty settled, but it is colder in the mornings, and you can tell autumn is on the way. I go to play tennis at 7.45 two mornings a week, and it is pretty chilly at that time now; there are clouds of condensation puffing out of our mouths!

When I said last time that Jan was busy at work with the installation of the C Saw at Nelson Pine, well, he is busier now. His hours have got even longer in trying to keep the project on schedule. There has been no news yet about which operators will leave Nelson Pine yet; I don't know when the management team will make a decision on that.

I too have been busy; NMIT asked me to pick up a couple of extra contracts, which, considering how quiet everything else has gone, I have done. It will keep me busy until the build starts in September.

As some of you will know, I will be project managing the build. I am aiming to wind back a fair amount of work in the latter half of the year so I have an appropriate amount of time to manage the process. I think we will be looking at a labour only deal; I am worried about being affected by contractors going bust & not having paid for materials, leaving us out of pocket... so labour only in this market seems safer to me. I will be will be starting price negotiations on materials just after mid-year, when the recession is really biting. I suspect we will get some good deals then, when the work has dried up, and the effect of the tail for all the already planned construction jobs has gone.

To cut back the work I am stepping off two boards, and not teaching summer school. Not to mention building a business plan to manage the process (also under construction). So any suggestions, pointers and hints, please let me know directly. While I have done this once before, I am always happy to get some new ideas.

I don't think that Noot, the digger driver, has managed to get to the site yet to realign the driveway, excavate the garage & excavate for the water tanks, but there is really no rush yet. The engineer is currently working on construction of the garage (which we have already fed-back on) so I think that is the last stage of the working drawings. The we can submit to council for building consent. The building consent process is currently only taking 3 weeks! Jan and I are going to tally our existing timber this weekend for our list of exclusions as part of our tender documents. Then we put the job out to some local builders for tender.

We made our Cox's Orange Pippin apples into juice & cider. The cider looks FOUL at present, but hopefully will turn out to be drinkable!

We still haven't gotten around to using our voucher for Happy Valley or our voucher for Wilson's Abel Tasman Experience; we might have to leave the Abel Tasman trip until next summer as it is getting a bit cool now for larking around in boats.

Jen Ladley is up in Nelson this weekend and we are aiming to catch up with her & her folks on Saturday morning, which will be wonderful.

Jen Cooper was over for a birthday celebration on the 17th, so we had a breakfast out at Trailways, which was great. We have organised another get-together session for the week after my birthday - it has been ages since "The Breakfast Club" met!

I have heard from both Steph Jackson and Ana Silvia; both are busy, happy and well. All you can ask for!

We are also looking forward to the 20 year Canterbury Uni anniversary in July, in Hanmer. Then it is Wllg at the end of September (26th) for Otto's birthday.

Right, that's all for now. Take care & alles liebe!

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson – March 2009

Hi all,

There has been some pretty horridible weather around the country as we head into autumn, but we appear to have missed the worst of it in Nelson, having just some light rain - which is very good.

Just a brief note this time - we haven't really been doing that much. Jan is busy at work with the installation of the C Saw at Nelson Pine; he is working longer hours to get keep the project on schedule. There has been a staff reshuffle there, and an additional 60 line staff will be made redundant. Staff have currently been offered voluntary redundancy; it is thought that some of the staff who are close to retirement may possibly retire early. Also Sealord has notified their Vickerman Street operation that 180 jobs will go; 30 of those are from support, administration and management personnel. So it looks as though Nelson's 2% unemployment rate is going to increase once those staff return to the market... just in time for the grape, apple and stone fruit picking season. Maybe this year we won't need to import people from the islands for the harvest.

It was my folk's 49th wedding anniversary this year (next February is the big one!) which we celebrated with a dinner at the Saltwater Café on the waterfront. Tessa and her girlfriend Helen were up from Christchurch, which was nice.

Since I last updated you all we have spent a weekend in Kaikoura, which was very restful, but were caught through Saturday for 24 hours in a vast rain dump - practically wall to wall precipitation! Never mind, we had cards, a few wines and plenty of chocolate so had a lovely time for that day away :-)

We are reasonably focused on reducing discretionary spending this year. So simple pleasures, close to home. We caught up with John & Jo Fitzwater for a curry & a movie at home, which was very restful! We are doing breakfasts & coffees at home with friends - thank goodness for the coffee machine is all I can say!

We also caught up with Glenys & Kevin Johnston from the Mudcastle on Sunday - I had been given a voucher for Monterey House by a client for Christmas (as a thank you), so we went out there for morning tea. I was glad of the voucher, otherwise we wouldn't have gone. It was very nice - a lovely place, but quite posh.

We have also picked up a pile of Cox's Orange Pippin apples on the weekend for turning into juice & cider. That is this week's project.

Our next entertainments are likely to be using a voucher for Happy Valley (I won a $150 voucher over the summer) and a voucher for Wilson's Abel Tasman Experience; maybe Jan & I might go and do a day sea kayak or something.

However, Fiona Pears was in town a couple of weeks ago & we went to see her. Jan really enjoyed the concert but I grew increasingly irritated by her manic stage presence - she leaps about like a mad thing - and her "Little Princess" act; so much so that I couldn't enjoy the music, despite sitting there with my eyes shut. I think to ensure Jan's enjoyment, this will need to be a pleasure that he attends on his own in future.

We have been out to the land to peg out the site with Leigh on the weekend, ready for the first phase of the earthworks. Noot, the digger driver, is coming out sometime in the next week or so to realign the driveway, excavate the garage & excavate for the water tanks. Then we do little more on the site until September. The working drawings are nearly complete, so should be ready to go into the council for approval this autumn and we can put the job out to some builders for tender at the same time. Jan & I need to create a list of exclusions from the contract (for whether we go fixed price or labour & exclusions - we haven't decided yet) before that work can go out to tender, so compiling an accurate list of exclusions will be our job for the next few weeks.

We have also taken delivery of a new fridge; we have a Gram - a low energy usage fridge - from Denmark. It is very... umm.. austere looking! A severely plain, rectangular, stainless steel box! However, it seems to work OK - we have an internal light that works! - and we are hoping to see a difference in our power bills going forward. Our old fridge was 19 years old, and getting very tired.

We have been taking the dogs for a 5k run three times a week, as opposed to walking with them while they run at the mudflats. I think the discipline is good for Coco. We will have to see how long we can keep it up!

The 20 year Canterbury Uni anniversary is indeed a July get together - in a couple of rented houses in Hanmer which should be great. We will be coming to Wllg at the end of September (26th) for Otto's birthday, which will be our only Wllg trip this year... so if there is a chance for a Huttie 40th birthday get-together around then, let us know.

Right, that's all for now. Take care & alles liebe!

Sam & Jan