News from Nelson – April 2009

Hi all,

The weather is still pretty settled - it is an amazingly dry autumn. The non-natives are dropping their leaves (a very weird thing to do to eyes attuned to evergreen bush. Exotic trees always look so diseased in autumn - then it gets worse - they are dead in winter!). Jan loves this time of year, loves the autumn show; I don't like it, as it looks like those bits of the city are dying.

Jan continues to be busy at work with the installation of the C Saw at Nelson Pine. Most of the redundant workers have gone, and people are just getting on with things.

We have our working drawings, on which there are some errors. We will have to work through those by the 20th of the month, when Leigh is back from holiday so we can get them corrected. Then we just have to check our producer statements and put it all into the council for approval. We also need to put together a list of items for the solar power supplier & get that through to them for a quote.

Noot, the digger driver, managed to get himself entirely over-booked before Easter & didn't get our job done (note to self about his reliability for the build once we start). So he will have to realign the driveway, excavate the garage & excavate for the water tanks once Leigh is back from holiday.

Jan's cider was entirely drinkable - we took a bottle of it over to see Warren & Tracy, who were house sitting for friends of theirs in the Waihopai Valley over Easter. We drank a bottle at lunch, and it went down quite well. We suspect that only a little fermentation took place, but is was enough to make it drinkable. Warren sat down with us over the plans & came up with several ideas, which were really good.

We caught up with Jen Ladley when she was up in Nelson a couple of weekends ago - we went out to Karanga & saw both her & her folks, which was great. Jen had kindly brought me up a food parcel from Chch (Goan Cuisine Green Chilli Jam - the most divine thing you can ever have with cheese in the universe... obtainable from Cashmere Cuisine in Chch). And a tiny thank-you food parcel on its way back to you in Chch via Warren & Trace, Jen!

Jen Cooper was over again for my birthday celebration last week at Trailways, another early morning breakfast, which was great. Dawn was there too, along with Gisella, Mo and Amelia (though Amelia is a little young for grown-up style breakfast yet, being in the twos!). Julie B and Julie T were both apologies - too much work on for both of them.

Janet is down from Auckland at the end of this month for a play - she is staying with Julie T for a few days. It will be great to catch up with her.

We have heard from Ana Silvia again; she is keeping busy with her schoolwork and sounds like she is slotting back into her life in Brazil. My folks are currently away in the North Island on a guided provincial tour - their itinerary sounds great - Martinborough, New Plymouth, Napier...

I am up in Wellington on 21 May as I am applying for provisional accreditation with the Institute of Directors and have to have an interview - I am just flying up for the day & then have to get back by 4 for a lecture at NMIT. Karen T is going to take the day off and play taxi-driver for me (very nice!). Jan's & my next trips away will be in July for the 20 year Canterbury Uni anniversary in Hanmer and then Wllg at the end of September for Otto's birthday.

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

Sam & Jan

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

News from Nelson – February 2009

Hi all,

The weather continues hot & dry - we were promised three days of rain, but we only got a few scant drops last night, and that was it. Not even enough to turn the windscreen wipers on for, and today is sunshiny and baking hot.

And with all the warm here has come a spot of fire on February 3rd. It started on the Malvern Hills at the head of Dodsons Valley in Atawhai, and spread south along the ridge back towards Nelson; the hills behind our house. The fire probably got to within 200m of us, and while 100 houses from the next block were evacuated, the wind died down, there were seven helicopters with monsoon buckets working and eighteen fire appliances, so we were not in danger. However, that didn't prevent me pulling our 'irreplaceables' out and putting them in the car early, just in case.

Having seen the awful results of the fires in Victoria, I feel that getting prepared to run early is pretty sensible! What a terrible tragedy, and a horrific waste of lives. Jan and I had several discussions about what the appropriate course of action was, and I was all for "run away, run away" and leave everything behind except utter essentials. Jan was all for staying and putting the hosepipe on the garden because you could save your house. I feel that people are more important than things, but Jan wants to take action. I am not sure that he feels the same way now, having seen what has happened in Victoria.

I got asked yesterday what my 'irreplaceables' were. They were Jan, the dogs, hardcopy & digital photos, birth/marriage certificates, qualifications, tax numbers, passports, memberships, and important mementoes (certificates of achievement, important invitations, newspaper clippings, personal moments of fame). We keep all those things together anyway. All my digital stuff is on a removable drive backup in my Post Office box, but I backed up my PC again onto my other removable drive while waiting to see if we would be evacuated. To me, these are the things to begin your life again, and everything else is secondary (stuff is just stuff). For Jan his viola is included in the primary list, so was packed in the car early too.

In 1981 in Nelson it was a very dry summer, and there was an arsonist at large lighting fires all around Nelson & Tasman. The winds were strong, it was tinder dry, there was very limited water, and all regional resources were stretched fighting - at one point - six large bush fires. The largest of the fires in Hira Forest in the Maitai Valley, immediately behind Nelson, which was blazing out of control on February 5th. At its height, the fire was travelling at 70km per hour along the tops of the trees, and the worrying prediction was that the fire could burn right through forestry to Picton. The fire breaks the fire & forest services were cutting were too narrow to impede spontaneous ignition; they realised afterward that they needed to cut tracks a kilometre wide to stop the fire on any front. The fire just leapt from tree top to tree top, then burned down to the ground at its leisure. It was declared a national emergency and the Army was called in, but it still took a fortnight to get it under control; and that was with the assistance of the weather (the winds fell and some light rain arrived). Nelson City was lucky; if the prevailing wind hadn't been westerly, Nelson could have been gone too. We were incredibly fortunate that there were very few people resident in the area, and the fire burned away from most of those. There were a few houses that were burned, and no lives lost (interestingly, since that fire cleaned out thousands of hectares, the Pinus radiata replanting is now ready for harvesting).

No such worries this time though - and no loss of personal property. We were very, very lucky.

My Uncle Lin in Brisbane has just undergone successful heart bypass surgery, and is now recovering at home. His progress has been really great thus far & he is 5 minutes out of hospital and already writing hilarious emails telling us all about the process. Thank goodness for a sense of humour & the ridiculous, eh?!

It looks as though my father is going to have to go through the same procedure this year too. I was reflecting on how far we have come with medicine in the past hundred years today; it is wonderful what we can do to extend lives in a meaningful way, giving people back the quality of life.

My braces came off today, which was wonderful. However, it stills feel I have braces on - my lips think I have phantom braces! The most bizarre thing. Maybe I will feel different tomorrow... but tonight, I am opening a bottle of bubbly to celebrate :-)

We had a wonderful time with the Adam Chamber Music Festival; we went to the Gala Opening with the Prazak Quartet and the NZ String Quartet, Bridget Douglas, Carolyn Mills; the Archduke (Piers Lane, Justine Cormack, Martin & Victoria Jaenecke, Prazak & NZSQ); Taonga Puoro (NZSQ, Richard Nunns, David Tanenbaum, Gareth Farr); Pro-Am Chamber Orchestra 'Emperor' Concert (which Jan was in); and the Grand Finale (NZSQ, Prazak). Jan also went to Fandango (NZSQ). What a fantastic Adam programme this year was. It just gets better and better every time it is run, and you feel so lucky to be able to experience such wonderfully talented professional musicians playing just there, in front of you; where you can have a chat to them afterwards. It's just great.

The Adam Chamber Summer School is also on this week, and the NZSQ and Deidre Irons are here taking master classes each evening for the talented young musicians attending the school. The master classes are open for spectators to attend, and Jan & I went along on Sunday night to listen for a couple of hours, which was fascinating. Unfortunately we were both busy last night, but we are intending to go again tonight.

We have also been to Sealord Opera in the Park which was just FANTASTIC again this year. Great weather, great music, great company - and we got to talk to Helen Medlyn afterwards (we were groupies!). What a wonderful night that was. Jan & I went in on the motorbike so had no trouble getting a park, and we met Kathleen Hofman there (who had cycled in from their place & had no trouble getting a 'park' either). Sitting in a prime seat with a bottle of bubbly and some nibbles listening to awesome live music on a still summer's evening; how perfect is that.

We had Doug & Morv come to stay with Callum & Katie on their way to the Golden Bay. It was great to see them. Jan did the traditional waffle breakfast before they headed away over the hill, just in case the Streets boasted that they had got one while the Booths didn't!

Lectures started again this week, and I am really enjoying leading the restructured Applied Management course. So far it looks as though I have a great class of keen students.

We are still discussing when we will do a Germany trip, but it looks more like it will be later in 2010, after we have finished building. We will keep everyone updated as discussions continue :-)

Having done the cleaning ourselves for a month (or not doing it, and arguing about it!), the cleaners are now back, but once a fortnight, and I think everyone is happy at that :-)

The talk of get-togethers for the 20 year anniversary of Uni & a flock of 40th birthdays; let us know what the plans are. I hear for Canterbury we are looking now at a July get together; sounds good. Keep us posted!

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

Sam & Jan