News from Nelson – August 2008

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

News from Nelson – July 2008

Hi everyone,

Wow - we have been flat out still in the last three weeks (surprise, surprise). Jan went off to Germany yesterday, but discovered the week before last that his passport had less than six months to run. So he had a mad scramble to get a new passport & get all his gear ready to head off in time. He had to go up to Wellington for two days last week to get a temporary German passport and a new NZ permanent resident's sticker. At least he also managed to apply for a full passport while he was over there as well, so he doesn't have to stump up in person yet again to go through the whole process as soon as he gets back. So, Jan is in Germany, arriving in Flensburg today.

He is due to finish in Flensburg on July 25th, and will hopefully head down to Celle to see Ruth on his way to Svenja's baptism in Ulm on the 26th; then after spending a couple of days with Eberhard, Uta & Oma Lieselotte in Neu Ulm, he will head back north to Eppingen to visit Andreas, Katrin & Christian around the 29th; to Besse to see Tante Thea, to Treysa & Oma Friedel on the 30th. Then back to Frankfurt on the 1st of August to leave for home.

We have Bonnie staying again for six weeks while John & Jo are attending a number of motorcycle trade shows in Europe & the US. Bonnie has once again slotted in just like one of the pack. She & Coco play all the time, while Fliss sleeps in front of the fire :-)

Jan has started on his three month gym membership at that new gym, but of course his regime has been interrupted by the trip to Germany. He has been to a stretch class, a Swiss ball class and a resistance training class. He was very impressed with the facilities and the range of classes; the only thing he thinks they are missing is a lap pool.

It has been very cold here of late - we had a dusting of snow on the hills immediately behind the city. I have never seen snow down so low before. But a good day's sunshine and it was all gone again. The local ski field are very happy though!

We caught up with Sandra & Gary a couple of weeks ago, to find out that they are heading off to Perth. Gary has a transfer with Brightwater Engineers to head up a project over there. They are taking Archie (their dog) and renting their house out over here while they see how it goes. So we won't be seeing them in the next six months either!

The business house pool challenge at the Shark Club was fun - that must be three weeks ago now. I made a couple of really good shots and then went utterly to pieces. In fact, I am sure one game I played must have just about taken the record for the slowest game in the universe... mind you, that does mean that the opposition were rubbish too :-)

We went to the Playhouse on Friday night a couple of weeks ago with Ian & Sharon McGuire to see "The Mystery of Irma Vep". This was a two man play with eight characters. It was pretty amateur, but we still had a good time. Food was good and the company even better.

Mo & Bean's joint 40th Birthday Party was held in their garage on the same Saturday that we had the big snow. They had good gas heaters and a brazier, but was a freezing night! I wore a polar fleece jacket and hat, and wore leather gloves, wool trousers, polypro socks and a merino top. Even Jan wore his thick down jacket. But there were about 60 people there - so many old Sealord hands that it was more of a "who didn't we know" rather than who did we know.

Jan & I also went to see Dame Malvina Major sing in a gala performance last Friday, which was wonderful. Nelson Pine was sponsoring the event so we got very plush seats indeed, and were invited to drinkies afterwards. Great music!

I have just finished the second half of my Foundation Course for the Certificate in Adult Teaching. With that, finishing off getting lectures ready for next semester, getting Jan organised for his trip and three dogs, it has been a pretty full on time of late.

In the next few weeks I am going to Sharon McGuire's farewell functions from the Chamber of Commerce, keeping my clients happy, doing some voluntary strategic planning work for the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary, Rotary, helping the new Manager bed in at BDC, starting to lecture for semester two at NMIT and trying to keep three dogs exercised. That will be enough!

Right - I think that's it for now. Take care & more next time. Alles liebe :-)

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson – June 2 2008

Hi everyone,

The weather has been very settled - hardly any wind, but we did finally have our first frost at home last Thursday. Quite crunchy underfoot on the back lawn!

We have been flat out still in the last three weeks (surprise, surprise). Jan has sat his final exams, and all my Applied Management students completed and handed in their final assessments now, leaving me with a 330mm pile of reports to read and mark. However, I finished those last Friday, along with marking my Facility & Events Management student's exams. All done :-)

We went to Neil & Sari's for a night of Patagonian tooth fish with Kevin and Sandra a couple of weeks ago. We drank rather a lot of wine and had some very toothsome delights including smoked Black Dory (which was just lovely). Sari sourced a wide range of fish and Kevin arranged the smoking - and of course Neil organised the wine; so Sandra, Jan and I only had to turn up and indulge. It was wonderful. However, I came home and drank a litre of water before falling into bed, totally sated. Sunday was a very relaxed day with lots of reading and a dog walk down at the mudflats.

We had another Kiwi Movie Night for the Nelson Newcomers Network (NNN), and showed a very twee movie that one of the NNN members had recommended - one called "Her Majesty". It is a very nice, but sanitised film. Worth a look on a rainy Sunday afternoon - especially if you are an ex-pat. Another film we have seen recently is "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Le Scaphandre et le Papillon). What a fantastic film that was. I hadn't read the book, although it was on my must read list; and perhaps it was better that I hadn't before seeing the film as I understand there were several liberties taken. The cinematography was fabulous... music was also wonderful and I have downloaded all the tracks I can find. If you haven't seen the film, go along; it is worth every penny of the admittance price.

This last weekend we went out to the land so Jan could get some chainsawing done (he's addicted to it!). The dogs - we have Bonnie staying again for ten days while John & Jo are in Australia - had a great run around and were covered in clay and wood and bark and gorse.

We went to a Hospice Charity Ball out at the Playhouse in Mahana, which was wonderful. Jan bid on things all over the place when we got to the charity auction end of the night; he won a "Boys Pamper Pack" which contained some beer, a cap, a huge umbrella, a t-shirt, and a fold-out chair on a shoulder strap with a chilly-bag suspended underneath it. When he opened the chilly bag, he found that there were plates, cups, cutlery and napkins all in little pockets. He was most impressed. He also got a three month gym membership at a new gym, which came along with a backpack, a cap, a drink bottle and a set of earphones that plug into all the gym machines so you can plug into their entertainment system. I won a case of Rimu Grove wines, which I was most impressed about. We had a very good night in great company, and raised some dosh for a fabulous cause.

We also had our Rotary 'handover' lunch (when the presidency passes from the President to the President-elect), where Jan & I had planned on going for an hour or so, and finally left three hours later! We had a great time, and spent so much time talking to people the time just really got away on us. We suddenly realised the time, shot home, picked up the dogs to take them for a run at the mudflats and it started raining. We thought it would probably blow over, but by the time we got there - 5 mins - it was hosing down. However, the dogs had a wonderful time roaring around in the mud and sea grass and tussock in the pouring rain and wind. Needless to say, by the time we left they were filthy. So straight home and into the shower to wash out Saturday's clay and Sunday's mud.

Next weekend we are catching up with Sandra & Gary, whom we haven't seen in six months despite living in the same town (!), and have a business house pool challenge at the Shark Club, which will be fun. The weekend after that we are off to the Playhouse yet again on Friday night for a murder mystery night with Ian & Sharon McGuire to see "The Mystery of Irma Vep" and to Mo & Bean's joint 40th Birthday Party on Saturday.

Jan's Germany commissioning trip to Anthon still looks like - at the earliest - late July. After much discussion, unless this gets pushed back to October (upon checking, I have realised that mid-term break is really late this year), I won't be able to go so Jan will be going on his own.

My folks are in the UK, and are having a great time - we have had BBQ photos from Suzie & Peter. The webmail is working - yay!

Right - I think that's it for now. Take care & more next time. Alles liebe :-)

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson – June 2008

Hi everyone,

Strangely enough, despite now being winter, the temperatures have not continued to drop. We have had the fire on at night, but it hasn't been as cold as usual, which is great. I am sure that the cold will come, but I am happy for it to stay nice and warm for a while yet.

We had a great weekend in Chch a couple of weeks ago. While the Rotary training that I went to was a waste of time, it was well worth the excuse to go & visit everyone - and to catch up with Graeme Robertson (ex-CEO of Cawthron & now CEO for Lincoln University's research and consultancy arm, Lincoln Ventures) at the Rotary District Assembly. Both he & Kirsty are well settled in Chch now and Kirsty walked into almost exactly the same role in Chch that she had in Nelson. I hadn't caught up with on the goss for two years, so it was wonderful to see him.

Jan & I spent some time with Megs & then had a wonderful night at Warren & Trace's with everyone (and all the short people) and got a good look at the new place Karen & Gary are building in Chch which was excellent. A bit chillier in Chch, but that was to be expected. We had a very uneventful drive home.

However, last weekend we flew to Awaroa for lunch, and - excitement of excitements! - we flew home with the side door open and me leaning out taking photos! It was most cool (actually, it was pretty chilly, but I didn't really notice the cold one little bit at the time). It was also very cool on our way there to have a biplane doing aerobatics right alongside. It was almost as if it had been laid on for our benefit. I took some photos - a couple are posted here. We had a great lunch, wonderful food and it was a fabulous, special day.

Neil & Sari have invited us to their place next weekend for a Patagonian tooth fish night (Kevin, Neil & Jan got talking about the rape & pillage of the sea - hence the Toothfish theme, which they are all more than happy to eat despite their deep discussions). There is also talk of a decadent weekend away somewhere each year to catch up on all that chocolate and wine you forget to drink and eat in the normal course of things... and getting six busy people's calendars to co-ordinate will be a challenge! Enjoyable though if we get two different people to organise it each year - we would always end up somewhere different and challenging in some way.

Since the weekend in Awaroa, Jan has been studying for his exam and I have been marking student reports and trying to get organised for next semester. I am currently writing some materials to be delivered in China, which is interesting. They have to be able to deliver without a textbook as they cost too much for anyone other than the University lecturer able to afford one. It makes it a challenge to resource the course appropriately.

Jan's schedule for the European visit will be decided by Anthon (the north German company) and the Managing Director at Nelson Pine; and at this stage is likely to be - at the earliest - late July. The timing is really bad; I start teaching again for semester two on July 24, so it looks at this stage as if I won't be able to get away and Jan will go on his own.

However, if the trip is rolled back into late August or into September, I may be able to organise someone to take some lectures for me and/or take advantage of the mid-semester break. We hope to be heading up to Wllg for Otto's birthday in September, but if Jan's schedule get pushed back another month we may be in Europe then. We still have to wait and see for a while longer yet.

My folks are in the UK, and hopefully are having a great time already. No doubt we will hear from them in due course (and they need a lesson in getting onto webmail if any of the UK contingent want to give them a hand!).

Right - I think that's it for now. Take care & more next time. Alles liebe :-)

Sam & Jan